The Shadow Awakens
Chapter 8's

“Rei is Rei Nathanael..” Sentences that are more like statements than expected suddenly invaded the mind of Luna who somehow instantly resurrected the spirit of Luna. Slowly Luna's fingers began to close together, forming a fist.

“Rei Nathanael can't have this fire!” hard on himself. The green-colored flame again blazed over his fist. But unfortunately the fire was too faint.

Iris violet Luna slowly looked at the figure who a moment ago lunged towards her. The attack was too close to be avoided and too late to be repelled. Attack first? Silly, he did not even have the remaining strength to attack first. He will lose fast anyway. Well, whatever it is. Luna was intent on receiving the attack. He just survives enough. As long as he is able to survive, the green flames will not be taken from him, and everything will be fine.

It felt something very powerful stirring strongly, pressing Luna's chest. Breaking two or more ribs. A flash of hot liquid that was very much again burst into the entire throat cavity Luna. Thick red blood seeped out of Luna's mouth, soaking the ground and forming a pool of blood that to Luna was disgusting.

Luna's body fell down. His knee first touched the ground followed by one of his hands that tried hard to support his body so as not to fall. While the other hand held his chest, withstanding the intense pain in that part. Something felt like it kept stabbing in his lungs every time he took a breath.

The corner of Luna's eyes caught the shadow of the black flames that had stopped following her. Her violet iris stared at a moment of black fire that was about five meters away from her. He felt the two-meter-high flames as if he was staring at him, like a friend standing in the distance, wanting to help but could not. Well, that guess is too good for his little imagination.

The corner of Luna's lips attracted slightly formed a thin smile aimed at the fire-black, whatever prompted her to do this, and to be honest, she just felt like doing it.

Luna closed her eyes. This time he did not know whether he could survive or not from the next blow. The fear that he had not been suddenly stuck— haunted his mind and disrupted his mind system. Luna's heart started to scream in frustration. Desperate when he realized how he really did not dwell in front of the figure.

Luna's hands began to clench tightly until her fingernails felt firmly stuck on the skin of her own hands. His fist trembled while his fingers gradually began to feel numb. He doesn't want to die…

The palms of the two forms are attached to each other, while the fingers move folded to lock each other. With a single breath he raised his hands high and the next second he swung down strongly, crashing right at Luna's head in full force.

Instantly, Luna's body hit the ground. His head was throbbing violently, while something warm felt flowed out from the back of his head. His gaze was completely dark, yet his consciousness still had not left him. Luna is still breathing though intermittent.

With her dying state, Luna vaguely felt a rough pull on her long hair, forcing her face to immediately move away from the ground. A cold grip landed on Luna's neck and began to lift herself upward. The chuck on Luna's neck grew stronger, while her body slowly lifted away from the ground.

With the suffocating conditions strong, Luna was forced to hold her breath and occasionally take short breaths. His chest cavity was excruciating every time he took a deeper breath, trying to fill the void in his lungs again. While his organ kept screaming for more oxygen, this made Luna look miserable.

“I'll let go if you agree to take back that green fire, Nathanael.” The voice of the dragon faintly rang out amidst the loss of Luna's consciousness. The words then made the girl try to pull back the fragments of consciousness that began to fly away.

“You'll kill him if I don't agree?” Rei retorted after being silent for a long time. His tone sounded very calm. “I don't mind, but the problem is whether he wants to or not.”

Luna jerks. He nodded slowly, while his mouth opened slightly. He wanted to make a sound, to say that Rei Nathanael must not have the fire! But his vocal cords seemed to be fouled by something very big, a small groan alone he could not let out let alone say a sentence that long!

The laughing dragon won. “Don't mind the girl, Nathanael. During the fire of death it—” His speech stopped instantly as slices as red as magma saw the awkwardness on the fire of death in question.

A glimmer of bright green light appeared and looked contrasting amidst the calm blazing black color. The dragon suddenly became angry. He glanced in annoyance at Rei who now alternately showed a triumphant expression.

This conversation that suddenly stopped made Luna's mind start to wonder curiously. This sudden silence tormented his inner self beyond this pain in his chest cavity. As he was busy guessing what happened, the giggling around his neck suddenly strengthened, seeming to rush as if he wanted to immediately break his breath at that very moment. If that is the goal, then it works. The oxygen had stopped getting into Luna's lung cavity and the girl's body slowly began to numb. Consciousness is no longer able to be maintained. The only thing he heard before he went to sleep for good was a thunderous bang, like an extremely deafening thunderbolt cry.

“Don't think cunningly, Arken.” hiss Rei while capturing Luna's slumped body falling forward like a piece of cloth detached from its refusals.

Rei's left arm seemed to be wrapped around the girl's shoulder, hugging her while letting the girl lean against her chest. Simultaneously, his right hand moved nimbly brushed aside the figure. A sharp look of surprise emanated behind Rei's brown iris as she stared at Arken, the dragon. Rei looked very angry.

A thumping sound was heard when the figure fell rigidly on the ground like a robot that was suddenly damaged by Rei's lightning strike. A blackish-red electric seemed to be splashing out from his body while the scents of the charred began to smell. Rei glanced for a moment at the black flames that were still blazing not far from him. Relieved when the bright green light was still there and instead began to form indentations of thin green lines.

It was as if he was drawn back from the journey to death. Suddenly Luna coughed once and jeez, a cough just felt really tormenting this chest cavity. Not to mention when he took one breath deep enough to replenish the air vacuum in his lungs. The pain returned to his chest from within. Whatever he was trying to do, that part still felt very torturous.

One gentle swipe was felt on Luna's shoulder and made her realize her body was leaning on something, or someone rather. When he lifted his head, his eyelids suddenly widened, flabbergasted when he saw that Rei's face had been this close to him. The young man's heavy breathing was felt at the top of Luna's head, so real that it made the girl sure she was not dreaming.

“I myself don't mind if you hurt him worse than this. But I won't stay silent if you intend to kill just as the flames of death acknowledge it.” Rei added while putting emphasis on each word and unconsciously the circle of his arms on Luna's shoulders tightened, making the human girl completely cling to her.

“You have interfered in this fight, Nathanael. It means you agreed to take back the fire power. As our agreement yesterday.” Arken said calmly. Well, at least he's still in the winning position.

The corner of Rei's lips lifted slightly. He snorted disapprovingly. “This fire has chosen, Arken. He had chosen this human girl. There's no point in you insisting like this.” He retorted while flicking his fingers calling out the black flame.

The fire moved in response to Rei's call by forming a straight line that then circled several times over the young man's index finger before moving into Luna's body. The pain in Luna's chest cavity was reduced slightly. Well, at least not too excruciating when breathing.

Arken sniffed strongly and caught Luna's attention. The girl peeked over Rei's shoulder and looked full of anger on the dragon's face. One of the front legs of the dragon was about to take a step forward. But that second also an electric spark landed not far in front of the leg and left a line of thin white smoke on the ground. Arken squinted his eyes at Rei as he growled.  “What do you mean, Nathanael?”

“Against you of course..” replied Rei without hesitation. Meanwhile, his eyes had clashed with the dragon.

The intense gazes between them gave off a very thick killing pressure and instantly filled the atmosphere around the ruins. Luna swallowed a dry spit. For the first time he saw this dreadful expression; wild burning eyes, the desire to slaughter and the terrible intimidation—and all of it did not come from the dragon, but came from Rei.

Luna herself could hardly believe all this. Rei who was known to be indifferent could apparently turn into a completely different figure, like a vile assassin. Is this the real side of Rei Nathanael that his mother feared?

Arken took a step back. He gave a long snort along with the stretch of his pair of wings as wide as possible and both raised up to form the letter V. “I still do not believe in the ability of the human girl, Nathanael,” he said before flapping his wings. The air shook violently and the giant body of Arken lifted lightly away from the ground surface.

“It would still be better if the fire stayed on you.” The dragon roared once before flying ever higher away from the ruins. He briefly explored the sky of the Shadow Realm that afternoon before returning to his original place.

Rei's facial muscles loosened instantly. The tension that lasted a few minutes finally ended while the embrace of his hand on Luna's shoulder was no longer as strong as before.

Rei took a long breath. “... My sentence is not finished and he is gone,” his grunt while scratching his nape. The killing pressure that Luna had felt vanished without a trace. Rei's facial expression returned like all. Miraculously, the young man seemed to return to being the relaxed and indifferent figure that Luna was familiar with.

“You're alive?” Rei turned. Her brown iris was immediately fixed on Luna with a strange flat gaze, between anxious but not wanting to be shown clearly. Luna nodded slowly. His mind smiled faintly when it knew Rei had saved some unique sides.

“Good. I'm not ready if I have to go back to having the power of death fire,” he said more to himself. He didn't seem to care much whether Luna heard his words or not.

Rei bowed slightly and in an instant both of Luna's legs felt off the footing. Luna's hand reflexes grabbed Rei's shoulder when she found out that the young man's arm had firmly refuted Luna's knee joint and caused the girl's paw to hang on to lose its footing. Luna groaned in pain as this sudden treatment made her broken ribs shift and pierced her organs deeper.

“Sorry..” A voice with a full intonation of guilt is heard whispering softly near Luna's face. “Hold a little until we arrive at the Center,” Rei added as he left the place.

Rei's every step felt so torturous to Luna. The ribs are broken without stopping piercing or nudging his internal organs. But as much as possible he did not groan. All he could do now was rest his head on Rei's field chest. In silence Luna could feel Rei's breath so real touching the skin of her arm that was coiled around Rei's right shoulder. Somehow Luna began to enjoy every pull and exhale of the young man, felt reassuring let alone intersect with the rhythm of the heartbeat near his ears. Well, at least these two things can make him forget his pain a little.

“By the way, where did you learn your fighting techniques from? Although in terms of experience is still fairly lacking, but your response and attack are quite good.” Rei's question ended the silence between them. Luna raised her head and found Rei staring at her first. The young man's flat expression melted slightly and the impression turned more friendly.

“I had learned the basic techniques of fighting from my mother, but actually I relied more on instinct,” replied Luna.

“Insting..?” Rei frowned in disbelief but Luna had turned to look at the rubble on the roadside they were passing through.

“Many do not believe my fighting technique purely relies on instinct. I don't know why myself. That instinct I have had since childhood,” chirped Luna clarify the previous remark.

A thin smile suddenly formed on Rei's lips. A smile that even Luna had never seen before and inexplicably left an innocent and childish impression. “And don't tell me you used your fire power with instinct too?”

Luna hesitated. Well, he himself does not know for sure when he began to master the fire. Just know that the fire has moved according to his wishes and by itself he knows how to use it.

“You made me think of someone in the past,” Rei comments and changes made Luna frown in wonder.