No matter how much I try to deny it, Callum is always going to be a part of me, my bloody past. The Fae did not need who I am trying to become to defend them currently, they needed a leader to light the spark and lead them to victory. They needed the man who was once the Hand of the Divine.

Looking at the Fae and Forsaken standing in rank a distance from each other, waiting for the moment to start the battle once again.

My mana reserves were low, and my body was beyond exhausted, despite the treatment from the medics. If we need a blaze to win this fight, then I will be the spark to start it.

I will burn my very being if I need to.

Burn everything. My anger. My rage. My hatred of the Divine. My hatred for who I was, and still am. Burn it all in a fiery inferno.

Summoning every scrap of anger in my soul, I channel everything into my Sin of Wrath. Not focusing on my fist, but my very body.

[IGNIS!!]

Sparking the crimson flames of Wrath from my whole body, I let the flames shoot into the sky in a crimson flame darker than anything I have made prior, like a beacon of Wrath sent from the heavens.

Where it was once whispers trying to cloud my mind and make me submit to my anger, was now maddening screams. My Sin of Wrath wanted me to burn even brighter, to cloak the world in my crimson flames.

To think a fucking mere Sin of Wrath could possibly think it can compare to the sins I committed in my past.

The maddening screams changed from one of frenzy, to one of anger. It wanted to force me to burn now, no longer trying to encourage me, but to control me now.

You are a part of my power, not the other way around. Shut your fucking mouth and obey me, and I will show you what true Wrath is.

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The maddening screams continued for a little longer, and then slowly grew silent. A silent threat of the consequences of not fulfilling my end.

The entire battlefield, even the two Lords in battle still, stopped to stare at the beacon of crimson flaring into the sky, and to the person responsible for it, me.

Using a small part of my mana to project my voice across the battlefield, “Fae warriors, heed my words. What is this pathetic display of the Fae race? Your realm is in danger, and this is all you can provide in its defense?”

The silent anxiety of the Fae quickly turned into anger and outrage. I could hear the tension the anger was creating towards me.

“You are angry at me? You should be angry at yourselves! Look at the Fae Lord of Wrath, who continued fighting while the battle paused, and you dare to get angry with me for your pathetic display?! Is your petty anger at the voice pointing out your excuses all that you have?!”

Loud roars of angry denials sounded, and it did not matter.

“You are the protectors of the realm, and the Fae people behind these walls rely on you to keep them safe, and THIS is all you have to show for it?! The Forsaken are crazed berserkers, and you are the so-called “great warriors” of the people, the chosen elite! You are pathetic and weak! So afraid to lose control of your Sin so you intentionally hold yourself back when your families, lovers, and every single Fae you are sworn to protect is counting on you to keep their lives and their homes safe!”

The roars of anger quieted down, and a new anger was forming, not at me, but themselves.

“Lord Wrath is risking his very soul to burn whatever is necessary to protect this realm he loves, and you dare to give any less?! So what if you lose control, trust in your comrades to finish you off if that is the case! Afraid of death? What greater honor is there then to fall in battle protecting your very everything?! Trust in your comrades to protect you, and trust in yourselves to protect them! The Sins are YOUR power, so fucking act like it and burn everything you need to win this battle! So I will ask again, Fae warriors. IS THIS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO SHOW?!”

The harsh reality of my words echoed across the battlefield. A long and drawn out battle like this, against a seemingly immortal enemy who did not tire, bleed, or fear losing control or even death. What soldier would not lose their resolve in the face of such a foe?

But these warriors were not normal soldiers, they were the protectors of the Fae Realm. Everything rested on their shoulders, and the cost of their failure was the death of everything they knew and loved.

Looking to the faces of the warriors around me, I no longer saw the tired, beaten, and exhausted faces of a mere soldier. In their eyes I saw the determination to do anything and everything to protect what laid behind them. I saw the spark I lit in them turning into a raging inferno.

One by one, I saw bright and concentrated Sin flames of various types flare up in the sky, forming a fiery wall of determination to not let anything pass, with my crimson flame as the center. Anger, courage, determination, justice, vengeance, regardless of what it was, it was not going to fall today.

Soldiers stomped their armored feet on the ground, smacking their shields with their weapons, and the roars of the warriors sworn to give everything to protect the realm sounded out, making the ground and sky shake with the sound of their resolve. A symphony to let the world know they would not falter again on this day.

“GOOD! Now let’s show the world what will happen if they try to harm the Fae Realm!” I yelled out one last time.

Roars of agreement followed, and the battle began once more.