The throne room erupted into a maelstrom of fire and fury as White Flame met Hellfire in a churning war. The impact sent out a blast of ferocious wind that whipped against Hump’s face and scorched his skin. White fire clashed violently with raging scarlet and streaks of black, each wave of flame surging against the other in a tumultuous dance of destruction. The scent of sulphur filled the air, sharp and acrid, burning at Hump’s nostrils. The air itself crackled with the force of their clash. His flames, as fierce as any he had made, were being consumed, overpowered by the relentless onslaught of Karlac’s Hellfire. Nisha tried to help, unleashing her own fire in the mix, but it was swallowed up in seconds.
Hump could feel the intensity of Karlac’s presence through the demon’s Hellfire. The flames were angry and violent, pressing forward with an almost crushing force, spreading like an all-consuming wave. Hellfire was more than just a spell; it was imbued with such pure intent that it took on a life of its own, driven by a hunger to consume and destroy. It was a battle focus, intent, and sheer, staggering power.
Though Hump poured every ounce of essence into the battle, he was on the losing side.
This isn’t working, Hump thought. The more strength he threw in, the faster he would lose. Hellfire drew on Hump’s own essence for fuel, burning hotter the harder he tried to fight it. How could he beat that? He gritted his teeth—he’d figure that out later. Right now, he needed to conserve his strength.
Against his instincts, he withdrew his essence from White Flame, letting the spell fall. As it did, the scarlet flames of Hellfire washed over what residual essence remained, expanding as it absorbed its power. It filled Hump’s vision, hot against his eyes. A mass of rolling destruction.
As Hump watched it roll closer, it felt as if he were trying to stop a hurricane—a force of nature. But he’d faced these flames before and held his own. This time, he knew what to expect. He’d spent weeks preparing for this encounter, bracing himself for the destructive intent of Hellfire.
He raised his staff, shouting, “Shield!” A shimmering dome of essence enveloped him, its surface flickering with streaks of blue as it absorbed the impact of the flames. Hump grunted at the sudden impact, as if he’d been struck by a boulder rather than fire. He leant into the force, keeping his balance as it threatened to send him stumbling back. Cold lanced through him as he called upon his essence, throwing more power to his Shield as ripples of light spread across its surface as the fire enveloped Hump entirely in the deadly embrace. Celaine, Nisha, and even Karlac were gone from his sight. He was surrounded by a ball of Hellfire, and it was burning its way through.
The heat was unbearable—a searing agony that pressed against him from all sides as sweat poured down his face. The sheer force of Karlac’s Hellfire made every second to maintain his barrier a battle. The strain on his body, and the draining of his essence as he fought to hold on was nearly too much.
Karlac was unrelenting. The demon’s strategy was brutally simple—overwhelm Hump with pure strength, burn through his defences until nothing remained. And Hump knew, deep down, that Karlac would win if this continued. Defensive magic was costly, draining him faster than he could afford. The demon’s fire pressed harder, its heat intensifying with each passing moment, as if growing as it consumed Hump’s essence. A blaze that would not go out until there was nothing left to fuel it. It was a race against time, and Hump was rapidly running out of options.
Hump extended his Shield, trying to expand it and keep the flames farther from his body. It bought him a moment’s reprieve from the scorching blaze. A moment to think. Hump sensed the chaotic energy within the flames. This fire was not just a wild force of nature—it was a living, breathing entity, full of frenzied intent and insatiable hunger to burn and destroy.
A crack split down his Shield, essence leaking from it in a thick stream as Hump poured more power in to stop it. Flame licked at him, agony against his bare flesh. Even as the gap was sealed, it kept burning. His cheek and chin blistered in a burst of unbearable pain. A ripping scream tore from his throat as he swatted at it with the sleeve of his battle robes, the enchanted fabric smothering the flame, yet the stench of his burnt flesh persisted.
He clenched his jaw, the pain feeding his anger and bolstering his defences. Celaine and Nisha were out there. He couldn’t let it end like this. He couldn’t let them fall to this demon. He had to do something… anything.
It was a reckless, desperate act, but it was all Hump could think of. He reached for his soul, manifesting it around him despite the obvious peril. The Hellfire reacted immediately, flocking to him like a cloud of mosquitos, desperate for a taste. And Hump let it have it.
As the Hellfire scorched at his soul, trying to consume him, he refused to let it go. Instead, he reached out with his will and essence, not to repel the scarlet flames, but to grasp them and take hold of their frenzied energy.
He would wield the winds of Hellfire, or he would die trying.
#
Celaine watched in horror as Hump was overwhelmed by flames. Her heart pounded in her chest as she took in the sight of Nishari, who was slumped and trembling beside her, utterly spent. The dragon’s breath she’d used had drained her of nearly everything, leaving her barely able to stand, let alone fight.
Then her eyes went to Karlac, the devil grinning as he watched his magic at work. She’d put an end to that. Drawing an arrow, she placed it on the string of her bow and drew it back. Her blessings rose freely, all of them mingling at once. Arrows of shadow manifested around her as she pulled the shadows closer, using them to infuse her arrows with Predator’s Intent, Nightstalkers Vow, Eclipse Arrow. Yet as she eyed Karlac with Relentless Pursuit, searching for a weakness, she saw nothing. He was entirely guarded, even now.
No, not entirely. There was a spot of red where his heart was. That was all Celaine needed to loose. Her arrow tore through the throne room, perfectly on target.
Karlac’s hand went to his sword. He drew it in a sweep, swatting aside her arrows in a blast of wind and an explosion of essence. Yet even as his gaze turned on her, the Hellfire blaze that entombed Hump did not end.
“How?” Celaine muttered. She’d disrupted him, had she not?
“That is the beauty of Hellfire,” Karlac said. “It does not go out so long as there is fuel. Right now, it does not even need my essence, for the wizard is providing it all the fuel it needs.
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“What will you do, Huntress of Owalyn?” Karlac’s voice softened. His control over the fire seemed supreme, the orb of flame a constant roar in the room. “You have little stake in this battle. Owalyn is no ally to the Pantheon.”
“I am not here for Owalyn,” Celaine said.
“Then why come to my domain?” Karlac asked. “Is this boy worth dying for? No… he was free to leave. It is his spellbook you are all dying for.”
Celaine gritted her teeth. As if she didn’t know how dangerous such an artifact would be in the wrong hands.
“But I am ever merciful.” The demon let out a long sigh. “You carry treasures on you. I sense the power of Owalyn and the Great Tree in your bow, and the dagger you hold is an artifact of shadow. Leave them, and you can take your dragon and leave.”
Hump’s words echoed in Celaine’s mind: they didn’t need to defeat the demon, only to survive until the dungeon core was destroyed. She looked once more at the flaming orb that had swallowed Hump. He was still fighting. She could sense him within, as weak as his intent seemed when surrounded by such intensity.
This wasn’t over. They could win. All she needed to do was buy time and keep Nisha safe. In a rush, Celaine wrapped her arms around Nisha, lifting her as she backed away from Karlac. To many, Nisha’s weight would have been too much to bear, but Celaine’s dragonblood surged with the adrenaline and fury coursing through her veins. Every ounce of her anger fuelled her strength as she pulled more darkness to her.
It enveloped her in a thick, inky fog. The world became a blurred haze, but to Celaine’s eye, it was clear as day. She retreated behind one of the many pillars of the room, sheltering beside a statue of a strange frog creature. The darkness expanded around her, spreading throughout the throne room, dragging in the devil’s trophies.
Since gaining the Way of the Shadow Archer blessing, the shadows had become Celaine’s sanctuary, a place where she could hide from her enemies, where she could strike with deadly precision. In the shadows, she was a predator, and the world was her hunting ground.
Yet here, the darkness felt different.
“There is nowhere to run,” Karlac’s voice echoed all around her.
Her heart raced. She dashed from where she hid, moving silently to the next pillar and searching for the demon. Seeing nothing, she wove through the winding collection of trophies and ornaments, only for the darkness she once commanded to slip through her fingers like water. No matter how hard she tried to draw it around her and hide within it, the devil found her. His presence loomed above, a dark spectre that saw her every move. His mastery of the shadows far surpassed her own, and she felt like prey in his territory.
Each time Karlac closed in, Celaine managed to use her speed to evade him by the narrowest margins. She darted around corners, her breath coming in ragged gasps, clinging to the shadows like a terrified rabbit desperate to escape a darthawk. She reached out with her will, pulling harder at the essence around her, trying to smother herself in darkness. But no matter how much she strained, the essence turned on her the moment her focus lapsed even a little, fading away. She passed a window—outside, there was nothing but an abyss of black, as if the castle was adrift in a void of nothingness.
“You cannot hide from me, little rabbit,” Karlc’s voice echoed through the halls, dripping with malevolence. “This is my domain, and I know the shadows far better than you.”
Celaine’s heart pounded as she rounded yet another corner, glancing back to see if she had finally lost him. Relief flooded her when she saw only an empty floorspace. She dared to hope, believing she might have outmanoeuvred him at last. She put Nisha down to catch her breath, the dragon on high alert despite her exhaustion.
She turned once more, only for her heart to leap as a face of fire materialised before her, the shadows peeling away to reveal Karlac’s sinister grin. Desperation seized her as she shoved Nisha back the way they had come. She drew Bloodshadow, using it as a conduit for her powers, and drawing upon its own affinity with shadow. Now, the darkness came to her more willingly, concealing her from sight. There, she waited, watching Nisha and waiting for Karlac to make his move.
He appeared suddenly and silently. Celaine lunged with Bloodshadow, her dagger slashing through the air. But it found nothing—only empty space where Karlac had stood.
Before she could react, the shadows congealed around her, solidifying into dark, binding ropes that coiled around her limbs, lifting her off the ground. She sensed his deadly power in those ropes, and pressed back with her own will. Desperation fuelled her intent, as she drew upon all her blessings and essence throwing it to the shadows, willing it to die and become destroyed. Willing it to return to nothing, yet it did not budge. She struggled, her breath quickening in panic as Karlac stepped forward, his wings of shadow furling behind him like the cloak of death itself. His smile was cold. Triumphant.
Karlac studied her face, soaking in her panic, savouring his victory. “You are an unfortunate bystander in all this. It is your wizard friend you must blame for that. I gave him his chance and he declined me.”
Celaine met his gaze with a fierce glare. The weight of his dark intent pressed down on her like a suffocating blanket. It was the same oppressive aura she had felt from dragons trying to assert their dominance, but she refused to submit. Her hate boiled within her, a seething mass of rage that channelled into her will, forcing herself to push back against the bonds that held her. She could feel the essence within the ropes falter, wisps of shadow rising. It was only slight, but she knew she could break them. She just needed time.
Karlac’s eyes gleamed with amusement as he leaned closer, his fingers gripping her chin, turning her head so he could study her face. “Now you are a special one,” he murmured, his voice almost admiring. “That hatred, that desire to kill. It has been a long time since I sensed such purity. The apple does not fall far from the Great Tree, does it?” He chuckled at his own words as though he had made a joke only he understood. “Though I suppose there will be no more fruit, hmm?”
His nail traced a slow, deliberate line down her cheek. Searing hot pain flared as it cut deep. Blood welled up, hot and thick, running down her face and neck. Celaine inhaled sharply, the pain fuelling the hate that simmered within her. Something shifted inside her, an ancient force awakening, growing stronger. She reached for it, pulling it toward her, willing it to rise and protect her. She called on Owalyn, for the warmth of their bond, feeling the comforting strength of her response. Even here, Owalyn was with her.
Karlac’s eyes narrowed as he sensed the shift in her, but he dismissed it with a smirk. “Such defiance… but all can be broken.” He struck her across the check, so fast and hard Celaine didn’t even have the chance to turn her head.
Her head snapped to the side. Stars exploded in her vision, and for a moment, everything spun. But Celaine fought through the dizziness, her glare locking onto Karlac with renewed intensity. A metallic tang of blood filled her mouth, pooling at the front of her teeth. She spat it at him, bloody saliva splattering the demon’s face.
He blinked, confusion on his face as he touched his fingers to his cheek, inspecting her blood on them. He withdrew a handkerchief and calmly wiped it away, his eyes darkening.
“You should not have done that.”
The ropes binding Celaine tightened, pulling her limbs apart until her joints screamed in agony. She bit down on the pain, refusing to give Karlac the satisfaction of hearing her cry out. Her own power continued to build within her, mingling with her rage, her will sharpening into a deadly edge. The ropes began to unravel, dissolving into shadows as her power surged forth, fuelled by her killing intent.
The darkness rose around her once more, thicker this time. The haze filled the world before her with such density it turned to pure black. Within it, Celaine sensed everything. Nisha shivered nearby, terrified of the darkness as much as the demon.
Karlac’s grip on her faltered, shock overcoming him as the shadows that bound her collapsed, consumed by her hatred. “How?” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “You are Chosen? How can you manifest your soul?”
Celaine smirked and said coldly, “You should have trapped me while you had the chance. Now you will never have me.”
With a surge of power, she invoked Shadow Vault, turning in his grip and launching herself from his chest. The jump sent Karlac stumbling back. She withdrew her bow, plucking an arrow from the shadow and feeling its strength in her hand. Something had changed. Karlac’s words echoed in her mind—Soul Manifestation. How that was possible, she did not know.
But now, the hunt was on.