6: Soul Flames.

She quickly placed her hands on the carriage and tried to lift it up but her strength wasn't enough to move it by an inch. She constantly kept struggling and after a while the carriage slowly began moving up and she looked to the side to see him pushing it up with one hand.

He stood after a few seconds of pushing it up and proceeded to push it away with both hands, revealing a fat man who was barely conscious lying there with blood all over his face.

She quickly bent down and helped him up and out of the rubble but as soon as she did, he stared at her darkly and slapped her on the wrist, forcing her to let go of him.

" How dare you lay hands on me, you other-worldly runt." He said as he quickly began dusting off the area where she held him.

" Excuse me sir but I was the one who ordered that she help you and would you mind explaining what happened here?" He asked, slowly walking towards them from behind the man.

" Thank you so much for saving my life young man." The man said quickly turning around and blowing his head slightly as he turned around, " I was planning on making a good profit out of tomorrow's auction but some goods simply prove too stubborn. Anyway, there's nothing for you to worry about."

The smile he had on his face quickly turned into a frown and his aura instantly began to surge within him, causing the man to back away in fear while he said, "There's nothing for is there? Honestly, you might just be the worst I've met so far."

Vines instantly emerged from the ground and wrapped around the man's neck. He gripped his hands around his neck as he constantly tried to free himself but it was all futile as the vines bent slightly and quickly flung him far away into the forest.

" Was there any need to send him that far?" She asked in shock.

" He deserved far more than that and I highly suggest you get back to the main city cause things could get dangerous from here on out." He said, walking forward into the right side of the forest, " don't turn back either."

" But what if something happens to you and there's no one there to help you on time?"

" And what could you possibly deal with that I wouldn't be able to go through and survive, I know you want to help but as it stands now you're far too weak to face the enemy that lies ahead of us." He said, continuing forward.

His last words stung like daggers to her chest. Her greatest fear was being weak and yet it was something she never changed for once and now hearing someone tell it to her face, making it a lot more heavier than it usually did.

Tears slowly began to fill her eyes as she turned around and faced the ground. Each step was taken slowly as kept her gaze on the ground while she continued to the forest's exit.

After a couple of minutes, she felt a huge surge of energy building up from inside the forest right after she had just come out of the forest and turned around to see a surge of blue flames that engulfed a distance within a hundred-meter radius from where it went off, setting it ablaze in blue flames.

She quickly turned around and ran forward. She arrived at the scene huffing and panting and due to the burning forest, she was forced to slow down.

When she finally arrived at the battlefield she saw him lying on the scorched ground with his right hand cut off and a loo far away from where he was, a heated battle was going on.

******

He arrived at the scene to see a man wearing a black suit walking towards a boy who had been smashed into a nearby tree.

" And what could you possibly want coming here of all places?" The man asked, turning around as soon as he noticed the person behind him, revealing the mask on his face.

" You weren't the one who beat the boy right?" He asked walking closer, " and that mana of yours, it doesn't seem human."

Blue flames instantly began to engulf his entire body, scorching his surroundings all while not dealing any damage to him.

" I should warn you before you go you'll regret." The man warned as he turned around with a peal of strong, hinged laughter while slowly walking towards the boy.

[I wouldn't suggest going head-on against him, his flames have a sinister feel to them compared to the other blue ones I've seen]

" I never said I was going to... Since when I did even begin to specialise in mid-range combat moron." He said as vines began to wrap around his hand, forming a bow and arrows.

[Seriously, this is exactly why I never talk to you]

He didn't respond to the voice in his head again as he quickly drew the arrow and fired it straight towards the strange fire user.

The arrows instantly burnt to ashes after coming a few centimetres close to him and right after he turned around and began to laugh out loud in his usual hinged manner.

He slowly raised his right hand to his head and said, "Some fates simply cannot be changed, the inescapable forces of life and death which hold this world, they're not something you wanna toy with trust me."

He kept his gaze on the man, confused as to every single word he had just uttered but the power of his flames was another problem which he was contemplating on.

" Your power, your power that magnificent aura. Hmmm." He said, bringing his hand down, " I wanted to let you off easily but now you will burn! Burnt to ashes. Watch as your fate is brought to fruition and I go on to take what should have been mine."

The flames around the man began to grow bigger and he dashed towards the person standing in front of him with his right pulled back for a punch.

Vines instantly emerged in front of him and the man's fist ended up hitting them instead, allowing him to escape while quickly planning a counterattack.

<Skill cast: clone creation>

<Skill cast: Soul splitting>

In the blink of an eye, he appeared a few meters behind the flame manipulator and stretched his vines towards him. They instantly caught flames the moment they came in touch with him and without realising it, the flames went onto his hand as well.

He grunted in pain as he let go of the vines and quickly backed away.

[Cut off your arm now]

In a matter of seconds, the flames had gone from his hand to his elbow and before he could reach out his left hand to cut it off, it had already spread to his shoulder, forcing him to immediately cut his full arm off.

He stood huffing and panting as his blood quickly surged out and went straight to the ground. He slowly placed his other hand close to the wound while he kept his eyes on the masked flame manipulator.

" That exhilarating sensation of watching your soul slowly flee as you take your fleeting breath is quite breathtaking, wouldn't you agree?"

He didn't say anything to what he just heard and simply kept his eyes on him intently. The man charged straight towards him once again and this time, as the punch came, he quickly grabbed a hold of his arm with his left hand right before the man's fist could touch him.

As the flames quickly began to encroach his body, a strange white aura began to flow out from the man and move into him.

The flames didn't go past his elbow for some reason but he was barely managing either way. After a while, it seemed like the man's flames had begun to weaken and that was when he backed away.

[Using Soul steal against an opponent like him was quite risky]

" I know that but it's high time I evened up the playing field." He said as the flames that were on his hand slowly began to extinguish.

The man began to laugh in his usual manner once again but this time it was louder and three times as long as the first two.

" How intriguing, you're one with souls as well! Maybe it's time I showed you how much of a mistake you just made." He said, with another loud and mischievous chuckle.

Immediately after that, he began to feel a strange type and energy begin to well up inside him and it wasn't long before he began to groan in pain.

[Use discharge now boy]

His veins began to bulge and his body began to forcefully increase in size but before he could explode, a huge amount of flames quickly engulfed him and a small area around before instantly expanding.

A large amount of the forest was instantly caught in intense blue flames and after a few seconds, the air cleared up to reveal him lying on the ground.

His entire body had been scorched badly by the flames and his wounded arm was still bleeding out. His aura suddenly changed to a mix of yellow, golden and red while his ears and canines became longer.