Chapter 226 – The Infernal Beast’s Armor

  Chloe Evenhart:

  There were no people arouhe port was emptying out as everyone likely retreated deeper into the city. This was the underground city beh Evenhart.

  The castle is an hour away from the city, and a messenger raven reach it in 15 minutes. A disturbance of this magnitude iy automatically requires the presence of one of the duchess's royal guards. Which means my mother will send one of the Legacies. So, ihan two hours, someone will be here to hahe situation. But I ’t rely on them. One day, I will be the one leading this duchy.

  I stared at the man before me.

  This bastard hurt Kinue... and I’ll kill him myself.

  He raised his hand high, a small fme flickering at his fiips, which rapidly grew as his magic fueled it. The fireball swelled, pulsating as it absorbed oxygen, its heat making the air shimmer. The sound of crag fmes melded with the whistle of wind he summoo amplify the inferno.

  The sphere of fire radiated a menag iy, expandilessly, its heat suffog even at this distahe bzing light cast erratic shadows around us, creating an almost surreal atmosphere, as though everything was at the mercy of this r energy.

  His eyes gleamed with a mix of determination and cruelty as he held the fiery orb aloft. "Let’s see if you survive this!" he roared, his voice slig through the dense, heated air like a bde, carried on the roar of the fmes.

  It’s a trap. If I get closer to force him to cel the spell, he’ll detohat thing right at me. If I let it grow any bigger, it’ll wreak havod could even be uoward the city. I’m at an impasse. This guy doesn’t care about the sequences of being captured or killed anymore. He’s fighting to die, pletely ign the aftermath.

  "Judging by your face, you’ve figured out the trap you’re in!" he shouted, pointing at the growing inferno above his head.

  “Grand Explosion!”

  The fming sphere surged forward with fury, illuminating the battlefield in a brilliant bze. Without hesitation, I unched myself into the air, using wind to propel my ast. My hands glowed as I jured a wind barrier mid-motion to intercept the fireball. The heat was stifling, and the surrounding pressure threateo crush every movement. With my other hand, I created a sedary barrier, blog the fire from behind, quickly yering multiple shields to seal the destructive power within a magical co.

  "Aqua Eagles!" I shouted, summoning water creatures to dive directly into the bzing inferno. The fmes began to subside, ed by the jured waters. But just as I started to rex, I heard Quinn’s sharp ughter cut through the chaos.

  “Hahaha! You really fell for it!”

  Suddenly, he surged forward, using the cover of steam aru to close the distance, his swleaming with magical energy aimed directly at me. He had masked his true iion behind the initial assault.

  "Ice Art: Forest of the White Winter!" My voice rang out as a wave of ice spread in all dires. Trees of frost erupted from the ground, their branches gleaming with sharp, glistening snow. The entire area transformed into a frozen wastend. The temperature plummeted, and the frigid air was so inte became difficult to breathe.

  The cold seemed to bite into every inch of exposed skin, and the battlefield was now my domain—a forest of ice, treacherous and unfiving.

  Quinn faltered, his sword striking one of the ice trees, shattering it into a thousand shards. But the forest tio grow, surrounding him, cutting off his paths. I nded gracefully on one of the branches, my body ag but my resolve unbroken.

  "Yht ends here, Quinn," I decred, my breath visible in the freezing air.

  Quinn’s sword closed in oh deadly precision. I raised a wind barrier in defense.

  "Frozen Knight!" I shouted, summoning an imposing figure of ice from the snow. It wielded a crystal-like hat shimmered brilliantly, radiating an icy aura as it charged toward Quinn.

  Quinn staggered back, but not for long. He spun his bde with practiced precision, juring a fiery tornado.

  "Crimson Vortex!" he roared. A whirlwind of fmes erupted from his sword, surging forward with devastating force. It melted the ice around him and obliterated the knight in a powerful explosion.

  While he reoccupied with the golem, I seized the opportunity to activate Icy Steps, sliding swiftly across the snow-covered surface. Eaerails of i my wake, reshaping the battlefield to my advantage.

  Quinn’s eyes burned with fierce determination as he pursued me, his heavy breathing punctuated by increasingly aggressive attacks.

  "Ice Art: Cemetery of Skeletons!" I cried, anding the frozen ground to rise. From beh the frost, skeletal figures of ice emerged, rigid yet relentless, advang on Quinn from all sides.

  Quialiated viciously, his fming bde slig through the icy figures with ease. Explosions of fire shattered groups of skeletons at once, redug them to shards. But their purpose wasn’t to defeat him—they were meant to distract.

  As the skeletons occupied his attention, I jured spiraling ice pilrs around him, weaving a treacherous trap. Taking aim, I unched frozen arrows, f Quinn to dodge with sharp, precise movements.

  "Fire Tsunami!" he bellowed, smming his foot against the ground. A massive wave of fire surged toward me, illuminating the field with its bzing glow. The oppressive heat lified by the gusts of wind he summoned, making the fmes all the more ferocious.

  I didn’t hesitate. Smming my own foot into the ground, I jured a wave of water to ter the inferno. The two forces collided violently at the ter of the battlefield, creating a deafening explosion of steam that bhe area in thick fog.

  As the mist began to clear, I realized too te that Quinn had used the impact to propel himself into the air. He was ing straight for me, a fire-imbued dagger in hand.

  "Damn it!" I cursed, reizing his ge in strategy. With a lighter on, his speed and uability had increased. Before I could react, he sshed my shoulder. Pain shot through me like lightning, f me to stagger back to avoid a fatal blow.

  Quinn spun, preparing for another deadly strike.

  I leapt into the air, juring a wind bst that densed into a pressed air bullet. The attack struck him in the chest, sending him tumbling across the ground. He rolled but recovered almost instantly, his gaze now even more ferocious.

  "You won’t leave here alive!" Quinn roared, hurling a barrage of fireballs in my dire.

  I dashed across the battlefield, weaving through the fiery projectiles as they exploded around me. Finding cover behind a partially destroyed carriage, I caught my breath, my shoulder bleeding profusely.

  I tried to push the pain aside, assessing the situation with sharp focus. Each of Quinn’s moves was calcuted, desigo keep me on the defensive. But retreat wasn’t an option—not now.

  "e back here, little duchess!" Quinn snarled, his voice dripping with hatred as he unleashed bsts of wind and fire. Each attack ripped through the air with violent force, erupting around me in waves of seari.

  I was in a pitiful state. Every movement was a battle against the excruciating pain ing my body. The wound on my abdomen bled relentlessly, f me to freeze it repeatedly to staunch the heme. The pain radiated with every juration, but the alternative was far worse. My left arm was burned and powerless, more of a burden than an aid.

  I gritted my teeth, f myself to stand. "You think this will break me?" I muttered, clutg the hilt of my ice-fed bde.

  This fight wasn’t over—not yet.

  My vision began to darken at the edges, my steps growing increasingly unsteady. The blood loss weakened my body with every sed, and my breathing came in short, erratic gasps. My legs trembled, threatening to give out at any moment.

  "Damn it…" I muttered, tasting the metallig of blood rising in my throat. I spat, the crimson liquid staining the dirty snow beh me.

  The explosion from the ship had caused severe internal injuries, especially on the left side of my body. Each breath felt like a battle, as if my ans were fighting to keep funing. The debris hadn’t just left superficial wounds; the blows had inflicted deep damage, likely causing internal bleeding in multiple areas. With every movement, my body rebelled, screaming that it was at its limit.

  I o keep going, but I don’t know how much longer I hold on.

  I focused, trying to quickly assess the severity of my dition. Without a healing potion, I couldn’t stabilize my wounds, let alone recover enough to keep fighting.

  If this keeps up, I’ll bleed out, and that bastard won’t eveo kill me himself.

  I sighed and pushed forward, but what I saw made me freeze in pce.

  Quinn was pletely engulfed in fmes. His figure had transformed into something terrifying, as if he had merged with the fire itself. He had fed an armor of wind and fire around him, his every movement leaving a trail of destru. The fmes danced violently across his body, illuminating his face, twisted with fury. He looked more like a demon than a man.

  "This is my Infernal Beast’s Armor!" he roared, his voice distorted, eg like a monstrous growl amidst the heat and explosions. "My most dangerous spell! You won’t survive!"

  Before I could react, he lu me, a living sphere of destru. I dodged at the st sed, the seari passing so close it nearly burned my skin. The carriage behiook the full impact, exploding with a deafening bst that sent shards of wood and fire flying in every dire.

  "His strikes have bined explosions of wind and fire," I muttered to myself, the dread growing in my chest. He utting everything he had into his attacks, sacrifig his own safety to take me down. It was reckless, dangerous, and utterly insane.

  Quinn charged after me, each of his steps causing small tremors in the snow-cround. Every blow from his infernal armered devastating explosions, ing everything in voracious fmes.

  "AHHHHH, hahaha!" His maniacal ughter echoed, a warning that he wouldn’t stop until everything was reduced to ashes.

  I tried using the surrounding houses as cover, but he didn’t hesitate. As I reached one, I heard the impact before feeling the ground quake.

  BOOM! The entire house exploded behind me, fmes and debris ung like a deadly storm. I dove through a window at the st possible sed, rolling into the snow to escape the seari dev everything around me.

  Quinn emerged from the wreckage like an unstoppable force. Using wind to propel himself into the air, he spewed fire in every dire. The snow-covered streets melted uhe iy of the fmes, and I felt trapped, my mind rag for a solution.

  "Water Art: Great Blue Sea!" I shouted, summoning a massive surge of water around me. Waves rose from the frozen ground, spinning at my and as I prepared my defense.

  The csh of heat and water created thick clouds of steam that bhe battlefield, obsg both our visions.

  "You won’t escape, little duchess!" Quinn roared, his fming figure emerging through the mist like a vision of hell itself.

  His armor bzed brighter, the air around him shimmering with raw heat. This wasn’t just a battle anymore—it was survival.

  I ched my fists, summoning every ounce of strength I had left.

  Qui again, aiming a devastating kick at me. I raised an ice barrier at the st moment to block him. As soon as his foot ected, the barrier shattered into a violent spray of frozen fragments.

  The kick still barreled toward me, but I noticed something: the barrier had slowed its speed and force signifitly.

  “What!?” he yelled, startled.

  Without hesitation, I lunged directly into the kick, brag myself for the pai scorched my skin as I grabbed his foot with both hands, f it against my already injured abdomen.

  “You cauterized your wound using my firepower!?” he excimed, both fused and infuriated. But before he could react further, I seized the opening.

  “Sea Serpent!” I shouted, juring a massive water serpent that surged toward him with crushing force. The impact sent him flying, but even as he was thrown back, he tinued ughing.

  “You’re pathetic!” Quinn cackled, the fmes around him r with eveer iy.

  Before he could recover, I unleashed another spell:

  “Azure Swarm!” Tiny swallows made of water emerged in a flock, striking him with shards of ice that exploded on tact.

  Quinn, though being pressed back, only intensified the fmes around him, melting through my ice attacks. He charged forward like a bzing monstrosity, propelled by the wind howling behind him.

  “Avanche!” I stomped the ground with all my strength, sending a massive wave of snow surging upward like a t white wall.

  “Frozen Coffin!” With a sweep of my hand, the avaransformed into enormous icy hands that grabbed him, log him inside a colossal sphere of pacted snow.

  Wasting no time, I jured a rain of ice spikes, driving them into the sphere with devastating force. The pressure was so immehat cracks began f on the surface.

  For a fleeting moment, I thought I had won.

  Suddenly, the sphere erupted in a fiery explosion of blue fmes that ed the itirely. Quinn emerged, striding through the chaos, his infernal armor entirely intact.

  “Is that all you’ve got, duchess?” he mocked, ughing as he propelled himself into the air with wind, ung toward me like a fming spear.

  “Now!” I yelled at the st possible moment.

  BAM!

  A colossal impact smmed into Quinn from the side, hurling him violently into the nearby houses. He collided with the walls, shattering them as the structure partially colpsed around him.

  "ROOOOOAAARRR!" My Soul Golem let out a deafening roar.

  “You’re te,” I said, panting, doing my best to hide the relief flooding through me.