Chapter 30 Her Fire

Many years ago, in a land far away…

The sky is red and yellow due to ample fire clouds; the ground is red because of the blood that runs like a river everywhere.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Sounds of steel weapons clashing against each other echoes across the vast battlefield. Thousands of soldiers have been fighting non-stop for hours, but only a third of those people are human, while the vast majority are something else.

That race has some similarities with humans, such as height and the same limbs, but all of them also have long tails, and some even have large wings.

Those nonhumans have the same usual skin colors as humans, but their bodies are partially covered in scales that vary between shades of red and brown.

Also, they have horns of all shapes and sizes; their ears are slightly pointed, and their eyes are diverse, having thin pupils like a snake's.

*SCHEEEE!!*

A loud and strident sound echoes through the skies like the cry of a mythical bird, and all the soldiers stop fighting to look up.

"Did you hear that??"

"This is for real!??"

"Is it her???"

*SCHEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

The sound echoes again, and a giant firebird emerges from the clouds.

That firebird exhales heat and a mighty aura that brings hope in half of the fighting soldiers and fear into the hearts of the other half.

"It really is the Phoenix!!!" Many non-human soldiers raise their weapons and shout at the giant firebird.

"The Princess is not dead!!"

"There is still hope!!"

"Fight soldiers, fight for your people, fight for your new Queen!!!"

*SCHEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

The giant phoenix responds to the call of the non-human soldiers below and continues descending at rapid speed toward the humans. It is not an actual living creature but the manifestation of the power of an incredible woman, which is right now within those flames.

Despite being already a few hundred years old, that woman still looks very young, no more than twenty years old. She is of the same race as those other demi-humans, but her features are so delicate and perfect that she cannot be compared to anyone else.

She is about 1.8 meters tall, which is a lot for female humans, but for her people, she is not that tall; her flawless skin has a pastel shade of pink, and her big seductive eyes are light green.

In addition to large reddish wings, and a thin, long tail, that woman has a few red scales over her delicate body and a pair of large black horns on the sides of her head, plus a couple of tiny spikes on top of her forehead.

Thin eyebrows, a very delicate nose, and a lovely little mouth, in addition to her captivating eyes and exotic horns, make her a beauty beyond compare.

But even though she seems so lovely, that woman carries an unrelenting fury in her eyes, which now burn like living flames. Her whole body is covered in the Phoenix's flames as she charges at her enemies.

"DAMN YOU, HUMANS!!!" Her shout echoes across the battlefield, and even the skies seem to react to her, launching flashes of lightning and thunders over her enemies.

*CRAAAAACK…* *BOOOOOMM!!!*

The great Phoenix reaches the ground and explodes into flames, completely burning the bodies of humans in a half-mile radius.

More than five hundred soldiers die immediately while the strongest among them survive severely wounded. However, three mysterious persons manage to remain standing, hidden behind a translucent magical barrier.

One of those three individuals is a tall man with heavy silver armor, his hair is long and blond, and his eyes are light blue, a classic knight in shining armor.

The other people have their thin bodies covered by cloaks, one of them holds a large silver bow, and the other person keeps a delicate hand raised, creating the barrier that protects the group.

"Are you from the Light Empire?" The beautiful woman with horns and wings asks the group. Her red armor looks scorching, and her long red hair sways due to the wind while her eyes glow like living flames.

The hooded mage maintains the barrier while the archer prepares an arrow. But the knight looks pretty relaxed and confident as he looks at the horned woman's gorgeous curves. "The Dragon Princess herself... what an honor!"

The horned woman, the Dragon Princess, shakes her head with a disappointed expression. "Nasty humans, why get involved in this? What did that stupid usurper offer you?"

"Your blood." The mage speaks in a soft female voice.

"Hahahaha..." The Dragon Princess bursts out laughing as she extends her hand forward, and a pillar of flame appears before quickly disappearing, leaving a long red spear in its place.

The flames in her eyes grow more intense as she points the spear at the trio. "So come get it!"

"I'll be gentle, Princess." The knight comments while giving a signal to the mage. That girl lowers the barrier, and he quickly charges towards the Dragon Princess, materializing a great shining sword in his hands.

*WHOOSH*

The knight's speed is incredibly high and raises a cloud of dust wherever he passes. His strength is also very high, and he attacks the Dragon Princess with his big shining sword as fast as possible.

But the Dragon Princess is on a whole different level; She cannot see the knight's movements in slow motion, but her senses and instincts are enough for her to block his sword with the shaft of her spear.

*BAM!* *CLANG!!*

The impact of their weapons generates a powerful wave of force that blows away the dust cloud, and while the knight grips his teeth, using his maximum strength to try to push the Dragon Princess, the archer is already in the air, making her move.

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The archer shoots several arrows with incredible speed toward the Dragon Princess, but she keeps one hand holding the spear and uses the other to create a fire shield and block the arrows.

"As expected of the Dragon Princess..." The knight comments, still with an arrogant posture.

"Pathetic humans!" The Dragon Princess laughs and spits in the knight's face.

But then she feels her instincts get alert; she has to stay focused to block the knight's sword and archer's arrows, but when she tries to see the mage, she notices that the girl has already disappeared.

As soon as the Dragon Princess wonders where that girl is, the mage leaves a portal right behind her, already attacking with a shiny dagger.

The Dragon Princess fails to react in time, and the mage pierces her back with that dagger, which glows with a bright white light.

"Don't resist..." The mage speaks with that strange soft voice. "Let the sacred light of our Grace enter you."

As the white light invades the Dragon Princess' body, the dagger sucks her blood into a tube in the mage's hand, but she doesn't seem concerned, rather excited.

"Shitty humans, shitty tricks..." The Dragon Princess comments as more flames erupt from her eyes and whole body. "How about I show you a good trick?"

"She will burst again!!!" The mage tries to warn her allies.

But it all happens so fast; they didn't expect the Dragon Princess would be able to use that skill again so soon, but she does, creating powerful flames that surround everything in a vast range.

*SCHEEEEEE!!!*

—---------------------------------------

"Klaus!? KLAUS?! What's wrong?!!

The sight of those flames is fresh in Klaus' mind as he hears Irina's voice and feels her touch his face.

"What..." He is confused as there is a lot of new information entering his head. "Lumen?"

"Who the hell is Lumen?!?!" Irina asks in an upset tone; she's smart enough to have an idea of what's going on.

"Who??" Klaus is still trying to organize the thoughts in his mind, but his body is going through many internal changes quickly; there is a lot of powerful energy running through his veins right now. "What happened?"

Irina runs her hand down Klaus's arm to his hand, which is closed, holding the bottle with half of the red liquid remaining. "You drank some of this, and then things got weird..."

He looks at that liquid inside the bottle; he thought that no blood could be as unique as the fairy's, but that mysterious blood messes with him even more intensely.

"How much weird?" He asks.

Irina tries to calm down as she explains. "You got paralyzed for a few seconds, and your body started to heat up a lot... your eyes also changed, your pupil got strange and... I think I saw fire inside it??"

"Fire?" Klaus can't help but remember the beautiful woman he saw in that vision. But before he can think about it further, the changes in his body become more intense, changing even the structure of his bones.

"AHH!!?" He is very tolerant to pain, but when his bones start to break from the inside out, he gets perplexed.

"Klaus?!?!" Irina is very concerned about his situation.

But instead of being worried too, or at least curious about the changes in his body, Klaus can't help but have one question above all.

[Is she still alive?]