Magnolia followed the trail of footprints his father had left in the sand, each step pulling him farther into the dark. The night wind was soft, but it carried an uneasy stillness with it, as if the desert itself were holding its breath.
At last, the trail led him to an oasis.
Palm trees rose around a shallow pool of water, rocks scattered across the shore, the moonlight laying silver across the surface. Magnolia slowed, hearing voices nearby. One of them was unmistakably his father's.
He crouched behind a large stone and peered out cautiously.
"I don't know what happened," Isamu was saying. "After the incident, we moved to a small shack I own."
"We?" asked the Egyptian general, his tone sharp with curiosity.
"Yes. Me and my son."
"And what caused this sudden relocation?"
Isamu hesitated for half a beat too long. "Some drunks were fighting in the alley beside my home and broke through the wall."
Magnolia frowned. That didn't sound right.
The general touched the earpiece at his ear as if listening to someone speak through it. A moment later, a voice crackled through.
"He's lying… Bring him in."
"Yes, sir," the general said at once.
He raised a hand. At once, black-armored soldiers appeared from the shadows, their uniforms marked with the Pharaoh's eye.
Isamu took a step back. "What's going on? What do I do?"
He could have handled one soldier. Maybe two. But there were too many of them.
The general's eyes narrowed. "It isn't what you did. It's what you said. You're a terrible liar."
Magnolia's heart lurched. He was still hidden behind the rock, but when he saw the soldiers closing in on his father, fear overwhelmed him.
"Father!"
Both men turned.
A soldier moved instantly, seizing Magnolia and forcing him face-first into the sand.
"Stop!" Isamu shouted, rushing forward. "He's innocent! He doesn't know anything!"
The general didn't flinch. "If you want your son to live, tell the truth."
Isamu's jaw tightened. He looked at Magnolia, trapped and frightened, and his expression hardened with helpless fury.
"F-Fine," he said at last.
"Good," the general replied. "We're making progress."
Isamu told them everything about the night before, every detail spilling out under pressure.
The general listened in silence, then tapped his earpiece again, speaking in a low voice. But Magnolia barely heard him.
A strange voice had begun echoing in his mind.
Fire burns everything.
The words repeated over and over, deeper and louder each time.
Fire burns everything. Love, despair, hatred—everything. Let your emotions burn brighter and turn the traitors to ash.
The soldier holding Magnolia suddenly went rigid.
Heat poured off the boy's body like a furnace had been lit beneath his skin. The man's face twisted in shock as scorching hands seemed to clamp around his throat.
He looked down.
Magnolia was glowing.
"DIE!" the boy screamed.
The soldier turned to ash before he could even cry out.
The other soldiers recoiled in alarm, but Magnolia had already risen. His rage blazed like the sun itself. With a furious cry, he lifted into the air and unleashed a wave of heat so intense it swept across the battlefield in a single blast.
The soldiers were reduced to ashes in an instant.
Magnolia landed heavily, panting.
"That's all…" he muttered.
"Indeed."
The voice came from behind him.
Magnolia turned too late. The general struck him in the neck with brutal precision, and darkness swallowed him before he could react.
"To think a boy could wipe out a platoon like that," the general said, a faint note of awe in his voice. "He even forced me to use my contact."