9: It's Hero Time

It's Hero Time

When I awakened from my unconscious state, it was to a world lit ablaze.

At least, that's what it looked like as I scanned the burning room. Everything inside of it had been destroyed even further, some of the stuff literally turning into ashes.

I looked down, noticing that I was on fire as well, but the flames didn't actually harm me at all. In fact, there was a sense of comfort as they encompassed my body.

"So, this is what he meant..." I muttered to myself, this new voice sounding like the Pyronite's deeper tone. The fact that I even knew what that was confused me, yet my mind didn't linger on it. I just decided not to question it.

It was about time I got my rematch with Tolenka.

As I walked out of the room, my eyes passed over the guy who got beaten by me, now dead and burnt to a crisp.

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~Tolenka's POV~

I had left the room after beating my greatest opponent yet, satisfied to have gotten such an adrenaline rush. That boy had strength unlike any other, which was clear from how long he lasted in the fight.

However, fate could only deem one of them worthy enough, and that was obviously going to be me.

I was headed back to the reinforced door, intending to bust it down with my newfound strength, but was incredibly caught off guard when a powerful explosion slammed into me from behind.

Flying through the air due to the blast's immense strength, I could feel parts of my body literally cooking under the scalding heat. Sections of my skin burned and was left with horrible results, never to be the same again. My vocal cords were put to their limit as I screamed in agony, crashing into a wall that began to catch on fire as well.

I scrambled to extinguish himself, crying out in great pain the whole time. They were eventually put out, but my body still remained damaged forever, and I couldn't stop myself from dropping to a knee.

The only noises that were able to be heard was my heavy panting and the surrounding destruction caused by the fire that burned me. That was until my ears picked up on the sound of rapid footsteps, which caused me to look in their general direction.

I nearly cried out in shock at what I saw, my eyes wide with disbelief.

It was a demon!

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~Dante's POV~

Running through fire and debris, I spotted Tolenka on the other side of the room.

He now had severe burns running across his body, which were obviously due to the explosive transformation my body has undergone, and it couldn't prevent the grin stretching across my face from widening even further.

"W-What are you...?!"

That was all he could say before I jumped into the air only to violently come back down right on top of him, eliciting a shout of pain from his mouth due to the suffocating heat and power behind the strike, which sent us both crashing through the floor.

We hit the ground level hard, not too far away from the entrance. "Don't you remember me, tough guy?" Quickly standing back up, the provoking tone in my voice was definitely on purpose. He tried to pick himself off the floor, but I wasn't having it.

There was a fairly large desk nearby and I picked it up with ease, launching it directly at Tolenka's face, which hit it's mark and sent him flying out onto the street. Within my mind, a familiar voice leaked through.

"He should be easy to take care of now, Dante. Are you intent on killing him?"

I inwardly nodded, my decision already made. The exhaustion setting into Tolenka was clear as I toyed around with him, which would also allow for an easy opportunity to give him a swift death.

Although my hands have never truly had blood on them, I've always felt like there was a side to me that possessed the necessary grit in order to go through with it.

My alien counterpart was seemingly able to interpret the internal thoughts that belonged to me, giving some useful advice as a way to shift the topic of conversation.

"Considering you have no idea of your true potential just yet, I'll let you in on a cool little trick that can be really useful for many different situations."

Well, that definitely caught my interest.

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~Darren's POV~

The layer of darkness covering me had disappeared once the explosion calmed down.

Now, I was watching the building slowly burn as the sounds of fighting had returned. It caused me to breathe a sigh of relief, although that didn't stop me from keeping my guard up, and I was still intending to get back in there.

However, the fighting seemed to be more intense, and I thought my eyes spotted a much bigger man in there than any of the original guys. That slightly worried me, at least until the sound of something breaking reached my ears, which I was positive that man didn't cause.

I began to run towards the entrance, my patience finally sucked dry, but had to quickly dodge the huge body of muscle headed straight for me. With a swipe of my arm, darkness gathered underneath me and pulled my body out of harms way.

Turning to look at what nearly flattened me, I saw that it was one of the men who broke into Noble Elements, but his physical appearance had transformed even further. Not to mention, there were painful looking burn marks all over his body.

"Sorry about the wait."

I whirled around, the sight of Dante finally getting rid of my fears. The top half of his outfit was completely gone, revealing the extremely athletic build he naturally possessed.

"You had me scared for a minute there. Heh."

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~Dante's POV~

The mysterious transformation disappeared and my body felt like it had been healed, which was somewhat odd, but I didn't question it either. What the Pyronite said was really true, this would definitely come in handy.

Exiting the building, my eyes landed on Darren. The poor guy was staring at Tolenka in wonder, a smile briefly emerging onto my face before it went away just as quickly. It was amusing but my brain couldn't stop itself from getting stuck on the fact that I was about to kill someone.

"Sorry about the wait." I said, casually making my way down the steps.

Darren turned around and studied me for a moment, most likely checking whether or not I was okay. "You had me scared for a minute there. Heh."

The rain was still going strong, but it felt rejuvenating against my skin no matter what. Plus, I really needed a shower after all that.

"Nah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

I wasn't going to tell him what happened in there. That would be kept as a personal memory since it left an impact in a way that changed me forever.

We stood next to each other, staring down at the limp form of Tolenka. The man wasn't dead yet, just worn out from the thrashing he got served, groaning in pain as his body twitched.

Darren turned to me but noticed the pistol in my hand for the first time since coming out of the building, his eyes narrowing in realization as he looked between Tolenka and I.

"Have you ever taken a life, Dante?" He asked quietly, crossing his arms in the process.

All I did was shake my head, continuing to stare at the body of the man who was going to die.

"... Would you like me to do it for you?"

That caused me to look over at him in surprise, not expecting him to say that. Darren simply pointed at one of the men he fought earlier who was laying on his back in the middle of the road, a lifeless corpse with a hole in his stomach.

"I've had to kill a few people since joining Salvation, which is going to inevitably happen if you decide to continue doing this sort of work. Adding one more to the list won't bother me."

The man had experience in that type of thing.

Still firmly rejecting his offer with a shake of my head, the decision was already set in stone. I raised the handgun, aiming it directly at Tolenka's head.

"I need to be strong on my own first. If there's a decision that needs to be made and I can't even go through with it due to a weak spirit... what's the point?"

Darren nodded, accepting my notion.

His face was stoic as he watched me pull down on the trigger, a bullet going straight through the mans forehead and subsequently ending his life.2

As Darren went to go and call Salvation, I continued to stare at the dead body of Tolenka in confusion.

I didn't feel anything when he died. What did that mean?

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