Four good friends: Emma, Julien, Haven, and Purple. Purple would deny it immediately, of course, but Scar was happy to count her as one anyway.
Isaac would be stunned if he saw Scar allied with this many people and would have definitely pushed him to gather even more, but Scar believed this was enough for now.
He'd accept any companionship offered in good faith, but he wouldn't pursue it. Instead, he'd keep his circles small, filled with people he could trust, even if only a bit.
Five days had passed since he'd spoken with Haven. Truthfully, her presence alone should have been enough, but before she left for her duty, she'd said something that had him thinking.
She would protect him regardless of the circumstances and insisted that Scar rejoin the Rover family.
The decision was his alone, and honestly, he didn't know what to choose. He hadn't made peace with abandoning Isaac's surname. He couldn't do that.
But amid the chaos, he made a decision. He'd settle this after killing Adisa, Isaac's murderer. Maybe then, after his vengeance was complete, he could let Isaac's surname rest.
As a result, he'd been training harder than ever. Arthur was visibly aging backward day by day, but the intensity of his training never let up.
He'd gotten better at flash steps, using them more efficiently now. The flames came naturally too, though the decay still hurt when he wasn't wearing the gloves.
Today marked a shift in their training to actual combat. Scar observed from the sidelines as Purple and Julien clashed within a narrow ring of fire created by Arthur.
"Tsk. What am I even doing here? I could've been napping. Instead, I'm waiting for them to finish so I can duel Purple… and where the heck is Uncle?"
The day had been uneventful, honestly.
His duel went exactly to plan, he threw the match. His opponent was what they'd expected: borderline insane, under V's influence, desperate to win. Second time forfeiting now, yet the aftermath remained equally chilling.
During his first duel, the opponent had seized his throat, nearly strangling him, before officials intervened. The second, while less violent, seemed mentally broken somehow. She'd been stopped too, though.
Morvan, Savior of the Lost. As a Scarlet Kin, its origin type was Savior—different from Quagmire, who was a Manifestation. While other Scarlet Kins fell under the Savior category, Morvan was by far the most infamous.
This entity only appeared after V amassed a thousand kills rapidly. The first manifestation came for someone who'd hit that number in three months. Subsequent targets ranged from four months down to just one or two.
However, decades back, a necromancer controlled two thousand undead, both human and Scarlet Kin, without triggering Morvan's appearance. This suggested Morvan, Savior of the Lost, only manifested when someone achieved what it deemed perfect evil: one thousand kills within six months.
Currently, V had killed in the three hundreds. The Epic Competition was three weeks away. According to the Supreme Council's plan, once V revealed himself during the event, he'd find plentiful victims, enough souls to trigger Morvan's manifestation.
One problem remained, though. V didn't discriminate between targets; he killed humans and Akumas indiscriminately. That puts human attendees at risk too.
"I wonder how they plan to respond. Humans have always been sacred to them. I don't see them letting V kill a single one."
Scar sighed.
This bothered him more than he liked. V's Inheritance was like his, both Outlaw classifications, both supposedly meant to create villains. Seeing how thoroughly V's power had corrupted him, Scar couldn't help wondering: would his Inheritance eventually twist him the same way?
He wore a pale smirk.
"If Adisa's an Outlaw too, then… maybe Dain's justified in hunting me. Or maybe that's why Adisa killed Isaac."
For a moment, he was lost in dark thoughts, then he pulled his focus back to the duel between Julien and Purple.
Purple was fighting differently than when Scar had dueled her. The small arena might have constrained her typical style, but she'd abandoned her usual tactic of ensnaring Julien in threads and throwing him.
Rather, she was deflecting Julien's attacks with what looked like just one or two threads, judging by how quickly she moved.
Yet when Julien's blade clashed with hers, it broke on contact. Hardly a setback, he instantly reformed the pieces into whatever shape the moment demanded and pressed his attack.
Before long, they stopped relying on their inheritance entirely. Julien could manipulate his blood too quickly, even forming shields now, while Purple had limitless threads of equal strength. Neither could break through the other's defense.
They transitioned to close combat. Purple's strength lay in strategy, so she avoided attacking, instead wearing Julien down by deflecting and redirecting. Julien compensated with superior strength and stamina.
Hmph.
"Now I understand. Purple's relying on Stabilization, subtly compressing the Blessing while her intellect carries the strategy. She anticipated Julien switching to Enhancement. Still… unless she has a way to exhaust him first, one solid strike from him could finish the fight the moment it lands."
Immediately after speaking, his eyes widened in shock. Julien's punch shot forward like a cannonball. Purple's eyes went wide with fear, and in that moment, Scar finally saw what her threads actually looked like.
Countless white threads instantly coalesced into a cushion-like shield on her chest. Though they dampened the impact, the force was still enough to knock Purple beyond the circle's edge.
Julien held his waist with a smug expression.
"You cheated, but I think I won anyway."
Sigh.
"There was never a rule against using our Inheritances freely. That doesn't count as cheating."
While they discussed the fight, Scar replayed the moment, trying to work out how Julien achieved that much power.
"…It was simple, Scar." Julien turned to Scar, looking cocky.
"I started by amplifying the power of my punches, but she kept deflecting them. That's when I realized raw force wasn't enough. I needed speed to match it. So I applied the principle of flash steps to my punches, and it worked."
Scar smiled.
That was genius.
"He must've drawn momentum from the shoulder and elbow to build velocity, then compressed the force into his fist for a decisive strike."
He muttered but frowned a moment later.
"That would demand ridiculous control over the Blessing. Enhancing three areas simultaneously? That's tough."
Far from fading, Julien's smug expression deepened as he shrugged nonchalantly.
"While you're out cold braying like a farm animal, I'm spiritually grinding in my sleep. Sick? No. Legendary."
Scar raked his fingers through his hair, feeling the pressure as sweat beaded on his forehead. He couldn't let himself fall behind.
"I'll show you what I'm capable of in a moment. Just let Purple get some rest."
Purple's expression darkened.
"Rest wasn't my concern. Don't trouble yourself. I have no intention of dueling you."
That's rude.
Julien also rushed to express his disinterest in more duels. He was still drained from his last fight.
They were probably all scared of getting destroyed by Scar. Superior skill spoke for itself.