Chapter 269: Defiled Flame

The Jade Knight’s blade cleaned itself of any silver left on its surface. The flame creature that had appeared seemed to be surrounded by a charred earth. Not even the Profane Trio dared to get close to whatever this thing was. All the epigones had retreated to a respectable distance. The knight took note of this. Its armor began to creak as it landed mere feet in front of the figure. Its body was that of a young woman, its face looked lost, and where its legs should have been, flames rose. The Jade Knight lifted its sword once more and faced its opponent with its usual cold demeanor.

"You... what are you? Is there something I should call you before you die? For some reason, I can’t tell what you are."

A silence hung in the air.

"Are you a spirit? A creature? A human?"

The flame raised its head hearing the last one. To the knight’s surprise, he got a response.

"I am... suffering."

The knight felt the heat around itself raise slightly.

"Suffering? I would think you are by making yourself so hot. You were blessed by our father with such incredible power. Why did you choose this path you currently walk?"

The Defiled Flame remained silent for a few moments before responding.

"You all... you all took everything from me."

The flames grew brighter around her.

"Now, I will take everything from everyone else."

The Jade Knight raised his sword.

"Unfortunately, I cannot allow such a thing to happen."

"Do you think a mere Providence Deity can stop me? One who has not walked this earth for years?"

"Oh? You appear to be quite confident. If you think you can handle Zalo himself, you are quite arrogant I must say."

She took a step forward, the rock under her flames melting into magma instantly.

"Arrogant? Perhaps I will show you then. I will show you the vastness of a human soul that Zalo can never hope to comprehend."

The Jade knight took a step back to escape some of the heat. His armor felt severely weakened even when standing a good distance away.

"Before we fight, I wish to know your name."

However, the Defiled Flame turned brighter, emitting more heat around itself.

"I am nameless. I am defiled."

"Defiled it is then. Goodbye, Defiled."

The fog around the Jade knight’s sword shot out at her body with incredible speed. However, something that the knight had never knew possible happened. The fog itself melted in thin air before it could reach her. Defiled walked gracefully towards the knight in no hurry to finish their brawl. The jade sword began to shapeshift into a completely different weapon of its own. A bow now rested in the knight’s hands, along with a sling of dark green arrows resting on its back. It pulled one out of its quiver and notched it in the ethereal string. Suddenly, everything in a thirty-mile radius turned completely black for a moment. The Jade Knight exhaled one sinister word.

"Release."

It let go of the bow and sent its first arrow flying. Strangely, it moved in slow motion as it left its string and stopped completely in its tracks halfway through its path. Then, a high-pitched screeched exploded through the battlefield while a plume of fog erupted around Defiled. The Jade Knight notched three arrows at a time and continued sending them into the fog repeatedly. Whenever he would run out of arrows, more of them would magically appear back in their place. A strong smell of sulfur perforated the air as the fog slowly began to melt and fall across the land like rain drops. When the fog dropped, Defiled was standing right where she always was holding on to every arrow that was fired at her. There wasn’t any noticeable injury anywhere on her body which secretly put the Jade Knight on edge.

His release power was not ordinary in the slightest. The only way she would have been able to come out of it unscathed would be if she was in their class or even greater. Seeing how effortlessly she had done it; he estimated her to be around the strength of an Elder Keeper. Unfortunately for Defiled, the Jade Knight had already managed to kill their own fair share of Keepers. It turned its bow back into a sword and prepared itself for melee combat.

"You’re holding back, Defiled. Why not try and attack me? I’m almost sure you’re faster."

No response. The Jade knight tapped their shoulder twice with their blade before surging forward. The heat was greater than they ever expected. Swinging their sword down with all their might, the mystic alloy bent as the sword came down on their shoulder. Slowly, the sword, along with its armor began to melt from being so close to Defiled. It jumped back as small green droplets fell of its surface like sweat. However, Defiled never let them gain any distance. She jumped back with them, ensuring that leaving her close proximity would be impossible. For the first time since their creation, a small bit of panic rose in the Knight’s void.

’What... is this feeling?!’

The knight zipped into the sky and hid themselves in the clouds. However, the clouds exploded open as Defiled busted through them with ease. The heat coming from her body was now so hot it was as if a new sun had replaced itself in the sky. The Jade Knight kept fighting to gain as much distance as they could, but it was no use. Their armor was starting to melt off their body and reveal the infinite black expanse underneath. As soon as its inward body was revealed, it morphed its weapon from a sword to a crossbow. It notched fresh arrows coated with more fog and fired hundreds of them at a time. It was as if there was no need to reload its weapon. There was always a green bolt ready to fire with the string already pulled back. A few arrows managed to reach Defiled, but as the bolts pierced her body, they simply phased through her and left the other side as nothing but black dust.

’This is...’

Defiled closed the distance immediately and shoved her hand directly inside the Jade Knights body. An excruciating pain flowed through every crevice of the knights being. They let out a massive scream and flailed in the air as their insides burned with the power of a sun.

’Death?!’

The amor began melting at an infinitely faster rate, flowing as smoothly as water as it rained over the area below them. Just before the knight’s helmet could finish melting, something managed to shove Defiled backward in the sky. Two figures grabbed the melted helmet and watched it begin to repair itself. When enough of itself was repaired, a sinister laugh escaped its slits.

"Fool. Did you really think I was the only guardian of Zalo?! You will regret facing all three of us at once, mortal."

The figure holding the now half-repaired suit of armor was an angel-like creature. She had large purple wings attached to her broad torso, each inch of the wings coated with a strange liquid. She didn’t have a weapon, but her human-like body didn’t seem normal for the wings that were keeping her in the air. Her body was covered with a multi-colored kaftan and her short white hair curled upward as it drooped above her shoulders. Her face was scarred, yet her skin was still flawless. The most menacing feature about her were her eyes. They were dim and glassy as if she was blind, but it was clear that she was not.

"Jade, you lost to this... whatever this is? You bring shame to Zalo’s great name."

"This thing is powerful. It would be unwise to underestimate it, Fina."

"You were simply too eager on your second assault. You should have let us help in the first place."

"There is no point for discussion. This thing wished harm upon father, so we must eradicate it before it can do so."

The second figure in the sky was much larger than the angel. Anyone could understand from one look what kind of creature this was. It’s large, sharp maw accompanied with its massive wings and indestructible scales; there was no doubt that this third figure was a dragon. Its scales were completely black like the void resting inside the Jade Knights armor, its eyes were just as black as its scales, and its teeth were stained with dark red goo.

"Hmm. Jade is right. We can’t read its power. If it can handle Jade alone, it can put up a good fight against all of us."

Fina threw her hands out in front of herself, her wings and eyes glowing darkly with immeasurable power. Slowly, the flames appeared to not be moving around Defiled’s body anymore. In addition, her entire being had been stopped in the air completely.

"See? Now we can attack."

"Fina, your haste may turn this battle in the opponents favor."

"You do remember what my name means, right? It’s Fina, short for Finale. This battle is OVER."

Fina charged toward Defiled and swung her purple wing through her torso. However, as it sliced through the body and left the other end, there was nothing left of the part of the wing that had touched the stand-still flames. The dragon tackled Fina away at the last possible moment. The flames started their dance once more, the time locking Defiled in place was melting before their very eyes. An explosion rang across the heavens, illuminating the lifeless sky with a new light.