It was a day that would be remembered for a long time. A day that would be recorded in every future history book and passed down through legend and tales. A day that would baffle scholars for generations to come. And no one would be able to tell why.

For in that day, every flame, every molten rock, every source of heat on the Continent, turned cold for a few minutes. Lifes that should have been extinguished by fires were saved. Lifes that depended on heat were extinguished.

Many would theorize it to be the work of a forbidden magic. Many theorized it to be the act of God. Many theorized that it was the result of colliding dimension, or planetary phenomenon, and many other theories. The phenomenon, however, was not a direct cause of magic, it was only a side effect.

Summoning, teleporting, and other forms of magic require energy. Whether it was the most basic spell or the most powerful. Whether forbidden or legendary. Whether it took a millennia or instantaneous. All magic required an energy, most of the time, in the form of mana.

Normal summoning spell slowly collected the required energy during the long and arduous summoning ritual. But an instant summoning spell collects all that energy in an instant. And since the amount of energy required was proportional to how powerful the thing summoned, it took energy from every source of heat on the whole continent to satisfy the energy requirement of the instant summoning spell Theo cast. But even though his spell sucked the energy out of every source of heat, those sources retained their form. Fire was still blazing like fire, lava didn't cool down to rock, and so on.

The ground trembled furiously. Unlike the shaking that Calamity caused when she appeared, it was an actual earthquake felt by people hundreds of kilometer away from Mount Etna.

The cloud above swirled into a tornado that descended upon Mount Etna. The sky turned red like the break of dawn and the air turned hot like it was the high of noon.

The miniature hammer hovered in the air between Calamity and Theo, creating a small ball of fire that rapidly grew bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

Calamity, realizing who Theo was summoning, couldn't help but freeze in fear and fall to her knees.

"W-who are you?!" She yelled at Theo who was sitting on the ground. Though Theo's face wasn't that of a victor, his face was filled with doubt and fear like he wasn't sure what he had done.

When the figure was fully summoned, fires erupted into the sky, dwarfing the one Calamity made by a huge margin. The red streak was visible even as far as Redmound, hundreds of kilometer away.

The ground quaked again, more violently than ever.

A being made of pure fire, magma, and plasma stood 40 meters tall before Theo and Calamity. His whole body was bright orange like the sun, with some brown and red spots here and there made of solid volcanic rock.

Theo would describe his appearance akin to a snowman, if a snowman was made from pure destruction. His lower half was a swirling mass of magma like an upside-down whirlpool. His torso, shoulders, and head were perfect ball shape with a rabbit ear sticking out from each of his temples, or at least where temples should be located in human's head. His eyes were two perfect circles of black basalt rock while his mouth was filled with rows of sharp teeth made from magma.

It was his preferred form for he could assume any form if he wished, not that he ever wished for any other form. And even calling him 'he' was not correct, but he always referred himself as a male.

"F-F-Father." Calamity immediately fixed her posture and genuflected. "Y-your Absolute Fiery Highne-Majesty." Her voice was small and almost inaudible, the shock almost made her forgets her manners and the title of the being before her.

[Apocalypse, King of Fire, Lv.200]

The being Theo summoned was Apocalypse, the absolute King of Fire Realm and all fire elemental and all fire.

"WHO DARE SUMMON ME?" Apocalypse yelled. His voice shook the sky.

He squinted his eyes or to be more precise, the upper half of the basalt rocks that acted as his eyes went under the molten surface of his skin, giving the impression of a squinted eyes.

He grabbed the tiny human that summoned him. Each of his finger alone was bigger than Theo. And threw him into the sky.

Theo screamed his lung out as he reached the cloud at an unprecedented speed, before gravity pulled him back down from the heavens.

Far below him, Apocalypse stretched his arms wide.

When Theo fell into him, he closed his arms and pulled Theo into his fiery embrace of destruction.

Though this 'fiery embrace of destruction' was soft like a pillow and warm instead of melting hot and destructive.

"BY MY FIRE AND BRIMSTONE. YOU HAVE GROWN SO BIG, THEO." He twirled around with Theo in his arm before letting finally letting him go.

Theo collapsed after Apocalypse let him go. He suffered no physical injuries, but the shock of being thrown into the sky and forcibly spun around in the embrace of a forty meters embodiment of fire and destruction was just too much.

"WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE MET, HUH? LAST TIME YOU WERE JUST TWO THIRD OF MY FINGER, NOW YOU'RE AS BIG AS MY FINGER."

Theo pushed the ground so he faced upward and raised seven of his fingers. He wanted to speak but realized that trying to do so while the ground was trembling and making loud noise would be futile.

"SEVEN YEARS? THAT'S JUST YESTERDAY YET IT ALSO FELT LIKE A LONG LONG TIME AGO."

The rumbling of earth stopped, then Theo and Apocalypse had a quick nice little chat.

"SO, WHAT DID YOU CALL ME FOR? TRYING TO INVADE A COUNTRY? OR JUST PURE FUN OF GENOCIDE? LOVE PROBLEM, MAYBE?"

"Actually ..." Theo pointed his finger at Calamity. So far Calamity had been maintaining her position, she was too confused and surprised by what was happening to do anything else. Even if her mind was calm enough for her to take action, doing anything in the presence of His Absolute Fiery Majesty without his permission was a sacrilege, though that also depends on his mood and temperament.

"CALAMITY." Apocalypse turned his head around in a confused manner. "DID YOU FOLLOW ME WHEN THEO SUMMONED ME?"

"No." Theo interrupted. "She invaded this world, or at least she planned to."

"INVADE?" Apocalypse rubbed his nonexistent chin. His eyes went wide open as he realized something. "INVADE?!" He turned his body and faced Calamity. "WERE YOU TRYING TO INVADE THIS WORLD, CALAMITY?!" Apocalypse's voice was always booming, making him sound like he was always screaming and angry, but this time his tone was truly filled with anger.

Calamity pushed her head to the ground. "F-Fath-Your Absolute Fiery Majesty, I-I do this to prove my worth to you! I do this for you!" It was a hassle saying his full title every time, but it was much preferable than an instantaneous destruction if his mood was bad.

"SILENCE!" He yelled. "DO IT FOR ME? ARE YOU SAYING THAT I'M INCAPABLE OF TAKING THIS WORLD IF I WANTED TO?"

Calamity's shook uncontrollably, visible even to Theo. Liquid rock wet the ground from her eyes. "N-no, that's not wha-"

"SILENCE!" He formed a hammer proportional to his body size and slammed it to the ground next to her. That alone was enough to cause another earthquake. "ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU WILL TAKE THE JOY OF CONQUEST AND DESTRUCTION FROM ME? AREN'T YOU OVERSTEPPING YOUR BOUNDARY AS A MERE FIRE LORD?"

Calamity couldn't answer her father. She knew better than anyone -well, almost anyone- how much her father loved waging war and causing destruction with his own hand. She never intended to overstep her boundary, she just wanted to prove that she could be a useful daughter and not just a mere underling. She wanted him to look at her differently than his other minion.

Tars suddenly jumped out from the pool of lava and kneeled in front of Calamity, towards Apocalypse of course. "Your Absolute Fiery Majesty. Please, this invasion is not My Lady's fault."

"Tars, No!" Calamity shouted. She was in a panic that she raised her head without His Absolute Fiery Majesty permission.

"AND YOU ARE?!" If he had a brow, it would have twitched right now. He was not in a good mood and this mere Knight dare to move in his presence without asking for permission first.

"I'm Tars, Your Absolute Fiery Majesty. I'm the captain of Lady Calamity guard and the one who suggested her to invade in the first place."

"TA-" Calamity was about to shout out Tars name, but no voice came out. It was not out of fear or anything, it was because Apocalypse took away her ability to speak with a single move of his finger.

"TARS YOU DARE LIE TO ME, YOUR GOD?"

"I-I did not lie, Your Absolute Fiery Majesty!" Tars shouted back without any waver or fear in his voice. One little mistake could result in his eternal damnation, yet if it meant saving Calamity, then he would not mind in the slightest. "It was me who first suggested her to invade!"

"THE FIRE THAT BURNED IN YOUR BODY WAS ONCE MINE! DO YOU THINK I WOULDN'T KNOW IF I MYSELF IS LYING, OR TELLING HALF TRUTH? YOU DARE DOUBT MY POWER?"

There was no actual lie in what Tars said before if one takes the literal meaning of what he said, though if one looks at the context, that was another thing. It was true that he was the first one to suggest, but it was merely in the passing and almost as a joke. He was not the one that caused or convinced Calamity to invade.

"N-no, Your Absolute Fiery Majesty, I didn't me-"

"BUT, YOU LIED TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER, COMMENDABLE." The tone of his voice changed 180 degrees. He was praising Tars with a calm and gentle tone.

This sudden and unpredictable change caused Tars and Calamity to raise their head and stare in shock. Their action didn't get his permission, but since he was now in a good mood, there was no problem.

Theo sighed. Unless in special circumstances or when speaking with particular people, Apocalypse was truly unpredictable. Theo could even say that his mood and temperament was as volatile as his power and could change every second.

"Y-your praise is too much, Your Absolute Fiery Majesty." Tars and Calamity lowered their head again.

"BUT THAT RAISE A QUESTION. WHERE DOES YOUR LOYALTY BELONG?"

Tars and Calamity raised their head again, they were baffled by that question.

"TO PROTECT HER YOU LIED TO ME! WHO DO YOU TRULY SERVE, TARS?"

Theo knew Apocalypse mood had turned sour once again. Or maybe the previous calm attitude and praise was just his cruel joke to instill a false sense of peace in Calamity and Tars' heart, Theo thought.

He turned his gaze towards Calamity and relish in her suffering as she tried to warn Tars but unable to. After all he had gone through to stop Calamity, it was quite a sweet sight to behold, though he was far from satisfied. He still wanted to make her suffer for all the pain she - directly or not - inflicted upon Ed, Lyana, Vivi, Vex, Val, and the others.

Luckily for him, Apocalypse was known for his cruelty even towards his subordinate and minion. He loved to torture his victim both mentally, emotionally, and physically.

From her expression and the way she moved, Theo assumed Calamity was trying to tell Tars to abandon his loyalty to her and sworn his loyalty to Apocalypse.

-But Tars was stubbornly honorable and loyal to a fault. And that knowledge only tortured Calamity even more.

If Tars had a mouth he would smile proudly right now. "I serve Calamity with all my being and all my fire!" Tars said with a voice full of pride and certainty. There was no fear in his voice, no wavering, no doubt, no dishonesty.

"GOOD! YOU'RE A LOYAL SERVANT!" Apocalypse praised him once more.

He gave Calamity her voice back.

"BUT NOT TO ME!!"

He obliterated Tars.

"TARRRSSS!!!" Calamity voice returned, but it was too late.

Ahhhh, her scream of despair, the best kind of music for Theo right now.

"You're cruel you know?" Theo said with a smile on his face. "You're going to kill him no matter what he answered right? If he chose to swear loyalty to you, you're going to kill him because he's not loyal to the duty he was given."

Apocalypse laughed, so hard it caused a localized earthquake. "HAHAHAHA! YOU KNOW ME, THEO."

"How dare you?! How dare you!" Calamity yelled and raised her body. Her anger reached the limit and eclipsed her fear of Apocalypse. Her anger was mostly directed at Theo.

"She's fiery, like you." Theo said while glancing at Apocalypse.

"SHE'S MY DAUGHTER AFTER ALL. HAHAHAHHA-" His laughter stopped abruptly as he sensed hostility coming from Calamity.

He stopped and think. This was the first time Calamity had ever let out her true emotion other than fear in front of him. He was happy that his daughter finally grew some balls to defy him. Finally, he saw something in her that he could be proud of.

But still-

"TIME FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT."

He flicked a finger, causing Calamity to hover in the air. She struggled and thrashed around, but it was useless. Apocalypse held absolute control over any and all fire elemental. Apocalypse was a literal god for fire elementals.

He snapped his finger.

Calamity's eyes and mouth opened wide as she screamed in agony. A beam of light shone from every hole in her body. Fire and lava flowed out from every crevice of her body and moved toward Apocalypse.

The process lasted only ten seconds, yet felt like an eternity for Calamity. After which, her fire dimmed and she collapsed to the ground, gasping and barely conscious.

[Calamity, Daughter of Apocalypse, Lv.1]

"F-father ... w-w-what ... have you done to me?" She asked while reaching her arms out. There was no energy or power in her voice. She was too weak to even feel fear or to care about title and honorary.

Her brilliance that rivaled the sun before was gone, replaced by a dim ember-like flame, almost fading out.

"NOW! YOU'RE GROUNDED!" He raised an arm and opened a small portal above him. A portal to the Fire Realm. "500 HUNDRED YEARS IN YOUR BEDROOM!"

Calamity reached her arm out again, but even raising an arm caused her to lose her breath "N-no, f-father ... p-please ... a-anything but ... that."

"NO!! MY SENTENCES ARE ABSOLUT-" "Wait!Wait! Wait!" Theo interrupted before Apocalypse could send Calamity back to the Fire Realm. "WHAT IS IT?!" The anger in his voice was nonexistent when he addressed Theo.

Theo was still laying on his back after he collapsed. He was still recovering and his injury prevented him to do much, but his voice had regained its vigor back.

"I have a better idea." He looked at Calamity. She was struggling through hell just to raise her body to a sitting position "Beneficial for all of us."

Apocalypse squinted his eyes. "I'M LISTENING."

Theos let out a vile smirk. "Make her my soul slave. I will teach her and train her, make her a better person ... well, elemental. Make her a better general and better lord for your army and realm. I make her a better leader if one day somehow you died and need a successor. At most, I will live for another 100 years, shorter punishment for her and I get a soul slave. Mutually beneficial for all parties involved."

"W-what?" Calamity let out a lifeless yell. "NO! NO......there's no way my father woul-"

"GOOD IDEA!" He snapped a finger in agreement. "BUT I DON'T KNOW YOU HAVE INTEREST IN ELEMENTAL." He glanced at her. "I MEAN HER OVERALL SHAPE IS HUMANOID BUT-"

"F-father!" Calamity yelled, but Theo and Apocalypse ignored her.

"Well, change her appearance to that of a beautiful human woman. Easy with your authority."

Apocalypse chuckled. "OH YEAH, WHY DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE?" He flicked another finger and Calamity hovered in the air again.

"No ... No, father! Please, NO! I'm your own fire and magma, you personally made me, you forged me with your own hammer at the great forge, how ... how could you do this to me?" Like before, Theo and Apocalypse ignored her tearful pleading.

She screamed when the fire that made up her body moved from one part to another, rearranging itself and changing her appearance. The scream didn't stop until the process was over. She still hovered in the air, but now, she was a human woman, save for the red-orange color of her skin and the dim light that she radiated.

"Her boobs should be bigger and her ass too."

"REALLY?" Theo nodded. Calamity screamed again, but only for a short time. Her breasts and ass have grown "GOOD ENOUGH?"

"Bring her near me." Theo moved his hand to signal Apocalypse. "Make her hair longer." Calamity screamed. "I think her leg should be longer and her thigh ... bigger, a little bit-" Theo then spent the next minute detailing how her appearance should be.

Telling Apocalypse what the appearance of his ideal woman is made him remember his time in the Free Cities as mercenary and slaver, before he met with Mary and before she changed him. Back then he saw people -women especially- as nothing but tools to gain what he wants or object for him to use. He hoped that this ordeal with changing Calamity appearance didn't make him lapse back to that version of him and undo all the good changes Mary had brought him.

In the end, Calamity became a woman whose appearance was in line with his preferences. She has a mature looking face, and she became a little bit taller than Theo. Her body was voluptuous without making any part of her overly big or overly lean. Her arms and legs were slender and long while still being proportional to her body. It was not perfect, but she was beautiful, very much so.

"SATISFIED?"

"Excellent. Improving her any further would need a whole day of describing things I want." Theo said with a satisfied smile while looking at her bare body.

"YOU HAVE A RATHER DIFFERENT TASTE COMPARED TO YOUR FATHER."

"Well, I'm not my father." Theo chuckled. "I have my own preferences."

"NOW THEO, PREPARE FOR THE LINK."

Calamity screamed again, harder and louder than before. A fiery chain formed in the air with one end coming out from her chest. The other end slowly moved towards Theo's chest.

"Oh god, this's going to hurt- ARGGHHHHH!!!" Theo screamed when the chain went through his chest.

It burned, like a sword of fire that pierced his chest, his heart, and his soul. The chain bound him and link his soul to Calamity.

Theo gasped with the expression that he almost died.

The chain became invisible, but he now felt the link between him and Calamity. Even from that distance, Theo could feel her heartbeat, her breathing, the rage, fear, and disappointment in her heart. It could be a problem if too much of her emotion flowed into him, but since he was the master of this link, he could make it so her emotion didn't flow to him.

Calamity, exhausted and shocked because of the pain, lost her consciousness.

After making sure she wouldn't wake up anytime soon, Theo finally could talk to Apocalypse without having to worry about anyone hearing him.

"Hey, can you help me?"

"HMM, THAT'S RARE." He said with delight in his voice.

"You see a dark elf up there, stuck somewhere on the cliff? Can you please bring her here." Theo pointed his finger towards the cliff wall where he last saw Val crashed into it.

"A NEW WOMAN OF YOURS?"

"The newest ... well, if you exclude Calamity."

Apocalypse took Val with his hand and laid him next to Theo. He examined the extent of her injuries and then used his spell paper, potion, and all of his limited medical knowledge to treat Val's wound all the while Apocalypse inquired about her. After he finished, He laid his body again on the ground.

"Are you sure it's okay like this? She's your daughter. Your flesh and blood, or in your terms, your fire and magma." Theo changed the topic of discussion from Val back to Calamity.

"HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU THINK I HAVE?"

"Thousands? Millions? Hell, any non-ancient fire elemental can be considered a child of yours."

"HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU THINK I KILLED WITH MY OWN HAND? WHAT MAKE YOU THINKS SHE'S SPECIAL?"

Theo didn't answer because the answer was countless. As almost every fire elemental was more or less created from his fire, Apocalypse claimed that he has the right to their soul. And so he exercised that right almost excessively.

"SPEAKING OF WHICH," He moved his gaze from Theo to Calamity. "I'VE BEEN LONGING FOR GRANDCHILDREN, TRUE BORN GRANDCHILDREN."

"Can human and fire elemental even reproduce?" Ignoring all other obvious problems, this was the first thing Theo asked. He didn't even consider he could refuse him because that was not a request.

"I SHAPED HER REPRODUCTIVE ORGAN TO THAT OF HUMAN, SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM." He rubbed his chin again, thinking whether that would actually work. Even if the shape was exactly the same, even Apocalypse wasn't sure whether it was functional. "EVEN IF YOU CAN'T, YOU CAN LATER COME TO FIRE REALM TO FORGE YOUR OWN BABIES."

Theo smiled. "Yeah sure."

Fire elementals didn't reproduce like human or animal, they don't even have anything remotely similar to a sexual organ. Most fire elementals were born, or as they say 'forged' in the hearts of fire realm. When a pair of fire elemental wanted to have a child, they went to to the Great Forge, took a piece of fire from their body, and mixed it. Then they forged their child from that mix of two flames.

Apocalypse stopped and realized the second most obvious problems. "HOW CAN YOU MAKE HER WILLING TO BEAR YOUR CHILD?"

The smiled disappeared from Theo's face. His line of thought traced back to his time as mercenary and slaver, when turning people into obedient slaves and dolls without a will of their own was part of his daily life. He called it training and he was quite good at it too.

However, that was not what Theo wanted Calamity to be. And with his future adventure and traveling with Ed, Lyana, Vivi, and possibly Val, there was no way he could train her. Not to mention he preferred if he didn't have to go back to his previous self. If Mary ever knew what he did before he met her, he couldn't even bear to imagine her reaction.

"That's ... a bit problematic, though I will manage somehow. But I need to know what she fears, what she likes, etc."

Apocalypse stroked his chin, searching his mind for what Theo requested. "WATER ... SHE'S AFRAID OF WATER."

"Aren't fire elemental in general afraid of water?" It was only logical that a race made of fire would fear water.

"NO, MOST FIRE ELEMENTALS HATED WATER, BUT DOESN'T FEAR IT."

"So, anything she particularly likes?"

Apocalypse shrugged, telling Theo that he didn't know. though in truth, if he wanted to know he could do it with his absolute authority. So if he said he didn't know that meant he didn't want to give him answer or didn't want to use his power for such trivial matters. Theo didn't push for an answer. If Apocalypse didn't want to tell him then so be it.

"Anything else you can add to help me maybe?"

"I'LL RETURN HER POWER ONCE I SEE MY FIRST GRANDCHILD."

"W-what?" Theo's eyes opened wide.

He never expected Apocalypse to return her power even if he asked. If this was the case then pacifying Calamity and making her his woman wasn't just adding another member to his harem and adding fire elemental to the list of species he ever put his dick in. If Calamity reclaims her power, she literally has the power to destroy a country.

Theo shook his head. While imagining what the future might hold for him, there was another more pressing matter at the moment.

"Then it's going to take some time, a year maybe a few, unless something big happened and we're both tangled in it." What Theo meant by that was if fate put them in a life-threatening situation that forced them to fight together, that could potentially reduce Calamity's hostility towards him. He himself doubted that though.

"IF SHE'S WITH YOU, THEN SOMETHING BIG WILL HAPPEN NEXT WEEK." Apocalypse knew full well how event and accident was part of Theo's daily life, nay, it was in his blood. His father before him was also a disaster magnet, and a more powerful one even.

Apocalypse suddenly glanced downward. His expression, while most of the time unreadable, was without a doubt showing hints of sadness, regret, and pent-up anger.

He recalled something.

"THEO! ... how did he die?" Apocalypse asked. Theo was surprised by his question but was even more shocked because of his soft voice. In the whole history, at least that he knew of, Apocalypse never spoke with a soft voice like that, not even once.

Though considering the subject of this conversation, it was nothing strange.

Theo knew who Apocalypse was referring to. The only reason Theo knew about Apocalypse and became his friend was due to his father. Though calling Theo as Apocalypse friend didn't deliver the whole truth. If using human relationship terms, then Theo would be most correctly described as Apocalypse's stepson.

Theo never wanted to touch this topic of discussion nor remember it because it reached the realm beyond strange. His father and Apocalypse were engaged in the most bizarre platonic gay relationship that has ever existed ... maybe. Between a male human and the incarnation of fire and destruction.

Theo even remembered his father telling him that they were married. His father and Apocalypse once invaded the realm of nature spirit and cut one of the branches of the world tree Yggdrasil, then used the wood from that branch to make their wedding ring. Of course, Apocalypse's ring burned to ashes once he put it on his finger, but it was only a symbol in the first place.

And that was the reason Apocalypse was nice towards Theo.

Theo sighed after remembering all that strange nonsense. To think that his father left his mom for Apocalypse. Though technically his father never married his mom in the first place.

After sorting all the mess in his mind, Theo finally managed to answer Apocalypse. "With his own way, on his own term. He died protecting me."

Theo sighed. He had told this thing countless of times to countless other people, yet telling it to someone who knew his father had a different feeling brought with it.

"Who killed him?" the tone of his voice was not filled with anger or killing intent, but with even more sadness and regret.

Theo shook his head, denying that he knew.

But Apocalypse wasn't fooled, he pressed on. "Theo, I know you know who killed him. Who?"

Like Apocalypse expected, Theo actually knew but he never disclosed it to anyone. Why he did it, he didn't know either. Maybe it was a glimmer of rage within him telling him he should be the one to avenge his father, and by not telling anyone, no one would cut him to the chase. Or maybe it was another reason entirely.

But Apocalypse ... Apocalypse had as much right as Theo to know who killed their loved one.

"Kyrie," Theo answered hesitantly.

Apocalypse gave him an inquisitive look.

"There's only one Kyrie that you know," Theo answered.

One of the thirty demon lords, Kyrie. Just like Lyana told him a while back, most demons only had one name and no surname or family name. This resulted in hundreds or even thousands of demon with the name of Kyrie, though there was only one Kyrie with enough fame and importance for the king of fire to have heard of.

"To think that ..." The fire of anger within his voice was reignited, but Apocalypse put a lid on it before it went out of control. "But before that."

Apocalypse plunged his hand into his own molten chest, then pulled out the miniature golden hammer inside him.

He threw it and Theo grabbed it, it was not hot. It had lost all of its magical power, making it only a simple memento of his late father.

"My time here is almost up," Apocalypse said as his body started to turn transparent. The hammer magic was a temporary summon, meaning anything Theo summoned with the hammer could only stay in this world for a set amount of time before returning. His earlier prediction was five minutes, but Apocalypse managed to stay for a little bit more than ten.

"THEO!" Apocalypse called him with his usual booming voice.

"I SWEAR UPON MY FIRE, I WILL AVENGE HIM!"

"SHE CAN RUN BUT SHE CAN NEVER HIDE FROM ME!"

"THE MIGHT OF THE FIRE REALM WILL CHASE HER NO MATTER WHERE, AND WHEN I FOUND HER, I BRING RAGNAROK WITH ME!"

With that roaring declaration, the last visage of Apocalypse vanished as he returned to his realm of fire.

Ragnarok, that word resounded in his mind. It was an old prophecy from Ulster Isle that foretold the end of the world. Theo hoped that he only brought Ragnarok upon Kyrie and not upon the whole world. Though that may be a wishful thinking from his side.

If Apocalypse truly set his eyes on killing Kyrie, their battle would most likely, no, will definitely happen in this world instead of the Fire Realm. If that happened and Apocalypse brought with him the full might of the fire army, the resulting chaos would engulf the Continent if not all the known landmasses or even beyond that.

Theo contemplated whether his decision to tell Apocalypse about Kyrie would result in the end of the world.

He chuckled. 'Theo Gladium, Harbinger of the End of the World' might not be a bad name to be remembered as ... If there was someone to remember him after Ragnarok.

Anyway, he put that line of thought into the deep dark recess of his mind and focused on the problem in his hand.

He looked around. Val lay on the ground next to him with a relieved smile on her sleeping face. Set and his women were scattered around. Calamity was lying naked next to his feet, shivering and in pain.

He stood up, opened his armor and opened his shirt. He then covered Calamity with his shirt. She had been stripped of her power completely. Returning back to level 1 after hundreds if not thousands of years being one of the most powerful beings would have an adverse effect on her body. The chilling wind alone could make her catch a cold, if she could catch a cold that was.

Theo then scratched his head. He couldn't possibly carry them all back to base. He took a step-

-then fell down to his knees.

His whole body was aching and his head ringing like it was about to split.

He forced a pained laugh out from his mouth. The effect of adrenaline has ended. The pain and strain his body felt from using Vaporizing Slash multiple times in succession dawned on him. Not to mention all the injuries he had even before that.

"Damn, should have asked him to heal me." He complained under his ragged breathing. But he smiled. "Well, at least this is over."