Between the shattered trees and the overcast sky,
Yui stood alone atop a hill overlooking the battlefield.
Her black cloak swayed with the wind, her slender spear slung behind her back.
The voices of the soldiers in the castle echoed through the magic crystals:
"Yui… Infernus has completed the defense, Rio has trapped most of the monsters, the army has finished the East, South, and North… Only the West remains… You are alone."
The voice went silent… then added in a whisper:
"Everyone is counting on you, Yui."
Yui descended from the tree branch and walked among the monsters like a shadow that cannot be felt.
She began to walk calmly toward the center of the forest, toward its heart,
Step… by step…
While she was walking cautiously, she was suddenly hit by a surprise attack that rattled her and made her jump back immediately, causing her to be exposed amidst the swarms of monsters.
Yui's heartbeat began to accelerate, and sweat started to pour from her head down her body. She began to feel tense from the roaring sounds of the monsters and their gazes filled with the desire for bloodshed.
She was aware that she did not have the ability to face them all, and that increased the pressure of fear on her. But she steeled her resolve, planted her feet firmly in the ground, and said to herself:
— "Wake up, Yui! You are the one who chose this path, so you shall complete it until the end!"
She continued her speech in a whisper:
— "I shall grant you the blessing of death by burning!"
The monsters attacked her all at once in a single line, as if they were an army.
The sound of their screaming could be heard from outside the forest, and the earth shook under their feet.
But to Yui, everything was slow and deeply still… as if she were a drop of water in the middle of a vast, still, clear ocean.
Yui prepared herself and…
— Sun Swords: Maximum Power:
"Elfeim… Shamstur… Duga Dugan…
Sirak Naftur… Kalda Mirhan…
Urka Dam… Urka Dam… Lifta Sul…
Namberith… Namberith… Shamsar Uzm!"
"Zarka… Zarka… My soul is burning…
Kibra Sham… Kibra Dam…
ELFEIM!!!
Grant me… THE SWORDS OF THE SUN!!!"
A massive red magic gate formed beneath Yui's feet, adorned and enveloped by chants and incantations from the underworld.
Ten swords ascended from the gate, radiating dense thunder and wrapped in the fires of hell.
They began to rotate around Yui, their speed increasing more and more until their velocity could not be measured by any human scale.
They formed a shield around her.
Only the moment of the explosion remained to burn everything.
— "Lilith Rapha, Great Guardian of Fire, grant me the power of hell, and I offer you all the monsters in this land as a sacrifice for your strength!"
As soon as Yui finished her sentence, billions of magic circles surrounded the kingdom, covering the bodies of the monsters and dragging them into hell.
"HELL…
EX… LAAARGE!!!"
BOOOOOM!!!
A massive explosion roared from Yui's direction, burning everything in its range until nothing living remained, as if the earth in its first days of creation was a mass of molten iron.
A vortex of glowing darkness exploded on the horizon,
forming an explosion resembling a massive burning mushroom.
A deafening sound thundered in the sky, causing a powerful headache in the head of anyone who heard it. The air within a range of hundreds of meters became so fast that trees were uprooted and sent flying thousands of meters…
It was her ultimate skill.
Monsters, trees, the earth—everything burned and turned to ash!
That is the power of hellfire; it leaves nothing, shows no mercy, and knows no difference between enemy and friend.
The spectators watching through the crystals:
Infernus, Rio, and Rin were terrified by that majestic sight and recoiled. Their instincts told them to flee immediately; she is a monster!
She cannot be fought.
Rin said in a low voice mixed with fear and horror:
"She is… much stronger than I expected."
Rio said while watching:
"Hey, that doesn't matter now. What happened to her? Did she faint?"
A few minutes later…
All the monsters in the West… evaporated.
Nothing remained but the wind, traveling between the dead fields.
Yui deactivated her skill, closed her eyes, and fell into the middle of the fire.
Then she whispered:
"It is over… on my side."
She fell into the midst of her flames, and there was no one capable of helping her.
For the fire she created was too powerful.
And that wasn't the only problem; as everyone expected, the fires began to move toward the kingdom to burn it.
Infernus tried to stop it, but a fire of such power would not be easily subdued.
Yui opened her eyes slowly before losing consciousness completely and said:
"It is not over yet!"
With the last of her strength, she formed one final magic circle.
— "Great Guardian of Fire… Lilith… I ask for your help."
From that circle emerged a pitch-black shadow, which said:
— "First you asked for my help to burn the forest, and now you ask for my help to extinguish it?"
Yui answered while stammering:
"I know it is strange, but please."
She replied:
— "And what will be my reward?"
Yui looked at the ground in despair:
— "I have nothing…"
She sighed and replied:
— "There is a way to extinguish the forest that does not require you to give me anything."
Yui smiled, and hope appeared in her eyes:
— "What is it? I am ready to do anything."
She said:
— "The way is to trap those fires inside you!"
Yui was surprised and did not understand:
— "What do you mean by trapping the fire inside me?"
She answered:
— "I mean I can create a portal to bring all that fire into your body. That way, the fire outside will disappear and remain imprisoned in your body forever."
"But I warn you, containing hellfire means containing the agony of burning forever!"
Yui smiled and said without fear or hesitation:
— "Do it now."
Shocked by Yui's answer, she said:
— "Do you understand what I am saying?"
— "Yes, I understand. It doesn't matter if I continue to burn forever, that doesn't concern me. My life is of no use compared to millions of people who will burn before my eyes—dozens of children who would have no home, father, or mother."
"I will not let anyone live that life because of me."
She said:
— "Fine, as you wish."
She extended her hand toward Yui's chest and opened it.
Then she began reciting some incantations:
— "Tenshi no Kata!"
Suddenly, the fire stopped and began to recede back toward Yui, entering her body flame after flame like a torrent.
At first, Yui felt her breath stop and her mind freeze from the intensity of the pain that exploded within her all at once.
Her eyes turned red from the amount of blood that gathered in them.
She was about to faint, but Lilith Rapha said something that brought Yui back to consciousness to complete her mission:
— "If you faint, the fire will go out of control. You must remain conscious to control it within you."
When her consciousness returned, Yui screamed with all her might—a scream that would tear the heart of any human who heard it.
But she held her ground bravely.
And then, finally, the ordeal ended, and all the fires were trapped inside her.
Lilith Rapha disappeared immediately.
Yui remained alone.
Writhing in the pain of the burn, screaming intensely, and tearing at her hair, unable to bear the pain any longer.
Until she fainted.
And fell into a deep sleep after a long exhaustion.
Before her eyes closed, she caught a glimpse of a shadow that came and extended a hand to her.
She tried to respond, but her physical ability was too weak to move.
The man took her hand and carried her with him.
Afterward, Yui fainted, and we do not know who saved her.
A month passed, and Yui was missing.
The situation became extremely tense, and rumors began to spread everywhere. For the heroine who saved them, no one knew what happened to her.
Yui's absence ignited anxiety in the city, but no one could determine her location.
No trace of her appeared; even the magic crystals could not track her.
During this month, Rio did not stop training.
He remained in total isolation, connected to his eye, Hazuki.
He would scream sometimes, collapse sometimes, and smile a smile of despair sometimes…
He was waiting for Yui impatiently.
Until the thirtieth day…
He opened his right eye, and the light in it had changed completely.
The gold was no longer still… it flowed like galaxies.
"Right Eye—Hazuki: Level Two"
❖ New Ability:
● Change.
The user can change a simple thing in their life, their power, a dialogue, or a battle.
❖ The Constraint:
● It cannot be used more than once a day.
● Every use erases a "probability of the user being a happy person in the future."
"Do you want to test it now?"
Rio (with a slight smile): "No… I will wait. I will use it when I truly need it… when I find Yui."
In another place.
The walls of the dimension were shattered from the intensity of the energy. The place looked completely without a sky, without a ground—only a deep blue mist reflecting lightning inside it every few seconds.
And in its center… a massive stone arena, filled with traces of digging, protrusions, and cracks.
Yui was there.
Standing with difficulty, dripping with sweat, her eyes flashing sparks, and her hair—ignited with electricity—wrapped around her like whips of light.
Before her stood the same man who saved her…
His features remained covered by a black cloak, but his voice was stern and decisive:
"Thirty days have passed, and with every moment… you die and return."
"Do you understand now? That power does not come from emotions… but from control."
Day One..
Yui was standing on a stone pillar above a sea of lava.
The instructor ordered her to release her energy without stopping for ten continuous hours.
"If you stop… the pillar falls."
And it fell.
Time after time.
Whenever she stopped releasing lightning, she would fall directly into the hell of lava and be pulled back up by force.
"Scream… cry… but do not stop!"
"In a real battle, no one waits for you to regain your energy."
Days passed…
And Yui, despite the pain and the recurring instances of burning caused by the hellfire, was evolving and training well.
From helplessness to patience.
From patience to stubbornness.
And from stubbornness… to power.
One day in the middle of her training, Yui felt the burning sensation inside her again and fell to the ground trying to resist it, but to no avail.
The instructor approached her, pressed on her chest, and the pain vanished.
He was her only way to feel relief.
On the seventh day… she was given the weapon.
It was called Azo, hidden in a secret box.
He presented it to her, and she stepped forward to touch it.
As soon as she touched it, she felt it breathing… as if it were a living being.
It changed in her hand from a spear to an arrow, then gloves, then a dagger, then it shrank back and turned into a small silver sword that shone like a star.
— "I am Azo… the consciousness of the weapon."
Yui looked at it… and smiled.
"I don't want you to serve me. I want you to fight by my side."
The weapon vibrated…
In its first test, she was ordered to try her new weapon.
Yui stood on a high mountain peak, raised the weapon high, charged her energy with all she possessed, and shouted:
"Galaxy Split—Core Strike!!"
With one strike, the mountain split into two halves, and bolts of lightning exploded from within it as if it were a miniature solar explosion.
The Third Week: Gravity and Slow Death
The next training? Physical endurance.
She was placed inside a gravity field equal to 2000 times her weight.
Every movement was a fracture.
Every breath was painful.
She had to walk, run, jump, strike, and dash in the middle of this hell.
In the beginning, she was crawling on the ground.
But after days, she began to run.
Then jump.
Then she got used to the situation as if it were a triviality and a daily routine.
The Final Week: Real Combat Training – Magic and Speed
The instructor said in a low voice:
"The time has come for you to see true lightning… not just light."
He taught her how to merge her magic with consciousness, how to use the speed of lightning for stealth, and how to launch strikes from ten directions in a single moment.
He taught her how to use fire and lightning magic efficiently.
She created her own special technique:
"Shock Flash – Thunder Barrage."
She releases a spectrum of thousands of lightning flashes that pounce on her opponent at the same moment, making any enemy feel they are fighting an army of ghosts.
The Last Day.
The battlefield shook, and the air around them cracked.
The instructor stood before her.
His sword was covered in gray electricity.
His gaze was sharp, as if he were going to kill her.
"Attack with everything you have."
"Let me see… if you are still just a girl crying among the flames… or if you are now the flame itself."
In the middle of that land, Yui stood, her armor made of lightning, and her eyes burning purple.
As for the one before her, it was the instructor…
Standing like a statue of steel, not moving, not smiling, regulating his breath calmly as if he were not breathing.
His gray sword was plunged into the ground, but the pressure he created… almost tore the air itself.
"This is your final test, Yui."
"I will not have mercy on you… because the world will not."
Yui smiled calmly.
Her spear, Azo, responded to her intent and transformed into a long sword of lightning, pulsing as if it were a living heart.
"I won't need your mercy."
"I am the lightning."
BOOOOOOOM!!
Yui took off with the speed of lightning.
She appeared behind the instructor, then in front of him, then from both sides in less than a second.
She stepped forward to attack.
The instructor blocked the attacks from all directions.
And he kicked her away.
Her spear turned into two daggers, which she plunged into the air to steady herself.
An internal voice whispered to Yui:
"His movement… I didn't see it."
The ground suddenly exploded beneath her feet, and the instructor appeared directly above her, his hand covered in lightning.
"First mistake."
He struck her in the stomach, and she went flying for hundreds of meters before regaining her balance and plunging the sword into the ground to stop.
Blood flowed from her mouth… but she laughed.
"Beautiful… finally, an opponent I cannot read easily."
Yui disappeared.
No, she didn't disappear… she turned into dozens of lightning clones.
Each clone was launching a spear from a different direction.
Shock Flash – Thunder Barrage!
Zoom!
Craaaaack!
BOOOOOM!!
The instructor raised an eyebrow for the first time.
He was hit from several directions; some clones were just illusions, but the others… were real.
His armor exploded from the side of his left shoulder, and blood was seen bleeding from his side.
"Hmm… interesting."
He raised his finger… and fired a gray flash that pierced through all the clones.
The illusions shattered… and Yui remained alone, breathing heavily.
"Azo… now."
The spear began to glow.
It disappeared from Yui's hand… and appeared as a shield, then an arrow, then returned as a spear, then became a young man… who began to speak in a calm masculine voice:
"Shall I release my full power, my lady?"
"Yes."
Yui's eyes lit up completely.
Her hair turned into strands of lightning dancing around her.
The ground beneath her cracked.
The void sky began to be colored with purple.
"Normal Spear Strike!!"
She jumped… then plunged the spear into the ground.
The earth beneath her exploded and rocks flew toward her.
Then the ground split open beneath the instructor's feet, causing him to fall into a massive hole.
But he emerged, and as soon as he did, Yui greeted him with:
A massive wave of lightning… divided into three layers:
A physical bolt that tears the body.
A spiritual bolt that tears the mind.
A temporal bolt that slows down time for the enemy alone.
The instructor planted his feet…
But his body recoiled for the first time.
His left arm was partially torn, and his armor crumbled.
He approached her.
Slowly…
Step by step.
In his eyes now… there was something new.
Pride.
"You have exceeded all my expectations, Yui."
He disappeared…
Then appeared behind her.
"But remember… I am the one who created this lightning."
He struck her with his sword from behind, but she anticipated it.
She turned…
And struck with her spear directly at his heart.
Time stopped for a moment.
He stopped his sword before it touched her, and she stopped her spear before it plunged into him.
Silence…
Then he said:
"Well done."
The spear fell from her hand.
And she fell.
On her knees.
Breathing with difficulty, her hands trembling.
But he was smiling.
After the Fight
He sat near her and lifted his cloak from his face for the first time.
His face was young, but it held a deep aging.
His eyes were gray… carrying pain, experience, and calmness.
"From now on, you are no longer a little girl fighting for your survival."
"Now, you are a thunderbolt… for the sake of everyone."
"What is your name?"
"I am… Hoshikai. The Lord of Ash. The last one to use the spear Azo before you."
Then he smiled and extended his hand toward her.
"Come, Lady of Lightning. It is time to return."
To be continued..