Arcadia

True Strength

"How could this be..?"

With a thud, Ren collapsed face-first onto the floor. The glasses, which have been broken in half, and his talisman tool all fell around him.

"I have to give you credit. That was one scary ability there when put at the right hands."

Icaros kicked him in the gut once before turning his heel and facing Jet.

Seeing the angry expression in his remaining opponent, Icaros smiled with glee and spread his arms out. 

"Infusion Double. It seems you have not accounted for it enough. Even with Fatal Cross momentarily disabled, the overload effect from Infusion Double still flows through my veins. I don't like long explanations, so I'll just tell you guys that the treatment has granted me a way of controlling my body through... unorthodox means." He stared his chest momentarily. "Yes, this body here is but a doll, allowing itself to be controlled at my every whim."

Jet eyed him carefully, even after the effects of Ren's ability faded right as he fell.

"So, what are you gonna do now, Halfblood?"

Jet clenched his fists, and momentarily, he can even hear the gnashing of teeth. "I don't know what you are trying to do, but I have no intention of leaving behind everything I worked so hard for."

"Then you intend to stay in this wretched hellhole created by pretentious ideals. I won't say I am surprised. Well, your kind were the ones who benefitted from the treaty which created present day Arcadia."

Icaros dropped the affable tone in his voice and prepared his two kunai blades. "The fact that people who were at the top of the food chain stooped that low and not assert their dominance.. It makes me sick in the inside."

Electric energy once again flowed into Icaros from the four vital points, signaling the reactivation of Fatal Cross. "The strong has this world in their hands. The strong bow to no one. The strong control fate and destiny. Why is it that they still band together in that pretentious ideal of cooperation and friendship?!"

Jet was about to reply when the opponent disappeared with a snap of lightning. He heard footsteps echoing from left and right. His fists and his attacks were ready, but he failed to locate his opponent, not before the opponent revealed himself. 

"How far are you going to keep playing to this motto of protecting people? How did Cyril and the Nightmare Painter Case end?"

With one stroke, Icaros was able to slash Jet's back.

"The Pale Phantom Case?"

He slashed Jet's back again.

"It is the undeniable truth. Humans and your kind cannot co-exist, for it always end in violence. Your very existence violates the will of nature. How tragic."

He nimbly hopped forward. With his back turned, he closed his eyes as he slowly sensed the redhead drop to one knee.

~~~~~

A blonde boy aged no more than five years old blinked his eyes repeatedly. His ears were the first of his senses to have returned, and the first thing that registered was the immense chattering around him. He seemed to be in a busy place, filled with not adults, but children.

His vision slowly cleared, and he looked to his right. In this lying down position, the first thing he saw was a set of beads tied together, with a figure resembling a cross at the end. Instinctively, he reached out for it with his tiny hands, but was stopped as he heard a gentle male voice.

"Have you come to your senses?" 

It came from a long-haired man who held a candle in a glass. He slowly set the candle beside the boy and took the beads. The young man clasped his hands, muttering a silent prayer, before smoothly putting his palm on the boy's forehead.