Enzo pulled every ounce of heat from the area as the men neared. The power built around him, singeing his clothes and burning his hair. The ground beneath him burned, scorched soot forming a layer on top of the base bedrock beneath.

The intense heat surrounding Enzo slowed the raiders as they came into range. The moisture in their eyes immediately evaporated as their hair and skin burned. Enzo stepped through the heat and struck the first on rusher with a crushing uppercut that pierced through the man’s chest. A gout of flame exploded through his back, burning the next two attackers.

The ground continued to melt as Enzo moved, slowly turning the battlefield into a hellish nightmare. Scorched husks littered the area around him, none able to withstand more than a moment in his vicinity. The devastation was beginning to take its toll on the raiders’ morale.

After decimating the first wave of attackers, the rest were hesitant to charge in. A few dozen archers attempted to shoot him again, but it was pointless. The oppressive heat reduced every shot to ash before it came close to hitting him. The men began to turn and run.

I don’t think so.

Enzo closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He felt the fire and ash surge into his lungs and willed it to mesh with his own mana. The fire of the Geschmolzen clan burned within his belly and combined with all of the external mana available. Enzo opened his eyes and released his dragon’s breath.

Intense, white-hot dragonfire engulfed the hills. The ground itself burned away in the face of the heat. The stone beneath melted, forming pools of molten lava across the plain. Nothing remained of the main body of the horde. Men, bones and all, were reduced to ash, their armor and weapons melting into piles of slag around Enzo.

Those further from the flames had time to scream as the superheated air burned their skin slightly slower than those directly in front of Enzo. The fires of the forest and the surrounding areas danced higher into the night, relishing the eruption of mana into the battlefield. Finally allowed a measure of freedom, the mana of the fire threatened to engulf the world.

Opposite him, the woman on the horse had chosen to act. She wielded Lazarus awkwardly, but managed to raise a thick stone wall between her and the wall of fire. Enzo’s flames had reduced half of the wall to ash, but the thickness of the makeshift shield had ensured his enemy had survived the attack. She glanced around the battlefield.

“Well aren’t you just a hotty!” Elisabeth said as she climbed off the horse. Her dress, still smoldering at the remaining edges, had been nearly burned off in the heat despite the wall separating her from the flame. She sauntered confidently toward Enzo, seductive in the flickering fire light.

“Why don’t we call it here, and you and I go cool off?”

Enzo held his warhammer in his right hand. He pulled the energy from the now-molten battlefield, reabsorbing the spent mana and charging his hammer. It slowly returned to its charred orange glow.

“What, never been with a woman?” Elisabeth teased as she approached. The magic of Lazarus worked to provide a path before her as she walked across the molten battlefield. “I promise I’ll take good care of you, and I’m sure my sister could use a fiery guy like you.”

She extended her hand toward him.

“What do you say?” she continued, flashing him a winning smile. “Join us!”

BURN

He smashed the ground with his warhammer, and an eruption of magma exploded from the ground where Elisabeth had stood seconds before. The woman had nimbly dodged to the side and cast the sword in a wide arc, creating another wall of stone between her and the magma as it rained down.

“That wasn’t very nice!” Elisabeth replied, feigning a pout. “You’ll just have to die then!”

She swung Lazarus in Enzo’s direction, copying the move Regalius had used to spear the ship. Instantly, far faster than Enzo expected, a stone spike shot up through the ground, piercing Enzo’s right shoulder. He cried out in pain, dropping the warhammer. Even as the heat melted the stone from the wound, the damage was done. The flames around the area began to dip.

“So that hammer is like my sword! How wonderful! It’ll go right with our collection!” Elisabeth shouted gleefully. She pointed Lazarus at him and smiled a devilish grin. “Now, won’t you just die for me?”

Enzo grimaced and tried to pick the warhammer up again, but Elisabeth’s attack was too fast. She sprinted forward, and shot a lance of stone from the point of the sword directly at Enzo’s head. He tried to dodge, but was too slow. He closed his eyes as he felt the point impact his forehead and prepared for the end.

So this is how I die.

The moment of impact seemed to stretch endlessly. Enzo waited for the pain to arrive. After a second of not-death, Enzo opened his eyes again. Elisabeth still charged at him, looking for all the world like a demon reborn. The stone that shot from Lazarus acted strangely, however. It seemed to disintegrate into dust as it collided with his head.

I don’t get it and I don’t care.

He grabbed the warhammer and felt an immediate surge in his power again. Elisabeth, now too close to avoid the heat, screamed. As she completed her lunging charge past his left shoulder, Enzo turned around the edge of the blade and swept the flat facing of the warhammer around as quickly as he could. He aimed to connect with her knee and cripple her.

Elisabeth felt the low counter strike coming, and managed to twist away from it, sprawling down onto the molten rock that surrounded Enzo. She continued to shriek and tried to use Lazarus to push herself out of the lava but failed. Each attempt to use the sword resulted in a cloud of dust that exploded in a puff of heat.

Enzo looked at the woman, and watched her slowly melt. The flames danced around him, as the mana of the area continued to swirl in the air. The feeling of freedom, of light, of energy, filled him. He breathed deep, and let the feeling wash over him. The pain in his shoulder disappeared.

He looked around at the molten landscape. He smiled at the raging forest fire. An old man charged through the flames towards him. What a funny man. What is there to worry about? I’m finally free!

Enzo embraced the warmth of the fire. He held his warhammer high above the woman before him as she writhed on the ground.

Hush now little demon, return to the ash from which you came.

He brought the hammer down and ended the woman in an explosion of lava and fire.

See? You’re one with the fire again! Free to burn the whole world down in a glorious blaze!