“Hahaha! Fire Spirit Lord, you’re swaying already. Admit it, you’re finished!” Though wounded, the Fire Demon Lord’s laughter crackled on, excitement sparking in his widening eyes.
Fire Spirit Lord wiped more blood away, answering coldly, “Don’t flatter yourself. You‘re as broken as I am, neither one of us can finish this.”
The Fire Spirit Lord brushed glowing Cinders from his scorched breastplate, his gaze narrowing to a razor’s edge.
“Oh, really?” the Fire Demon Lord asked, the words dripping with acid disbelief. “Not so fast. I still have one last secret weapon you’ve never even dreamed of…”
He plunged a hand into the swirling pocket of his storage ring and drew out a slab of pitch-black token no larger than his palm.
Etched upon its surface leered a snarling skull, each hollow socket alive with smoldering crimson fire. The Fire Spirit Lord’s voice cracked. “What… What is that?”
A tremor raced through his veins. Even from several paces away, the relic’s dormant power pressed against his ribs like a collapsing mountain.
The Fire Demon Lord’s laugh boomed across the ruined sky. “I found it deep inside the Flame Prison. With this little trinket, my strength multiplies in the blink of an eye!”
He raised the Soul Devouring Token high and chanted guttural words older than ash.
A metallic hum tore through the air. Dark-red light flared from the token, bathing the wasteland in blood-colored dusk. Inside that glow, tortured shrieks erupted-souls clawing, pleading, shredding themselves against unseen bars.
Overhead, the swirling crimson vortex and the gaping void obeyed the relic’s call, pouring rivers of black demonic miasma downward like overturned waterfalls.
Each tendril sank into the token, then erupted outward as roaring scarlet flame that wrapped the Fire Demon Lord from horn to heel.
The blaze blossomed. His aura swelled-doubling, tripling, until the ground itself quaked beneath the sudden gravity of his power.
The Fire Spirit Lord staggered back, eyes wide. “W-What sorcery is this?”
Cold realization slammed into him. In that single heartbeat, the Fire Demon Lord’s strength had surged far beyond his own.
Triumphant laughter ripped from the Fire Demon Lord’s throat. “Do you understand now, Fire Spirit Lord? Kneel and die!”
In a blur of embers and shadow, the Fire Demon Lord vanished. He reappeared an instant later, his speed multiplied beyond sight, momentum roaring like a falling star.
His fist crashed into the Fire Spirit Lord’s chest with a boneshattering crack. The older lord shot Skyward, a rag doll on invisible strings.
Mid-air, coughed a sheet of blood, bright droplets that sizzled as they fell. He slammed to the earth, skidding across fractured stone until his body lay motionless in the dust.
“Fire Spirit Lord!” Jared and the others cried, terror splintering their voices as they watched their champion tumble like broken porcelain.
The Fire Demon Lord drifted to the scorched ground, a predatory smile curling his lips. “Now, hand over the emerald vial.”
The wounded lord tried to rise, arms trembling, but the pain chained every muscle. Even his will could not lift from the dirt.
“Never… I will never yield!” spat, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth.
Fire Spirit Lord ground his teeth so hard the bones in his jaw creaked. The words spat felt less like speech and more like sparks thrown from a dying forge.
“Since you refuse to hand it over…” Fire Demon Lord drawled, each syllable edged with molten contempt, “I’ll simply help myself!”
Before the final echo of his threat died, the demon’s silhouette blurred. A single heartbeat later re-formed in front of Fire Spirit Lord, right arm lashing out like a burning hawk. His fingers closed around the emerald vial clenched in the other lord’s numb hand.
A shrill whistle split the air.
With that hiss, the vial tore free, leaving Fire Spirit Lord frozen, powerless, and seething.
“Hahaha… At last!” Fire Demon Lord’s laughter tumbled across the blackened stone, raw and triumphant. He cradled the little vessel as though it were a newborn star, crimson eyes glittering with manic delight.
Fire Spirit Lord lay sprawled on the ground, fury blazing in his gaze. “Fire Demon Lord… You will regret this… Mark my words!”
“Regret?” Fire Demon Lord snorted. a casual flick of disdain. “I’ve never learned the meaning of the word!”
He twisted the stopper.
A low, insectile hum erupted, deep, wrong, alive. Viscid black radiance spewed from the vial’s mouth, flooding the cavern with a night that swallowed torches whole.
