No one can commit mass murder without facing the law. But I? I am beyond the law... Well that seemed narcissistic.
Together with Sarah, I stood at the heart of the bustling city. It was alive with the chatter of vendors selling their wares, the honking of cars weaving through narrow streets, and the laughter of children playing by the sidewalks. For a moment, I allowed myself to soak in the ordinary beauty of it all. It truly was an amazing place, one brimming with life.
"So… why are we here, Eth?" Sarah's voice cut through my thoughts. Her curious gaze bore into me, and I hesitated.
I turned to her, my lips curling into a wry smile. "…Wanna see this city drown in a sea of flames?"
Her reaction wasn't what I expected.
"Oh! Will you commit mass murder or something? Ooh! Can I watch!?" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
For a moment, I froze. Was this really my sister? Her enthusiasm sent a chill down my spine, and yet I couldn't help but feel an odd sense of relief that she wasn't frightened.
"Well… yeah," I admitted hesitantly, rubbing the back of my neck.
How no one around us reacted to her morbid words remained a mystery. The crowd seemed oblivious to the conversation, their lives continuing uninterrupted.
"So… yes," I said, meeting her gaze with a hint of nervousness. "Just watch."
The center of the bustling crosswalk was the perfect stage for what I was about to do. Hundreds of people surrounded me, unaware that their mundane routines were about to come to a fiery end.
'Focus,' I told myself as I let my eyes wander over the scene. Children chased each other, their laughter echoing in the streets. Teenagers leaned against storefronts, lost in their conversations. Adults rushed from one place to another, juggling jobs and errands.
An ordinary day in an ordinary city.
And I was about to destroy it.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward. Sarah trailed a few feet behind me, her eagerness palpable.
"Flare:…"
A massive magic circle materialized in the sky above the city, glowing with an intense red hue. It hung there, unnoticed by the people below, its brilliance concealed by the magic woven into it.
The sheer size of the circle drained a significant portion of my mana. I could feel the strain building, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through. This had to be done.
My eyes gleamed, glowing with a fiery mix of red and orange as I uttered the final word:
"Tempest."
The magic circle roared to life. A deluge of fire erupted from its center, cascading downward like a burning lake descending from the heavens.
The flames engulfed the city in an instant. Buildings were consumed, their structures collapsing under the relentless inferno. The air was filled with screams as people scrambled to escape the firestorm, their faces etched with terror.
The sky turned crimson, the smoke rising in thick plumes that blotted out the sun. The once-bustling city was now a blazing hellscape, its vibrant life reduced to ash and ruin.
Sarah stood beside me, watching the destruction unfold with wide eyes. Her expression was a mix of awe and fascination, as if she were witnessing a masterpiece being created.
"That… was incredible," she whispered, her voice filled with reverence.
I didn't respond immediately, my gaze fixed on the burning city. My chest heaved as the toll of casting such a massive spell began to weigh on me. But amidst the chaos, a single thought lingered in my mind.
'One step closer to finishing the trial.'
The destruction was undeniable, but it came at a cost. The weight of what I'd done pressed heavily on my shoulders, and for a moment, I felt the faintest flicker of regret.
I stood amidst the inferno, the city around me reduced to a hellscape of roaring flames and collapsing buildings. The air was thick with smoke, suffocating and acrid, as electric circuits sparked and exploded, adding to the chaos. The cacophony of crumbling structures and panicked screams filled my ears, but I stood motionless, a silent observer to the destruction I had wrought.
The people below ran in every direction, their desperate attempts to escape pitifully futile. If this had been normal fire, they might have had a chance. But this was no ordinary flame.
This was Flare Magic.
Unlike mundane fire, which relies on its fuel to persist, Flare burns with an insatiable hunger, reducing everything to nothingness. It doesn't leave charred remains or ash in its wake—only oblivion. Every trace of what had been here was erased, consumed entirely by the relentless magic.
And unlike regular fire, it spreads with alarming speed, latching onto anything remotely flammable. Clothes, wood, paper, skin—it didn't matter. Everything was kindling.
One by one, people fell. Their bodies vanished into the unyielding embrace of Flare. The once-bustling city was now a theater of despair, its citizens the unwilling actors in a tragedy of my making.
At first, I felt a pang of pity—a slight ache in my chest for the innocent lives lost. But that feeling didn't last long. As the screams grew louder, echoing through the inferno, a twisted sense of satisfaction began to creep in.
The sight of the destruction, the sound of their terror—it filled me with an unhinged sense of joy I hadn't known I possessed. My lips curled into a grin, and for a fleeting moment, I wondered if this was the true nature of Flare Magic: not just fire, but chaos, destruction, and madness.
Behind me, Sarah stood in stunned silence. Her wide eyes reflected the fiery glow of the city as it burned to the ground. She didn't speak, but the awe on her face was unmistakable. It was as if she were witnessing the divine power of a god for the first time, knowing full well she might never see anything like it again.
The familiar ping of the system echoed in my mind, pulling me from my daze. My grin faded as reality came crashing back.
"Ah... Sarah… My time is… up."
She tilted her head, her brows furrowing in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
I turned to her, my expression somber. "I've finished my task. I've completed the trial. That means I can't stay here anymore."
Her eyes widened, realization dawning. "What?"
I nodded, my gaze softening as I took in her face one last time. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I wish I could stay, but… I have to return to where I came from."
She lowered her head, her hands balling into fists at her sides. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and though she tried to hide it, I could see the sadness etched into her face.
"I see," she said softly, her voice barely audible over the crackling flames.
I forced a smile, though it felt hollow. "Well… I guess this is goodbye."
The words tasted bitter as they left my mouth, and as I spoke, my body began to glow. Particles of light rose from my skin, and I could feel myself fading.
Sarah looked up, her eyes filled with sorrow. "No... Don't go. Please..."
Her voice cracked, the desperation cutting through me like a knife. But there was nothing I could do. The trial was over, and my time here was at an end.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
The glow around me intensified, and my form began to dissolve into the air. I reached out to her one last time, my hand brushing against hers before it too disappeared.
The last thing I saw was her face, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched me vanish.
I had done what I needed to do. But as I faded from her world, leaving her behind in the flames, I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the end.
Somehow, in some way, I would make things right.
But for now, I could only hope she would forgive me.
__
Unbeknownst to me, the Earth had succumbed to chaos and ruin in the aftermath of that blazing inferno. The fire that consumed the city was no ordinary flame—it was Flare Magic, an unstoppable force that devoured everything flammable and left nothing but desolation in its wake.
The flames spread like an unrelenting tide, fueled by the very essence of the world. Trees, grass, buildings, and even the oceans—everything was reduced to ashes. The water itself was burned away, leaving the planet barren, its surface cracked and charred.
A once-lush, vibrant Earth was now unrecognizable.
Amid the destruction, Sarah stood in the ruins of the city where I had disappeared. Her expression was cold, her gaze sharper than the bitterest winds of the Arctic. The light of the dying world reflected in her eyes, but there was no trace of fear or sorrow.
She didn't flinch. She didn't cry.
Instead, a voice, low and venomous, escaped her lips:
"This is what you get… All of you."
Her anger was palpable, radiating from her like an aura. She felt no pity for the world, no regret for its demise. For her, this was justice. She blamed humanity for my disappearance, for the events that led to this moment.
Her heart, once warm and gentle, had turned cold and vengeful.
But before she could take another step, something strange occurred.
The air around her shifted. The charred ground trembled slightly, and an unnatural chill swept through the ruins. A faint flicker of light appeared before her, its presence eerie and otherworldly.
"Huh?"
Her head snapped toward the source of the disturbance.
The figure before her was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was massive, towering above her, but its form was indistinct, shifting and flickering as though it didn't fully belong in this world.
It was translucent, its edges shimmering faintly, making it hard to discern its true shape. Yet its sheer size and presence were overwhelming.
"What... What is this?" she muttered, her voice trembling slightly despite her cold demeanor.
The figure loomed closer, its presence filling the air with a sense of weight and dread. Then it spoke:
"§@^£ @¬( @!( £+#@¬."
Its voice was cryptic, fragmented, and incomprehensible, echoing in a way that seemed to bypass sound entirely and resonate directly in her mind. The words were alien, incomprehensible, yet they carried an undeniable power.
As soon as the figure's cryptic message ended, Sarah felt her body grow heavy. Her vision blurred, and a strange numbness overtook her.
Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.
"What… What's happening…?" she murmured weakly, her voice barely audible.
She tried to focus on the figure, to make sense of what was happening, but her consciousness began to fade.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and just before the darkness consumed her, she managed one last glance at where the figure had stood.
It was gone.
The ruins of the city were silent once more, the only sound the faint crackling of the last remnants of Flare Magic consuming the Earth.
Sarah's body lay motionless, and her fate, like the fate of the world, now hung in the balance.