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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: WYNNA OF THE BLAZING SPIRIT

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Wynna let out a drawn out groan as her animus took over, eager to punish the offender who would rebel against his queen. The power picked her up from the floor, levitating her straight up until she hung two metres above the stage. Her hair turned to flames and her eyes became portals to a world of unending flames. The power was ecstatic, making her moan in delight. Some part of her put up a token effort of resistance and against the onrush of fire and power, despite being fully aware that it was futile. The change, once began, was unstoppable.

The fleeting portion of Wynna's conservative self only had time enough by one last thought before it was subsumed into the will of the flame. 'Power should not feel so good'.

Blazing Spirit Wynna oriented herself in mid-air to face her opponent. The confounded tellurian simply stared at her, his mind straining itself to understand what he felt. He gave a token fight but eventually, he was entranced by the feeling of wonder and worship caused by his inner fire getting lost in her essence. It made her smile. Tiny specks of flame like this always had that expression when they felt her majesty for the first time. She supposed it was the feeling a matchhead felt when it looked to a roaring bonfire.

Perhaps if he had not been so disrespectful, she might have kept him. She did leave all of her thralls back home after all. It would be nice to have someone wait on her and gaze at her with such admiration. Plus, she noted with an appraisingly lecherous gaze, he was cute in an arrogant sort of way. Unfortunately, he had broken her bottom line. What he did was tantamount to rebellion and there was only one fitting punishment. She would slowly burn him to ash as an example to others. Maybe even fuse his bones and spirit into an eternal gaslight, a monument to warn others.

No one struck The Queen!

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"What on earth is THAT?" Sweetrot screeched.

Of the five prospective apprentices, he and Valerian were the ones most susceptible to fire. Right now, it felt like he had stuck his head into an oven. The amount of fire attributed essence in the arena seemed to have multiplied by at least twenty-fold. Forget ovens, it was fast turning into a lake of fire. All you had to was look around to see the streaks of orange, red and yellow, the random fires that burned in mid-air and the heat haze. Comparatively, the manoeuvre Wynna pulled earlier was practically a puddle.

Valerian was worse off. That uncomfortable feeling in his gut had transformed into full-blown panic. It came from his phantasm and right now the spectre was telling him to run. That he should put as much distance between himself and Wynna as possible. He tried to reason with it in the hopes of understanding what was wrong but it only left him more confused. 'Wynna is our natural enemy?'

"We have to calm her down!" Hue yelled, already running towards the stage.

They followed only to be bared by the barrier that separated on-going fights and their effects from the crowd.

"SHIT!" Hue cursed yet again. She yelled at the referee. "LISTEN TO ME! SHE WILL KILL HIM IF YOU DO NOT STOP THE MATCH!"

The man wavered seemingly unsure. However, the more he looked around the more he took the claim seriously. All around the arena, fire attributed cultivators were falling into strange trances with some having their powers go out of control, creating chaos. The more powerful or strong-willed resisted and worked to curtail this. Still, if nothing was done, there was a serious chance that the arena would be engulfed in flames. As for those seemingly possessed? The referee could not even guess. Even he could feel it. A draw on his essence that made the carefully stoked fire within him seek to blaze out of control and overrun everything in its path.

"Young lady!" he called out, pulling a wand from his robes. "I don't know how you're doing that but you need to stop it right now!"

Wynna dismissed him with a wave.

"I SAID NOW!" he yelled. "AS IN RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

Again, she ignored him, floating leisurely towards Fintan. The young tellurian helplessly transfixed as he stared at the figure of death and beauty that drew ever closer. The fourth-year officiating the match felt his gut drop as Hue's words repeated themselves in his head. 'She really is going to kill him', he realised.

'Not on my watch!' he yelled mentally.

All it took was a single word to send a wyvern of fire soaring towards her. A second created wings of fire on his back so he could make use of the distraction to grab Fintan. A third caused the pollen he spread on the way to turn into a cloud of sleep-inducing cloud to subdue his quarry whiles he carried his underclassman away. Only the part where he grabbed Fintan went of without a hitch. The lack of roaring and fighting behind him was deafening bit he did not even have to look back to know what happened.

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The girl had quickly and easily wrested control of the spell from him. His mind struggled to comprehend this fact even as he poured his essence into his wings to get away. 'This should be impossible', it told him. 'There is no way an Arcane Disciple can repress an Arcane Lord!' Imagine his eye widening surprise then, when he found her blocking his path to safety, sitting on HIS wyvern just outside the bounds of the fighting stage.

Wynna rubbed the wyvern's head, causing it to let out an audible croon. She then sunk her hand into its flames and grabbed a handful. Holding the burning essence, she raised it to her lips and slurped it down.

"An aspect of refinement. That's a nice surprise", she said, her eyes never leaving his as she judged his magic the same way a gourmet would a meal. "Traces of wood too. Florescence I believe. The two go well together, don't they, refiner?"

Horrified, he shot straight up seeking to escape. On his way, he dumped everything. Powders and pollens left his robes in multicoloured clouds of sleep, poison, paralysis and every other effect he thought would give him a chance to escape. Many of the hazardous substances he would have been reluctant to use even on his peers were expended to fend off someone a tier lower than him. Regrettably, it was not enough.

The wyvern roared, making its challenge known before taking in an enhanced breath. The alchemic clouds the officiator had spent his time making were all drawn into its large fang-toothed maw and burnt to ashes in the incinerator that was its fire-filled belly. This left its new master free to attack and attack she did. A [Dragon's Breath] spell left her outstretched hands, shooting through the air in a torrent of flame straight at the officiator. Moments later, there was a fiery explosion that rocked the stage. Satisfied, she sat back on her new wyvern.

"Ah-hem!" said a voice trying too hard to sound stern. "Don't you think that was a bit much young lady?"

Whirling around, she came face to face with a frowning Instructor Harper who had ruined the effect he was going for by hanging upside down.

Wynna said nothing, staring straight at him. She could tell, this one was different. His power was beyond her and as luck would have it, he had no fire making him immune to her influence.

"Quit messing around Harper!" said an actual authoritarian.

Wynna's head snapped up. Here was yet another Elder who had evaded her senses. This one was even stronger. His fire burned in her presence, overshadowing her own. Just like that, she had become the match in her earlier analogy. Only, she was staring into a volcano and not a bonfire.

"What exactly is this though?" the first asked the second. "Some kind of possession?"

"Hardly", the second said dismissively. "The Blazing Fire Spirit of the Gavriels is exactly what it says in the name. The spirit is hers and so is the body. In fact, that is her most natural state."

Wynna sent a mental command to the wyvern beneath her, asking it to keep an eye on the first elder. She herself monitored the more dangerous one. Truthfully, both were dangerous. So dangerous that she stood no chance of even fleeing but she would be damned if she showed weakness before them.

"Are you sure?" the first questioned. "Look at her eyes! I've never seen the like. It is like there is nothing human in there."

She could not help but bristle at his words. Something he took note of.

"Careful", the fiery one warned. "I saw the Marshal revert like that once. The sky erupted in flames and the world turned into hell. The girl might not be capable of that yet but it is best you not poke her."

"So what now?" the fool asked. "Do we just stand here talking whilst the arena clears out?"

It was only after hearing this that Wynna looked down. Her influence had been curtailed, isolated by some unknown means without her even realising. The fiery one's doing no doubt. Beneath them, a few seniors and officials struggled to calm the crowd and address those who had been adversely affected. Even so, there was a large number of students streaming towards the exits.

"The transformation will not last forever so that is a good plan. We could also try shocking her out of it", the fiery one suggested.

"That would not be necessary", said a third voice.

This time, Wynna was not the only one surprised. The foolish one was caught off guard too. This time, however, she knew the newcomer. It was the butler of Lady Bloodworth's Manor.

"Thank you for your help gentlemen but I can handle it from here", he said politely.

Wynna stared at the man, wondering how he had slipped beneath her notice all this time. She had walked by him countless times over the last few weeks, eaten the food he served and accepted things from his hands all without once registering his power.

Acting like the matter was already over and done with, he turned to her. "If you would kindly follow me, young miss, Mistress Bloodworth wishes to see you."

A spark lit itself in her head. The butler was a powerful subject, one she had some authority over. Maybe...

"No!" she said emphatically. "They have not been punished."

"Who hasn't, young miss?" the man asked curiously.

"The ones who attacked me!" she stated.

"They", she said with a gesture at the strange elders. "Let them get away."

To his praise, the butler kept a perfectly professional expression at her words, saying, "I wouldn't worry about it, young miss. They will get their due, sooner if not later. For now, kindly come with me to the Mistress."

Wynna scowled like a petulant child but did as he asked, knowing she stood no chance of getting what she wanted. Nodding, she dug her feet into the wyverns sides and flew after him. The two instructors watched them go with Harper watching the entire proceedings with fascination.

"You never answered me, you know", he said to Ahwontara as they floated back to their seats. "What is she, really?"

The man shot him an incredulous look reserved for those who asked questions to answers that were blatantly obvious before saying, "Titan Childe!"

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With Wynna gone, Valerian was finally able to calm his phantasm down. The spectre still demanded they leave. When he refused, it asked that they wait for nightfall so that they could snap her neck while she slept and end the threat once and for all.

"You need to explain!" he said, rounding up on Hue. From the looks on the others faces, they shared his sentiments.