Irina was in a good mood. The cool night air brushed against her skin as she stood on the balcony, the soft glow of the moon casting a serene light over everything. Her thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Astron, and a small smile played on her lips. The tension of the evening seed to lt away, leaving her with a sense of peace.
But that peace was short-lived.
She heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and her serene expression hardened. 'What now?' she thought, already dreading the interruption. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
"Jeremy," she greeted coolly, not bothering to hide her disdain.
"Irina," he replied smoothly as if they were the best of friends. "Enjoying the view?"
Irina didn't bother to respond, her gaze still fixed on the moon. She could feel the nausea building in her stomach, knowing full well what was coming. Jeremy wasn't one to waste ti with pleasantries unless he had an agenda.
He took a step closer, his presence almost suffocating. "I couldn't help but notice you've been... occupied lately," he began, his tone dripping with false concern. "With a certain soone."
Irina's grip on the balcony tightened, her knuckles turning white. 'He knows,' she realized, her heart sinking.
She didn't trust Jeremy, not for a second. The man was a snake, and his words were as venomous as his intentions.
"And?" she asked, her voice sharp. "What of it?"
Jeremy's smile widened, but it was cold, devoid of any real warmth. "It's just that you're associating with soone... beneath you, Irina. An orphan with no connections and no power. Soone who could easily... disappear."
The nausea in her stomach turned to a sickening churn, the bile rising in her throat. 'This bastard,' she thought, her anger boiling just beneath the surface. She could already see the scenario he was painting, the disgusting threat he was weaving into his words. Jeremy was a predator, and she was well aware of his true nature from the visions she had seen.
"Jeremy," she began, her voice laced with venom, "are you threatening ?"
He leaned in closer, his eyes gleaming with malice. "I'm just looking out for you, Irina. You never know when sothing might happen to soone like him."
'You bastard,' Irina thought, her disgust nearly overwhelming her. The idea of Astron being targeted by this snake, of him being hard because of her, made her blood boil. 'I'll kill you before I let that happen.'
She could feel her mana pulsing beneath her skin, the fiery energy that she had inherited from her family surging through her veins. It was a familiar warmth, one that had always been in her, sotis unforgiving, sotis burdenso, but now it burned with righteous anger.
Jeremy was still speaking, his voice a nauseating drone in her ears. "He could suddenly dis–"
But before he could finish, Irina's mana flared up. A searing heat flared up between them, cutting off Jeremy's words with a gasp of pain.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" he scread, stumbling back as a blistering heat singed his skin. His eyes widened in horror, the threat he had been building up in his mind turning to ash in the face of Irina's wrath.
Irina turned to face him fully, her eyes blazing with anger. 'You dare threaten him in front of ?' she thought, her fury barely contained.
'You dare to sche about him.' Even at this point, she was not able to understand. How co he beca a demonic human at that ti? With how things have been going?
Was the brainwashed? Was he under so sort of manipulation, or was there sothing else?
She could not understand or make any sense of it. But there was one thing that was clear.
'Demon Contractors…..They are all dangerous existences to him…' For whatever had triggered him to do sothing like this, she could not take a risk.
Especially after seeing what happened to him when he took down that route.
'And your disgusting gaze…..The fact that you think you are above everyone else just because you made a contract with a re demon…..The fact that you think I would fall for your petty tricks….It is all nauseating….'
The sa thing happened in the tiline that she had seen. Jeremy targeted her in the life she had seen in vision as well.
Irina's mind raced as she stared down Jeremy, her anger barely contained. The mories of the visions she had seen flooded back, reminding her of how things had escalated in that other life—how Jeremy had sched against her, weaving his web of deceit and manipulation. But in that tiline, she had been different—more naive, more arrogant, and far less perceptive than she was now.
'Back then, I was hiding behind a facade,' she thought, her grip on the balcony tightening. 'I was weak, pretending to be strong by projecting arrogance. But I didn't see the dangers lurking around .'
She rembered how Jeremy had exploited her weaknesses, using her pride and insecurity against her. At that ti, she hadn't been able to see through his lies, and her lack of awareness had allowed him to pull the strings, leading to a series of events that spiraled out of control.
'Jeremy... he allied himself with one of the other Six Families of the Magic Council,' she recalled, her disgust growing. 'They pressured my family politically, using every dirty trick in the book. I didn't realize until it was too late how deep their sches ran.'
In that other life, she had underestimated him, and that had been her downfall. Jeremy had word his way into her life, manipulating her and those around her, turning allies into enemies.
And all the while, he had hidden behind a veneer of charm and false concern, much like he was doing now.
In the end, things turned into a bloody all-out war. And because of how the Hawkins family grew their influence under the Federation, the Emberheart Family suffered a lot of losses as well, making them weaken.
But this ti, things were different. She wasn't the sa naive girl she had been. She was stronger and more aware, and she wouldn't let Jeremy or anyone else control her life. Not again.
'You should have not provoked , you worm….I was planning to deal with you a little bit later…But you brought him out of all people….'
Irina felt the familiar surge of power welling up within her, the fire of the Emberheart Family coursing through her veins. Her eyes turned cold, a steely resolve replacing any remnants of doubt.
The warmth she had felt earlier, reminiscing about Astron, was replaced by a chilling determination. Jeremy had crossed a line, and he would pay the price for his arrogance.
As the fire began to flicker at her fingertips, she advanced toward him, her movents deliberate and unyielding. The coldness in her heart was mirrored in the intensity of the heat emanating from her hand, a heat that seed to warp the very air around it.
Jeremy's smug expression faltered as he realized what was happening. His eyes widened in fear, the confident facade slipping away as panic set in. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice cracking with terror. "Do you have any idea what the repercussions of this will be?"
Irina's lips curled into a smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. The fear in his voice, the way he was backing away, it all fed into a deep, twisted satisfaction within her. "That fear in your eyes," she said, her voice cold and detached, "I like it."
Jeremy's back hit the railing of the balcony, and he flinched as the heat from Irina's hand grew unbearable. The flas were no longer just flickering; they were swirling, gathering intensity, forming a concentrated blaze that radiated an almost tangible force. His panic turned to outright terror as he realized the situation he was in.
"Ir-Irina, stop! You can't—" Jeremy tried to summon so of his own power, but the wisps of fire that danced around Irina were faster. They lashed out, pinning him down, wrapping around his limbs, and holding him in place. His struggles were futile; he was completely at her rcy.
Irina looked down at him, her expression one of cold indifference. There was no hesitation in her eyes, no doubt about what she was going to do. "You should have known better than to provoke , Jeremy. But you've made your choice, and now you'll live with the consequences."
The fire in her hand condensed, the heat intensifying as it ford into a tightly focused point. Jeremy's eyes widened in horror as he realized what she was about to do. "No! Please, Irina! You don't have to do this!"
But Irina was beyond reason.
"Soone! GUARD JORDAN! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BASTARD!"
He shouted, trying to call his guard. But, not to avail, as his guard was still far away. Even if he had sensed sothing was amiss, he would not be able to interfere.
Her mind was set, her purpose clear. "I'm going to leave a mark on you that you will never be able to forget," she said, her voice eerily calm as she raised her hand.
With a swift, decisive movent, she pressed the searing, compressed heat directly against his face.
The fire seared through skin and flesh, branding him with an agonizing mark that would never fade.
"AAAAAAAH! NOOOOOO! NOOOOOO!"
Jeremy's screams filled the night air, his voice raw and desperate as the pain overwheld him. He thrashed and struggled, but the fiery wisps held him firm, ensuring that he couldn't escape his fate.
Irina's expression didn't waver as she watched him writhe in agony. There was a cold satisfaction in her heart, a sense of justice being served. This was the price Jeremy would pay for his arrogance, for thinking he could manipulate and threaten her.
'Everything about your family. It will be erased….Nothing will remain…..' "Heh…."
She pressed her hand down further as the sll of skin burning entered her nose. That sll was not unfamiliar.
When she was training against fire, when she was learning fire resistance, she had already slled it…It was her own skin, but now it was different.
"So….This is why he is doing this…..It is indeed understandable…It feels refreshing…."
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