The Legion: Heartson

Victor stared, his mouth slightly agape as Mason tumbled from the back of the massive bull creature, his body rolling across the ground before coming to a stop near Rachel. Dust swirled in the air as the beast let out another earth-shaking roar, but Victor's eyes were locked on the blonde boy sprawled on the floor. Mason groaned, dragging himself upright with a shaky hand.

Rachel, still bound and kneeling on the floor, scowled at the boy as though his entrance had been some great inconvenience rather than salvation.

Rachel: Took your sweet-ass time, Heartson. If you took any longer I seriously would have died you know.

Mason whipped his head around to face her, his face twisted in indignation.

Mason: Oh, I'm sorry! Maybe if your instructions weren't so vague, I wouldn't have spent the last eternity trying to navigate this labyrinth while hauling around a ten-ton goliath!

Rachel sneered as Mason reached out, activating his Astral. Black flames sparked to life around his hands as the bindings trapping her to the ground twisted and tore apart like paper. She stood up quickly, brushing off dust with exaggerated disdain.

Rachel: What happened to the hyenas? You didn't have to bring that thing, you know. 

Mason shot her a sarcastic glare.

Mason: Oh, sure. Next time, I'll just tell it nicely to stay put.

Victor's lips pressed into a thin line as he watched the two trade insults back and forth. His mind raced.

Planned? Was this planned? No… surely not. 

But the longer he watched them, the less confident he felt. His grip tightened, his nails biting into his palms as rage bubbled to the surface. This was becoming a drag. It was time to end it. He turned, summoning his energy once more to activate his ability and finish this fight. His hand trembled slightly as he began the chant, but suddenly, his knees buckled.

Victor stumbled, his balance faltering, and he clutched his chest. The poison. Damn it.

That moment of hesitation was enough. Chaos erupted.

The bull-like creature roared again, charging forward with unstoppable momentum. Mason and Rachel dove in opposite directions as the beast slammed into Victor. He summoned a wall of steel from the ground just in time, the structure groaning under the force of the impact. But it wasn't enough. The bull plowed through, sending Victor sprawling across the floor.

Victor scrambled to his feet, summoning more defenses, but the beast continued to wreak havoc, crashing through every barrier and leaving destruction in its wake. Its sheer size and relentless energy turned the entire chamber into a battlefield. Even when it wasn't directly attacking him, its rampage kept him pinned, unable to focus on his true targets.

Mason darted toward Victor, black flames igniting in his hands as he closed the distance. Victor snarled, slamming his fist into the ground and summoning hands to lash out at the boy. The hands erupted from the floor with blinding speed, but Mason moved faster, dodging and weaving through the attacks with unrelenting determination.

But then, just as Mason closed the gap, the bull turned its attention back to him, swinging its massive horns. Mason barely avoided the blow, rolling to the side and counterattacking with a burst of flames. The beast roared, unphased, as it charged at him again. Victor saw his opening and prepared to strike, but a blur of motion caught his eye.

Rachel.

She came from his blind spot, her knife glinting as it sliced through the air. Victor twisted at the last second, avoiding a fatal blow but feeling the blade bite into his side. He stumbled back, his breathing ragged, his vision spinning.

What is this? 

Rachel bounced off the walls of the chamber now, her movements erratic and disorienting. Victor screamed, slamming his fists into the ground again, summoning more energy. The walls and floor trembled violently as hands erupted in every direction, attacking indiscriminately. 

Mason pushed forward through the onslaught, deflecting blows with his flames and protecting Rachel as she darted around the chamber. She used Mason's cover to deliver more slashes to Victor.

Victor dropped to one knee, his body trembling with exhaustion and pain. He couldn't focus. He couldn't think. The poison clouded his mind, and the relentless attacks chipped away at his defenses.

Enough. Enough of this.

His eyes locked onto Mason.

Once he's gone, Rachel and the beast will fall. I'll tear him apart first.

Clasping his hands together, Victor chanted.

Victor: Astral Awakening. Immediate Territory.

An ability that allowed him to target any object, or even living being, and manipulate it completely, making it his territory. While such a trump card would weaken his output, it would be necessary if it could end this fight quickly. 

Purple energy surged around him, the walls trembling under its intensity. Forming his fingers into the shape of a gun, he pointed directly at Mason, a malicious smile spreading across his face.

He fired.

But in that instant, the world shifted. His vision blurred, the targets in his sights changing places. Where Mason had been standing, the bull now stood. Victor's breath hitched as realization dawned.

I missed. 

The command landed on the wrong target, and the bull let out one final, agonized roar before its massive frame crumbled, dismantled in an instant. The beast collapsed into nothingness, its death echoing through the chamber.

And then Rachel's voice rang out, cutting through the silence.

Rachel: Thanks.

She appeared again, delivering a sharp blow to Victor's abdomen with her knife. He stumbled, blood spilling from the wound as Mason surged forward, flames roaring to life around him. Victor summoned more hands in desperation, but Mason burned through them, his flames powerful than ever.

The bull… its death increased his output? How—

Mason closed the distance, his black flames curling around his fist. Victor panicked, slamming his hand into the ground to encase his arm in metal for a counterattack. But it was futile. Mason's punch connected, and the metal shattered like glass.

Victor's arm exploded into a bloody mess, and he fell to his knees, gasping in pain. Rachel appeared again, her knife striking his back, forcing him further down. Victor knelt, clutching his ruined arm, his vision fading.

What… what is this?

He looked up at Mason, the boy standing over him, his eyes burning with resolve.

Victor: What… is this? How… how could greedy pigs like you do this to me? Do you have any idea, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!

Mason stared down at him, his flames flickering.

Mason: You said it yourself. Rachel and I are greedy. We want and want and want, and we'll do anything to get what we want. That's the kind of people we are.

Mason: And we came up with a greedy plan to take it all. Working together, relying on each other, doing all of this, just to take what we want. There's nothing more greedy than that.

Victor's body trembled. 

Greed—

No.

Ambition.

His breath hitched, his vision swimming as the truth clawed its way into his mind. If Rachel and Mason had been willing to embrace their greed, to work together to achieve their goal, then their combined ambition had far exceeded his own hadn't it. 

He could never, he would never sink so low as to rely on others to achieve what rightfully belonged to him alone. But maybe…

That ambition…

His lips quivered as he looked up at the duo standing above him, their eyes blazing with unrelenting resolve.

That ambition surpasses even that of a king… 

Victor: How…

Mason raised his fist, black flames roaring to life.

He didn't care to let Victor finish.

Mason: Overdrive!

He drove his fist into Victor's chest, the impact devastating. Black flames erupted outward, consuming Victor's body and crumbling the entire side of the chamber. Mason's attack carried the full weight of his soul, his will, and his ambition.

As Victor's body disintegrated, his lips curled into a final, bitter smile.

How greedy…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mason slumped down, his knees nearly buckling as his body screamed in protest. He leaned against the nearest wall, his breath ragged and shallow. To say his body ached was an understatement—it felt as though every muscle, every fiber of his being was unraveling, on the verge of disintegration. 

The overuse of the Astral of Death had pushed him to his absolute limit, and only the influx of death energy from the bull's demise had carried him this far. Without it, he would have collapsed long before the fight reached its end.

It's over. It's really… over.

His gaze drifted upward, landing on the figure near the entrance of the chamber. Rachel stood there, her posture relaxed, her chest rising and falling as though the battle hadn't taken anything from her at all. Her expression, however, was what caught him. That smile—wide, genuine, and brimming with triumph—lit up her face. She stared at the ceiling, lost in some thought Mason couldn't hope to decipher.

What's she thinking about now? Does it even matter?

He didn't care. That smile made everything worth it—the pain, the suffering, the gamble that could have killed them both. He had defeated Victor Popescu, the captain of this fortress. He had survived.

Summoning every ounce of strength he had left, Mason pushed himself to his feet. His legs wobbled beneath him, but he forced them to move, step by agonizing step, toward the girl who had fought alongside him, the one who had given him a reason to keep pushing forward.

He opened his mouth to speak, unsure of what words would even come out. Something sarcastic? Something sentimental? He didn't know. He just needed to say something—anything—to fill the silence.

But before a single word could escape, the air shifted.

There was a blur—a flash of movement so fast that Mason's overtaxed senses couldn't register it. His body tensed, his instincts screaming at him to react, but he was too slow, too drained, too late.

His eyes widened in horror.

Rachel's body jerked forward, her chest pierced by a blade so white it seemed to glow against the dim light of the chamber. The sound of metal slicing through flesh echoed in his ears, a sound he would never forget. Blood bubbled from her lips as her wide eyes met his for a fleeting, agonizing moment.

No… no, no, no!

The blade was withdrawn just as quickly as it had appeared, and Rachel crumbled to the floor, her body lifeless, her once-brilliant smile now frozen in place.

Mason's knees gave out, his body collapsing as he stared at the scene before him. His mind raced, his heart pounding so violently it drowned out all other sound.

Edward: Congratulations on your victory Heartson, what a feat it is to defeat a captain!