At the very moment Sun Quan used his wits to block the forge's furnace (the heart of the camp) with a 'Scrap Dome'...
There was no shield against the sky in the front courtyard where the Tiger stood his ground.
While the soldiers on the outskirts were tangled in a chaotic mess with the pouring Iron-Mask troops, the most massive and lethal disaster fell vertically from the sky, directly over the head of Sun Jian, who was guarding the front alone.
KOOOOOOOM―!!!
With a roar that shook the earth's axis, the stone floor of the forge's front courtyard cracked like a spiderweb.
A thick cloud of dust rose, and from within, a massive silhouette emitting red steam stood up.
A massive frame reaching 3 meters in height.
Rusty brass armor covering the entire body.
And gray exhaust fumes spewing endlessly from behind its back like a train chimney.
It was the General of Yuan Shu's army, Ji Ling.
The shockwave from his landing blew away the Sun family's 'Flame Blacksmiths' like fallen leaves.
As the dust cloud settled, a man stood up opposite him, holding a giant steel hammer.
The Tiger of Red Cliffs, Sun Jian.
"Ptooey."
Sun Jian spat out a mouthful of blood and glared at Ji Ling with his burning Orange Tiger Eyes.
Red lava pulsed between the cracks of his black, basalt-like skin.
"The stench of Yuan Shu's rotten money is overwhelming. Stabbing us in the back like cowards?"
The cold Golden Death Mask covering Ji Ling's face did not move an inch.
Only the light from the red crystal eyes within the mask's eye sockets flashed eerily.
[Emotional response... Unnecessary. Target Sun Jian... Commence incineration.]
Ziiiing―!
The blades of the massive Explosive Heat Trident in Ji Ling's hand began to rotate at high speed.
The noise of the spinning saw blades swallowed the screams of the battlefield.
"I'll crush you!"
Sun Jian roared, kicking off the ground and leaping up.
It was not a simple blacksmith's hammer blow.
Transforming into an avatar of flame, his strike was like a volcanic eruption.
KWANG―!!
The hammer crashed down onto Ji Ling's head.
But Ji Ling did not dodge.
He merely raised one hand indifferently.
Hiss-s-s-s!
A barrier of high-pressure steam sprayed from Ji Ling's palm, futilely canceling out the impact of Sun Jian's attack.
[Muscle strength value... Below standard. Threat level... Low.]
"You, monster-like...!"
Ji Ling counterattacked.
The rotating saw-bladed trident drove Sun Jian into a corner as if dancing.
Clang! Crunch! Slice!
Sun Jian avoided fatal wounds like a seasoned warrior, but even as a demon, his bare body could not withstand the output and speed of the steel doll.
The thick leather apron he was wearing was torn apart like a sheet of paper.
Dark red blood spurred from his shoulders and thighs.
"Kugh!"
Sun Jian gritted his teeth and swung his hammer to block Ji Ling's trident.
But that was a mistake.
Screech―! Kang!
The high-speed rotating saw blades gnawed through the handle of Sun Jian's hammer, slicing it in two in an instant.
"Ah...?!"
Having lost his weapon, Sun Jian lost his balance and leaned back.
Sun Jian, the man called the Tiger of Red Cliffs, fell on his buttocks, tumbling ungracefully.
It was humiliating.
And it was fatal.
Ji Ling's massive shadow cast over the fallen Sun Jian.
[Weapon destruction confirmed. Switching to Execution Mode.]
Ji Ling raised the whirring trident high.
Sun Jian instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
It was then.
KOOOOOOM―!
A massive steel pillar that supported the forge building flew like a cannonball and smashed into Ji Ling's side.
Ji Ling's massive body stumbled.
"Who is it!"
Sun Jian opened his eyes.
Through the red steam, a massive figure like a mountain was charging like a wild boar.
Red skin reaching 3 meters.
A giant coal bin fused to his back.
And boar tusks protruding from his mouth.
The Red Ogre, Huang Gai.
Bang!
Huang Gai slammed into the steel doll, Ji Ling, with his bare body, pushing him back.
His red skin tore and blood splattered, but he did not retreat and blocked the path in front of Sun Jian.
"Don't touch my liege, you scrap metal!!"
Huang Gai faced Ji Ling without a weapon, using only his hard fists and the heat spewing from the Bio-Furnace on his back.
But it was not enough.
Every time steel and bone collided, Huang Gai's body was brutally butchered.
"Huang Gai! Move! He's not an opponent you can handle!"
Sun Jian shouted, standing up using the broken hammer handle as a cane.
Huang Gai vomited a handful of blood but did not look back.
"Cough... I know. With strength... I can never win."
Puk!
Ji Ling's trident pierced through Huang Gai's guard and deeply penetrated his abdomen.
The red-hot saw blades protruded from his back.
[Fatal wound confirmed. Life signs... Dropping rapidly. Disposing.]
Ji Ling declared dryly and tried to pull out the spear.
But the spear did not budge.
Because Huang Gai grabbed Ji Ling's arm with both hands and, instead, pushed the blade deeper into his own body, sticking close to Ji Ling.
[...?!]
Ji Ling's red crystal eyes shook for the first time.
Huang Gai turned his head to look at Sun Jian.
Between the blood-stained tusks, a rugged smile of the old Ogre spread.
"If force doesn't work... we just melt together."
Huang Gai crunched down on the Ignition Core planted inside his mouth.
At the same time, he forcibly locked the heat exhaust valves of the furnace on his back.
The unreleased high heat lost its way and began to run wild, burning his internal organs.
The taboo of burning oneself as fuel, 'Meltdown'.
"My Lord! Now is the time! Be the Fire!!"
KWAAAAAAAA―!!!
Flames of 3,000 degrees Celsius erupted explosively from inside Huang Gai's body.
It was not simple fire.
It was a fragment of the sun created by burning an Ogre's life force.
A massive pillar of fire that swallowed even Ji Ling, who was stabbing him, illuminated the front courtyard of the forge.
"Huang Gaiiiii--!!"
Sun Jian screamed like a beast, watching the back of his loyal subject burning himself right before his eyes.
Thick tears flowed from his orange tiger eyes, evaporating into the boiling flames.
Sun Jian sat on the ground and could only scream, unable to dare jump into the fire.
Even though his loyal shield, the old Ogre, was burning as kindling himself, the heat of the
There were those looking down at this hellscape from the top of the cliff.
*
The edge of the cliff overlooking the battlefield.
Lucifer bit her lip until it bled.
"No... If we leave them like that, they'll be annihilated. We have to help..."
She placed her trembling hands on her chest and clutched her clothes tightly in anxiety.
Every time the energy of the shards scattered across the battlefield went berserk, her heart, which was the Compass, throbbed as if screaming.
Behind her back, tainted black, a light in the shape of torn wings shimmered faintly.
It was a dangerous attempt to intervene by squeezing out her remaining divinity, enduring the pain.
But at that moment, a rough hand grabbed her shoulder and held her down.
"Sit down. Chew on this."
It was Sun Wukong.
He took a piece of dried peach (dried fruit) out of his pocket, tossed it into his mouth, and pointed his chin at the battlefield as if watching an interesting play.
"That big guy, his loyalty is top tier. Cooked well-done."
Lucifer turned her head in shock.
"You...! That's too harsh! To someone sacrificing himself for his comrade!"
"You think I'm harsh? Not at all."
Sun Wukong chewed and swallowed the tough dried fruit, sneering coldly.
"The truly ruthless one isn't that old man. It's that captain watching his subordinate burn to death."
Sun Wukong jumped up from his seat.
Then, cupping his hands around his mouth like a trumpet, he yelled down at Sun Jian.
"Hey!! You Blacksmith Mister!!"
The booming shout pierced through the noise of the battlefield.
Sun Jian, covered in tears, looked up blankly at the cliff.
What entered his eyes was a monkey standing on the edge of the cliff, swaying arrogantly.
"Are you just going to watch while your subordinate becomes a roast? And you call yourself a fire demon?"
Sun Wukong's mocking voice flew and stuck like a dagger.
"Are you scared of the heat from just a lump of machine like that? You weren't tigers, but hairless kittens!"
"What... did you say?"
Sun Jian's orange tiger eyes trembled.
Anger surged up.
But the object of that anger was not that cheeky monkey.
It was his own helplessness.
'My Lord, if force doesn't work... just melting together is enough.'
Huang Gai's last will echoed in his ears.
Even now, Huang Gai was burning while holding onto Ji Ling, unable to even scream.
To buy time for his lord to escape.
'I... What am I doing?'
Sun Jian clenched his fists.
His fingernails dug into his palms, drawing blood.
Run away?
Leave that old Ogre alone?
"No."
Sun Jian wiped his tears roughly.
Sorrow disappeared from his eyes, and a cold madness filled that place.
"Right. I cannot lose my family... to mere heat like this."
Sun Jian turned his back on Ji Ling and started running toward the inside of the main camp.
"Quan!!"
The place he arrived at was in front of the shard furnace that Sun Quan was desperately protecting by creating a Scrap Dome.
"No! The furnace is overheated! If you touch it with bare hands...!"
Sun Quan's dissuasion was unheard.
Sun Jian stuck his bare hands into the boiling magic furnace without blacksmith tongs.
Sizzle―!
"Kuuugh!"
With the smell of burning flesh, his fingers burned black and skin peeled off.
But Sun Jian did not stop.
From deep within the furnace, he pulled out a hot chunk of ore pulsing red like a heart.
The culprit of this war, and the source of infinite power.
It was the
"Ce! Come here!"
At Sun Jian's roar, the eldest son Sun Ce, who was fighting enemies by the river, ran to the main camp without hesitation.
"Father!"
Sun Jian crushed the burning
And threw one of them to the rushing Sun Ce.
"Take it!"
Sun Ce snatched the flying red light.
Smoke rose from his palm with a sizzling sound.
But Sun Ce grinned instead of showing pain.
"Quan, take care of the forge."
Sun Jian left a short request to Sun Quan and started running out of the battlefield again with Sun Ce.
Their destination was not the enemy lines.
It was the edge of the Magma River (River of Purgatory) where red lava and sulfur boiled behind the forge.
The father and son stood at the edge of the cliff.
Sun Jian glared at the sky where Yuan Shu's airship floated and the river where Liu Biao lurked.
"That monkey is right. Trying to avoid the fire is why we get burned."
Sun Jian's eyes had turned into burning charcoal.
"Then there is only one way."
Sun Ce brought the shard in his hand near his heart.
"We have to become the fire."
"Let's go."
The father and son threw themselves into the boiling lava river without hesitation.
Splash!
Thick magma swallowed their bodies.
The terrible pain of melting flesh wrapped around their entire bodies.
But at that moment.
They thrust the
"KWAAAAAAAAAA--!!"
The scream soon turned into a beast's roar.
Instead of burning their bodies, the lava flowed into their blood vessels through the pierced holes in their chests.
The Red Shard absorbed the lava and went berserk.
Black basalt shells grew over the peeled skin, and bones were reforged into diamonds harder than steel.
Red flames spewed from eyes, mouths, and cracks in the skin.
This was not death.
It was a Ritual of Rebirth.
*
Back to the center of the battlefield.
Huang Gai's body had already become charcoal and was crumbling away.
Ji Ling pushed away Huang Gai's remains with trembling mechanical arms.
[Warning. Armor damage rate 74%... Cooling system overload. Combat efficiency dropped.]
Ji Ling's golden armor had melted in places, distorted hideously.
It was then.
Koooo-gooo-goong―!
The lava river behind the forge flowed backward as if exploding.
[Energy reaction... Unmeasurable. SSS-class high heat source detected.]
Ji Ling's crystal eyes rang warning alarms madly.
From within the soaring lava pillar, two massive shadows walked out.
One held twin spears made of lava in both hands.
The other, wearing a Halo of Fire on his back, materialized a massive flame greatsword instead of a broken hammer.
They were no longer ordinary demons.
Living disasters made of flowing magma and black rock.
It was the descent of the Volcanic Demon.
Watching the spectacle from the top of the cliff, Sun Wukong chewed on the piece of dried peach and muttered with a chuckle.
"Oh, now it's getting interesting."