Chapter 625
Chapter Title: The Witch’s Flame
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Fwoosh-!
When Reina swung her sword, the blade of fire stretched out.
The elongated blade of fire elegantly wove through the air like a whip.
Seeing this, Zoroa’s form suddenly vanished.
Reina’s red eyes instantly tracked him.
“There you are!!!”
The spear of flame burning in her left hand momentarily snarled fiercely.
KRAKOOM-!
The thrown spear flew in a straight line toward the now-visible Zoroa.
Blue flames drew a trajectory through the air.
Fweee-! Kabooom!
Shards of blue flame scattered in all directions.
The intense heat created a shimmering haze, making the surrounding area appear distorted.
Reina narrowed her eyes.
‘That spatial movement, it’s not magic.’
In close combat, the advantages of spatial movement magic were significant.
No matter how fast one moved, movement was ultimately a connection between two points.
It could be predicted.
That was why many battle mages utilized short-range spatial movement in close quarters.
No matter how much they enhanced their speed with magic, there was a limit to facing knights who used Aura.
However, when facing a knight class that had reached a certain level, using spatial movement for close combat could be a double-edged sword.
The destination could be predicted by the ripples of mana.
The biggest weakness of spatial movement was the inability to know what the opponent was doing in the brief moment of transit.
For a knight approaching the level of a Hero, that brief moment was more than enough time to inflict a fatal blow.
But the spatial movement Zoroa was using now lacked the ripples associated with magic.
‘It was the same before.’
When he had abducted her and brought her here, there had been no ripples of mana.
He had literally just appeared and disappeared.
The nature of his mana could have been inherently stealthy, but this was beyond that.
Just as Reina was about to attack Zoroa again.
Zoroa vanished once more.
Seeing this, Reina’s lips curled into a smirk.
‘It’s Aura.’
Having instantly grasped her opponent’s ability, Reina swung her sword upward.
KRA-KOOM-!
Red flames and blue flames clashed, creating a massive, shimmering conflagration.
Reina’s eyes flashed as she looked at Zoroa, who had taken the form of her younger self.
“How unpleasant, that form.”
“Then what will you do about it? You should know the properties of your own flame well enough.”
Zoroa’s flames began to devour Reina’s.
“I don’t know how you’re using the flames of the Great Spirit of Fire, but at best, they’re only at the level they were back then.”
A cold smile played on Zoroa’s lips.
“What difference can that possibly make?”
At Zoroa’s question, Reina smiled brightly and then unleashed an enormous amount of flames as if setting off an explosion.
FWOOSH-!
“It’s useless! I will devour all of those flames…”
The moment Zoroa scoffed.
Thwack-!
“Keuk?!”
Reina kicked Zoroa squarely in the abdomen.
Whoosh! KRA-KABOOM-!
The incredibly powerful kick sent Zoroa flying, crashing into the ground.
Reina landed lightly and said.
“As you said, since they were my flames, I know their properties well. That also means I know their weaknesses.”
Reina’s flames devour an opponent’s fire to generate even greater firepower.
At first glance, it seemed any fire user would be consumed by her.
But Reina’s flames required a digestion period when consuming an opponent’s fire.
And in that moment, she was left defenseless.
That was why Reina never tried to recklessly devour an opponent’s flames.
“You didn’t even know that?”
“Grr!”
Seeing Reina look down on him with a pathetic expression, Zoroa shot up from his spot.
In terms of raw power, he was clearly superior.
“Aunt Reina!”
“Oh? Celia!”
Hearing a voice from the sky, Reina smiled brightly and waved.
In that instant.
Zoroa’s form vanished.
Without a single trace, Zoroa reappeared behind Reina.
Seeing this from the sky, Celia’s eyes widened.
“Aunt Reina! Behind…!”
Slash-!
But before Celia could finish her warning, Reina was already swinging her sword toward the spot where Zoroa had appeared.
Zoroa’s cleanly severed head flew into the air.
Returning to its skeletal form for a moment, Zoroa’s eyes contorted in shock.
“How in the world…!”
“Indeed, that spatial movement isn’t magic but an ability using Aura, so it’s hard to know your destination.”
Reina was right.
Zoroa’s technique was to cut through space using Aura.
By cutting a path between two points in space and moving through it, prediction was nearly impossible.
Reacting after sensing killing intent would be too late.
But Reina had pinpointed Zoroa’s destination exactly.
Reina’s red eyes gleamed.
‘Temperature.’
Fire users were sensitive to temperature.
And Reina’s sense for detecting temperature was far superior to others.
Like a snake sensing its prey.
She could detect the subtle body heat of a person.
Even without any movement of mana, she could react quickly because a specific temperature signature would disappear and reappear within her sensory range.
-She’s insane!
Ista, who had lent Reina her power, cried out in astonishment.
-Even so, how can a human be so attuned to heat! No, in the first place!
-How can she handle my power so freely!
The power of the flame Ista had lent her far surpassed Reina’s own power in her prime.
Despite that, Reina was handling Ista’s power with complete freedom.
‘It’s not impossible. Sometimes there are people like that. Those whose vessels are already complete!’
Usually, when a person’s power grows, their vessel grows with it.
But occasionally, there are those who possess a vessel overwhelmingly larger than their current power.
Of course, having a large vessel doesn’t mean faster growth.
It’s simply a large vessel.
It just means the capacity for borrowing external power is greater.
If that were the case for Reina, it wouldn’t be strange.
‘But Reina Flove had been without her power for a long time!’
This wasn’t even her own power; it was borrowed from another being.
There should have been some awkwardness in handling the flames.
But Reina showed no such signs.
As if she had wielded this power for a long, long time.
She was perfectly controlling the power she had received.
It wasn't a matter of mental strength.
Literally, her skill in handling flames was beyond imagination.
“This wench! You dare look down on me! Raaaargh!”
KRA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-!
Zoroa continued to lose his composure.
Leo had said it.
That he was corrupting the power he had stolen.
Zoroa had scoffed at those words, but now, someone who proved them true had appeared before him.
And funnily enough, that person was none other than the mother of the one who had said it.
Wooooo-! Pzzzt! Pzzt!
A colossal amount of mana surged.
With a murderous glint in his eyes, Zoroa began preparing a grand spell.
“Let’s see you block this!”
Seeing this, Celia’s face turned white as she said.
“A-Aunt Reina! We have to get away…!”
“Celia.”
“Yes?”
“Would you look behind you?”
“Behind… me?”
Celia involuntarily turned around.
And she gasped.
There, she could see the castle walls of the Flove estate.
“If we run, many people will die.”
“…”
Celia gritted her teeth.
Reina smiled gently at her.
“Could you lend me Flame Storm for a bit?”
“Huh? Ah, yes…!”
Celia gave Reina the Jerdinger family heirloom, Flame Storm, which she had received.
It was the sword Reina had wielded long ago.
A sword that burns unyielding as long as the wielder’s will remains.
“Of course, dying with those people would be a pointless death, nothing more. But my creed is to fight back if there’s a chance.”
Celia hung her head low.
She felt ashamed for thinking of running without a second thought.
Seeing this, Reina stroked her head.
“There’s no need to be ashamed. You’re still a child, aren’t you? And you don’t have to be like me.”
“Aunt Reina…”
Reina gently caressed the cheek of her niece, who was looking up at her.
‘Sometimes, she feels more like my daughter than Leo does.’
Her niece, who resembled her so much.
“You’ll surely become a much greater knight than I ever was. Create your own convictions and decide your own path. And if, on that path you must walk… I can be of some guidance, I think I’d be very happy.”
Reina turned and walked toward Zoroa.
Fwoosh-!
Blue flames flickered around Reina’s body.
Step. Step.
The rising flames concentrated at the tip of Flame Storm.
Watching this, Celia’s mouth fell open without her realizing it.
‘How can she control flames like that?’
Even for Celia, who had trained in the Jerdinger’s Aura her entire life, she doubted if it was possible to control flames to such a degree.
‘No. It’s not just me.’
Not Lis… not Lunia of the Lundua family.
Not even Leo.
Even if it was the same flame, the flame Reina used was different.
It wasn't just on the level of freely controlling fire.
The flames that lingered at Reina’s fingertips burned even more intensely.
‘Father. Why was Aunt Reina called the Flame Witch?’
‘Because there was no other title more fitting.’
A conversation from the past suddenly came to mind.
‘Ah. I see.’
Seeing that back, she understood in an instant.
‘So that’s why she’s a witch.’
Even the very nature of the Great Fire Spirit’s flames changed to Reina’s flames the moment they touched her fingertips.
Staring at the crimson flames concentrated at the sword’s tip, Celia murmured.
‘The flame, itself.’
That intense image captivated Celia’s eyes.
***
“You said it.”
Reina gripped the crimson flame imbued in her sword with both hands and spoke.
“That since that day, I’ve lived my whole life in regret. Yes, that’s true.”
Reina’s red eyes glittered.
“I spent every single day in regret.”
Regretting the choice she made back then.
Yearning for the self she had lost.
“Because of that foolish attachment, I couldn’t stop training.”
Even though she had already lost her flames, Reina never stopped honing herself.
It wasn’t just swordsmanship.
She had been polishing her flames in her imagination.
The ugliness of clinging to something lost and gone.
-Is that so.
Hearing Reina’s words, Ista clicked her tongue as if she finally understood.
Now she knew.
The reason Reina could handle her flames so freely despite having lost her own for decades.
Those decades of foolish attachment.
That time, which might have seemed meaningless, even pathetic.
It was all being rewarded in this brief moment.
-You… never gave up.
Reina laughed at Ista’s words.
“Prominence.”
The essence of the Jerdinger’s flame manifested at the tip of Reina’s sword.
The flame, compressed and focused at the sword’s tip, pierced through the spell and cleaved Zoroa in two.
“Gyaaaargh! What foolish struggling!”
Having died again and lost an ability, Zoroa let out a furious roar.
“Why! Why don’t you give up!”
“Why ask something so obvious?”
Reina answered, looking at the rambling, irrational Zoroa as if he were pathetic.
“My son will be here soon.”
Pointing a finger at Zoroa, Reina said, almost growling.
“Then you die. And I will never give up until the moment I get to watch you drop dead.”