The breath of fire empowered the Orange Witch to fly about the giant humanoid on the Hound Mother's hump while moltening its pink skin with bursts of flame tongues of various guises. Noticing that Kaito's little sister did not dare open her eyes due to the height, the witch swivelled to the right to grab her. However, the brood seemed privy to the witch's intentions, which led to it twisting its limbs and tossing her from behind. Kaito's sister began to sink into the monster's arms. Her wailing grew shriller.

The fire's breath hitched and the Orange Witch somersaulted midair. Even so, she desired not to hover aimlessly for long. After her foot rested on one of the tree branches, the flames in her feet singed the tree as a "thank you". Her body shot back up while brandishing a gaping snake staff with a flickering amber dot inside. A giant blast of fire erupted, swathing the monster's entire form from head to waist, shredding its tissues with ease. However, the maddening part was that its body tissues seemed unwilling to detach from each other. When one part was severed, its veins extended and writhed blindly, searching for the main vein to knit back together.

In the meantime, the young shaman and Barong inside him managed to deal with all the puppies and prepared to help the pyromancer. But how the Divine had cursed him. From the hound mother's muzzle burst a sonic wave that made the trees behave unnaturally, their colours faded and soon splintered into a new set of cryptid dogs with humanoid mutations on their backs already formed!

"Shit! What the fuck?" exclaimed Wisessa. The hounds paid no heed to his curses and charged straight at the lad. Wisesa raised an earthen block to shield himself from the gunfire and then his feet took to the sky, showering the monsters with his heirloom bangles and lightning bolts from his kris, before swooping down and tearing them apart with a sweep of his arm and a variety of lethal silat strokes.

Alicia was still trapped behind the Arcane dome, the crowd of hound-borne humanoids constantly barraging her protection in close proximity. It was a piece of luck that Alicia did not feel her body being pierced or blistered from the inside, but her resentment betrayed her gratitude, especially since people began to take Arcane as a burden this time. Only a fool would consider Arcane might a useless burden. That hovering witch. But on second thought, Alicia got an inspiration about the witch's background as well.

What are you going to do now, Alicia? Orb's buzzing was a tone falling and rising.

Alicia's resolution was solid. "Of course, I have to participate! How dare she assume me useless. How dare she assume you're useless, Orb!"

Why should we care about what that witch says?

"Because—no, I dinnae care what she says, Kaito's sister's situation is more grave!" However, Alicia looked beyond the force field again, the situation of the other two mages was just as grave. "The conjoined twin monster that the pyromancer is fighting has fast regeneration, and Wisesa is getting annoyed that more and more hairless puppies are being born from the trees. Hm." Alicia rubbed her chin instead. "This brood’s interesting. How did she get the trees to mutate into dogs?"

As the mother opened her muzzle again, Orb's white eyes caught sight of something. Alicia! There's something like a stone block floating between the roofs of its mouth!

"Hey, when you said that, I saw it too! Thought my myopia had gotten worse," Alicia replied. "Alright, Orb, how about we take a closer look? Let's first help Wisesa and Barong."

The Arcane Dome suddenly exploded into a powerful wave, which instantly obliterated the rifled and shielded canine warriors. Swathed in the new Divine Grace, Alicia and Orb flew up, aligning themselves with the snarling snout of the giant dog, its teeth chattering.

As it roared, the stone block also emitted an aura that surrounded the echoes of its voice, and Alicia could see the aura creeping into a tree and shaking it at the same time.

We'll smash that block! Orb hummed.

Alicia unleashed the energy beam into the hound's mouth. "Yes! Taste this, ye minging mutt!"

The mother inevitably resealed her muzzle and accepted the Arcane's heat blistering her face, revealing a few rows of teeth in torn flesh. It was impossible for the Orange Witch not to notice the presence of the intense blue power, even if it was only captured by the tail of her eyes. "I told you not to bring your Arcane might here!" she grumbled from her tree perch.

Alicia looked up. Her eyebrows were furrowed in equal measure of pique. "Wisesa was overwhelmed with dogs because the black stone inside the mother's muzzle doubled their numbers! Did ye not ken that?"

"I..." The Orange Witch's lips twitched. The embarrassment on her face was nearly as red as a goud of fire. The giant humanoid's face abruptly stretched forward, its teeth almost crushing the pyromancer's body, before she spurted more fierce flames into the giant's mouth, therefore hoarsening its howls. Black smoke billowed outwards. "How could I possibly know all that? That is why not bring Arcane here! You think they'll stop evolving after growing humans on their backs?"

"Then don't tarry, ye daft!" Alicia lashed out. "If you're still quibbling with the excuse of training, I'll destroy this brood in one blow!"

The Orange Witch clucked her tongue. She drew the staff head closer to her forehead, muttering, "'Cheating', then. What a pestilent little nerd."

The witch held her wand aloft and made a spinning motion right in the middle of the departing sun. A heavy inhalation of breath, then a loud echo from the throat was heard:

"Xu-chīuatl! Xu-te-ka! Xu-tlāzot!"

Six serpentine creatures, crowned with horns and feathered tongues ablaze, descended as if from the glaring sun, sinking their searing fangs into the monster's limbs and coiling around them. Their hook-like tail end then anchored in the ground. However, it was only a sealing spell. The Orange Witch was already setting the stage for retribution against the giant humanoid that had once looked disdainfully upon the dwarf humans, now emitting hot vapour and snarling in its throat. The muscles in both its arms bulged until they sundered the skin and blood gushed out.

The Orange Witch called out again, "Xu-tlāx! Xu-tepeh! Xu-tlāhu!"

Not long after, a magical gear wider than the creature’s torse ruptured its flatulence, swirling vertically. Alicia's sour look suddenly changed upon witnessing this fiery spectacle amidst the disgusting vomit. A stroke of genius, Alicia thought. No matter how fast the monster regenerated, its body tissues would never amalgamate due to the relentless rotation of the fire wheel. With the command of the serpent staff, the fire wheel fueled by the Orange Witch hoisted the humanoid's upper body. The farther it was from the hound's limbs, the more impossible it was for the humanoid to reconstitute itself as a whole being. Should have done that earlier!

"I trust you won’t succumb to nausea, Woman!" remarked the Orange Witch, as she watched the humanoid's entrails seep onto the airborne Arcane dome.

Alicia failed to live up to the witch's expectations.

Time had been cruel enough to take her to many cloying magical and non-magical performances in a short time, to the point where she no longer felt nauseous and had the right to brag about it. The problem was that the situation was reversed when the feverish state took her. Her stomach already felt as if pummeled from within. Alicia's cheeks swelled, but she forced herself to swallow the puke back into her stomach.

Then they heard the muffled voice of a child crying in the heat behind the monster's grasp. "By Silent Divine!" Alicia suddenly panicked. "Kaito's sister! Hurry!"

Wisesa had just slaughtered the remains of the naked blind hound, making a similar ploy for the mother dog's four legs by trajecting Siliwangi's heirloom bangles into each limb, and ordering them to stay immobile, splintering bones and rupturing joints if the monster dared to regenerate itself. The hound lost its footing and Alicia turned quickly, gathering her Arcane might again to erase the form of the giant ten-legged dog monster from the world's view.

However, its humanoid form remained, surprisingly sentient without the support of its hound mount. The Orange Witch performed the same flame gear magic as before, this time grinding against the monster's forearm. Its wrist which was still tightly clutching Kaito's sister was severed.

Then, another incantation was heard. "Xu-tlaquīzma! Xu-te-ōllin! Xu-tlāzot!"

From the sun rushed a fireball in the shape of a tiger's head and swallowed the humanoid's remaining hand whole. Alicia was startled and screeched. There was still a child in there. What maddening notion had possessed the pyromancer to summon a tiger's fiery maw, consuming a child whole?

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The Orange Witch did not bother. Now she extended her serpent staff, once again rattling the forest with her heavy roar. A blazing finish. "Xu-tepeh! Xu-tlahcuīl! Xu-tlamanal!"

The wheels of fire spun ever faster as if accumulating greater and greater heat until a giant explosion loomed like a tower. It endured for long minutes before the flames gradually subsided. The humanoid’s corporeal fabric became a shower of ash. Regeneration was a distant possibility.

Alicia screamed frantically as she attempted to capture the giant hand engulfed by the fire tiger's head. When the fire tiger's head gently landed, tongues of flame sprouted up until they caught the lass. Alicia let the flames tickle her palm before slowly dissipating. Strange as it was, what she felt was a soft, smooth caress—not blistered skin and sizzling flesh. The bespectacled lass quickly unfurled the bent fingers and found a little girl in a state of safety, looking at Alicia's face with eyes glazed over with horror and her body immediately inching out.

However, a familiar voice soon after was a melody in her ears. "Tome-chan!"

The little girl with the name glanced back, her face confused about whether to smile or cry. "Kaito-nichan!"

Kaito ran and hugged his sister, each releasing their longing through shared tears.

And with the situation easing, that meant Alicia's stomach could relieve the nausea and vomit it had been holding in. Thus, she immediately ran to the nearest bush and did so.

Once she had purged her stomach’s content, Alicia turned to Wisesa who was ambling breathlessly after vanquishing scores of Binxtrunach, flashing a feeble smile at the young man. Wisesa's mouth was half open, his expression flat, nodding his head. "It's done? Good... Good... Those sissy sailors better have dinner ready."

Barong, on the other hand, looked the other way and whispered to the two teenagers. "Hey, take a look at what that orange-clad witch is doing."

Alicia and Wisesa complied. In the midst of the ash rain, the Orange Witch had her back to them, kneeling with her head to the heavens. Her resounding voice intoned like a chanting prayer.

"What did she say?" asked Alicia.

Barong translated the prayer, “You have witnessed my valour, the power inside me unleashed and ablaze to satiate your whim. I thank you for your brilliant eye, still radiant on my skin, glistening through my sweat of labour. Do see me worthy, Do see me worthy, Do see me worthy, o the eye of Citlalicoatl, my one god!”

The pyromancer interlaced the fingers on both hands into a circle that trapped the sun into its shape. A light of hope amidst the choking smoke and murky ash. She had been doing it since right after the brood had died. There were hints of astonishment from the teenagers behind her.

"Who is Citlalicoatl?" Wisesa muttered.

"That, Wisesa, is the sole god of the Tamoanchanese," Barong explained. "The Star Serpent."

"Hey, we're in Kagatse, right? Maybe this is the Banaspati you spoke of?"

"No! I just found out the Tamoanchanese took refuge here. I've never even glimpsed Citlalicoatl!"

Wisesa jerked slightly and turned to the beast. "You're kidding!"

"Oh, actually I've been all the time..." Barong pointed to the sky. A sun.

"So they have no living gods?"

"I assure you, Wisesa....," Barong's voice became grave and thick. "Their god—her god is very much alive." A pause occurred in its jaw, as if it was holding back due to a sense of intimidation at the sun's presence. Or perhaps an imputed shame from Wisesa's impending scorn. "That sun... That sun as if it restricted my knowledge and intuition of the Tamoanchan Nation, to the extent that I know nothing of their ins and outs unless summoned."

The fire witch lowered her hand slowly and turned to see the two juveniles and one beast spirit looking at her in awe. She cared not.

"You're ruining my training session," the witch said. "However, you make quite the team and are surprisingly skilled. Never have these strange monsters been defeated so easily by a gang of kids." Her eyes fixated again upon the yawning cave and the soil before her. “A single blow, and nought but emptiness reigns, yet they left more bodies on our side. These monsters must be the remnants of the current wave a few days ago. Every fortnight they will scatter all over like a sea of savagery. We can either deal with them in one day, or last for two weeks only to welcome another wave. Plague be damned.”

With those contemplative words vented, the witch approached Wisesa. "The man who owns the Earth Monster. Who would have thought that with the modest task I gave you, your abilities continue to impress me? I've decided that I'll engage you in cast-and-clash every day!"

"Oh, gods." Wisesa rolled his eyes. "Nothing is decided here, you're nothing to me," he retorted.

"A power struggle is the surest means to ascertain one's status and abilities!"

"Tell me that when I care more."

"You impudent. At least you don't mind telling me your name..., Young Man?"

Wisesa, wearing a disgusted face, pulled his leg back, step by step. "Why are you talking to me like that? I bet our ages aren't that different. I could be older than you!"

The Orange Witch girded her loins, her mouth gaping upwards in laughter. "You? Older than me? Man, the little men in Tamoanchan surpass you in stature, and their average age is ten. How can I be younger than you?"

"I'm nineteen. But then again, I don't care."

"N-nineteen?" phlegm suddenly formed in the witch's throat.

Alicia was kind enough to tell her friend's name, though the expression etched on her face carried little warmth. "His name's Wisesa," she informed.

Hearing the spectacled girl's reply, the Orange Witch's scrutiny shifted to her. "Woman with Arcane. You're a nuisance, the reason my training faltered. Yet, you wield it skillfully. Most members of the Kagatsean Magisterium remain weak even with Arcane in their hands."

The spectacled lass’ eyebrows still dipped sharply, as did the line of her lips. "Well, I'm sorry if I interrupted yer day. It's just that, I can't tolerate you using other people as yer punching bag! Especially if it's a child!"

The pyromancer's head jerked back. "I'm using a child briefly to refine my abilities..., simulating the worst-case scenario of saving people from the Binxtrunach brood, not as a punching bag—"

"Same thing!" Alicia’s fist clenched, both eyes and ears tightly shut, stifling her anger. "Do ye not find yer manner of speech unsettling?"

Orb snapped, causing the Orange Witch to step back. She paid little heed to the rebuke, preferring to bend down to inspect the Arcane sphere. "This is your Arcane Source? Strange. It's literally mimicking your explosive self."

"Orb has a mind of its own, and I'm just peeved! Not explosive!"

"Woman, be at ease. The fire that ignites the forest is always the smallest one, yet it travels unbridled."

"I ask you to ponder for a moment whether you have the right to patronise me with the fire analogy!"

"Actually, maybe you should listen to this fire witch. I mean, you did explode on the beach and intended to scorch us," Wisesa retorted, backing himself behind a bush while gesturing forward, engaged Divine-knew-what, but the dripping of water could be heard. "Hey, Dark-Skinned Woman, did you know she has a 'fiery' aspect to her? That's because her name is Alicia Crimsonmane! Ha! Gotcha, Alicia!"

"Wisesa!"

"What? I'm introducing you..., and also getting revenge for your corny ass joke back in Yawadwipa!"

"Not just that, ye idiot! What are ye doing there?"

"What? So men can't pee now? Forgive me if I relieve myself here, okay?" The man's voice turned low. "Weird ass girl. You don't even look it. We're not in Camelot Castle, miss. We're in the wild. This is the wilderness! This is how people relieve themselves!"

The pyromancer chuckled. "Your male friend is amusing. Crimsonmane, by the way? The hue of your tresses, I presume? A clever play on words," she complimented. "But do exert control over yourself. If you disobey even the smallest things, it's no wonder you can easily kill random people with your powers. Next time I say stay in your dome, then stay in your dome."

The bookworm girl's eyes twitched, unable to bear the magical wizard's wise-ass behaviour. She wondered how the woman before her could say such things so lightly when she had previously toyed with people's lives. Alicia leaned forward again. Her shorter frame did not prevent her from looking fierce in front of the witch.

"And if I refuse?"

Alicia, don't. It's not worth it, Orb chanted a subtle warning.

"Nothing will happen, actually, other than restraining you in place and leaving you. Fighting you isn't worth it; you're a nobody, nothing more than a Magisterium mage putting on a show here and there. Arcane might is now a mere showpiece, useless."

The Orange Witch left the offended Alicia towards the two children who were comforting each other. Again, the lass wanted to lash out at her, but Wisesa's lunge from behind weakened her resolve, bringing to mind the fever that had racked her body that day. Alicia screamed and pushed Wisesa away. Her stomach churned once more.

"Did you even wash your hands?"

"Oh dear, you hygienic snob. I'm not that dirty. Your clothes are already dirty from earlier!"

While the two teenagers were arguing about openly peeing in the forest and other hygienic issues, the Orange Witch squatted down and addressed Kaito and Tome. "So, you're reunited, as I promised." She reached for her wand and murmured. A candle materialised from nothing and landed in Kaito's palm. "This candle is the feather of Citlalicoatl, my god, and the fire on the wick is his scales. With this candle, divine warmth will envelop your body, heart, and mind, inspiring you to dare to take the right path."

Doubt clouded Kaito's face. The word 'god' on her lips was like a trauma trigger, a real phobia. "God caused all this," Kaito said, gloomy. He was about to hand the candle back to the Orange Witch, but she pushed his hand back.

"Not my god," replied the Orange Witch. "Citlalicoatl sends trials so that his people become strong and live passionately like fire. This plague does not spark any passion. This is not the work of a god."

Kaito still did not accept the candle, but he stood up, then bowed, asking his sister to do the same. "I thank you for saving my sister!"

The Orange Witch beamed with pride. However, Kaito and Tome leaned towards the other two youths as well. "I'm also grateful to you for aiding this Candle Merchant Sister!"

"Aiding?" The pyromancer's voice became uneasy. She let out a long sigh and turned away. It was Alicia's turn to approach them softly. Her genuine smile behind the pain was more pleasing than the pyromancer's, so Kaito slowly smiled back. Not once had he done so to the former.

"I hope you take good care of your sister," Alicia said. "By the way, do you have any acquaintances to visit nearby? I'm afraid we'll need a place to spend the night."

Kaito shook his head. "All the survivors immediately evacuated to the capital."

"Hey, we're heading to the capital too!" Alicia responded while acting cheerful. "Why don't you come with us?"

They glanced at Tome, who was still shyly leaning near her brother's hand. In the end, she nodded. "W-we will...," was her short reply.

"You can speak in common tongue too?" Alicia ruffled the little girl's dark hair. "A canny wee bairn!"

"Hey, if you've had your fill of chatting, can you move your bodies and get out of here?" shouted the Orange Witch. She apparently had travelled some distance. "I can't guarantee that they are the only Mujinos here!"

They immediately moved to catch up with the pyromancer. "Wait a minute," Alicia remembered something, "We dinnae ken your name."

With a haughty grin, the pyromancer pointed to her chest with her thumb. "You can call me Izel, descendant of Tonatiuh!" []