Melting Steel, Burning Fighting Spirit
I stood before the Empress of Steel. Shaking off my fear, I raised my head. On my way here, I had hesitated countless times, wondering if I should choose another path. But now, my resolve was set.
The Empress of Steel began to sprint toward me. She seemed intent on stripping away whatever human warmth I possessed.
I opened the bag in my hand and pulled out a bottle. A crimson liquid sloshed inside. It was a potion containing a miracle crafted by an alchemist. Its effect: partial fire immunity. I wished there was a total immunity potion, but unfortunately, no such thing existed in the Flame Butterfly Chapter.
Unless it's the ultimate potion, an Elixir. But what didn't exist simply didn't exist. Without hesitation, I uncorked the bottle and gulped it down. The thick, nauseating liquid slid down my throat. It was bitter, but I forced every last drop of it down.
Clang! I shattered the empty bottle on the ground and lifted my bag. Inside, filling it to the brim, were red crystals radiating intense heat.
Whoosh! A blazing heat poured from the crystals. These were all Essences of Fire. The corpses of the spirits were burning their final embers.
"Damn it. Please hold on, self," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I anticipated what was about to happen. Yet, my body was already moving. I yanked away the magic cloth that had been suppressing the heat of the Essences of Fire.
Sssssssss! Instantly, the Essences of Fire unleashed a heat so ferocious it threatened to incinerate the bag itself. The thermal energy, which had barely been contained by the magic cloth, erupted all at once.
"Arghhh!" And I was the one who had to endure that heat. My skin and muscles began to melt, unable to withstand the blistering temperature. My eyes rolled back, and my breath caught in my throat. It was hot. So hot it felt as if my entire body was burning to ashes. In fact, I was literally on fire. This was actually the better-case scenario. If I hadn't drunk the fire immunity potion, my skin and flesh would have turned to ash, and my bones would have melted. Thanks to the potion, it was limited to this.
The Empress of Steel rushed at me, her eyes rolled back in frenzy. It was an intense heat unlike anything she had ever felt. It was only natural for her, who craved warmth above all else, to lose her mind. Reaching me in an instant, she stretched her hands toward my body. Watching her, I desperately clung to my fading consciousness. Before she could touch me, I threw myself forward at her.
Whoosh! With a wave of scorching heat, my body collided with the Empress of Steel. Immediately, her absolute cold washed over me. It was freezing—a chill that pierced straight to my bones. But right now, this cold was a godsend. The heat radiating from the Essences of Fire and her freezing aura began to cancel each other out. I could finally breathe, even if just a little. My mind, which had been hazy from the heat, cleared up.
Crackle— At that moment, the Empress of Steel's body began to melt. She hadn't drunk anything like a fire immunity potion, so she absorbed the full brunt of the Essences of Fire's heat. The heat was intense enough to melt even a body of steel. Yet, she didn't care in the slightest. Instead, she hugged me even tighter, as if she had desperately yearned for this warmth for an eternity.
She wailed as she held me in a crushing embrace. She was definitely crying out, yet for some reason, I felt no sadness in her voice. Rather, she seemed overjoyed to have finally reclaimed the comfort of warmth. Tears of liquid steel rolled down her cheeks. Seeing this, I steeled my resolve even further. Yes, hold me. I will melt away the sorrow you had to harbor after failing to become a god, even if I have to do it in Lucas's stead. So hold me.
From here on, it was a battle of time and willpower. Would my consciousness snap first, or would the Empress of Steel melt away completely? It had boiled down to those two outcomes. Of course, even if my mind gave out, the Empress of Steel wouldn't leave me. She would simply keep holding me, melting into me until she found eternal peace. But I couldn't let that happen. If that happened, all of this would have been for nothing.
Grit! I clenched my teeth so hard they threatened to shatter. The clashing forces of heat and cold pierced through my skin, inflicting agonizing pain. I had never experienced such excruciating pain in my entire life. Yet, as long as the pain persisted, my mind remained sharp. I gripped the fraying thread of my consciousness, refusing to let go. If I just endured, and kept enduring, an end would eventually come. I had no choice but to wait for that moment and persevere.
Time flowed endlessly. I couldn't fathom how much time had passed. The only thing I knew for certain was that an eternity couldn't possibly feel longer than this. My vision was blurry. I could barely feel any strength in my body. It was a miracle I was even breathing. The heat from the Essences of Fire I had embraced had completely dwindled, finally losing its light.
My breathing was shallow. Delayed beads of sweat began to form on my forehead. My mouth was bone dry. Slowly, I raised my head, scanning my surroundings with hazy eyes. The Empress of Steel was nowhere to be seen. She, who had wandered aimlessly in search of warmth until the very end; she, who had failed to become a god and instead became a Mystery, was no longer of this world. A strange, inexplicable wave of pity washed over me and passed.
A burnt-out crystal fell from my bag and rolled across the floor. Clink. As it struck the ground, the steel floor began to crack. The fissures rapidly spread throughout the entire forest. Crash! Finally, all the steel shattered, and the forest returned to its original form. The broken shards of steel floated up into the sky. Carrying the final wish of the Empress of Steel, who had wanted to become a god until her very end, the steel drifted upward and vanished into the heavens.
Thud. I collapsed to my knees. I didn't have the strength to move a single muscle. The skin that had been exposed to the heat was completely peeled away, leaving no trace of its original form. Instead, something else filled the raw flesh. Steel. It was steel. The remnants of the melted Empress of Steel were intricately woven into my skin, looking almost like a layer of metallic plating. This was what I had been waiting for.
Forcing myself upright, I sat cross-legged. I immediately began to melt the steel using the faint residual heat left in my body. As I did, the steel began to dissolve and seep evenly into my skin. This was no ordinary metal. It was the Mystery that had once comprised the Empress of Steel. In the original story, after melting the Empress of Steel, the protagonist Lucas would have her steel fuse into his body, granting him a specific Mystery.
Steel Body. True to its name, it granted a body as indestructible as steel. The Steel Body synergized perfectly with Lucas's Flame of Fighting Spirit, allowing him to grow exponentially. However, my situation was fundamentally different from his. Lucas could completely melt the steel fused into his body using his Flame of Fighting Spirit. I, on the other hand, was merely relying on the faint residual heat of the Essences of Fire. I couldn't melt the steel entirely.
Therefore... I would do the absolute best I could. The melted steel began to coat my skin entirely. Even if I couldn't obtain the same Steel Body as Lucas, I was aiming for something else. As of today, I will possess the Steel Skin.
I desperately layered the steel over my melted flesh. The pain had already faded into a dull hum anyway. There was no reason to hesitate now. The steel continuously coated my skin. Before long, my entire body was dyed in a brilliant metallic sheen. Frizzle. The last of the residual heat vanished from my body. With the heat gone, I could finally breathe properly. Regaining my composure, I slowly raised my hand. There, I saw a hand completely plated in steel. It moved without any resistance. Against all odds, I had obtained the Steel Skin.
"Haa... whew." I exhaled repeatedly, letting out the breath I had been holding. I looked down at my limp body. The Bandage of the Veil, a special piece of equipment, wasn't something that would disintegrate from a mere Essence of Fire. Since even the Flame of Fighting Spirit couldn't melt the Bandage of the Veil, my appearance remained that of Hanon Airey. At that moment, the bandage applied a change. It began to alter the metallic sheen of the Steel Skin, restoring it to my original skin tone. Before I knew it, I had completely returned to my appearance as Hanon. Regardless of what lay beneath, on the outside, I looked no different from my usual self.
"Haha..." My mind was at its absolute limit. Plated in steel or not, my body was still riddled with wounds. Normally, the next Spirit Sovereign would appear to offer their gratitude and heal my injuries. Yet, there was nothing before me. Where had they all gone? Not a single spirit was in sight.
"Heh... haha. Right, because I'm not Lucas." A hollow chuckle escaped my lips. That opportunity belonged strictly to Lucas. To the spirits, someone like me, who possessed zero spirit affinity, probably didn't matter at all. That was fine. I had no intention of becoming a spirit summoner anyway.
Crawling across the ground, I picked up the bottle I had left near the tree earlier. It was a High Healing Potion, which had cost me a fortune. I downed the crimson liquid. Once it hit my stomach, the potion's effects spread evenly throughout my entire body. I collapsed onto my back, letting my body rest on the ground. I could feel my wounds beginning to knit back together. Since I had used the partial fire immunity potion and the Empress of Steel had offset some of the heat, the damage was mostly limited to my skin and superficial muscles. A High Potion should be enough to recover from this.
However, my mental state was a different story. Perhaps because of the sheer intensity of what I had just endured, the mental exhaustion was too overwhelming to fight off. Still, I had secured the crucial card that would carry me forward. Now, all that's left... was to train for the mock battle. Fortunately, training was one area where I had plenty of confidence. I had gone to such lengths. If I didn't win, all this effort would go down the drain.
...I will win the mock battle, no matter what. With that final thought escaping on my breath, my eyes drifted shut. A gentle breeze from the Great Spirit Forest brushed past my cheek. I felt like I could sleep peacefully now. Please, let my efforts not be in vain. Clinging to that hope, I let myself slip into unconsciousness.