DALNO: The Beginning

CHAPTER 6: The Failed Lightning Streak

June 10, 3142, 10:20 AM. HSMA interrogation room. A sound of beaten flesh surrounded the silence of the isolated underground room below Homura. Then follows a splat of blood rushing like rain as blows throw it away from the figure’s beaten-up body.

Behind the beat-up is a soundproof glass work with a single fluorescent producing a classical-yellow glare representing the aging item.

The light reveals a black-haired man in the same HSMA uniform as the one who’s beating up. There, the man examines a familiar syringe with every piece of equipment the room had.

[HSMA Uniform: A sign of being an official member of Homura Secret Mission Agency consisting of a funnel-collared black long sleeve with a certain color combination which tells a member what area of Homura he/she will focus on]

The man grabs a flashlight and holds it with his mouth aiming forward as he picks up the scalpel and slowly sliced the syringe. Getting a test tube, he transferred the droplets of the sketchy liquid into it.

Now cleared, he examined the inner membrane of the syringe. After examining parts of it with a microscope, he gently crumbled and placed the shrapnels in a petri dish for further examination. Lastly, the man examines the needle, noticing a random scribble of black ink he slightly closed his eyes for trying to clarify its form.

On the other side of the glass, a grunting of pain is continuously made by the continuous beatdown of the said figure.

Later, the one who beats up stops and tied the figure’s limbs with a glass-sharded rope and locked it to the ceiling, barely letting the figure move with the hands shivering in pain.

The one who beats then walks outside and goes to the other side of the window, as light exposes his identity, he asked.

“Got any clues, Yoteigai?”

Yoteigai then sighs as he puts down the needle, then picks up his glasses and stands up. He scratches his head, as he confronts the one who beats.

“Nothing new, unfortunately, Mr. Aston— How about him?”

“Still can’t talk”

“Maybe it's because you melted his lips with friction twenty-four hours ago”

“Nah, I’m sure it’s just his ego of loyalty to whoever made that drug”

“Mhm, I agree— good detail to notice Mr. Aston”

“To think this made me rush here yesterday that I wore the wrong uniform, such annoyance”

“I think your HSMA uniform suits you better than your Commander HSMA uniform Sir”

[Commander HSMA uniform: A clothing that signifies that someone is a commander in an HSMA squad; The clothing consists of a black funnel-collar sweatshirt with only one variety which is itself]

“Now let’s get back to serious, we already know that the syringe is owned by an anonymous syndicate, and beyond that is blinded by this man. Continue your work Yoteigai, I’m gonna discuss with him about this matter once more”

“Ok, thanks Mr. Aston”

“Not now, I haven’t done anything yet”

Aston proceeds to walk to the control system behind Yoteigai and switches up the lever giving light to the other side of the window. Aston then gets out and goes back to the other side of the window.

When Aston closes the door, the forced grunting, mumbling, and soberness of the familiar red-haired man echo between the corners of the room as blood drip like sweat on the mice-infested grounds.

Aston goes near the man and helps him stand up. But the moment the man released a trembled sigh, Aston furiously punches him to the gut, flying him slightly into the air and down. The man then grunts trembling in pain as the glass from the rope digs deeper into his flesh the moment the rope tightens from its fall and loses strength to form stead which makes the rope even tighter.

Aston then breaks a glass shard from the rope and grabs the man’s crimson hair, revealing the messed up face of a burned mouth-melted Naiyhto who’s been tortured for a day and nearly a half.

Aston then thrusts the shard to Naiyhto’s sealed mouth and shrieks indescribably as his mouth is being made from the draw of the shard’s sharpness with every limb of his limp body jerking unnaturally trying to restrain the pain, yet such restoration is not enough to cover Naiyhto’s scream of pain as his head is forcibly raised up by Aston’s bloody hands, uncontrollably drinking Naiyhto’s own blood from his new-made mouth with a stare of humiliation from a cold-eyed Aston.

After Naiyhto calms himself down, Aston shows him a printed copy of the suspicious syringe.

“Where do you get this thing?”

“I-I-I-I don’t know”

Not getting the desired response, Aston beat Naiyhto’s face vigorously with his elbow whereas Naiyhto’s limbs jerk up to continuously restrain the blows. Aston grabs Naiyhto’s hair tighter and aims his face nearer to Aston’s aggressive stare.

“Do you think I believe such crappy dialogue from a nuisance like you?— Why do you have this in your neck then?”

“I don’t know anything about that, I— I only—”

Aston, with a rage face, dragged Naiyhto towards him with its hands being fleshed out from the glass-sharded rope, leaving only several damaged nerves and bones. And five centimeters in front of Naiyhto’s face, while screaming in unnatural pain, Aston screamed at top of his lungs.

“What—the fuck— are you doing before then?!”

Aston breaks another shard of glass and slowly aims it at the sobbing Naiyhto’s dry throat.

“Ionlyrobbedthemsomysistercaneatdamnit!” Naiyhto shouted with eyes closed. “Please, spare me, Mr. Lissclion”

Aston paused and dropped the devastated Naiyhto crying over his reflection on his pond of blood.

“But you’re a teacher, your profession has the biggest income in the whole village-country stretching from 50K - 100K Chronysus a month”

[Chronysus (plural) Chronysi (singular): currency (100 Chronysus= 1 Dollar)]

“I know, but it's not enough. My sister, my poor younger sister, needs 53,000 Million Chronysus for just her Leukemia treatment. And she only has two years left to do that…”

“—Just hearing it with my own ears, makes me want to just steal everything those corrupt politicians have and risk my life to keep my only living relative away from dying. Two years, as expected famously as the reign of Noir Robin, is what it takes to barely catch up to the rising payments of the hospitals that, there’s nothing left for her food sustenance”

Aston paused longer, Naiyhto’s words reminded him of someone, and softly sighs.

Hmph

…

Lousy bluff

“—Manipulate…”

Before Aston finished the incantation, his blue Arcanae hexagons overflowed from his hands and materialized into individual lightning-like structures around it making his hands move faster while spreading lightning around the room.

He then dragged Naiyhto’s torn-up shirt and made him stand up, showing his speeding electricity-producing hands, Naiyhto’s eyes showed despair as his lower jaw is now nonfunctional.

“Mr. Brother-Sensei, I have a question for you”

Naiyhto toughens up, clears up his mind, and takes a deep breath as if he’s taking a very important interview.

“Whagh— Igh— Maygh— Begh— Sagh— Ighcliogh?”

Aston smiles while closing his eyes.

“Do you know that if you have proper control of your Arcanae, you can skip incanting it? Because the incants only guide your Arcanae energy to what techniques to make in your early stages of using it. And if you no longer say incantations, it means you’re a pro on using your Arcanae.”

“—The question is, what am I famously called for? You’re a teacher after all so you can answer it.”

Naiyhto stopped crying and started thinking While reminding himself that he was waiting for this moment. The moment where he finally died for the sake of his sibling. The day he can finally rest. The day where he meets his memento mori.

Getting an answer, Naiyhto fixes up his loose jaw with his elbow and looks Aston right in the eyes.

“Speedy Bolts” Naiyhto proudly answered. “It is Speedy Bolts”

After hearing his response, Aston smirked sadly.

“No— it’s Stunny Volta.”

The moment Aston is about to put his hands full of Arcanae energy on the convict. Naiyhto starts to laugh while crying while reminding himself of the last moments with his sister.

“May you be able to protect— her— Mr. Lissclion?”

Aston’s face is blank with a cold “yes” yet covered in tears. He then goes near Naiyhto’s half-dead body and proceeds to impale him in the chest with friction melting the remains of his heart.

“What is her name?” Aston coldly asked.

Now blinded by a lightning strike, Naiyhto’s bloody mouth shrivels as he replies.

“No—zo—mi… Thank—you, Mr.—Liss—clion”

After Aston heeds Naiyhto’s words, the teacher passes on with a smile. Aston then stood up and went to the other room with tears dripping from the convict’s blood. Aston then dries himself in front of the next room.

I

Haven’t

Done

Anything

Yet

Before Aston touches the doorknob, Yoteigai surprisingly busts out while fixing his glasses.

“Mr. Aston, I got it,” Yoteigai delightfully said.

“Wha—”

“The drug is made by a company named Infelentia”

“Huh? What is that?”

“I don’t know sir, I don’t even know for certain if this is an actual company or not.”

Aston sighs and looks at his Commander HSMA uniform. Then took a deep breath.

“It seems we know where to get such an answer”

Aston then changed his clothes to his commanding uniform and went to the leader’s office for answers.

As he watched the Homura Academy on the way. He saw a silver-haired figure in a teacher’s uniform busting out from a window, he then smiled inside.

“Thank you for making me remind Ren’s brother in you, may you rest in peace. Naiyhto Makushi.”

10:00 AM, Homura Academy. The Lissclion is laughing with a grin while showing dominance over a confused Vincent.

“Scared, I see?” the Lissclion questioned menacingly.

Repeating the question inside Vincent’s head, his face is still confused. With the Lissclion’s grim expression stuck in his puzzling sight.

“Who the fuck are you?” Vincent said with a blank face.

The Lissclion continued giggling, until.

Wait

He doesn’t know me?

A Lissclion

How come a bottom-ranked devil doesn’t know me?

W—We’re luxurious

Wai— Isn’t this what I— no, why?

…

“I suppose, bluffing is a cowardly move, just as expected from a devil”

The Lissclion laughed triumphantly as tears rushed streamed from his eye with a face of a devastated boy.

“Don’t you dare go teasin’, teasin’ on me, ‘cuz I can see—”

The Lissclion laughed again as it sobered this time with the presence of shock on his face.

Why… Why am I acting like that though?

Strange

I finally got someone who has no clue about my existence

But why am I crying as if I’ve never wanted this in the first place

Or

Is it

That I’m having a tear of… joy.

A lightning streak suddenly struck the Lissclion’s head, Vincent saw it happen confused, but it ricocheted away instead, disappearing as it flew. The Lissclion kept mumbling to himself in disgust without noticing the lightning streak that just occurred.

Vincent snapped out of confusion and notices the Lissclion’s mumble, then held his own chin with his right hand and closed his eyes.

“The answer is simple…”

Opening his eyes, Vincent smirks with his edgy eyes.

“You’re not popular enough, boy”

Suddenly, the Lissclion came back to his senses, and just processed Vincent’s words syllable-by-syllable.

What… the… frick… you…say?

Before Vincent could move an eyelid, the Lissclion charged with a desperate face of being insulted and started to throw punches and kicks with a flow of taekwondo.

“I am Blaze Lissclion— son of Aston and Embre Lissclion— I have the Arcanae: Speed.— Which can make me do things— fricking— fast,— got it memorized? IDIOT''

Whereas Blaze continues the flow of attacks, Vincent smugs off while moving in an opposite direction as blocking the attacks.

Thank goodness, I got him off-guard

…

“That's all huh?—Who the hell— expects to recognize— a guy in a brown coat— to be luxurious?— You look more like a street beggar”

Blaze stopped abruptly and set his hands down.

“Because… I don’t want to be one… to be luxurious and popular under someone else's name… hmph, it’s like being throned as a king because of your predecessors… and I hate that… Why in the heck are you asking me this? Why did you stop attacking me? With your words earlier… you completely shattered my dream… happy now?”

“Tch, I don’t know why… but somehow… I understood your situation in an uncertain way—”

“Because you have to wear the accusation about the founder's incident with your clan even though you don't want to, right?... That’s why you know how it feels like to be me”

“I don’t know if what you said is accurate, but either way… don’t let these mere words destroy you, shithead.”

With shrunken pupils, Blaze continued to listen to Vincent’s ranting.

No

“Even if you get trashed by your teacher—”

It’s impossible

“Even if you get laughed at by your friends—”

I can’t do it

“Even if you get kicked away by the world—”

Stop

“By everyone—”

It’s very difficult

“To the point of your family disowning your being”

But

“Don’t stop charging towards that dream of yours”

AGGHHH

“Because”

Stop it

“That’s”

I can

“What”

You’re hilarious

“Makes”

I’m serious

“You”

Your power is weak

“Unique”

I’m not

“Right?... Blaze Lissclion?”

Weak

Blaze went silent as old memories flashed before his eyes. A thumbs up from someone is shown, an open hand, holding out in front of him, and a strike of punch. Then a ray of light overlaps everything, with a smile of two figures, one reminiscent of a maroon-haired girl and a black-haired man.

Am I,

Going to succeed,

If I befriend him?

Mr. Genzou.

Blaze released a smirk and sped up towards Vincent and before he could react, Blaze grabbed his black shirt and gave him a cold stare.

“Remember this one fricking thing, purple hair… I’m a Lissclion and you’re an Ashite… Such bullcarp doesn’t make us similar, understand?”

“Hmph, I know, but at least there’s someone whose goals are alike mine—”

Vincent strangely looks to the void wall of the ongoing fights reflecting a menacing smiling figure.

“In need of change”

Vincent grins delightfully.

“Anyway, we can’t continue to our goals without destroying this wall right?”

Blaze smiles back and slowly gazes at the same perspective as Vincent while removing his hold over Vincent’s newly wrinkled shirt.

“Yes it is, a void wall that is”

Both smiled and both aimed their finger at someone, with all their might. They laughed grimly. And both said.

“The enemy of this exam is not them… But him”