…

Souma fell into the lava due to Kami-sama….

…

As he sank into the depths of the lava, Souma screamed as the lava surrounded him…

“AHHH ITS HOT HOT!!!....wait...I’m not dying…” Noticing the lava burn with intense heat, Souma wondered about his situation..

‘It’s really hot...but it’s bearable...I wonder if this lava….’

Looking at the lava that encased his entire body, Souma felt the need to swim in it. He didn’t notice that his body had hardened to stabilize his skin from the immense heat. Somehow his eyes weren’t affected by the lava as if a magical layer protected his eyes from any contact. Noticing this, Souma began to scope the entire place under the lava. As he began to dive deeper into the lava, Souma noticed several crystals that glowed with a fiery blaze within the pocket of the walls. He stuck his hand and forced his way fingers into the crevices to pluck the crystals out. Souma finally got a hold of one and stared at the crystal while deep under the lava.

“Wow such a nice, red color this crystal has…” Of course when speaking in lava, his voice didn’t travel much and he tasted raw lava and burnt his tongue…

“MHMM MHMMMM” That was all he humbled but Souma was screaming so loudly in his head…

‘IT’S HOT HOT IT DOESN’T EVEN TASTE GOOD HOTTTT WHAT THE HELL AHHHH MY TONGUEEEEEE I CAN’T EVEN CHECK IF MY TONGUE IS OKAY OR NOT BECAUSE I HAVE TO OPEN MY MOUTH AHHHH!!!!!!’

Souma squirmed while deep under the lava and decided to ignore the excruciating pain that burnt several of his taste buds..or even his entire tongue….

‘I wonder why I’m not dead….Am I some sort of beast...’

Souma continued to think as his body became accustomed to the lava heat. He used the void ring to store the fire crystals and continued on.

Souma looked at his entire surroundings and saw the many crevices with similar red glows between the cracks. He swam in the lava as if it were water and continued to gather the many crystals that laid in the underwater(lava) cavern. As he descended, the entire cavern was completely dark orange. With the mixture of lava and earth, it created a weird color under the lava. He continued to observe the many gaps and cracks that appeared on the surface of the cavern.

He continued his exploration and came to a human-sized gap in the wall. Taking heed to his instincts, Souma swam through the gap and came to an area where the surface was. As he approached the surface, Souma shot up from the lava and landed on the hard ground that echoed throughout the cave. As the lava lit up the area where Souma landed from, he noticed the cave that extended further inward.

Taking caution whether his tongue had healed or not, Souma, slowly, began to talk…

“A...h...th..is...my ton..gue is fine….phew…”

“...This place is huge...wow..”

Looking around the area, Souma noticed the inner workings of the cave and saw the many rock formations on both the ceiling and the floor. The cave had many stalagmites and stalactites that covered the entire cave. The rock formations were an unnatural shade of black and they poked out of their respective surfaces. Several of the rock formations formed columns as they grew towards each other. Upon the entrance of the cave, there were several columns that stuck out. They were different from the others since it looked man-made. The columns were more like giant pillars that stuck to the ceiling and had the same Kurogane symbol etched onto them. Taking notice of the symbol, Souma began to head in the direction which the pillars guided him to.

As he walked, the light from the lava quickly disappeared and Souma’s entire view was blocked by the darkness. Souma did not fret as the voice of his ancestor continued to trail in his mind…

….

“...Souma...this is simply the start of your trial…”

“I hope you did not think I was going to let you carry my weapon without testing you first…”

“....and no cheating…”

….

Sighing at his own predicament, Souma continued to walk in darkness. He couldn’t use his new mapping skill somehow and the darkness continued to annoy him...

‘Why can’t I just destroy the entire floor and go to where Ojii-san wants me to go….’

Looking at his situation, Souma wondered why he couldn’t just cheat and decided to finally do so…

“Hehe...Ojii probably won’t know…”

Souma stood silently in the darkness and began to recall his Martial Winds form, where he applied his martial art skills into one style. His body began to glow but suddenly…

“Kozo...I had better expectations from you...why did you try and cheat…”

A familiar voice echoed through the darkness and the voice called out again..

“Oho...this brat thinks he’s smart...don’t worry...I made sure Kami-sama took out your forms...and you cannot see your stats or your window anyways...good luck...my descendant….” The voice trailed off into the darkness and left a despondent man alone…

“CHIKUSHO!!!”

Souma screamed into the darkness but upon doing so, several shadows with purple eyes began to appear in the darkness.

Souma’s voice had alerted the beasts that slept within the darkness and many of them aren’t pleased with the abrupt shouting. Souma began to lament on his situation and screamed internally but this wasn’t the time for him to relax. As the shadows leaped at Souma, his instincts went into action. While he dodged several strikes from the mysterious creatures, he didn’t notice that he strayed away from the path. Moving left and right, Souma swiftly dodged the strikes and suddenly he came into contact with one of the stalagmites and broke the rock formation. As he fell onto the rock debris, the shadows encircled him with their piercing purple gaze. The shadows began to strike his entire body and their strikes dug deep into his skin. Blood spurts appeared as they struck at Souma and he continued to scream in the darkness. Souma, completely irritated by the attacks, stood up while they continued their assault. A terrifying gaze was placed upon the shadows as they were stunned in fear. A tiny bit of rage succumbed Souma and he began to retaliate…

With his instincts already enhanced in the darkness, he somehow knew where the nearest shadow being was at. Souma dashed towards the shadow near him and quickly got a hold of it’s neck. Gradually increasing his grip, the shadow began to let out several gasps and noises.

“Gaaaahhh...gar….gar…..”

The shadow mumbled several words that had no apparent meaning and Souma tightened his grip.

Eventually Souma’s grip killed the shadow and the remaining shadows snapped out of their confusion. The shadow began to dissolve into a dark mist and a purple crystal appeared out of the mist and fell onto the floor. Souma noticed the crystal and went to retrieve it but he was preoccupied with his current situation. Two shadows leaped at Souma and attempted to strike at Souma, however what followed next was completely the opposite. Upon noticing the two shadows, Souma quickly shifted his entire body and swung his right leg in a axe kick formation and quickly killed the shadows that lunged at him. They, too bursted into a dark mist, leaving behind a purple crystal that shined in the darkness. The rest of the shadows attempted to retreat into the darkness but Souma had already caught up to them and bashed their bodies until their bursted into the darkness, leaving behind the crystals. He simply brushed off the wounds he had received and stared at the bodies disappearing into a black mist….

Souma noticed the copious amounts of purple crystals that laid on the floor and then quickly picked them up…

“Haaa...this purple crystal looks weird...with the jagged edges...but it shines so pretty...What is with these crystals anyways….first the fire crystal and this purple one…”

….

Several moments passed by as Souma continued to stare at the crystal and then he soon realized… He was lost…

“Achaaa...where the heck am I….I was following the pillars and then these shadows lured me far away….I can’t see that well...I wish I could see right now…”

Souma continued to talk to himself and began to use his hands to feel his surroundings. He touched several stalagmites and various rock formations in the darkness. As he continued to shuffle through the darkness, he walked into a stalactite that formed from the ceiling and stumbled backwards…

“Oww...It doesn’t hurt much but what the hell…”

Souma rubbed his forehead where the stalactite came into contact and continued his search.

Several hours of Souma rummaging through the darkness and still nothing came up. Finally he used his brain and pulled out the Fire crystal from the void and the crystal shined brightly in the darkness. Souma laid his palms out and had a crystal in each hand. Using the light from the fire crystals, he continued his search for the pillars. Souma walked for a few more hours and came across the path with the jointed pillars…

“Finally...I’m so stupid...why didn’t I use that crystal in the first place..idiot…”

Souma was too busy self-loathing at his stupidity to even notice that he was about to run into that…

*BAM!*

“GOD DAMMIT!!!...”

Souma was completely irritated and one of the crystals fell on the floor as he ran into one of the pillar formations. He quickly picked up the crystal and noticed the cave gradually decreasing in size. As he walked further into the darkness, the cave began to shrink and less rock formations appeared and a green light began to appear at the end of the path.

As he approached the end of the cave, he came upon a stone door that easily towered over Souma’s height and the chamber was surrounded in green torches, similar to the room of serenity. On the stone door was a giant Kurogane symbol, with the two blades crossing in the background. The symbol was pure black and it had a glint as it reflected light from the torches.

Souma approached the door and placed his hand on the door. The symbol reacted to Souma and the symbol began to light up in fire. The black lines were replaced with a fire streak that blazed upon the Kurogane symbol and the door began to shake violently. As the entire cave rumbled, the doors shattered and revealed the entrance to a room that was completely dark. After the debris had cleared, Souma stepped into the room and the room illuminated itself with the giant torches that surrounded the entire room.

In the middle of the room was a rock pedestal that had a red orb floating at the center. Several fire streams vibrated around the orb and created a spiraling fire effect around the pedestal. As he continued to gaze at the orb, the entire room shook with such force that it created cracks all over the room. Multiple cracks appeared around the pedestal and a giant piece from the ceiling fell upon the fire orb. The debris completely covered the center of the room and Souma was astonished at the occurrence…

“...What just happened...That orb looked pretty nice tho-”

As he was in the middle of his sentence, the continuously shaking interrupted him and caused Souma to stumble backwards.

The debris began to shake and the several pieces began to vibrate against each other. The objects began to float and they began to condense themselves in the air. *Crack!* *Boom!* Zzz...POP!* *Clash!* The room was filled with clashing noises as the rocks began to smash into each other. The debris began to violently twirl in a miniature tornado and they gradually formed a 4-meter rock figure. The orb began to react to the rocks and suddenly molten lava began to pour out onto the rocks. However the rocks began to formulate around the molten lava and combined together. A 4-meter body of molten rock was being formed and the body was covered in lava streams that illuminated the area after the debris destroyed the torches. The body had finished constructing itself and in the center of the molten body was the same fire orb yet it was enlarged into a huge sphere and the entire body was encased in fire streaks that circulated around the entire body. The streaks created a natural barrier and the room’s temperature rose immediately passed 50 degrees celsius. Souma began to sweat under the heat that the fire orb had produced and a voice echoed throughout the room…

“Kozo...defeat it...and continue to the next floor…”

Ojii-san’s voice resounded within Souma’s mind and he stood up…

Souma looked at the 4-meter giant that easily towered over Souma in the middle of the room. Then he suddenly remembered the time when he was abruptly awakened by several blasts of water…

“Aha! Water!” Souma began to chant and the magic circles appeared however….

*poot*

zzzzt….

plop

The magic circle that was supposed to cast water suddenly changed and turned into fire.

“NANDA KORE WA!? What the hell!! I said water not fire!!!”

The magic circle began to light up and fire sparked through the air. Souma casted a Fire blast spell and all it did was empower the molten giant…

“WHAT THE HELL!!! WHY CAN’T I USE WATER!?”

Souma lamented at his situation and a familiar voice resounded in the depths of his mind…

“By the way...the room is enchanted...you can only use fire-type spells...you have to kill it...somehow…”

Ryuu’s voice echoed in his mind and several veins began to pop out of Souma’s forehead…

“WHAT…..THE….HELL…..!! CHIKUSHO!!!” Souma began to stomp at the ground in anger but…

The molten giant raised its entire left arm and swung towards Souma. Luckily, he noticed the attack coming but he barely avoided the attack as the heat produced from the giant’s arm nearly melted his body. His clothes were on fire and Souma began to roll around on the rocky surface due to the cracks.

“AHHH! STOP...DROP….AND ROLL OUT! ….wait what…”

Souma was busy rolling on the floor, to put out the flames that appeared on his clothes to even notice that he said a stupid joke...

After rolling around stupidly, Souma finally stood up and watched the molten giant as it receded back to its original position in the middle….

“Haaa...that thing..with that attack….created such a crater...and it’s so hot….” Souma sighed as his troubles continued.

In his mind, Souma was calculating the different scenarios that would happen..

….

‘If I go and attack with fire….that thing gets stronger….and I can’t use anything but fire….and then I die...’

‘If I stand here, that lava giant will come after me and I will die….’

‘If I do anything...I die...’

….

“So what do I do….think Souma think!....Think irrational….what would Ojii-chan do if he was me...if I was a crazed fool...what would I do…”

Souma continued to think as the temperature steadily increased. Souma had started sweating but he also wondered why he couldn’t just ignore the heat like he did when he swam in the lava...Then the words of Ojii-san echoed and he saw that the entire room was enchanted with the Kurogane symbol reacting to everything…

“If I can only use fire...then what the hell should I do…”

As he continued to think, the lava giant sped towards Souma, with its giant molten body. For a 4-meter size body, the giant was moving pretty fast and quickly gained on Souma.

Taking notice of the Giant’s rush, Souma began to leap away, completely avoiding the giant however the temperature continued to rise.

“AHH WHAT THE HELL GIVE ME A BREAK!!! BAKA KYOJIN!!! DAMMIT”

Souma continued to avoid the fire giant but the heat continued to rise and he began to slow down…

Souma’s reactions were beginning to delay further and the giant easily caught up to his speed. Souma was still fast at dodging, but now his life was in danger as he dodges each attack from a hair’s width.

The giant sped forward and suddenly the giant attacked again with an arch movement. The giant raised his arm as it chased Souma and swung towards him, immediately bashing Souma to the ground.

Luckily, Souma had caught the giant’s arm and crossblocked it with both of his arms. The heat continued to burn Souma’s skin and the giant pressed on. The lava seeped onto Souma’s arms and he screamed in terror…

“AHHHHH!!! IT BURNS!!!”

Souma screamed and tears flowed out from his eyes.

The giant pressed forward and mimicked Souma and initiated a cross attack with its arms. The tremendous attack created a crater just below Souma as he barely hung onto his life. His arms began to blacken from the magma that encased the giant.

Souma began to think of his situation as he was being pressured under the heat..

‘What do I do!!!'

….

‘What should I do!? I DON’T KNOW!!!’

….

‘It burns!! WHY AM I GOING THROUGH THIS!!!’

….

‘Ojii-san! I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!!! I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR DESCENDANT!!!’

….

‘Wha….t...shou...ld...I….do….’

…..

Deep within his mind, rage began to surface and take form. A massive surge of emotions erupted from the depths of his mind and he thought of the moments where he had nearly died. Images of his life flew past and he felt Death twice already. Souma hated the feeling of death as he felt it twice and this was going to be the third time….

His entire mind was being flushed with the emotions of anger and rage. He felt the need to kill if it threatened his life once more. He could not risk dying since majority of his “deaths” were false and he did not want to actually experience it. Souma felt sadness and his emotions leaked out all over his mind and suddenly everything blacked out…

His entire body had disappeared and it was simply his conscience that was floating around in the vast darkness. His emotions of rage continued to echo through his mind and the one image that appeared was….Fire…

Bright images flew on by and multiple flames ignited the area where his conscience floated. The entire area was engulfed in flames and an entity stood in the middle of the flames….

The entity was pure and the flames wrapped around his body. However his flames weren’t the usual color...they were multiple colors...Red...blue...green….yellow...orange...all kinds of flames were encasing the entity. The flames were part of him and they began to spiral all around the place. They continued to burn the entire place, torching everything in the darkness.

As the entity continued to burn everything, Souma looked at the fire that covered the entire place. Suddenly...He felt words flowing into him…

….

Fire is where one begins anew….

Fire is the end and beginning….

To begin with fire, you must also end with fire….

Fire cannot be controlled by the weak….

Fire isn’t something any can control….

You must be resolute and in control….

Fire is destruction and purity in itself….

Fire can create and destroy….

That is...Kagatsuchi….

….

The words began to echo all over the place and the entity had disappeared and the flames were gone. Souma drifted into darkness until he opened his eyes…

Upon opening his eyes, he saw the entire room enveloped in flames. Souma began to look for the fire giant however it was gone. He looked at his appearance and saw that his entire body was wrapped in flames. Around his wrists and ankles were fire streams that spiraled around them. His clothes had burn away but it was replaced with orange clothes that had intricate designs and flame sigils weaved into the clothes.. Souma was shocked at his appearance and noticed the flames around him began to recede back into his body. His entire body was composed of fire and he no longer felt the explosive emotions that vibrated in his mind. Souma’s thoughts were at a clean slate and he felt calm for once. As he continued to collect his mind together, he saw the fire orb that was from the fire giant. Souma raised his hand and ushered forward towards the orb and the orb began to light up. The flames began to spark from the orb and they surrounded Souma entirely. A burst of flames struck out and the orb had transformed itself into a flame cloak that covered Souma’s entire body. The cloak was donned with a red-orange color and it lit up vibrantly along with Souma’s flames.

Looking at his clothing, Souma began to nod in agreement but the words that flowed into his mind were echoing loudly. It reminded him that fire wasn’t meant for the weak and it could not be controlled by those with such feeble convictions. If he’s going to control fire, he must be one with fire. He cannot become overbearing or intrusive. He must be strong and valiant in his cause, be it good or evil. Fire has no alignment, it is just Fire. One must be willful in order to control fire...That is fire….

Souma patted his new fire cloak that appeared on him and began to walk towards the stone corridor that formed magically after the battle. As he walked, his steps created a path of fire that continued to burn after he had left the room.

Souma walked through the stone corridor and came to a similar room that had green torches with a familiar table and another door that lead to another floor.

Souma began to feel everything around him, his vision was completely lit up as his flames resonated in the room. Everything was completely bright but it was soothing for Souma as he felt more at peace. Souma looked around and finally spoke…

“I see...Ojii-chan...this was your doing…”

Souma spoke into the room as if someone were there and a familiar voice echoed in his mind..

“Good...you now have Kagatsuchi...it is one of my abilities...When I came to this planet, I had to fight various battles and even went to space….As I traveled...I came across a meteor that had the orb you are currently wearing...The heat from the meteor was overbearing but with Kagatsuchi...I learned that fire is life...You must accept fire in order to control it...and you clearly have done so...you are indeed my descendant...however your trials are just beginning, my boy….Don’t fret...time will not pass here….Kami-sama made sure of that...but as your time continues in here...your battles will continue to grow stronger….so hurry...and reach the bottom floor where part of me rests...I can barely contact you..now hurry…” Ryuu’s voice faded into the empty room and Souma nodded in agreement.

Souma felt his mind had cleared up and the flames somehow changed him. He began to look at his memories and saw how he had acted in the past. Souma smiled at the instances where he was being misunderstood and the moments where he had nearly died. The emotions were flushing through his mind but Souma was in completely control of his emotions. He truly felt at peace as his flames glowed brightly in the room.

The room of Serenity and Reformation wasn’t needed and Souma felt no qualms about eating. His entire body was completely full and he decided to continue onto the next floor.

He opened the door that led downstairs and left the room of Serenity. Souma began to descend and the entire pathway began to freeze and the temperature dropped. Souma felt no change as his flames continued to support his entire body with a warm veil. Souma saw the entire stairs had frozen over but his flames quickly melted the steps as he descended further down.

Upon reaching the end of the steps, Souma arrived at a place that no one would think existed in a “dungeon”.

The steps lead to an entirely new environment. Souma entire body was flushed with a gust of wind the blew snow towards him. The snow and wind had no effect as they were easily dispersed by his natural flames.

He was in a snowy environment and the area was completely frozen. Souma looked around and saw large ice formations that created a makeshift pathway towards something. The environment was in between a blizzard storm and is completely shrouded Souma’s vision. However, he remained calm and followed the makeshift ice path that was created by the ice that formed over time. His flames continued to block the icy temperature and also lit the surrounding area. Souma scoped the area and nothing seemed to be out of order and finally walked on the icy path that was made.

"Well...This is gonna take a while..."

However, far from his location, someone or something was lurking in the shadows of the snow storm. It had bared it’s fangs and sought to hunt the person that entered its territory...

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