Dagda's motorcycle came to a screeching halt as the scent of salt filled the air. 

"I'm so close" Dagda smiled and with a jerk of his wrist the engine once again roared to life and he sped down the road. 

Ryan caught himself on his knees and huffed. 
"Why do we need to work this hard?!!" Ryan's voice was high and breathy like he was mid inhale while talking. Akira lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He stared off into space as the nicotine entered his body. 

"Well, you wanna learn don't you?" He continued to stare off into space as he breathed out a large grey plume. "This is the only way to teach you" Akira brought the cigarette to his lips yet again. the tip glowed orange. Ryan huffed with anger. 

"We've been working non-fucking-stop for the past two days, why don't you understand I'm not learning" Ryan swatted at the air and a large phantom of blue flame appeared before quickly. it burned the flesh on Akira's fingers, the flame didn't die and quickly began to spread to his other fingers. Akira without Ryan noticing tore off his middle and index fingers and threw them to the ground. however, Akira noticed something peculiar.. 

"I'm not healing?" Akira thought to himself. He questioned what was happening. however, before long his fingers slowly started to grow back. Akira felt an unspeakable joy well up in his soul. His eyes lit up and he smiled brightly. He nodded to himself. "If my hunch is correct there's only one way to train him" Akira gently tapped Ryan's cheek, "Yeah kid we can just give up" 

"Are you fucking kidding me! you wanted to train me, so what's with all this giving up shit!!" Ryan got to his feet and delivered a powerful sucker punch to Akira's jaw. Ryan's magic flared to life with hellish blue flames. "SO TELL ME AKIRA WHY DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP!!!!!!!??" 

"Just as I thought!" Akira wiped his nose and stood back up. "I knew there had to be some sort of second piece of your mythos, and well I found it" 

"and whats that?" Ryan folded his arms and mockingly added. "Some strong emotion that you didn't know until right now" 

"Anger! lemme explain, those blue flames of yours are not your mythos but your magic, it responded to your rage which means its tied directly to that strong emotion. your other one must be Bravery, I've been looking at this problem all wrong" Akira thought shaking his head. "I want you to get mad kid, like think of something that really pisses you off, and keep it on your mind" Akira said dropping his cigarette and raising his fists. 

"Maybe something like this" Akira raised his bangs from his eyes, giving him full unrestircted accesses to Ryan's gaze. "With tits like those you'll never be A real man" Akira pointed to Ryan's chest. Ryan angirly covered his chest with his arms. 

"That's a low fucking punch geezer!! I'll Show You JUST HOW MUCH OF A MAN I AM!!!!" Ryan roared and his magic flared with blue flames. "I'll Erase you!!" BISHAMONTEN!!!!! the Gauntlet appeared yet again clutching a large golden blade. 

"Oh i seem to have struck a nerve" Akira said dodging all of Ryan's easily read strikes before the sword impaled him through the torso. 

"Lets get one thing straight geezer, I am a man, understood!" Ryan glared at Akira's now lifeless corpse. Akira resusictated and delivered a punch to Ryan's jaw. 

"Less talking more anger kid" Akira taunted. pulling himself from the saber Akira's torso was completely separated from his waist. Akira laughed loudly. His mouth flying agape. 

"C'mon kid get angry grit those teeth" Akira grabbed Ryan's wrists before tossing him through the air, His torso like an atonomius soldier landed a powerful kick on Ryan's chest. Ryan coughed a stream of blood and was thrown to the ground by the force of the kick. Ryan clucthed his chest and huffed and puffed gasping for air. Akira pieced himself back together and chuckled. "C'mon kiddo, get angry" Akira said flaunting his arms in the air like the inflatable limbs of a tube man. "Get angrier, listen to the voice of your magic, It'll guide you trust me" 

Ryan seethed, blue flames surrounded him. 

"Ry....an" a small wispy voice called to him in his mind. it was miuffled and sounded like tv static. Ryan's rage grew and grew, bubbling and bubbling. building and seething. The blue flames coalesced into a single gauntlet on Ryan's forearm. it was large, bulky and much too big for his arm. It was metallic with a gold paneling that ran up the forearm and down to the elbow. 

"Good Kiddo Good!! Akira shouted as Ryan screamed in pain as the flames seered his flesh. "HOLD IT YOU CAN DO IT!!!!" Akira cheered taking a step forward his face turned to horror as the flames began to turn pitch black. Ryan's rage burned brighter than hell itself. he glared at Akira, roaring like a feral beast. Ryan wasn't home, there was only Bishamonten. Ryan lumbered forward, his steps heavy and uncordinated like he was being pulled along by puppet strings. 

"Fight it Kid!!, Don't let your magic win!!" Akira shouted cupping his hands around his mouth attempting to reach Ryan wherever the hell he was. 

Inside of Ryan's mind, he was lost drifting aimlessly on a sea of thoughts. 

"Hey kid!" A voice strong stout and divine called to him. A powerful hand pulled him from the mire of aimless thought. "Wake up and fight back!" The voice spoke as Ryan gazed up at who or whatever this figure was. Ryan noticed that the figure's face was shrouded in a veil of darkness. the only visible thing was a large toothy grin. Ryan held his head as he screamed. The gauntlet shattered and the flames died. Ryan collapsed to the ground unconscious. 

"OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!!!!!!!!" Akira ran to Ryan's side. "Kiddo!!!!" Akira lifted Ryan into his arms. He took off and ran towards the town. "Shit, not again! I won't let another one die" Akira ran as quick as he could towards the town of Gatari. 

 Ryan's eyes weakly opened, in his groggy state, with blurry vision. he blinked and looked at Akira confused. 

"D-Dad?" 

"Huh?" Akira confused looked over at the weak man. He murmured holding his head trying to sit up. 

"H-How long was I out?" 

"two hours, had me a little worried kid, last time I trained someone and they collapsed like that, they died right there" 

"I-I-I see" Ryan fell silent thinking on what he experienced. "I saw a weird man in my head when I was out" 

"Really?" Akira closed his book and turned his complete and full undivided attention to Ryan. "What did he look like?" 

"I don't know, couldn't see their face, all I saw was a smile, their smile" 

"Huh?" Akira tapped his chin and nodded to himself. "Did they say a name or have any identifiable traits?" 

"Nothing but that smile!" Ryan folded his hands into each other as he dropped his gaze. His gaze softened as did his voice. "hey geezer when you said what you said did you mean it?" 

"What?" Akira cocked an eyebrow. 

"Saying that with my breasts I wouldn't be a real man" Ryan weakly looked to Akira who looked right back. Akira sighed, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, withdrew one small cigarette and lit it. 

"Simple answer is no, I didn't mean it, I don't give a single fuck if you're a guy, a gal, a potted plant or anything else. You're a magi and an aspect, you have too much to worry about and thinking on whether you are valued as your gender shouldn't be one single thought" Akira suddenly pulled Ryan's head towards his. "You are a man! A Warrior and Learning to Be stronger than you are!!" Akira handed Ryan a cigarette. 

"Even though we may not have met on the best of terms, I'm proud to be your mentor" Akira smiled and pushed his hair out of his face and flashed a bright smile. "You're a fellow warrior Ryan Alizia of the Inner Eye" Akira happily said lighting Ryan's cigarette. Ryan blushed bringing the cigarette to his lips and taking  a long drag. The pair laughed, joked and shared cigarettes. Dagda overlooked the town from a hill. He gave a half smirk as rage coursed through him. 

"Home Sweet Hell" Dagda added as he made a gun with his fingers, he pointed down at the town. "here comes Dies Ire" 

To Be Continued...