One would think that a horse-sized bird could never lift a big, brawny man like Brandon with its talons. However, Fenghuang was no ordinary horse-sized bird; mechanical body aside, her parents were Pavo and Phoenix. Pavo passed down the grace and sanctity of a peacock to her, while Phoenix gave her miraculous, logic-defying powers. Hell, she could become intangible like a spirit and touch Billy - a ghost - when she willed it.

Lifting Brandon was not as logic-defying as one would think actually. By fiddling with the air and the gravity around her, Fenghuang wouldn't need much strength to carry the undead man.

Metaslica Faculty of Science stood in the distance, towering over townhouses around it. Clean white paint coated its walls, at which Fenghuang wished she could scowl. White symbolized purity, yet she'd heard of David's notoriety from Wong. It didn't matter whether you passed or failed the entrance exam; as long as you had the money and the connection with some important people, the university would accept you.

Fenghuang swooped down. Once Brandon's feet touched the ground, she released his arms and glided towards the doorstep of Metaslica Faculty of Science. David and his chubby assistant Timothy stood behind the glass doors, right beside a crater on the marble floor.

The crater should be why she could find no scholar around despite today not being a holiday. The escalators were dead, too.

As she and Brandon approached the glass doors, children's screams echoed in her head and made her stop in her tracks. Fenghuang blinked, and her vision became black and white. An anomaly rested before her: crimson aura emanated from David's body.

With her vision returning to normal, she flew through the doors like a ghost.

David looked at Fenghuang, beads of sweat dribbling down his temple. "Long time no see, Fenghuang."

Landing on her feet, Fenghuang spat a flaming dart at David. It went into his forehead and set him ablaze without burning his clothes. Collapsing and rolling on the ground, David screamed. Silver scales coated his entire body, but they turned into boiling goo within a split-second and seeped into David's body.

With shaky limbs, Timothy rushed to snatch a fire extinguisher off the wall and ran back to the blazing dean. White vapor sprayed out of the nozzle, but the fire around David wouldn't die out.

"Timothy, you may throw him into the sea or the outer space, but my flame will keep burning until he is ashes or I will it to stop." Fenghuang gave David a death glare. "Did you use innocent children for your experiments?"

"Yes, I tricked them into following me!" David cried out. "Then I injected some folks into them and sent them to the misty region! I did it to buy us time!"

"For what?"

"I'm trying to find a way so that Brandon can live on without transfusion!" David shifted from flailing his limbs to smacking himself to flailing his limbs again. "Fenghuang, please let me go! It hurts!"

Fenghuang nodded, and the flame died out. David lay on the ground, gasping for breath as threads of smoke escaped from his charred skin. His face swelled so much that he couldn't open his eyes.

"You may be my creator, but I only spare you because Brandon and his comrades need Chrono Chamber." Fenghuang looked at Timothy. "As David recovers, take Brandon to the lab and give him transfusion."

"Y-yes." The chubby man put down the fire extinguisher before scampering past her and towards Brandon. "Sir, follow me."

Brandon stood still, his mouth ajar.

Fenghuang approached the undead man. "Anything you wish to ask?"

"Your fire is unusual."

"It is not as odd as you think, Brandon. My victim's heinous deeds fuel my fire." Fenghuang pointed at the sprawled and breathless David with her wing. "He used innocent children for experiments. Such a crime is enough to keep my fire alive underwater and in a vacuum."

"I thought folk-infected people could never feel physical pain."

"My flame does not only deal with the physical realm."

"How did you develop it?"

"My parents passed it down to me."

Brandon frowned.

"I shall return to Jiugang Castle to fetch the others." As Brandon and Timothy walked past her, Fenghuang gave the scowling undead man one last look.

"I need power."

The faint voice, which sounded exactly like Brandon's, echoed in Fenghuang's head over and over again.

Fenghuang blinked, and everything became black and white again. Dim red aura coated Brandon's body, at which she muttered, "Power is not everything, Brandon. Remember that." Then her vision reverted.

Brandon replied with nothing.

Fenghuang spread her colorful wings, bolted out of the building, and jumped into the azure sky. Something didn't seem right about Brandon's desire to grow stronger; if it hadn't had the potential to evolve into something malicious, her Evil Detector wouldn't have triggered.

As she streaked across the horizon, she contemplated about the findings. Brandon was an undead with a domesticated folk in him; such a species was incapable of regenerating its own blood, making it one of the weaker variants among folk-infected beings. Meanwhile, Brandon wished to catch up with and perhaps surpass everybody else.

He might sell his soul to the devil to achieve the impossible.

With the wind and the gravity manipulated into favoring her flight, it took only a few minutes to reach Jiugang Castle. The large two-story building stood in the middle of a stone yard, with pigeons perching and cooing on its upturned roof. Fenghuang saw no humans in the yard; instead, there were a lot of pigeons.

When Fenghuang dived, the little birds flew away to the roof and nearby trees. The pigeons remained still as a statue on their perch as she landed on her feet.

"Have I not told you, little ones?" Fenghuang asked the pigeons. "You need not treat me like a royalty."

Slowly, the pigeons left their perch and began wandering around the yard again. However, none of the feathered critters stood on Fenghuang's path to the castle.

Fenghuang shrugged. A myth would always be a myth, and she would always have influence over birds.

As she walked towards the entrance of the castle, the teak double door creaked open to reveal Wong, Mika, Katrina, Billy, and Jyuji. The sapphire dragon held a massive silver axe in his hands.

"Hey, birdie!" Jyuji grumbled. "I got stuck with this stupid axe because you took Brandon away real quick!"

Billy nudged Jyuji with his guitar. "Look at the positive side, buddy. Everybody agrees that you carry the axe because your raw strength is the best among us."

"I'm not a fan of doing anyone a favor, specter boy."

Fenghuang jumped and flapped her wings. "Then allow me to carry it all the way back to Metaslica."

"It'd be fun to see how this big-ass axe slips outta your grip, birdie." Jyuji tossed the axe at Fenghuang, who seized the handle with her talons. The sapphire dragon folded his arms over his chest. "I'm sure that it'll slip soon."

Fenghuang replied with nothing. Whatever Jyuji said, he would never trigger her Evil Detector.

"Fenghuang, give Mika a lift to Metaslica," Wong spoke. "Others can catch up with you."

"Yes, Master." Fenghuang turned. "Hop onto me, Mika."

"Okay." Mika ran and jumped. After wrapping her arm around Fenghuang's neck, she glanced over her shoulder. "Thank you for everything, Mr. Wong."

Then they set off.

With a passenger on her back, Fenghuang would never fly at maximum speed; she could cure airsickness, but her restorative power might make her passenger immortal. However, she had a different reason to be slow this time.

"Mika," she told the girl, "I sensed growing evil from Brandon earlier."

"You sure? Brandon is a good person."

"The right circumstances can corrupt a good person," Fenghuang reasoned. "I know it is hard for you to take in, but you have to accept it and be wary. You do not want to see your father turn into an evil person, do you?"

Mika gulped. "I d-don't!"

"Losing to Katrina had made Brandon think of growing stronger. However, his main issue is that he cannot produce his own blood. No matter how hard he trains, he will never catch up with everybody else."

"Brandon can rely on Empowering Scar."

"It only lets him build a stronger body, which will not help much against folk's power." After a moment of silence, Fenghuang added, "There is a possibility that he will make a deal with the devil for great power."

"Brandon will never do that!"

"Silence, you ignorant child!" Fenghuang snapped. "I, for one, do not dare to imagine what will happen if Brandon does such a thing."

"He won't..." Mika sobbed. "Brandon will never make a deal with the devil. He will never forsake his friends and family."

"If you insist," Fenghuang responded, "then I can only tell you this. Keep an eye on Brandon. Ask him why he seeks great power and what he will do after earning it."