Awaken

Sazoru willingly let off a fireball that had a diameter of 780 meters and was the size of a small asteroid to eliminate Celesta. His fireball cast shadows around the city, increasing the city's temperature and causing the fireball to grow exponentially larger. He went insane after Savanth provoked him.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Akira exclaimed in a shocked tone. Sazoru was so out of it that he poured a terrifying amount of energy into his massive ball of flames.

"YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY CELESTA AND EVERYONE WITH IT!" Akira shouted, but Sazoru didn't heed him. Due to his intense emotion, Sazoru was oblivious to what he was saying and his surroundings.

Kazoru felt terrified and helpless in the face of his uncle's fury. His enormous ball of flame astounded everyone from kilometers away. Savanth, on the other hand, regarded Sazoru with derision and satisfaction. He sensed the combination of his rage and his abilities.

"HAHAHAHA, GOOD! LET OUT YOUR RAGE!"

While gazing at Savanth, Sazoru dropped his hand and tossed the ball at him. Savanth grinned and attempted to stop the blast with his black flame.

[BLACK FLAME MAGIC: DARK CALAMITY]

The gigantic fireball was stopped and absorbed by his black flame. Sazoru managed to evade his black flame but was burned in the left leg, causing excruciating pain and forcing him to kneel.

"Hahahaha, what's wrong? Were my flames too strong for you?" Savanth ridiculed him and approached him slowly while Sazoru was kneeling on the ground.

"This is why you couldn't save your brother. You're far too weak!" With each insult, he attempted to manipulate Sazoru to destroy everything he had.

Sazoru clenched his fist with flames as if about to explode. But, his flames were slowly turning blue as he glared intensely.

"Hmm?" Savanth felt his flames, heat, and mana within him. His flames were gradually turning blue, indicating that he had awakened.

When a fire mage awakened or exceeded their limits, they would be able to create a blue flame that was hotter than red and yellow.

He sensed his brother's will and flames within him as if he is one with him, his leg healed slowly, and his flames turned beautifully bright blue. Looking at his palms, with each clench, he felt something unfamiliar with his heat and his flames. He was getting stronger...

"Well, well, well. If it isn't an awakening." After all the words Savanth had poured into Sazoru, he was shocked to see that he had at last begun to awaken.

Upon witnessing Sazoru's wrath, Savanth clenched his fist with a mad smile, "Haha... HAHAHA. Ahh... The beauty of your precious bloodline's power, the warmth, the destructiveness!" Savanth, at his lustful state, moaned with sexual pleasure of the power.

"So what? I stole your brother's body without an ounce of guilt. I'm the unredeemable, the unforgivable, I'd do anything for power. I thirst for death of all things. And you..." As he moaned with pleasure, Savanth slowly raised his clenched fist and loosen it whilst pointing directing at him with open palm facing up "...will be no different than me~"

Struck with depthless anger, Sazoru punched him with such force that the ground shattered in a single blink, sending him flying and crashing into three buildings. His cheekbone was broken by a punch from him that was as quick as a jet. Additionally, he was stronger and faster than before, which caused him to bleed from his mouth. The punch force was so strong that even as strong as Savanth who could presumably withheld a power of 70 whales, it felt 7x stronger than that.

Savanth noticed his power was dwindling as he examined his two palms. While Savanth wiped the blood from his mouth, Sazoru did not wait for him to finish. He had him good and packed a great punch to the ribs before Savanth even had a chance to release his flames. He then delivered an uppercut as his second blow, completely smashing his chin. He jabbed him in the most recent attack, destroying his face and sending him flying like a ragdoll.

With his legs shaking from the surprising force of his recently awakened ability, Savanth rose. Savanth used black flame magic while beaming gleefully, showing how happy he was about this battle.

Sazoru instantly appeared above him, exceeding an elite scout's eyes. Imbuing his feet with flames, he tried to stomp Savanth who managed to react quickly and maneuvered. The stomp caused a massive destruction throught the city, even alerting all Celesta. Warriors wouldn't dare to interrupt, Soldiers and Knights stood still with sweats running down. A plethora of them defending every corner of Celesta, disallowing Savanth to escape.

Savanth was running out of breath until he released his deadly black flames, gulping every dust and air facing Sazoru. Sazoru's blue flames set ablaze, burning the whole atmosphere whole even going more powerful than the sun itself. Melting irons and cement all around, Sazoru prepared his stance with his ignited hands spread to his sides like a sumo pose.

"Hahaha! You think you can win? Fat chance!" Savanth's flames were getting closer.

Flames burning bright as the blue sky, Sazoru immediately unleashed his flames as the black flames were gaining advantage.

"AGGHHHHH" Sazoru screamed to the top of his lungs and his blue flames were getting stronger, pushing Savanth back slowly with the force of his flames. Sazoru's flames were surrounding his area those who were near either got melted or vaporized.

Savanth didn't flinch. To his advantage, Savanth's flame slowly engulfed Sazoru's. When a flame hit an another flame that was stronger than the inferior one, it consumed the weaker form of that flame, allowing Savanth to win this round.

Sazoru kept igniting his flames, making them brighter, hotter, and stronger but diminishing a massive amount of mana in an instant. He knew it was pointless, his stubbornness what kept him going and pushing his limits. Only to avenge his brother.

"Pfft, was that supposed to scare me? You have no true taste of what beauty is. This is no strength. You just mixed it with rage and pointless revenge, hah! Pathetic!" He scoffed confidently, taking the superiority of his flame that was stronger than blue.

Right when the time Sazoru's defeat was about to happen, Akira swatted his scythe at Savanth. "Why you..." Distracted, he turned to face Akira with his right hand firing black flames. "Burn!"

The flame was getting to Akira, knowing he couldn't win. But before this even happened, Akira had requested Kazoru's help by slowing his flame down rather than halting it.

Acknowledging his flames were weaker than theirs, Kazoru utilized it to make the flame go slower even a fraction of a second mattered.

[BLOOD MANIPULATION: BLOOD BLADE]

Blood coated his entire Scythe, Akira positioned himself according to the strategy.

Savanth was more wary of Akira, nevertheless he was unaware of his immortality. To his assumption, he was the victim of illusion magic that made him think he killed Akira.

As devised, their strategy was to not fight him but lure and weakened Savanth, leaving him defenseless. Kazoru improvised by suggesting that they waste his mana to win.

From Shura's information, Kazoru only knew that Akira's healing ability was as advanced as a professional healer.

Looking back in the realm that they took part in the exam, they discussed Akira's abilities.

"That muscle-head survived your blast, and should that blast hit him, he wouldn't survive it. Thankfully, he did and helped us win. Hmph, I guess we're lucky to have a dependable person with such abilities." Shura chatted with Kazoru after they had done fighting the dragon.

"What do you mean he should have died as a result of that? I thought he was the one who deflected that. Though to prove your point, he did come back unscathed." Kazoru folded his arm as if discussing a random mystery.

"That was the point, the blast was still active. Its heat that would've burned down your entire body, that was why he should've died as everyone should've. His durability is not as strong as you think, the fact he could heal and regenerate at a very alarming rate. To add, his mana should've run out from that fatal attack." Shura theorized that it wasn't his durability he had seen that Akira was still affected by poisons and acidic substances.

"Is he a zombie?" Kazoru wondered.

"No... I hardly doubt he thinks brains exist. But it was more like he was immortal... I'm not certain... His great healing capability is hinting the possibility." Shura guessed correctly without knowing the confirmation of his abilities.

The information was vital for Kazoru's strategy, giving him more trust he could rely Akria as a frontline attacker.

"TAKE THE FRONT, AKIRA! I'M GOING TO BE YOUR REAR!" Kazoru commanded. Akira answered with a nod, "Roger that!"

Akira unleashed his attack, causing Savanth's flames to weaken as he grew distracted by them and attempted to defend himself instead. Kazoru aimed his magical fireball at him in all of his weak spots.

[FIRE MAGIC: FLAME BULLETS]

Because Savanth's black flames had exceptional mobility and could be employed for both defense and offensive purposes, the flame bullets he shot didn't impact anything.

"Tch, you annoying brats!!" He finally snapped and attacked them all with his right hand.

[BLACK FLAME MAGIC: E'XNÓRĒ LAVARA]

A massive wave of black flame feeds on the light that was being blasted at them. Akira was killed by the blast and turned into ashes again.

Before his death, Akira quickly pushed Kazoru away to avoid the blast. Everything in his path was destroyed and turned to ash by his blast.

"HAHAHAHA, NO ONE CAN STOP M-" Right when Savanth thought he had won, something impaled his chest.

Akira impaled Savanth's chest with his scythe before he died after which he shoved Kazoru away.

Savanth coughed up blood, weakening his defenses. His other palm trembled as it felt his chest in amazement, and he almost passed out.

As his flames were weakened, Sazoru seized the opportunity, and his bright blue flame eventually triumphs over his black flame. He managed to avoid it, however, he was hit and his right arm was severed by the fire.

"Ugh, Damn you!" He was exhausted from overusing his black flame. When he used his black flame, he expended a massive amount of mana, leaving him vulnerable if he ever ran out.

Savanth was struck in the face by Sazoru after flashing in front of him, sending a shockwave across his entire face. His fist, which had a force of almost 500 tons, pounded him severely. The entire building was destroyed as Savanth crashed into the wall. Savanth tried to use his mana armor, but his powerful blow was too much for it.

He had little mana left, therefore his mana armor was currently far too weak to defend himself against anything.

The second strike was made by Sazoru as Savanth was defenseless and immobilized by the damage he received from his entire body.

Savanth was struck to the ground and made it shattered completely. He began continuously beating him with killing intent out of pure rage, setting off an earthquake in the vicinity. The quake was audible from great distances.

Savanth was severely injured by Sazoru, his face was broken, and began bleeding out badly. He then tried to escape by using his flame one last time.

Sazoru jumped away from him, and Savanth built a barrier for him to escape. He shouted and called his crew. Seconds later, his crew arrived to pick him up. With a flying wagon and drove off to their hideouts quickly.

Their battle was won by Akira, Sazoru, and Kazoru, but parts of the city were severely damaged and destroyed.

Sazoru clenched his fist because of his escape and shouted, calling him a coward. Sazoru finally called the damage control to thoroughly repair the damage and will later return to the king's palace to report.

"Thanks, nameless boy and Kazoru. You two have saved my life!" Sazoru panted and thanked both his nephew and Akira.

"Yeah, no problem!" Akira smiled and also panted. His body felt numb and so he sat on the floor.

"Also, why are you naked?" Sazoru wondered how Akira ended up being naked. Sazoru wasn't aware that Akira exist before he helped him because he was dead after being burned to ashes.

"Oh, it's just..." Akira attempted to explain his reasoning. But then, Kazoru answered it.

"He has an odd hobby (Shura was right about one thing, Akira has a thing of running naked.)" Kazoru was confused and spread this lie to his uncle. He didn't know Akira's immortality just Shura's mischievous accusations he believed in.

"HEY! I'VE NEVER SAID THAT!" Akira yelled, arguing that he was still normal.

"Oh, I see... It doesn't matter! I've seen a lot of strange and unusual warriors, so do your thing! However, being naked in public is strictly prohibited. So keep your behaviors in check." Sazoru smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!! IT ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK!" Akira yelled.

And with that, Akira argued with them pointlessly, but they didn't listen to him at all.

.

.

Meanwhile, Savanth was in his wagon, groaning in pain.

"Tch, tough luck..." He panted as he touched his right arm while wobbling from the immense pain.

"(I would've won if I hadn't squandered my mana on those brats! Their annoyances, I cannot tolerate, I'll kill them after all of this)" After losing, Savanth bit his lower lip and gripped tightly onto his right arm, feeling foolish.

"(And that ridiculously loud brat... I could've sworn I murdered that brat, who's swinging about his scythe like a moron, but why...)"

"(Something's not adding up... I can feel my mana wasn't distorting back then. Illusory magic? No... It was something else... My flames could wipe out anything even a fog of illusion, every cell would not regenerate... How...?)" Savanth checked his palm, noticing and pondering something did not quite fathomable.

"!" Savanth's eyes widened the answer he found in his mind caused him to shiver with excitement, his silent chuckle turned into a maniacal grin as he clenched his fist.

"(Shocking, despite my best efforts, I was unable to steal the king's body despite dozens of ideas I brainstormed. The only person I could locate who had the ideal body for me was that Vlahadeer, but that brat...)" Savanth started losing his mind, laughing and laughing.

''Hhhh♪ How unusual, how did I overlook such valuable information? You won't perish despite whatever I do to make you. Because you are... Immortal!" He made a psychotic grimace and grinned out of control after realizing he was immortal. Laughing eerily, even his driver couldn't help to be concerned.

"What? Is it something you said, boss?" When his crew questioned him, he overheard him say someone was immortal.

"I'm sorry, but you don't need to hear this. I'll take the wheel..." Savanth's palm connected to his crew's shoulder and ignited his flames slowly.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING? AGGHHH-" Before taking the wheel, Savanth burned his crew to dust, killing his own crew without feeling remorseful.

"Akira, was that your name? It's been long since I've been this excited, fufufufu... HAHAHAHA! AHHH THE THRILL, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT!" He was lustfully drooling over his ability of immortality until finally became obsessed with Akira.

"Akira, Akira, Akira!" Savanth moaned and moaned his name, his face flushed madly red. No matter the chances were, he plotted to take Akira's body.