The battlefield lay in silence.
Wind whispered over ruins, and ash floated like feathers in the dim sky. Duncan leaned against a steel beam, barely standing. Tiffany was unconscious beside a scorched antenna. Only Mai remained upright, floating above the torn battlefield, her orange aura flickering erratically.
Across from her—
Gigel stood still.
Blue smoke coiled around him like a serpent.
His voice pierced the silence.
"You think you know pain, Mai Glob?"
Mai clenched her fists. "I lived it."
Gigel stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Then let me show you mine."
He raised one hand, and the world blurred.
Flashback – 1982 – Village of Liris (present-day Aqua Province)
The streets were narrow, the roofs patched with straw. Children ran barefoot. The village elders wore faded colors and whispered of things long forbidden.
A ten-year-old boy sat on the hill above the village. He had tangled black hair, eyes sharp with hunger.
His name was Jiron Lexner.
His twin brother, Kael, sat beside him. "We're not like them," Kael said.
"We're better," Jiron whispered.
Their father worked the mines. Their mother sold scraps to travelers. And every month, soldiers from the northern cities came and mocked them.
"Flowerless filth."
"Backwater freaks."
The village of Liris was shunned because no one there had ever borne a flower. Not in a hundred years.
The boys trained in secret. Stick swords. Stone dummies. At night, they burned their hands trying to shape aura from sheer will.
Nothing ever came.
Until the raid.
One night, when Jiron was 22, northern soldiers came again. But this time, not to mock—to exterminate.
Their leader, a man with golden tattoos, declared: "We've found a cursed well of rot. Burn it."
The village burned.
Jiron dragged Kael to safety. They hid in the caves above the ridge. Jiron's body was slashed. His right eye was blinded.
Kael wept. "Why us? Why always us?"
Jiron didn't answer. He stared into the flames.
And then...
A petal.
A single blue petal drifted down before him, glowing with wrath.
He reached for it—and screamed.
His body convulsed. The ground split. The cave shook. When he opened his eyes, they were ice-blue.
Kael stepped back. "What... are you?"
"I'm not cursed," Jiron whispered. "I'm the answer."
But Kael looked horrified. "You're... twisted."
He ran.
Jiron chased him. Pleaded. "You're my brother!"
Kael drew a blade. "You're not Jiron anymore."
They fought beneath the burning sky.
Jiron didn't want to kill him.
But he did.
Present
Mai stood frozen.
Gigel's hand fell.
"That was the first time I felt power. Not joy. Not love. Not fate. Power born of pain."
Mai whispered, "You didn't have to kill him."
Gigel's voice shook. "You think I don't know that?"
He raised his sword. The marigold blade pulsed.
"I wanted someone to stop me. But no one came. So now, I stop them all."
He charged.
Mai blocked. Barely.
His strikes came faster than light.
Each clash thundered. Each wave of aura shattered the rock.
Duncan coughed up blood. "She can't hold much longer..."
Mai roared. "I won't lose to your trauma!"
Gigel sneered. "You are my trauma!"
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