Flamando burns brightly. The sphere that is his head turns silver-white from the heat, and everything around him burns to ash. Roots burn away, bones charr, and he burns. The flames flow into him and out of him like a heartbeat, and he steps forward.
Mud evaporates under his feet, turning to dry earth in moments. “Ezekiel,” he snarls. “Pet of the Pure. You should be running from me.”
The Bright Priest of the Hunt seems unimpressed, though. And yet, he looks ragged. His robes are worn, and there are faint, bleeding cuts on his cheek. “Rage louder and face the Tower’s Wrath, Flamebringer.”
“Bahahaha! When fighting you?! Fuck off,” he said, and if he had a face, it would be grinning. Instead, the fire that constituted him simply turned a shade darker, and he blasted forward. Great gouts of flame compressed into his fists, and he slammed an attack into the priest.
Barriers stacked. One of golden light, and one by their vanguard - Igrys. Her tower shield was slammed into the floor, and she braced against it with her shoulder, enhanced by golden magic.
The magic shattered. A violent gout of flame blasted against her shield like a miniature explosion, rocking the ground and sending gouts of fire spewing to her sides. The shield glowed red hot, even as she pushed back. A second ringing blow slammed into the metal, turning it from red to orange, and her skin sizzled against the shield’s grip.
“Ezekiel!” Igrys cried, and the priest simply nodded. Spells descended as a barrage around him, barriers, fire, marks… He even summoned his bow. Ezekiel was a hunter, and he swiftly drew and fired a radiant arrow, which parted Flamando’s fire.
It struck the inferno through the heart, and the flamebringer stumbled back a few steps, coughing plasma. Then their spellblade was upon him.
“He’s faking it,” Orri, the sumeen soothsayer whispered. “He’s faking it!” they screamed.
But by then, Flamando already moved. Viciously and violently, the flames crashed into the oncoming blade. Railles did her best to twist out of the way, to somehow dodge, but Flamando was faster. He was stronger. And he was also alone.
A barrier by Ezekiel gave her another moment, and her ice-infused blade carved a line across the burning man. He hissed in genuine pain, then another arrow carved through him. Still, he moved forward, still the flames poured out of him. That was his authority, Ezekiel noticed. Destruction.
The world burnt so easily around him, lighting at a faint touch. It came apart and the tower hummed a warning. Ezekiel didn’t need to do much more, they just had to bait a bit more from the man and he would vanish.
But it dawned on Flamando, too. He couldn’t fight them for a prolonged time. So he smiled. He grinned with tongues of flame licking a jagged pattern across the sphere that was his head. And he rippled, the limiter removed entirely.
Heat washed across the fourth floor, and for the first time, Ezekiel noticed how much stronger Flamando was. He had to be well into his 200s. The priest shivered, the confidence fading from him, even as the tower roiled.
Because, suddenly, Ezekiel was facing a descender.
[Respitia the Pure calmly recommends you run.]
And the world turned to fire.
- - -
PoV: Inu Brook-Chavez - Hound
“There,” I whisper.
The flash of light is unmistakeable, and when I swipe my senses across that area, I feel it.
Snow.
No one else is quite the same. I am so familiar with their profile that [Empathy] makes me certain in an instant. It’s impossible to fake that.
I smile, smacking the metal gauntlets of my armor together, letting the resonance ring out. They vibrate on my fingers and my skin turns numb. “Let’s go,” I say. Dar blasts forward a half-second later.
- - -
PoV: Thatch Bream - Hush
The ground is still on fire. The air hurts as I breathe it in. It’s hot, and my skin aches at the heat.
But the fire is nothing compared to the coals in my chest.
Usually, I’d shy away from the anger. I’d hide from the fury. Curl up and let it burn itself out. I’ve done it a million times before. I know that time and distance would make it die down eventually. But I don’t do that, this time.
Instead, I remind myself of why I’m angry. I let my skin blister, the pain feeding my anger. I remember how I got separated from my mom. How we were hunted. Starved on the second floor. Chased across the third.
I remember how I spent days hiding in a hovel. Days running through a deadly forest all on my own. Ambushed by a descender and beaten to death, all because of this. Because of a petty grudge. Because Respitia couldn’t tolerate Snow turning down her recruitment.
The flames inside me curl, and my [Rage] spikes. It burns, it thrashes, and I breathe. I [Channel].
My anger doesn’t define me. I breathe again, and I walk through the flames. They lick at the boots I wear, an item enchanted to resist heat that I bought with what I earned killing skellies. Opal disappears next to me, [Blinking] ahead.
I breathe. In the midst of my walk, I meditate. My anger doesn’t define me. My [Rage] doesn’t define me. Yes, it’s part of who I am. A part of myself that I need to manage, but it is not my actions.
The mantra echoes in my head over and over again. I seek a purpose. An outlet. A channel.
My [Gaze] pierces through the flames. I see them through the heat-haze, the remainder of the priest’s party. Four of them. And I know that Sylves killed one. I breathe. I let the anger flow into my fists.
And then I smile. My steps pick up speed, and instead of slowly stepping through the flames, I sprint. There’s no one around to mind, so I let the anger flow. My steps crash into the ground with unrestrained fury, and the dry earth cracks as I’m sent skyward.
Opal appears in the battered remains of their party. Flamando did a number on them all, and now Opal’s blade crashes against the spellword - steel ringing against steel. I see their guardian grimace as she lifts the piece of slag that remains of her shield. She turns towards Opal, she draws one foot back, and then she moves to charge.
When I stare at her.
Anger channels through my glare, and my [Piercing Gaze] stabs into her leg. She gasps for a moment, stumbles. It didn’t truly do any permanent damage, but it throws off the activation of her charge, and when she’s ready to move again, I crash into her.
And I think I find breaking things quite relaxing.
My shoulder slams into her jaw, sending her sprawling to the side in a simple equation of weight. A half-second later, cloth wraps around my leg, and I’m wrenched off my feet. The world spins, and I slam into the ground, air spilling from my lungs. I laugh as I choke, grabbing the cloth, and pulling as hard as I can.
This time, the sumeen comes flying towards me, yanked off their feet. II grin visciously as my boot slams into their face, leaving them sprawling, even as lances of fire stab down towards me - and slow.
Barriers of mana hover above me. [Protection], from Norman. I don’t know where he is, but he’s overseeing this part of the fight, and I let a laugh come from me as I rise again. “Is that all you got?!” I demand, blood already flowing down my face. The ground split open my skin, and the crimson liquid hisses in the air.
My rage burns. I’m not as tough as Inu. I’m not as fast as Opal. But when the cloth wraps around me again, trying to hold me in place, there is one thing I am.
Strong.
Cloth wraps around my arm, and the mage wrenches, but I dig in my heels properly. I make a [Channel] between me and the ground, and anchor myself. And then I pull.
Most of my stats are in power. So many of them, in fact, that I can feel my bones creaking when I do it. The sumeen stumbles again, blood in their face from where I kicked them, and my rage bubbles higher again. I pull - and the vanguard slams into me.
Her charge is brutal and I feel a few of my bones snap - then hum as they remain in place. My new epitaph is healing them, already, my own blood and sweat and anger fuelling my regeneration. I rise from the crater I was in, huffing steam, eyes red from blood, and I walk forward again.
Ezekiel flaps those crystal wings of his, moving to heal their soothsayer, and I step close to the vanguard. She’s tall, wearing heavy metal armor, and definitely tougher than me. I still slam a fist into her face, even when she takes it and hits me right back. I just laugh, then hit her again.
The blow does more damage. It builds on the previous one. I [Channel], and this time, I do it properly. I fill her up with my [Rage]. Anger pours out of me, leaving me feeling lighter, and into her, biting her rationality.
[New Skill acquired!]
[Inner Peace 0 > 3]
It’s a faint thing, but I see some of the hesitation behind her eyes disappear. Some of the healthy fear she developed of me. She slams a blow into my stomach and it sends me flying, crashing into the earth, sprawled out and gasping.
Then I get up again. She charges, I sidestep, and I slam my elbow into her nose. Both our bones crack - but mine is already on the mend again. Meanwhile, her face twists into a snarl. She doesn’t have it. Doesn’t know how to manage it. How to calm the fire.
I do. I [Channel] it into every movement, into every exchange. I am aware of it all, and I even dodge and sidestep flaming spears when I need to. My eyes see her muscles twitch before they move, the way her blood shifts telling me her next trick.
For a few seconds, I match her blow for blow - only until another Skill crashes into me, and something new breaks. It hurts, but the flames burn higher, and so I get up. I rise from a new crater, more blood flowing down me. And again, I taunt. “Is that all you got?!” I demand.
The vanguard screams, and slams another blow into me. I smash her cheek in in exchange. [Rage] fills her, flooding out of me. But it hits a tipping point. The fire in me is so bright, it cannot be held back anymore. It light up.
In a single instant, my blood, all that’s coating her, lights on fire.
[Bloodflame 9 > 10]
Sticky, dark flames coat her, and I feel relieved. My rage is somewhere else now, a poison inside her mind. My blood burns her. I turned myself into a weapon, now, and she wants me dead. So, I run.
Opal blinks into existence next to me, and nods with a smug grin. They’re bloodied, not nearly as much as me, but we both hurt.
We don’t need to run too far, though. The ramp is already in sight. And, with the roaring vanguard only a little behind us, we barrel down into the depth of the earth.
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