A pillar of flames erupts on the creature as it roars, venting its rage skyward at the circle of light far above. Its form is vaguely humanoid, but it has more reptilian features than dwarven by this point. Its skin is like that of a salamander, a vibrant orange hue with black spots covering its body. A tail and lizard-like head complete the image, but there's no mistaking the fact that the thing used to be a dwarf, even though the thing seems about twice my size.

A heartstone protrudes from its chest, the enormous gem mutated beyond belief. The thing is at least ten times the size of a regular heartstone, and it seems to have grown in almost random directions, making it look much more like a rough crystal than the refined and cut gemstone I'm used to seeing.

The three of us take cover behind a pile of rubble in a desperate attempt to hide from the thing.

"Now fuckin' what?" Bodelee hisses.

"We have to get out of here," Andora says, looking like she's still in a state of shock.

I look over at the form of Ifrit who's rampaging around in the rubble, leaving a trail of flames in his wake. I look upwards, at the smoke billowing skyward from the flames, and say, "I feel like we could probably work some magic to get back up the side, but I wouldn't recommend it if that thing keeps going crazy."

"Shouldn' that thing goin' crazy be the reason we need to get out?" Bodelee asks.

"If that thing turns this entire cityscape into a massive bonfire we won't survive the trip back to the surface. We'll choke to death on the smoke long before we reach the edge."

"So what do you suggest?" Andora asks.

I grit my teeth, "We'll just have to deal with it."

"An' how do ya suggest we do that? That other crazy bastard jus' dropped a city on the fiery fuck. The hell we supposed to do against it?"

"It's not just that," Andora says, "If we kill the primal of fire, the consequences could be catastrophic. We'd disrupt the natural order of the entire world."

"But if we do nothing we'll die. You good with dying here today, Bodelee?"

The dwarf gives me a measuring stare, then his grip tightens on his hammer, "No."

"Even still, how do you plan to kill that thing? It just had a city dropped on its head and it looks none the worse for wear. It's impossible."

I feel a faint smile come to my lips, a movie quote suddenly popping to mind, "No, it's necessary. Quick, let's take stock of what we can actually do against it. Bodelee, that thing's gotta be hot as fuck, think your domain will work on it?"

"Absolutely."

Since Bodelee's domain projection causes his target to be more malleable depending on how hot it is, Ifrit should be extremely susceptible to Bodelee's attacks. Hopefully.

"Andora, you prided your people on being firefighters, know any spells that can deal with those flames? I don't fancy being roasted alive when we get close."

"I can erase the flames in a spherical area around myself. If you both stay within that bubble of protection we should be safe."

"How's the mana consumption?"

She grimaces, "It scales with how much fire there is to negate. I doubt I'll be able to maintain it for longer than ten minutes against that thing."

"It'll have to do. I'll run interference. Bodelee, while I distract it see if you can't cave its head in."

"Aye."

Bodelee expands his domain and Andora casts whatever spell it is she uses. Then we spring into action.

Staying within range of Andora's zone, Bodelee and I charge straight at the creature. It notices us almost immediately and fixes us in its rage-filled eyes. With a roar it whips its tail into a pile of rubble, sending the flaming wreckage hurling at us through the air.

As soon as the debris enters Andora's zone the fire on it sputters out, leaving us to dodge the larger chunks of burnt wood. We press on, into the pillar of flame surrounding the primal.

The heat is immense, but Andora's zone smothers it before the flames can reach us, providing some measure of protection. Even still, I can't help but wonder if the three of us can even last the promised ten minutes among the inferno. It feels as though we've been shoved into an oven.

I dash forward and it once again swings its tail, this time aiming for me directly. I hop over the attack and swing my blade down on the tail as I pass over it, attempting to sever it. My sword only cuts perhaps an inch or two out of the thick muscular appendage. It almost feels as though I take more damage from the heat pouring off the thing's skin than I deal back with that paltry cut.

Tsk! I sure as hell hope Bodelee's domain is as effective as I expect, cause I'll get roasted alive at this rate.

Heedless of the pain, I charge it again. I narrowly dodge a wide swing of its arm and once again land a superficial blow on its skin before I move in closer and stab it in the leg. It roars as some sort of orange ichor oozes out of the wound and tries to kick me, but it's too slow to catch me before I've lept out of the way.

I see Bodelee leap up behind it, raising his warhammer to hit the head from its blind spot. Ifrit doesn't even notice his presence, as the creature is too distracted by me down below it to pay anything else any attention.

Bodelee smashes his hammer against the back of Ifrit's skull, and I see the front of Ifrit's reptilian face bulge out a bit from the deformation caused by Bodelee's domain projection. Still, it shows no sign of pain or having taken any damage at all, instead turning to face the dwarf who struck it.

As it turned its back on me I notice two things. First, the rather sizable crater in the back of Ifrit's head. The dent Bodelee left is about the size of a watermelon, covering almost the entirety of the back of the creature's skull. The second is that the slash I left on its tail is gone.

It doesn't even seem bothered by the fact that its skull has been completely deformed, and its got self-regenerative powers. It's also monstrously fast for its size.

Bodelee barely manages to smack aside its fist with his hammer as it tries to swat him from the air, but he isn't prepared for the tail swing that follows. The mass of muscles smashes into him and sends him flying out of Andora's sphere of influence, into the inferno that still rages just outside Andora's zone.

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"Get him!" I yell to Andora as I once again move in to attack and draw its attention.

Need to see how far its regenerative powers can take it. I can already see its head returning to normal, but what if we decapitate it entirely?

Its leathery skin is far too tough for me to cut cleanly through its neck, but it doesn't seem able to lay down an Area, meaning our magic isn't inhibited. There's a certain execution method that was popular in France, one so simple and with such ominous connotations that it'd be impossible to mess up even an improvised magic recreation of it.

I dodge and weave through Ifrit's attacks, landing more superficial cuts that simply disappear after a few moments. While my efforts don't deal any lasting damage, it does buy enough time for Bodelee to jump back into the fire-free zone, looking significantly more roasted than when he left. He's also clutching his left side, a bad indication of the damage that tail swipe did.

"Bring it to its knees!" I yell over the roar of flames that surrounds us. The blazing hellscape around us is only seeming to grow more intense as time goes on. It seems that while the fire-free zone negates the fire directly within it, it doesn't stop Ifrit from simply creating more flames outside of the sphere.

Andora summons some sort of magic that cuts through the back of Ifrit's knee and severs the tendons while Bodelee simply brings his warhammer to bear against the calf muscle, completely disfiguring the entire leg.

The massive creature topples to the ground. As it tries to prop itself back up on its hands I yell out, "Guillotine!" I feel a significant amount of my mana bleed away into the spell as a vague outline of a guillotine materializes around the creature's head. Before it has a chance to react the blade drops at a speed so fast it only registers as a blur to my reinforced eyes, completely decapitating the beast.

The transparent image of the guillotine dissipates as Ifrit comes crashing back down. The creature's head smashes into a pile of half-burnt rubble, sending splinters and ashes everywhere.

I run over to Bodelee, who's kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily. "You alright?" I ask.

"Few broken ribs and burns. I'll live, if we can get the hell out of this pit, that is."

That's right, now we need to figure out a way-

My thought train is cut off as I realize something is wrong. The inferno outside Andora's zone hasn't abated.

"Hey!" Andora yells out in warning as the hulking body of Ifrit stands up, looking completely unscathed. I glance over to where the decapitated head lays and grimace as I see it still sitting there amidst its pile of rubble.

"Just how fuckin' much can this damn thing regenerate?!" Bodelee curses in frustration, "The fuck are we supposed to do against that?"

"Can you keep going?" I quickly ask the injured dwarf.

He stands up with a grunt, "It look like I got a fuckin' choice? I sure hope you got another bright idea, 'cause I sure as hell don't."

I glance at Ifrit as it stands up and rack my brain for anything that could possibly work.

If it can even regenerate an entire head that means its regeneration isn't a consciously activated ability, it's simply an innate quality. How then are we supposed to kill it?

I look at the massive heartstone protruding out of its chest, but almost instantly dismiss the thought. Andora had told me, a heartstone is virtually impossible to destroy by most ordinary methods, the only thing that even has a chance usually is insanely potent magic. I don't have anything like that in my arsenal, and I doubt Bodelee or Andora do either.

"Bodelee, can your domain projection affect that heartstone?"

"Nah. The effect only works on stuff I can actually see myself molding. Ain't no way I can shape a heartstone."

If only Albatos was here. The tactician's ace up his sleeve is the only thing I can think of that has a chance of destroying the artifact.

But if the heartstone is the source of its power then perhaps if we can separate it from the body we can prevent it from regenerating. But what can we even do to separate the two?

I rack my brain trying to think of something that could do the job. Suddenly Hithe and his inscribed explosive comes to mind.

If I could replicate that and create something from my old life, then perhaps…

My time in the army isn't something I'm keen on revisiting in my mind, but it'd be idiotic to simply cast aside such valuable inspiration, especially when it could mean the difference between life and death.

I had always been the guy that lugged explosives around. Usually got to employ them too. Honestly, I did it because it was the easiest job. If I was with a squad that needed to clear a building I blow it open or throw a nade inside and everyone else did the rest of the work.

Ah, that reminds me of when-

A sharp and sudden pain that feels like it'll split my skull reverberates through my mind.

"Stein! The hell's wrong?" I barely register Bodelee looking down at me in concern.

"I'm fine," I squeeze out, "Just give me a minute to prep something, then on my signal punch a big-ass hole in the center of its back, okay?"

"Are you sure you're-"

"Go!" I yell. That's right. This isn't a situation where we can just sit around. That time is gone, focus on the now.

Bodelee runs toward Andora and shares a few words before they burst into action together, working to draw its attention. I dig through the rubble around me until I find something that fits my purpose, a block of wood the size of my hand that seems like it was once part of a 2x4.

Albatos hadn't spent much time on the subject of inscriptions, but he'd taught enough that I can create what I need. On the block of wood in my hand I simply inscribe, in an alphabet completely alien to this world, C4. The immense mana drain I feel is proof that my half-assed attempt works. I didn't understand the composition of the explosive on the level Hithe understood his, but I'd used the stuff enough that I could supplement technical knowledge with firsthand experience and mana to cement the concept.

I get to my feet, still a little off balance from my earlier head pain combined with the fringe symptoms of the migraine that comes with mana depletion. Heedless of the pain, I push myself forward and enter the fray with Andora and Bodelee.

Damn it, already out after only three spells. I guess this is why Albatos always stressed that we shouldn't rely on impromptu concepts. Using an abundance of mana to leverage the unfamiliarity with a concept taps you out so fast.

"Whenever you're ready, Bodelee!" I yell.

Andora draws Ifrit's attention with a blast of magic to the face and Bodelee brings his hammer down hard in the center of Ifrit's back, creating a crater in the creature. I spring forward as Ifrit whips around on Bodelee, landing a backhand blow on the dwarf, once again blowing him away. With a roar of effort, I shove my inscribed block of wood into the hole Bodelee created. I rip my hand out with a grimace as the scalding hot body of the creature tries to close itself around my hand.

I barely manage to leap away before the creature fully heals, the heat setting off the explosive charge within its body. I shield my face with my arms as the blast rips Ifrit's body apart, sending pieces of it flying at absurd speeds. One of the larger chunks nails me in the stomach, breaking my controlled descent as well as knocking the breath out of me.

I land in a heap as chunks of flesh continue to rain around the area. I get up as quick as I can and look at the desolate ruins with chunks of flesh now littered around the scene.

I see Bodelee get to his feet several meters away and see Andora's prone body stir with a groan. I look among the scattered pieces of flesh, seeking the heartstone. After a few moments I see it, and for a moment I feel a sense of relief as I see the inferno beyond it dying out.

My momentary relief dies in an instant as I see the heartstone wobble then start to rise as a body starts to form around it.

I try to channel my mana but a sharp pang of pain is a brutal reminder that I'm tapped out. "Andora!" I scream, "Box it in before it can form itself again!"

Andora looks up in recognition of my words, and thrusts her hand toward the heartstone. But even as a metal box starts to materialize around the artifact, I see her collapse, a hand clutching her head. The zone she'd been maintaining collapses and a torrent of flames bursts to life around the heartstone.

Her too?

"Bode-" I start to call out, but my voice catches in my throat as I see Bodelee's collapsed form.

No… Get up… It can't end like this, not after we came so far…

Even as I feel despair set in I can't help but marvel at the sight of a creature powerful beyond imagination regenerate itself from nothing before my eyes. Its form is almost completely different than it was before, instead seeming more like a skeletonized wight.

I rack my brain for any more last ditch ideas, but my thoughts are interrupted by an immense pressure from above. I glance skyward and see the form of a falling figure. As they get close to impacting the ground the pressure goes from being immense to awe-inspiring as I see twin flashes of a green glow.

A second later Isao lands amid the ruined cityscape.