"Aria, watch out!" I yelled, my voice raw with urgency as I saw the possessed child lunge, a gleaming knife clutched in his small hand.
Aria spun on her heels, sweat beading on her brow. In a swift motion, she raised a barrier of divine energy. The child collided with it, dropping the knife, his green eyes glowing with a fury that wasn't his own. Behind him, the crowd surged like a raging tide, their blank faces twisted by the emerald light that controlled them.
Chaos engulfed us, but our initial hesitation had given way to the need for action. Aria worked tirelessly, separating women, the elderly, and children, enclosing them within her barrier. Each pulse of her divine energy lit up the street but also betrayed her growing exhaustion.
As for me, I was locked in a brutal fight for survival. I struck a man wielding a rusty hammer, sending him crashing into two others. Their bodies hit the ground heavily, but before I could catch my breath, an elderly man armed with a shovel forced me to dodge again.
"I think we're getting the hang of this," I said, trying to inject some optimism amid the chaos.
"Speak for yourself," Aria replied, panting as the barrier began to flicker. "I don't know how much longer I can hold this!"
I glanced at the crowd, which seemed to multiply with every passing second, as if Lira's will was regenerating them. The villagers' eyes were voids, devoid of humanity. For the first time in a long while, I felt like we were losing.
"Ignis, you have to go after the witch!" Aria shouted, her voice tinged with desperation. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
The suggestion was madness, and we both knew it. Every fiber of my being screamed against leaving her alone. But Aria was right: defeating the witch was the only way to end this.
"Fine," I murmured, my voice a mix of anger and resignation. "But if anything happens to you, I swear I'll find you in the afterlife."
Aria gave a faint smile, her eyes weary but resolute.
"Just be quick, Ignis."
The mansion at the end of the street seemed to devour the very light around it. Every step I took toward it made the world fade, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the echo of my boots on cracked pavement.
The air grew heavier, saturated with the smell of damp earth and something metallic, like rusted blood. The mansion was a nightmarish sight: its facade covered in black ivy writhing as though alive. The windows were dark eyes, glaring at me with malevolence.
The door creaked open, revealing an even darker interior. The floor was covered in ash, and the air was thick with a low hum, as if the house itself was alive.
"Ah, Ignis…" Lira's voice echoed from all directions, a mocking chant that chilled my blood. "So predictable. Do you really think you can save your little friend and defeat me?"
"I'd rather die trying than live doing nothing," I replied, my tone laced with suppressed rage as I ignited a flame in my hand.
"How heroic," Lira laughed, her figure materializing in the center of the hall. She hovered above a circle of green energy, her hair cascading like liquid shadows. Her eyes shone with an intensity that dwarfed the villagers' eerie glow.
The hall seemed to breathe. The walls were covered in dark symbols that writhed as if painted in living blood. The hum in the air grew louder, pounding in my head like a war drum.
"You know," I said through gritted teeth, stepping forward, "if flames don't scare you anymore, maybe it's time you felt real fire."
Without waiting for her response, I launched my attack—a blaze that filled the hall with orange light. Lira raised a hand, and my fire was absorbed by the green circle, vanishing as if it had never existed.
"Oh, Ignis…" Lira murmured, her smile making me falter for a moment. "Didn't I tell you? You can't burn what's already been consumed by the flames."
Her laughter echoed in my mind, and suddenly, the ground beneath me crumbled. I felt myself falling into the darkness as her voice faded into an eerie echo.
The battle had only just begun.