Chapter 8: The Flame of Hope

The calm seas came into a sudden surge of waves as Zal-sama emerges from the water, he landed on our platform and the platform wobbled a bit but we managed to stay standing.

Zal grabbed me to his side and pointed his finger at the two "State you two's business with my disciple" he said with a stern look on his face while his eyes were gleaming. He wasn't mad at the two, he was probably mad at me.

"For me to act like that a few days ago was so unlike me." He clicked his tongue as he lowered his arm.

Lorana stood up from the platform "I-"she cleared her throat "You're gorgeous!" she said with her hands over her chest, she gave a peaceful smile as she approached Zal "May I take you as my husband after this expedition?" she said blatantly

Akina with her mouth agape and eyes wide "ACK!?"

Yggdris with the same expression "ACK?!"

Zal shook her hand "The name's Vincent… I'm here to tell you that I only see you as a nobody." He smiled at her genuinely

Lorana's peaceful smile almost covered up the thing she just did "I won't give up on you…"

Zal laughed, Lorana laughed at him also "I'm serious Vincent-san!"

Zal smirked "Better get on my good side then"

Lorana smiled, Akina has been looking around for an exit "How do we leave this place"

Zal flicked his finger and a storm brew above us "You strike the Leviathan's core with a fire based magic" Lorana nodding "Interesting, who taught you magic?"

Zal rubbed his chin "He goes by the name of Neo, it's an odd name, but who am I to judge ancient beings?" Lorana walked up to him with a smile "What does he look like?"

Zal shrugged "A typical ancient oddball… he has blueish hair and a clock will appear on his eyes when he gets serious at his battles. But that only happened once with one of his companion's when they dueled over something petty"

Zal tossed the rock upwards and a lightning struck it, in an instant the surroundings got warped into a spiraling mess, the moment it returned to its original state the land was massive, a massive chaos of flames. Its like the exact replica of the outside world but this time it was a post-apocalyptic tragedy.

We looked around a bit, but as the time passes the air is getting hotter and hotter. We were forced to resort to ice magic to keep us cool or else this place will boil us alive, we settled down in a high open area and in our spot we can see a lot of things, it was the outside world but in ruins

I feel like this is just one of the other dimensions within our own

I looked over to the horizon only to see nothing but flaming rocks, flowing lava, and lightning strikes.

Not so long after we settled down we sensed a great magical disturbance near us. The flapping of huge wings and the sudden spike in the temperature, we sensed it, even though it's still at least 100 meters away from us. The loud screech of a bird that resembled a flaming god has descended on our spot in an instant.

A huge wing capable of mass destruction, it looked so terrifying yet so mesmerizing, the eyes that can turn anything into ashes and an aura that surrounds it that makes everything subdue to its presence.

Akina and I fell to the ground due to the Phoenix's aura.

Lorana laughed "Ara~" she said as she opened her eyes with a deathly glare and a smirk on her face "Accompany me Vincent san?"

she said, Zal smile and nodded "After you, I guess." The two charged at the phoenix in an instant and shot out fireballs that were blue in color, the two fireballs collided with the Phoenix's feather and extinguished a part of its flame

The Phoenix flapped its wing and sent out a huge wave of flames bigger than itself in a wide radius, enough to cover the whole peak we settled at.

Akina and I used ice magic to block it and we almost got scorched by it, the two fighting it used blue flames and covered themselves with it to neutralize the attack as they fall from above it.

The Phoenix Flew above us just before the two sent their attacks at it

the Phoenix let out a loud screech and the moment it opened its mouth a beam shot out striking our settlement, Lorana carried me and Akina away while Zal tried to neutralize or counter the attack with a flame based barrier.

We were falling from a 200 feet high ledge, Lorana dove faster to the ground and smoke started coming out of Lorana's mouth.

Zal contained the Phoenix's beam in a small sphere, he saved it for now and ran away with us.

the Phoenix's extinguished wing glowed in a bright radiant iridescent hue, it then followed on the way down.

Zal faced the phoenix and let go of the sphere containing the Phoenix's account.

the sphere crashed onto the Phoenix and it let out a huge explosion that created a huge smokescreen.

Lorana landed on her feet and ran away in great speed, Zal followed

a huge thud crashed onto the ground and a loud screech was heard.

"Vincent-san. We need to finish it with the ice-fire magic or else it'll get reborn and come back even stronger." Lorana pleaded at Vincent as we ran away from it.

Zal glanced back at the smoke and a sudden spiraling soared up to the sky and a thunderbolt shot out from the sky revealing a blue colored Phoenix "We're already too late!"

we ran past by the rocky zone, and we're now out in open flaming fields, lightning striking everywhere and a Phoenix coming right at us "Lorana, use your strongest flame magic, I'll use my ice" he said as his palms started smoking off cold steam

Lorana nodded "Separately combining magic… hmm, I like it" she said with a gentle smirk on he her face

Lorana let go of me and Akina then casted an ice-fire based barrier as she teams up with Zal

the Phoenix flying at us as it shot its blue flamed beam "NOW!" Lorana shoots out a red beam as Zal grabbed her hand, the ice element transferring to her hand, the fire became blue but colder "This ice… it's influenced with the shadows" Lorana whispered under her breath as she shoots the Phoenix

The two opposing side's attacks clashed onto each other and made a huge explosion of fire and magic

the surroundings seemed to warp due to the collision of magic

the Phoenix stood on its two feet and sent out the same attack again across the whole field.

"BRATS RUN AWA-" but the outburst of the attack caught up to us, and it sent us flying all over the place

I was blasted away from the spot we were at and so did everybody. We got separated at that point.

I grabbed a rock to stop myself from falling into a ravine, but the rock I was holding onto snapped and it sent me falling into the ravine below me.

I was falling into the ravine and I'm not sure on how deep it is since the sun? no, the light source from above us couldn't reach the bottom.

I used my shadow magic to make a platform that'll take the pressure from my fall, I waved my arms across and a black smoking platform appeared seemingly blending with the darkness of the ravine, I landed on it face first.

When I looked up it was like I'm in between two mountains. Since I don't have gravity magic the platform is clinging onto the walls of the ravine "Puru!" Puru and his 4 clones appeared beside me "Puru?" Puru asked confusedly

I smiled at him "Please send down 3 of your clones so I can survey the area, is that alright?" I asked with a gentle tone "Puru!!" Puru then danced around me.

the 3 clones that had a weaker light than the real Puru descended, not a moment too soon the three returned and used their flame magic to illustrate what they saw. "An egg?" I thought to myself

but they were no ordinary eggs, they were eggs that let out a faint light…

I jumped down from the platform and continued falling since it looked survivable from the height I came from.

the steep cliffs vanished as I descend into the darkness with my wisp beside me

I landed on my feet and when I looked around, it was an all consuming darkness.

The walls cracked and let out a faint orange light from their insides, the more I walked around the more I was mesmerized by this place. After a few minutes of walking with Puru as my light source, I saw before me a flower with flames for its petals. And it has an eye on its bud looking around.

The moment it saw me the flower grew in size and the flame petals became brighter as the heat rose drastically.

"The first plant I saw in this place and it is dangerous" I sighed and summoned my Shadow sword and dashed at it.

the flower sent out lightning strikes and fireballs all at the same time as the eyeball glowed and shot out a beam

I evaded them all effortlessly and closed the gap between us in no time "All of their attacks are oddly similar" I said as I slashed the flower in half

the flower screeched as its petals vanished and its stem fall onto the ground, the center of it was a magical stone but it's even brighter than the leviathan's but smaller in size, its size is half of my palm.

I threw it at Puru and he ate it. He suddenly flashed bright light and when it dissipated I saw a wolf cub laying on the ground rolling over "Arf!" it said with a focused gaze at my eyes, the wolf jumped at me and I fell to the ground and it licked my "H-hey!" I lifted him up "How did Puru turn into a wolf cub?"

I shrugged it off and placed him back down, I used my Divine eyes on him

Puru's Stats

[Pet status]

Name: Puru

Age: 2.5 years

Gender: Male

Race: Vampiric Flame Wolf

Owner: Yggdris Argent du Eclipse [You]

Level: 50 [2771/50,000] [??? - til next evolution]

Hp: 18,000/18,000 [regen 350/s]

Mp: 18,000/18,000 [regen 350/s]

Magic:

Mid tier fire

Mid tier shadow

Mid tier blood

Pet skills:

Disappear

Appear

Levitate

Multiply

Self-destruct

Howl (New)

Track (New)

Shape shift (New)

Night vision (New)

Hunt (New)

His stats changed and his race too, is that even possible? I sighed and just looked at him "Arf!" he barked playfully as he circled around while running "Wait for me" I said as I followed his tracks

the two of us ran at the same speed hopping over the rocks and crevices in the ravine, after a good few minutes of running I heard a loud screech outside this place, we ran faster towards the eggs. "Arf!!" Puru said as he circled around the nest.

I walked up towards it and saw the eggs that's half the size of my whole body

I touched one of it and felt my soul being dragged out of my body, I yanked my hand away from it and stepped back from the shock "Is that even the Phoenix's egg?"

Puru was growling at the eggs as I walk up towards it and picked it up using shadow magic for the material of my glove, I only took one out of the 3 of them laying there

Puru jumped up and turned into a wisp again, I tilted my head a bit and looked at him "Shape shift" I said and he turned back into a wolf cub

his fur's like a glazed obsidian black, his eyes' pupils are as red as fire and almost giving off a faint light

his fang is a bit longer than the usual wolves, and on top of that he can float

he jumped again and turned into a regular red wisps and continued following me.

I looked around me left to right but the ravine seemed to stretch endlessly, I just decided to crawl up the walls and return to where everyone might be.

[E/N: Learn to differentiate the difference between its and it's. 2nd warning.]

[A/N: ~w~]