Chapter 19: Flame (2)

A dropkick lurched right at my face, and I somehow pulled the sword towards it in a block. The hammer of a leg thumped against the sword, and I felt the wrecking tremor in my palms. Even holding the hilt became a challenge.

It was painful to some extent, but the ghoul was in far more pain than I ever was. I did not jerk the sword in just a block, but rested it right where the kick came from. The sword pierced the toe of the foot from the inside out, and just looking at it made him sick. Luckily, I was not at the other end.

I jerked the sword back and withdrew instantly. It would not be wrong to say the success I had with the lucky occurrence did a great deal to lift my confidence. But with that confidence came a little craziness as well.

I seriously never thought I would be this good in battle.

I froze up for nothing. The blood in my veins was somewhat responsible for it, as it is most effective against evil, which includes the undead. Then there was that instinct left in the body.

The ghoul came after me, but it did not have free reins like before when it was only dealing with Kyle and Yasmine.

The tall maiden came right behind the undead and swung her sword at the back of its knees. Her white hair drifted as she made a reverse swing along before withdrawing. Those were the full-slashes, infusing the full power of her wind attribute.

The monster roared and screeched in pain, which was quite horrifying to listen to. But none of them were actually horrified like they were at the beginning. Finally, they had succeeded in dealing with two successive blows and both were more impactful than before.

Yeriel's water gun came again and showered on the ghoul, limiting it to the very spot. While Yasmine swung her sword as a medium to release the sharp gale of wind that made a cross mark on the chest of their opponent, Xion the Ghoul.

If it was just a human, it would have been dead many times over. Ignoring its healing capabilities, it would have died a couple of times already.

Finally, Kyle came around the back of the ghoul and assaulted its lower body again. That was what they were taught in the academy. Fiends like these take a lot of effort and time to heal wounds on the joints or other spots like the head and neck.

And it was the same for the abomination they were fighting. Its toe that was pierced through has not healed yet, but the cross marks Yasmine caused are already on the way to healing.

"Why are you not using your flame?" Yasmine shouted at me. After all, flames or light-attributed attacks were the most effective against the undead. Given how desperate of a situation they were in, her question was not unfounded.

I have already considered everything. With my current ability, I could only do two or three things with Purgatory, and only one of them might be useful. But the problem was that I could use it only once, and it would leave me almost immobilised after that. How can I bring this up to her now, in short?

"I have a plan," that's what I said in the end. "But I need everyone's help."

I looked at everyone, from Yasmine, Yeriel, and Lily to Kyle, who was still messing with the monster with an enraged voice. Seeing his partner getting such a blow made it hard for him to not get enraged.

I was about to mention a little about what I was planning when, abruptly, I felt a disturbance from ahead. That came from where the Bloodsucker and Lorne were battling. That troubled me further.

"We need to break the seal and call for help," Lily said, as she was worried about her knight, and she had every reason to be. Lorne was a fine knight in the book who later advanced to the rank of Grand Knight, but here he was not enough to finish the vampire.

"Yeriel, can you create a hole in the barrier?" I asked Yeriel, as she was the only one who had any expertise in high arts among them. Well, the knights could break it as well, but brute force will take far longer than the actual process that was taught to the order of magi.

Seeing her nod, I threw her a small orb-like crystal. "Good. Create a hole at once and call for help with that."

That was with me the entire time. My suspicious and frightened brain was of some use. I somehow had the hunch that something might go wrong today at this auspicious event. That was why I always kept the emergency SOS orb with me. Now I can only hope Yeriel could make a hole in time and someone from the academy got the signal and came to our rescue.

Yeriel rushed out soon, seeing no one had dismissed the plan. For a change, I looked at Lily. I considered asking for the sword from her, but changed my mind. That thing was too unfamiliar to me to use in these emergencies, and most importantly, it was a power-hungry weapon that I might not be able to handle with my control.

Kyle finally withdrew from the ghoul as it was approaching us now.

"Lily, use your firepower alongside Yasmine to tire it out," I snarled, drawing spirit force on my sword as it churn. I used the breathing technique of the Knights and visualised the flame, though I did not let it out at the moment. I only have one chance to steal everything.

Lily did not complain. Even though like any Emberheart she has a fiery head, she did not argue with my decision.

The silver-haired maiden and the redhead welcomed the ghoul with their swords in their arms. With all the injuries to its lower body, it was a little slower than before, however, two females were insufficient to deal with it.

Yasmine battled in close quarters, keeping it at bay for Lily to deal with the flames on it.

Lily did not have as much spirit force as I did, but her flames were truly effective against the ghoul. Kyle joined the fray and battled in close quarters—other than his swordsmanship, he had nothing else to show, but his attacks were not light either.

The ghoul screeches and tries to throw Yasmine off, jerking its hammer of a claw. It may have held its punches from the maidens before because it was a direct order from its lord, but the struggle had reached a new level. It no longer had the luxury of holding back.

Yasmine had no way of blocking the claw. Luckily, I was close by. I approached at the very moment and blocked her arm. The overwhelming strength was enough for me to collapse, but I mustered every bit of strength I could muster in my legs to keep myself there.

"We got this," I snarled, and a leg hustled at me, throwing me off a couple of metres away. I had enough time to get myself into a safer position where the kick would not have much impact, though it still hurt like hell.

Lily released the ember again and burned a good portion of the skin. The ghoul roared in madness, rampaging as if it had no other reason to remain sane.

Even though it was healing that could be seen with naked eyes, it consumed him with enough power—not to mention the pain. Its hunger has increased, and we must keep it going for a little longer.

The four of us fought like that for nearly two minutes, and I managed to get the momentum I needed to bring out Purgatory. Now all I lack is a good opportunity.

All of our lungs were pumping air like crazy and heavy gasps escaped from our mouths. Kyle and Lily nearly had no stamina left, while Yasmine was the only one who was in a fair state to continue. As for me, I only have one attack left.

"Yeriel should have dug the hole by now," I reasoned, and I exchanged glances with the others. It was time now.

Kyle ran first and then Lily with the flaming sword. The two engaged the undead in left and right, while Yasmine moved to the front. I was in the back, running in.

The ghoul screeched, throwing arms in madness. He did not even remember the order from the bloodsucker to leave the females alive. It was jerking its arms and legs in madness.

Lily yelped for help and her body flew away with her sword stuck in its torso. When Kyle could not muster more strength as well as when he was about to be thrown off by the ghoul, I shouted at Yasmine, who was trying to help him.

"Toss me up!" I shouted.

Yasmine did not have time to understand what I was implying, but she did what I asked her to. A heavy weave of wind tossed me about a dozen metres in the air.

I felt a rush of excitement and fear, but I had no time for it. A scarlet flame rose from my arm and blazed the sword into a flaming blade. I jerked my arm back and shot it right at the ghoul below.

That was not the end, nor the attack I was preparing for. With the newfound ability, there were two or three things I could do.

Other than the little healing and the small fire that could be used in cooking, the other thing I could do was release everything at once. I almost burned my dorm once doing that, and now I was trying to do exactly that. Or far worse, if you ask me.

The flaming sword pierced the right shoulder of the ghoul. I was off by a few inches last time, but I won't be this time. The spirit force burned inside my channels, roaring, raging and screaming. It was utterly painful for me and I gritted my teeth to continue.

A scarlet ember rose from my palm at once, and I raged it towards the ghoul, still dropping from the air. It was not the trickle of a flame that Lily conjured, but a blazing flame that would consume everything in its path.

The ghoul screeched, and it rang in my eardrums, hurting them, but it was far less than the raging burn I was getting in the channelling path. I dropped to the ground on my leg, hurting it a little. Luckily, I got what I intended; the fire consumed the ghoul all over.

Yasmine joined me and weaved her wind around the body of the struggling ghoul to get the most out of the fire. With the help of the wind swirling all around the berserk undead, only a little of the fire was wasted.

We watched the fire of purgatory consume the ghoul. Yasmine and I were standing before it, and Kyle and Lily were on the ground. With the effect of punishing evil, the ghoul was feeling far more pain than he ever had in his life while burning in the flame.

Purgatory was said to cleanse the soul of all evil in folklore, but in this case, it devoured the ghoul like a hungry wolf. Either way, I'm deeply satisfied.

"We made it," I said, and felt a weakness in my body and mind. There was no spirit force in my system, and I fell just as the bones of the ghoul fell on the ground.

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Edited by Mysteries. Proofread by kqwxz.