Superiority

To put it simply, they got rekt.

One adventurer tried to headbutt the little boy in the face while Lyze was mid-air but one thunderous hook caved the side of the man's skull in, blowing the eye out on the other side of the head with brain matter spurting out too. Lyze then grabbed the corpse's flailing arm and swung the it around to collide with another woman and the two went surfing through mud before smashing into a house wall and collapsing the entire thing on top.

He outstretched an arm and a storm of lightning fried another two Evilus members alive, as Lyze fended Mato off one handed with Excalibur.

Around him were the dismembered corpses of the adventurers that had tried to get the jump on him but pitifully found themselves resting in pieces as he chopped them up like a chef slicing veg on a cutting board. The only one who posed any sort of challenge to Lyze now was Mato.

The large man was exhausted and red faced from having to swing the heavy axe all throughout the duration of this one-sided massacre. Lyze smiled as he lowered the arm invoking lightning and focused fully on the man who was going for another over head hack.

"{Cratus}" Said Lyze as he felt his muscles harden, packing more density as they swelled up a bit and he caught the blade between his fingers, stopping the large weapon dead in its tracks as Mato huffed angrily in both fury and disbelief.

"Give up." Lyze said. "Look at you. You're pathetic. Like you've never even held a weapon before and you're fresh from suckling off of mommy." Lyze then looked upwards as if he were thinking for a moment. "Oh wait, mommy's milk must have been riddled with diseases. After all, I'm sure everybody loved her in the 'workhouse'. It's the only thing that can explain why you're so weak and stupid."

Mato snarled angrily and tried to punch at the boys' face with his other arm, but Lyze just gave him a flat look and pointed Excalibur at the oncoming limb. Excalibur spiked right through flesh and bone and came out the other side of the man's as Mato impaled his own right arm on the holy sword, letting out a strained yell as the pain became too much for him to process all at once.

"See what I mean." Lyze said. "Utterly stupid. Usually the reason for a person's behaviour doesn't just rely on the father. Sometimes the bitch is the one responsible. You see it all the time in dogs after all, which is not too far fetched a comparison to you."

"You think insults and trash talk make you funny kid?" Mato spat blood out as he wrestled with the boy in a contest of pure strength...which he was rapidly losing.

"I'm just stating facts." Lyze said. "Degenerate blood makes for good-for-nothing, useless, disgusting, weakling pissants like you and your pimp father." Lyze grit his teeth and gripped his hand even tighter as cracks spread out from his fingertips on Mato's axe before the axe head exploded into fragments of metal. Lyze then opened his palm fully and slapped Mato right across the face, making the man's cheek explode and revealing his molars as Mato's body flipped over on itself, painfully tearing his impaled arm off Excalibur and leaving bits of skin behind.

The only thing that seemed to keep Mato conscious was the adrenaline as his arm was shredded and he was losing more and more blood by the minute. Apparently it was also the thing that was affording him the ability to give more lip to Lyze.

"You're calling my parents pimps and whores? Big words for a kid to learn unless his were the same."

"Oh mine were pretty similar." Lyze said to the man's surprise. "They were outright bastards whom I don't even think of as my parents. As far as I'm concerned, they're nothing to me. I refer to you specifically like that because of one reason." Starting to feel the strain of his 'Cratus' skill, Lyze let it go and his muscles became smaller as they returned to their usual lean size. He was still plenty strong enough to pick Mato up by the collar. "You think I would kill you off quickly after you basically threatened to put one of the people I care about most into a child trafficking sales pitch?"

"Brats like you don't even know what feelings are." Mato spat blood in Lyze's face. "I have nothing to fear from you if you think you can comprehend what hardship and real life problems are."

"Nothing to fear from me yet here you are on the ground, pissing blood with a face that no-one will recognise anymore. How stupid can you get? But don't worry." Lyze leaned closer. "My friends will be coming soon, and you'll be in prison."

"Pfft, you think prison is going to scare me? Do you even have any idea how many I've been in? If you're not going to just kill me now and you're just going to hand me over to the authorities, you're as big as a fool as every other person in this floor."

"You're the fool if you think I won't do the job." Lyze smiled a chilling smile. "I have connections, people more than eager to help me. I'll find you in prison and when I do, I'm going to make sure you suffer."

"You sound so confident it will happen." Mato laughed. "I don't see any police force and you are not willing to kill me. There are more of us. They'll get you before you can do anything remotely worthwhile and impactful."

"This world combined with all of its 'gods' and mortals and monsters would not be able to stand against me if I were to release my true powers." Lyze said. "But you don't need to worry about that. What you need to focus on is every sin you've committed in life and you're going to repent for each one. Because when I eventually come for you...it's going to hurt." Lyze smiled before throwing the grown man to the ground as he sensed Gurm behind him.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW YOU LITTLE PUNK!" Gurm shouted as he tried to stab into Lyze's neck with his shortsword.

"If you want to surprise attack me..." Lyze deadpanned as he swiftly turned around and swiped with Excalibur. "THEN DON'T SCREAM LIKE A BANSHEE!"

Gurm felt his sword hand severed from the wrist as a wave of cold hit the warm in the exposed wrist. Next moment, there was an extreme cold and pain between in his groin and something soft, bloody and covered in the fabric of his trousers fell to the ground between his legs. Gurm's remaining hand shot to between his thighs as he clasped what used to be his crotch but was now just a flat terrain instead of two hills and a tower.

"Damn." Lyze said as he smirked cruelly. "All that big talk must have been a form of compensate huh? I only meant to cut your hand but you're so weak, my sword doesn't need much pressure to cut through your flesh."

Gurm could not speak, wide eyed as he felt the pain in his stomach regarding the lost treasure of his, the family jewels.

"What- What- kind of barbaric-"

"It's your fault. You're the genius putting up his hand asking to be killed by someone who has already proved to you how strong he is."

Gurm could only stand in shock as he felt his life bleed out from downstairs.

"I've been wanting to try something." Lyze said as he dropped Excalibur for a moment and clenched his fist, concentrating deeply in that single moment. Lyze searched deep withing himself for that familiar feeling he had of power that was up until now intangible to him, but now that he was aware of it, it was so much easier to find.

Silver flames began to lick around the boy's fist before igniting into a small storm around his whole hand. The fire was both mesmerizing and terrifying as it burned with an unfamiliar kind of heat. It was not a heat that just inflicted trial upon the flesh, but both men who were alive felt it bear down upon something deeper within them as their very instincts told them to flee, as if something predatory was after them.

"There we go." Said Lyze. "I think I'll be able to get the hang of this soon enough." He pulled his fist back before slamming it into the middle of Gurm's chest and the man's body flew backwards...not before the eye of Chaos and therefore Lyze's eyes saw a ball of...something...fly out of the man's back first before the body lifted off the ground.

As Lyze focused more closely on wat he was seeing, he realized it was some sort of coloured mist that pulsated with life energy, emitting the feeling of life. Life that was slowly being consumed and burned away by the silver flame that had stuck onto the the now identified soul of Gurm. The flames burned through the man's soul like a paper caught on common fire as Lyze heard the furious, dreadful and horrified last screams from the last vestiges of the man's consciousness before the Origin Flame burned through that last living reminder of the loser's presence in this world. 

Instantly, Lyze felt more energized and alive himself.

"So this is my innate power." Lyze said with a smile as he thought back to his conversation with Nekros on how the Flame of Origin sought to rekindle itself in it's host by swallowing all life-force of the things dying around it. Except this was the first time Lyze had directly applied it.

The fire coating his fist flickered a moment before dying out as the mental strain on keeping it alight tired him out. Had he been alone in his own space, he would have been able to dedicate focus and thought and easily overcome this hurdle of non-familiarity with his now revealed true power.

But even now as he made note to practice more on it later, his mind began thinking of various ways in which he could apply this new power. For now that he saw it for what it truly was, he could understand more and more at a slow but sure pace what exactly he was able to do. Just like his normal fire magic, this fire was malleable and could be turned to other forms while keeping its nature and its prime functionality, serving to his whims alone in a symbiotic kind of relationship where both grew stronger, dependant of the efforts with one another.

He was the Flame and the Flame was him.

And yet Lyze still could not see how this was had the potential to become even greater than Chaos itself as per Nekros's claim. He would have to do more in depth study of it at a later date. For now he still had a target.

"You know, even now...I still can't remember who he was." Lyze said as he dropped Mato to the ground and surveyed the area for Jura. Somewhere in the heat of the slaughter, the cat man had slipped away like the little coward he was always portrayed to be. "Where the hell is that moggy fiend?"

"You won't find him." Mato said as the madness and humiliation of defeat and desperation began to get to him. "He'll go find the others...and then you will learn it. you will get it. The wrath of our great gods will fall upon you brat. You have no power in the face of of our purpose, our unity in the service of one belief, to bring-"

"Maybe I should just set fire to the whole joint and smoke him out." Lyze wondered, not even paying attention to the man's ramble.

"You can't even aim properly!" Mato spat. "That first fireball could have killed us all at once yet you somehow missed by firing it in the air!"

"Oh that wasn't aimed for you, you idiotic lug." Lyze said a she looked down at the pitiful man. "That was a signal."

"...A what?"

"A signal. Only one person in this damned dungeon can use blue fire as of the moment...to the right people, it is a call for help...and a call for reinforcements."

Mato could only stare dumbly as behind them, something landed with great impact, forming a resound crash noise as a dust plume was thrown up momentarily before an armoured dwarf with an axe stepped out of the smoke screen.

"You okay lad?" Gareth said in concern as he observed the bloody carnage.

"I'm fine." Lyze said as he saw the rest of the main bulk of his Familia's fighting force catch up moments later, with Finn bounding into the scene with his spear raised. The Pallum did the same as Gareth before turning his spear backwards and addressing the boy.

"What happened here?"

"This was an Evilus party." Lyze said as he nodded towards Mato lying on the ground. "That guy appears to be their ringleader here. He's the only one I purposefully left alive because he was hinting towards more of them being present in the city."

"I see." Finn said as he nodded at a couple of Gareth's dwarfs. The heavy, bearded men acknowledged his order before they both pulled the man to his feet and kept his arms locked firmly behind his back while another member brought some rope to bind him. "We'll hand him into Bors' people. They'll escort this criminal to the surface. I hope you're okay though Lyze."

"He looks fine." Noir said as he walked up while sheathing his sword and nudging a corpse with his foot. "This lot aren't nearly high enough of a level to contend with our little prodigy. They overestimated themselves."

"I got them by surprise." Lyze said. "If they had been better prepared, not all them might have been killed. One still did escape though. A cat-beast person with a whip scurried off into one of those open buildings over there. This bald guy was also talking about some sort of 'goods' hidden inside, so I think it's worth checking out."

"Duly noted." Finn said before adding an order. "I believe you've done your part Lyze. Return to the rendezvous point. We're not staying in this city for long."

Seeing this as an unquestionable order, Lyze unlike his old self did not protest and insist on 'finishing the job' but complied as he knew that with the forces already gathered in that area, it was already overkill for whatever rats were still lurking about inside the buildings. Lyze nodded, and bowed his head a little in acknowledgement before swiftly walking away from the scene.

As he left them behind, he saw a familiar flash of gold and a little blonde girl smashed into him in frantic relief. 

"Lyze!" Ais said as she hugged him around his torso. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am." Lyze said as he gave her her favourite headpats. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You meanie!" Ais hit him in the gut, though it caused her more pain to do so than it did him. "Why did you throw me?!"

"Had to be done. These idiots had cursed weapons on them. Couldn't risk something bad happening to you."

"But the same thing could have happened to you!"

"I am immune to curses like that." Lyze thumped his chest. "It was a poor matchup from the start. I couldn't risk you though."

"I could have helped. I'm not weak." Ais pouted as her worry for her friend subsided.

"No you aren't." Lyze sighed before Mato's words came back to his mind and his throat tightened as the anger returned. But in contrast to his mood, he lifted a hand and cupped Ais's head by the side of her temple. "But those people wanted to hurt you so they could hurt me. I can bear pain but I can't bear anything happening to you Ais."

"Why? If you can do that, then why can't I help you?"

"Because...(sigh) Because I care about you Ais." Lyze said as he conceded once more to the attachments he'd made despite his vow not to. "We're family, and family tell each other when they can't stand up to something...even if that person wants to prove themselves. These people are not just bad Ais...you're too young to understand what they wanted to do but you will when you're older."

"We're the same age. Why can't I understand too?"

"I would not have you understand the things I've seen Ais." Lyze took his hand off her face, and Ais instantly began to miss the warmth his hand offered. "Just focus on becoming strong. Your mother is the one you need to save, not me."

"But I want to help you too." Ais said as she looked down, a little upset. "You're looking for your mother as well. If you can help me become stronger, then why can't I help you?"

"Because I am stronger than you Ais." Lyze said simply. "It is a fact Ais, I do not need as much help as you do. It is my duty to prioritise your safety in a dangerous situation. Like Finn said, my strength makes me responsible for you and our friends when we're together. Someday, you WILL be strong enough to take on multiple enemies like that...but not now. Okay?"

"...Yes." Ais said reluctantly as even in her indignation, she hung off his word. It was a wonder what idolization made you do when you admired someone. 

Lyze was someone she aspired to be as quickly as he came into their lives. Having already accomplished so much with just his power in such little time had made her cling to him for guidance as she saw him as the best example when you wanted something to go your way. Finding out his end goal was so similar to hers had been shocking but it only made her draw closer to him, even as the strange feelings in her stomach grew more intense.

"Let's go back and find Riveria." Lyze said as he offered her a smile. "Don't forget, we're on an adventure! These idiots are just a distraction. Let's not lose sight of our main goal. THAT, we will do together Ais. You agree?"

"Mhm."

"Then come on. Let's go." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her away from the bloodstained square as shouts began to rise from the houses there as Finn with his group encountered what remnants there were inside.

Away the two children went, back to someone who had become a mother figure to them, one more so than the other. But the point remained as the two looked back onto this moment from years into the future. It was a point in which they first walked together...to a future yet to be determined...but anticipated greatly by their hearts.

Two kindred souls, joined together by similar purpose. What better way to seek strength than by someone you could trust by your side? It was a moment Lyze learned a great deal from as he accepted his feelings...and one he never forgot for years to come.

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