Damien timidly took a step toward the king, putting his group of friends behind him. His fear was shown thoroughly by the shakiness of his gait, however it did stop him from putting all the attention on himself. On the other hand, the King Fiery Ape sneered derivasely, since he felt no threat coming from Damien. Yuki was the only one that made him feel apprehensive due to her superior bloodline. Even still he knew he had the advantage in his strength and numbers, so he was not afraid. Now he was watching another young pup try to take him on, which made him hysterically laugh, in turn making his underlined follow suit.
Despite the blatant mockery of his strength, Damien only had his single idea on his mind. He reached out his hand with an open-palm and held it high above his head. The king mimicked him in close fashion, continuing his charades.
‘With my upgraded Mana Mist I should have better control and strength over Fire Dao Technique. Just focus on not affecting my friends and hope for the best.’
Damien activated his Fire Dao powered by his Golden Mana Mist and the mood of the apes changed right that instance. Every single one of them felt the call of a Dao that was far greater than their own. Their innate fire ability was being riled up as if a ruler was beckoning it under his command. The fire and heat within them were being called by a white flame that was currently a tiny speck in the palm of Damien’s hand. With a newly powered source of Mana, the white flame’s capabilities grew to another level of strength as well.
Once his white flame began absorbing the heat from the specified targets, it caused mayhem among the apes. They were shrieking in pain for mere moments until they became nothing more than a pile of ash. The heat became fuel for the white flame to make it grow bigger and hotter. All the regular Fiery Apes fell in swathes as they could not resist the Fire Dao that commanded their heat. It didn’t take more than a minute for the entire horde to vanish into particles, which the constant breezes of the forest took with it on its path through the world. The white flame grew menacingly powerful, and the heat it emanated caused the vegetation in the area to wither up.
The King Fiery Ape was the only one left standing as he was the one capable of resisting most of the attack. He stood there in shock, but shock turned into anger for losing its entire pack. Even then, once it felt the power in the young pup’s hand that could even bring him down if used against him, his anger turned into fear. At his level he was as intelligent as an adult human, so he knew that he should follow his instincts, instead of letting his anger attack head on. He turned around to escape and leave the scene as soon as possible. Damien did not have the speed to catch up to it with it himself, but that is why he had friends he could rely on. Yuki quickly reacted and slowed him down by blocking his pathway with walls of ice. She took it a step farther and froze his feet every chance she got.
“Help me slow him down guys! As long as we can stop him for a few moments Damien can give the final blow! That’s a hundred points we can add on!”
Reacting to her voice Cal and Erik worked together to manipulate the area around the king. Cal used his Earth type Rune Spells to work in synergy with Erik’s abilities, but their mastery over the Earth was child’s play to the king. His agility was another level, letting him avoid their efforts. Even so, it still slowed him down with Yuki also pestering him to a greater degree. This allowed Damien to gain on him, slowly getting into his own attack range.
‘I’m almost there, and I can get him!’
Damien was nonplussed by the ape’s effort to push him back. Each flame attack that came his way just added fuel to his attack. Damien was even getting a bit excited as the heat of battle sank into his bones. With all of them working together, Damien finally got into his attack range.
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“I got you now! Let’s see if you can handle this! Everyone back away!”
Damien put all his strength into throwing the flame in his palm and it self propelled itself even faster with its own energy. The King Fiery Ape looked back on terror and tried to dodge the white flame. To his surprise the flame followed him as Damien put his intention behind his attack. The inevitability came, causing the ape to be engulfed in its white flame entirely. He shrieked in agonizing pain the entire time. The fire could not be put out and his body shriveled away. He never experienced this feeling before. The fire did not burn in him, but instead it devoured the heat in his body. In no time the beast quivered on the floor as the flame grew bigger and stronger with his heat and energy. Damien observed in confusion while the rest joined him.
‘I thought it would explode on impact. That’s what Headmaster Sord said happened in the classroom. What do I really know about my Dao technique and my understanding of it?’
Cal was the first to speak about the current situation.
“I thought it was going to be more like what happened that one day in Professor Cloushade’s class, where you caused that massive explosive. Kind of disappointing, though.”
Damien could only give him a forced smile for such a comment about his ability. The body kept withering away as they talked about what had happened. It was then that Yuki smacked them to bring their attention back to what mattered.
“Damien, can you stop the flame, or else there will be nothing left of a reward, not taking into account the hundred of credits we lost already because the rest are just a pile of ash that have blown away.”
Damien bit his tongue, instead of replying with a weak response. To his surprise Erik was the one who came to quickly defend him.
“If it wasn’t for him in the first place we wouldn’t have had much of a life since you left to fight by yourself. At least he could handle them all at once!”
“You dwarf bastard, if I wanted to I could’ve done that ten times over! It was only because the King Fiery Ape intercepted my attacks. Damien wouldn’t have had a chance if I didn’t go distract him myself!”
Before the arguing got intense, Cal came between them and brought their focus back to Damien who was walking toward his white flame. It was dancing wildly in the air and every heat wave dispersed a little more of the forest’s vegetation. Although it reached a new level of intensity, it did not affect Damien in the slightest. He reached down with his hand and put his palm across the ape’s shriveled body. Like a dog being called by its owner, the white flame happily congregated back into the palm of his hand. This time it was glowing like the sun, blinding everyone else with its brilliance.
‘Why did it just engulf him instead of exploding? Do I have to think about it before I do it or was the last time a different situation? I’ll give it a shot right now with the intention of blowing up.’
Damien then threw the flame straight into the air, making it seem like a new celestial object appeared in the heavens. No one could take their eyes off such a scene that even the rustling of the forest became silent for a few moments. In the next instance, its brilliance outshone even the mighty sun deep in space, blinding the entirety of the surroundings. No longer able to contain its great power, the white flame expanded all of its energy outward, causing the explosion everyone expected at first. The force was so devastating that the shockwaves sent back shook everyone to their core while the trees around them shattered in pieces. Countless birds and flying beasts were startled to flight that could be seen filling the skies. Yuki realized the danger they were going to be in after being the first to recover. She felt like she never had a break when it came to Damien being around. She rounded everyone up to their feet and stopped by the carcass of the King Fiery Ape so she could store it.
“Now is not the time to be shocked, we need to get out of here this instant!”
They awoke from their stupor, disappearing from the location of the explosion. They headed back to their base at full speed and even Yuki was helping the Mana-spent Cal. They were long gone by the time a couple of figures appeared directly above the blast sight. They floated in midair with their arms crossed in contemplation. A woman-like figure stepped forward from the group. She had a long, flexible tail like a monkey, with slight features of an ape running along her body. She was crowned with a coronet that wisped sparks of fire every so often. She spoke out with a voice of complete authority toward her subjects.
“My most promising mate candidate has been slain along with his pack. I’ve waited countless years for the perfect mate so that our overlord could finally be born and guide us to prosperity. I no longer see the Fiery Ape Overlord being born in my lifetime. I am tired now. Find me the ones who caused this and I want them alive. Go.”
Her subjects vanished from thin air and she stood in waiting for them to return.