As I stepped out the portal, the smell of something burning entered my nose immediately. I expanded my senses far and wide, sensing that there was only one other person around in this large Hall. I was in some underground hall, the surface seemed to be 500 Metres above. The hall had intricate drawings and patterns on the walls and large pillars on the sides, with a red carpet following straight on to where a man sat on a throne nonchalantly.

Dark, oily hair clumsily hung over a furrowed and tanned face. Woeful hazel eyes, set rooted within their sockets, watched in boredom towards me. 

[New Quest: Kill the Fire Contestant to gain his seat!]

[Do you want to accept the quest?]

[Yes/No]

‘Yes’

There was no way I was going to decline such an opportunity.

“Where is Malia?” My voice reverberated with a deadly aura of killing intent as I glared at the tanned man looking at me head on without fear.

“I’m a bit disappointed. You’re the guy she has so much faith in? A weakling like you is her lover. Sickening. Well, it doesn’t matter because you’re going to die here today. I, Ranveer, will be taking your seat Mr Lightning Candidate and Malia for myself.” He declared standing up and smiling devilishly at me. A burst of fierce mana expressed from his body as he lit up in flames like a Human torch. He created a longsword out of orange flames and got into a battle stance.

‘Lightning Aura’

‘Cambio Forma’

‘Purgatory’

‘Lightning Gauntlets’

I cast several skills and a burst of lightning also erupted from my body circling around me protectively. Tendrils of electricity danced around me as my dark hair frizzed up from the high voltage. Gauntlets formed out of pure lightning mana also wrapped around my arms reinforcing them with extra defences. I had only fought one other candidate so far: The light candidate – Blake Handmoore. 

I had to be cautious fighting these guys; Candidates were the strongest in the Lower realm after all.

We both rushed towards each other and clashed our weapons. With each swing, we were both dodging each other’s powerful blows simultaneously. Dancing around, several destructive shockwaves spread out from our powerful attacks. 

‘Lightning Arcs’

Powerful Slashes of Lightning travelled towards the Fire Candidate as I swung my short swords. He roared in fury tanking the slashes, covering himself with an even intense heat. If I didn’t have a high resistance to his flames, my skin would have been scorched by the intense heat he was radiating.

‘Ice lances’

Conjuring several sharp icicles, I threw them towards him but he blew them all away using a sweep of scorching flames.

“Stop playing games!” He shouted in anger charging towards me. He appeared in front of me in an instant and punched my chest with his full might. 

All the air syphoned out of my lungs as I was blown back catapulting through several pillars and smashing into one of the walls of the hall. 

[You have suffered 11367 Damage!]

‘Rapid healing’

A green aura washed over my body rejuvenating the HP I lost with just one of his powerful attacks. I exhaled deeply, cracking my neck left and right. Was I losing my battle sense? I was making too many mistakes. I looked at my opponent realising how tired he was. His flame form must have been consuming mana continuously hence why he was rushing and always charging in to finish the battle quickly. Compared to Lucifer, this Ranveer guy was underwhelmingly much weaker.

“I’m going to end you! Be honoured to die by the Mighty Ranveer’s hands!” He roared once more, releasing another surge of flame mana from his body. This time the flames expanded until his body morphed into a large fiery mythical phoenix with 2 menacing crimson eyes glaring back at me.

RAAAA!!!

A deafening roar shook the atmosphere with a fierce mana pressure. Several pillars of fire erupted from the ground pushing upwards like geysers. I danced around dodging the flame pillars.

‘Shackles Release.’

A smile curled up on my face as I felt a burst of adrenalin rush throughout my arteries and veins. 2 devilish dark horns propped out of my forehead and black wings sprout from my shoulder blades, allowing me to fly. The colour of my hair transformed crimson red and my veins and muscles pulsed with power. The atmosphere vibrated with dense lightning mana.

I flew around manoeuvring in the air expertly, dodging the onslaught of flame pillars that were emitting a hellish heat. It was becoming impossible to get close to his body to deal a final blow, as every time I’d get close, the flames would engulf me and scorch my skin, still hurting me even though I was resistant to the flames.

I decided to use one of my most used combos and threw Voadhailis’s Claw towards the large Phoenix’s head but it just tilted its head slightly, allowing me the perfect angle to chop its neck off. 

‘Switch’

I used my Demon Eye’s special visual prowess to swap with the blade’s situation. Violent tendrils of Purple Lightning cackled around me as I Swung my blade down towards its neck.

‘Purple Lightning’

‘Blade Art: First form, Wheel of fate’

I spun like a tornado, causing the powerful purple bolts of lightning around me to reinforce my blade attack with extra power. 

RAAAA!!!

Another cry of sheer pain resounded as the phoenix’s head was cleanly sliced off its head. It didn’t even have a chance to defend as I executed the attack with insane speed. I didn’t stop there as I conjured several Dragonic flame Suns smashing it down on the recovering Pheonix.

‘Grande Sole’

‘Grande Sole’

‘Grande Sole’

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Several explosions shook the hall as a cloud of smoke covered my view. Did I kill him? My chest heaved up and down and I briefly glanced over my MP. I was down to half and it was still slowly declining. 

“Good… Worthy of being called the Lightning Candidate but I feel bad for you. I have assimilated with a phoenix. I will never DIE! HAHAhaah!” He cackled, in the middle of a large crater. 

“Shut up!” 

‘Gravity Zone’

‘Kuroi Hono’

A powerful force of gravity pushed down on the regenerating body of Ranveer as his burned flesh and bones were visibly joining back together. 

“AAAArrghhh!!! What are these flames?!!!” He screamed in agony as the black flames ignored his regeneration and continued to burn him without perishing. 

“Ironic. The Fire Candidate, a future Flame monarch dying to flames.” I smirked, throwing Voadhailis’s Claw at his chest causing him to be impaled into the ground. He wriggled in pain, screaming endlessly at the top of his lungs as he was being burned to death by the merciless and non perishing black flames.

“Farewell..” I sighed seeing his body disintegrate to ash. 

The fight was quick and extremely underwhelming. His arrogance is what got him killed; this was a good reminder. I should never turn out like him and feel comfortable with the little strength I had. 

New notifications popped up on the side of my vision.

[You have killed the Fire Candidate!]

[Congratulations! You have successfully finished the quest!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[You now have the option to take a skill of the Fire Candidate:]

A range of skills popped up into my view, I decided to scan through a couple, before rushing to save Malia now that the threat was over.

[Inferno: Unleash a hellish burst of flames onto your enemies that will deal direct damage bypassing any defence. (MP Cost: 5000)]

[Status Boost: Increase all stats by 25% temporarily. (MP cost: 500/Min)]

[Lesser MP Recovery: A passive skill that will Continuously rejuvenate mana at 10/sec. This value will be interchangeable with increased @”£$%^$”$$%]

For some reason I couldn’t read anything after a certain word for the description of the Lesser MP recovery. Strange.

I closed the panel in front of me and sprinted out through some gates to look for Malia. After a couple minutes of travelling around the large passage I stumbled upon the jackpot I was looking for.

“Who are-“

Bzzztt! Pow! Pow!

I knocked out several dark figures with swift moves moving like a deadly assassin, the lightning in my palm still buzzing with vigour.

Smashing the gate doors open, I walked through to find several girls along with Malia’s unconscious body all piled together. I knelt down and hugged her in relief. 

“Thank God. You’re safe…”