Steam hissed out of Aerith's body, he could feel his temperature rising drastically but he was too driven by rage to take notice of it.
It was not till the notifications started to appear before him that he snapped out of his rage.
[Programmer System is fully synthesized]
[Body is badly damaged, passive skill of PHOENIX FLAME, has been activated. All damages will begin to recover]
"What's this?" He barely had time to speak to he took a knee to the guy causing him to fall to the ground, a loud scream escaped his lungs. Pain unlike any he had ever felt started to tear through him, he could see the figure of a man standing over him. His eyes looked down at him filled with hate.
Aerith had known it for a while now, these men did not seem him as a human being. They wanted to end him without just cause despite knowing he was the son of a lord. He was sure they knew he was not acquainted with the witch but yet they chose to cause him harm.
He climbed up on his knees and hands, blood dropped down his mouth as he tried to catch his breath. The look in his eyes hardened as he stared at his blood forming a small puddle under him. He gnashed his teeth and dug his fingers into the earth, it was wet and sticky with blood that was not his.
"They're not humans! They're monsters!"
"I'll kill them!"
"I'll kill them all!!"
He could feel the effects of phoenix flame in his body burning through him, turning his veins, his joints and bones to ash. He could feel everything in his body melting, and for the first time since he had become the crippled young lord his mind was clear as the night sky above his head.
He was not sure what moved him to do what he did, it was something he would have never done. But his mind was no longer his, and before he could take what he was doing into account. He spun around and threw a handful of sand into the man's face, and blinding him momentarily.
A loud scream filled the air seconds later causing every eye to be focused on them. Confused eyes soon turned to fear, standing a few feet away was the huge man who had knocked the cripple young lord down, but there was a drastic difference about him now.
Half his face was melting off, sizzling. It was red and hot, like magma was eating away at his face. Standing before him was the one responsible for the whole scene.
Aerith was standing there, hiis body on fire. Looking like a monster.
"He is the devil!" Screamed one of the men in the mob.
"Truly a spawn of hell fire!" Another cried.
Aerith had never felt anything like that in his whole life, his body was burning. It did not feel good, neither did it feel bad. All he knew was that there was a certain rush that came with it, with it he felt he could do anything he wanted.
A voice spoke in his head.
["The phoenix flame has entered its final blooming phase, your body will now be destroyed ..."]
Aerith did not have any time to react before he felt his body coming apart, the implosion created an explosion that burned through every one and everything within half a mile radius.
Everything was reduced to ash except for two people, Aerith and his protector.
Words started to fizzle before him and in his mind.
[Process complete. Your body has been reborn.]
Before he could think about everything that had happened, a voice cut through the air. "Young lord, you can... Stand just fine?" His protector stood there on the ask covered ground staring at him with confusion.
He still did not know her name, and the current predicament did not allow him to process things. He could see the bodies of half burnt men smoking on the ground, lifeless and empty.
"Did I do all that?" Aerith started at his hands, he remembered the same thing happening to Davoz when he integrated with the phoenix flame for the first time. He moved his hands slowly, he still felt a bit warm but something was different.
He started to walk slowly, each step felt energising. There was no longer a creaking sound in his bones. He had never felt so relieved to be able to work but also oddly satisfied by what he had done, he tried not to feel remorse for the people he had killed. They were going to burn him, it was only karma that they suffered the same fate themselves.
Aerith soon started to feel drowsy, the toll of what he had done earlier starting to eat away at him. His protector walked up to him and held up his weight before he could fall. "Young lord, let's go home."
He had no idea where home was or what it meant, or why he was ever here in the first place but he wanted to get as far as he could away from here. He tried to recall how he had come to be reincarnated in the first place and thought to himself. "I might have been reborn but oddly enough I don't feel I've started living just yet."
He could still remember failing to help with young girl they had killed, he had learned very quickly that power was the only thing people understood above words. He would have to get stronger if he wanted to avenge Davoz and kill Savant Gerald. Stronger than even the book knew was possible.