“I love you.”

Three simple yet powerful words replayed in Kawa’s head over and over again as he was staring at Akane’s pale face. His emotions were overflowing his heart and were not bottled anymore as he screamed loudly and tearfully, not caring if anybody heard him.

His shaky hands clenched Akane’s spandex into his fists. Tears were streaming down his now pink face cheeks.

Why?! Why does this always happen to me?! Kawa was not sure if he screamed it out loud or just thought to himself, but at this point he did not care anymore. Everybody around him always died. Just as he thought Akane would not die, she went off and was gone like that. His only one love was dead.

No. He refused to accept Akane’s death. He refused to face such reality. He was remembering Akane’s sweet smiles and laughs. 

He was sobbing loudly as he put his head on Akane’s chest. He stayed like this for what he felt like a few hours when it had been only a few minutes.

He lifted his head to look at her once again. She looked so peaceful even in her death. Yet, he was a mess just wanting and begging for her to come back.

He shakily reached his hand into his sack and took out a large amount of Chaos Pills. He was about to take one just when he saw red.

RAGE, RAGE, RAGE.

As much as he wanted to grant Akane’s wish, he wanted someone to pay for her death. It was Lord Ares’s fault. It was all his fault for starting the war, which caused so much sadness and so many deaths.

“Here he is!”

Kawa turned fast to the samurais of Mars, Europa, and Venus barging into the abandoned warehouse. Getting angrier and angrier every second, he stood up fast and withdrew his flaming katana which was roaring for blood.

He swallowed a large number of Chaos Pills; he had no idea how many. Maybe ten. Or more. He could clearly feel his own blood drowning into the drug of Chaos pills.

Suddenly, the samurais stopped and froze at the sight of Kawa’s new form. They were either confused, frightened, or amazed.

Kawa was much leaner than usual. His top blue spandex was not tight anymore as it seemed to be showing signs of wrinkles, but at least his dark blue sash was holding up his black pants.

He opened his yellow serpent-like eyes that sent a stabbing stare at the samurais who were involved with the death of Akane and did nothing to stop it. He growled lightly at the thought, bearing his bright white large fangs.

Not only did his form attract the samurais but also the katana did. It was flaming like crazy, growling and roaring. It was taking over Kawa’s hands, but it seemed not to hurt him at all. It could be the Chaos drug that was numbing his body.

He could not even count his own heart rate. It was beating so fast that if any doctor would have told him that the heart rate was way out of the chart.

As if he earned awareness for the first time since he took Chaos pills, he took a look at his free hand in amazement. He asked himself, “W-what is this strength… no, rather power…?”

“Surrender yourself! You are surrounded!” One of the Martian samurais yelled.

Kawa glanced calmly at the samurais who were startled. He said bitterly, “You bastards. I won’t ever forgive you! Not even your Lord!”

The samurai yelled warrior’s cries as they charged at the sole Earthling. But to his eyes, they were much, much slower as if they were in slow motion.

So, this was another side effect or power of the Chaos pill. He thought to himself as he was watching the enemies running slowly.

He waited patiently until four katanas were very close to cutting any part of his body. He simply walked around, dodging all of the katanas easily. His own fire-type katana was growling loudly, possibly out of frustration. Other than the roaring, all he could hear was his own heart beating at an inhumanly fast pace.

He was in his own world. Nothing else mattered to him except the revenge he had been planning ever since the day he found out his family died. He only gained a few more reasons as his life went on.

He was walking calmly for a few more seconds and then turned around back to the samurais as soon as he got to the exit.

“This is for James,” He said dangerously. He swung his fire sword, nearly slicing through the air. Flames were being released and became bigger and bigger as they got closer to the samurais.

Not only were they getting burned alive by the flames but also their limbs got severed easily, as if the attacks were both fire and wind.

Kawa was watching them cry slowly in pain. He easily jumped high in the air, “And, this is for Akane!”

He dropped himself until he landed on the floor hard with his sword hitting it hard, releasing a powerful wave of flames with a lot of sparks, almost as if they were tiny lightning bolts, that were heading for the samurais.

Before the samurais knew it, half of them were already wiped out. As soon as they realized what was happening, they were just standing there with their trembling legs and hands. They would never expect such a powerful guy with supernatural attacks like him when they enrolled into the samurai programs.

Just as Kawa was about to send another fire attack, his katana was suddenly blocked by another. “Eh?!”

“Lieutenant Colonel Hernandez!” One of the Europan samurais exclaimed.

“Graciela,” Kawa said dangerously. “Stay out of my way.”

She quickly pushed him away by using her own icy katana. “Please stop. This is not you at all.”

“They murdered James and Akane,” He said angrily. “If you get out of my way, then I won’t have to kill you right there.”

Graciela stared at him in disbelief. “So, you’re choosing revenge over Akane’s wish? I was right all along… you’re just another prick that thinks only full of himself!”

He narrowed his serpent-like eyes in anger.

“Look, Kawa…” She said softly, as if she was trying not to anger him any further. “I am as upset as you are. But… This. This is not the answer. What you are doing is not going to end the war.”

“As long as I get rid of the Mars Lord, the war will end!”

“You are not being reasonable anymore!”

“Shut up! Get the fuck out of my way!” Kawa rushed toward her, about to strike her down with his flaming katana.

Graciela quickly blocked it with her own katana once again, but the power of fire was overwhelming and overpowering her. She did not even care a little bit about it. “But why now?! You were going to live with her on Ceres in peace! You were not going to fight anymore!”

Kawa screamed loudly as he pushed her away with his own katana. Actually, it was not a simple push. He literally sent her through the air until she crashed into a few samurais with a loud ‘Oof!’

“Hn,” he said as he turned away to make his way to the Ares Palace so that he would eliminate the Mars Lord for good.

“Stop!”

Kawa could have just kept walking away, but he was apparently stopped; with ice freezing both of his feet to the hard floor.

“I’m not letting you go, knowing that you are going to kill Lord Ares!” Graciela shouted, still pointing her sword at him. “Have you forgotten that my loyalty still remains with Mars and Europa?”

He tapped on his frozen feet with his hot katana, melting the ice instantly. The scowl on his face did not even go away. “Even though the Mars Lord killed one of his own people? I don’t understand the reason why you are trying to stop me. Besides…”

Graciela almost shivered at Kawa’s intense stare.

“There is a big difference in our strength.” Kawa finished.

Before he realized what just happened, he got multiple cuts on any part of his body. Leg, arm, chest, and so on. He widened his yellow serpent-like eyes in shock, not even registering pain yet.

“Don’t ever underestimate me!” Graciela yelled angrily.

Kawa glanced down at his feet and finally realized that she turned the water laying around his feet into small icicles that were shot at him just a few seconds ago.

“I see.” He chuckled softly as he looked at his palm. “You had been holding yourself back for the entire time.”

Graciela frowned at Kawa’s chuckle as if he had gone crazy. 

By now, the samurais were gone. They did not want to get caught up in the battlefield by accident. Either way, Kawa did not even care at all. Graciela was more than grateful that the samurais had common sense.

Their katanas collided instantly, creating lots of sparks. The flames kept roaring and roaring while the ices only breathed heavily, making cold mists.

As fast as their katanas collided, they jumped away from each other and ran back. They danced around, blocking each other’s sword attacks. With each collision, either released a wave of heat or coldness.

She shot long and thick icicles out of his sword, but they were instantly destroyed by Kawa’s fire balls.

Graciela barely dove onto the floor, out of the fireballs’ way but the heat was a little too overwhelming for her as she felt her left upper arm getting burned.

As soon as she got up, Kawa was already gone from her sight. She whipped around quickly, trying to find him as soon as possible. “Goddammit!” She yelled angrily as she slammed her sword onto the floor, creating ice all over the place.

Not even a second passed when Kawa appeared into her sight as he slipped all the way across the icy floor.

“Here you are!” She yelled as she darted across the slippery floor, not showing any sign of falling. She was a samurai from Europa, one of the icy moons, after all.

“Ugh!” Kawa said in frustration. He quickly thrust his sword into the deep ice, stopping himself from sliding any further. Immediately afterward, he created a large wave of flames which melted down the slippery ice instantly.

But he was too late. Graciela was already way too close to him, with her katana already up in the air being ready to strike. He knew that he would not be able to block it with his katana just in time, so he quickly shut his eyes.

All of sudden, Graciela landed her sword onto…

Another katana. 

“WHAT?!” She shouted in surprise. Before she realized what the katana was, she was quickly sent flying through air by a strong wind gust. Her back hit the floor pretty hard, causing her to hiss in pain.

When Kawa felt a loud whoosh sound, he opened his eyes quickly, thinking that James might be here and still alive, only to be disappointed a little.

“James…” He said, his crazy yellow serpent-like eyes softened a little. He was holding a second katana in his other hand. He could hear loud whistles from it. “How did you get here…?”

As fast as it appeared, it disappeared from his hand into the air.

“W-what was that?” Graciela groaned in pain as she sat up from the floor. 

“James was here.” Kawa smirked at her even though he tightened his grip on the handle of his now whimpering flaming sword. “That’s all I need to know for my purpose here. There’s no need for me to fight you anymore.”

Graciela narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “What are you going to do, then?”

“My purpose remains the same. I’m ending the war right now,” Kawa said as he was walking past Graciela, but to her eyes, it looked like he was sliding all along on the floor due to the side effect of the Chaos pill.

“So, you’re still going to get rid of Lord Ares, after all?” She weakly stood up, trying not to hurt her back too much. “What makes you think that you have any right to stop this battle?”

“It’s over, Graciela. You are in no condition to fight anymore.”

“Not so fast!” Graciela quickly covered the wall with ice. There was only one exit for Kawa. “You must go through me first!”

“Why you… Bitch!” Kawa yelled angrily, as he raised his katana into the air. Suddenly, it absorbed the flames inside, stopping the roars completely. Immediately afterward, it released a long beam of fire upward into the air from the tip of his bare katana in the form of the roaring dragon.

Graciela circled her katana, creating a ring of ice floating in the air. The icy ring easily absorbed all of the mist and ice from her katana. It was shaped into the form of a large ox. 

The collision between the powers of fire and ice lasted for a seemingly long time, as they were trying to overpower each other. Every time a part of ice melted, the liquid quickly turned back into ice. 

“S-shit!” Kawa shouted almost at himself, as he felt the effect of Chaos pills starting fading away. That meant to him that his death was coming much sooner than he thought. “It’s… It’s impossible!”

Graciela yelled even louder as she released another icicle which was absorbed into the rest of ice again. Suddenly, the ice attack pushed back Kawa’s power of fire.

The flames were way too overwhelmed by the power of ice that they faded into the air instantly. Hundreds of the remaining icicles either missed, cut, and thrust through Kawa who yelped in pain and fell back on the floor.

Graciela sighed tiredly as she collapsed to her knees. She was not going to pass out, especially not when Kawa was still focused on defeating Lord Ares. Just when she thought that he was either unconscious or dead, she was startled by his loud angry voice.

“Shit! Dammit! Why is this always happening to me?! Damn it all to hell!” Kawa yelled in both agony and pain. His fresh wounds were bleeding heavily, making a small pond around his body. With so little strength left, he slammed one of his fists on the floor.

“That’s enough, Kawa.” Graciela shakily got back up and walked toward him. “You should have expected this. You are no match for Mars and Europa… No… All three powers -- Mars, Europa, and Venus.”

“Why did Venus get involved?! What did Mars and Europa do in order to convince them to join their side?!”

Graciela smiled sadly at him as she knelt down next to Kawa. “Fine. I’ll tell you when you’re going to die anyway. And then I’ll leave you alone.”

“You’re not going to bring me to your so-called Lord?” The Earthling samurai asked bitterly.

“No.” Graciela calmly ran her hand through Kawa’s sweaty hair. “You may be Akane’s only one love, but I can’t betray her at all. Besides, you won my respect in a sense of battle.”

Kawa wanted to slap Graciela’s hand away, but he was way too weak to even lift a finger. Instead he managed to say, “Hn.”

“Kawa.” Graciela became serious all of sudden. “I am not from Europa.”