"Graaaaghh!"
"I see none of you are talking... The problem here was that black wolf,"
"Rooooaarr!"
"Hmph, it seems useless. Well, that won't save you from anything... This will end here."
Ivan stared coldly at the nearly twenty beasts surrounding a pair of snow wolves and other Extranus.
That was what humans called intelligent humanoid species with distinct traits, such as half-beasts, dwarves, elves, demons and other races.
He had blazed a trail of blood by killing all the beasts to get to this strange group. As I suspected, here were the intelligent beasts and possible leaders of this revolt.
None seemed as strong as the black wolf, and the bear was only in range (F). If he was careful, he would wipe them out like the black wolf.
He even had room to look back and see that his subordinates and investigators were taking over as he helped them along the way.
The personnel further back were firing with the tower's experimental weapons. Everything was getting organized and they were increasingly in control of the situation.
That was the difference between beasts and humans: although the beasts were more numerous, they were slowly being outnumbered.
At that point the standoff looked like a stalemate, the balance would tip in favor of the humans.
The only real problem was the black wolf and the intelligent beasts in front of him. He had spoken to them out of curiosity, to see if they could also talk like the black wolf.
If so, he was to inform his master that this experiment was definitely too dangerous. But it seemed that the problem was only the black wolf.
"Burning Charge!"
Without further hesitation, Ivan unleashed his skill and, enveloped in blue fire, charged at the purple-furred bear. He had heard that his master wanted him, but it was better to eliminate him.
"Gruaaaghh!!!"
"Well, that's one down."
Without hesitation, his sword pierced the bear's abdomen. They were only rank (F) beasts, they posed no challenge to him.
He moved to the next target and, with a diagonal slash, decapitated a wood lion.
At that moment he sensed danger. He saw the huge arms of a stony gorilla lunging at him. Undeterred, he made an upward movement and severed its arm.
He wanted to finish it off, but a ball of dark water shot at him from a poisonous water lizard. He quickly deflected the magic bullet, redirecting it towards a sapphire sheep that was lunging at him.
Ivan stepped forward and kicked the reptile, sending it flying and taking other beasts with it.
He engaged in a slaughter. The beasts seemed to want to coordinate to fight him, but in the end, they were all too weak, some died easier than others, but eventually he would eliminate them all including the pair of snow wolves.
Just when he had killed three and incapacitated more than seven, a rabbit darted out of the crowd....
Bang!
Indeed, it was an effective hit. For Ivan, the rare sight of a rabbit distracted him long enough not to react, and the kick hit him squarely in the jaw. But that was it.
Ivan grabbed the rabbit by the neck and looked at it curiously.
"This rabbit... I don't understand, don't you think they were intelligent? You, little one, don't you think it's better to run away?"
"Euukk!!..."
"no, are they intelligent or not, well they seem to understand me, but their decisions are silly, they don't look dangerous, humm...."
Ivan was really intrigued. That rabbit had been the first to hit him directly.
He wondered why these beasts were fighting him. If they were intelligent beings, they should either run away or surrender.
But instead, they seemed willing to fight to the end.
Although... now that he thought about it, some had indeed backed down and seemed intimidated by him.
Common beasts could not be tamed, but they could be intimidated if one was strong enough. And it seemed that with intelligence, this remained more true.
"Hmmm... Should I kill them?"
Ivan was thoughtful. He believed that he should eliminate them all, or else a tragedy would happen, and he didn't doubt that when he started killing them.
However, now that he had room to think, the leader of the facility had asked him to keep the intelligent ones alive and, if possible, the black wolf.
He had accepted that order, but when he saw the black wolf speak, he thought it best to eliminate them as soon as possible.
But the rest did not seem to be the problem, so if this was going to continue, it was better to follow orders, he would only say that the deaths so far were inevitable.
At that moment of reflection, a pair of tigers appeared from two directions, they emitted an icy aura that tried to freeze him.
Ivan simply shook off the feeling with his fire and threw two swift kicks that sent them flying.
Again, he looked at the rabbit he still held in his hands. It was struggling to escape. He thought about it for a moment and...
"No, it's better to finish everyone off and call this whole thing off. Something like that wolf just goes to show what a potential danger this experiment is."
"Euuek..."
"Hahaha!"
Just as he was about to exert more force on his hand to finish off that unruly rabbit, a laugh echoed through the air.
Ivan was distracted.
'Who the hell was laughing in a situation like this?'
Just as he looked back, a wave of heat hit him.
It was strange. As a fire knight, he was naturally resistant to flames. For him to feel heat, the temperature had to be stifling.
But he didn't have time to think anymore.
"HAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
What his eyes witnessed was something he could not immediately comprehend.
His instincts and experience screamed at him that he should take care of it before it was too late.
Without paying any more attention to the rabbit, he threw it down and ran back towards the black wolf.
But it was already too late.
"I WILL BURN EVERYTHING I DON'T LIKE!!!"
From the black wolf, a torrent of golden flames, intermingled with blood crimson flames and one with shades, black, spread.
Three colors in perfect harmony, but with only one intention: to consume everything.
In the next instant, the flames engulfed everything around them.
Allies and enemies alike.
There were no exceptions.
..
~moments before~
"Hahaha~"
Cassiel regained consciousness, remembering the recent experience.
It was strange.
Like a hallucination created by his own mind. A voice had spoken those words to him... that wasn't even memories.
Cassiel felt it was a part of himself, a part that refused to give up. The part that reminded him of who he was.
Still, that experience, where he called himself crazy over and over again, he found it amusing.
Not to say... silly.
"Hahaha~"
Lying on the cold ground, beaten and with a deep gash on his side that burned like fire, a faint, labored laugh escaped his lips.
'Hah... My body can barely laugh...what does she expect of me...no...what do I expect of myself?'
Cassiel thought wryly.
Still...
"Hahaha~"
She laughed.
Why?
Because he could.
Because he was the one who, long ago, had gone mad.
The one who had lost his mind...so that he could stay sane in the face of his fate.
Everything that voice had said...everything he had heard...was true.
Whether he really had the evil spirit of his friend clinging to him... or that he had simply created another personality....
It didn't matter.
Everything he had said was right.
"Hahaa!~"
The flame inside Cassiel began to burn.
It wasn't a real fire.
It was a conceptual flame.
It was a simple feeling... something that should not be a conclusive factor under any circumstances.
And yet... it burned within him.
"HahahahahaHA!!!"
Cassiel didn't know if that was it, but something inside him began to stir.
The blue fire that consumed his body from his wound began to extinguish.
And his wounds... began to heal.
'Hey, Cass... Since you seem to keep misunderstanding something, here's another one for you.ehem....You must neither deny who you were in the past, nor destroy who you are now. You must find the perfect combination between the two.'
'Hahaha!... What the hell? hahaha~ Really? What does that have to do with anything here?'
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
Cassiel, still hearing his friend's voice in his head and not knowing if it was a hallucination or not, started laughing harder.
"It has a lot to do with, you know why? Because you're going to give a shit about the limitations and rules of this world. And as always... You're gonna laugh! Laugh louder than everyone and at everything."
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
'that's what you always did. Because whether it's now or in the past, you are-'
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!!! -"
'Cassiel, the Mad Fire Wizard!'
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!!! -"
'And what you will do is-!'
"'I WILL BURN EVERYTHING I DON'T LIKE!!!'"
Cassiel, finally stood up, as the fire spread from him invading the entire room. Cassiel at that moment had his mind clearer than ever.
Still, he didn't stop the fire from spreading throughout the area.
"Gyaaa!!!"
"Throw water, water! AAAHH!!!"
"Help meeeee!!!!!"
"Turn it off, TURN IT OFF!!!"
Chaos started, everything was burning from the scientific knights, everything was a sea of flames, the metal walls were melting and the tubes that seemed to contain a strange liquid, where possibly Cassiel opened his eyes for the first time in this world, were burning.