49. Black and White Origins (part 1)

Character : Nathan Fiore, Black and White Origins

-----

Jonah, Lily, and Nyssa, couldn't believe their ears when they heard Eric's words.

"The monster is still alive." Eric reported to them what he saw after surviving the dust storm, and the three looked shocked.

"T-Then, what about--"

"Ughukk, bhuhhukkk!!!!-----"

Behind Eric, the loud sound of coughing was heard outside the wind shield which cuts off Lily's words. Eric noticed that the guy behind him couldn't go in because of the wind shield, and Nyssa opened the shield slightly so the guy outside could enter.

Meanwhile, I crawled in with both hands and hurriedly controlled my breathing. I can literally feel the sand that is in my throat, and I coughed them all out in one go before turning to Eric.

"Fuahh!!! Eric, you piece of shi---"

"It's your fault for not holding on to me." Eric said very quickly to stop me from yelling, but I'm not done blaming him.

"You went inside the wind sphere by yourself!! Leaving me outside!?"

"… Again, your fault."

All right. This guy is just messed up in the head.

"N-Nathan… you're not dead??" Lily asked from concern, and I can tell why she was so worried. 

I moved my body on the ground to show Lily my legs, and everyone opened their eyes wide. My left foot is damaged quite badly, with a lot of gruesome charred marks surrounding the missing chunks. My right leg is a lot better, but the charred marks didn't reach the knee unlike my left one. My left hand is also missing a few fingers, and the burn wounds had reached my elbow.

Seeing such a gruesome result from the blast, everyone opened their eyes wide. But, I simply closed my eyes to concentrate. 

Please, heal this wound!

VWOOMM!!!!!!

In an instant, a bright white flame appeared burning the wounds on my legs and left hand. The white flame sparks many times as it continuously burns the wound, but it didn't damage the limb in the slightest. Instead, it very slowly regenerates the wound until it is completely closed.

The process did take a while, and everyone noticed that this healing might take a long time. So, I just turned my gaze to Eric and grinned at him.

"You're not the only one with two origins…" I said with a big grin, and Eric's shocked expression says all that I need to know.

"… You… how?"

"The white fire. It's a combination of light and fire origins. As to how I got it, my mother was actually an owner of the white fire origin." I explained to them about the truth, and everyone could only become widely surprised hearing that.

"But, to own both normal fire and white fire…" Eric continued with his questioning, and I nodded at him.

"Is just simply impossible. So, how can I use it? Because the white fire you guys are seeing right now isn't complete. To put it simply… I didn't fully inherit the white fire origin from my mother. I can't use it to heal others, and I can't use it to burn anything as well. All it does is heal my wounds, and that's it."

Everyone turned widely confused at my explanation, probably because this is the first time someone ever sees something like this. However, one person snapped out of their daze and turned to Eric instead.

"What about your second origin?" Lily turned to Eric, and the mercenary let out an annoyed sigh.

"You just had to tell everyone, huh…?" Eric said quite annoyed me, and I only chuckled.

"What? Felicia told me everyone already knows."

"So, she's the one who spilled it to you!??"

While Eric is facepalming, I turned my attention to the healing on my legs. My left hand is already quite well healed, but the left leg is still far from being usable. Seeing this, I turned my gaze back to the others.

"Everyone, please listen. The headmaster is also most definitely wounded, probably even worse than me. As a result, Zero will have no choice but to merge once again, meaning that we will have to fight the merged Headmaster-Zero." I told everyone about what I am guessing, and they all seem to agree with it.

"What do you want us to do?" Jonah asked with a serious expression, and I'm so happy that he is not backing out from fear.

"First of all, we'll have to give it our all. Eric, use your black lightning." I turned to Eric with a judging face, and Eric only clicked his tongue.

"Secondly, I'm planning on catching him by surprise. So, we'll have Eric be the one grabbing his attention, while everybody else prepares for a trap setup.

Lily and Nyssa, you two just need to prepare your most explosive technique. Jonah can do something to stop Headmaster-Zero from moving. Eric's speed is most certainly able to match the merged monster, but you can't show him everything. Try to slow down a bit so he thinks he got the upper hand.

Finally, I'll be surprising him from behind. Any questions?"

I paused my explanation of the plan to them for a short bit, and it seems like everyone understood their assignments.

"So, I just need to slow down and act as if he is capable of catching me… Sounds easy enough." Eric said with his highest confidence, and I chuckled seeing him so cocky.

"Strongest technique, huh? I think I can think of something." Lily said while looking at her hands, and I've yet to see Lily's powerful technique.

"I can grab both his legs all the way until the knee. That should pause his movement, even for a little bit." Jonah suggested with a confident gaze, but Nyssa thought about something else even better.

"What if you just drop him into the ground? He will have to dig himself up." Nyssa suggested, and Jonah turned his amazed expression to her.

"Looks like the plan is set. If my guess is correct, then he will absolutely look down on Nyssa and Lily's abilities. He will just stand still and enjoy the scenery while being captured by Jonah's technique. In that span of time, Eric can cast his own explosive technique and gets ready to place it.

At the end of it all, you can pull me away using your highest speed." 

I continued with my stare towards Eric, and the guy only looked so disgusted.

"Why do I get the most annoying tasks…?"

"Because you have two offensive and fully functioning origins, hello?? Also, I'm missing a leg here."

Beforelong, Eric and I started arguing. The dust storm outside is already clearing itself, and we can hear explosions coming from quite far away.

"Guys! We have to go!" Lily shouted, and we all quickly started preparing ourselves for the battle.

Fast forward to the present, we are now staring at the giant cloud of smoke over fifty meters away in the distant desert. My friends are all behind me, and we are waiting for the signs of Headmaster-Zero to appear.

"The plan worked exactly as you said it." Next to me, Lily stepped up and said, quite amazed.

"It's just obvious to me. The headmaster is someone who takes pride in his students. Meanwhile, Zero is someone who looks down on you guys. It's only natural that their first instinct would be to block your techniques instead of dodging them." I explained to her about my thought process, and she laughed at how easy it was for me to read such things.

"Wow! You're really good at reading people's thoughts. Just like how you did when you rejected me, huh?"

… What?

"Uhmm… can we focus?" I said quickly while pointing at the smoke in the distance, and I can already hear boos coming from Nyssa and Jonah behind me.

You guys are really joking around in this situation…?

BOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of a sudden, a powerful blast came from towards the center of the smoke. We all quickly prepared ourselves for what was about to come, and a silhouette of a man began walking out of the smoke.

Seeing his appearance, my eyes opened widely as the traumatizing memories returned to my consciousness. My entire body shudders from remembering that appearance, and I can already hear the screams of the village people as my eyes study him.

What came out of the smoke was a two and a half meters tall giant wearing a long black torn robe. His right hand has long black blades as claws, and his left hand is covered in a bright white energy. His skin looks as black as coal, covered in both black and white auras simultaneously.

This is him.

The damn bastard who came to massacre my village that night.

This is fucking him.

"Nathan!!" Next to me, a shouting voice was heard, and I turned my terrified gaze to Lily. She quickly noticed that something was wrong with me, and she placed her hand on my back.

"Nathan… it's fine. You're not alone this time." Lily said to calm me down, and I realized that I was so immersed in the memory dive. I turned my gaze back to the robed giant in the distance and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry… I can't predict the battle that is going to happen. That thing right there… is no longer Headmaster nor Zero. It's just a monster." I said with a grim tone, fully knowing that this monster is definitely nothing like anything we've ever faced before.

"Then, we'll just have to give it our all." On my left, Eric stepped forward to show that he is more than eager to fight this to the death. 

A portion of his hair above his ears has turned silver, which revealed that he is now using Limit Break. But, his right hand is holding regular white lightning, while his left hand is holding a dark colored lightning.

Eric turned his grin to me, and I noticed that his left eye had also turned black. "Are you chickening out, prince?"

Am I… chickening out?

Is this what I am? A chicken?

No… I'm absolutely not taking that.

"On the contrary, I'm very much excited." I said coldly while facing the headmaster, and I released all of the hidden powers that I have within me.

BOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

My entire body bathed in the crimson burning fiery aura, and the front part of my hair turned bright red. I, too, activated my Limit Break, all with the intention of genuinely bringing this fight until the very end.

"I'm not losing today!! Not after seven years of waiting!!" I shouted angrily at the monster, and Eric chuckled before gazing back at the monster.

"We'll support you two from behind. Go!" Lily said as she too turned on Limit Break, and everyone else seemed to be doing the same.

I nodded at them before preparing myself, and it looks like the monster also noticed that we're not playing around anymore.

"Finally… No more shenanigans like planning and traps. Just pure combat!!" The monster that is Headmaster-Zero shouted aloud to us, and we all noticed that he is by no means worried about our capabilities at all.

What we've done previously has only agitated him. The real deal starts now.

BZZZTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very quickly, Eric dashed straight towards the giant monster. Seeing him coming, Headmaster Zero did not hesitate to lift both his hands upwards.

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The giant slammed down both its fists to the ground to shatter the floor underneath, and Eric's approach was halted midway.

"Tch!" Eric clicked his tongue seeing the destroyed ground, and I realized right away that this might be a chance.

BOOMM!!!!

BOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

Two fireballs quickly made their way towards the headmaster and exploded massively. And as I expected, he definitely had methods of blocking fire techniques.

The headmaster swiped his giant right hand forward, clearing the smoke to reveal that he is unscathed by the fireballs. For a moment, I noticed that his body is covered in both light and darkness aura, which proved to us that his defenses were formed out of the combination of the two origins.

Darkness origin will never be able to block fire origin techniques, which was why Zero had problems when facing me. However, when backed with light origin, the darkness will not disappear, just as a shadow will exist under a light. It's a complicated method that I'm sure that guy has already figured out a long time ago.

Right. They were the same person to begin with. Headmaster Hendrick and Zero have always been the same individual. He is just that monster with two special origins.

How… can we defeat him?