Ignis's Infernal Onslaught
The moment my indifferent mockery sliced through the humid air amid Ignis's flames, his massive frame froze solid like stone. His bloodshot eyes bulged as if ready to burst, and his beastly jaw twisted with a grotesque grinding sound. I'd perfectly pierced the most pathetic, shabby secret he'd hidden his entire life behind that grandiose dignity.
"You... you fucking vermin bastard!"
An inhuman, desperate roar of madness exploded from Ignis's mouth—something no one could believe came from a human. He'd lost all reason. High-level magic's basics like incantations or mana arrays meant nothing to him now. Only blind murderous intent to tear me apart surged explosively from his entire body.
BOOM...!
What erupted from his hands was a 5th Circle destructive flame spell. Incomplete without even an incantation, but infused with Ignis's overwhelming mana reserves, the blaze was a catastrophe in itself. A blood-red flame storm filled my vision, roaring as it engulfed me. The mine's rock walls melted like taffy, and thick iron pillars supporting the ceiling bent limply before collapsing.
I didn't dodge.
I pushed the primal demonic power of my Mana Insulation Body enveloping my entire form to its absolute limit. The pitch-black aura pouring from my body rippled, warping the space itself in eerie distortion.
Sizzle...!Crunch...!
The ferocious 5th Circle flame storm meant to reduce me to ash shattered into grotesque fragments before even grazing my skin, colliding with the alien barrier of the Mana Insulation Body. Before the devilish force that severed and twisted mana flow itself, Ignis's onslaught was nothing but meaningless heat scattering directionless.
But Ignis's firepower—unleashing incantation-less 5th Circle spells nonstop in his mindless rage—defied imagination. Under the relentless barrage of massive fire pillars and flame spears, even my steadfast Mana Insulation Body barrier began to tremble, overloaded bit by bit.
It was the moment when my innate power alone couldn't fully withstand that brute bombardment.
But I had an inexhaustible mana source groveling at my feet.
"Haa, ahh...! Master, my mana... aaahn!"
The Mark of Subjugation etched on the lower abdomens and tongues of Rubia and Seria, collapsed behind me, throbbed wildly, spewing dark crimson light. The vast, pure mana dormant in the bodies of the sisters once hailed as genius summoners was forcibly sucked into me through the vicious mark.
The stolen mana converted instantly into savage demonic power upon entering my body. As the sisters writhed, squeezing out their mana with mingled screams of pain and ecstasy, the Mana Insulation Body aura cloaking me swelled denser and more oppressive.
It was a deceptive, perfect counter—exploiting the power of Ignis's own bloodline in real time to repel his magic.
"Die! Die! I'll burn you to ashes without a single bone left!"
Ignis, maddened further by his spells failing to connect, vomited flames like blood. Amid the collapsing mine debris and scorching 5th Circle inferno, I absorbed the sisters' endless converted mana, precariously—but numbly—enduring that overwhelming barrage.
Using the ceaseless influx of mana from the sisters as fuel, I pushed forward step by heavy step through the flame storm toward Ignis.
"Not content with treating villagers like mere mana batteries and wringing them dry..."
My voice pierced the crackling explosions, echoing chillingly through the entire mine.
"You who corrupted Rubia and turned Seria into a horrific monster..."
I gnashed my bloodied lips, explosively drawing on the demonic power dwelling in my body. The surrounding rock cracked like spiderwebs under my ferocious aura.
"I'll tear you apart with my own hands!"
With that desperate vow, I kicked off the ground. Compressing the oppressive Mana Insulation Body energy to its limit in my right arm, I aimed to pierce that arrogant Ignis's heart in one strike. It was my all-out blow, everything I had.
But facing my strike, only a vile sneer curled on Ignis's lips.
"Pathetic worm who doesn't know his place."
Ignis slowly spread his massive arms wide. That was the moment I truly learned, bone-deep, what the true power of this territory's ruler entailed.
The 5th Circle barrage before had been mere child's play.
As the red runes covering Ignis's body flashed blood-red, an overwhelming flame tsunami—like the bedrock of hell ripped out whole—crashed over me.
BOOM...!
"Guh...!"
Even my boasted demonic power, the Mana Insulation Body barrier that twisted mana, meant nothing before that transcendent firepower—like paper to flames. The shield I'd forged from my power and the sisters' squeezed mana shattered in a grotesque burst.
The ferocious blaze pierced the Mana Insulation Body, mercilessly devouring my flesh.
"GRAAAAAH!"
A bestial scream tore through my throat. Agonizing scorch. My skin charred black and flaked off; flames burrowed into muscle and veins, melting my body alive. Blood boiled, bones exposed in torment—I could no longer stand, rolling desperately on the scarlet-flamed floor.
I thrashed on the ground to survive, but Ignis's flames consumed even my demonic power with relentless fury.
Ignis slowly approached me rolling like a hunk of meat in the inferno. His colossal shadow loomed over me. Looking down at my melting form, he cruelly curled his lips.
"What a sight. With that meager, vulgar power, who the hell did you think you could protect? Who punish?"
His mocking laughter stabbed my searing eardrums.
"The villagers? The sisters? You're nothing but a worthless tinderbox that crawled into my domain. Feel it clearly—me, whom you vowed to tear apart, crushing you now."
Ignis mercilessly lifted his foot, stomping my exposed shoulder bone amid the flames. With the crunch of shattering bone, my wretched scream echoed through the mine once more.
"GRAAAAAH...!!!!"
In the bone-shattering pain, my vision blurred scarlet. Then, roused by my scream, Rubia snapped to her senses. Tears streaming down her face, she staggered up and clutched her fallen red staff with trembling hands. Gone was the naked beast crawling at my feet moments ago; the Mark of Subjugation compelled her shattered mind to protect her master.
"L-Let go of Master! You devil bastard!"
Rubia bit her bloodied lips and wailed, squeezing every last drop of mana into her staff to hurl a fierce fireball.
But Ignis, the true ruler of this domain, didn't even snort at the pathetic attack. Without withdrawing the foot crushing my melting body, he casually flicked his hand, scattering the fireball harmlessly into the air. Then, with an invisible giant mana grip, he seized Rubia's slender neck and yanked her skyward.
Crack, crunch.
With a mere gesture, the red staff—symbol of the genius summoner, her very familiar—shattered to ash scattering over the embers.
"Guhk, ugh...!"
"What touching loyalty, Rubia. Betraying the noble blood of Ignis to become a whore licking the filthy soles of that rootless monster."
Ignis's voice dripped thick contempt and disgust. He hurled vicious barbs at Rubia dangling and gasping in midair.
"All that genius you boasted, that arrogant pride—did it all melt away before that male's grotesque cock? Disgrace to the territory. Spend your life rolling as meat holes for him with your sister."
His merciless insults rang sharply through the crumbling mine. Having lost her final weapon, her staff, and feeling the overwhelming power gap bone-deep, the last spark of defiance in Rubia's eyes extinguished completely. Crushed by abject terror and utter helplessness, she dangled in the air, trembling violently. Her reason crumbled to dust in that instant.
And in this scene of gruesome slaughter and violation—where the once-noble sisters lay utterly broken, and my arrogant self melted alive rolling in flames—a chilling gaze watched silently from the deepest, darkest corner of the collapsed mine.
Those emotionless eyes glinting in the shadows belonged to Elise. Concealed in thick darkness, breath held, she etched every moment of this ruin and defilement into her retinas, biding her time. The wretched spectacle burned into her mind soon twisted into venomous killing intent in her heart.