Raelis's vision finally returned, and he found himself lying in a pool of his own blood at the far end of the throne room.
The throne he had slumped against earlier now had a gaping hole, and through it, he could see Zeri's mischievous smile.
"I went for the kill there, how'd you survive?" Zeri mused. "Did you cast a heat shield at the last moment? No... that's probably too much, right? I felt like I was hitting a clump of obsidian."
Hearing that, Raelis's eyes widened as he checked his pocket.
When he confirmed that the Phoenix's egg was still safe, he exhaled in relief.
It saved me...
Despite the pain in his fractured ribs and twisted arm, Raelis stood up slowly.
Even with his surprisingly fast regeneration, he wasn't healing that quickly.
Still, he inhaled once and began circulating his two Flame Rings throughout his entire body.
It gave his physical abilities a slight boost and eased the pain somewhat.
That was when he noticed Zeri approaching him slowly, her pink flames melting the ground beneath her.
"I'm a bit interested, to be honest," Zeri muttered. "Your flame, what is it? I remember the emperor... or rather, Grandpa, mentioned something about it being 'more special than I could ever imagine,' but no matter how much information I tried to squeeze out of him, I could never understand it."
She let out a giggle, stopping right in front of him.
"Tell me, Raelis. What kind of Flame is it?"
Frankly, he had no idea.
I'd need to try talking to the flame itself... But I don't have the time, nor the faintest clue how to do so.
For now, it's just a flame that burns stronger than the other flames.
Noticing his silence, Zeri let out a frustrated sigh.
"Since we are kind of considered siblings, I'd really hoped you'd give me at least a hint... but oh well, my mom had always taught me that second chances do not exist," Zeri said coldly as she extended her hand.
Pink flames began dancing around her arms, forming a miniature kitchen knife as she held it tightly and rested it on his neck.
He felt the burns, but he didn't move.
After all, everything that had happened ever since he regained consciousness was a distraction.
Suddenly, blood spurted from Zeri's neck as a pair of nails dug right into it, trying to rip it apart.
Zeri's eyes widened as she kicked back and withdrew her flames, then swiftly activated the Flame Body technique.
In the few moments before her transformation, Raelis saw several white blood vessel-like strings coming out of her neck and blood spurting like he'd never seen before. Yet her transformation soon finished as her flames hid the gruesome sight.
Before her flames could consume Raelis, Clea appeared, her nails all bloody as she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away.
And just in time, a distorted explosion rang out, mixed with Zeri's incoherent wailing.
—BOOOOOOOOM!
Bright pink flames shot throughout the entire throne room, melting everything they touched, yet Raelis finally regained enough clarity to move around without Clea's help.
As he glanced down at Clea's hands, he noticed a few familiar white strings.
Now that he had a better look at them, his eyes widened. "Is that...?"
Clea nodded, exhausted. "She talked too much... so I just took away what made her so annoying."
A faint smile tugged at her lips as she met his gaze.
"She will never be able to speak again."
—AAAAAAAH!
Zeri's raspy screech rang out once more, but instead of feeling wary, Raelis was relieved.
He always wanted to do something like this to Zeri, and even if not directly, he was able to make that happen.
Raelis and Clea continued dodging the raging flames, which kept growing hotter.
Zeri was burning through her mana rapidly, but due to her crazed state, she didn't seem to care.
Raelis took a deep, painful breath as he kicked off the ground, arriving in front of the queen's throne.
The two team leaders were slumped there, frightened as their bodies were visibly burnt.
With little time to spare, Raelis grabbed them, slung them over his shoulders, and ran toward Clea.
She noticed him, and with a quick gesture, she hurled a burning cabinet through the throne room's window before flashing him one last nod and turning into a butterfly.
Clea flew out, and he didn't linger either as he jumped through the window.
As if on cue, the flames suddenly condensed as the heat around the entire castle began to increase.
The heat grew so intense he could see the castle roofs melting, and bit by bit, the Blue team's castle began collapsing onto the furious Zeri.
But even if she lost control, Raelis knew exactly what she was doing right now.
The Flame Body Technique's Third Star... you unlock the ability to condense the Flame Body itself, then unleash all that condensed power in one giant cataclysmic explosion.
According to the books, it was called the Flame Singularity, one of the main abilities of the Varekan imperial family.
And the reason it wasn't used often was because the ability's original purpose was a last-ditch effort attack, one people on the brink of death would resort to in order to eliminate as many enemies as possible.
After all, the moment the Flame Singularity was cast, the caster would temporarily lose all sense of themselves. Instead, the flame's ego would take over, unleashing the full extent of its powers.
Nevertheless, if Raelis remained anywhere near this castle, he'd be killed in a heartbeat.
Therefore, with his ribs cracked and the Blue Team's King and Queen on his back, Raelis followed the blue butterfly until they arrived at the wall.
It seemed like his team had managed to deal with the cannons and even the Blue team itself.
However...
"Everyone!" Raelis yelled, gritting through the pain. "We need to get as far away as possible! Free the Blue team's soldiers!"
They hesitated, but when a scorching gust of wind blew past them, they soon switched their tune.
"O-On it!" Alice yelled back as she shot her arrows toward each of the ropes binding the Blue team.
Raelis nodded in satisfaction as he began running ahead, and to his surprise, the blue butterfly landed on his nose.
It seemed like Clea was trying to tell him something, and from the little flap of the wings, he assumed it was to turn around.
And when he did, his eyes widened.
A geyser of pink-white flame erupted from the castle, shooting high into the sky and covering everything as far as the eye could see. It was almost like the sky itself was igniting, dyeing the entire world in pink.
A few moments passed in silence, yet those moments felt like a death sentence to all of the candidates who stood below this completely pink sky.
Even Raelis was shocked by what was happening.
This... is this really how powerful a mere 3 Star technique could be...?
But he knew this was only the start as it suddenly began raining pink droplets.
They moved slowly through the air, almost eerily so.
However, when they finally reached the ground, they melted a circular area five meters wide, turning it into magma.
Millions of those droplets fell from the sky, but as most of them were about to land, Raelis heard a low thump, followed by every single droplet being suspended in midair.
He recognized that noise, and when he turned toward it, he saw the exam overseer, Julian, holding his cane with both hands and glancing up at the sky with a barely noticeable frown.
"My..." Julian mumbled, his soothing voice echoing throughout the battlefield as he slammed his cane down onto the ground again.
The suspended droplets suddenly dispersed into violet particles that fell harmlessly to the ground, sprouting beautiful flowers.
It was a stark contrast to the cataclysmic ability being used, and yet...
"This won't do," Julian muttered as he gazed at the pink sky.
He raised his cane, causing the flames above to shudder slightly.
"This won't do at all..."