Sensing the collapse of balance within Belial, it knew there was no chance of reversal. It understood better than anyone what would happen once that stellar balance broke.
Around Belial, the temperature rose rapidly as energy poured out. In theory, there should have been no real flames here, aside from manifestations of Authority.
But now something was different. Beneath his feet lay ash gathered over countless ages, ash left behind after burning every soul and memory.
These forgotten remnants, insignificant as they were, sparked under the extreme heat. Things that should not burn were ignited.
Belial's condition worsened as the energy outflow tore at his body. At a critical point, even his outer skin could no longer contain it.
Flames burst from all over him. With his cooling ice organs collapsing, the reactor balance failed, and heat that could not be vented began to pile up.
His g-cells repaired frantically while collapsing at the same time. The internal temperature continued to rise.
His originally pitch-black, heat-resistant scales began to split under the heat, torn open by Rend. In the sea of black, a patch of molten lava spread.
Within Divine Kingdom, the ground was a stretch of gray white Soul Desert. Souls that had long forgotten their own existence lay here, so eroded that even awareness was gone, all those burned by the Fire of Decay across ages. Countless souls had fallen into Divine Kingdom, their memories and spirits decaying into ash and piling up layer by layer until they formed a desert.
In this severed world, everything within those souls, memory, emotion, even the idea of self, was forgotten and cast away. They were ignited all the same. From a higher plane, a ferocious black beast set foot on this desert for the first time, and the forgotten things burned fiercely as its flames filled their empty eyes.
A Three-Headed Golden Dragon flew past. "God…"
Blazing white flames wrapped around a black Great Dragon. A nearly shattered Evil God laughed wildly as the internal heat dissipation System failed. The heat inside Belial's Reactor piled up beyond its limits, driving the internal temperature to a terrifying level.
Crystal-like dorsal spines glowed red as radiator conduits pushed heat outward without pause, yet it was not enough. Even the crystal itself was stained, like fixed burning fire. The energy paths in the wing membranes showed dense scorch-like patterns from the heat, burning away inch by inch from the edges.
Energy began to run wild, scales on the skin split open with Rend, and molten patterns flowed out. The internal temperature had already exceeded several hundred degrees and was racing toward four digits. The surface temperature had even surpassed that of the sun, and the long-held Ice Element inside the body was extinguished in this furnace, evaporating into streams of scorching vapor.
The energy restrained by the internal Energy Field had reached a frightening level and was on the verge of losing control. If someday Belial reached this point under normal conditions, it would not progress so fast, especially with ice organs suppressing heat through Ice Element. But those organs were destroyed now, and within Divine Kingdom there was no controllable Ice Element to draw upon.
After the decayed Authority returned to Belial himself, it acted like a catalyst, sharply shortening the runaway process and causing multiple bodily functions to decay at speed. Yet the excessive energy released during decay piled up inside, and the reactor was like a star aging billions of years in an instant, swelling into a red giant and exploding. Just as Fire of Decay itself knew, the brightest moment of a star was its supernova.
In that brief instant, the energy released surpassed the total of billions of years before it. The scale of light was thousands of times greater, radiating brilliance far beyond. Belial woke up.
"Aooo!!!"
The blazing white flames around Belial were instantly extinguished by an expanding shockwave with temperatures in the hundreds of thousands. A sun brighter than before appeared in the collapsing Divine Kingdom, crashed into the ground, and poured out light and heat without restraint. The shockwave radiated for dozens of miles, and Fire of Decay took it head-on, its surface flames snuffed out and a layer of flesh stripped away.
There was no flourish, only pure mass and output crushing it, forcing a miserable howl from Fire of Decay. When Fire of Decay struggled upright after the impact, its body surface was almost completely gone, blockbuster-like flames flowing like blood. Yet it was unexpectedly delighted.
"Hahaha… Hahahahaha!!!"
Without doubt, the sun inside that monster had finally broken free. Like itself, it had reached inevitable decay, and no mortal could survive such a burst. Its flesh should already be reduced to ash.
"Boom!"
Before the thought finished, a scorching light spread out and split the ground. A fire-red beam shot from where the sun had fallen and struck beside Fire of Decay, and the damage of the blast was secondary. What mattered most was what it represented.
Shock filled its trembling pupils as it turned toward the fading glare. Still wrapped in light and heat, the figure there was clearly visible, and the shattered body and confused memory of Fire of Decay recalled a long-lost feeling. Fear.
"Aooo!!!!!"
From the light walked a blazing Great Dragon. Heat waves rolled outward, forcing Fire of Decay to step back, while the space around Great Dragon twisted as the desert's soul sand rose and the expanding underlying Laws overrode Divine Kingdom itself.
"How is this possible!"
"Hu… ha… not choking my throat anymore, that feels better."
After venting excess heat, the slightly clearer Belial shook his head and checked his state. "Yeah, that energy overload and the broken cooling organs really did turn me into Burning Mode."
His once black hide was split open in many places with Rend, revealing molten colors that ran from his mouth to his horns. The crystal dorsal spines glowed like solidified flame, constantly lit as orange-red currents surged over them. His wings burned at the edges, red light shone in his eyes, and bursts of radiation-like glow flared from his body.
A relentless, tightening hum came from his chest. "This feels different from normal Burning Mode. My internal temperature should be over nine hundred now. Wasn't twelve hundred the point where it blows?"
Pain no longer registered, likely because his nerves were burned out. Belial did not fully understand why his energy had gone out of control, but he focused on what mattered first.
"So…"
He stepped forward, eyes cold and blazing, baring sharp teeth at Fire of Decay as light gathered deep in his throat. "I'll kill you first, then talk."
"Funny enough, the original scene was flames blowing up Rodan's gold. Thanks for helping me recreate it. As thanks…"
The sun-like Great Dragon opened its jaws. "Take a burning ray!"
"Aooo!!!"
Fire of Decay raised its wings and roared, releasing an even stronger white flame barrage. The scattered beams met a single red burning ray, whose temperature doubled to a million degrees and crushed the white flames instantly before slamming into Fire of Decay.
A massive fireball and shockwave followed, blasting a charred hole through its right shoulder. Flames spread and ignited the lonely Soul Desert, and forgotten souls and memories burned freely, forming a growing sea of fire.
Belial stepped forward as flames spread beneath his feet. Uncountable things within the desert flowed into his body, changing him at deeper levels he barely noticed. All he wanted was to finish off Rodan.
With Burning Mode active, his organs and cells ran far beyond limits. The answer showed itself when he stamped the ground, blasting out a crater dozens of meters wide. His massive body closed the distance at absurd speed, nearly face to face with Fire of Decay.
As the heat climbed further, Belial grinned and raised his fist, activating Space Claw. The flame ray fired point-blank did nothing, even getting absorbed and evaporated by higher heat.
"How can this be…"
The thought vanished under a deafening roar. "Self-destruction state. Burning Mode. Nuclear output at a thousand degrees!" "Burning Mode Burst Punch!"
The molten-patterned fist struck squarely into Fire of Decay's chest. The multiplied power and excess energy combined into a single blow.
"Aooo!!!"
The hundred-meter body was punched skyward, blasted apart as its chest split with Rend. Fire devoured flesh, leaving blackened bones, and more than seventy percent of its body was erased.
Fire of Decay still screamed despite being nearly skeletal, shock filling its remaining head. The energy of that instant surpassed everything it had left, leaving it as good as dead. Even with Authority of Decay, such a surge should have burned the user to death, yet this was beyond belief.
What was this thing?
Before it could finish thinking, the blazing Great Dragon walked up and crushed its spine underfoot, grinding it into black powder in the burning Soul Desert.
Belial's temperature kept rising past eleven hundred, close to twelve hundred. It did not matter, since the Diablo template meant he could revive even if he exploded. Still, he chose to finish it carefully.
"This was close. You almost won." "To show respect, I'll send you off with a new move."
He hurled the remaining head into the sky as Divine Kingdom collapsed, nearly throwing it into the void beyond. There was nothing there, no light or matter, but the first beam of light followed it.