Chapter 207: Rising Heat
High above the battlefield, the faint disturbance lingered like an unseen weight pressing against their senses. It didn’t fade or weaken. If anything, it settled more firmly as if whatever caused it had already taken root.
Lilian’s brows drew together deeper. Her gaze remained fixed downward, but her thoughts moved elsewhere.
"Something that can interfere with us...?"
A quiet anxiety spread through her chest.
She and Seraphina were not beings bound to this world. Their existence stood above it. The flow of Ether here, the limits of power, the structure of this realm, none of it should have been able to restrict them like this.
Which meant only one thing. This... isn’t from this world.
Her fingers tightened slightly at her side.
If something here could interfere with both of them at the same time, then that presence had to originate from a higher plane as well. Something closer to what they were.
Before she could speak that thought out loud, Seraphina’s gaze turned.
She looked up at the unnaturally bright sky.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as if trying to pierce through something unseen.
"The Blood Sun..." she said slowly. "It might be the one doing this."
Lilian’s head turned toward her immediately.
"That’s impossible," she replied. "It’s still just an embryo inside that vessel."
Even as she said it, the certainty didn’t feel as solid as before.
Seraphina didn’t look away from the sky.
"Maybe," she said. "But that embryo... might have a higher aptitude than we expected."
Her eyes lowered again, returning to the battlefield below where Red stood at the center of the chaos.
"That vessel," she continued, "Probably has a level of compatibility that allows it to draw out more of that power than it should."
Lilian fell silent.
Her gaze followed Seraphina’s eyes to settle on Red.
The way he moved, how confident his smile was. The way he stood in the middle of death without hesitation or restraint.
It seems like he was not human anymore.
The thought surfaced clearly in her mind about what he heard about Red and his characters that look even more like a mad beast than a human.
And suddenly, the idea didn’t feel so far-fetched.
If the Blood Sun itself carried a nature similar to that... something wild, destructive, and unrestrained... then a vessel like Red, someone who had already abandoned restraint, would align with it far too well.
They would have high compatibility and resonance.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
A low sigh left her lips.
"It’s possible..." she admitted quietly.
But even then, her expression didn’t ease.
"It should be a very small possibility," she added. "An embryo shouldn’t be able to exert this level of influence."
Yet the evidence stood right in front of them. The interference was real and it was strong enough to reach them.
Her eyes hardened slightly.
She didn’t need to say anything more. Seraphina already felt the same.
A faint click of the tongue left Seraphina as her expression turned slightly irritated.
"Tch... troublesome," she muttered. "At this rate, we won’t be able to interfere even if we want to. To help him, I mean."
Lilian didn’t respond immediately. Her eyes remained locked on Myles far below, where he and his companions still stood behind the unfolding battle.
Seraphina crossed her arms lightly.
"But..." she continued, her tone changing just slightly, "this might not be a bad thing either."
Lilian glanced at her.
Seraphina’s lips curved faintly.
"Let’s see what he can do on his own," she said. "If he breaks here, then that’s all he’s worth."
Her words were calm. Almost casual. But the meaning behind them was clear. For her this was a test for Myles. He would not be guided or protected. Just him... against everything.
Lilian frowned slightly. She didn’t like that idea.
Not entirely.
But at the same time... she wants to see it too...
The thought surfaced quietly, almost against her will.
She wanted to know how far he could go and how much he could endure. Whether the growth she had seen in him so far would hold or collapse under real pressure.
Her fingers slowly relaxed.
"...Fine," she said quietly.
Neither of them moved after that.
They didn’t try to push against the interference again or attempt to force their power through it. Instead, they remained where they were, suspended above the battlefield and watching.
—
A faint change crept across the battlefield.
At first, it went unnoticed beneath the clash of weapons and the bursts of Ether. The ground shook from impacts. Steel rang against steel. Shouts and screams overlapped in chaotic waves. Everything moved too fast and too violently for subtle changes to stand out.
But Myles felt it.
A slow rise in temperature brushed against his skin. It wasn’t sudden or surge like a wave of heat from an explosion. It built gradually, like something seeping into this world.
He moved through the battlefield. His blade cut down another opponent who rushed toward him, the body dropping before it could even land a proper attack. Around him, his companions did the same. They didn’t push forward recklessly or dive into the thickest part of the fight.
They held their ground and just killed whoever approached while they watched.
Their focus remained on the center of the battlefield where Red and his elites stood.
They didn’t rush because they knew the real battle hadn’t started yet.
Then the heat deepened.
It pressed more clearly and settled against his skin, sinking into his senses. The air grew heavier with it, almost suffocating in a way that didn’t belong to natural heat.
Myles’ movements slowed. His eyes narrowed slightly.
This wasn’t the heat of fire or sunlight. It didn’t spread from a source. It existed everywhere at once, thin but undeniable like something invisible had begun to take hold of the battlefield.
A quiet dread formed in his chest.
His gaze moved and locked onto one figure, Red.
He already knew that this had to be it. The power of the Blood Sun embryo.
A low breath left him as his grip tightened around his weapon.
"Be careful," Myles said, his voice steady but carrying a sharper edge than before. "Focus on Red."
His companions reacted immediately.
Their movements didn’t stop, but their attention shifted more clearly toward the same point.
"Do you feel that?" Kade asked. "The air is getting hotter."
No one answered right away. Because they all felt it. The heat and the pressure beneath it.
Then, the sky turned red.
—