[???]
Hearing it's name, the old demon like avatar then turned its head slightly towards Ryuuji to take a glance, before he disregard him and turned back towards what he was doing. Upon seeing this Ryuuji seemed perplexed as he didn't expect such reaction from his weapon spirit. Nevertheless he was quite confident that the spirit infeont of him is the real deal himself.
"Your Ifrit right?"
"....."
"I'll take that as a yes, I'm here for only one thing"
"....."
"I want to learn how to do manifestation, so I was wondering if you could teach me how to do it"
"....."
"Greg told me that I have to integrate with my weapon spirit into one, meaning we are both in one kind and one heart... like a synchronization of some sort, however I figured out that it may not seem that easy at all, that there might be some steps or requirements to achieve it... that's what I am here for, to learn those requirements"
"....."
"Um... hello?"
Seeing that yhe old demon seemed to be ignoring him, Ryuuji then slowly walked closer towards it as he walked to its other side and somewhat peek at where the old demon was looking. With that he realized that the old demon itself is looking at the darkness below as if such emptiness was much more important than Ryuuji's presence.
"I really want to learn, please teach me"
"....."
"Please, I need to get stronger"
"....."
"In the past I thought that I was a strong person, an unstoppable force, omeof the elite of the elites of the organization, due to that my ego somewhat inflated... however after 1 year ago, I begun to face numerous opponents that were stronger than me... stronger than I could even imagine, from then on I realized that I was simply a fish in a small pond and there will be always a bigger fish in the sea"
"....."
"I don't want to lose again, I want to get stronger, I want power to protect, so please teach me manifestation, it's the only way I can get stronger"
The moment Ryuuji said those words, Ifrit then looked at him with nonchalant eyes and said.
"Power to protect? What a hypocrite"
"!!!"
"My flames are flames that cause destruction, your power are powrs that causes destruction... and yours saying that you want destruction to protect? You must be out of your mind"
"Even though my ability can cause destruction, it is up to me how I will utilize it to protect people dear from harm... what describes good or bad is not what type of ability you have but rather on how you use it"
"So you know own about a little philosophy yourself? Good for you"
"Please help me achieve manifestation so I have the power to protect people"
"Your principles are great, however it cannot be done"
"!!!"
"Destruction can never protect something, it can simply cause even more destruction... if you want to protect something then dont turn your back on what your power means... cause more chaos in order to protect something, that is how you can protect someone"
"I know that... but I'm telling you that it's not enough, I need manifestation"
"... you really don't get it do you? The reason why I'm swaying you from achieving isn't because I won't, but rather because you can't"
"!!!"
"You and me are out of synch... we don't have the same principle nor goal, for that we can never achieve manifestation... that's all I have to say, your free to leave"
The moment Ryuuji heard those words, he wa strength at a loss for words as he suddenly remembered why he was trying to grow stronger. For a long time Ryuuji doesn't know what to use his powers for. He doesn't have anything to protect.
His dorm mates? They are stronger enough to protect themselves, his parents? They died in the first apocalypse, his friends? He doesn't have one, relatives? He doesn't ha e anyone else but an old butler. But now everything changes, he has something he would like to protect.
Ever since he had taken custody of Claire despite all political attacks in all direction, his once dry world becomes colorful as Claire's innocence and vibrant behavior affected even himself.
From that moment on, Claire became something he can't afford to lose. However his current strength wasn't enough and this became even more apparent when the terrorist group took her away from him.
He wants part of the retrieval team, but he had heard that the operation itself was catastrophic and many were killed on the crossfire, nevertheless they manage to retrieve her at a great price.
In order to jot let such a thing happen again, he needed to get stronger and apparently Ifrit is the only way he can achieve it.
From that moment on, Ryuuji stood his ground and begun to materialize his weapon from that space itself. After all he had already realized that this space was something akin related to him internally, anything goes here be it imagination or stuff like a dream space. Due to that he was able to materialize his weapon Ifrit as he faced the real Ifrit himself.
"No! I can't back down now, I'll show you that I can achieve it, I'll prove it to you?"
Seeing the weapon on his hand, Ifrit seemed to chuckle for a bit as he replied.
"How? By using me against me?"
"By doing what I do best, battling you"
"Boy... your a thousand years too young to even be worthy to challenge me... I presume that was a threat?"
"Take it as it is... I'll never back down, never!!!"
"What a foolish thought"
The moment Ifrit said those words, he then slowly stood up, which suddenly caused the whole area to be drowned by his pressure, causing Ryuuji to feel the weight and somewhat stagger on his steps. In that moment he then realized that Ifrit wasn't going to show mercy even if both of them were connected of some kind.
"Prepare yourself! I'll show you how weak you are"
