The very thing that's keeping you alive is the same thing destroying you.
Rising from the pile of vibrant leaves, Kaelan forced an exasperated sigh. His heartbeat grew louder, and the bulging ring surrounding his pupils strained. "That ring… I don't know what it could possibly be, but it's the only reason why I'm alive right now…" His hands dug into the moist dirt and entrap a pile between his fingertips. As his hands stray away from the dirt, an unusual power signature dominates his mind. "Something's here… could it be another assassin?"
Meow.
Kaelan's head snapped towards the sudden noise. Atop the crackling branches roamed a brown-furred feline, easing Kaelan with its peaceful purrs. "A cat…?" Before another thought interrupted, he reached his arms, attempting to lead the cat onto his arms. At that same moment, the cat leaped from the branch, its path leading deeper into the woodlands. Sounds of chirping crickets rose from the distance, waking Kaelan from his subconscious. His gaze narrowed towards the fleeing cat. "Where the hell do you think you're going, cat!?"
---
Under a cascading waterfall meditated a peaceful Reid, seated a large rock erecting from the streaming lake. The waterfall's extensive roars continued, pushing the water further downstream. A small wave of lukewarm water caressed his leg, its steady slither easing his eyes open. From above the trees approached a squealing bluejay, shooting up the roaring waterfall with a sudden twist. "So he pulled it off after all. After what happened with Zora, maybe I grew a little too prideful with everything…"
The internal sound of his reflective thoughts faded into the water's rush. His head turned, monitoring the lake's perimeter with a suspicious gaze. Faint purring sounds approached from the distance, accompanied by a frenzy of rustles. Leaping into the lake, the cat lifted its yellow eyes towards Reid. A few seconds of silence passed before Kaelan, bustling with grunts of exhaustion, plunges into the shallow lake with a clumsy stumble. "You're taking me to a lake!? I'm in the middle of a deathmatch here, what's your de-"
Kaelan's pupils shrunk. The feline raced up Reid's leg and onto his arms, fading as it slowly dissolved into his skin. "Shark and Yara were explicitly ordered to kill you. They'll be punished greatly for their failure."
Kaelan straining pupils froze Reid with a focused glare. "The only one that's going to be punished is you."
"Is that so?" Reid replied, leaping from the rock's tip into the shallow current. "I'd like to see you try in your current state."
A coat of bubbling malice enveloped his skin, forcing the water to hiss violently. Thunder rips through the sky above, inflicting the jungle with a fearful tremble. "You've come far," Reid began, "but not far enough." Moved from the lake's gradual pull, Kaelan, clenching his shaky fists, emerged from the zipping stream. Sparkles of gold danced across his fist like arrogant embers refusing to die. "I don't care how far you think I've come. You're the person we're trying to take down; so in that case, I'll do just that."
Volume 13, Chapter 74 - Director's Cut
The simmering water surrounding Reid's legs bubbled with a steaming hiss. Small, wispy clouds of steam rose from the boiling water into the open skies like long, transparent streamers. Kaelan detects the growing sensation of warmth, its surge forcing his body to twitch. "He's using Pyron's firepower."
"I wasn't lying when I said this stay would be your last," Reid muttered. His legs dragged through the popping water, racing towards Kaelan with a mighty push. Shooting his arm upward, an immense thread of flames ripped from his hardened skin. Flares of golden sparks dance across Kaelan's arms alongside the pumping energy in his veins. He formed a small cylinder with his left hand, redirecting the golden sparkles to his palm. "Courage of Gold…"
Reid's flaming arm continued, unleashing a quick swoop.
"Baguette Blade!"
The collision deflects Reid's attack, forcing a fazed sputter in the scorching flames. "What the hell…"
"We were so focused on the mission, I almost forgot about food…" Clenching the dense baguette in his hand, Kaelan charged towards Reid for an immediate counterattack. "My Courage of Gold mirrors my personality - no matter what you do, it won't be broken!" His arm swung towards the flaming coat and, in a fierce motion, infiltrated his bubbling armor with a mighty slash. Reid's legs drag closer towards the erecting rock, and an inconvenient frown invaded his face. "He's backed me into a corner - using Pyron's flames will drive me to an early grave…" With a moment of hesitation, his roaring armor faded with an extensive hiss.
Kaelan eyes Reid with a questioning look. "Deactivating Pyron's coat won't change your fate in the slightest!"
That exact moment, the unusual ring in Kaelan's head strengthened. A large, vortex-shaped sensation of power embraced Reid's dimension, perfectly resonating with the studio's blooming phenomena. The sky around them faded, trapping the forest in a world of floating film strips. Kaelan's eyes raced along the skyline, his muscles trembling with an uneasy feeling. "You seem surprised," Reid joked, lifting his arms into the air with a bright chuckle. "This is the final stage of my Imaginative Studio - my Director's Cut is a fan-favorite, deeply admired by the entity world's previous generations! And now, you'll die in perfect style, brutally consumed by my threshold!" He slashed the air in a fierce motion, cutting one of many moving strips within the zipping storm. Alongside the sudden rip awakened countless screams of pain and agony, each contributing to the growing discomfort dominating Kaelan's mind. The forest distorted, its rustling trees swirling in a repeated, wavy pattern. "Resonation - Imaginative Studio: Eternal Nightmare of Doom!"
Shades of greenish-brown diluted the transparent lake, pulling Kaelan's legs with its fierce grip. The lake has become tar. His upper body struggled, bound to the bubbling substance's ruthless pull.
Reid's body melts into the gushing darkness, his power flowing through the tar like a quick fish. Alongside his disappearance worsened the strip's warping colors. "He's everywhere… how the hell do I escape?"
You don't, Reid's voice seemed to respond. Your death in my Imaginative Studio is your ultimate fate.
With a desperate wheeze, Kaelan's gaze shot downward towards the bubbling stream. At that exact moment, an expression of absolute disgust invaded Reid's face. "You're insane… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?"
Alongside Kaelan's unsettling pants and slurps fastened the lake's retreat. "Consummation is my only hope… drinking the tar may harm me, but it'll ensure my victory!" The draining tar revealed Reid's submerged body and exposed him to the bubbling lake's remnants; completely devoured by Kaelan.
He observed the remaining shadow puddles scattered across the lake's shell, accompanied by a striking feeling of envious hatred. Wiping the dark smears from his lip, Kaelan's stomach ripped with a gut-wrenching scream. "All that tar is catching up to me fast…" Clenching his stomach through his shirt's silk fabric, he met Reid's appalled expression with a struggling glare. Reid's palm dug into his face with a confident chuckle. "All you did was make it easier for me to finish my job! This is my dimension, MINE ALONE!"
Two streamers of film tape descended from the coated skies, soaring above the empty lake. For a moment Kaelan's muscles strained, fatigued by his constant actions. A pitch-black glow similar to the tar diluted the golden shimmer, followed by another piercing rumble. "Courage of Gold," he began, "Scorching Stew of the Everlasting Rainbow!" A rainbow variant of Sunfire Stew squirted from Kaelan's mouth, ambushing the soaring streamers with a loud sizzle.
"First you awaken Advanced Senses during our fight, and now you're holding your own against me!" All the streamers circling Reid's domain came to a halt, locking onto Kaelan with a fierce dart. "Imaginative Studio Final Act: Fim Supremo!"
"They're coming from all sides!? I knew he was crazy, but not this crazy!"
"This is it, boy! Once you're begging for mercy, I'll take you in as my personal-"
"LIKE I'D LET YOU!" Kaelan's voice interrupted among the streamers' overlapping zips. A rush of power impaled his mind like a plunging knife - expelling the dark sparkles from his veins, he activated his Advanced Senses among the streamers' repeated stabs. "I'm going to make it back to Death Desert, NO MATTER WHAT! Courage of Gold…" A wave of blood escaped his mouth, steadily descending his chin. "CONSUMING EXTRACTION!"
That exact moment, the rebellious feeling in Reid's gut dropped. A radiating, golden vortex emitted from Kaelan's body, dispersing the surrounding environment with intense dominance. "The film streamers… they're all fading!" The surging glow caught his attention, trapping him in a swirling explosion of sparkling gold, its shimmers fazing his eyes in small intervals. Before the mage knew it, he had already been caught in the accumulating explosion of their daring brawl - the Imaginative Studio's ultimate fate had arrived.
New Country, 14 years ago
"What do you mean!? I've been here my entire life; I can't just get up and l-"
"Reid," Chrome's relaxing voice spoke, stroking his silver hair with his scarred hands. "Why do you stay in a place like this, inflicting you with nothing but pain?"
Reid falls silent with a glum expression, examining Tarsa and Songnote's formal expressions. "You know what? Since I see something unusual in you, I'll join you three in your journey across the world."
A manly chuckle blooms across Tarsa's face, accompanied by Songnote's soft smile, swinging her violin over her shoulder. In front of the two stands Chrome, holding his hand out with a warm grin. "Guess that's settled then! Welcome to Fire Moon!"
---
"Even if our goal… wasn't meant to be… I'll never regret leaving New Country…"
Across the darkened room stumbled Kaelan, slowly approaching Reid with a weakening smile. "I can tell you're a good guy, but…"
Succumbing to the bubbling tar, Kaelan's body thuds against the pattern tiles with a final wheeze. "From this point on, take a path that'll do good…"