Melted to the Bone

"Fine. Let's see how long you can keep talking."

The air itself screamed.

No — it was the sound of space being torn apart, a rupture that split the world open.

The pitch-black lightning that had dominated the cave mouth moments before vanished without a trace. What filled that void was a crimson flash so vivid it bleached the eye white — an overwhelming scarlet brilliance.

"Wh… what the hell is this?!"

Electra's face, so full of smug confidence a second ago, twisted in pure horror. The lightning barrier she had instinctively thrown up sizzled and vaporized before the heat even touched it. Electricity, burned away by fire. It was a catastrophe that casually chewed through every law of common sense.

"Ha? Who're you calling a rat?"

Ruby stepped out through the shimmering haze. Wherever her feet touched, the marble floor melted red and ran like lava.

"You're the rat here. Look at you, shaking like a leaf in front of me."

The Fire Spirit King, restraints shattered, power running wild. As proof, the Phoenix Whisper in her hands revealed its true and terrible form.

This was no bow of the material world. It was a vast body of pure energy shaped like a bow. Where the string was drawn, an arrow of annihilation condensed — as if the core of the sun itself had been forcibly compressed into a single point.

"…This might sting a little."

Ruby twisted her lips into a savage smile.

"It'll melt you down to the bone."

"You crazy bitch! Don't you dare bluff me!"

Electra screamed, trying to shake off the terror, and forged a massive spear of lightning. But she already knew, deep in her instincts — there was no stopping that thing.

"Knight! What are you doing?! Get in front of me now!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

The knight, shoved forward like disposable meat, raised his tower shield with a face gone pale. The heavy steel completely blocked Electra's line of sight.

"Idiots. No matter how strong it is, it can't reach me through this distance…!"

Using the knight as a human shield, the elf let out a breath of relief.

In that fleeting gap, I didn't miss my chance. I activated the hidden card in my hand — the skill Phase Shift.

My target was never the shield.

"Ruby! Fire! Don't worry about the knight!"

"Hell yeeeeeah—! I'll punch straight through everything!!"

The instant Ruby released the string—

KRAAAAAANG—!

A detonation that seemed to warp space itself. It was less an arrow than a beam of crimson lotus fire, erasing the earth as it tore forward. Overwhelming heat ripped the air apart. The lightning spear Electra desperately hurled evaporated before it could even make contact, and the crimson arrow never slowed as it hurtled toward the knight.

"Ugh… uuuugh! I will hold!"

The knight squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact. A tower shield charged with Electra's lightning attribute — even my Phase Shift shouldn't have been able to pierce that.

But I had never cast Phase Shift on the shield. The target I designated was…

Right before the collision, the knight's body and shield flickered with a pale blue light.

The erasure of physical substance.

Ssssshhh.

"…Huh?!"

The knight's eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went wide. That was it — the lady knight herself. The arrow that looked ready to burn the world clean through passed through her body as if it were a lie. Stripped of physical mass, the knight simply let the arrow flow past like a mirage, and the one behind her was left completely exposed.

"Wh-what?! Why didn't you block it?!"

Electra's pupils, who had been relaxing safely in the rear, dilated as if they would tear. There had been a solid shield standing right in front of her. But the flames of death had passed straight through it and arrived at her nose.

The knight was fine.

The rat hiding behind her was not.

"…That's all the service you get. It was fun, Lady Elf."

I tipped my top hat with a little smile and offered my farewell.

"N-no…!!!!!!"

KRAAAAAAAAAANG!!!

The crimson flash swallowed the elf whole. Her body, unable even to properly cast a defensive spell, was exposed raw to the heat. With a nauseating stench of burning flesh, she was hurled backward like a burning straw doll.

"Ghk… hah… Imp… impossible… the shield… why…"

Electra crawled across the floor, her body reduced to a charred husk. Even as she died, she would never understand why she had been the one hit.

"…You're next, then?"

"…"

The lady knight stumbled backward, then slowly raised both hands high.

"I surrender…"

The moment victory was decided, the savage flames wrapping Ruby's entire body subsided.

"Ha? That's it? What a letdown."

She was smiling with narrowed eyes, but something about her had changed. This was no longer the childish figure who simply reveled in destruction. She was not a villain spewing rage and wanting to smash everything in sight. She was a queen who now fully commanded her own power.

"Shall we go?"

We stepped out of the cave. Far ahead, the trophy sat displayed upon the temple altar. The only problem was the dense ring of crimson giant trees surrounding it.

"Well, that's a lot of obstacles. We should detour around and—"

"Ha…? Do we need to? We're finishing this anyway."

With a confident smile, Ruby reached into empty air. A massive sphere of flame rose from her grip like a second sun.

"Burn it all down!"

KRAAAAAAAAAANG!

A searing blast of heat swept the area. The giant trees couldn't even resist — they withered into ash and scattered on the wind.

"Without the Salamander's Gills, I would've died for sure…"

The heat from the trees was no joke. But thanks to the Salamander's Gills, even this hellish furnace felt like cool forest air to me. Well… the item's durability was finally spent, though.

Crack—!

As the ring shattered, Ruby walked the cleared path with absolute confidence. The moment she raised the trophy high, the arena's announcement system rang out.

…She actually pulled it off.

I listened to the broadcast and let out a quiet snort of laughter. With this, the world would remember exactly what kind of elf Ruby Scarlet was. Not a despised half-elf — but the great champion who conquered the Heavenly Spirit Tournament. From now on, that was how everyone would remember her.

"…Hey, Doc. This is it, right?"

I closed my eyes slowly at Ruby's question, then shook my head.

"Hmm… no."

"…Then what?"

"The real part starts now."

I opened my eyes with a meaningful smile. The festival was over. Time to clean up.

Night had fallen deep.

In the study of the Silverrain estate, the family head slammed his desk with a thunderous crash and shot to his feet.

"Fuck! What the hell is this shit?!"

He shredded the report into pieces and scattered them through the air.

"M-my lord, please compose yourself!"

"Compose myself?! Look at me right now and still say that crap?!"

Hah… hah—

Bloodshot eyes glared from the family head's face as he gasped for breath. The legend of Ruby Scarlet from the Heavenly Spirit Tournament days ago had already flooded every corner of the city of Gracia Wonderworld. And among the tournament prizes was a grant of rank. Now that a knighthood had been bestowed upon Ruby Scarlet, she held noble status equal to the family head himself. Some were even whispering that she was the true rightful heir chosen by the Spirit King Ignis.

To the head of the Silverrain family, it was a humiliation that scraped the bone — and a terror.

"…Hey. You know what this scrap of paper says about me?"

"What…?"

"Disqualified as a noble. Incompetent leader. Step down from the headship immediately, it says…"

Every elf who had marched under the Silverrain banner into the Heavenly Spirit Tournament had been wiped out. Electra, supposedly their strongest asset, had been reduced to a charred husk. The guard captain had been so terrified by Ruby's overwhelming power that he'd fled in the night. The once-mighty Silverrain was now nothing but an empty shell. The old men of the elder council were seizing the moment to tear him apart.

"Damn it. If I'd known it would come to this… I should have killed that bitch properly back then."

"Kill her…? Who are you talking about, my lord?"

The family head drained an entire bottle of whiskey in frustration. As the harsh liquor numbed his brain, the ugly truth he had been suppressing came pouring out like a broken dam.

"Ha…! You stupid bastard! Are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asking because you don't know?! You worked on this with me — why the hell are you playing dumb?! You know damn well I was the one who made Ruby Scarlet go berserk!"

"…"

"Fuck! If that father of hers had just listened to me back then! He wouldn't have burned to death, and that girl wouldn't have spent her life being called a mongrel… Why the hell didn't he listen…!"

"What do you mean by that…?"

At the servant's follow-up, the family head roared with raw fury.

"You dense son of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bitch—! Did you forget our plan?! To extract Ignis, we deliberately drove the girl into a rampage and then sealed the spirit into the Spirit King's Tear!"

"…"

"Still not getting it?! That stubborn bastard would never hand over the spirit willingly! So I gave things a little… nudge. Twisted the magic circle array just slightly and induced the rampage!"

He staggered, jabbing a finger at empty air.

"Once the rampage started, he'd burn his own life force trying to save his daughter — that much was obvious! When he died, Ignis would come flying out, and I'd just snatch it up! It was a perfect plan!"

The family head's face flushed a deep, furious red. Rage and madness mixed in his eyes.

"But that stubborn bastard… even while dying, he forced that flame into his daughter's body! Who the hell could have seen that coming?! My entire plan went to shit! Damn it! Goddamn it!"

Bang! Bang!

The sound of fists slamming the desk rang hollow through the study.

"It wasn't my fault… It was that idiot who died wrapping himself around his daughter. Right?"

The family head turned toward the servant, seeking agreement.

But then—

"…Heh… heh heh…"

The servant's shoulders, head bowed low, were trembling in fine, rapid shudders. At first, it looked like crying. The family head thought the man was terrified by his tirade. But there was no wet sorrow in that sound.

"…Heh heh… kh… khahaha…"

"…What the hell are you doing?"

The family head's brow furrowed. The servant didn't stop. The trembling in his shoulders grew more violent, until at last he threw his head back as if he could no longer hold it in.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA————!!!"

A blood-chilling mad laugh. The servant's neatly combed hair came loose and spilled free. No — it wasn't just coming loose.

Chiiiiisss—.

As if being burned away, the servant's uniform began to waver with black smoke.

"Wh-what is this…!"

The family head stumbled backward in panic. The temperature in the study spiked. Every breath scorched the lungs with rising heat.

"—Ah, seriously. I've listened and listened, and I can't take this disgusting crap anymore."

The laughter cut off cold. That voice no longer belonged to the middle-aged male servant from moments before. It was a woman's voice — viciously arrogant and ice-cold — one the family head remembered down to his bones.

Fwoooosh!

The false shell shattered, consumed by flame. In place of the black uniform: a scorched T-shirt and torn pants. Hair that had been ash-gray dyed itself a vivid crimson and cascaded down to her waist.

"Ru… Ruby Scarlet?!"

The family head rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Standing before him was the mongrel he had cursed and longed to kill — no, the woman now praised as a noble elf.

Ruby looked down at him with burning red eyes and twisted her lips.

"Thanks, Family Head. That made everything perfectly clear."

Red flames rose from her fingertips like a venomous snake.

"My father didn't die because of me. You killed him. Just like the Doc said."

"H-how are you even here…?! Guards! Guuaaaards!!!"

The family head screamed and bolted for the door. But the moment his hand reached for the knob—

KRAAANG!

The door melted in an instant, collapsing into red molten metal that spilled across the floor.

"Eek?!"

"Scream all you want. I've already 'cleaned up' outside."

Ruby approached slowly, her heels clicking one measured step at a time. With every footprint, the wooden floor blackened and smoked.

"So, Family Head. What was it you said earlier? That my father died from a magic circle accident?"

"S-spare me! I was out of my mind! Y-yes! I'll give you anything!"

"Anything…?"

Ruby Scarlet smiled with eyes of pure ice.

"Then bring my father back."

"Th-that's… d-difficult! I-instead! If you spare me! I'll make you my adopted daughter! No — the heir of the family! Yes! You're a new noble with a knighthood now, aren't you?! Please!"

The family head crawled across the floor and clung to Ruby's feet. Pride no longer existed. The woman before him was not some ordinary half-elf mongrel — she was fire itself, descended to deliver judgment.

Ruby looked down with cold eyes at the hand gripping her ankle, as if inspecting an insect.

"No. I don't need an inheritance."

She raised her hand. The entire study filled with a red light that promised annihilation.

"Just like you did to my father."

Fwoooooosh—!

A massive blaze wrapped the family head's body.

"You die the same way."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

The death scream did not last long. The flames showed no mercy — flesh, bone, and the rotten authority of a family head he had spent a lifetime protecting. Everything became a handful of ash.

Inside the study, only the crackle of dying embers and acrid smoke remained. Ruby looked down at the charred remains without expression, then spat the words out.

"…Apologize even in hell, you piece of trash."