"Don't be ridiculous," Johanna snarled, stepping in front of her brothers with a sudden, commanding presence. "You are no god of mine. Now burn!"
Her voice echoed like a war cry as she lifted her hand to her cheek. The golden mouth of the Oni mask unfurled, its mouth gaping wide as a torrent of fire exploded from it, hotter and more ferocious than before. The flames surged toward Alexander like a tsunami of destruction, devouring the ground in a brilliant blaze.
Johanna didn't hesitate. She marched through her own fire, her boots melting into the earth with every step, but she didn't care. Her eyes glazed over, entranced by the beauty of her devastation. The way the flames danced, the way they consumed — it was a violent symphony, and she was its conductor.
But Alexander remained unfazed. He didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He stood there, locked in unyielding eye contact, as though her wrath was a mere inconvenience. And beneath the roaring fire, Johanna could swear she heard him whistling.
Alexander did not tense up, nor did he move. He remained locked in intense eye contact like the first time she attacked him. Only this time, Johanna could swear that she heard him whistling as she engulfed him with flames that started to flicker as she continued walking closer to him.
"This is a neat trick. I am with your younger brother. You truly do earn the name Lady Dragon Feuer. Which I believe translates to mistress dragon fire?" Alexander's voice was muffled under the sound of the crackling flame.
Johanna was becoming enraged not by Alexander's comment but by his indifference. She did not see him use any alchemy or whatever he called it. Yet still, he was standing there unscathed as she was scorching the area around him with flames.
Her fury spiked. Not at his words, but at his apathy. He should have been screaming, writhing in agony as her flames stripped the flesh from his bones. But he stood tall, immaculate, as if her power was nothing more than a warm breeze.
She pushed forward, determined to burn him to ash with sheer willpower if necessary. The flames licked at her skin, her mask glowing red-hot as she closed the distance. When she finally stood mere inches from him, face to face, she shut the golden mouth of her mask, the fire fading into embers.
The flames surged around them; however, Johanna was only focused on Alexander. She was intrigued by his ability and the mystery it was shrouded inside. She wondered how he could stand there unphased by her dragon mask. It was like Felix said: no one has ever survived a blow from it. The man before her was a well-dressed anomaly. Which is what ultimately led her to make a fatal mistake. Johanna did not realize she was still approaching him. Not until she was a breath away from him.
He jolted her into focus when she felt a cold hand grab her neck, squeezing it tightly. She gasped, her feet lifting off the ground as he hoisted her effortlessly into the air. She clawed at his arm and kicked at his legs, but he didn't budge. Her mask faded, revealing her pink lips as she sputtered and fought for breath.
Felix and Bruno screamed her name, but the raging sea of fire she had created kept them at bay.
"You are a fool," Alexander whispered, tilting his head. His golden eye gleamed beneath the brim of his hat, and for the first time, Johanna felt true fear. "No… you are a slave to your power. You let it dictate your actions, guide your every thought. I understand that temptation. I really do."
"You are a fool. No, to be more precise, you allow your power to dictate your actions. You let it control you as you give in to your baser compulsions. I sympathize with you. I understand the feeling." Alexander's golden eye becomes visible briefly to Johanna. She felt a terrifying and overwhelming sense of fear when she looked into it.
"Do you know why I am unaffected by your little trick?" He releases her neck ever so slightly, giving her room to gasp for air.
Johanna coughed. "You… you're a monster," she choked out. "Some freak…"
"Well, that is true in a sense. However, that is not why I am unaffected. I will tell you, though, but you have to keep it our little secret." Alexander gave her a sinister smile. "Perhaps. But that's not the reason." He leaned in, his breath icy against her skin. "This is another of my abilities. I call it the Absolute Circle."
He shook her slightly, making sure she was still conscious enough to hear him.
"Anything inside this circle obeys one absolute rule of my choosing," he explained. "And right now, that rule is simple: no heat can exist within this space. Your flames didn't fail to reach me. They were snuffed out the moment they touched my domain."
Johanna's mind raced. She remembered the way he'd spun his foot into the ground earlier. That must have been the moment he established the circle. It explained everything — the unnatural cold, the way her fire died the closer she got. But then… how was he still alive? How did he function without heat?
Alexander grinned as though he could read her thoughts. "Ah, you're wondering how I survive in this space? Think carefully about the rule."
Her eyes widened. It wasn't that heat couldn't exist at all — only heat from outside the circle. His body could still generate its own warmth. He was effectively insulated from the world, living in a bubble of controlled physics.
"I can tell from your facial expressions you understand, my dear, what to do now that you know one of my deepest, darkest secrets. Can I trust you?" Alexander releases the grip on her throat some more, giving her a bit more room to breathe.
She stops panicking and thinks about the best way to survive this situation. The man in front of her is obviously completely unhinged. However, he has shown himself to be a gentleman and an honorable person.
"I promise I won't tell anyone about your abilities or powers. I will tell my brothers that we are leaving and you will never see us again. I will also never tell a soul about what we have spoken about today, I promise." She yells out.
Alexander begins squeezing her throat harder this time. She begins clawing at him desperately, trying to fight against his strength. He was a very lean-looking man, but his grip strength was unreal.
"Do you not believe me? I will keep my word; I won't tell a soul. You wouldn't kill an innocent woman like me. A true gentleman would never..."
Alexander grabs her head.
"Oh, I believe you, dear. And you're right; I would never kill an innocent woman."
Then, with one swift motion, he snaps her neck. Forcing her body to become limp and her arms to fall to her side.
"Because I am a true gentleman," he whispered, straightening his tie. Alexander then throws her limp body into the sea of fire, turning her to nothing but ash.
The sounds of her brother wailing and crying echoed through the underground marketplace. Felix, with no thought to the flames, charged toward Alexander. He swung his machetes endlessly, trying to disperse the flames in his path. However, It was futile. The flames were too hot, and Alexander was too deep within them. Within seconds, Felix was engulfed, his flesh burning away until only charred bones remained.
Bruno, no longer of right mind, dropped to his knees in anguish. Alexander pressed his hard together and threw out three marbles. Each of them exploded and extinguished the flames in the area. Bruno got up and stormed over to Alexander, stopping short to pick up what was left of his brother's charred bones. He then marched over to where his sister landed, wailing out in anguish after finding nothing but her ashes. As tears roll down his solemn face, he grabs his Totengraber.
She thrusts the Totengraber into the ground, causing a square-shaped 10-20-foot hole to form. Bruno places his brother's remains, along with his sisters, in the hole. He jumps into the hole and situates them neatly on both sides of him before swinging the pick axe like a crazy man, causing a landslide and filling up the hole with rocks and debris.
The only thing that was left after the rocks and rubble completely collapsed overtop of Johanna, Bruno, and Felix was the Totengraber poking up at the ground marking their graves.
Alexander decided not to interrupt or disturb their final resting place. So he left the pick axe as a marker for their grave. Instead, he picks up the gold and red Oni mask and the twin machetes left behind, leaving him satisfied with his hunt.