"Ember Demon?!"
The two words exploded in Heimo's ears like a clap of thunder.
She shot up from her chair, the sudden motion nearly knocking over the nearby instrument cart.
Behind her round-framed glasses, her pupils constricted sharply, and all color drained from her face.
Heimo's patient, the Sarkaz girl she cherished as her own—Ifrit, had an unstable, frequently rampaging Ember Demon consciousness sealed within her body!
Suppressing the Ember Demon inside Ifrit, preventing it from completely devouring the girl's mind, had always been Heimo's work.
Now, hearing that a living "Ember Demon" had appeared at Rhine Lab, Heimo's first reaction was a surge of protective panic.
"The Ember Demon… is it here for Ifrit?!"
Heimo instinctively looked toward the door, as if the terrifying monster might burst through at any moment and snatch away the child she desperately wanted to protect.
Seeing Heimo's immediate loss of composure, Saria's heart tightened.
She reached out with her uninjured left hand, gently pressing it on Heimo's shoulder, which trembled slightly from agitation, trying to calm her down.
"Heimo, calm down." Saria's voice remained steady, carrying a reassuring force.
"There is currently no evidence that its target is related to Ifrit. Its appearance location is far from Ifrit's supervision area."
"And… after gaining the upper hand against me in combat, it… vanished into thin air in a bizarre way."
"Vanished?" Heimo was taken aback, looking at Saria with shock and disbelief.
"Yes, without any Arts fluctuations. It was as if… it was directly erased from this world."
Saria described that scene beyond reason, her brows deeply furrowed.
"We've sealed off the area and are conducting an all-out search and analysis of residual traces."
"Until things are clarified, I will increase personnel to secure the area where Ifrit is located. You can rest assured about that."
Despite Saria's assurances, the unease in Heimo's heart did not diminish in the slightest.
A mysterious, powerful Ember Demon appearing at Rhine Lab—regardless of its goal—made it impossible for her to feel at ease.
Heimo tightly clenched the hem of her clothes, her gaze behind the lenses turning resolute.
No matter what, she would never allow anything to harm that child again.
Seeing Heimo's deeply worried expression, Saria was about to offer more comforting words.
However, just as she was about to speak—
BOOM!!!!!!!!
A dull, thunderous roar erupted from beneath their feet, followed by a violent shaking that seemed ready to tear the entire building apart.
The earth groaned, walls emitted sounds of strain, ceiling lights swung wildly, flickering on and off.
"Ah!"
Heimo gasped, losing her balance amid the intense tremors, stumbling toward Saria.
Saria reacted instantly. Her uninjured left arm shot out, steadying Heimo and shielding her in front, using her own body to block falling debris.
"What's happening?! What's going on?!"
Heimo's voice, tinged with unconcealed panic, clung tightly to Saria's sleeve.
Piercing alarm sirens instantly blared throughout the Rhine Lab facility, one after another, so urgent they could stop a heart.
Almost simultaneously, frantic, cracking shouts from subordinates filled Saria's earpiece, mixed with the background noise of violent explosions and collapsing structures:
"Director Saria! It's that monster! The Ember Demon! It's back! It's reached B7! It's— Agh!!!"
The transmission cut off abruptly with a shrill scream and an even more deafening explosion. Saria's expression instantly turned extremely grim.
So, it hadn't left!
And this time, it had appeared even deeper inside—B7… already close to the core area!
"No time to explain!"
Saria made a swift decision, scooping up Heimo, whose legs were still weak, into her arms.
"I'm taking you to the nearest secure isolation zone first!"
Before Heimo could react, Saria was already carrying her out of the medical office and into the chaotic corridor outside.
BOOM—!!!
Another earth-shaking, violent impact struck. The metal walls of the corridor screeched with twisting sounds, lights flickering madly.
Rooting her feet firmly, Saria held Heimo close, ignoring the researchers and security personnel fleeing around them, and dashed toward the nearest safety passage entrance.
However, just as they were about to pass a cross-corridor intersection in the next moment—
Saria's pupils constricted sharply. A wave of suffocating heat, like a tsunami, surged toward them from the intersection ahead.
"Fall back!"
She barked a sharp command, clutching Heimo and leaping backward just in time.
Almost in the same instant she retreated—
WHOOSH—BOOM!!!!!!
A torrent of molten rock, several meters in diameter, swept through the intersection they had intended to cross moments before.
The corridor floor, walls, ceiling—everything that touched this fiery deluge melted instantly, as if under a blazing sun.
What remained was a huge, smoothly cut circular cross-section, as if a giant beast had taken a bite straight through.
Scalding air currents swept through the entire corridor, sending several security personnel rushing up from behind flying backward.
Saria landed steadily, shielding Heimo behind her, her eyes fixed dead ahead on that instantly melted cross-section.
In the dust billowing on the other side of the opening, a massive finger clad in thick molten rock armor was withdrawing from the breach.
Just this fleeting glimpse of a single finger already far exceeded the scale of the entire body Saria had fought earlier.
Heimo clung tightly to the back of Saria's clothes, her face as pale as paper, her breath almost stopping.
"That… what is that?!"
The ground shook again with a rumbling roar, as if giants were stomping.
The surrounding temperature rose sharply; metal walls began to glow red and soften.
The piercing alarms and the groans of overstressed structural supports intertwined like a dirge of destruction.
Saria didn't look back at the despair-inducing sight. Holding Heimo, she turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.
"That's the Ember Demon!"
Saria's voice, somewhat muffled by the rushing wind and explosion roars, reached Heimo's ears clearly nonetheless.
"That's the Ember Demon?!"
Heimo's voice was full of disbelief. Others might not understand Ember Demons, but she, who fought the consciousness inside Ifrit day and night, knew all too well what an Ember Demon should be.
But that glimpse just now… that scale where a single finger nearly filled the entire corridor… that was no ordinary Ember Demon.
This was practically… a walking cataclysm!
Amidst the chaos and fear, a thought flashed through Heimo's mind like lightning, plunging her into an icy abyss.
"Ifrit!" she cried out, her voice distorted by extreme panic.
"That thing… it's here for Ifrit! It must have sensed the Ember Demon fragment inside Ifrit!"
This realization gave her a burst of astonishing strength, and she began struggling in Saria's arms. "Let me go, Saria! I need to get to Ifrit! I have to go!"
"Stay still!" Saria's arm was like an iron clamp, holding firm.
"I know! I'll go bring Ifrit back! But before that, I must ensure your safety first!"
Her footsteps never faltered, rushing past one corridor intersection after another, aiming for the core security zone on a lower level with independent life support and defensive structures.
"Trust me, Heimo."
Saria's voice pierced through Heimo's panic, carrying its usual steadying calm.
"I will bring her safely to you."
Heimo's struggles gradually ceased. She looked up at Saria's profile—still composed and focused even in such a dire crisis—and the churning fear in her heart seemed slightly soothed.
She stopped struggling and, with all her might, clutched the front of Saria's clothes, as if it were her only lifeline at that moment.
"You… you'll bring Ifrit… back with you, right?"
Saria looked down, meeting Heimo's eyes behind the lenses, brimming with pleading. Without the slightest hesitation, she made a firm, resolute promise:
"I swear it."
Those two words carried the weight of a thousand pounds, embodying a will to protect and a determination to succeed.
The moment the words fell, Saria firmly pushed Heimo into the heavy gate of the now-opened secure isolation zone ahead.
Through the slowly closing gap of the gate, she gave Heimo one last deep look, then turned resolutely.
White calcification crystals covered her body once more. Like a knight charging toward her final battlefield, she rushed headlong toward the direction of the Ember Demon, meeting the aura of destruction pouring from the depths of the corridor.
Her promise must be fulfilled through action.
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