Flama was not leaving until he got what he wanted, and that was his wife and destroying the sword or Max's forced confession. He had rounded up all the old employees of the temple and that surrounded at gunpoint by several of his knights in an aggressive effort to get Max to come out.
His plan was working, and Max was handcuffed, on the ground, with Flama's heel digging into his side.
"This is where you belong," Flama shouted. "I will never extend a kindness of forgiving the sin of one's filthy birth ever again."
"I never needed one," Max replied.
Flama gave him a swift kick to the side and Max cried out because he was starting to bruise all over. Flama had finally stopped stomping on his legs but now he was working his way slowly up his body, and Max worried what would happen once he got to his head.
Eric saw that the rest of the Adventure Club were in the lobby, but all of them were too afraid to do anything because all it took was one false move and one of the elderly hostages would get shot in the head. His main concern was getting them free, but if Flama got the sword and melted it, then Max would die.
He decided to kill two birds with one stone.
"Hey Kylan," Eric whispered. "I need you to be distracting. Get him away from Max."
"I. AM. ON. IT."
Kylan was good at very few things, and one of them was being loud. He took a few steps to the left, then a few steps to the right, and clapped his hands. Flama stopped kicking Max and watched in confusion as a young man started awkwardly dancing and singing in the middle of a hostage situation.
"What the fuck is wrong with you," Flama asked.
"I don't want to hear that from a BAD COSPLAYER," Kylan shouted. "I bet you can't DANCE either."
"My cosplay is not bad! Wait. I am not a cosplayer!"
Kylan was slowly dancing and moving to the left and Flama was weirdly taking the obvious bait. His knights were amused instead of perceiving Kylan as a threat and knew it was a distraction, but didn't think it worked very well. They didn't think their hostages were capable of fighting back either.
The elderly employees in the temple were all Weavers and were waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
The knights made the mistake of taking their eyes off their elderly captives, and once they all looked away, they took their chance to fight back. Their eyes turned milky grey, and in unison, they spoke to their ancestors of the temple, and the fire spirit of the volcano in the mountain range.
The knights burst into flames while Kylan finished his final dance move, a twirl in place.
Flama mistakenly believed that Kylan was the one who had killed his knights because of the timing of both events and started slowly backing away from him.
"You're a monster," Flama screamed. "You're going to pay for this!"
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Kylan was more preoccupied with the screaming men, flailing on the ground than Flama's empty threat. The men screamed in anguish, and rolled across the floor, spreading the fire. Eric panicked because if fire got to his body he would be useless, and for the first time in a fight, he froze up.
Aster was seeing a repeat of watching a friend burn alive and he was not going to let that happen again. He pushed open the large temple doors, and a giant gust of wind came through. Ice poured into the halls, and crept along the floor, up the walls, and over the furniture. Phoenix saw this chance to finally stop the madness that had overcome the Duke and was going to take him down.
Phoenix's body grew in size, and his shirt almost tore when he charged for the Duke. The Adventure Club cheered in victory, but it was too early of a celebration. Phoenix wasn't thinking, and the ice that just formed all over the floor made him slip. The lighter in his pocket fell out and slid on the floor over to Flama's boot and a devilish grin spread on his face.
"Oh," Max said. "Oh no."
Phoenix knew what he was going to do before he bent down to pick it up. He got up again to go for it, and this time he was able to smack Flama into the wall like a doll. His head was bleeding when he tried to stand, but something hot spread from inside of him. He thought of how his knight exploded in flames and prepared himself.
He was right, and the fire burned off his clothes, leaving a naked angry man even angrier than before. Still believing it was Kylan instead of the temple employees who were controlling the fire, Flama put his anger in the wrong direction. He was still on fire, running to Kylan, melting the icy floor beneath him.
"Get away from me, you naked creep," Kylan shouted.
Kylan picked up a nearby backpack on the floor, took out a water bottle, and used his new ability to use the water against Flama, but wasn't enough. It singed the top of his head, and Flama's body lit up again. Phoenix chased after him from behind but Aster once again stopped Flama from reaching his target. The temple doors were still open, and another gust of wind put out the fire covering Flama's body.
Now he was a very skinny, naked man, standing in public, surrounded by dead bodies, teenagers, and the elderly, a speed-run on how to get on a list.
"Dude, put on some pants," Kylan said. "No one wants to see all that."
"Why are you so STUPID," Flama screamed. "Why-"
Aster gave him a swift punch to his face and a tooth went flying out of his mouth. The entire Adventure Club went ooooh, when they saw Flama's ruined face.
"I will k-"
Aster now gave him a punch in his abdomen, an uppercut, sucking the wind out of his breath. Flama sounded like he was choking on his own words with every punch Aster gave him. Aster was not going to stop, he was not going to see another person die a slow, painful death from fire ever again. Anger gave Aster and Flama strength, but Aster had loyalty which gave him purpose, and Flama had none of that.
After beating Flama within an inch of his life, he was left a bloody mess in a corner. The only one who bothered to check on him was his wife, who draped a jacket over him to "hide his shame." Aster sat on a bench, shaken and still angry when Kylan arrived. Aster felt ashamed that his anger made him almost kill Flama, but Kylan didn't care.
"That. Was. AWESOME," Kylan shouted.
"It was?"
"YEAH! I also heard you talking about the history stuff earlier on the hike! You're so smart!"
Aster's ego was inflating again, grinning that he now had a fan. Eric shook his head in embarrassment and went to check on Max.
Princess Rhiannon had used the sword to cut Max free from the handcuffs and he once again was whole when the sword returned to his body. Tiffany gave him a giant hug the moment was free, and Max winced in pain from the bruises but tried to smile through it.
Since it was late, everyone had to stay the night at the Faja Temple.
In the morning, Phoenix was given a bill for the overnight stay and damages to historical property, which Princess Rhiannon was kind enough to pay for him. Princess Rhiannon was also kind enough to say that she saw nothing of any importance happen during her visit to the Flaja Temple with her husband. When she went to check on her husband in the room they had left him in, he had died in his sleep.
Flama's head wounds had battered his brain and that was the end for the Duke of Fadeno.
Princess Rhianno climbed into the old, creaky bed, placed his head in her lap, blew out the candle on the bedside table, and closed her eyes.
She couldn't see him because he didn't want to be seen, and she cried.