Chapter 11: The Hellfire Erupts
The silence that followed Leo's whisper was more terrifying than the screams. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, the ground beneath Oakhaven didn't just crack—it vaporized.
The Inferno Unleashed
A pillar of black-red flame erupted from Leo, reaching so high into the sky it could be seen from the capital. This wasn't the flickering spark from the exam; this was a torrential downpour of heat.
Lyra's smug expression vanished. She tried to fire her necrotic spear, but the weapon melted into violet steam before it could even leave her hand. The Ghouls surrounding Leo didn't just die—they were erased from existence, leaving nothing but scorched shadows on the glass floor.
"Impossible..." Lyra gasped, stumbling back. "The seal... it didn't just break. It disintegrated."
The Berserker
Leo stepped forward, but he wasn't walking like a boy anymore. His movements were jagged, predatory. The black-red flames formed a jagged "crown" of thorns around his head and wrapped around his arms like burning armor.
He didn't use spells. He simply swung his arm, and a wave of Hellfire sheared the top off the village chapel as if it were made of paper.
Umbra, the Right Hand, merged with the shadows to strike Leo from behind. But the moment his void-blade touched the aura of the Hellfire, Umbra's shadow-form began to boil. For the first time, the silent assassin let out a distorted, metallic cry of pain and retreated into the darkness.
The Collateral Damage
The power was too much. The Hellfire began to spread indiscriminately. The black vines Leo had summoned earlier were now giant, burning pyres that threatened to consume the very villagers he had come to save.
"Leo! Stop!" Captain Mara yelled, using her shadow-threads to pull villagers away from the encroaching heat. "You're going to burn the whole valley!"
But Leo couldn't hear her. Inside his mind, he was back in the field of ash, and the white-haired man was laughing.
The Spirit's Sacrifice
Elara pushed herself up from the ground. Her mana was almost gone, but she saw what the others didn't: Leo's hand was charred and bleeding. The fire was eating him as much as it was eating the world.
"Nix..." she whispered, calling upon the last embers of her Water Spirit.
The small spirit reappeared, looking fragile. Elara didn't use a combat spell. She channeled every ounce of her life force into a forbidden technique: The Spirit's Tear.
She sprinted through the heat, her skin blistering. She didn't attack Leo. She threw her arms around him, pressing her cooling, water-drenched aura against the roaring furnace of his chest.
"Leo, come back," she sobbed, her voice barely audible over the roar of the flames. "Don't leave me alone in this."
The Cooling
The collision of the Water Spirit's pure essence and the Hellfire created a massive explosion of white steam that blanketed the entire village.
Slowly, the black-red glow in Leo's eyes began to fade. The crown of thorns shattered into sparks. The overwhelming heat receded, replaced by a cold, numbing exhaustion.
Leo looked down at Elara, who was limp in his arms, her hair singed and her mana-channels exhausted. He looked at the devastation around him—the melted stone, the terrified faces of the survivors, and the charred remains of his own magic.
"What have I done?" he whispered, before his knees buckled.
As the steam cleared, Lyra and Umbra were gone. But on the scorched wall of the chapel, a message was burned in golden lines:
"THE PRINCE HAS FOUND HIS HEART. NOW, WE SHALL PLUCK IT."