Ronner

A gust of hot wind hit Ronner's face while a tense smirk danced above his bloody lips. Glowing embers floated across the battlefield like fireflies, and old trunks fell apart, crackling as furious flames devoured them.

The moon was gone, and the night sky had fallen still, awaiting the next move that would seal the future of many. Only the stars were witnesses of an unknown destiny.

Ronner's gaze connected with Brisa's golden eyes, which stared back at him, and a profound turmoil invaded his mind. He could betray anyone in the world but her. Yet, despite his doubts, Brisa's expression showed no fear; silently, she yelled at him to finish what he had started.

Clenching his fist, Ronner glanced at Danny, who struggled to breathe on the ground. Unless a doctor arrived in time, he wouldn't make it.

Spitting blood over Alayna's wounded body, Ronner took the first step forward. "What's your big plan, dog?" he shouted at Kira, cracking his knuckle. "If you kill Brisa, I'll tear you and your bitch apart. You know that."

"You're a dead man, you already know that. The question is . . . " Kira stifled a chuckle, his grip tightening around Brisa's neck. "How do you plan to go?"

Ronner glanced at Alayna, who struggled to sit up. Killing her would be easy. However, his priority was Kira. Ronner had defeated him six years ago, but he was a different warrior now, and Brisa's fate was in his hands.

No more mistakes.

Lightning could reach Kira before he could pull the trigger, but the energy released would kill Brisa.

Using Alayna as a hostage was a tempting option, but as Ronner turned to her, a heavy punch landed against his nose.

Ronner flinched, staggering backward, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Alayna clumsily leaping away from him. She stood her ground with her sane arm raised in a fighting stance. Despite her severe wounds, catching her wouldn't be easy. Her pride was still as unbreakable as the last time they met.

What was that oppression on his chest? Regret, perhaps?

No. Ronner refused to believe such a thing. The mighty blue demon never regretted anything.

Never.

Never . . .

Not even what he did six years ago to a younger Alayna and her growing army. They weren't his target, yet he couldn't help but have fun with them. Ronner was on his way to eliminate his last target. One of the most powerful men in the country; the ex-Magenta's boss. The same man who had ruined The Lady's life.

Alayna's army had nothing to do with it.

They were innocent.

They were innocent . . .

Those thoughts drilled into Ronner's brain as he witnessed Kira's gun pointed at his face.

A gunshot.

Ronner could barely see the bullet with his blood-stained eye, but he dodged it at the last millisecond.

His reflex action was to try to charge at Kira with lightning growing in his arm, but the man quickly shoved his gun against Brisa's temple.

Ronner halted, and a smirk drew across Kira's face. "I know what you're thinking," his enemy said, "you still believe you can fool me and take advantage of your speed to reach me before I pull the trigger."

Brisa locked her eyes on Ronner and slowly shook her head.

Gritting his teeth, Ronner allowed his energy to vanish from his arm. "Fair enough." He smiled, burying his nails into his hand. "What do you want from me? What's the price for her life?"

"Their lives," Kira corrected him. "I already know she's carrying your child."

"Is that so?" Ronner took two steps forward. "I know you. You're not the kind of man who would murder an unborn child."

"The fuck you know about me, Ronner?" Kira shouted, his voice full of contempt and spite.

Ronner swallowed, and for the first time in years, his heart hastened a little. An unknown feeling crawled on his back, a feeling he barely remembered. The last time Ronner had felt something similar was fifteen years ago when he lost the last person he cared about.

After that, his life was stained by blood and lust, burying any useless feeling in the depths of his rotten soul. Why would such a pathetic sentiment arise at the worst possible moment?

Grandma would be disappointed, Ronner thought. The old hag will think she raised a weakling.

Fuck no . . .

Her sacrifice won't be in vain.

Hell can wait. I'm not going yet.

"Dear Kira, even if you say that . . . " Ronner wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "I know you're weak," he murmured, lifting his eye into a mocking gaze. "This is the only way you have to fight me. I know you couldn't protect Alayna six years ago." Ronner sniggered. "I know you watched her getting raped by my men and did nothing other than crying like a little bitch." He stifled a chuckle. "Am I wrong?"

Kira's eyes reddened with fury, and in a sweep of his hand, he aimed the shotgun at Ronner's head. "If you dare dodge this bullet, I'll bury this fucking knife into her neck." In his left hand, the blade of a short knife gleamed under the flickering flames, pointing at Brisa's neck. She breathed slowly with her pupils locked on Ronner, who recognized her silent words; Brisa was telling him to kill that damned bastard.

"You won't dare to do that because you're a coward," Ronner challenged him with a wide bloody smile that reflected the fire surrounding them and took another step forward.

"Fucking piece of shit." Kira cocked his gun. "You don't deserve to live, disgusting narcissist. You don't even care about your own woman." Kira's finger slowly pressed the trigger.

"You're right." Ronner nodded, charging electricity in his arm. "I don't give a shit about her nor my spawn, nor any of you."

Wrath flashed in Kira's eyes as he pulled the trigger.

Thunder rumbled throughout the arid field.

The time stopped.

Ronner glimpsed a familiar face on the horizon, staring at him. Those eyes warmed up the coldness in his body and soul.

"Old hag, what are you doing here?" Ronner whispered.

A familiar woman stood beside Kira, who was frozen, holding Brisa, who never took her beautiful eyes away from Ronner.

The woman nodded, and Ronner knew what she meant.

"As you order . . . "

The time resumed, and a blazing bullet neared his head as fast as lightning.

Ronner dodged the bullet.

Kira's left hand twitched and trembled as he reluctantly pushed the knife into Brisa's neck.

. . .

But instead of Brisa's skin, the knife broke through someone else's arm.

Danny had shoved his body against Kira and pushed his arm between the knife and Brisa, causing the blade to bury into his muscle. The tip came out from the other side of his forearm, but it was already far from Brisa's neck.

Before Kira could react, a layer of ice engulfed his arm, stopping him from hurting Danny further. Astonished, Kira loosened his grip around Brisa, and Danny took advantage of it to push him with all his strength, causing him to lose balance and giving Brisa an opening to break free from him.

As Brisa fell to the ground and crawled away, Kira tried to catch her, but a blinding cobalt flash turned the night into a hellish day.

Lightning struck Kira in the head, who desperately shot at Ronner. Most bullets missed, but three impacted Ronner's legs and stomach.

The shock paralyzed and burned Kira's body, and part of the massive amount of energy transferred to Danny. Ronner diverted the lightning toward the ground, reducing the impact on Kira to save the young man from being cooked alive.

Danny collapsed on the ground, his body convulsing, while Kira refused to fall but dropped his shotgun and knife.

Ronner limped to Brisa and covered her body with his. He rushed to check on her, scanning her body in search of wounds. Brisa returned a reassuring look: besides the marks of fingers around her neck and minor bruises, she was alright.

Eyeing his surroundings, Ronner spotted Alayna covered in ice too, and a long trail of frost reached Viper's body, who lay unconscious with his arm buried into the ground.

That bastard . . . He used his remaining strength to stop them.

Darting his eye back at Kira, Ronner noticed his enemy's body smoking. The lightning bolt had left a small hole in his forehead, and blood spilled down his nose. Yet, a smirk was plastered all over his face.

"Do you think I didn't prepare myself for your lightning for the past six years?" Kira sneered, lifting his long sleeve. Only then, Ronner noticed a metallic net surrounding his arms, chest, and legs. He recognized a titanium exoskeleton, a device used for soldiers to shield themselves from electricity manipulators like himself.

If he had only used more energy instead of avoiding Danny's death.

There was no time for regrets; his priority was their lives.

"Disappear." Kira's voice turned into ice as he shoved his hand into his waist, drawing a revolver.

Being too weak, Ronner couldn't charge enough electricity on time. His only reaction was to pick up Brisa, shielding her with his body while he tried to take her to safety.

Five gunshots roared across the night.

The first canon bullet penetrated Ronner's lung, and two more dug into his spinal cord. Ronner didn't stop; he clenched his teeth and rushed toward a mountain of rubble and debris looming behind a wall of flames. The fourth bullet destroyed his other lung, and the fifth penetrated his liver.

A burning sensation filled his stomach, and the metallic flavor of blood filled his mouth and nose. His legs weakened with every step, threatening to bend and break like the branches of a dying tree. Yet, Ronner would never stop. Not until Brisa was safe.

Two more bullets whistled past his head as Ronner reached his destination, hiding behind a mountain of ruins and finally fell on his knees, dropping Brisa on the ground. The whole world spun around him as his brain assimilated the damage his body had received. There was no pain, but as Ronner tried to speak, his voice barely came out. Oxygen had left his lungs.

"Are you ok?" Ronner murmured between short empty breaths.

Brisa sat up, lifted her teary eyes at him, and then nodded. She gripped his hand and spoke softly. "Why do you keep fighting?"

"For you . . . " Ronner muttered as a bullet buried in his left side exploded, causing a blast of blood and muscle that splattered Brisa's face and the ground. He made a pause and gritted his teeth. "I hate Canon Bullets."

Undisturbed, Brisa rushed to wrap part of her torn dress around Ronner's side and pushed with all her strength to stop the hemorrhage.

Ronner widened his eye at the courage of her woman. He could barely recognize the scared maid from the mansion. "You know," he started, his voice thin like a thread. "It's a bit too late now, but . . . " Ronner turned to his side and coughed a mouthful of blood. His eye returned to Brisa. "I've finally come to understand my mission in this fucking world."

A tear trailed down Brisa's cheeks, but as she tried to speak, Ronner sprang from the ground to peek at Kira from behind the ruins.

Out of bullets, his enemy rushed to pick up his loaded shotgun lying on the field.

Ronner charged a lightning bolt in his arm, but only sparks shot from his fingers. "Fuck . . . I got no enough energy to charge," he whispered, letting out a chuckle while Brisa gripped his sides. His blood dripped between her fingers, staining her dress as she held him tightly. "But . . . I still have enough energy to use a last magnetic field . . . " Ronner panted, his throat closing as his heart rate slowed. "You'll need to run into the forest and make it as far away from here as possible."

"Do you plan to die like that?" Brisa questioned, shaking her head as she glared at him, her eyes glistening, filled with fire. "Is this how you plan to go?"

Ronner twisted his lips into a weak smile. "Wish I had more choices, my dear, but I don't."

Silence.

"No," Brisa whispered in his ear, wrapping her arms around his torso. "You can do it . . . You can do it!" Her weak whisper turned into a lioness roar. "I believe in you, Ron! You can do this!"

Ronner took a moment to process her words while Kira dashed through flames, trying to find the best angle to shoot at them.

"I won't leave your side because I know you can do it." Brisa leaned her head against his back, her tears soaking his blood-stained clothes, and her body, trembling and burning with fury and hope, now put in him.

That's when Ronner realized the meaning of her words.

The words someone else had told him on her last breath too.

The words that sealed his fate.

. . .

Why could I never see it before?

When it was right in front of my eyes . . .

Did I have to lose my eye to finally see it?

Kira emerged from behind the flames with his shotgun aimed at his head.

Victorious, his enemy laughed.

The same way Ronner had laughed so many times at his dying victims.

In the end . . .

This is my fate . . .

Ronner smirked while Kira pulled the trigger for the last time.

Perhaps it was the warmth of that woman against his cold body while life drained into a pond of crimson. Or perhaps, it was her sweet voice echoing in his mind.

Or perhaps, it was that child he had sworn to protect with his life, the only mark a demon could leave on that cruel world.

I finally understand that idiot . . .

Marcus . . .

You died well . . .

Ronner had never feared death until that night.

A blue demon raised.

No pain, no sadness, no anger.

Only a will. A will that charged the most monstrous hope, hissing and sparkling in blinding cobalt plasma.

Like a spiderweb, lightning spread across the sky.

Kira shot.

Dreams and nightmares merged into a written fate.

Like a sun in the darkness and fire in the water, several warriors became immortal that night.

A tempest wailed like a banshee, freezing and burning the bones of those who still had humanity.

A flash among the stars.

And then.

Silence.

*°*°*