Aforementioned Blaze

Chapter 32: Aforementioned Blaze

Lucas looked over the voice from above. As he reared from the ground floor of the thin building before them, he saw a familiar face as he continued rearing through the middle of the structure. It was Mister Vacio, reeling at the middle of the sky prison.

His face was twisted in pain and Lucas was unaware of what had happened to him; also, he has no interest in knowing it. What ignited his anger was this man's presence. He was here again, right before his eyes.

"I swear vengeance on you, Lucas, and I will show you my true goal: one that was pure evil!" Mister Vacio shouted from above, continuing his rally.

He stared at his helpless face. That face was so irritating as always. But it excited him that he can use his powers this time in combat that he will be useful. At any time, he was ready to fight this sucking man.

"I will take responsibility for this…" Lucas vocalized to his team, blocking their ways as he stood. "Get Doll back to his father! Leave this forest safe and sound!"

An argument arose as Doll began staring at the rest of their team, seemed refusing to what Lucas had said. He glared at her, pushing her to go already but the girl stood straighter than before.

"It's all our problem," Doll spoke as she kept onto her place, still wanting to help Lucas into his plan on battling Vacio. "because we are all friends."

"Not now, Doll." Lucas insisted as he felt that sudden thud within his chest again. He has to let Moon with this girl, or else, a huge problem within them will arise. "Doll, move back already!"

Lucas' act caused discord to erupt between Doll, Moon, and the rest of them— with the two disagreeing on whether to let Lucas on his reckless action or not; Moon wanting to take the girl back, and Doll who wanted everyone to help Lucas as a team.

"We should battle him together!" Doll retorted as he stared at everyone one at a time. Her eyes were exclaiming something in defense to her retort, but even Winter wanted to go home already.

"No, you should be given to your father!" Moon opposed, as their only goal was to get her back, and that has to be done already. It was his only hope.

Eventually, Doll bowed her head and decided to walk away, following Lucas' plan and leaving Mister Vacio to him. She didn't want to, but as Ghaile finally agreed to go home; making her the only one disapproving, she lamented silently as she followed their orders.

Moon, Ghaile, and Winter followed, with the swordswoman looking back to gaze if anything was under Lucas' control. She was entrusted in this mission by Headmaster Nova so she has nothing to do with the battles in regards to Mister Vacio, but there was a feeling inside her that her help was needed.

As Moon led the team back from this forest to the school, Winter decided to neglect Lucas, despite the guts she was feeling. It felt like Lucas might lose, but she convinced herself that the Lucas she knew was strong already.

After they have left, a pile of ashes started appearing in front of Lucas and Mister Vacio materialized out of that sand, surprising him with a sudden attack that pushed him. It felt like a hit from a huge boarder, but the beam unleashed were tiny. He glanced and saw multiple chunks of it from afar, aiming towards him.

He ducked down and got a closer look at those chunks, and learned they were small, robotic puppets. He burned those upcoming things and stood straighter on the ground. The last puppet fell onto the grass, burned. He stared at Mister Vacio that was standing in a distance.

Mister Vacio placed his hands before him, and multiple puppets began sprouting again, heading straight towards Lucas, but he made the first contact with one of Vacio's puppetry, as he charged straight through them with an intention to make Vacio fight with himself.

He took out a huge number of puppets by punching and kicking them, as well as using fire for both offenses and defenses as the puppets fired back with those hurtful beams. Those puppets were numerous, and being able to knock out one at a time, it will be hard for Lucas to let Vacio fight with himself.

Initially being overwhelmed by their relentless attacks, Lucas quickly responded to those in kind with his magic, wiping out almost hundreds of puppets in an instant, aiming at those fifties that remained. Ultimately, Vacio stopped his rampage and made the puppets disappear, facing Lucas now, much to the boy's excitement.

This was the moment he was waiting for! He saw Vacio walking straight towards him, cracking his arms and neck as if he was preparing intentionally. Knowing this man, he knew he was just irritating him, which he always succeeded to, that irritated him more. He chuckled silently as Vacio stopped at a certain distance.

"I thought it would take more time to make you fight." Lucas pointed out and stopped his assaults already, standing on his ground.

"Well, I always wanted for you to fight me for real, even this first time," Vacio replied in contempt. "Wasn't it exciting?"

No. It has gotten irritating to the point he wanted to erase this sucking man's face to remove his apathetic expressions. But as he stared at Vacio looking prepared already, he got readied as well, removing the bandages that were covering his wounds.

He started to remove the bandage that covered his right arm, determined to use it already, planning to scare Vacio out of it to see his reaction. He noticed an immense amount of magic power coming from his right hand, as well as heat, making Vacio gasp in silence. He watched how Lucas unbandaged himself.

Lucas was complacent that he will win since he has mastered this technique already. None of the things he stroke with this remained unharmed but rather became pulverized by its strength. It made him curious; what will happen if it hit Vacio on the face?

That thought made him smirk as he commenced by charging at Mister Vacio, delivering a devastating punch enhanced by his determination and flames that created a huge blast of the explosion, an attack that sent Vacio crashing through a nearby tree.

The tree was cut into halves by the force of how Vacio hit it, but the man just jumped out and retaliated with his powerful blast of magic towards Lucas, looking unharmed. That attack coming from Vacio headed straight to him, which Lucas incinerated, much to Vacio's shock.

Vacio landed on the ground without any injury or bruise from Lucas' earlier attack. It startled him for a while, but he started rushing towards him by now, wanting to crush the Aspho with his flames. Making use of his speed, Lucas instantly appeared in front of Vacio and before he can react, the man took yet another attack from Lucas that he didn't manage to evade.

After receiving that sneak attack, Vacio tried finding Lucas and suddenly whined in pain as he received another kick from him, making him kneel on the grassland. A sudden punch made him roll on the ground, which was followed by a huge and fiery explosion, as well as another retort: an attack that kept growing in power, as the entire forest fell to Lucas' flames.

With what he was doing, it'll make Vacio cry for sure, so he decided to continue with his relentless attacks. He continued with a punch and started barraging Mister Vacio with a number of kicks and assaults. In spite of this, Vacio smiled and launched a counterattack that gashed Lucas' face, sending him midair.

What was he? It looked like his attacks weren't working with Vacio anymore. But as he convinced himself that he was undeterred, Lucas kept clashing with his foe; Vacio backed away for a moment, smiling with a tinge of adrenaline.

Lucas panted in exhaustion, as he stood his place again. His chest was beating fast. But why did Vacio stop? By looking at him, he was still uninjured. What was he planning? He saw Vacio panting as well. So he was tired already? No, it didn't look like it.

"Your newfound power was nice, I wondered where it came from…" Vacio commented on Lucas' new strength, as he held his right shoulder. There was a smear of blood on it that looked fresh.

Did he land a hit that hurt him? It was nice, then. He panted heavily as he responded by saying, "I finally realized what Victor had once told me: a manifestation of the Strongest Flames that was inside me was unlocked," he explained.

By reminiscing it, he was well aware that it took his whole month of staying at White Day High for him to be able to properly use it. It was taught to him by his foster parent before he disappeared, and it was late when he realized the essence of his teachings. Vacio seemed surprised by it.

"It was a one-time power; a remnant magic that won't regenerate back…" Lucas further explained while panting.

He was aware of that fact. But as he started to use this magic already, it was different from what he had said. If he used the pure remnant power alone, it'll never regenerate. But he was just using it to feed his fire with more power —more of an enhancer for his strength.

He tapped into this power and surprised Vacio that was watching, as even the ground began burning with its power. Now, he didn't want to only enhance his flames but use this whole power instead. This time, it was no holding back. This one-time power will be used with Vacio, to stop his evil plans from working.

"I am going to end this fight…" he exclaimed, as he started focusing all of his powers on his right arm. Right now, he can feel a burning sensation within him. It was normal with this technique and he started to familiarize himself with that feeling.

Unbeknownst to the two, ArmorBoy was watching from the Sky Prison in surprise. Lucas' magic was commendable already, but it got stronger and stronger by the second. His worried expression soon changed to a smile as Lucas fell on his knees —exhausted.

Lucas touched to grasses as he kneeled on the ground, severely injured while panting. What happened? Did someone cancel his spell? He cannot move but he has to.

He heard Vacio laughing. Crap!

"I am alright!" he claimed to himself, and tried his best to stand, but his weakened knees prevented him. He fell on his knees again!

What had happened?

He winced in pain with that sudden fall, as he started to lose hope already. With his condition, he was aware that he can't use his ace by now. But as he felt his guts signaling him that he still can, he managed to stand up and aimed at Vacio for the second time.

"I can still attack once… I can still defeat you…" he started aiming while panting grievously, as his left hand unleashed a fire that he had never seen before. The area started to be filled with dust by that attack and unleashing it caused Lucas immense pain and exhaustion. He fell to the ground, unable to move already. He stared helplessly as the attack headed straight through the shocked Vacio.

An explosion erupted from the man's place with a strong shockwave that pushed Lucas further away from their battlefield. The dust cleared out, revealing the figure of a heavily-injured Vacio, giving Lucas the strength to smile. But it wasn't the remnant magic already. It was just a normal fire unleashed from his left hand.

"Please lend me your power…" Lucas whispered, "for one more blow…"

Despite him being unable to move already, he felt a searing pain coming from his right arm by now, and a huge blow started coming out of it, and the forest started to be engulfed by the immense heat coming from that attack. It headed to his opponent one more time.

Victor…

You've become a father figure already; that was enough…

But lend your power this time…

As the attack continued going through Vacio, the man shockingly got the strength to smile and stated, "You've attained such immense power, Lucas…" he whispered as he readied himself, wanting to receive the devastating attack that was rushing towards him with his bare body. "I always hoped that you would stop me now in this second life…"

Lucas planned to unleash another attack as his last retort, trying to stand from the ground he was laying on. But as he stared at his attack, he smiled in contentment and retreated his attack, managing to stand with difficulty with his grievous injuries.

"But I thought it was too late, Blaze Harper…" Vacio continued his trance, ready to be hit by the attack. "Because I have decided to destroy the White Deity again instead…"

Seeing Lucas' current strength, Vacio began to hope that Lucas would be able to stop him right now in this second life he was saying, so he decided to reveal something important before it was too late for the boy.

"You are Blaze Harper from the past, Lucas." Vacio had said.

This greatly shocked Lucas. He gasped as he stared that his attack. It suddenly vanished to nothingness! What did Vacio do? What was his real power? There should be no way someone can block that attack in an instant!

No way! Was it the end for him?

It was impossible! He can't win this battle at this rate. He can't create fire anymore after overusing his magic, and he has so weakened already.

"700 years ago, everyone that survived the Neo Belleza was revived without the memory of what happened that time…" Mister Vacio continued. "and everyone who died before it was activated managed to live with memories of the past… I died there and was disappointed that you weren't the one who stopped me. But now, I saw your strength…"

What was he saying? 700 years ago? What was that? Neo Belleza? "Stop that nonsense, Vacio!" he shrieked in anger.

"You are Blaze Harper, a Fire Supreme Wizard… resurrected as Lucas Martin."

No!

What was he saying? He ain't anyone from what he said! He was Lucas— the Lucas he knew! He refused to accept what this old man was saying. He probably was lying this time.

"Enough of that nonsense already!" he shouted, as he fell on his knees again. Crap! Why did he feel convinced with his craps? There should be no way it was true. "There ain't Blaze Harper in this world!" he claimed.

He stared at Vacio, wanting to see his face if he was lying. What was he holding just now? A booklet?

"What was that?" he asked.

That book has a dark cover, almost black, and a few number of pages that made the book thinner than usual. Something was written on the cover of that book… Blaze Harper?

"I said what was that?" he demanded.

"This book… was your life!" Mister Vacio revealed, remaining calm like before. He opened the book and revealed an image of a boy that has pink-colored hair. "I have plenty of books, Lucas. Those were the lives of all the people who remained alive after the Neo Belleza incident."

What was he saying? The man in that book didn't even look like him! That wasn't him, nor Blaze Harper nonetheless. He was Lucas Martin alone. That was this only identity.

He heard him laugh.

Throwing the very book he was holding to the ground, Mister Vacio shot through it, creating a hole in the middle of the book. It left smoke that was noticeable already.

Suddenly, Lucas felt an immense pain that was coming from his chest. He coughed out hard, still feeling that pain, as he held onto his chest while kneeling on the ground. He fell and lay on the ground, trying to tone down the pain he was feeling!

But no matter what he did, that pain remained to hurt his chest like it was lacerated. The pain felt like his chest has a hole, like a hole in Vacio's book.

What? No! There should be no way! Was that pain he was feeling and the hole in the book proved their link and Vacio's story? Was he saying the truth that he was Blaze Harper?

"Admit it, Lucas. It was painful, wasn't it?" Vacio voiced out, but Lucas cannot see him anymore. His vision started to blur, then suddenly became all black. "If I rip this book off to pieces, you'll experience the same pain that this book would feel if it was a human."

No way!

Lucas was left shocked, whining with the searing pain until now —Mister Vacio's story was proven factual!