[Vol. 9] Chapter 74: Flame
Thinking of that, she quickly and carefully looked around again, as if afraid that something which had already disappeared might suddenly come back to life. Then, with a mix of curiosity and caution, she asked tentatively.
“By the way, how did you all deal with that… uh, thing? That kind of flame was the strangest I’ve ever seen in my life. It seemed like there was nothing in the world it couldn’t burn. Unless someone was actively controlling it, it was almost impossible to put out by any means... I mean, it won’t suddenly appear again, right?”
Veranica and Moraya looked at each other, then naturally turned their gazes toward the black-haired priestess.
After all, it was Violet who had personally handled that creature just now, so only she had the right to answer that question.
But the black-haired girl didn’t reply to Tina’s worry directly. Instead, she asked back calmly.
“About that black flame and the being behind it, do you know any other information?”
Tina hadn’t seen the moment when the priestess unleashed her divine power to end the black flame, but judging from the expressions of the other two women, and the extraordinary performance Violet had shown earlier, it wasn’t hard to guess who was responsible for its disappearance. Naturally, she didn’t dare to take this lightly.
She thought hard for a long time before speaking in a hesitant tone.
“Well… although it never said so directly, from some things I noticed when we talked, I think that black flame might have escaped from somewhere else. It even seemed to be chased by a very powerful pursuer. That’s probably why it was always in such a hurry, desperately wanting to devour something to recover its strength. It kept shouting that it was hungry… hungry…”
“It also seemed to have many bodies, searching for food in more than one place. I think Icefang Island… might just be one of them?”
“Hm. You guessed that right, this island was indeed only one of its avatars.”
Violet nodded slightly, muttering as if deep in thought.
“To split into multiple independent bodies so easily, that’s quite a rare ability. It seems that creature’s authority is rather special… No wonder it managed to escape back then from…”
With the information Tina provided as confirmation, the priestess could now almost be sure that the strange black flame from earlier was exactly the creature the God of Paradox had once asked her to find, an inverted creation modeled after the Primordial Flame, and known by the name Yan.
A “Reversal Creation” is an independent existence formed by reversing the principle of an original being. Its authority usually shares similarities with the original, but isn’t exactly the same.
For example, among the Five Reversal Gods, the power of “Nightmare” came from the God of Dreams and Fantasies, but when reversed, it became a nightmare-born power that manipulates the minds of living beings. So, Yan followed the same pattern.
The Primordial Flame, as the fire that burns all things and gives birth to new life again, carries boundless destructive power but is also vast, sacred, and it brings forth new hope from within destruction. It complements the attributes of the Xiao Guang’s Crystal Dragon and is not a cruel or bloodthirsty power at all.
But judging from their previous battle, this cheap “copy” of the Primordial Flame, while inheriting its terrifying ability to burn and destroy everything, completely lacked the rebirth that should follow the burning. Instead, it leaned toward devouring and plundering, taking everything from its target.
It was an extreme, selfish kind of power.
The endless vitality of rebirth wasn’t shared with others but was turned inward, strengthening itself alone. That gave it absurd levels of vitality and growth. Even if only a single spark remained, Yan might still return again someday. That was likely how it had once escaped from both the God of Paradox and the Five Reversal Gods, and even created multiple offspring to act independently across the world.
If the power of the Xiao Guang could be classified as neutral, or even lawful, then there was no doubt. If Yan ever became a god, it would be a heretic god.
Right now, it had only just escaped and was still trying to recover its strength, far from mature. Yet even a single avatar of it could cause such chaos. With its nearly limitless potential for growth, once this power truly went out of control…
Becoming the second “World-Devouring Serpent” might not be impossible.
“Damn… that thing really made something unbelievable. No wonder that stupid god called me to clean up the mess…”
…………………………………
Northern frontier of the Snow Empire.
At the frozen edge of the endless northern tundra, black flames like hellfire were burning fiercely beneath the icy sky.
To fight against the awakening Northern Calamity, the Snow Empire had built many fortified checkpoints beyond the frozen plains. This place had once been one of their forward outposts.
But now, only silence and scorched earth remained.
The freezing wind from the north swept across the ruins. Not carrying snowflakes, but black ashes and pale bone dust.
The dark fire raged wildly across the hard frozen ground. The earth cracked open, and the melted remains of metal shone faintly in the flickering sparks before disappearing in an instant. They were the ruins of destroyed imported magic cannon bases, barricades, and broken bunkers.
The once-proud snow-white flags of the empire had long turned to ash; only fragments of flagpoles remained, shaking weakly in the blaze like tombstones of the dead, crying in silence.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!!”
In the middle of that sea of flames, the last few soldiers screamed in despair before being swallowed by the dark shadows. The black fire burned silently, using everything within sight as fuel. Cold waves of heat rippled through the blizzard, and even the falling snowflakes turned into tiny sparks the moment they touched the ground.
It was as if no life, no object, not even concepts themselves could survive under this overwhelming, otherworldly law.
But there was one exception.
A small figure.
She was a girl, about ten years old, still looking a bit childish.
She stood in the heart of the flames, slender and fragile, wearing an old-style, knee-length robe whose original color could no longer be seen. Despite the deadly cold wind of the north, that simple garment was her only clothing. Her pale, smooth legs, feet, and arms were completely exposed to the air.
Her skin was so white it was almost transparent, and her long, colorless hair flowed weakly in the wind. In this land of silence and death, she stood out sharply. Yet the most chilling part of her was her eyes.
They were pitch-black, pure darkness that swallowed all light.
There was no white of the eye, no pupils. Only darkness, like the same black flames burning all around her.
She stood quietly, her delicate face expressionless. Her hollow black eyes looked past the burning ruins, silently gazing into the distant snowfields beyond the horizon.
After a long moment, the girl began to walk forward.
The raging black flames behaved like a gentle pet before her. They did not harm her thin, fragile body. With each barefoot step she took, a small black flame bloomed where her foot touched the ground, leaving behind a trail of darkness.
“...Hungry... so hungry...”
The girl murmured softly. Her will spread through the snowy wind, like a baby bird instinctively calling for food. The wind, mixed with ashes, blew again, lifting a few half-burned cloth scraps before they vanished completely into the flickering fire.
Those were the remains of her latest “meal.”
But the food was far too little, nowhere near enough to fill her small stomach.
So the girl kept walking.
Deep within the snowy wasteland, she could feel it. Many, many more sources of food. Far more than what she had ever tasted before inside that dark cage.
More plentiful… more delicious.