Sending his grandfather crashing into one of the fire engines with a loud:
KATHOOM!!!
Ignatius' body caused a geyser of water to shoot off the water tank and cover the immediate area.
Seizing this chance, Riven charged forward, his wings materializing for a second to give him a boost in speed.
Landing an immediate gut punch, Riven pulled back slightly before ducking down and following up with an uppercut to the chin and a right hook to the cheek. His grandfather fell back.
Stomping on his foot to prevent him from doing so, Riven leaned to the side, pulling his arm back like a coil, and delivered a devastating liver shot. Then he ended with a strike to his temple that sent the older man crumpling to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"How dare you?!" His grandfather said through a choked gasp as he held his side, wanting to look up, hell, even stand up so he wouldn't be in this position, but he couldn't; his body wouldn't listen or move—it was too busy trying desperately to return air to his lungs.
Looking down at him, Riven was reminded how lucky he was to have caught him off guard the first time. Or he would be the one on the ground.
The image briefly glazed over his vision before his eyes glared down at the old man crumpled against the shattered firetruck, water still releasing from the ruptured tank in misty, streaming arcs.
He watched as the old man's chest heaved in ragged, wet gasps, blood canvassing his mouth, painting his lips, and staining the royal blue fabric of his clothes.
On his knees, Ignatius tried to push himself up with a hand that braced against the twisted metal, but his body betrayed him.
Watching the man who had loved him, raised him, and trained him, now staring at him with a mixture of fury and dawning horror. Riven felt an uncomfortable press in his chest that made him stiffen up, but it soon faded away.
"Let... let him go, you foul spirit," Ignatius rasped, voice cracking on every syllable. "It was a mistake to summon you."
But the next part he proclaimed aloud:
"If you kill me... the others will stop at nothing to eviscerate you from this earth!"
Hearing this, Riven paused, then tilted his head slightly.
"Others?" he asked, tone flat but almost curious.
Instantly the Royal's ruby-red eyes widened and his blood chilled, but it was not at his words; it was at the single tear that formed in Riven's eye and traced a slow path down the left side of his cheek, its drip catching the fire's light like a falling star.
The old man's breath hitched as he said his next words slowly, "You—your—you're still in there. Riven..."
Wiping the tear without a word, he stepped forward and kicked Ignatius onto his back. The Royal hit the ground hard, a fresh gush of blood spilling from his mouth.
Riven planted one slippered foot on his grandfather's chest and pressed down.
"Who else?" he asked again. His face remained utterly expressionless, save for the remains of the single tear still glistening on his cheek.
"Riven... why are you?" he managed to croak out before Riven pressed down harder, cutting him off.
"Why would I dignify that question with an answer?" he asked, knowing his grandfather knew what he was referring to.
"Your family... they betrayed you. That Ryuji boy, that commoner judge, the council, and even your own mother were going to sentence you to that filthy prison—strip you of everything," he tried to explain. "I couldn't let them."
His voice was choked with emotion.
"I couldn't let them kill you, not you, so I did what I had to do to keep our bloodline strong."
"Hard to have a strong bloodline when the majority of them are ready to line a casket," Riven responded as his foot pressed down harder, causing Ignatius's ribs to bend inward.
"It doesn't have to be that way; the spirit I bonded you to is—"
But just as he said the name of the spirit, his voice cut out. Though there was no sound, Riven could still see his grandfather's mouth move.
"What?" he said instinctively as his grandfather's words cut back in.
"—it was never meant to harm you or change you like this but—" His words cut back out when his sentence reached the spirit's name again.
Confused for a second, Riven wondered what was going on, but the next moment it hit him.
"So that's how it is," he muttered, realizing that the spirit itself was blocking out its name from him.
Quickly accepting his new reality for what it was, he pressed on to what he could know.
"Who. Are. The. Others?" Riven repeated slowly.
"Did you hear nothing I said?" Ignatius shouted, face twisting to anger. "This spirit was the only way for me to save you, and it will bring great prosperity to our family. The others are of no concern to you; they are a means to an end."
"Means to an end?" Riven repeated as if those were the only words he had heard.
"Like my father... like my little brother... and my sister?" he asked as anger flashed across his face. It caused him to press down even harder, enough that he heard a rib snap and the air was all but forced out of his grandfather's lungs.
"Yes," Ignatius shouted back before grabbing Riven's foot and pushing up with what strength he had to allow himself enough reprieve to breathe.
"Why do you even care about them? They were going to let you get sent away by that daughter of mine; they were nothing, they were just...
collateral damage."