15 How to Wreck a City 101
(A/N. Hey all! It was brought to my attention that I haven't actually given a description for the appearance of Alex. I picture him as such. 6' tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Slightly above average face, but not too the point he would stand out too much in a crowd. With the body of a runner {Lean, well defined muscles without being huge or 'buff'}. I'll add an Image I found online that I will put in the Para comments here. I don't own the image, nor is it what I based the description on, but it should be good enough as it's close.)
The ground cracked for miles in each direction, with Alex at its center.
As the legs slowly started to raise from their rocky beds, trees that had grown above them were uprooted and flung around the area.
The destruction was magnificent as massive trees and boulders the size of small houses fell from the now rising tentacle like legs.
The destruction only increased as the main body, slowly at first, started to move.
As the main body gained in altitude Alex could see from his perch atop the thing, all the damage it had done to the forest.
"Welp, there is one or two ecosystems gone" he said dryly.
The comment was in poor taste but he didn't really care.
If the legs could not get the main body high enough, a lot more of the forest would burn before the day was done.
As the main body finished its climb and settled into its mobile mode (spider-like) he was finally able to leave the control rune.
The mechanism had a safety built in that wouldn't allow it to move without someone actively monitoring it.
He would mess around with the settings to get it to raise itself higher when he was ready to unleash 'Hellfire' upon the main body.
Chuckling at his own thoughts he went to explore this ancient city.
Walking around the ancient city something immediately jumped out at him as odd.
"How did the buildings and streets survive the test of time?" he asked nobody, while staring at the cobblestone roads.
He could clearly see the destruction that happened when the Nirvits had their final war in the streets of their own city.
Aside from the destruction from the battle it looked as is the city was untouched by time.
'Come to think about it, this place was underground. I don't remember there being a barrier or anything like that, so how the hell is this place so "clean"? ' he wondered.
"I wonder if it has cleaning enchantments" he pondered aloud. It would make sense, all the street light lacrimas were still completely functional so why couldn't that be as well.
The anti-aging enchantment also looked like it was only on the masonry and infrastructure of the city, it did not extend to personal belongings as everything was gone.
In some buildings he found small piles of ash he assumed used to be furniture.
'It looks like someone started a massive construction project and then ran out of money before they completed it, leaving it as an eyesore until the bank could sell it' he thought, remembering some half finished concrete buildings from his other world.
When he was having his meeting with Roubaul, he had asked him how much of Nirvana was protected by the automatic repair function and was pleasantly surprised to find out it was just the main shell that housed and protected the 6 giant lacrimas.
That means he could completely destroy all the buildings and not have to worry about them "growing" back.
'Not that it would matter, just something else to burn' he though with a smile. "Now!" he said out loud "Time for some testing".
Not wasting any time, he summoned a ball of green fire. Throwing it at the nearest medium sized building, the only "command" he gave it was to consume.
Imagine his surprise when his "most destructive flame" burned only the 1 wall he targeted before changing to a dark orange flame and eventually going out, brick doesnt burn by normal means after all.
'So that's how it works eh?' he thought as realization hit him.
He had the wall in his mind as the target when he threw the fireball and only willed his flame to consume.
He realized the target he had in his mind had a bigger role to play than he thought it would.
Testing this thought he targeted another building, this time he gave the same command to his fire but the target was the entire building.
The result was splendid!
The building went up in a torrent of raging flames, far quicker and hotter than a rock building had any right to burn.
"Fuck Yeah that's awesome!!" Alex shouted in joy, his inner fire demon showing itself.
For the next couple hours Alex kept making his way around the city.
All around the city you could see smoke rising to the sky, it looked as if the city itself was trying to signal to the world that it was in trouble.
He tested his flames in many different ways to see how much control he actually had over the whole process of burning an object from start to ash.
The result being he could control it all.
The flames burned way hotter than anything he could compare it too, but thankfully it didn't seem to effect him.
His clothes however where not spared.
He ended up having to put them in his {Inventory} to keep them from melting any more than they already did.
What followed was the sight of a naked man running around an abandoned city setting shit on fire.
If anyone were to see this sight, all they could think was "complete madman" or "He has totally lost his sanity".
He was not wasting his time though, he was testing how long he could delay his flames on a target he ignited, how much flame he needed to use in order to latch onto the targets energy, how far away he could activate it remotely and last but not least, if he could speed up the burning process by adding more of his own flame or mana to an already burning target.
All of his test bore positive fruit and by the end of it the sun was slowly setting and Alex was completely drained of magic and stamina.
"May have got carried away" he muttered as he lay on the ground staring up at a beautiful star filled sky.
"This world sure is beautiful" he said aloud after laying there for a while.
Alex woke up with the morning sun shining in his face, sitting up and looking around at the piles of ash and solidified slag/magma, he shook his head with a small smile.
'Yup, definitely got carried away' he mused.
Realizing he was still naked, he quickly washed himself before getting dressed and eating a quick meal.
Looking around at the city that was significantly smaller than it was the day before, he couldn't help but smile.
"Now for the really fun part" he said before stretching his muscles.
Activating {Metamorphosis}s full transformation, he leapt up into the sky and hovered above the remainder of the city.
It was time to test his full power on the remaining buildings and he didn't want to be on the ground for that. Getting to a height he could easily see all the remaining building, he started charging his magic.
His target was all the remaining building and his command was to consume everything. He pictured in his head a sea of green flame as he bathed the city in fire, the result exceeded his expectations.
This was the first time he had went all out in {Metamorphosis} so it was the first time he was able to see that it truly wasn't a simple 2 times boost.
'It is more like 5 or 6 times my regular strength' he thought as he stared at the raging flames.
The draw on his magic and stamina was only double, so he could keep this up for a bit. Still, having a constant stream of flame coming from him, his mana wasn't infinite.
He would have to stop for a break to replenish his energies soon, but he wanted to get the remainder of the city before then.
Flying around the platform added another drain to him but he needed to do it to speed up the process.
Reaching the point he started he quickly made his way to the control tower to land. Deactivating his transformation, he stared at the sea of flames from his dream. 'Damn that looks cool' he thought before he fell over. "Fuck! I always forget about this part" He said as he laid there, completely spent.
The backlash from using that skill to the point of exhaustion was intense, all he could do was stare at the ever increasing cloud of smoke a smile visible on his tired and dirty face.
Slowly, he drifted off into unconsciousness not knowing the chaos he would unleash on the forest.
Alex had a very vivid dream that he was falling, falling down into blackness.
Waking with a start he quickly noticed the sea of green flames all around him.
"Heh, must not have been out for very long" he muttered just before the platform crashed into the ground, rocks and flame shooting everywhere.
"What the FUCK!?!?" he shouted as he pulled himself out of the rubble he was buried under.
"What the hell made it collapse?" he asked himself in a slightly worried tone, not even realizing his clothes had melted off and he was naked again.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go down, he wanted to see it come down in an organized fashion, one he set up himself.
Deciding he needed an aerial view he took to the sky, what he saw left him momentarily stunned.
Nirvana had somehow come crashing to the ground.
Still buried in a sea of {Fel-Fire} it didn't take long for the surrounding forest to ignite in flames from the heat.
Even though it landed back into its original crater, it was still way too close to the surrounding forest.
The forest fire was spreading fast, but luck was temporarily on his side, there was no wind right now.
Using {Mana Manipulation) he summoned storm clouds heavy with rain to the area a couple KMs wide with the cooking remains of Nirvana at its center.
Ordering the clouds to empty their loads on the forest to try and contain and slow the fire, he flew towards Nirvana.
Knowing that the fire wouldn't go out until it had consumed everything and not wanting to just make it disappear as he needed the weapon gone and the damage was already done, he only had 1 choice.
Using his testing from the previous day he forced more mana and {fel-fire} into the still burning rubble controlling his flames to force the previous flame to burn and consume faster, he started to use {Mana Manipulation} to see what actually happened.
His conclusion was pretty simple but still made him frown in disappointment.
When he was rushing to set the city ablaze his target had subconsciously changed from the buildings to the entirety of Nirvana and when his flames caught on to the shell connected to the energy source, it was all over.
While he was sleeping the flames overwhelmed the regeneration factor of nirvana and eventually made it too the lacrimas powering the thing.
Sighing in disappointment he continued burning the shell till all that was left was 6 very disfigured legs.
'Such a disappointment' he sighed again before making his way to contain and put out the forest fire.
He was not disappointed that Nirvana was gone, no that was his goal.
He was disappointed that he didn't get too see the spectacle.
Just imagining the sight of a giant bonfire and the fact he missed it soured his mood.
Looking back at the destruction he caused and giving yet another sigh, he headed in the direction of Cait Shelter.
He didn't know how long the old ghost could hang around, and he wanted to be there when he told Wendy the truth.
'It will be easier that way' he thought as he picked up speed.
