Fiery Xiotal

Now that they had left Xiotal's den, Ritzy and the others, Mimilly excluded, just had to leave and set the forest on fire.

Leaving the forest wouldn't be difficult. It would be almost as easy as entering it. The problem came with setting it on fire. Mognog's eyes didn't work, and Ritzy didn't know or want to use fire magic. There was also the fact that Mimilly and Xiotal, especially Mimilly, were vehemently opposed to it.

"Man, if only I had a lich or something right now."

Ritzy grumbled as they started walking. He had several somewhat useful or interesting undead minions, mostly Mognog and the Unholy Avatar. But his undead army was still sorely lacking in versatility and utility.

He had one, maybe two if he counted the Man-Eating Flesh Slime, useful fighters in addition to himself. And they were both physical ones.

"Moggy, I think we might have to work a little on army expansion after this."

Mognog nodded. Not really, but he agreed. Ritzy was a necromancer, and while Unholy Codex was powerful, and Ritzy himself was surprisingly good at killing people, Unholy Codex was geared toward necromancy. The further up the ranks he climbed, the the more the difference in physical strength between Ritzy and others would grow.

The essence of most necromancers was to use an army or at least a group of undead to carry out their orders and protect them. Ritzy was a little lacking in that department since most of his undead summonings using Bone Chalk had—Ritzy wouldn't agree to say they failed—undesirable outcomes.

However, there was one technical addition to the troops at his beck and call.

Ritzy turned to Xiotal.

"Hey, mos—Hey, do you know any fire magic?"

Xiotal could feel a vein pop as she could guess what Ritzy had been about to say. But she set that aside for the moment. Even if it were because he was asking her something, he hadn't said the word.

"Are you saying you want me to light this forest, my home, on fire?"

Ritzy shrugged.

"The poison is still inside your body."

Xiotal glared at Ritzy. Hadn't he dealt with it? Didn't he say that it was a bitch to deal with? Why hadn't he dealt with it properly?

"What?"

"Yeah. I couldn't get rid of it, so I stashed it in a corner of your body for the moment."

Ritzy rubbed the back of his neck and stretched his other arm as he walked and avoided looking at Xiotal.

"It sure would be a shame if my seal stopped working."

He glanced at Xiotal out of the corner of his eye, making it obvious he was threatening her.

Xiotal glared at Ritzy. She found it hard to believe that he couldn't get rid of some poison when he had brought her back to life. He had let it sit in her body to give him even more leverage over her, was the conclusion she came to.

Even if Ritzy were honest in saying that he couldn't get rid of it, she wouldn't believe him.

Mimilly also glared at Ritzy, once again realizing how deceptive his appearance was. Well, Ritzy was still cute, so there might be some leeway. At least it didn't seem like he had lied when he said he couldn't deal with the poison. He was just taking advantage of the situation and Xiotal, which Mimilly wasn't inclined to forgive that easily.

"Fine!"

However, Xiotal didn't have an option. Just like Ritzy had to run from the galére, Xiotal had to obey Ritzy if she wanted to stay alive. It was enough to make her consider accepting her death. But it was only enough to make her consider it.

"But you better make sure to keep me alive. As soon as I die again, I'm haunting you until you go crazy."

"Oh, great! How about doing that now?"

Mognog sighed. Xiotal really didn't know who she was up against. She stared at Ritzy in a mix of confusion and anger before sighing in exasperation. Clearly, threatening him wouldn't work. She didn't have any ways to enforce threats after her death, nor did she have any more treasure to buy his compliancy. She once again realized how fucking stupid it had been to give all her treasure away just because she was desperate.

Xiotal sighed and ignored Ritzy's eyes, eager for a haunting. Instead, despite Mimilly's reluctant eyes, she started conjuring a swarm of tiny dots of cloudy, almost grey, blue.

"Is that a side effect of your current state, Xiotal?"

Mimilly asked while pointing at the blue lights.

Xiotal shrugged.

"Probably. Why else would my blue magic have become tainted with such a color?"

Xiotal sighed. Who could have imagined that dying would change the nature of her magic? She didn't like it. But it wasn't like she could do anything about it. Being dead was part of her nature now, and it would reflect in her magic.

Xiotal sent the dots of condensed magic into the forest like a swarm of fireflies.

"There. As soon as we leave the forest, those things will jumpstart a forest fire."

Ritzy nodded in satisfaction. He could hardly wait.

Xiotal turned to Mimilly.

"I'm sorry, Mimilly."

Mimilly shook her head.

"Don't be. I know you don't have a choice. Besides, it's just a forest. It will grow back. You won't."

Xiotal smiled.

"Thank you."

Mimilly followed them for a little while before disappearing into the forest, most likely to seek shelter from the incoming fire.

Ritzy walked with Mognog on his shoulder, Unholy Avatar behind him, and Xiotal flying next to him. He was slowly but surely increasing the number of minions around him. He also had a bunch of Deathbeds tethered to him underground.

They walked in a direction for a while until they finally left the forest.

Xiotal sighed. Ritzy looked at her, brimming with expectation. She snapped her fingers.

It took several minutes, but they could see smoke begin to rise above the forest in the distance.

Ritzy's excitement at seeing a forest full of life burn to the ground was a little concerning. But Xiotal and Mognog were soon forced to watch the fire Xiotal's powerful magic had kickstarted.

It hadn't rained for a couple of days, and although she was weakened, Xiotal was still a pixie. Her magic was more than powerful enough to start a fire. That was why pixies forbid themselves from interfering with the world like this. They were innately powerful and became more powerful with time, which barely affected them otherwise.

However, Xiotal was already damned as a pixie. There was no way her galére would let her go anyway. So, she might as well do what she had to do to get Ritzy to help her stay alive.

"Good."

Ritzy grinned nefariously as the orange light of burning trees started competing with the daylight sun.

This time, he knew the fire wouldn't be enough to get rid of his enemies, unlike what had happened with Vestor and Lenny. But it would inconvenience the pixies of the Seven Hundred Leaves Galére since they wouldn't be able to do much to the fire for the same reason Xiotal wasn't supposed to have started it.

They could only stand by and watch as their home burned to the ground. Of course, it would grow back and flourish in less than a fraction of their lifetimes, but it would delay them from dealing with Xiotal and Ritzy.

As she realized that, Xiotal was forced to accept that there was at least one good aspect of the forest burning.

Ritzy waited until they could feel the waves of heat before looking at Xiotal.

"Hey, I heard there were ruins of an ancient empire around here. Take me to them."