"Esmeralda!"
Ikki's heart-wrenching scream shook the entirety of Death Queen Island. He sprinted to Esmeralda's corpse, shouting and weeping beside her!
At that very moment, his heart truly shattered. The heart that had never held much love to begin with was now completely filled with hatred!
Hate! Loathing! He hated this world, hated Death Queen Island, hated his master, hated the Graad Foundation of Mitsumasa Kido, who had sent him here, and he also hated that purple-haired little girl—Saori Kido, the goddess... Athena!
He hated everything in this world! Just as his master had taught him to hate!
His master coldly said to him, "What? I beat him to death, and that made you sad?"
Those words became the final straw that ignited Ikki's rage. He threw a punch straight through his master's heart. Then he pulled back his hand, dripping with blood.
His master collapsed. Just before he fell, he said:
"Very good... That kind of hatred. With such hatred, you will surely be able to... wear that unmatched Phoenix Cloth!"
And that was how Ikki came to possess the Cloth he wore.
Esmeralda was the last pure land in Ikki's heart...
But Ikki knew that this pure land had long since ceased to exist!
"Hmph... So you found the last pure land in my heart... But did you really think such an illusion demon could fool me, Ikki...? Esmeralda is dead, dead... She can never, ever come back to life... It is because I understand all this that I hate so deeply..."
"If there had been even the slightest chance that she was alive, I, Ikki, would surely have fallen for your temptation... But your transformation lacked the last trace of reality. That is why you cannot deceive me... Never, ever deceive me again!"
Ikki threw a punch.