What is fire?
What makes it deadly?
These thoughts were flooding Oscar's mind, structuring his perception and knowledge of fire.
From a scientific perspective, it is a self-sustaining chemical reaction involving the bonding of oxygen and carbon or any other fuel. Possessing the attributes of heat and flames.
The main attributes of fire are burning, heat, light, combustion and destruction. To list a few out of the many.
Fire is deadly because it is uncontrollable, the radiant heat, combustible effect and rapid spread make it a deadly hazard even to fire users.
There is one constant in all these, and that is heat. Which is the transfer of thermal energy from one object to another. Thermal energy itself is present in all living things and is responsible for the internal temperature of a substance.
Fire mages utilize mana to achieve the combustive reaction known as fire. Oscar might not be a fire mage, still he was considered a fire user so he understood this concept very well.
'What I should integrate is not the quantity of fire but it's quality. And what better way than to start with heat.' Oscar thoughtfully examined himself, taking note of his skills whilst assessing the improvements he needed.
Heat is a broader concept that encompasses the internal energy of matter and is not limited to the process of combustion.
'What people do not understand, they condemn. This is not of any relevance to me, I have accepted the fact that I'm not normal. I never was, nor will I ever be normal. I am an anomaly there is no denying the fact.'
Oscar stopped moving abruptly, causing Clifford to also halt his movements, his expression was laced with caution. Oscar's next action left him confused.
He closed his eyes, encased his hands, putting them together, he then lowered his head.
Oscar concentrated, blocking all other sounds and noises from the outside, he took in a deep breath and held it.
Mentally noting the name of his new skill, he muttered.
"heat."
At first Clifford thought he was about to use another unique skill, preparing himself for it but then nothing happened. This only made him ascertain something else.
"Are you...begging?" Clifford asked, baffled by the turn of events. Regardless...
"It's too late for that."
Boom!
Clifford mercilessly struck him with a powerful spell, exploding upon contact with Oscar, the damage was intensive as sound of the blast was almost deafening, the area itself was obscured by smoke.
Torren and Rano who were observing from the distance sighed in relief.
"He's dead right?"
They both witnessed the attack but Rano still felt the need to confirm as if assurance from Torren would clear his doubts.
"...he should be."
"What? But we both saw the attack!"
"Then why are you asking me to confirm something we saw at the same time?!" Torren fired back, leaving Rano no means to retort.
The attack was successful but Clifford still felt uneasy.
They were all eager to see the aftermath which was still obscured by the smoke. The obscurity didn't last long as the smoke cleared.
The area of the attack was charred, with most of the grasses and plants destroyed. At the middle of it all was Oscar, unmoved, the bruises and cuts he had were healed. As though the blast had caused caused him to recover.
His eyes opened, it was almost red with a fierce intensity, he exuded a fiendish aura as the temperature in the surroundings increased.
Torren and Rano presently held deep feelings of dread. Clifford didn't fare any better, as he noticed Oscar's state an eerie feeling crept through him. All his senses gave off alarms off impending danger, he preferred nothing more than to run away.
This was justifiable as the skill Oscar just unleashed caused the plants around him to die with the ambiance becoming blurry and devoid of oxygen.
"We'll let you go."
"..." Oscar tilted his head at Clifford's statement.
"We were wrong to chain you and try to sell you off. But if you agree to stop right this moment, then we...I will let you go."
"I could just kill you and go." Oscar calmly asserted.
"You could try, but I won't give up without a fight and also..."
Clifford reached for his pocket and brought out a device.
"No matter how strong you think you are, there's no way you can walk through this forest without encountering dangerous beasts. This device is the only way possible." Clifford's lips curled upwards as he stated this but the response he got was the opposite of what he expected.
"Then I'll kill you and take the device for myself."
Oscar was clearly unconvinced by his pitch.
Letting them go never crossed his mind, when he was weakened they tied him up and planned to sell him, now that he was literally too hot to handle they want to play meek and mend fences.
"So that's how it is?" Clifford's expression turned grim.
He tried to show a calm facade but failed horribly, his arms were slightly trembling.
"You might be a monster but I am a capable fire mage."
"Which is more of a reason why I should kill you."
Oscar coldly uttered, he was without expression, devoid of emotions.
Clifford expected him to come closer, he didn't. He just kept staring at him, what he didn't know was that Oscar himself was still trying to understand his present state.
He was able to manifest his internal energy outwards, feel and control the mana in the air but he didn't know how far he could go.
Seeing the traces of mana he had an instinctive feeling of power.
Clifford did not wait for Oscar to make the first move as he struck. A blazing torrent of flames was launched.
Oscar moved away taking the battle seriously. The flames scorched the place but brought him no harm.
Spreading his arms apart, he coated his body in flames.
Clifford didn't give Oscar any time, he cast another spell, this one was more offensive than the other as fire erupted beneath him.
This attack didn't affect Oscar, quite the contrary and to the shock of Clifford, he could control the flames.
He increased the intensity of the flames as they gained a deeper shade and channeled them forward. The fire was ten times Oscar's size and moved with so much swiftness.
Clifford froze as he saw the huge body of fire rapidly approaching. Fear, panic, shock, confusion all these emotions affected him at once.
With no defence or fortification set up the attack claimed his life, destroying him completely.
The aftermath was horrifying as his body was blown to bits and pieces, some parts were still burning.
"I should have used a precise attack, I ended up destroying the device too." Oscar said this but there was no evidence of regret in him.
"They are not here."
Glancing at the body parts with a look of indifference, he walked forward to find the other two.
Rano and Torren had run away. The moment Clifford took out the device, they knew the battle was lost. They were still running when they heard a blast coming from the place they left.
"Do you think he is dead?" Rano asked with traces of panic in his voice .
"Who?"
"Bo- I mean Clifford?"
"What do you think?" Torren wasn't fine, but he fared better.
***
They had been running through the forest for a while, Torren had a device with him using it to see if there were any dangerous beasts around, lest they don't end up in one problem while getting aeay from another. This device belonged to Rina, the earth mage who got killed by Oscar.
Currentl, they had been running for a while and were heading for the Iyun territory to report to their superiors. After seeing that neither Clifford nor Oscar chased after them, their moods became a little better. They assumed that either one died and one was weakened or they both died. Which was better for them in any case.
It was now nightfall and they decided it was best to sit and rest somewhere but...
"Hey"
They both turned stiff hearing the voice call out to them. Oscar's face was quite pale but that didn't reduce the feeling of dread they felt from him. In fact, it only made him look more terrifying.
"Did you guys think I wouldn't catch up if you escaped?"
"If you try to harm us we will destroy the device." Rano held the device and threatened using the device as leverage for their lives.
"Then I will kill you." Was the response he got.
"We'll give you the device and..." Torren spoke up
"I'll still kill you." But got the same reply.
While they were thinking of how to plead for their lives, Oscar coughed heavily.
"..." They stared at each other.
'We have a chance.'
Or so they thought as they tried to kill him.