ABSOLUTION OF FLAMES

In the otherwise silent land of absolute destruction, where within a thousand miles radius nothing existed but ravished earth, only sound was one of droplets falling down from the high sky. It was not the rain which fell, but crimson-dyed droplets full of vigor. High up in the sky, two figures stood opposite one another; Ignis was calmly gazing at the youth before him who, even now, still had a faint smile on his face. Beneath it were blood-soaked robes, still dripping red. While his right arm held onto a silent scythe, his left arm was nowhere to be found. Just a moment ago, as Lynne was preparing to defend against Ignis’ attack, and when Ignis felt the faint presence of Absolution, Lynne suddenly flickered out of the Spacial Lock.

While the time he was gone couldn’t be even counted with regular measures, in a battle of this level, it was more than enough for severe injury to emerge. Ignis, obviously, wouldn’t let the opportunity pass and while he was unable to strike Lynne with truly deadly injury, losing one arm was still considered a heavy one.

“Was it worth it?” Ignis asked yet again, his voice calm despite the raging, black flames surrounding his body. “Were you not concerned with those outside, you even stood a chance of killing me if you persevered. Now? You’ll be lucky if you can suppress me until the Tunnel begins collapsing.”

Ignis was truly baffled. Lynne had split a part of his Soul and attention twice now during the battle in order to assist those outside the Spacial Lock. Not only that, the second time he left was nearly three times longer than the first time. However, this had caused Ignis to finally sigh in relief. Even if he cannot obtain victory today, he at least cannot die. In that moment when he felt the presence of Absolution, he truly began fearing for his life.

Absolution means complete freedom, amnesty of worldly matters, where one’s Soul tunes in completely with the Source Laws. Throughout the massive history of the World, this was only the second case that Ignis knows of where it occurred. Even amongst the Primordial Gods, not a single one is capable of causing Absolution to appear – not even the three Primordial Fathers, figures who have lived at least a thousand times longer than Ignis himself, figures who have reached absolute pinnacle of possible strength and have retreated completely from the worldly matters. Even if all other Primordial Gods were to die this moment, the three figures wouldn’t even bat an eye, let alone help them.

Yet, he had sensed it within this youth standing before him. The first time he sensed it was during the first Great War where humans obtained absolute victory. He participated back then as well, but he was much weaker, and was sent here to temper himself. To everyone’s absolute shock, a solitary figure arose from the ashes of the collapsing humanity and slaughtered four Primordial Gods before forcing other four to retreat. Ignis only caught a glimpse of the figure back then, but he felt as though the weight of the entire universe was weighing down on him at that moment. The resonance with the Fire he felt circulating through that figure was impeccable – perfect. Once he returned home, he asked one of the three Primordial Fathers what could cause such phenomenon, and the answer was simple – Absolution.

All Laws which appear within the world, however abstract and elusive they may be, can be traced back to the same point – Source. Nobody truly knew what the Source was; some assumed it was just Origin Energy from which all else was born, while some believed it was even a sentient figure from another dimension entirely. Whatever the case may be, all Laws are birthed from it. In extension, be it a human or a god, or any other race, they all had to obey the Laws. For instance, Law of Death or Law of Life. Even if a human or a god were capable of ascending through the comprehension of those two laws, they would never have absolute control over either – it was simply impossible.

The best both sides could do was resonate with the Laws existing outside the Source itself, and use them to their advantage. In the end, it wasn’t their own power, but the power of Laws that caused them to be strong. Borrowed strength must one day be returned, which is why there was the concept of Absolute Death – that all things in the universe must one day die, as to replenish the depleting energy of the Source. Nothing and no one could escape that.

However, after Ignis witnessed the youth use the concept of Absolution itself, he began pondering whether such concept can be used with any Law. In the end, though, no matter how much he thought, answer was simply too abstruse. He didn’t even know what the Source was, let alone how Laws were comprised at their core. However, this was the second time he witnessed a human capable of reaching such heights of comprehension. What’s more, he felt the sense of similarity when he looked at Lynne and compared him to the youth from the age bygone. He was certain they weren’t related by blood in any way, but more in the terms of how they fought.

If Lynne was truly able to fully utilize the Absolution of Flames, nothing and no one would be able to withstand a single blow from him – not even the three Primordial Fathers. Such state would cause him to bypass all Laws in the existence, and resonate directly with the Source itself – drawing Laws from their Origin. Such thought terrified not only him, but every other Primordial God, and would probably terrify every single human being if they were to learn about it. Luckily, the youth before didn’t chase them through the Dimensional Tunnel into the Primordial Realm. If he had, perhaps, there would be no Primordial Gods today. To this day, Ignis never understood why the youth simply chased them away. He himself came back the very next war in hopes of meeting the youth, but, the youth was nowhere to be found, as though he perished in the eons of time.

Somehow, he had a feeling that even if Lynne comprehended Absolution, he would do the exact same thing – simply chase them away. Perhaps, comprehending such abstract concept lend itself to understanding some absolute truths of the World and the Source itself. In the end, it was all just a conjecture that Ignis drew up over millions of years of comprehension. He was no close to finding the actual truth than he was the day he was born.

“Why would I want to kill you?” Lynne asked back, glancing at his missing arm. “Whether I kill you or not plays a feeble role in humanity’s existence. Besides, in a way, you’re my Senior. However shameless I may be, it would take you quite a lot to anger me to the point of me wanting to kill you no matter what.”

“…” Ignis narrowed his eyes and studied the youth before him yet again. The strange sense of familiarity only grew stronger with the passage of time. “Why do you use scythe as your battle weapon? From my understanding of you, humans, it is considered a mere decoration.”

“Aii, don’t ask me about that,” Lynne suddenly shuddered as if he remembered something terrible. “Do you really think I wanted this? Don’t you see how ridiculous I look?”

“… you stand no chance of defeating me any longer. I don’t wish to kill you either. Why don’t we just end our battle here and wait results from others?” Ignis proposed. He truly didn’t wish to kill the youth in front of him. After all, it’s not as though he hated humans. There was even a faint presence of respect when he thought about them. They were thrown into harsh conditions and forced to crawl from the depths of hell. Yet, now, they were nearly strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with Primordial Gods.

“Ha ha, tempting, tempting indeed,” Lynne laughed lightly, his already graying hair fluttering in the wind. “However, this will be the last battle of my life, old man. If we ended it just like that, do you think I would be able to die in peace?”

“… ha ha,” even Ignis suddenly laughed, his coarse voice causing space ripples to appear around him. “Indeed, I don’t think you would. Very well, come! Let us battle to our hearts’ content!”

As he said that, space above him suddenly tore open as gigantic, thirty meters tall swords coated in black flames appeared, swirling around, tearing space open wherever they passed. Lynne licked his lips as he smiled, shrugging left side of his body and closing up the wound immediately as he heaved deeply, throwing his scythe into the sky. The very next moment, the weapon screeched like a wailing ghost and expanded into a towering giant, bloating out the sun itself. From shaft up to its sharp blade, white flames emerged like snakes and dragons, bellowing as though sentient. Lynne’s eyes grew sharp as he punched his chest, causing a mouthful of blood to spring out from him. His face grew paler, yet his eyes appeared as healthy as they day he was born.

Ignis’ body shuddered yet again. It’s here!! He screamed inwardly, shocked to his very core. He yet again felt the presence of Absolution – however, it was no longer faint. Rather, it resonated like war drums, echoed out from the white flames which coated the giant scythe. The weapon screeched as though it had met its old friend as Lynne swung his arm into empty space before him. As though it was responding to the commands, scythe fell from the sky, breaking through the speed of light and tearing open a giant gash in space before arriving in front of Ignis immediately, giving him no chance to reply. He simply sent the massive army of burning swords toward Lynne before the scythe bashed against him; he immediately felt his skin burn away to ash, startling him.

After all, he was a Primordial God of Flames – a true Empyrean. He withstood every flame imaginable, Skyfire included, and was never harmed by them. Yet, now, he felt threatened by these white flames. Crimson blood spurted out from his wound as he was blown back like a cannonball, dashing nearly fifty miles before forcibly stabilizing his body. Across his chest, there was a massive gash that wasn’t healing and was continuously bleeding. At its corners was charred skin, still pulsating in heat which caused him no small amount of pain. His eyes immediately darted toward distance and the youth currently approaching him. He had underestimated Lynne – he realized that now. It looks like he’s already comprehended Absolution… perhaps not to the level of that human from long ago, but he’s not far off. How is this possible?!