(Tom"s PoV)I watched closely as Jane displayed her power in front of the old man. She only took three men from the army her, including myself. But, we had not had any show off time since she overwhelmed the old man all by herself. She might have a good reason to do that, but I felt like I was useless.
The other two that she took with her were parts of fire bearer team in the army. It was only the five of them, but I couldn"t say that their position or job was insignificant. First, the fire was not an ordinary fire. It was spiritual power, a blue flame that could burn anything. It was slightly different with the fire from Death Volcano but still it was dangerous. I still had not known the advantages of this blue flame, though. Second, the fire was a proof of the power held by the Master and General.
Which was why, the presence of these five men was not to be taken lightly in the army. If they were given a command, they could be the most dangerous men in the army. They could burn an entire city in a blink of eyes since their mastery in controlling the fire. To keep the fire lit up for all these years was not an easy task. Without the Master and General, the smallest fire was in baby fist size. It showed how strong their mental power as well as how well their control over the power was.
But, I noticed the difference of size before I officially joined the army and after that. Before I joined the army, the fire was in the size of two adults" fists. After I joined the army, it increased in size by another inch.
However, when Jane"s and my power combined together before, the flame soared higher, like a big torch.
I thought that was the biggest fire it could ever reach.
Turned out I was wrong.
With just a wave of her hand, the fire soared bigger like bonfire, burning those shadows like those were fire woods. So easy, so fast. And it didn"t involve the power of those two fire bearers.
It was pure her power.
Even I, the one on her side, was amazed with her display of power. Deep inside my heart I was thankful that I wasn"t her enemy. If she were my enemy, I would have cowered in fear after seeing this.
She looked like a queen from the h.e.l.l, basking in the blue glow of fire with her cold sharp eyes that seemed to be able to see the depth of someone"s heart. Her hair swayed along the flow of energy, but instead of feeling hot, I could only feel warm.
It was truly a sight to behold. I was sure I could never forget this sight ever… in my life.
The sound teeth chattering interrupted my amazement towards my girlfriend. Surprisingly, the source of the sound came from the shadow that we captured. He might have realized who he had provoked and regretted it.
Heh, it"s too late. Let"s just hope that she would forget about you. But, even if she did, there was no way I would let you off.
"As for that one…" I saw her pointed at the man beside me. "I"ll let my General decide."
The corner of my lips curled up a bit as I heard her decision. Well, it would be my honor.
Pulling up my chain that was tying him up, I dragged him into the middle of the room. "Hey, Putra. Tell me how to open up the path to the Death Volcano." I called out for him in my consciousness.
"No way!" Putra refused strongly.
"Tell me, or else I"ll be calling you Ireng for a month." Not a nice threat, but this kid was seriously aware of his image that it was sufficient enough to threaten him.
"You"re awful!"
"You know I do since we first met." I smirked inwardly. "Come on, this stupid shadow is waiting."
I heard him groan unwillingly. "Hit the ground with your chain and order it to open up the path to Death Volcano." He grumpily said.
"Thank you." I smiled at him, of course we were the ones who knew that I was smiling.
I raised the chain in my hand and hit it on the wooden floor, not too lightly and not too strongly. "Open up." I commanded and in instant the floor behind our feet made a rumbling sound.
The wind was howling as a slight tremor hit the room. There was a fluctuation of energy in the room and a crack finally appeared on the floor. The ground was opening up slowly as glaring red light as well as heat started to invade our senses. In a matter of second, everyone in the room could see the boiling hot lava in the ground.
"I"ve told I"m going to wash you in the Death Volcano." I smirked as I saw the pale face of the shadow.
"No, no, no…" He shook his head hastily. "Please, spare me. Don"t kill me, please!"
"Now you know how to beg?" I smiled. "Throw him in." I moved the chain in my hand lightly.
The chain obeyed my command in a second. It brought the shadow towards the crack then threw him inside.
We all ignored his scream. Rather, we enjoyed the sight when my chain plunged him inside the boiling hot lava for a second, then pulled him out again before he melted inside. He was even still able to scream, meant he was still fine. Probably.
However, it wouldn"t be for long. Before his scream hurt our ears for long, he had taken a big dive into the lava pool again. This time, when the chain pulled him up, he couldn"t make another sound. However, from the way his body was twitching, it was clear that he had not breathed his last.
As if a shadow could breathe. Whatever.
"Drown him." I commanded again and this time, he didn"t show up again. The crack on the ground slowly closed up and left no trace, much to my surprise.
I looked up to see the old man pale face. He looked so terrified than his whole body trembled badly and his knees felt weak. He flopped to the ground with cold sweat all over his body. His eyes didn"t move from the lava pool but he didn"t say anything.
Well, I doubted he could say a word after all he had witnessed.
"Now you know how much a kid like me can do to you?" Jane"s cold and mocking voice made the old man"s eyes widened and his trembling got worse.
"You…" He started with shaky voice. "More evil than your father." He said.
As soon as he said that, the air around Jane changed.
Not good. I screamed inside my head.
Jane moved like a flash. Her small and beautiful hand grabbed the old man"s throat, looking like a grim reaper"s weapon to take souls.
"Since you said it as if my father had annihilated your entire family, then let me see how evil he is with my own eyes." Jane was seriously angered, but despite her rage to destroy everything and killed that old man, she was still able to think clearly not to believe blindly.
I watched as she put her finger on his head and closed her eyes. Was it possible for her to peek into his mind? Well, since she could track down this old man who had planned to attack her or her father, I believed it was possible for her to do something like this.
The old man"s eyes rolled back to his head. Jane must be doing something inside. Not long after that, Jane"s eyes opened up and mocking was clear in her eyes.
"What did you say about my father? Evil? Are you talking about yourself?" She sneered.
I didn"t know clearly what happened between this old man with her father, but it seemed like this old man was slandering her father by s.h.i.+fting the truth. Serve him right!
"I"m going to take your ability and cripple you for the rest of your life. Let"s see how you will live your life from now on."
After saying that, I saw her pulling out something from his head. The old man"s eyes rolled back to his skull and his body convulsed slightly. A choking groan was heard from his throat but Jane didn"t stop. To be honest, I thought he wouldn"t live after Jane was done with him. But who would have thought that he was merely convulsing a bit and groaned in pain before his erratic breath stabilized.
But, he was in a mess. Some sort of bad smelling liquid came out from his body but he couldn"t control it at all. He looked so pathetic and disgusting, but Jane"s cold and detached stare looked devoid of feelings.
"Let"s go back." She s.h.i.+fted her gaze from him and walked towards me. When her hand touched my shoulder, I felt the ground under my feet s.h.i.+fted and we were back to the forest where Siji and Sanji were waiting.
But, before we could take another step, Jane fell down. If not for my quick reflexes, she would have fallen face first on the hard ground. Still, it incited worry on us.
"Jane!"