Townsfolk ran as their homes burnt around them. Dancing embers eagerly seeking out victims as if possessed by an unnatural malevolence. Olav raced around the corner of an intersection only to collide with an adventurer as they backpedalled, wreathed in flames they were unable to put out.

Olav cursed, ducking to the side as he hastily patted out the fire that had jumped hosts, the adventurer letting out a horse, hollow scream as they slumped against a nearby building. The demikin turned, trying not to let the vision of the immolated corpse linger as he sprinted towards the source of the devastation.

His heart pounded in his chest, his muscles tensing and vision growing narrow. He wanted to test himself, to unleash the power he and his family had been born with, to prove himself worthy of the blood within his veins. But the sight before him wasn’t one of promised glory, the spectre of flames stood in the middle of the street, arms outstretched as cackling, manic laughter echoed off the burning buildings around them. Charred bodies littered the street, each burnt beyond recognition.

Olav tightened his grip on the pommel of his blade, lightning dancing down his arm and between his fingers even as he drew the weapon. Before him was an enemy, a worthy challenge he would throw himself against to become closer to the man he wished to be. Or that’s the lie he told himself, it was easier than to admit the surging anger and hatred towards the thing in front of him was due to the lives it had reaped. Lives of people he had grown up learning to avoid the ire of, to keep away from because of how they would react when they saw him, saw his family.

His white hair billowed up around him, his horns like the peaks of mountains jutting out above roiling storm clouds. The being of flame turned, unleashing a wave of power into a nearby structure, reducing it to ash in a matter of moments. Lightning flashed, and Olav crossed the street in a blur of movement, closing in on his target only to take cover within an alley as the flames turned in his direction.

“Olav!” A male voice came from where he had just been, he turned to see Samil and Liv poking their heads around the street corner. “This is suicidal, even for you!”

“We can take it! Before it kills even more!” He called back, expression hardening.

Liv winced, stringing her bow with shaking fingers. “They’re not worth it, why would we fight for the people of this place?”

“For honour!”

“Bullshit, these people hate us, we owe them nothing!”

A deafening explosion rocked a nearby building, debris was sent flying in a hail of stone and splinters as the crazed laughter built in volume, drowning out his reply. Olav took a deep breath, his mouth becoming stained by ash and smoke. He glanced at the human shaped inferno, noticing another group of armoured people likely preparing their own attack. He locked eyes with his fellow demikin, one family by blood, the other by familiarity.

“It's a monster.” He said.

“We can see that.” His cousin hissed, her eyes wide as she finished stringing her bow.

“That’s what they think we are. Monsters, a danger to their cities and families, all because of our ancestry. But it’s bullshit, it’s not fair that we’re hated, turned away, even hunted. We’re not monsters, but that thing is.”

They didn’t respond, but he could see in their expressions they agreed. He was a simple man, and that was okay. But he was also a future leader of his clan, there were some things he had to do.

“For honour.” He said, grinning as he stepped out into the street. Then he charged the enemy.

===

Leif scaled down the steep incline of the cavern like a deformed spider, his dozen conjured arms grabbing onto floor and ceiling both as he maintained his balance during the descent.

The further he went, the more otherworldly his surroundings became. Gone were the jagged, natural caverns that he had climbed through to get this far, now every surface was bizarrely flat, surfaces indented with strange geometric patterns as if carefully chiselled over hundreds of years.

A faint glow emitted in the direction he was travelling, the chamber he was traversing ending in a sheer drop into a bioluminescent stream teaming with all manner of living things he had never seen before. Rainbow scaled fish swam up and down the currents of ethereal water, ivy and moss grew from the liquid in great stretching tendrils that arched up and over the underground river.

He sharpened his fingers, digging into solid stone as he leaned over the ledge, taking in the sight. The river flowed into a connecting chamber, just as geometric as all the others, there it fell down into a pool he couldn’t see the end of. He backtracked, climbing back up the way he had come, then he vaulted into an adjacent cavern, this one narrow, shaped almost like a spear head.

Leif picked up speed, becoming more confident in his ability to traverse this strange environment. A sound tweaked his attention as it bounced off perfectly flat shapes of stone. Voices, two of them. He made his way towards them, not entirely surprised to have encountered his quarry, there were only so many places they could have gone after all.

He found them in a wide chamber, water falling in great torrents from the far wall where it flowed into indents on the floor, the streams of water intersecting as they crisscrossed the chamber. Two humans, both he recognised, sat on one of the central islands, bandaging each other's wounds, muttering back and forth in a heated conversation. Leif tossed the packs he had pilfered, but was yet to open into a corner and steeled his emotions.

Scores had died in an attack these two had orchestrated, the attack on the guild building unlikely to be their first action to have caused casualties.

“Why?” He asked, voice booming out to echo through the chamber, both humans jumping to their feet in surprise. “Explain yourselves, your actions. I want to understand.”

“We cannot.” Said the man, his voice horse. He drew his dagger, face going blank as if to hide a wince of pain. “And we cannot justify our actions in any way you would understand.”

“Try me, I’m surprisingly empathetic.”

“We can’t tell you.” The veiled woman said, swaying slightly as she got into a combat stance. “Nor would we want to, this is war-”

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“You work for the republic.” He said, cutting her off. “And I know you can’t, one of your accomplices I captured in a nearby village couldn’t talk either.”

“Magic binds us [Noble], our loyalty is assured.” The man wheezed, air blowing around in, picking up dust. “You’ve made an enemy you cannot contend with, the rightful rulers of this land.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. You were hardly strong enough to stop me.”

“Because you're inhuman!” The shadow user spat. “Why don’t you show us what’s under that mask?”

“Inhuman…” Leif said, tasting the word as it rolled out of his mouth. “I suppose so, it isn’t a completely wrong descriptor for what I am.” He raised a hand, pointing at both humans in accusation. “But I hardly go around murdering and destroying. You crossed a line, killing innocents.”

“Adventurers are hardly innocent, nor are they civilians!”

“And the kitchen staff, the desk workers? What about me? I was in that building when you blew it up.”

“Our lives would have been far more simple if you had died in that attack.” The man said, shooting his companion a glance. “But if it is any consolation, we did not specifically target you or your interests.”

Leif tilted his head in acknowledgement, but didn’t otherwise respond. Then both humans, tired, weakened and desperate, attacked.

===

Fire blasted down the centre of the street, the sheer heat behind the attack melting cobbles and incinerating years of accumulated mud. Lightning flashed, a crack that could be heard for hundreds of metres as an arrow shot towards the source of the inferno.

A dozen men and women attacked the living fire, striking at it with every skill at their disposal. Olav charged, blade held low as power corded up and down the blade. The monster’s head snapped in his direction, eyes wide, mouth too wide to be natural. It jerkily raised a hand, turning him into ash as power overwhelmed him.

A lightning wreathed sword cut through the neck of the infernal being, the illusionary duplicate fading away like a distant mirage. The elemental figure collapsed, only to reform with a bestial screech out outrage and fury. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky, hitting the monster dead on, only for a volley of other skills to strike a moment later.

It howled, retreating into a nearby building and catching it aflame, the neighbourhood burnt, the town of Klos went up in smoke, people fought anyway. A squadron of imperial soldiers struck out at the monster as it burst from the building and scrambled down the street, weapon empowerment skills used in synchronisation to cut at its form, its fiery essence bursting up into the ash filled air with every impact. It struck out, the soldiers died, then more adventurers attacked from behind.

Blade, projectile and elemental bolt rained down onto it from all sides, the monster retaliating with uncontrolled geysers of power. But it was weakening, even as the town was reduced to rubble around it it began to falter. A sphere of summoned water bounced towards the being of fire, it burbled happily, tiny limbs flailing as it burst against the monster and instantly turned to steam.

It screamed, tearing down the street in a frenzied attempt to escape. More soldiers, their emblems covered by soot, more than a few having sustained wounds that would have left anyone weaker reduced to ash attacked in a loose formation. They didn’t kill it, but they succeeded in forcing it back.

A dozen spears lanced out towards it, the monster dodging back to avoid the thrown volley. But each of the weapons burst harmlessly upon touching the ground, then the real spear stabbed into its side as it and its wielder dropped out of invisibility. Samil retreated under a suppressing hail of ranged attacks, then more and more people jumped in to attack. The creature of flame fell under an onslaught of sword, axe and spear, its elemental body breaking apart as it wailed and thrashed. Its form exploded outwards with enough force to drive its attackers away, but not to critically wound them.

It let out one final gasp, then the flames went out, and a charred man stood in its place, covered in wounds and staring absently into the darkened sky. It, or rather he, fell to his knees, a low moan escaping from blackened lips. Then a sword wreathed in lightning severed head from shoulder, and the monster that had killed so many was slain.

For a moment nobody moved, too shocked and exhausted to react. Then the survivors cheered, their voices mixing in a chorus of triumph.

===

It wasn’t a fight, more the desperate flailing of two people out of their depths. A dagger plunged for Leif’s neck, but the attack didn’t break his shield. A tendril of shadow wrapped around his leg, but it was severed by a conjured arm. The scion backhanded the man, sending him tumbling through a nearby stream.

The woman let out a wordless scream as she rushed forward, her fist cloaked in umbral energy. Leif met it with a punch of his own, her hand broke with a sickening crack. Her cry of agony was silenced as he grabbed her by the throat and began to syphon life-force, the cowl and veil that had hidden her features falling away as she thrashed weakly in his grasp. She aged visibly as vitality was transferred between them, her eyes becoming sunkern and skin being pulled taught.

It disgusted Leif, both the sight of what he was doing, but also the actions. He didn’t regret it though, their fate would be death no matter what, whether it was by his hands or another authority he didn’t know, nor did he particularly care. He hadn’t objected to killing the bandits he and his travelling companions had encountered days prior because of any particular reason on his part. It somehow felt wrong, as if by taking a human life he was taking a step away from who he had been. But it was an irrational feeling, he had once been a soldier, even in his advancement trial he had watched his past self kill.

But even if he knew, logically, that the humans before him were deserving of death, it still felt like something intangible was slipping away. Blades of wind whistled through the air as the man recovered, spluttering to evacuate water from his lungs. Leif turned, using the man’s companion as a shield, the blades of wind fizzled out just before they made contact. He threw the woman to the side, as if discarding a spent husk, and stalked towards the man.

“Fuck you.” He rasped, crawling backwards through the shin deep water. “Fuck you, you’re not even human, you’re a damn monster, you should be dead, she killed you with that blade through the chest.”

Leif didn’t say anything, his every step closing the gap between them. Then he reached down and grabbed the man by the leg. He lifted him with ease even as blades of wind cut uselessly against his incredibly durable body. Maybe if he had been more focused, or had a cultivated pool of energy to draw on. Leif mused, then he shook his head, what was he doing?

He swung the human bodily down into the flowing water, parting the flowing liquid with the impact. Water splashed onto the nearby islands of stone as he picked him up again, slamming the man back down into the water. Again and again and again. It felt cathartic, as if he could take out all the world's wrongs by beating him.

Leif paused, dangling the human by the arm. He looked down, watching as red stained water flowed between his legs. What am I doing? He thought with disgust, staring into the glassy and broken expression of the man in his grasp. For an instant the human’s eyes focused on his masked face, split lip curling into a sneer. With the last whisper of strength within him the man brought his unrestrained arm up in a cutting motion. Leif allowed it, he didn’t even bother protecting himself with [Amber Aegis].

The mask cracked down the middle, then fell apart, splashing down into the water below. Man looked at monster, surprise evident on his face.

“Well?” Leif asked.

“The pillars will stand eternal.” He whispered as his eyes rolled up and his expression went vacant.

“I don’t know what that means.” the scion replied, recalling the split halves of the mask back into his hand with [Wood Manipulation]. He twisted the mask pieces together, then lengthened his creation. A short sword of wood took off the man’s head, his lifeless body slumping into the bloody stream a moment later.