Nia burst through the storm-swept training grounds of Emberheart Peak, her white hair whipping like flames in the wind, blood-red flame eyes blazing with unquenchable determination.
The peak was a volcano of eternal fire, lava rivers flowing through jagged black rock, the air thick with sulfur and heat that would melt lesser cultivators.
She now stood in the Second Calamity rank, her aura burning as dense and hot as a star's core. With a swing of her Flameheart Gauntlets, a rose-pink blaze erupted alongside her sword, obliterating the massive lava golem her master, Valeria Ignis, had summoned.
The golem crumbled into molten slag, steam hissing as it cooled on the blackened stone. Valeria watched from a floating platform of cooled lava, arms crossed, her magma-like hair flowing in the updraft.
Valeria's thoughts raced as she observed.
