This is the second half of a two chapter interlude. Check "Chapter Twenty-three - Interlude - Burnt Bargain" if you haven't already.

In the last two hours, her resources had slowly dwindled, only the heat of the molten lava – the former fortress walls – supplied her with the mana she needed to keep going. If she was to be blamed for ruining the name of all traitless, she would at least take the real perpetrator with her.

It had taken over half an hour to reduce the shimmering dome, that had protected the castle from her magic, to its inscriptions. Ever since then she had been hunting. If she was to attack Heron, she wanted him to be her singular focus. There would be no interruptions.

She didn’t even have to make sure that he wouldn’t escape. He was bound to defend his place of power in the case of an attack. There was little doubt that the system rules for kings were different from those for barons and dukes.

The next hour and a half had been spent taking the life of everyone defending the castle walls. There had been a few notable exceptions. A fire mage, that had been completely immune to her heat. But the overpowering might of her sub-aspects of force and destruction had been enough to remove his existence once she had figured his strength out.

Now she and the members of the royal family were the only ones left. The children and wife were of no interest to her. She would not stoop down to Heron’s niveau unless they should join their father in fighting her.

They would probably even thank her for allowing them to rise to the throne at an earlier point in time. That was without a doubt how royal off-springs, raised in the toxic environment of politics would think.

She imbued fire constructs with enough energy to develop lesser forms of sentience and instructed them to escort them outside. Reducing the heat and light aspect as though to not overly damage them, increased the cost by even more, but with all the ambient heat her mana was borderline swelling.

Surprisingly enough there had been no resistance to the intrusion of the constructs and they left with three impressions of heat. She had expected something else to happen, but wouldn’t inquire too deeply.

While she wanted to be up close when Heron left the world behind she knew that preemptive strong strikes were always better. She had learned so early as a solo dungeon delver. While it was more satisfying to strangle the monster you had labored under for ages, just having it gone was good enough.

She infused her Comet and amplified it by sending a minor Fire Construct that would wreck the fortress ahead of its path. She infused the comet with the delayed effect of Volcanic Maelstrom and a few other fire-aligned skills she had picked up in her long career. The predicted damage was in the hundred-thousands as quantified by the system, but those numbers were deceptive, not only did metamagic allow her to amplify those values by a factor greater than twenty but fire’s strength came from duration.

Even with those factors included, there was still her connection to the aspect of heat that gave her spells more strength after the system's influence. All in all, almost everything should be immediately dead.

Only after her casting was done did she realize that maybe she had gone overboard. Rocaos was too close and she didn’t want even more people on her conscious. Her comet couldn’t be stopped anymore and she would not spend the energy required to destroy it. She retracted her aspect of heat, it would lessen the blow on the surrounding area.

She watched as the comet and the magical construct just ahead descended towards the battlements of Strongfort. The stone steeples melted as the comet passed them, though only someone with high senses and mind would have been able to notice that. The next second the entry place erupted in an explosion of molten rock, metal, and other debris.

For a while she stood there, both horrified and impressed by the damage she had caused to something this magnificent.

Isana strode over the molten floor into the remains of the once proud last defense of the common folk. Confident in her imminent victory she calmed the heat around her, absorbing the remnant energies into herself.

Suddenly mana stopped coming. As though her aspect had been subverted.

“Not in my castle,” she heard Heron chuckling. “Here I still have authority and you will not take what is mine. Only I can take what is mine.”

She felt an odd wrenching sensation and her vision wavered. When it got clear again, she saw the trademark attack of the same man incoming. A glowing ax of light descended toward her. A hastily summoned Fire Construct was enough to subvert the attack and give her time to mount a counterattack. A barrage of homing bolts, bullets, and balls flew at Heron. She didn’t even expect them to do anything, given that her comet had been without effect.

She spared a glance at the death-defying king to adjust to his next moved. Instead of blocking the attacks with his light something else, something odd happened. Her connection to the fire snapped and the attacks fizzled out. That wasn’t all, with each light that stopped existing she felt the same wrenching sensation as before. In worry, she glanced at her health and saw that with each flame extinguished so did a fraction of her health extinguish.

But the small breaks between the individual actions had given her the time she’d needed. With her Burning Domain almost summoned she had other ways of dealing with the man. Even should he be able to steal her spell’s power, he needed air to breathe and that would no longer work.

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For a kilometer all around her, the heat suddenly rose by hundreds of degrees per second. Fire erupted from the ground and ate everything in the vicinity.

And something ate her.

She suddenly saw what Heron had done before. Her life dwindled away from her, at a previously unimaginable speed. She literally saw her life force escaping her, being drawn from her. The king didn’t attack, instead seeping away the fire that burned within her, all around her. He didn’t take everything. He couldn’t. Her aspect of heat protected the parts of her that were connected to heat, but the light that was her life left her. Light had been the only aspect of fire that had stayed foreign to her, for all that she had tried to understand it.

As the fight continued and her life sapped she gained a new notification. Her hopes rose, before being dashed again. Only then did she notice that she had completely recuperated.

New Notification:

You have gained the title Death-bound Divine Candidate

Death-bound Divine Candidate – You have failed your ascension to divinity not through lack of ability but by carrying regret in your heart for all your life. By constantly carrying the worry of not being strong enough you have manifested destiny in a way that is unique.

Increases all attributes by 100%. Increases the effectiveness of all Attributes by 100%. You have unlocked Isana’s Last Regret. Restores all pools to full.

The increase to her attributes would have been nice before, but she knew that she was dying. The gain felt like a hollow, unfulfilled promise as life was sucked out of her. She was barely able to keep her soul attached to her body, but soon that too would be gone. She had no other options. She looked at the newly unlocked skill - comprehending it in an instance - and knew what she had to do.

Isana’s Last Regret (0/1)

Can only be used a single time. Fractures your soul and infuses your last memories into a tear made of fire that can be obtained by someone you would have approved to fulfill your final wish.

Gives the new owner access to your inheritance and guides them to a better world through your memories and skills.

Cost: 100% of current Mana, Health, Stamina

The skill point she had saved would be lost either way should she die here. So she could as well use it. And this way she could at least spite Heron, for not getting the kill on her.

She chose it, and somehow it felt like the skill chose her as well.

Energy ,she didn’t know she had, flooded her as she activated the skill. Suddenly so much became clear. Light wasn’t a property of fire, if anything it was the other way around, fire came from light, and thus it was subservient in birth and only in life equal. Had she gained that aspect of fire before, she would have been immune to Heron's tricks.

She also learned where the energy was coming from. Whatever energy had held her soul together flooded her body and coalesced into something at the core of her being, slowly moving upwards through her body. Control of Isana’s body returned completely to her and in that moment, she felt all the emotions that had flooded through her in her over a hundred years of life. The sheer vastness and complexity made her lose all agency, and stop whatever she was doing.

Most of the emotions were of being scared, having to hide, due to being chased by hunters out for the quest rewards given by dominion of Issar’s ruling class. There was also a tiny bit of hope and it grew as she came closer to the end of her life. The last three years of her life, had been decent, when she hadn’t been persued by traited.

Then there was fire and a wish for death. It surprised her. She hadn’t felt those emotions as strong as she now did. It was natural that she hadn’t before, given her high mind attribute, but why were they here now she didn’t understand.

She experienced everything in slow motion. The sadness she felt, her pain, and her hope. And her anger. And it all slowly left her, just like the tear that was forming below her eye.

But she had energy, more than ever before. More power than what was reasonable.

She could end this. Not the war between traited and traitless, someone else had to. But she could end Heron.

Every single skill at her disposal flared to life and as though to mirror her, everything around her died. Plants far away wilted, bricks and stone cracked in the capital, and people ignited and died in the same second. Everything around her melted, changed to magma, and she fully embraced all the aspects of fire, even death.

Heat. She didn’t cast skills like Incandescent Field or a purely heat-aspected Firebolt. She just willed it. And just like that, Heron’s body went up in flames.

And hers was torn apart by the power that had been put on her body.

As the remaining parts of her body slowly tore themselves apart and went up in flames, a single teardrop-shaped piece of soul rode on the waves of hot air, to find a suitable host.

The droplet slowly rose through the maelstrom of hot air and saw all this without emotions. It was not related to its goals. No, this was merely a way to find the perfect slate for the power contained within.

End this stupid war between traited and traitless.

Then it realized, that this wasn’t the whole truth.

End Heron was also part of its desires.

***

An old burned man dragged himself out of the ruins toward his family.

With a few loud and painful coughs he cleared his throat before beginning to speak.

“Seems like this place could use a new name. What do you think about Glutfort?” he spoke, each word followed by a rough cough.

His son and his wife hastened to his side. The former trying to move him away from the heat, the latter trying to push the liquids of a flask down his throat.

“How are you still alive, father?” asked his son. Heron had been proud of him, though he hadn’t had much influence on his character. He might even come to regret his actions this time around. At least for some time, but time healed all wounds.

“Save them. There is no need. My fate is sealed. Toria, please let me exchange a few words with my successor, there is something I need to tell him. And I love you.”

“Your health is still dropping, you will die! Just drink the damn potion old man,” his son hadn’t understood. He wouldn’t understand.

“No, I won’t!” the man said, the burned skin slowly peeling off the muscle tissue below. Even quieter he “I won’t die, I’m sorry son!”

As the now lifeless body of Heron sagged succumbing to his burned body Darius straightened with a grin on his face. It felt good to be young again.