"What's taking him so long?" Standing in the outskirts of Red Cloud City, Cassandra looked into the distance, staring at the cluster of statues and temple buildings that formed the theocracy's headquarters.
Several summoning seals surrounded the matriarch, enabling Mithras to exit the theocracy or bring in reinforcements whenever necessary. But if at first, Cassandra was certain that Mithras' expedition would go smoothly, as the agreed-upon deadline went by, and time dragged on, Cassandra grew restless, fearing that Mithras had met unknown variables.
"Grrr..." Nagini stood nearby, growling at Cassandra with red flames oozing from her mouth.
"What? Didn't Mithras say your transformation wasn't complete and you still had to take it easy? Thanks to you being Mithras' familiar, the Red God granted you a boon to become a Nagaraja. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, don't screw it up because of your misplaced anger."
"Grrrr!"
"Oy! Watch your mouth before I break your fangs, rip out your tongue, and sell your eyes on the black market. I didn't kill your siblings. That warlock did. Do you think I wanted to lose 12 Red Cloud Pythons of Great Expansion strength? The Lord knows where we would be today if not for that incident.
So stop trying to pin the blame for their death on me!"
"Grrrr!"
Cassandra and Nagini went back and forth. Meanwhile, Honoria sat nearby, relying on the king-class Modulator she'd received from Mithras to speed up her meditation gains. The noble lady put as much distance between Cassandra and her as she could—inwardly hoping that Nagini would snap and bite Cassandra's head off.
"I don't hate you because of that incident! I hate you because you got off too easy! Mithras was confused by your milf charm, fat ass and bouncing tits. That's the only way to explain why he didn't put the noose on your neck!
Just make sure you take good care of him, or the first thing I will do after completing my transformation is to rip you into shreds." Nagini snapped, causing both Honoria and Cassandra's eyes to widen in disbelief.
"You...can talk?" Both asked in tandem, making Nagini realize that for the first time ever, she'd used the humans' language instead of hisses and growls.
But before the red dragoness could make sense of this change, her brows furrowed, and in a blast of scarlet flames, she vanished from the scene.
"What was that?" Beside herself with confusion, Honoria scratched her head. The sense of unease keeping Cassandra on her toes deepened, and she looked at the summoning seals, cursing herself for not being able to activate them without Mithras' help.
"There's something wrong going on. Nagini was with Mithras at first. Why did he send her out, and why is she going back now? Don't you find that strange? Mithras should have been out a long time ago," Honoria said in a low and trembling tone that perfectly matched the anxiousness on her face.
"Watch over the summoning circles. I will go find out what's going on," Cassandra said, and without a care for Honoria's approval, the matriarch turned into a blaze of orange flames, bolting into the distance.
The moment Cassandra vanished, Honoria's worried look turned into a sinister smile.
"Would be nice if at least one of those two could lose her head—both preferably. But you must be safe, Mithras darling, because from now on, my future relies on you," Honoria said with a deep sigh, lowering her head, and praying both for Mithras' safety and Cassandra's death.
---
Mithras lunged forth, throwing caution to the wind and rushing Elijah for a flying knee. The Grand Priest didn't avoid it, taking the knee head-on. Elijah's body reeled once more, pressed under Mithras' knee as the Grand Priest crashed into the floor.
As before the impact rebounded on Mithras, and as before another Flame Sacrifice was about to replace him.
But at that time...
[Blessed Land of the Devoted]
Elijah smacked his hand on the ground, causing a large ritual circle to form and spread across the floor.
The Flame Sacrifice didn't manifest, leaving Mithras to receive the full might of his blow and go flying from the impact. Ten orange seals formed around him, shining with blinding rays as loud banging sounds reverberated all over—followed by an ear-splitting blast that detonated right underneath Mithras.
But as a massive flame pillar soared towards the sky, and Elijah expected Mithras to become smoke and ashes, Mithras vanished. The moment next, Mithras had reappeared before Elijah, grabbing his neck in one hand, and binding his hands with the other.
"H-how? My mantra disabled your Flame Sacrifice. Without the Flame Sacrifices to take the blows for you, you should have been knocked down by the rebound and destroyed by my Inner Flame.
So how are you still fine? And why couldn't I track you?" Unable to comprehend why he'd lost, Elijah asked, making Mithras' lips curl into a smile.
"Once you activate it, your Gene enables you to send any physical damage you've received back to the sender. Likewise, it will send any physical damage you deal back to you. It only works on physical damage and drains your lifespan to stay active.
It's pretty nice for a first-class gene...nice in a fucked-up way...but nice. Sadly for you, I have mastered the Second Secret, meaning I can shrink my size, weight, and force in the blink of an eye.
You assumed I was using some kind of camouflage or teleportation mantra to vanish and blitz you. But truth is...I was just shrinking. As I shrink my speed increases, so much so that you've mistaken speed for camouflage and teleportation," Mithras explained, making the Grand Priest realize why the rebound did not affect him.
Mithras reduced the force of the blow at the last moment, a simple trick that lured the Grand Priest into ruin.
"So, I can't kill you with a physical attack? Right?
Big deal. I will just burn you to death as I'd planned to from the start.
By the way, just like you I know an immolation trick...king-class too," Mithras said with a cheerful smile, and as the Grand Priest's eyes stretched in horror, Mithras activated the Immolation Curse—powered by his divine flames.
"Wait! Don't! ARRGHHHHHH!" Squirming in beyond-solar temperature, Elijah howled in grief. But Mithras didn't care, draining the Grand Priest's life force and Inner Flame while roasting him bit by bit.
"Thanks for the info, by the way. You were so chatty that you basically told me all you knew without me having to pressure you that much. Good man, I won't waste your lifeforce." Mithras whispered in Elijah's ear as it turned into ashes. His corpse followed soon, becoming smoke and powder.
But the moment Grand Priest Elijah perished, a tiny flame arrow appeared in Mithras' heart, sneaking in without ruckus. At the same time, a myriad of scarlet runes took shape all over the Red Cloud Theocracy, with millions of fire bolts and flaming rocks covering the sky and raining towards Mithras!