Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 580: A Flaming Heart, New Form

Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 580: A Flaming Heart, New Form

Scarletgold rods sparked from Oscar's feet, and he escaped from Orden's extending arm that whipped out and overturned the slate dirt. The gravity field made it quite hard to escape faster. Having no option, he decided to hear out the Ancient of Fire but was still skeptical. 'I do not possess Volten blood. Isn't the point for a perfect Reis user of Volten blood to be capable of holding in the power of the Ancients?'

'In normal circumstances, yes. But you are a perfect Reis user, and the Blood Transmutation between you and Prielapos gives you a body that carries a part of the firstborns. I'll be frank. It's dangerous, my child. You can handle it to some degree, but using it for a prolonged time might kill you instead.' Ignyres explained.

'Killed by earth or killed by the fires of an Ancient. Hehe. I guess I have no choice. What do I need to do?' Oscar grouped up with Erden and Demon, the earth attacking them as pillars rose and toppled onto them, chased by Orden's three-faced and six-armed figure. Still, even after all the time that had passed, the Eirin around Orden grew larger, blazing around him. The only power that could match him now would be Ignyres inside him.

'Allow me into your Exolsia core.' Ignyres urged. Speechless, Oscar fumbled on trying to say a word, his mouth gaping wide. The most dangerous action one could take to self-harm oneself was to open their core to any outside force, especially an invasive one. Ignyres's urgings grew louder. 'Quickly! Or else you will die, and I will be forced to return to Talos, certainly to the hands of the Voltens.'

Oscar breathed in, his Ein Awaken gathering and recovering as much Ein as possible during the onslaught of Orden's brutal earthen spells. Erden supplemented more Ein while Demon directed their movements, carrying the two away. He had the feeling that the outcome of allowing Ignyres into his core might cause severe consequences. His closed eyes revealed all of what had already been lost and the people who were waiting for him to come back, and he firmly came to a decision. He could not allow himself to die.

'Alright.' He relaxed his core and lowered the natural defenses that barred intrusive forces from entering. Inside the inner world, flaming like the two suns, Ignyres stepped closer and reached out his hand, fingers of different flames resting on the core's surface. The Ancient of Fire turned into a stream of fire, pouring into Oscar's blue Exolsia core until every bit of ember was absorbed.

He felt the moment Ignyres entered his elemental spark, the metallic diamond engulfing in blazing bright flames. A warmth started in his chest, small and comforting, but Oscar braced himself, knowing the agony that accompanied times like these, similar to eating a petal of the Divine Essence or dipping into the Pools of Ascension. It erupted into volcanic heat, which burned inside like he had swallowed pure magma. The heat traveled to all corners of his body, burning through his organs, veins, flesh, bones, nerves, and skin.

His scream overwhelmed Orden's roar, and flames spread from his feet, weblike patterns of magma flowing on the slate ground. Oscar looked inside his inner world, stunned by the half-blue and half-red core. The heat and energy cycled everywhere, riding along his blood, seeping into his very being, and red embers flaked from his blue shroud of Guise. Breathing out smoke, Oscar rose to his feet, his body incredibly light despite the gravity constantly bearing down on him.Fôll0w current novÊls o/n n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(c/o/m)

Red flames outlined his blue shroud of Guise. Vast amounts of Ein swirled inside him. How could anyone ever contain this sort of power? It rippled from him as waves of dry heat. Stepping forward, the ground underneath melted, fiery footprints gathering into a river of magma. His one blue antler protruded from his head, but a red flaming horn protruded from where the broken antler once did.

He admired the red flames around him, his heart thumping loudly. It was only a fraction of Ignyres's fire, but it took everything he had to keep it under control. He believed with a casual swipe of his hand, he could turn a mountain into a volcano. Exhaling slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at Orden. His rage was gone, his anxiety disappeared, and the helplessness became hope. Strangely, he felt calm, as if nothing mattered to him. Fear seemed to have melted away.

The ground turned into a molten landscape. Oscar suspected Orden could escape if there was earth underneath, so he transformed the environment. Oscar punched with all his might. The Eirin Omnireus of primordial flame, condensed to the Line, pierced into Orden and clashed with Demon's Eirin Omnireus, the two lines colliding. Orden's body was first split in half, then quarters, then eighths, and sixteenths. A rumbling akin to a volcano's eruption trembled the entire world, and the Lines imploded, a single shockwave expanding slowly but engulfing all of Orden in it.

The winds flowed toward the epicenter of the shockwave and were unleashed into violent gales, hurricanes of heated air. In the aftermath, Orden was gone, not a speck of dust of his being left behind. Feeling the effects of Orden's last strike, which he allowed to touch him, Oscar was helpless as the remaining force expelled him. The ground received his back, his lungs expelling all the air as pained gasps, choking exhales of agony. His Guise broke apart, and Ignyres separated from his core, but he tumbled and rolled great distances until he stopped.

'My body can't last anymore.' Demon said. 'I will retreat into you.' He felt the Duality end and saw Demon reappear in his inner world.

'Oscar, I can barely move, but we did it. It's over.' Erden coughed.

'Thank you, Ignyres.' Oscar inhaled to recover the air that was rushed out of his lungs. Thanks to his training over the past few years, he managed to achieve barely moving after the Guise ended, a remarkable improvement from playing dead.

'That was scary! Any further, and you would have burned to death!' Ignyres exclaimed.

"Hahahaha. I'm sorry. But don't scream. My ears are pounding." Oscar wheezed. His eyes widened at the snarl that came from nowhere. Lifting his shaky head, he cursed and couldn't believe it. A stick-like figure climbed out of the lake of magma. It lacked an arm, and the other limbs seemed made from charred pebbles, barely a thumb's width thick. Slightly larger rocks formed the basic spine to its neck, where a larger rock, its head, around the size of a fist, struggled to remain upright.

"Os...Os...car." It said. For some reason, it did not regenerate. Perhaps it was also at its limits. "Oscar!" Orden reached out his pebbly hand.

"Enough, Orden. That's enough." Oscar dug his nails into the slate and groaned, raising a knee and lifting himself to stand with his arm supporting him like a trunk. "It's time to put you to rest and end this." He raised his fists into a stance and waited for Orden to approach for one final exchange.