Chapter 32: Analyze

Rael’s arms shook as he held the broken ribs. Every breath sent fresh pain through cracked ribs. The rain had turned the ground into a black slurry of mud, blood, and ash. His vision became blurry because of the blood coming from his forehead. Tentacles hung in the air around him like waiting snakes. He could feel the last of his mana guttering out. The skills that had kept him alive for the last minutes were slipping beyond reach.

He could not win a long fight. Not like this.

Even though he didn’t noticed during his fight he burned many of those corpses. During the chaos he had burned dozens of the standing corpses. Each one had given him souls. The total had climbed without him noticing until the system finally spoke.

[System Updating...]

[Installing New Functions...]

[Requirements Detected.]

[Class Upgrade Available]

Copy (F-Rank) → Analyze (E-Rank)

Souls Required: 1023/1000

[Upgrade Available]

[Would you like to upgrade Copy → Analyze?]

[ YES ] [ NO ]

Rael could only see with his one yes and chose yes without hesitation.

[Confirmed.]

[1,000 Souls consumed.]

[Remaining Souls: 23]

[Class Upgrade Successful.]

Copy (F-Rank) → Analyze (E-Rank)

[New Function Unlocked: Analyze]

A new window forced itself open before he could even test the change.

[Warning!]

[Flamecaller has reached a 100% level of understanding.]

[Class Evolution Available.]

Flamecaller (C-Rank) → Infernomancer (B-Rank)

[Required Evolution Resource]

Souls Required: 5,000

[Not enough souls left.]

[Alternative Resource Detected.]

Classes:

Archer (B-Rank)

Soulbinder (C-Rank)

[These classes can be sacrificed as Evolution Catalysts.]

[Would you like to sacrifice Archer and Soulbinder to evolve Flamecaller into Infernomancer?]

[ YES ] [ NO ]

There was no time to weigh the cost. He chose yes.

[Confirmed.]

[Archer and Soulbinder will be consumed.]

[Class Evolution Initiating...]

Flamecaller → Infernomancer

[Class Evolution Complete.]

[Main Class: Infernomancer (B-Rank)]

Power flooded him. It was not the borrowed strength of copied skills. This was deeper, heavier, hungrier. Heat gathered under his skin as if his blood itself had turned to oil waiting for a spark.

Aurelia’s tentacles struck.

One slammed into his side hard enough to lift him off the ground. Another coiled around his waist and yanked him forward. He did not resist. He let the force carry him straight toward her.

She pulled him close, close enough that he could see the rain running down her face and the bright, almost playful light in her eyes. The rain has took away all the blood which was covering her face before. He registered her face in his mind.

"Last chance, Rael" she said softly. "Become mine. I have done all this for you. Just come with me."

He looked at her for a long second, blood dripping from his mouth. Then he shouted.

"Fuck you, you Psychopath Bitch."

The Fireball that left his hand was nothing like the ones before.

It began orange, the familiar color of every flame he had ever called. Then the new class took hold. The sphere darkened, deepening to a molten dark orange, then to a raw, violent red. Heat rolled off it in visible waves. The rain around them flashed to steam. The tentacles nearest the fire blackened and split.

"Wha... What?"

Aurelia’s eyes widened. She tried to pull back, but Rael had already seized the tentacle that held him. He locked his ruined hands around the living flesh and drove forward with everything that remained of his strength and the force of the expanding blast.

The explosion tore the air apart.

He twisted at the final instant, using the recoil and her own momentum. Her body left the ground. The red sphere carried her backward in a roaring wave of heat and force. She flew straight toward the open gate.

As the light of the portal swallowed her, her voice cut through the roar.

"I will come to get you, Rael. I love you. You’re mine..."

Then she was gone.

The blast threw Rael the opposite direction. He hit the ground hard and rolled through mud and broken corpses until he finally stopped face-down in the rain. Burns covered his chest and arms, the skin raw and already blistering. Several ribs had given way. Deep, ragged wounds from the tentacles leaked steadily into the mud. Vision narrowed to a dark tunnel.

He managed to turn his head.

The gate flickered once, twice, then began to stabilize and seal. The light shrank. The tear in space drew closed with a soft, final sound.

Rain continued to fall.

Rael lay half-conscious in the mud, staring at the place where the portal had been. Lila’s body was somewhere nearby. The standing corpses had collapsed again into lifeless heaps. The forest was quiet except for the steady hiss of rain on ash.

He tried to move. His arms would not answer. Darkness pressed in from the edges of his sight.

He was still alive.

For now.

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