"Thought could play longer..."
The red-haired girl seemed somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, looking rather listless.
At this moment, even the others could see she was not an ally at all. The atmosphere instantly became tense again.
"My name is Michelle."
Her short statement was like a bombshell for everyone, and they instinctively took a few steps back.
"You are the Fire Goddess?"
Alfred could hardly believe it as he tried to confirm.
Although her gender could be guessed from the name, seeing her appearance was still very different from what he had imagined.
"What? Don't I look the part?"
She answered blandly, not seeming to care much about appearances. Though she looked younger than Claudia, her behavior was much more mature.
"It's not that I don't believe you..."
I couldn't help but confirm again. Indeed, I didn't sense a trace of dark elemental energy from her.
"But how can a dark creature's god have only light elements in her body..."
I really wanted to complain: Could it be that she had previously been an angel leader, and then defected to the dark creatures?
If that were truly so, then this Michelle would be the real fallen angel, while that black-winged Claudia lacks authenticity.
"You angels are consistently accustomed to judging if someone is a friend or foe according to their elemental attributes. But you should be aware that enemies are not necessarily dark creatures," Michelle said, giving me a side glance and sighing.
"Besides, as you have already said, I am the Fire Goddess, not the God of Darkness..."
I wanted to retort. It was rather absurd that I seemed to suddenly represent all angels when I hadn't even seen what other angels looked like.
But the torrential heat wave that erupted from her in that instant left me stunned.
The air around Michelle appeared to ignite, instantly setting the vegetation and trees in the area ablaze. The bizarre sight before me gave off an intensely dangerous vibe.
"Feliciana!"
"Feliciana, run!"
Adrian and Nicola's voices called from behind. I suddenly felt myself pulled into an embrace as someone swiftly retreated with me away from Michelle...
A deafening boom.
I only felt dizzy and disoriented. Still in the person's embrace, we were blasted into the sky, not knowing how far we flew before heavily crashing back to the ground.
"What happened?"
Having been thrown about violently, I shook my head to try clearing it as I shakily propped myself up to look around. My ears were still ringing from the explosive sound and I couldn't make out any noises clearly.
"This is..."
Seeing the sight before me, I gaped, momentarily at a loss for words.
Not far ahead was a massive crater, probably blasted several hundred meters from where we were. A large swirling inferno still burned above it and fiery dragons continuously weaved in and out. The surrounding trees were also furiously burning, enveloped in white flames with embers flying about in the scorching heat waves blowing towards us.
The whole scene was like doomsday, such was the power of the Fire Goddess?
I didn't see Michelle in the crater so she must still be within those flames.
It was too frightening. Her power erupted without warning and I was completely unprepared. If not for someone saving me, I couldn't imagine what would have happened.
I lowered my head to see it was Adrian who saved me! I panicked.
While my clothes were quite burnt off, I only suffered some abrasions and was relatively unharmed. Adrian's condition was very bad. Most of his back had been burnt bare, revealing bloody and charred flesh emitting a burnt smell.
Such injuries would likely be fatal without hope of saving if on Earth. But it was different in this world with magic!
"Eleanora, quickly save Adrian!"
I hurriedly turned to look for her.
"Have to wait...can't get away now."
A faint reply came. To my surprise, someone else was also sprawled on the ground not far behind - it was Alfred!
He seemed to also be heavily injured, his back a bloody mess, but looked to be much better off. Hayden and Eleanora were crouched beside him, seemingly healing him.
"When the explosion happened, the captain shielded me and Hayden as he pulled us back, protecting us in front of him, but he himself..."
Eleanora spoke in muffled sobs, frantically increasing her magic output to try healing him quicker.
"But it's more urgent here, if not saved soon..."
I anxiously said, checking Adrian's breathing again, afraid he would stop any moment.
In my panic, I didn't care anymore and would have rushed over to drag Eleanora here if she still didn't come.
"Let me do it!"
Selene's voice then sounded from above. I looked up to see Nicola descending while carrying her.
Their clothes were also tattered from the burns. Strangely though, while Selene didn't seem too injured, she had wounds all over, but Nicola looked virtually unscathed like me.
How bizarre was this explosion, seemingly selective in its victims? Surely I wasn't to believe Selene shielded Nicola completely!
Upon landing, Selene immediately went over to Adrian and used light magic to first stabilize his injuries, while Nicola took one look at him before coming to my side.
"Sorry, I hesitated just now so didn't manage to save you in time..."
"Why are you apologizing?"
I looked up at her, not understanding why she was apologizing.
The situation happened so quickly then and I couldn't even react. Nicola reacting swiftly enough to escape with Selene was already very good.
If Selene had also been heavily injured here, I really wouldn't have known what to do.
"This is punishment for deceiving me with that light puppet."
Michelle's voice came from the crater, the flames there now completely dispersed to reveal her.
"Fiery red wings..."
I stared blankly at the twelve wings unfurled behind Michelle's back, feeling completely unreal. Even Selene and Eleanora who were healing others were drawn to her.
"What's going on today, wings of all colors making a joint spectacular appearance?"
Hayden staggering to his feet, looked up at Michelle in the sky and couldn't help but retort.
"You fire god..."
Nicola gritted her teeth, and was about to fly into the air.
"As if we fear you, acting so arrogant!"
Seeing Nicola rushing straight up, I panicked and quickly pulled her back.
"Whether she is a real goddess or not, Clearly you're no match for her."
"But..."
Nicola knew the difference in their power too. She just couldn't swallow this anger for now.
It was my first time seeing Nicola so irritable. For some reason, facing this Fire God, she somehow couldn't restrain her anger.
"Calm down first!"
I pulled Nicola behind me, then looked up at Michelle.
"What do you want with us?"
I somewhat saw what was happening. Her long absence leaving us time to observe and heal likely indicated she was going easy on purpose, perhaps giving us a punishment as she said.
Since Michelle didn't intend to kill us, she surely had a purpose. Escape was impossible now so might as well buy time to see if there was a chance, and for Nicola to calm herself.
"Don't worry, my goal is simple. I'm uninterested in most of you, capturing you would be useless too. And since you've escaped the Dark Continent, I naturally won't force you to stay."
Michelle leisurely flew towards us, seeming reasonable and even implying we could leave. But her tone suddenly shifted midway.
"However - one among you must remain. I'm very interested in the one who could kill Claudia."
"The one who killed Claudia?"
I was shocked upon hearing this. I couldn't help glancing back at Alfred. What did Michelle want with Claudia's killer? Was it for revenge?
It seemed Camille didn't witness what happened then, so Michelle still didn't know the crippler and killer weren't the same person.
"It's him?"
Following my gaze, Michelle spotted the collapsed Alfred and flew above him, peering down.
"Impossible! He's just an ordinary human. Claudia inherited my ability to manipulate energy. There's no way he could have done it!"
Er, but he did indeed kill Claudia...
"She's referring to you, Feliciana..."
Nicola whispered in my ear.
"No duh, of course I know that!"
I whispered exasperatedly back.
"You can't expect me to give myself up!"
"What are you two whispering about over there?"
Michelle looked at us somewhat speechlessly, probably surprised we still dared to privately converse so openly.
"Well...I think I know who you're looking for..."
Seeing this scapegoat Alfred couldn't carry on anymore, I had no choice but to make another excuse to buy time.
"But in exchange, can you tell me how you found us?"