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1. Scorchfront's Ashes
The city no longer roared with screams or thunder.
Instead, Scorchfront stood eerily silent.
Broken towers bled smoke. Streets were littered with shattered runes, cracked shields, and the charred remains of invaders. Above it all, the sky was stained orange, not from sunset—but from the residual magic that clung to the air like smog.
> "Report," Aira commanded, her voice hoarse from battle.
Kaelen, blood still drying on his armor, answered grimly.
> "Seventy-three percent of outer defenses gone. Twelve mage towers reduced to rubble. We lost over two hundred adventurers and five thousand civilians."
Aira didn't flinch. She couldn't. Not now.
> "How many injured?"
> "Thousands. And morale is... on the edge."
> "Understood."
She turned toward the heart of the city, where a crowd had gathered. Survivors. Refugees. Fighters too broken to raise a blade. All staring at the woman who had fought death itself.
> "Then I'll give them something to hold onto."
---
2. The Fire that Does Not Die
She climbed the blackened ruins of the Southern Spire and raised her right arm, letting fire slowly flicker around her palm.
> "You all saw what they brought," she called out, voice ringing across the wreckage. "Beasts that think. Rot that spreads. Commanders who twist the living into puppets."
> "You saw the death."
Her flame flared higher, swirling in rings around her shoulders.
> "But you also saw fire. My fire."
> "I'm not a symbol. I'm not some chosen goddess. I'm just a girl who refused to die when the world told me to burn out."
> "So if they want war, if they want fear—"
She raised both hands.
> "Then let me show them a fire that never ends!"
She ignited herself.
A spiral of Eternal Ember flared into the sky, brighter than dawn, burning so hot it turned the clouds to gold.
The people below didn't cheer. Not yet.
They wept.
But they wept in awe.
---
3. The Warning from the North
Just as hope began to rekindle, a rider from the north collapsed at the city gates. Frost clung to his face, and one leg was missing below the knee.
Before he died, he rasped:
> "They're coming… not from the west… not beasts this time… but…"
He passed out.
Aira's eyes narrowed.
She bent down, inspecting the torn fur cloak he wore. Embedded in the fibers was a sigil.
A northern clan. An independent border tribe.
One she had heard of—but never expected to see wiped out.
> "Something else is moving," she muttered.
But she had no time to investigate.
Because the council was waiting.
---
4. The Council's Condemnation
Inside the command hall, tension boiled like magma.
The High Council of Flamehold, the regional capital, had sent envoys. Nobles in gold-threaded robes. Generals untouched by soot.
They looked down on her from a platform, faces masked by jewels and disdain.
> "Commander Aira," one began, "while we commend your valiant efforts, your methods were... excessive."
> "Excessive?" she repeated, voice sharp.
> "You destroyed infrastructure. Lost thousands. You channeled forbidden soulfire without sanction. You detonated mage towers without civilian clearance—"
> "Because those towers were overrun!" she snapped.
> "Regardless, your actions constitute unauthorized warfare."
Another leaned forward. "You are hereby suspended from field command until we—"
But the temperature dropped.
And then rose sharply.
Aira's eyes burned gold.
> "Say that again," she said quietly.
> "You—"
BOOM.
Flames exploded from her body, not as an attack—but as a warning.
Chairs shattered. Windows burst. Even the high lords stumbled back, shielding their faces.
> "I bled to save this city," she said. "While you counted corpses and politicked from your towers."
> "You will not remove me."
> "Because if you try—"
She stepped forward, every footfall cracking stone.
> "You will learn the difference between a ruler and a force of nature."
---
5. Full Unleashing: Rampage Begins
Outside, the wounded city shuddered as Aira strode from the command tower.
The people gathered again, uncertain.
She ignited her chains, letting them spiral like flaming serpents around her.
A wave of residual beast magic trembled beyond the eastern gate.
She didn't wait for orders.
She leapt over the walls.
> "Aira, wait!" Kaelen shouted.
Too late.
She dropped into the wilderness, where remnants of the beast tide lingered—roaming like stray embers of a forgotten wildfire.
She hunted them.
Every single one.
A trail of fire tore through the forests.
Beasts screamed and burned.
Rotting birds exploded mid-air.
Poison roots turned to ash.
> "Come on!" she screamed into the wild. "Bring me more! SHOW ME YOUR FURY!"
She unleashed:
Soulfire Chains: Spiral Bind — lashing thirty beasts at once, tearing through them.
Blazing Meteor Shower: Area Sweep — a full circular bombardment that incinerated a kilometer-wide glade.
Infernal Bloom — a new move. Flames blossomed from the ground like flowers, each petal exploding into embers that homed in on enemies.
She did not stop.
Not for an hour.
Not for five.
---
6. The Beacon of Flame
Eventually, she returned.
Smoke billowed behind her. Her clothes were torn. Her eyes glowed brighter than ever.
Not a single beast remained within ten kilometers of Scorchfront.
She walked past stunned guards.
Past speechless councilors.
Up to the highest tower and raised her arms.
> "This city will not fall."
> "Not while I burn."
Her voice rang like thunder.
The people screamed.
> "AIRA! AIRA! AIRA!"
For the first time since the invasion began, the citizens of Scorchfront believed not just in defense—
—but in victory.
She had become more than a commander.
She was a beacon.
---
7. The Final Flame
Later, alone in her chamber, Aira collapsed to her knees.
Her magic flickered. Her body trembled. Blood leaked from her ears.
Kaelen rushed in.
> "Aira—!"
She held up a hand.
> "I'm fine. Just… used too much."
> "You
fought like a goddess."
> "Don't say that," she whispered.
> "Why?"
> "Because even gods fall."
She looked out the broken window, watching the stars swirl beyond the smoke.
> "This was just the first wave. The next will be worse."
Kaelen knelt beside her.
> "Then we'll burn brighter."