章節 1: Whims of Fate

The full moon glowed silver and illuminated the world below. The soft light shone in through the large window and partially lit up a large bald man's scarred face, though most of it was still hidden in the shadows. The man stared out the window, admiring the view outside of a lovely field of flowers and swirled his glass of wine. The flowers were a dainty white, dyed with splatters of blood red. Bodies of dead men scattered about the field tainted the almost mystical looking flowers, turning the magical scenery into that of hell's.

"Was looking for my hideout that frustrating, Kin? My poor garden was innocent." The man said, sipping on his wine.

A man stepped out of the shadows from behind. He wore a white undecorated mask to cover his entire face, had a head full of healthy white hair and wore a neat black suit. He was armed with daggers placed at his waist, legs and wherever a dagger could be hid.

"Surrender or die." Kin got straight to the point.

The man spun around and threw the glass of wine straight at Kin. The wine inside spilt out as it was hurtled straight at the wall, courtesy of his lack of aiming.

Kin glared at the man and pat away the wine that splattered on his expensive suit. "Houston, this is your final warning."

Houston broke out into a maniacal laughter. "Your men are already fighting mine and you think I'll back out now?" His eyes glowed red as he raised his hand, palms facing up. A burning ball of fire floated above those very palms.

"…We're fighting till the end!" Houston growled, throwing the ball of fire at Kin like a baseball, this time making sure to aim at his hateful cold mask.

Kin had long been prepared for his outburst. His eyes glowed an icy blue and a film of water wrapped around the incoming fireball. Kin closed his fist and the water closed in on the flames, erupting into steam as it quenched the fire.

"HahahHAhhAaHAhahahAHA!" Houston's disruptive laughter echoed once again. "I really hoped you'd use the wine."

"Unlike a certain someone, I have something called a brain." Kin injected back, raising his arm towards Houston and eyes glowing. Water whistled in the air, forming arrows pointed at Houston. Kin swiped his arm down and the water arrows went flying at Houston.

Houston smirked and swiped left with his arm. A curtain of fire acted as a shield in front of him, increasing the temperature of the room and evaporating the water arrows.

Kin took advantage of the steam cloud and unsheathed his dagger, sprinting up to Houston and slashing at his silhouette. Houston was prepared, he jumped back and used his arm to block the dagger. His arm was slashed but the cut was insignificant and barely bled.

"I can read you like an open book!" Houston laughed and cauterised his wounds with his fire. The maniac didn't even flinch at the excruciating pain.

While Kin was stabilising himself and preparing to attack again, Houston grabbed the bottle of wine from behind him and threw it at Kin. Once again, it wasn't able to hit Kin. He simply sidestepped and dodged the incoming projectile.

Houston didn't care and just laughed. He clicked his fingers and a small spark lit the spilt wine on fire. The fire spread to the carpet, the bookshelf and anything flammable.

Houston bumped his fists together and created gloves of fire covering his hands. "I'm going to burn that dumb mask straight off your face!"

Houston sprinted towards Kin, ready to punch his face. Kin responded by raising his daggers and conjured a puddle of water in front of Houston in an attempt to make him slip. However, the sheer temperature of Houston's body evaporated the water before it even touched him.

Kin created a huge ball of water and sent it crashing down Houston's head. The pressure of the water made Houston grunt but it didn't extinguish the flames that were constantly being fuelled by his ability. However, it did get rid of the fire that was ravaging the hideout.

The two continued their fight, going back and forth, seemingly in a stalemate. However, it was quite apparent that Kin was holding back, not using his ability as often as Houston and instead opting to use his daggers.

Eventually, Houston got annoyed by the stalemate. He roared and lit his entire body on fire without a thought of conserving his energy. Rushing at Kin and increasing the intensity of his flames, Houston swung his fist, throwing his flames forward. A giant fist shaped fire punched towards Kin.

Kin conjured a similarly sized water barrier and swung his arm horizontally. The water follows suit, pushing aside the fire fist and sweeping Houston away as well. Houston was sent flying across the room, slamming into the shelf filled with expensive wine bottles. Many of the bottles broke and the flames still burning on Houston's body set them on fire. The flames further spread and the whole room was on fire.

Huffing and puffing amidst all the smoke and steam, Kin sheathed one of his daggers and reached into his pocket. Swiftly retrieving a bag of goodies, he slightly lifted his mask to pour them all into his mouth. Kin crunched on the tablets full of concentrated sugar and swallowed without a change in expression.

"Already recharging?" Houston knocked a few bottles of still intact wine across the room and jumped back on his feet. "Well, I guess I also recharged too. Your water is quite delicious!"

Kin furrowed his eyebrow and reflexively threw the dagger in his hand at Houston. Houston jumped aside and simply dodged.

"Why? Don't like me taking advantage of your ability to freshen up?" Houston mocked. "Water may defeat fire but water is also what power my ability. Haha, does that infuriate you?"

"You talk too much." Kin simply stated. He got back into the fight and sent multiple water arrows at Houston. Houston fought back with fire arrows of his own. Thus, both parties were concentrated on making the most arrows and trying the inflict the most pain on the other party. However, Houston's flames had the highest destructive power. The entire building was burning and before Kin moved anywhere, he had to get rid of the flames first, limiting his mobility.

Another fireball flew towards Kin's face. He sidestepped to avoid it and accidentally stepped on a wine bottle. Kin lost his footing, falling backwards onto his bottom, leaving him wide open.

"F*cking finally." Houston laughed maniacally. Instead of finishing the job quickly, he instead opted to fuel the fires that surrounded Kin and trap him where he sat. "Oh, how I've dreamt of this day! The almighty Kin, favourite lackey of an accursed son of a b1tch, falling by my flames."

Kin saw the flames get closer and closer and made a water barrier to surround himself. He focussed on putting out the flames while being careful so that he didn't get any steam burns. Unfortunately, Houston had seized the chance. He continued to fuel the flames, even adding more wine to increase the intensity. Kin had to continuously put out the fires and had no leisure to escape.

Houston laugh like a maniac, relishing at the sight. He spread his arms wide and threw multiple fireballs just for fun.