Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Blood lingered on the floors of the Baek castle hallway. Leon walked toward the first blackened door.

Bristled air waved under cracked glass windows, filling the hallway. A sharp tang flashed upward. Bristled hairs on the splattered heads wobbled once.

The black cloth flapped on the chest plate of Leon’s gleaming war suit. He stopped before the twelve-foot red door. Its surface was etched with death markings.

He raised his left arm, pointing at the door. A massive wind-rustling erupted. The blazing, spinning war disc dashed from his side and struck the metal.

Sparks lingered. Cut lines appeared on the burning plate as the disc’s spin intensified.

A threadlike red light dashed out as the cut widened.

...

Deep inside the blackened Leon, the creator version, the white-robed Leon, hair danced in the air. He locked eyes with the original Leon. "There is no time for you to weep over something that is already gone."

Water ripped. Two drops of tears fell from Leon’s chin, splattering on the ground.

Hot exhales plummeted from Leon’s nostrils. His chest heaved. The thick, unbreakable blackened iron chains wrapped around him gleamed as the reeling image of the human world flashed angrily above.

’Why?’ Bone-crackling erupted when he closed his palms and clenched his jaw. "They were just pleading and had families to take care of... WHY!"

Veins on his arms reeled on his skin, glowing like blood. He cracked his eyes open, focusing on the screams and dying faces the Destroyer claimed one after another.

The golden rose outline on his wrist glowed fiercely as Leon saw himself killing small kids who tried to run away at the sight of the black-robed figure.

"WHY!"

Metal groaned. Leon shoved his hands upward, trying to break the chains under his sheer human strength.

A wailing hum rose from the white-robed, also-chained version, filling Leon’s inner world with peace and love. Yet, it remained in a collapsed state.

Air bounced on the ground beneath the creator version as he lowered his body and grounded himself. "There is no need in screaming."

The chains wrapped around him extended with a groan as he took slow steps toward Leon. "It will just increase the Destroyer’s willpower."

The original Leon’s dual heart thrummed against his ribcage as he saw the shadow of his creator standing in front of him.

His eyes burned with a mix of gold, blue, red, and grey flames as he shifted his gaze from the reeling eyes of the Destroyer displayed in the skies. "WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM! TELL ME."

The ground beneath Leon trembled. He forcefully pulled himself and the chains upward. His jet-black hair waved through the space between him and the creator when he reached eye level.

"I wasn’t the one you needed at that time." The creator version hissed, shaking his head. "You needed something far more dangerous than death and feared by hell."

Debris fell from the gigantic gate of the Yrandal as he shifted his gaze to it. "I could have made you get killed and erased. But he won’t."

Dust swirled up around the white-robed figure as the hems of his robe swept through the air. The two embedded Y sigils on the locked gate glowed vibrantly when he blinked, shifting his gaze to the original Leon.

Leon’s eyes welled up as he saw the Destroyer grabbing the neck of a young Thule soldier.

"Please..." The black-haired soldier struggled to set himself free. He kicked the waist of the black-clothed Leon and struck his forehead against his, but no attempt set him free.

Blood veins crawled into his eyes when Leon’s grip increased on the soldier’s neck. Bone and skin shattered as all the soldier’s in-depth veins uprooted on his reddening neck.

The soldier’s heart pounded heavily in his chest as the black-robed Leon began pulling the head off the body.

The soldier’s neck skin stretched like a tire then came loose. Blood sprayed on the face and chest of the black-robed Leon. He didn’t stop even when only the neck bone remained.

Metal clicked. Two soldiers who had passed out from a kick came back to their senses, cracking their eyes open.

Their energy was deprived from their bodies when they saw SK getting his body separated once after another; neck, arms, and legs.

"WTF!" Lord Luke of the Zenith Sect and a third-in-command of the Baek soldiers screamed, dropping to his knees.

His soul left his body when he saw the black, blazing human holding only the leftover of SK, while smiling.

Just as the door to Jade’s personal garden swung open, he crawled back, leaving his colleague behind. "What the fuck is he!"

Muffled screams seeped into his ears as he slammed the door shut, leaning against it. Hot, bloodied sweat dripped down his face as he heard the screams closing in on the door he leaned against.

Tears dripped down Lord Luke’s eyes as muffled help screams traveled from the other side.

"I’m sorry..." He increased his grip on the door, pushing it forward as something pushed back from the outside.

Metal dust dripped from the edges of the door as the force intensified. Lord Luke’s boots skittered on the ground. He firmed himself, using his kinetic force to hold the barrier.

A few distances away, Jade hovered in the air in a lotus posture with his eyes closed.

Strands of his red hair swept through the heated air around him as a loud bang spasmed in the garden chamber.

A wide smile tore on his lips as the ozone tang flew through the air, seeping into his lungs through his nostrils. ’Why so long?’

Lord Luke’s face paled when the door he was pushing with all his might blasted open, hurling him through the air.

The green glowing ground burned with black flames as the black-robed Leon placed his first step into the room.

Metal sang as he swung the blazing Hi-no-Kami and blinked at the hovering human in the distance.

One side of the black cloth flapped against his chest, while the other end flared like a trail of shadow behind him.

The hilt of the Hi-no-Kami groaned under Leon’s grip and screamed as he clenched it tight.