“There’s something that I’m curious about.”

Miko was walking through a town with Tia, Regis, and Ishma. He had just casually killed a few soldiers who were trying to ambush them when Ishma called to him.

“What is it?”

“Why did you separate your siblings? Aren’t they stronger together?”

Miko threw the head he was holding away and turned towards her with a grin.

“That’s why I did it. Despite saying that they can’t stand each other they bring out the best in each other. I want to change that.”

“Why?”

Regis asked.

“Because anything can happen in this messed up world. It’s best that they learn to survive on their own. After all, they won’t be with each other all the time. I want them to grow into their own person.”

“I totally get it.”

Tia chipped in.

“Those two are strong together but lacking apart. In order for them to truly become stronger they must develop their own identity. Not as the twins but as Kristen and Tessa.”

Miko nodded.

“Think of it as much needed character development.”

“Recently, you’ve been talking like this is all a story.”

Tia said with a laugh.

“Isn’t it? Life is a story you know. Everyone is their own main character and everyone goes through their ups and downs to develop for the better or for the worse. It’s just that some get their stories told even after it ends. I want my brother and sister’s stories to be told for many years to come. But for that to happen they must step in the spotlight and become characters worth talking about.”

“I see. You’re such a caring brother.”

Tia spoke with a smile.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Miko looked towards the sky.

(My cute and adorable siblings. You can do it. You can grow into interesting protagonists of your own story.)

He showed a gentle smile.

“You’re my siblings aren’t you?”

Kristen was face to face with Ryker who had a sinister feel to him. Without him realizing it, his body was trembling. This was its way of telling him that he was in danger.

(Ryker was always considered a fighter with high firepower. Even Sora had a rough time against him but….This is different from what I heard.)

Ryker rushed at him and transformed into a streak of flames again.

(Get a hold of yourself, Kristen!)

He avoided the flames by leaping back.

“In a disadvantageous situation, the one who strikes first wins!”

Ryker followed after him and came rushing at him. Kristen lifted his hands in front of him and blocked the flames. The flames shrunk down in size and a golden aura appeared around him. He activated his Vita.

(Absorb his strength and send it back at him!)

Flames burst out of kristen’s hands and blew Ryker back into his human form.

“Oh? Not bad.”

Kristen said nothing as a crimson mist appeared around them.

(Ryker is said to be a wild fighter. I know from my time with Tessa that those type don’t do well against tricks.)

Kristen disappeared into the mist.

“Beleth’s Demon Mist.”

Ryker started looking around him to find his enemy. Without him knowing, Kristen came at him from behind and struck him in the back. Or that was supposed to happen.

“Heh.”

With a sneer, Ryker sidestepped kristen’s sneak attack and struck the shocked Kristen with a strong right. His skin sizzled when it made contact with the fist and a piece of his cheek was burnt off.

“Ugh?!”

Kristen’s body bounced off the ground a couple times before getting blast away by a burst of flames. He managed to twisted his body midair and land on his feet.

“He knew that it was coming?!”

He was forced to retreat from a blast of flames.

(As I thought, something really is off!)

Ryker rushed towards him and Kristen continued to retreat as fast as he could.

(The information I had on him is worthless and he’s completely overwhelming me. What should I do now? Retreat and regroup?)

His mind raced as he desperately avoided Ryker consecutive flame attacks. Ryker accelerated and caught him in the middle of a jump and stab at his heart. Kristen twisted his body and Ryker’s hand grazed his chest burning his shirt and skin.

(I’m stacking up damage! I need to make a move!)

He stopped running and crossed blows with Ryker. That was a mistake.

“Ahhhh?!”

His fist was scorched the moment it touched him and Ryker’s fist almost tore off his left shoulder.

“Die, Prey!”

Ryker went for his neck and Kristen lifted his right arm to block it. The arm received severe burns as well but he bought enough time to blast himself away and retreat.

“Get it together, Kristen! You can’t survive by retreating alone but you can’t just rush into it!”

His body was covered in severe burns and he could barely lift his arms. The situation was nowhere near good.

“I’ve got no other choice.”

Crimson tribal marks started appearing on his face stretching down to the rest of his body.

“Beleth, I’m going to borrow some of your power!”

The marks started glowing with a fiery color. Heat surged through Kristen’s body and he could feel power building up.

“I just need to push it until just before I lose control.”

His eyes became crimson.

“I’ll just make use of what I have and win!”

He accelerated towards Ryker with explosive speed. Ryker fired his flames at him but he evaded them with swift movements. He cut the distance between them and crimson aura gathered around his fist. He slammed his fist in the center of Ryker’s face and forced him back.

(Good. No burns.)

He went for the follow up and created crimson claws out of aura and slashed at Ryker. His claws missed with Ryker taking to the skies. He formed dozens of giant fireballs over his head and fired them down at Kristen.

“I’m borrowing this one, Miko!”

A sinister crimson aura started flowing out of his body. An image of a terrifying crimson beast appeared behind him. He then moved his arms in a circular motion over his head.

“Demon Art: Destructive Wave!”

A spiral crimson light rushed towards the sky extinguishing all the fireballs and hitting Ryker. The flames around him were instantly extinguished, most of his clothes disintegrated, and his body suffered severe burns. He fell out of the sky and landed on the ground with a smile on his face. This made Kristen nervous.

(Who smiles when their skin is peeling off? This guy is insane.)

“Huh?”

He saw a black substance concentrating at the center of Ryker’s chest.

“What’s that?”

Kristen stared at the black substance and a chill climbed up his spine. He felt like he was in the presence of something terrifying.

“To think that I would be forced to use this against you.”

The black substance suddenly ignited and spread across Ryker’s entire body. The flames solidified and formed a red bodysuit with black highlights. There was a bow and arrow symbol on his chest with the Roman Numeral “II” on his back. He had flaming arrows on his gloves and his red and black helmet.

“Zodiac Parasite Suit- Sagittarius.”

“Sagittarius?”

Kristen’s body trembled. He finally knew where the sinister feeling was coming from. It was that suit that Ryker was wearing.

(What the hell is that?)

He could feeling a great amount of power coming from Ryker. He lowered his center of gravity and rushed towards him.

“Hesitation equals death!”

Crimson flames and lightning gathered around him before being fired at Ryker. Kristen didn’t wait to see what damage they would do and formed a broadsword in his hand. The moment the lightning and flames landed he leaped into the air and swung down the broadsword. A crimson light cut through the air and slashed where Ryker was. Kristen then followed up by thrusting his sword at his opponent. His thrust hit air and he landed on the ground. He span around swinging his sword and cleared the dust gathered up by his attacks.

“What the?”

He didn’t see Ryker anywhere. Only the scorched ground with long cuts in it.

“Did all of my attacks miss?”

“That’s right.”

Kristen swung his sword behind him but didn’t feel any contact. He turned around and found Ryker floating upside down and looking him in the eyes.

“Taking the initiative isnt the same as attacking recklessly out of fear.”

Kristen’s body froze up. He clenched his teeth and attacked Ryker with a roar. His blade missed Ryker who flew upwards. Kristen leaped into the air unleashing all of the demonic power that he could and condensed it into his sword.

“Watch out for your sword.”

Kristen ignored him and swung his sword firing a giant crimson slash at him when he entered striking range. The slash hit Ryker and nearly cut his body in half. This caused Kristen to smile in relief. Ryker started falling towards him.

“Eh?”

Kristen was shocked by what happened next. The falling Ryker held onto Kristen’s sword and stopped midair.

“You should’ve followed up with a second strike to make sure I was dead. Did having your strongest attack land make you that relieved?”

Kristen was hit square in the face with a punch and was forced to the ground. He looked up while laid out on the ground. There he saw something that made his brain tremble.

“He’s regenerating?”

Ryker’s body that was barely attached started stitching itself back together. It didn’t take long for him to be good as new.

(What the hell?! What the hell?! What the hell?!)

Kristen screamed in his head while shaking his head.

(Just what is going on?! I cut him didn’t I?! No! I definitely cut him! Then why is he good as new?!)

“You know, you have a bad habit of overthinking things.”

Ryker landed near him.

“Because of that habit you tend to freeze up when under pressure. Well, I was the opposite. I normally attacked without thinking.”

He saw a confused look on kristens face and sighed.

“Don’t tell me that you’ve been panicking so much that you haven’t realized the change in my behavior since I put on this suit.”

“?!”

Kristen’s eyes widen. He was right. Ryker up until now was like a mad beast but now he’s calm. Extremely calm.

“This is the problem with your type. You try to explain everything using logic and use your intelligence to solve your problems. But when faced with something that you can’t understand you become reckless, shortsighted and narrow minded. You short-circuit. People like you crumble in the face of the unknown. Truly fragile beings.”

He smiled.

“How about I ease your fears a little by explaining what’s going on?”

That smile made Kristen want to run and don’t look back.

“What I’m wearing is a Zodiac Parasite Suit built by MYTH. These suits grants the users abilities depending on the zodiac they’re model off. I’m wearing the Sagittarius suit. It grants me the power of Sagittarius which is a fire element zodiac. Hence the improved firepower. It also grants me the abilities of Chiron, who is Sagittarius’ true identity. As the teacher of many heroes like Hercules and Achilles, Chiron was very intelligent and was said to be wise to the point of being all-seeing.”

He lifted a finger.

“Now here’s a question. What powers do you think this suit grants me from what I just told you?”

Kristen’s mind raced and he quickly reached the answer.

(Intelligence boost and Clairvoyance!)

He remember what Ryker said before he cut.

“Taking the initiative isnt the same as attacking recklessly out of fear.”

“Watch out for your sword.”

(He knew what I was gonna do and how it would end up. That’s why he held my sword earlier….)

Fear painted Kristen’s face. Ryker smiled when he saw this.

(I wasn’t just blabbing about the suit for no reason.)

Kristen sprang to his feet and and started running with all of his might.

“Hahaha! That’s what I wanted to see. When people like you face something incomprehensible your first thought is to run. That’s because, more than anyone else you fear the unknown and not being able to control the situation.”

He lifted his hand and formed a fire bow. He pulled the string and took aim.

“Unlike those who act before thinking, intelligent people have a harder time overcoming fear and are more likely to be crippled by it.”

Several flame arrows appeared in the bow. Ryker grinned.

“Of course, that means they are more likely to have a mental breakdown.”

He released the string and several fire arrow pierced into Kristen’s back and came out the front.

“Guah?!”

Kristen halted and started vomiting blood. He turned around only to receive several more arrows in his body. He looked at the sneering Ryker.

“Fuck…”

His vision became blurry and he stumbled backwards.

“I’m such an idiot.”

He collapsed onto the ground.

“Hahaha! It’s my win.”

Ryker turned his back and then took to the skies.

“Time to look for my next prey.”

He flew off creating a trail of flames across the sky.

Meanwhile, Kristen laid motionless on the ground. This continued for several hours before anything changed. Crimson aura started seeping out of his body.

(Is this really how you chose to die, My Vessel?)

An eerie voice resounded in the desolated area.

Kristen’s fingernails lengthened and became sharp and pitch black.

(This kind of end is unacceptable for Great Demon Kings like us.)

Kristen's claws dug into the ground and grasped the dirt.

(Rise, boy. This is not the end.)

Kristen silently lifted his head.

(This is merely the beginning! Both yours and mine! Remind the world of the terror that is Beleth!)

Kristen lifted his eyelids and revealed a pair of slit crimson eyes. He then spoke with a monstrous grin on his face.

“To hell with everything.”