Chapter 772 - Sacrifice

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CLAAASH! CLAAAASH! CLAAAAAASH!

Three powerful blazing kicks packed with the power of flames fell over her back when she least expected it. Their blazing impact was enormous, and her barriers suddenly broke!

BOOM!

She fell over the ground as she vomited a mouthful of blood, looking at the one red-feathered woman that did it covered in wounds and blood…

She was gasping for air, but her eyes… those eyes were filled with blazing conviction and the motivation to keep on moving.

As the Red Sage this was her duty.

Her foe looked at her resentfully, as her entire body was burning. The darkness leaking from her body cleansed the flames and the burns, but her eyes seemed filled with scorn against the enemy trying to stop her form fulfilling her destiny.

"RAAAA!"

The woman unleashed her chaotic power, channeling the powers that she had inherited from the one that she was made from…

BOOOOOMMM!!!

An explosion of chaos suddenly consumed the Red Sage, as her eyes seemed filled with conviction… She wasn't able to evade because her entire body was as stiff as a rock, her body was at her limits already…

This fight…

Was going to be her last one.

Within her orange-red eyes, there was a certain flame of remembrance of the past.

Of what she used to be.

And of what she had become now.

Life is never a mere instant, as short as the life of many can be, it always feels gradual to all of us.

From her very childhood that she yearned for heroes.

People that could help others when they needed help the most.

But in a world of injustices where only the strong ruled, a hero that helped the weak would never become a reality.

Unless… she became one herself.

From the moment she was born that she was gifted with the power of fire.

The mystical attribute that consumed everything with its red flames of heat.

Since she began her journey, through all the tragedies and happy moments she lived, her flames evolved.

The more they evolved, the more she felt like her skills lacked.

It wasn't until this moment, when she was going to fight and give up her life for those she loved, that she realized that she had reached the pinnacle of the flames within her.

A moment of inspiration culminated with hundreds of years of experience into a single spell.

As chaos consumed her entire body, flames began to surge from within her very soul, enveloping her.

She looked at the young Blue Sage one last time, and at the Gray Sage.

"I suppose… I am going first. Take care." She whispered to them.

The two Sages looked in horror as the woman suddenly turned completely into ashes.

And then, she was reborn...

Into flames.

"Phoenix Rise."

An enormous and glorious bird made of flames emerged from within the chaotic darkness that consumed it all, crying loudly and valiantly!

"CRYYAAAA!"

FLAAAAASH!

It flapped its enormous and majestic wings, as storms of flames began to come out of them, consuming all the chaotic darkness, and burning through everything.

The purple-feathered woman had never seen such a beautiful spectacle of magic before in her entire life.

But it wasn't just magic power, there was also an enormous quantity of emotions within each flame.

It was as if these flames… and this beautiful phoenix were part of the soul of the Red Sage.

The Sage of Flames, the Red Sage, she was also known by some people in the past as the… Blazing Phoenix!

And like a Phoenix, she died from the ashes, only to be reborn from them into a beautiful and mystical being made of fire!

"T-This is… impossible…! This power… Is this… D-Divinity?!" cried the purple-feathered woman, completely shocked by the beautiful flames of the Red Sage.

After hundreds of years of living and comprehending the flames she wielded…

Within her, there was a small glimpse… of divinity.

This divinity manifested at long last, when she gave up everything within her for this last move.

A storm of endless flames consumed her completely, as her chaos, as powerful as it couldn't fight against it anymore…

The two surviving Sages somehow managed to run away, as they saw with tears in their eyes, as the Red Sage burned brightly one last time…

"Nnngh… No… Nooooo!"

The purple-feathered woman's mind suddenly flashed with many memories of her own life…

Created to fulfill a purpose. This was her truest destiny.

She had been obeying it since the moment she was born, without faltering, without doubting it.

Not for a single second has she ever felt remorse for the lives she took, nor for the people she might had made suffer.

She simply did… what she was meant to do.

Like everybody else in this Universe, we all are born to fulfill something, a purpose.

Sometimes this purpose is created by our own ideals and wills.

And other times… this purpose is fabricated by others, and we are meant to walk through the path to fulfill it.

Was she a tool?

Or was she something else?

Nothing…

She was nothing but a purpose.

The purpose of defeating the Sages and to protect the Cult, to protect the ritual from reviving the Great Dark Lord of the Depths.

This was the purpose of her life.

Was it noble?

Was it wrong?

She doesn't know.

She only knows that her purpose made her feel… fulfilled.

…

Fulfillment.

Something that we all seek, no matter where we are born, or how we are born.

Every living being will always seek fulfillment.

The fulfillment of obeying the will of your masters, who created you, so you can fulfill the purpose of your life.

Was it a dull life?

Perhaps…

Or maybe it wasn't.

But she knew very well that this was what she was made to do.

However, compared to the Red Sage, who seemed so filled with conviction and the will to sacrifice herself to save other people… what was she?

Only an empty husk.

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