Note: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to drop Power Stones and leave a comment to help the story reach more readers.
--------------------------------------------------------
Soon after parting with the people on the road, Setsuna glimpsed what must be Karan. Not a town in sight, but a beacon of crimson flames and billowing black smoke screaming its location.
Beyond the stone pillars lining the road, far in the distance.
"That's…!"
Setsuna poured everything into his sprint. The moment he saw the fire, rage erupted within him. The girl's tears flashed in his mind. The source of her terror was there. He had to hurry.
The scarlet blaze engulfing Karan was far fiercer than he'd imagined. No mere fire. Arson was too tame a word.
From afar, the town looked like a writhing mass of flame.
Unforgivable. A primal recoil against senseless violence drove him forward. Not just righteous fury something deeper, rooted in Setsuna's core, propelled his feet toward the burning town.
He raced like the wind.
As he tore down the road, he saw scores of people huddled at its edges Karan's residents, no doubt. Their singed, anguished forms echoed the group he'd met earlier.
Fearful eyes locked onto Setsuna as he charged toward the flames. To those fleeing, his reckless advance must have seemed bizarre.
Through the road, into the roaring inferno.
It was like plunging into hell's furnace. The crimson flames danced wildly, consuming every building in the small town.
Everything was painted red, the searing heat scorching the air. His vision warped, breathing grew labored.
Yet Setsuna didn't hesitate. He didn't even consider his own safety. It didn't matter. Only forward existed.
Karan was a modest town, reminiscent of medieval Europe but somehow fundamentally alien. The raging fire obscured its full shape. He'd only just stepped through its entrance.
"Hey, you!"
A sudden shout made Setsuna glance back.
"What? I'm in a hurry!"
"Dangerous! Turn back now!"
The voice booming over Setsuna's belonged to a young man, perhaps in his twenties. His reddened appearance owed to the fiery town. His neatly parted hair was singed, but he seemed unbothered, glaring at Setsuna while drenched in sweat. The man's unhinged intensity unnerved Setsuna slightly.
No one could stay sane in this blazing chaos.
"Can't do that," Setsuna said, forcing the words out, glancing at the men behind him likely subordinates, dressed in near-military garb, swords at their waists, a stark reminder of this other world.
"It's too dangerous! Follow our orders and evacuate!"
The man's warning was sound. Utterly reasonable. But Setsuna couldn't comply.
He met the man's eyes, and the man flinched.
"Evacuate, and then what?"
"What?"
The man's confusion was natural. To him, Setsuna must seem mad. And he wasn't wrong. Only a lunatic would charge into this. But Setsuna embraced that madness.
"There's a guy who burned this town, right? What about him?"
"Calm down. We've requested armed summoners from the Association. They'll be here soon," the man said, his tone measured, like soothing a tantruming child.
Setsuna's irritation flared. He had no time for this.
"Can't wait."
"Why not? Everyone's evacuated. No need to"
"She was crying."
With that, Setsuna turned and bolted. That reason was enough. He believed it fiercely. The girl's tears justified risking his life.
"Hey, what are you!?"
The man's protest faded, drowned by the roaring flames that seemed to devour sound itself.
Setsuna ran through the fire-swallowed town.
Pushing through the endless blaze, he felt his strength draining. The brutal heat wrung sweat from his body. Breathing was a struggle, consciousness fogging.
In an unfamiliar town, he had no idea where to find the enemy. He was wasting energy to no end.
The sky burned red, like the world's end.
Still, Setsuna pressed on, searching for the man who torched Karan. His vision blurred. He didn't stop. His throat was parched. He kept moving. Forward, only forward his sole thought.
The town wasn't complex, but walls of flame and pillars of fire blocked his path, forcing detours. After another course correction
"Burn, burn, burn more! Scorch the world's end!"
A maniacal shout pierced Setsuna's ears. Amid the raging inferno, the man's cackling rang with despair, a shadow of desolation lurking in his voice.
The town's center, perhaps a wide, park-like space. A fountain stood at its heart, water jetting upward in a world painted by fire, gleaming like blood.
Near the fountain stood the man. Tall and gaunt, his overly long hair seemed to blaze red under the fire's glow. His sharp eyes and twisted expression screamed madness. In this crimson world, his true colors were lost.
His skeletal frame wore what might be a uniform, similar yet distinct from the soldiers' garb at the entrance. In his right hand, a rod a staff, its tip adorned with a dragon's head.
"More! More! To the world's end!"
Seeing the man's deranged laughter, Setsuna felt a chilling clarity. His rage didn't burn hotter but sharpened coldly. A first for him. Perhaps the man's unhinged cackling triggered it. This wretch caused that girl's grief? It felt like disappointment.
He spoke.
"Burn a town and call it the world's end?"
Setsuna advanced, step by deliberate step. Benches lined the park, all ablaze, destined to ash. Trees scattered throughout burned too. Everything burned. But the world's end? Hardly.
A small, pitifully small world.
To that girl, though, it might have been everything.
That thought was unbearable.
Hot wind lashed Setsuna's face.
"What…?"
The man finally noticed him, his crazed eyes locking onto Setsuna. One glance confirmed his madness. Yet Setsuna felt no fear.
The gap was less than five meters. The man hadn't even sensed Setsuna's approach, too absorbed in his laughter.
Setsuna watched the man's face contort anger, perhaps. In moments, it morphed into something demonic. But Setsuna didn't flinch. Couldn't flinch.
He spat.
"Pathetic."
"What's a brat know!?"
The man's eyes widened as he brandished his staff. Sparks gathered at the dragon's jaws.
Setsuna leapt back instantly. His left thigh screamed.
"Don't know."
The man thrust the staff forward, the dragon's head fixing on Setsuna. The gathered sparks formed a fist-sized fireball.
"Don't wanna know you."
Landing, Setsuna dove right, ignoring his injured leg.
The man declared:
"Blaze Kiss!"
The staff roared. A flash erupted from the dragon's maw. The fireball swelled instantly, a meter-wide blaze, and shot forward, striking where Setsuna had stood. It exploded, flames surging.
Cold sweat prickled Setsuna's back. Had he stayed, he'd have been vaporized.
"Not bad," the man said, glee in his voice.