The Villain's Story

?I felt weird, to say the least.

As I resurfaced from the gate of death, I felt nothing but everything at the same time. The heat of the room, and the frigidity in the air as well.

It was strange... But that was not what was on my mind.

I could breathe...

The feeling of air entering my lungs and leaving was exhilarating. The hot metal burning my skin was now a blessing... I could finally feel.

But that was not the limit of what I could feel... No... That was only the tip of the iceberg.

These feelings... These sensations were not on the outside but inside... I could feel a 'heat' within me.

But at the same time I could feel coldness. I could feel that there was no mana left in my body, that was the source of this bitter cold...

But then! That was also what allowed me to feel the heat within me.

It did not start from my heart... Or the cavity in my chest but the start was from my right arm. The numbness there disappearead as my breaths increased.

They were haggered... Just like how a diver that had run out of oxygen in the deep sea would breathe like when he resurfaced.

Hurried, and precious.

A biting pain encompassed my head, as I could catch a blue light escape my body.

I heard back voice, the voice of Ma Cheon, but I was unable to discern what he was saying.

I wondered what the guards are doing, and what they are thinking about this situation.

How I suddenly came back from the dead...

Nevertheless, I allowed this heat to flow unperturbed. Regardless of whether I was able to or not.

Haha.

I laughed in my mind... As I regained my strength, I found that... I fell.

I had fallen to the floor a long time ago...

This is strange, what about the restraints?

I questioned, but couldn't find an answer. It was as if my body had ignored them and went right through them...

As a result, I had fallen to the floor but now I no longer felt the searing heat from the hot metal.

Only... The heat within me.

Like a forest fire, it spread through my veins, through my vessels, muscles, bones... And so many more paths.

I took another breath, but this one was different. It was accompanied not by the usual carbon dioxide... But rather with blue fire.

A wisp of flame, that disappeared instantly but it was flame... I was sure of it. I did not imagine it.

The last remnants of my consciousness started to disappear, as my bones repaired themselves, my muscles regained their strenght and a new, foreign but familiar energy courses through my cells.

This energy... Was fucking amazing!!

I could feel it's power as I lost my grip on reality, as my body recovered from the husk it was. And waves of power emanated that shook this accursed cell of mine! My tongue... My eyes! They felt alive and powerful!!

Like I was finally worthy! Like this was my true power! The shackles I imposed on myself...

These shackles that limited me to the mere rank of B+... Shattered like glass and I ascended!

The sound of shattering glass erupted all around me!

And as my mind went blank... I finally realized what was happening to me.

Oh how I wished to exclaim this... To proclaim this achievement of mine but could only wallow in despair as I could not right now...

And just then...

My mind went still, disappeared... But my body was different. *********

His entire body was like a candle, a fire... One that emitted blue flame in sudden bursts.

The blue flame possessed not only heat, but also frigidity. They courses through his body in quick succession and disappeared in an instant as well.

Like a flickering light, of freedom and power.

His right arm glowed with a blue and golden hue, as the markings of a magnificent bird of fire could be seen moving on it.

He took one final breath which emitted flame... But that was the spark.

It was the spark that ignited his entire body! In an instant it was covered in blue fire that was not harmful to him in any way! The air around him shattered like it was glass...

It was like... The very fabric of space was being broken apart!!

And finally... He awoke.

But it was not like he was truly awake. His mind had gone into slumber... But his body?

It ascended. It recovered, it pulsed. It trembled.

IT ROARED! The roar was like the high pitched cry of a majestic bird that was both enraged and enlivened.

His body, attuned with the new energy had long since phased through the measly restraints and healed itself...

And now? It was free... To get revenge!

He stood up, and opened his eyes, even as blue fire pulsed around him.

His eyes were not the diamonds they were before, one that a certain girl had fallen in love with... But they were like blue magma. That flowed and glowed.

He stood up, and each step of his caused the air around him to tremble and crack, and shatter as rifts appeared, ones connected to who knows where.

A power that was unlike Mana coursed both within him and outside him, none other than him possessing dominion over it.

He stepped forth, unknowingly crushing a ball of flesh. The flesh disappeared into nothingness.

He stretched his right hand, and a spear of unparalleled power in his hands materialized. The power within him encompassed the spear as well, and propelled it to unimaginable heights!

But that was not all, he exhaled again, and yet again it was also accompanied by blue fire.

Astral blue scales appeared all around him, covering his body but not like his draconian transformation. His eyes possessed a power that was strange even to him.

He spoke, each word carried with it a weight indescribable, but these words were not of the human language... They seemed archaic, dragonic!

The scales on him felt enchanted, enhancing their power...but that was not why he spoke. That was merely a secondary effect.

He made a grasping motion with his left hand, and then retracted it. He outstretched both hands and left the cavity in his chest open and put his chest forth.