The father and son stood barely an arm's length apart.
Under the gloomy sky, Rinji's pupils glowed faintly red.
He didn't know what his father had been like in his youth, only that he'd been infamous for his cruelty. Everyone who knew him feared him so much they refused to even mention his name in private.
"Don't go."
As he said this, his hand tightened on Isaac's shoulder, not letting him advance an inch.
If it were an ordinary man, his shoulder blade would have been crushed by now. But Rinji was facing his own father.
Even in his younger years, he was not someone who could be measured by common sense.
"…Son, you do understand, don't you?"
Held fast by Rinji's grip, Isaac wasn't angry. He simply stated the facts in a calm voice.
"If the curse isn't resolved, the calamity will continue. Ten years, twenty years from now, how many more will die?"
"…"
"Of course, that's thinking far ahead. To put it closer—if the curse isn't completely broken, you can't return to your own era." Isaac smiled. "You want to go back, don't you?"
"Of course I want to go back. My friends are there."
Rinji said.
"But definitely not like this."
"Is that so?"
Hearing Rinji's words, Isaac gave a couple mocking laughs.
"I don't know much about your future self, but somehow I feel you're not the type to play hero. Or is saving them giving you some unprecedented sense of honor?"
"I never had a sense of honor. All I care about is profit and efficiency," Rinji said calmly.
"Then…"
"But right now, protecting my classmates means protecting my profit."
"Hey hey, didn't you say before you didn't want too much contact with the people here? Now you suddenly step up to protect them?" Isaac laughed. "Don't tell me you really see them as friends."
"Of course not. They're not my friends," Rinji said. "But I'll still protect them."
"Don't you plan on going back to your own era?"
"I already said I'll go back."
As he spoke, Rinji's grip on Isaac's shoulder tightened.
"But not like this."
Even after saying that, his eyes stayed firm.
The smile on Isaac's face completely faded.
"…Boy, you should know I'm busy. I don't have time to waste with you here. Staying in this era too long isn't good for you. My top priority is sending you back. As for everything else, I don't care."
"You're set on killing them?"
"Of course."
"Try it."
"…Boy, I don't know if my future self seems easygoing in your eyes, but…"
As Isaac spoke, he suddenly grabbed Rinji's wrist, the one gripping his shoulder.
Rinji was shocked to feel as if his wrist had been caught in industrial pliers. His entire hand was forced away by immense strength.
"It's just… you don't seem to understand the me of the past."
With those words, Isaac suddenly swung forward with force.
Rinji's body was lifted into the air. At the same time, Isaac punched his chest with his left hand, slamming him down into the dirt with a boom.
"Ugh…"
Feeling his insides quake, Rinji almost spat blood.
For a moment he truly felt close to death.
Seeing him unable to get up right away, Isaac was about to step forward when he suddenly looked down.
His left index finger bent at an unnatural ninety degrees, the bone piercing through the skin in an open fracture.
"You broke my finger when I threw you?"
As Isaac snapped it straight, Rinji staggered up from the ground, wiping blood from his mouth.
The blood at the corner of his lips curved into something like a smile.
"Old man, I really don't understand the you of the past," Rinji smiled. "But do you understand the me of the future?"
"That's true, I don't."
Isaac's lips also curled into a smile.
"Can you step aside now? Knowing the difference in our strength, you should realize stopping me is impossible. After all, you are my son in the future…"
"That's the future," Rinji still smiled. "And I'm not the type to back down."
"You really are a brat in need of discipline."
As he spoke, the shadow beneath Isaac's feet began to twist.
Rinji's pupils shrank, his hand immediately went into his pocket, sliding the ring onto his finger.
But just as he put it on, Isaac's shadow suddenly turned into a blade.
The sharp edge instantly scratched a deep line into the engravings on Rinji's ring.
"So you know alchemy too. But if the formation's destroyed, then you can only…"
Boom—
Before he could finish, a violent explosion erupted at Isaac's feet.
The blast echoed across the mountain, shaking the ground itself.
"Sorry, old man, the surface engravings were just for show. The real transmutation formation is carved on the inner side of the ring."
Watching the smoke at the blast center, Rinji smiled.
"And by the way, for over ten years I've been treating you as an imaginary enemy. Any move you use, I can probably…"
"Then you haven't done enough homework."
A sudden voice came from behind him.
Rinji jolted but reacted instantly, thrusting backward.
But it was still too late.
He felt a sharp sweetness in his throat as blood gushed from his mouth.
Slowly lowering his head, he saw a hand thrust through his chest.
Unlike their first playful encounter, this time father and son both fought with the intent to kill.
Not that it mattered—they both knew the other couldn't truly die.
"Game over, boy. As your father, I'm proud. But you still…"
Isaac spoke while trying to pull his hand back out. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.
Rinji's dimming eyes suddenly flared bright red again. He clutched Isaac's arm, the one skewering him, with both hands.
Rip—
With a tearing sound, he ripped Isaac's entire right arm clean off.
Cold sweat ran down Isaac's forehead.
"…I don't feel so well."