Irene Pendragon POV:
Just as Claire appeared behind the man and was about to attack him, he brought out a sword from his Dimensional Ring and blocked her attack. I couldn't actually see their attacks, all I saw were glints of steel and occasional sparks from the man's flame.
Claire seemed to be making sure he didn't take any significant damage. After all, she had promised to make him pay, for everything he's done... I'll make sure he spends every single moment of his life in endless pain.
If there's a god out there, I swear upon their name that I'll make that man pay. Even if I have to bring this world to ruin to do that.
After a few more minutes of them trading blows, the man shot a blast of fire out at both Valier and me. Claire dissapeared and reappeared beside me and the man appeared beside Valier. The blast of black fire landed on Valier's back, burning him and spreading throughout the rest of his body, the flame split up into lines when it went around his body. The man dispelled his flame and his cooked, his blood congealed, there were multiple lines across his body where there was no skin, only burnt flesh.
"I've had enough of this rather unwinnable fight, and that girl seems to be running out of time. So, I'll be retreating for now, and I'm actually pretty fucking pissed. That's why I'm going to take your brother with me, I was planning on making you all die miserable deaths, but I think my revenge would be far more satisfying if I were to make your brother go through pain for the rest of his life. Or maybe I'll send him into one of gladiator tournaments and turn him into a mindless dog? Well, I'll see how it goes, but know that regardless of what happens; your brother will spend the rest of his days hating the fact that he was born, and more so that his sister didn't do anything to save him."
Then, Claire dashed towards the man, but before she could do anything else, the man released a blast of his pale black flame. The amount of fire he was outputting was incomparably higher compared to earlier. He seemed to be pouring all of his Mana into offense, it seemed that he had mostly forgone his physical enhancement.
Claire stepped back, grabbed me leapt into the air. While in the air we could see Valier being held by the man, the man picked Valier up by the throat and spat what seemed to be a flurry of threats and insults.
The onslaught of fire started to die out and just as the man was about to pull something from his Dimensional Ring, a blast of heat began to pour out from Valier's body. Valier engulfed his body along with the man's body in a wave of pale black fire. By the time Claire and I finally landed on the ground, Valier's flames had died out.
The man's arm only steamed slightly, it seemed that he had been able to defend himself with enhancement magic at the very last minute. So, Valier's onslaught had been more or less useless.
"My word, you're quite tough aren't you? But I guess it wouldn't be fun if you died instantly."
Claire placed me to the side and vanished once more, then I felt something speed towards my neck. Claire appeared beside me, I saw her swing her hilt and then I saw steel collide and and hundreds of metal shards flew away from me.
I looked around and saw that Valier and the man had dissapeared. I looked around frantically to look for them, but I couldn't find them. The air around me started to rapidly cool, you see when I got angry, I'd start to unconsciously release my Mana. The ground around us started to freeze over as anger began to consume my sense of reason and then I felt something hit the back of my neck and then, everything went dark.
***
I woke up in a room that I was unfamiliar with, there were several doctors around me, I looked around saw that I was in a white room. A doctor noticed I was awake. I looked at him, I only had one question, there was only one thing I truly wanted to know.
"Please... tell me it was all a dream."
The doctor hesitated, but before he could say anything, Claire entered the room. She told the doctors to leave and she sat down on a chair beside me.
"It's been a week since the event, you were in a coma and we didn't know whether you'd make it. Thankfully you're fine, the Imperial Family personally intervened to make sure you got the best medical attention on the planet. You won't even have a single scar on your skin."
Before continuing she gently sighed.
"Not any physical ones anyways."
"My siblings... please tell me they're alive and well. Please tell me that what I saw was a delusion from pain."
"You're siblings are both dead, your sister was vaporized and Valier was taken away. I assume your brother was tortured before he went insane and then he probably also hot killed in a similar manner to your sister."
Just imagining the scene of my siblings' death infuriated me. It was then that I remembered who allowed their death, a person who was this powerful could've easily saved Valier at the very least.
I then got out of bed and glared at Claire, the room immediately began to freeze. I enhanced myself with Mana and brought my fist to her face, she caught with her hand and I send another fist towards her face, which she again caught with her hand.
"WHILE MY SIBLINGS WERE BEING BURNT ALIVE YOU TOOK YOUR SWEET ASS TIME GETTING THERE, AND EVEN WHEN YOU GOT THERE YOU WERE ONLY ABLE TO SAVE ME? IF YOU'RE THE SWORD SAINT, THEN YOU SHOULD AT LEAST BE ABLE TO SAVE TWO CHILDREN!"