284 Extreme hea

"Will they be okay...?" Lilith wondered.

"They'll live..." Xadi explained while applying healing magic, "But they're still friends with the crossbow girl so... I don't think they will ever truly be okay..."

Evlin glared at Xadi in his frog body and almost threw an insult at him, but considering he was the only one with access to healing magic right now since her powers were still locked, she decided not to bother him too much.

"Who's next?" Ria wondered.

For the first time, Knucker didn't even bother standing from his seat and just shouted the next name.

"Gluttony!!! You're up!!"

One of the dragons started to set itself on fire and jumped in the middle of the arena like a meteor, spreading its flames everywhere.

Its lizard body began to shrink just like the other two until its figure was that of a man engulfed in fire from head-to-toe.

"This one is mine..." Leona commented.

Marcus rushed over to talk to her before she continued, "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Thanks! But you need to fight with Lilith so you can act as her eyes, remember? Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

"But- But- If something happens to you..." Marcus mumbled.

Leona pulled his face and gave him a big kiss right in front of everyone that made the lad's face become red like a tomato.

"Daren is not the only one that has the passion to win... Trust me... I'll be fine!" Leona whispered.

"Da, ba, ga, ta, la, ka..." Marcus tried to reply but his brain suddenly started to lose the ability to form words.

"Yeah, me too..." Leona laughed while stepping forward.

Marcus touched his lips and began to realize that everyone was staring at him.

"What...?" he wondered.

"When the hell did that happened??" Ria gasped.

"My little bro is all grow up... Sniff, sniff..." Evlin whispered.

"Is everyone in this group in a relationship...?" Xadi wondered.

"Oh shut up, you guys..." Marcus turned away while trying to hide his blushing face.

The demon stared at the fire mage as she approached.

Leona was armed with a few pieces of armor created by Ellie and Claire to allow her to access terminal energy in her powers, but aside from that, she was using nothing else. Her usual twin dragon staffs were nowhere to be seen, which caused a bit of worry from her friends.

"Did she manage to reach master class?" Evlin wondered while gazing at Detra.

"Just barely..." the ice mage admitted, "It was hard to teach a fire mage when you are someone who specializes in ice magic, but luckily, she managed to get the hang of it daily just in time... Now... let's just hope this was enough..."

"Do you remember me...?" She wondered.

Gluttony just shrugged, "Not really... You humans all look the same to me... All weak and fragile... Like you could break at any second..."

The woman's rage began to grow. She was so glad that she was not the one to face the demon of wrath. She was completely sure that her emotions would turn against her if she had to face him.

She also felt it was a shame that Daren managed to reach some kind of honorable fight with his opponent. They almost seemed to respect each other. But Leona had no desire to respect or understand Gluttony, she just wanted to turn him into ashes.

"Seems like your boss likes to absorb into him whatever it is that remains of you guys after you die.." She commented while gazing at Knucker from the corner of her eye, "I'll try to make sure that there is nothing left of you when I'm done then..."

"I would love to see you try..." Gluttony replied while jumping into the sky like a rocket and opening his mouth wide to unleash a storm of flames upon the mage.

At that instant, Leona closed her eyes and began to feel the warmth of the flames coming closer to her skin. She did not run nor hide, she simply stood there, waiting for the fire to reach her position.

Gluttony had once said that a dragon's fire could not be controlled. Leona's mission that day was to prove him wrong.

She began to raise her arms once the fire was inches away from her body and created a wall of flames to intercept Gluttony's attack.

She finally opened her eyes and observed her flames and Glutonny's flames clashing.

The demon landed on the ground dumbfounded by having his attack blocked so easily.

"Seems like you have improved a bit..." he whispered.

"I have improved a lot... You have no idea the lengths I'm ready to go to punish those that cross my path..." Leona commented.

The demon leaped to the side and started to run in circles around the mage, leaving a track of fire behind each time he stepped on the floor.

Leona watched as she slowly began to get herself surrounded by dragon flames everywhere she looked.

The figure of Gluttony had completely vanished. There was nothing to be seen besides fire in all directions.

"Are you afraid to face me? Or are these little flames meant to intimidate me?" she taunted, showing that she was not worried in the slightest about her situation.

Gluttony suddenly popped from one of the walls of fire that was behind her and attempted to strike the woman with a fireball.

Leona managed to react faster and covered her entire body with a cloak of flames to stop the attack by making the two forces collide once again.

Gluttony began to frown his face upon seeing his flames disperse, "Why can't my fire reach you...?"

Leona then raised her arms and revealed her metal bracelets that were engulfed in Ellie's borrowed terminal energy.

"As long as I have these... My flames are perfectly able to take on your flames..." Leona explained.

"Ah... So this is the rumored terminal fire..." Gluttony whispered as he noticed the color of Leona's flames changing from red, to green, to silver, "I've been curious about this for a while now... Been wondering what it would taste like..."

"Go ahead and try it!" Leona replied as she began to ignite her fists with fire and charged after the demon.

She began to throw a series of punches at him, but the demon managed to avoid it with ease with a showcase of agility that the woman was not expecting.

"Mmm... Why are you not using any ranged attacks...?" Gluttony wondered, "In fact... How come you can use magic without a staff...?"

"In order to reach the path of master-class, I had to become one with my affinity... That includes giving up any spell that would go against its principle..." Leona commented.

"I see... That means your affinity blocks you from using long-distance spells..." Gluttony smirked, "So that's why you just keep covering yourself in fire... That's all you CAN do!!"

The demon then used its own flames to propel his body away from Leona and began to laugh like a maniac.

"Hahahahaha!! So all I need to do is blast you away from a safe distance until you're burnt to a crisp!!"

Gluttony did as he said and began to release a powerful fire breath from his mouth directed at the mage.

Leona used her own flames to stop the attack but the demon just continued attacking.

"Ugh!! Ugh!!" Leona cried as she dropped on one knee from the intensity of the attack.

Gluttony stopped his blast for a mere moment so he could taunt her again, "What! wrong?? Running out of power?? Getting tired? Getting... HUNGRY!!??"

The demon took a deep breath and returned to unleash a barrage of flames once again.

Leona began to think about his comment and realized he was right. She was using so much fire magic that she was burning all of her calories in a matter of seconds. The more the fight dragged, the emptier her stomach howled, and as a result, the more powerful Gluttony would become.

"Ugh!! I have to finish this fast!!" she whispered.

The mage then stood up and tried to walk past the flames towards Gluttony's direction. The flames continued to push her away but Leona did not give up and just continued to walk forward.

The demon saw her approaching and began to increase the output of his breath.

As she realized that her power was about to vanish at any second, Leona finally decided to give her idea a try and attempted to take control of Gluttony's flames by lowering her cloak.

"Leona! Wait!!" Detra shouted, but it was too late.

The mage didn't realize her mistake fast enough and was completely burned by Glutony's storm of fire.

"Aaaaaghhh!!!" she cried as the flames dragged her all over the arena.

"Hahahahahahaha!!!" Gluttony laughed, "Mooooorooooon!!! Moron! Moron! Moron! Moron! Moron!!!!!! You think you can take control of my flames just because you have terminal energy?? Moron! Moron! Moron! Only a dragon can control a dragon's fire!!! Hahahahahaha!!"

"Leona!!!" Marcus cried as he almost jumped into the arena to save the mage but was suddenly stopped by Detra.

"Stop!! If you interfere now, we won't be able to rely on you for the later battles!!"

"He's going to kill her!!"

"Ugh... It hurts... It hurts so much..." Leona mumbled. This was the first time since she was a kid that fire ever managed to cause her any harm.

The woman always wondered why people were so afraid of fire despite it never appearing to be that dangerous to her. She gazed at her arms, legs, her, and clothes. Everything had been slightly burned and turned into charcoal. The only reason she was still alive was due to her bracelets protecting her.

"Now then..." Gluttony commented, "Do you finally understand that you should not play with fire unless you're ready to get yourself burned??"

The demon then burst himself towards the mage like a missile and started to increase the intensity of his flames even more.

Leona saw the demon coming right at her like a humanoid meteor and knew that if that managed t hit her, even with her bracelets or fire cloak, she would not survive.

In a last desperate attempt, she tried to stand up and leaped out of the way by using her terminal energy-powered fire magic to burst her body.

"You're not getting away!!" Gluttony shouted as he switched trajectory in the last second and moved to blast her away inches away from her position.

"Aaaaghhh!!!" the mage cried while being bombarded with dragon fire.

However, this time there was a difference.

In Gluttony's last attack, he was on the other side of the arena. Right now, he was right in front of her.

Leona realized that this was going to be the only chance she had and rushed to activate her fire cloak again.

"I summon upon myself the flames that can melt the absolute cold...

In my hands, the power of the sun itself is the force that I hold..."

Marcus widened his eyes, "A chanting... She's gonna use all her remaining power in one final move!"

"Oh, no..." Detra whispered, "I know this spell! Everyone close your eyes!!"

Leona continued.

"Let the blinding light of my power announce my glory to the entire land...

For a force as mighty as this is the last thing you shall see...

BEFORE YOU MEET YOUR END!!!"

And at that moment, just like Leona had said, it was as if the sun itself had landed on the battlefield for an instant and blinded everyone present with its grand light.

Once the glow of the spell vanished and it became safe to see again, all that was present in the arena was the sight of Leona with both hands completely burned on her knees while a pile of ashes that used to be Gluttony started to disperse amongst the wind.

"This is for my temple... Dumbass..." Leona whispered before falling unconscious on the floor.

Marcus hurried to help her but the mage would not open her eyes no matter how much he screamed her name.

"Leona!! Leona!!!"

"..."

"Leona!!!"

And just like before, while everyone was distracted, Knucker took this moment to absorb into him the remains of Gluttony into himself.

"Mmm... Such a shame... He was a really great cook... I'm gonna miss his dishes..." the white-haired man whispered.