The ever darkening light, so bright that it streamed through the skin on Tia's throat, traveled up her neck and coalesced in her mouth, forming a chaotically shimmering ball of darkness that covered over all her teeth. It was strange to see a darkness that was bright, a darkness so black that even in night, it stood out, overshadowing shadows, but that made the incoming attack that much more ominous.

With a burst of magical energy that flattened the grasses around her, Tia loosed a beam of pure, life absorbing black that reached Azhar in an instant, very much like a laser. An explosion of darkness erupted around the point of impact, swelling out waves of surging shadows that billowed upwards like flames caught in the wind, swirling upwards in a spiraling pillar over a dozen meters high.

This was not an attack that could be dodged once it was fired. The beam had a nigh-instantaneous rate of travel and, as it was comprised of demonfire usable usually only by higher level demons and eldritch entities, likely had enough raw firepower to topple almost anything in this world. Even Li would have had to assume his true form and turn up his senses to their maximal setting to counter such an attack, let alone a pitifully weak mortal like Azhar.

For a second, Li thought Azhar might have just straight up died, marking the end of his very short lived religion, but an amazed whistle from the man himself disproved that notion.

The pillar of darkness faded almost as soon as it had erupted, which Li was also thankful for as the whole destructive scene – lasting only a second, if that – would escape public eyes.

With the pillar gone, Li could see Azhar sprawled across the ground, his phoenix tattoos glowing an angry red and a faint green aura of the [Haste] buff clinging to his skin. Dirt, leaves, and grass stuck to his face and clothes, and a small skid mark in the dirt leading up to him indicated that he had used as many speed boosts as he could to faceplant himself out of the beam's way.

Seeing Azhar alive, Li rushed up to Tia, tending to her as she wobbled down to her side.

"I said to use common sense," said Li, a little admonishingly, but overall, he was more concerned with discerning whether she was okay. He checked her eyes as Azhar had taught him to and found them brimming with life, even with delight that she could now somewhat manage to control this power so far beyond her current means.

At the least, she did not pass out from using demonfire anymore. Though, by how slack her muscles were, it did not seem like she could move either.

"Well, I can't really punish you for doing your best." Li smiled faintly as he scooped Tia up in his arms. She had become noticeably larger even in the span of the single battle, more muscle mass gathered around her legs and frame, and he wondered how much longer he could reliably carry her in his arms like this.

Tia lolled her forked tongue out in exhaustion and satisfaction, drawing in shallow but heavy breaths.

"I'll be damned, though," said Azhar as he leaped back to his feet. "She's getting' stronger at a rate unheard of. Give her a year or two, hells, a few months, and she'd be a threat to a whole city."

"I'm impressed with you as well," said Li. "You managed to dodge that? I fully expected to find you dead."

"You wouldn't have been sad bout' that?" Azhar laughed before shaking his head. "I didn't so much dodge it as I read it. Locked eyes with her, got a read on her soul, then moved right before she fired."

"Regardless, I do agree with the young lad," remarked Old Thane with wonder. "A splendid attack that was. I have encountered full fledged dragons before, not mere wyrms and wyverns, and that blow had all the powerful pressure of dragon breath. Yet, I could also sense the dread of demons within."

Zagan had sat up from his laid down position, his ears perked up in interest as he peered at Tia.

"Hear that? Everyone's praising you," said Li to Tia, and she bared a toothy smile. "But you're going to be taking a break from fighting for a bit. You might have the will to push on, but your body has no more energy left."

"A good decision." Azhar came up to Li. "I'd say let her rest for a week if she has to, she's done a whole month's worth of regular evolvin' for a normal wyrm after all."

Li nodded. "I'll also say I'm impressed you managed to dodge that."

"I mean, not entirely." Azhar twisted his body to showcase his right arm. It had been caught in the blast and become completely withered. It was as if it had been drained entirely of moisture and aged a hundred years, leaving the arm half its regular size, thin and wreathed with wrinkles, looking so fragile that it looked as if it would disintegrate with one touch. "First the darkbeast and now this. Guess my right arm's got bad luck, eh?"

Old Thane rushed up to Azhar, putting a worried hand on the hinterlander's shoulder. "Young lad, are you not familiar with demons?"

"A little too young to have fought with em'," said Azhar. He cocked his head, wondering why the old man was in such a rushed worry.

"I can understand where he's coming from," said Li. "Demonfire not only deals true damage, ignoring any resistances, but its damage also cannot be reversed with healing spells."

Azhar's eyes widened. "What? So I'm left with a dud arm for the rest of my life?"

"Not so, lad." Old Thane nodded. "Merely the bodypart itself is plagued. Amputating it can allow powerful healing to regrow it. I myself have undergone the procedure many times in the demon wars, though among many, only Aine was able to cast healing magic of high enough rank to regrow entire limbs in a mere instant."

"You're lucky I'm around," said Li. He looked at Azhar's arm. "If I recall correctly, the debuff gets worse over time, so let's get started with the treatment. Look at the bright side: you get to have an excuse to recover much sooner than you normally would have."

"Well, guess I've learned what I need to by now. Though I'm still gonna' stick round' to help out with the farm and learn a few things til' everyone else shows up form the hunt."

Li raised a brow. "You won't go rushing down south now that you have your arm? You aren't worried?"

"Naw. I might worry, but I still got faith in my sisters. And I don't like to admit it, but that blonde rich boy's strong, more than strong enough to cover for me. Might as well take it slow while I can."

"Fair enough." Li's arms were occupied holding Tia, so he called to Old Thane. "Old man, I'll do you the honor of taking that arm out."

Azhar turned his right side to Old Thane. The old man stepped forwards and grasped the withered arm in his hands. All of a sudden, the old man tore off the arm in a swift motion. The arm came off easily like a snapped twig, and as soon as it fell from Azhar's body, it crumbled into dust.

"A little warning woulda' been nice, old man," said Azhar as he set his jaw to counter the pain as blood began to spurt from his shoulder, right where the arm had been disconnected.

"A rotten tooth should be removed quickly and without warning," said Old Thane.

"That's very true," said Li.

Azhar glanced at his bleeding and empty arm socket. "This is a lot more than a blackened ol' tooth."

"That's a lot of complaining for someone who suffered a hundred times worse just a day before." Li sighed as he waved his hand to cast his healing spell.

In a burst of green light, a new arm materialized for Azhar. He looked in wonder as he wiggled his new fingers and flexed the muscles, getting a feel of them.

"Jus' like new," said Azhar. "You know, it's always amazin' to feel yer healin'. Only the best priests can manage to grow new limbs, and even then, they are a lot weaker and thinner than they were before. Yer healin' manages to make em' perfect, like they ain't ever been harmed in the first place."

Old Thane nodded in agreement. "Those attuned with forest teachings must be exceptional healers. Aine, too, could do much the same."

"Wonder she didn't jus' wave away our sicknesses when we was little," said Azhar.

Old Thane shrugged. "She wished to nurture you, not coddle you. Letting you battle your ills tempers your body, and were you to perish, then that merely meant your time was simply up."

Azhar looked mildly horrified. "Y'know, old man, I can kinda' see how you two ended up together. I used to think you two were way different, but now, not so much."

Tia let out a low, weak growl, but even that was loud enough to cut the conversation short.

Li nodded to her. "You want to see my spell now?"

She gave one slow but enthusiastic nod.

"I'm kinda interested, too," said Azhar.

"As am I," chimed in Old Thane.

"It won't be anything too flashy if that's what you all are hoping for. I'm not going to be slamming out earthquakes or anything."

Azhar blinked. "Huh? You can do that?"

Li ignored him as he went to the spot where Tia's demonfire beam had hit. There was now a barren patch of soil there completely bereft of any sign of green. The vegetation had not merely wilted, it had lost so much life that it had simply disintegrated into oblivion.

He laid Tia gently down on the grass right beside the deadened patch. She looked at him in wonder.

Li knelt by Tia and reached a pale hand out to the barren land. "Look, Tia, this might not seem like much, but your fighting does have consequences. It's killed this land, and left untreated, this demonfire rot will spread everywhere, killing everything."

Tia's eyes averted in guilt, and Li took upon a gentle tone. "You simply have to be more aware of your surroundings and of yourself. Think about your actions and how they will impact yourself and others. Fight when you have to, hurt when you have to, kill when you have to, but don't let it consume you and drown everything else out."

His hand touched the dead soil. "And if you do make a mistake, because nobody is without them, always try and fix them.���

Li casted [Wild Growth] to regrow the grass. Were he more attuned with his spiritual powers, then he could have simply recreated the song for the grass and regrown it manually, but he did not yet have that ability, reminding him further to get back to that training when he could.

For now, though, Li was curious as to what [Wild Growth] would do. In Elden World, it instantly resurrected plant summons to full health and cleansing debuffs. If they were merely damaged, then on top of being healed, they would be granted several buffs such as enhanced resistances, more life points, and boosted abilities.

There were times he wondered about using the spell on the farm, but he had never followed through with the notions as he thought it too much like using powers that he simply did not understand the significance of to do what his own two hands should have the responsibility of doing.

And perhaps it was a good thing, because as the spell's effects took place and Azhar and Tia's eyes widened in complete surprise, he realized it would have brought untold amounts of attention upon him.