Will of a Prince

"I-Impossible!"

The dragon dove straight down holding on to Fina in its claws.

"This can’t be possible! These humans shouldn’t be capable of such transformations! Even if they combine their souls!"

Fina’s wing slowly recovered itself and she flew in the air next to the dragon.

"Was there something special about her? I’ve never known someone blessed by father to contain such crazy potential before."

The heat intensified around them as Defiled shone brighter in the sky.

"I’m next. Don’t waste your release power on this thing, Fina. Only when we’ve exhausted all other options."

"But... I still don’t get it. Why can we not even read her powers, Ante?"

The dragon, Ante shook their head.

"The only way to obtain information is by attacking it until we discover something unique to its powers. There must be something we can extinguish those flames with."

"What ever happened to the Frost Monarch? A single exhale from him should be enough to cool her off."

"It would also be enough to freeze the entire continent over if he chooses. We are low on options. Stay back with Jade and provide support when you can."

Fina cursed under her breath while looking down at the Epigones below her. Almost all of them appeared to be passed out with singed robes. The heat was infinitely worse than they expected for their followers. They had to finish this fight quickly. Ante’s mouth began to surge with a raven-black color. Defiled’s light was starting to blind everyone. After three seconds of charging, the dark beam shot towards her body and coated the flames until there was no light in the sky at all.

Ante opened his eyes and stood up. He was back to himself, his human self, walking along an empty vast abyss with ripples rumbling under his feet. He had successfully managed to infiltrate Defiled’s brain and take control of its body. One of his powers allowed him to swap the minds of anyone he hit with his corruption-elemental attack. Fina stared at Defiled for a few moments then back at Ante’s body as it kept itself floating in the air. Suddenly, Defiled called out to them.

"This is strange. I was met with no resistance at all. I claim this vessel as my own. "

Ante’s old dragon body fell from the sky and slowly began to disintegrate. One of the only downsides to his power was when he moved to a new body and claimed it as a new host, the old being he inhabited before would erase itself from existence.

"Can you read their powers now that you are them?"

"Let me try."

Ante brought his consciousness back into the dark expanse. He stared deeply into the darkness hoping something would reveal itself to him. After three minutes of searching, he sighed deeply.

’Is there really no way to-"

His brain stopped. He looked down under his feet. Steam was coming off its surface. He bent down and flowed his hand through the water.

’This surface... is it getting hotter?’

Suddenly bubbles started to appear everywhere around him. The ground beneath him was beginning to boil. The heat around him intensified to unreal levels, breathing became impossible, and his limbs started going numb.

’W-WHAT?!’

He jumped out of the plane of consciousness moved around in Defiled’s body as if it was his own. He held on to his flaming head.

"Argh. What the hell was that?!"

Fina shouted back to him.

"What is it? What’s wrong? Did you find the source of her power?"

"I’m fine, it’s just that... You should leave my body if you know what’s good for you... And the ground beneath me started boiling... Too late... Wait, something isn’t right. Argh!! I’m burning! I can feel the heat of these flames! Help me, Fina!"

Fina flapped her wings once, rocketing herself towards Defiled to save her fellow guardian. Her wings turned dark black, feathers began falling from them and floating around the air, a strangely cold breeze brushed against the back of her neck.

"Release!"

Suddenly, everything in existence stopped moving, with the exception of Fina and Zalo himself.

"If I can’t stab you with these, you will inhale them instead. Sorry, Ante. Your sacrifice will be remembered for-... huh?"

A spark ignited around Defiled. She was fighting against her power once again. Fina couldn’t believe that a mere transformed human was capable of such a powerful feat. She surrounded Defiled with her floating purple feathers, each one oozing with a dark liquid and emitting a violet cloud.

"Unfortunately, this is the strongest poison in existence. Even though time is frozen for you, it is still running through your system as if you are inhaling it in real time. No living thing is capable of surviving. It was fun, Defiled Flame. You even managed to take one of us out. Not many can claim such a feat, even among Deities of all creature classes."

Another spark exploded around her frozen body. Words started slowly flowing next to her frozen body. For the first, Fina was revealed a power that was a part of Defiled’s being.

’This is it. Thank you, Ante.’

However, there was only a single power that appeared, accompanied with a story of a man she didn’t recognize.

[Crimson King’s Corrupted Blood]: A king who managed to break destiny fueled each of his citizens with capabilities beyond human limitations before his passing. Blessed with an ability to control his own blood, the king pooled it under his kingdom for years upon years, preparing for a calamity of unprecedented scale to occur. However, he knew his blood wouldn’t be enough to protect his people, he required something else to boost it, someone else’s power to make it stronger. With the help of a friend, he accomplished such a goal, infusing the blood of Zalo into his own then feeding it to his people for months without anyone’s knowledge.

Fina choked on air.

’What?! Who the hell is the Crimson King? Wait, if she and the person she combined with were both infused with the blood of Zalo before they transformed...’

Another explosive spark shook her timeless domain.

’No... They weren’t human. They were-"

One final explosion rippled through reality, breaking Fina’s release into nothing. The world, existence itself started to move once more. Defiled shone gracefully above Fina with its flames roaring harder than ever. The poison appeared to have no effect.

"Ante! We need to get the Keepers! We can’t win this fight!"

No response. Defiled simply stared at Fina with an expression of indifference. Suddenly, an unfathomably commanding voice tore through the sky.

"Stop."

Both Fina and Defiled stopped in their tracks. Something massive started falling its way down through the atmosphere. Fina started sweating profusely. With one loud boom, Zalo had finally bent down under the clouds to stare at the small flame creature causing his followers so much trouble. However, instead of a face, all anyone could see when staring at him was his dark black skull. Even the Jade knight’s body started shaking feeling his presence.

"Hmm."

He slowly raised his gargantuan hand and cuffed her body in its entirety, snuffing her flames out. After three moments, Zalo’s hand began to shake and exploded open with more radiating white flame.

"Stop burning."

For the first time ever, the flames appeared to be dying down immensely, but they were never extinguished. Zalo lifted his hand again and pointed a finger at the flaming body.

"You are banished to walk the Frost Monarch’s domain. You will go there now."

Instantly, Defiled followed Zalo’s commands. Defiled’s body was shaking, but not from fear. It was trying desperately to fight against Zalo’s voice. However, doing such a thing was impossible. The two remaining guardians stood completely still as Defiled slowly floated far away from them like a wandering star.

"Guardians."

A cold wind engulfed the area. Fina’s heart began beating out of her chest, she shook violently, and her wings quivered in the air. The Jade knight was just as scared. Even with such thick armor, it was clear what kind of expression they held on their face.

"Fina."

Fina yelped hearing her name. Her ears began to bleed but she still refused to move.

"Y-Y-Yes, my lord."

A small silence followed.

"You failed, Fina."

Zalo moved his hand around her.

"W-Wait! Just give me me a-another c-chance! I didn’t expect them to be a-"

The mountainous hand squeezed her body tightly, completely cutting off her sentence. Fina wailed and shook her body as much as she could, but she still couldn’t move. Bloody tears began falling down her face as Zalo brought her closer to his skeletal teeth.

"WAIT, WAIT! PLEASE! I’M SORRY! I PROMISE I’LL DO BETTER! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE DON’T KILL M-"

With one loud crunch, Zalo began eating Finna slowly. The Jade Knight whimpered hearing the sound of her bones being crushed between Zalo’s teeth. After he was done with his snack, Zalo continued talking, addressing the only guardian remaining.

"Jade."

The Jade Knight refused to respond. Zalo’s hand moved close to its armor.

"You keep your position, but you will lose something in return. Do not make me regret it."

Zalo’s fingers tapped against the dark green armor. As his finger pulled away, a long string of fog escaped with it. Zalo shoved in inside one of his empty eye sockets and sighed.

"Don’t make me come back down."

A loud grumble shook the earth as Zalo stood back up, disappearing from sight above the clouds. The Jade Knight hunched over and gagged repeatedly. They didn’t have a stomach, and yet they continued trying to throw up from fear. They turned their head towards Defiled and watched them disappear over the horizon like an artificial sun setting in the sky.