Chapter 14

Power felt like it was unachievable. But once it had been attained, Isago felt that he was invincible. So contempt and drunk on this feeling that he was conflicted. His own eyes shimmered to his own state as he placed his floating body down onto the ground, letting Reborn jump out of his grasp before feeling his two flames merge. It was a comforting process, almost calming him.

The blue and orange flames burned as Isago closed his eyes, hearing the splatters of water dribbled from his hair. The sounds echoed, reminding of the time when he first activated this state.

'I feel like my flames can be merged...'

Isago tried pushing them together, frowning slightly when he felt both of them reject the other. The Sky flame was supposed to accept everything. This time, Isago pulled the Sky flame higher in his chest, swirling the flame in his body before enlarging it. Just like that, the Sky flame merged with the blue, creating a colour of dark red with a flare of purple.

'Ah.'

Isago pulled out his hand as the flame flared up in his hand, glowing like the colour of eternity.

"Reborn," his voice came out icy. Reborn's eyes snapped from Isago's flame and studied his own student with a complicated gaze. "Teach me how to use my flames."

(⊙ω⊙)

The flames from Isago's hands burst, though the output felt awkward. It was like he needed something to become the point where he could concentrate his flames on. Again and again, Isago practiced what Reborn told him, enlarging his flame then decreasing them at will.

Even though Isago wasn't sweating, he could feel the flames mentally placing a burden on his body. It was strange because in this state, he never sweated no matter how many times he had tried running with the power spread to his legs. Maybe because in this state, his body was in calm mode?

Isago winced from the mental pressure the flames were harnessing from.

He was going to be so sore after this.

(⊙ω⊙)

The bell rang for lunch and Isago stood up from his seat, seeing Usagi walk up to him with a slight bounce in her footsteps. Her friends glared at her from the corners before Isago whisked her away to the library, smiling mischievously then placing a finger upon his lips while looking at the group. The girls faltered, already knowing what they should not do.

"It definitely feels good to have you as my boyfriend," Usagi's eyes twinkled after catching Isago's actions, giggling and wrapping her arms around his arm. "I was expecting them to corner me at the beginning!"

Oh, the girl-on-girl hate.

"Did they?" Isago gave her an amused smile as he escorted her into her seat, sitting across from the girl before her pink pigtails bounced with her shaking head.

"Of course not! I would give them a piece of my mind if they did!"

They opened their books and started studying. Honestly, that was a rhetorical question.

Isago had read too many shoujo mangas to know the typical approach a girl would get from dating a popular guy-which was why Isago had taken precautions before they announced it in public. It wasn't that hard to pinpoint all the potential girls that would act on impulse and he had warned them beforehand with a polite smile, telling them that if his girlfriend was attacked, they would face repercussions. Boys were surprisingly undramatic in this case, all they did was congratulate Isago on breaking his streak of being single.

Isago even went as far as to alert the teacher to enforce stricter surveillance on the bullying situation in school so that no moves would escape his grasp. Usagi had also moved to his advantage since she had no true friends and no one really to hang out with at break or lunch.

Not really a good situation since Isago actually wanted Usagi to make friends. After all, connections were important no matter how much he wanted her to prove her loyalty. She needed to get herself out there in order to become his guardians in the future. After all, his future guardians would be the closest to him and when he had a whole entire family filled with subordinates, he would need someone to sort out all the partnerships with the other groups.

He couldn't always be the one representing his famiglia.

It was also at this time where Isago was wondering if he should involve her with the mafia. He hadn't told her anything yet. Isago knew that his future self wanted her to be his storm guardian, but that also shoved the potential of death into Usagi's face if he did. If she was too weak and was chosen to be his storm guardian, then that would be a great loss.

Isago wasn't like those protective male leads who would sacrifice his own goals for someone's safety. No, Isago would manipulate her if he saw the need for it. Even if she wasn't ready, then he would prepare her. If he couldn't trust her, then he would make it that she couldn't leave him. But before that, he had to test whether she was willing.

Smiling softly, he lifted his eyes from Usagi's studying face.

"Usagi, I'm leaving for Italy directly after my birthday."

Usagi's head jerked up and narrowed her fluttering eyelashes at him. The edges of her fingers gripped her own textbook hard, knowing that it was impossible to follow him.

"I want you to make a decision—" Isago continued with his gentle tone, soothing her. His eyes were intense, directly staring into her soul. "This is your last chance to back out from me completely. If you decide to be with me, then you will inevitably throw your life in my hands."

It was a warning.

Before Usagi could even ask anymore, Isago stood up from his seat and grabbed his books from the table. He left the library without casting another glance back.

(⊙ω⊙)

The next few days passed in a blink of an eye. Every time Usagi tried talking with him, he would tell her that he was busy. He wasn't trying to ignore her, but he was just letting her experience life without him. He could see her struggling, hesitating and wanting more information on his questionable actions. He wanted to see what she would do. After all, if she was going to join the mafia, she would have to be stronger than an ordinary girl at least mentally. If she was too weak to handle a bit of ignoring then it would be best if Isago took her out of the equation whether or not his future self wanted Usagi in his family.

Her friends came back jeering at her after seeing a few interactions between Isago and Usagi. Isago let it happen like he did in the past, simply just ignoring them and erasing their existence from his eyes. She was thrown into a lonely mess and Isago saw her eating her boxed lunch in the washrooms.

Girls came flocking back at his silhouette, suddenly misunderstanding the situation as Isago's break up.

"Hey, is it true that you broke up with her?"

They weren't even calling Usagi's name, only named her 'her.' Isago smiled bitterly on purpose and didn't bother correcting them and answered in a gentle tone.

"No, we're just taking a break. I'm afraid I'm a bit too much for Usagi."

He was provoking them.

"No way! How could you ever be too much for her?"

"Honestly, I would kill to be in her position, not that I would but-"

"I agree! Isago, you're literally an ideal guy for dating."

"Don't say that, I'm sure there are guys better than me. It's just that you haven't met them yet," Isago chuckled and gestured to the boys around him that were pouting. Some were mumbling at Isago but the moment he mentioned them they cleared their throat with a look of shame.

Because he was suddenly dating a girl, that made the rest of the female population much bolder with their actions. This was why Isago had initially avoided dating anyone. Once he dated someone, everyone else would think that he was open to all types of relationships.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Usagi fuming before pushing all the other girls aside with his politest smile. That made the crease on Usagi's forehead disappear. But her eyes were still battling in between if she should approach Isago or not. Her eyebrows knitted and she bit her lip before class started again.

There was hate going on for Usagi, but Isago didn't address the problems. He only let them, watching the girls struggle with their words and build up grudges for his girlfriend. It was also because the girls had seen a chance to mess with Usagi after Isago backed away from his protection methods for her. Tacs and pins could be found in her shoebox and seat. It was done discreetly so none of the teachers had found out about any occurrences of bullying. Well, bullying was a normal occurrence in Japan.

Isago wasn't actually lying about being busy. The next few days he spent his time full-heartedly training. Other than that, he was already beginning to take his exams for this year. His teacher had allowed him to advance several years if he was able to score well on all the upper exams. He had also handed in a request to the principal stating that he wanted to take the exams for high school SATs and directly get the degree.

That definitely put the principal in a hard spot. Not to mention with all the upper-level exam scores being passed back to Isago- well, let's just say that the principal had to agree to the SAT exams and had no excuse to say that Isago couldn't because of his grades.

Of course, it was because Isago was a perfectionist in everything that he did.

It went so far that Hibari had broadcasted Isago's names through the speakers. Isago calmly stood in front of Hibari who was holding his tonfas in his own hands, staring arrogantly at his opponent. They were on top of the school roof, where Hibari had called Isago Sawada.

"I'll bite you to death if you're trying to run away from me."

Isago raised his eyebrow amusingly before shifting his weight onto his right leg. It was a relatively sunny day for a fight. There was no wind, no dust. A perfect duel place for Hibari's promised fight.

"I'm not running, I'm just advancing in life."

That was enough to apparently piss Hibari off because, in the next moment, Hiabri thrashed his tonfa at Isago, only to miss because his movements were already too slow in Isago's eyes. Sidestepping just enough for the tonfa to pass inches from his face, Isago laughed at his opponent's accuracy.

Thanks to the training from the mountain and Reborn's constant ass-whooping, Isago could already estimate when and where they were going to attack.

Hibari glared at Isago, jabbing and swinging his weapons like he was a machine.

"Stop running-" Hibari's eyes blazed with quiet irritation before lunging for another strand of attacks. "So you've learned from the baby, huh?"

Stepping to the left, Isago pulled Hibari's arm over his body, making the boy's weight tilt forward. If it was anyone else, they would have already staggered and tripped, but not Hibari. His reflexes were as good as Isago's. Even though Isago tried so hard to catch up and pull ahead from this cloud guardian. Isago slightly bit the inside of his cheeks, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

His body was still tired from this morning's training with Reborn. He wasn't able to counterattack with punches unless he wanted to give Hibari an attack place. Isago continued stepping aside, nimbly hopping on his toes then twisting his body in ways that he wasn't able to move just weeks ago.

Hibari whistled, excitement crawling into his eyes. This monster was actually ecstatic that Isago had improved! Isago's eye twitched before slamming his fist into the direction of Hibari's stomach, only to get whacked at the back of his head. His face slammed into the ground and a growl escaped his lips as he dodged left, rolling from the tonfa that smashed into the pavement and actually made the school roof crack beneath him. Isago pushed himself up and jumped back just in time as Hibari's arm ripped across his chest, tearing his school uniform.

Wiping the saliva from the side of his mouth, Isago's eyes flashed red, pushing his body from the ground at his fastest speed as he rammed into Hibari, catching the black-haired boy off guard. Isago heard a choke from his opponent before twisting around his body and grabbing Hibari's arm and flinging the boy's whole body upside down in the air. Hibari collided, tonfas falling out of his hands by the pull of gravity.

Isago continued to drag Hibari's arm, trying to shatter it before Hibari made a comeback and kicked him in the stomach. Blood rushed to Isago's face as he spat it out and stumbled back. They were quite evenly matched- not that it counted because Isago was fighting him while only with the remaining 20% of his stamina. His eyes also dimmed back to golden before trying to calculate a way to avoid Hibari's attacks.

There wasn't all that much to do unless Isago ran from battle. And that was exactly what he did. Isago lunged for the school rail, flinging his legs over with a leap and support of his right hand before falling down the roof. His body twisted forward and just before he hit the ground, Isago pulled his flame out of his body, forcefully tilting gravity and landing perfectly on his feet with a burst of dust.

He got up and dusted his hands, diminishing his flame inside his body before breaking out into a jog to avoid Hibari's potential hunt down. Smirking, Isago counted that as his first win.

(⊙ω⊙) Ten years into future...

Isago was wearing a suit as he spat out blood on the ground, his hands slammed into the marble floor while he gritted his teeth, glaring at Byakuran. Yes, this was Isago from ten years in the future. The white-haired man before him smiled cheerfully with a bunch of bodyguards behind him with flame-sucking weapons aimed at Isago. On the ground, there were shards of glass and a machine that was breathing out black smoke because Isago had successfully completed his task.

The earrings on Isago shimmered, thousands of lasers shooting out in mid-air as he tried to make an escape for it, slamming his body into the glass only to snap back onto the ground with a groan that escaped his lips. None of his lasers passed the glass nor damaged Byakuran even a bit. There was a mocking chuckle that escaped from Isago's mouth as he stared down at the broken pieces of shards that reflected his beat-up face. Blood trickled from his forehead and his mouth, mocking him as they slowed their pace on his dirty face.

"Nee, Isago-kun, aren't you angry at Tsunayoshi-kun for giving you this mission?" Byakuran smiled, slanted eyes closed for a millisecond before he opened them with interest. There was a tattoo painted on Byakuran's light skin and was directly underneath his left eye. His hair was fluttering in the room despite the lack of wind in the closed space.

"Hah, he didn't know about the consequences," Isago lifted his face, plastering a blank smile. "But I agree-this mission suited Mukuro much more than me."

At least if Mukuro was the one here, he could narrowly escape or fake his death in front of Byakuran. Isago knew how powerful the man in front of him was. He knew very well.

"You are very talkative for a hostage as always, Isago-kun!" Byakuran clapped his hands with glee. There was a twinkle in his eyes as his footsteps echoed through the room. The man was powerful, definitely, but he wasn't able to succeed anymore due to the fact that Isago had just destroyed the time machine.

"I try to please most people, especially if it is you, Byakuran."

Byakuran seemed delighted from his words and held up his hand as a signal for all the bodyguards to leave the room. One by one, the people trickled out of the room and Byakuran gestured to the half-burnt couch with holes from Isago's attacks just minutes ago.

"Make yourself comfortable, Isago-kun."

Isago didn't like Byakuran's way of addressing him, but trudged himself up from the ground and limped forward to the couch that Byakuran had pointed to. Isago already knew that he was at the end of his life. There was no way to escape this man if Byakuran wanted him to stay in this place. Not to mention Isago had broken his leg in the process of destroying the machine-injuring both his flames in the process too.

Tsuna never mentioned a weapon that was able to suck the flames out of a user in Byakuran's profile. But Isago knew it himself because he had seen a similar type of power coming from Byakuran. Isago knew that the moment Tsuna sent him on this mission, that would be the end of him for this timeline. Tsuna was pressured mostly by Gokudera.

But Isago didn't complain. He took it because he knew Tsuna needed someone to finish this.

Byakuran disregarded the holes and sat on the cushions, leaning back into the pillow as he lifted his leg across his other knee. Isago sat across from him, although he was breathing heavily, he controlled his expression from showing too much. Death was...death.

Isago wasn't scared of it because he had no reason to live in this timeline anymore. He had repeated all his past mistakes again, giving Tsuna the role of the succession while following him like an obedient little puppy. Regret after regret, they toppled upon each other, making Isago quite possibly frustrated the entire time he was alive in the world. There was nothing he could do until his 14-year-old self switched places with him.

Even Byakuran- Isago chuckled.

Even Byakuran had no idea about the existence of the ten-year bazooka. Even if Byakuran did know, he would not have known that Isago was a reincarnatior.

"Now, I have to express my annoyance for my precious machine being broken by you," Byakuran opened his eyes, hostility seeping through his lenses as he slid on another smile. "But like all the other timelines, you would cooperate until you ask me to kill you, right?"

Isago didn't flinch. He only watched with a calculating gaze at Byakuran then gave an aloof laugh.

"Timelines, huh? Well, I do admit that I am the type to cooperate willingly."

"Of course," Byakuran folded his hands neatly in front of him. His light purple eyes pierced Isago's soul as if to see if he was lying, but soon closed with a comfortable and confident shift with his right hand which twirled up in his hair. "You have left a lot of clues in your other selves, Isago-kun. The game we play together is very fun. It even makes me wonder...if you have the same ability as me?"

"I wouldn't be in this position if I had something similar," Isago gestured with his sore arm, eye twitching instead of twisting the smile off of his face and into a wince. "My brother would have never been the Vongola boss either."

"You make a fair point, Isago-kun. A pity that you worked under your brother instead of me. I would have treated you much better than send you on a suicide mission-perhaps even found an S class ring to fit your own unit."

"We both know you wouldn't, Byakuran. Is that all you wanted to ask me?"

Byakuran's clothes shifted when he leaned forward with a smile. The silver shoulder pads shimmered with the rays from the sun outside. The Mare ring symbol was on the side of his white shirt, making his overall appearance seem too white for Isago's eyes. Isago knew that Byakuran wanted to portray the image of God, but that was not the way to do it.

Maybe he should've added a halo on his head while he was at it.

"One last question before I get bored," Byakuran hummed in amusement. Isago wanted to roll his eyes at the man, not even trying to point out how happy Byakuran sounded to see him from the moment he appeared in the base. "A ten-year-old version of your brother appeared in the forest. Apparently, Shoichi is sending them back in time to train them. Do you know what brought him here in the first place?"

Isago eyed Byakuran, already knowing that he was testing him. His brother hadn't changed spots with his past self yet. Not in this timeline. He was probably talking about another timeline. One that sent his brother too early into the future.

"It goes back to a long time ago," Isago shrugged, maintaining eye contact with the Millefiore boss. "Isn't that also why you tried to build a similar machine to Irie Shoichi?"

"Ah, but that's not all, Isago-kun," he chirped, a smile sweetly on his face as he dipped his head side to side while drumming on his leg. His breaths were deep and relaxed as if not threatened by Isago's presence at all. Well, Isago knew that Byakuran had the skill to be arrogant. "As long as there is a possibility that I will not become invincible, then I will make sure that the percent is...impossible."

"I see," Isago clicked his tongue. So Byakuran was trying to make sure all his timelines had received the Mare Ring. The sky Mare had one requirement, which was that the user must have the power to cross over his knowledge through timelines. However, even if Byakuran received a ring, there would always be a timeline that Shoichi Irie did not meet Lambo nor attain that power of his.

One of them...was the timeline that Isago had created with the note that he wrote to his past self. There were now two.

"Then I wish you good luck on that then," Isago spoke with a mirthful tone.

"You never disappoint me, Isago-kun."

"Neither do you, Byakuran."

Byakuran extended his hand at Isago, posture strong while there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He smiled gleefully and before Isago's world went dark, Byakuran said something that instantly made Isago's face pale.

"It's a shame that you were one step too late in destroying my time machine."

(⊙ω⊙) Present-day...

Isago still had several things to tackle before he could call his channelling of flames successful. He was now able to channel his flames by will and merge them as if it was the most natural thing to do. His flame control though-was still lacking. Not to mention that the time he could use his flames was extended from 5 seconds to 5 minutes. Not bad at all, but for the succession, Isago at least had to increase the time to 4 hours of nonstop concentration.

It occurred to Isago that the extendable time limit of how much his flames lasted needed his concentration and were easily trainable like stamina. The more you broke your limits, the longer you could hold it for.

It was only the second week after almost drowning when his life and death battle occurred. No wonder Reborn was sticking to Isago despite Tsuna coming back from the hospital. Reborn had left Tsuna to train by himself, although still waking Tsuna up and kicking Tsuna to train in the morning in order to actually get Tsuna's motivation up.

Tsuna's schoolwork had also increased at an extremely fast rate, apparently with Gokudera and Yamamoto's help after school. Tsuna mostly ignored Isago at home though-either avoiding being in the same room as his brother or spending his after-school time at Gokudera's house. Of course, Gokudera was delighted when Tsuna came to him for a study session.

Isago panted, blood splattering onto the dirt with such beauty that Isago was momentarily mesmerized by the deep colour.

"Ragazzo!"

Reborn's voice snapped Isago out of it before a large mechanical drill slammed down onto the ground, breaking it into pieces before Isago used his flame to place distance between the machine and him.

"Hah! So this is one of the successors to the Vongola throne?" The woman beside the machine twisted her blond locks in between her fingers, smiling seductively at Isago's wretched expression.

"Pity that such a handsome boy like you needs to die. I could really use a side boy to fill my needs." Her eyes gleamed green before gesturing for multiple people to surround Isago.

Isago's eyes darted both ways as he felt Reborn's arm slide into his chest pocket. Dozens of bullets ran down from the sky while Isago and Reborn both jumped the opposite ways, Reborn firing a couple of bullets at some people, catching them directly in the middle of their temples as their blood painted the skies.

The machine was the problem right now though.

Isago had tried punching the thing with his flames, but the machine seemed as if it was sucking his life force away. It was dangerous, not to mention his five minutes were up. Flames from his body disappeared like a rubber band snapping back with exhaustion before a person wearing black gave Isago an uppercut directly on his chin.

"Gak!"

He heard Reborn's voice before sounds of firing issued again. Isago collapsed with an immobile body from the punch's impact. He heard the woman laugh before her feet crushed into Isago's skull, forcing the boy to cough out another fit of blood. Isago heaved, trying to catch his breath before her foot came down from the sky again, this time grinding on his skin. He whimpered.

He felt his skull shatter underneath him before his body was hurled up. A person was behind him, two arms holding him down as he was pushed into a kneeling position, the woman gesturing for someone to grab her weapons.

They were assassins. Assassins sent from another family to kill Tsuna. So why were they currently targeting Isago? Isago wanted to scream that question with all his heart. They had interceded Isago when he was training his flames, directly when he was at his most exhausted state. Perfectly planned like they had been notified beforehand.

"Say goodbye to your precious fingers!"

With that, the woman stabbed a bloodied knife into Isago's ring finger as he screeched. She yanked the knife sideways as the mafia members behind Isago dug their nails into his shoulders, making a bone-crushing statement. Isago's shrieks echoed through the mountain as he stared, stunned at his missing finger that was now spewing out blood like a fountain.

His mouth gaped open as he withered in pain, his body coiling back in until the woman ripped another finger off of Isago with a crack. Tears wrenched out of Isago's bloodshot eyes, his mouth yowling out before another man kicked him directly in the stomach as Isago vomited out his lunch. The stench was unbearable as mucus threw up from his hunched back, constantly pounding their way out of his throat.

There were insane laughs from the members as Reborn's voice faded like sirens in Isago's mind. Nothing but red flashed through his eyes. His missing fingers sizzled, fizzled with twitches, twisting them in inhumane ways as they trembled, spraying out blood consistently.

"Blame your older brother for not taking your place!" The woman squealed in glee before jerking Isago's other hand and prepared to cut it off too. Temporary blackness engulfed him, a tremor was felt in his missing fingers before he was knocked into sense by the back of someone's handgun.

The woman was giggling and holding up one of Isago's fingers, flapping it beside her red lips as the blood thrust into the air like a ritual for Satan. A pathetic whimper left Isago's lips as his head swirled, the joining of light-headed groans and light joining his vision from the blood loss.

It was an excruciating moment-not knowing when he was about to die but was so eager to just end his pain. His consciousness was drifting away as he breathed heavily, eyes rolling into the back of his head as his whole body shivered in weightly spasms. The light edged closer to him, sweet, sweet oblivion spread through his body as if inviting him with open arms.

(⊙ω⊙)

"-gazzo, pull your shit together!"

Ragazzo's body fell limp from the missing strength holding his arms back. Reborn's face twisted in fury as he shot all the people around the boy and hit the woman directly in the arm as she screamed, dropping Ragazzo's finger from her hands as her arm contorted backward.

He had just finished around the fifty men that surrounded him, sweat rolling down his baby neck before his expression deformed viciously, almost looking like the devil had spawned inside a child. Leon beside him was shining like a fireball. But it was a bit too late.

Reborn shot multiple times to shove the distance between the woman and Ragazzo before running over and picking up Ragazzo's three fingers and flaring up his sun flame. The blood was dripping endlessly from the fingers as Reborn grabbed Isago's hand and smushed the fingers in their places, blazing his flame as high as possible.

"Ragazzo!" He shouted, beads of liquid forming on his own forehead. Ragazzo groaned, his safe fingers twitching as he tried to pull himself together. He was borderline unconscious, swimming between the line of death and life before Reborn clutched his student's hand tighter, pouring in all his flames towards Ragazzo.

Reborn heard the woman's laugh again and the blonde lunged for the hitman, knife whipping before Reborn shot her directly in the head. Her mouth was open while her eyes rolled to the back of her head and the hole in the middle of her temples leaked blood. Her body fell forward and onto the ground in a heap.

Reborn's eyes glossed over his student's fingers, the lines healing up as fast as Reborn could activate a human's cells. One by one, the fingers were attached again, the blood vessels being repaired like bolts of lighting. Reborn's forehead creased with fatigue but his expression didn't show anything of the sort.

A mechanical whirl was heard but Reborn didn't dare to break his concentration on Ragazzo's body until his student stirred once more, the colour returning on his face. Leon's eyes closed the moment Ragazzo's bloody eyes shot open and the chameleon's body shimmered, evolving before two earrings plopped onto Ragazzo's stomach.

(⊙ω⊙)

Isago wheezed in a breath of air, breathing heavily as he felt sweat roll down his neck and soaking his entire backside. His clothes were dirty, filled with the stench of his vomit from earlier as his eyes darted towards Reborn who was silently still pouring his flames down Isago's hands.

"What the fuck-" Isago's eyes whirled to the two piercings on his stomach before snatching them with his other bloodied hand that Reborn had finished attaching his finger to. "-Am I supposed to do with a fucking pair of earrings-"

Isago flung his own body and Reborn's to the side as a large drill disintegrated the spot that they were just at. Reborn heaved, hand never parting from Isago's skin as the glow flamed brighter underneath. Reborn's eyes wandered to the drill that seemed reluctant to pull out of the ground.

"Reborn! Save some of your flame to yourself!" Isago pushed himself off the ground with his regenerating energy and carried his own tutor that seemed heavier than ever. For once, Reborn's eyes were filled with terrors from his past and obsession with death. Isago grunted, seeing that Reborn didn't answer him.

He had to think of a situation quickly. Or else both his tutor and him would die in the hands of this mechanical machine.

The machine rolled its tracks on the mountains, dipping its rollers into the ground, and weaving his drills in the air, slashing downwards before it clashed into something. Metal sparks flew into the air before continuing. The enemy weapon was almost four times larger than Isago's own body, having a round and circular-shaped body along with the head. Although there was a small lump at the top of the head, the seat was empty. The whole thing was coloured in a shade of green and white, human hands created so detailed with iron that Isago almost mistook it for a grandfather's hand. Too bad that grandfatherly hand was trying to kill them.

"Reborn!" Isago snapped at his tutor who seemed dazed. This was very bad. Was Reborn in a semi-unconscious state? Isago couldn't leave one of his favourite characters behind nor could he outrun the machine without abandoning Reborn.

He leaped forward and into the trees hoping to block the machine's vision. It failed instantly as the drill ripped off the treetops that Isago was running under and the clicks of bullets were heard before Isago activated his flame again, pushing past the close distance.

"Dammit," Isago gritted his teeth before looking back at the disaster that was still following them. Who in the world was able to create something so advanced in this era? There was something in his gut that told Isago he knew of the creator, but Isago instantly brushed it away. His sleeveless shirt was loose and flapping in the wind with how fast he was running.

He was swinging from treetop to treetop like a ninja, frantically trying to connect the dots on the bot's weakness. So far the bot only had two weapons, the drill and the bullets that sprouted from its stomach. Isago could see a method, which was to take out the main battery from the machine-but he needed enough firepower.

Sirens blazed through Isago's head and the machine was creeping faster than ever towards them. Faster, faster-

Isago blazed his flame in his only hope, the earrings that Leon had created for him. There was a shimmer in his hands before the earring evolved into thousands of lights beside him and shot backwards towards the machine. Isago's eyes mildly widened before increasing the power of his flame, red and purple flickers bolting out of his sides like lasers and dashing towards their targets.

Isago skidded to a stop before whipping around to see countless holes in the machine's stomach, but the thing still continued to run forward. The power was quite stunning! A wide smile grew menacingly on Isago's face before he yelled out a 'go!' and supplied all his power into the earrings.

This time, twice as many lasers emerged in circular dots and shot out at his will. Isago could feel his control over them as his hand twitched, focusing on one singular laser, twisting it until it suddenly changed direction and bolted up, shooting the machine directly in the face.

Isago clenched his jaw tightly and watched the machine stop, the drills slowly powering off before completely becoming immobile. He gasped, staggering backwards and fell onto his butt, wincing from the dull impact before clenching the earrings in his hands as his flames disappeared from his body.

Sighing in relief, Isago threw back his head and laughed, feeling a bit too overpowered. In the anime, there were several people who could use knives and throw them around, but there were two problems with that. Firstly, the knives were linked to thin strings and the moment that you cut them, the knives wouldn't be able to float. Second, was that there was a limit to how many knives you had.

But with this, Isago was invincible.

"Well done, Ragazzo," Reborn's voice chirped energetically, making Isago's head jerk towards his tutor. Reborn's head was still lowered towards the floor before it did a complete 180-degree turn like a robot.

Isago shrieked, dropping his tutor onto the ground before staring gapingly at the tutor's light and happy footsteps that plopped onto the ground with no effort. Reborn smirked curtly, head inside his small clean suit before twisting his suit back in place. Leon was sitting joyfully on Reborn's shoulder before flicking out his tongue to congratulate the boy.

"You've been acting the entire time?!" Isago groaned, facepalming himself for doubting his tutor's strong mental state for even just a second. Reborn only slightly nodded, walking forward to Isago's fallen body before patting him on the head. Stunned, Isago opened his parting lips before Reborn retracted his hands with a small smile.

"Let's go home, Ragazzo."