The dragons present scoffed at the human’s shalessness. Among all the races, humans were known to be brazen, but Water Demon... he was on another level entirely. His attitude, even in the face of death, invoked disgust. Eyes narrowed, lips curled — so even looked away, unwilling to witness what they assud would be a pitiful end.
But then, sothing unexpected happened.
In the thick of the karmic bloodrain, Water Demon did sothing no one saw coming. He raised his hands, whispering an incantation so ancient it stirred the very rain around him. The bloodrain paused — just for a breath — then twisted unnaturally toward him, as if obeying.
A gust of wind blew, red droplets coalescing in spirals around him, forming whirlpools of blood that throbbed with karmic essence. In a single breath, he transford them into blades, whips, and even spectral shields. The air trembled under the force — not just because of the sheer energy, but from disbelief.
Heavenly tribulations weren’t ant to be controlled. To touch them was to invite death. Yet here he was, wielding it like it belonged to him.
A murmur ran through the crowd. Even beings with millennia of combat experience found themselves wide-eyed.
"It’s surprising you’re able to directly manipulate a heavenly tribulation..." Draeven’s voice was cold, sharp like a blade scraping steel. "Impressive..."
Then his expression turned colder. "But sadly, it’s not enough."
A soft, crackling sound echoed in the void — like wood snapping under imnse heat. In Draeven’s palm, a fla ignited. Not a re fla, but one so dense it shimred like a molten sun compressed into a single point. The heat rippled outward, distorting the very air. The bloodrain above hissed and evaporated long before it could even approach him.
The world around him changed — the very void recoiled. That was no normal fla.
"That’s not the essence of a normal fire..." one of the dragons muttered, voice shaky.
A second followed in awe, "That’s Dragon Fla essence..."
And then it happened again. Draeven raised his other hand. Nothing could be seen, but the air changed — no, it scread. An invisible pressure swept through the battlefield.
So stumbled, clutching their hearts, Others gasped as if their lungs had been torn open.
The weaker ones began to tremble as the essence twisted and clawed into them.
Unlike the Dragon Fla, this one had no color, no glow — but its effects were devastating.
"What’s going on?!"
"It’s Soul Fla..." A draconic elder spoke, voice barely above a whisper. "He’s manipulating the essence of soul fla..."
The silence was thunderous. Even the Dragon Emperor’s spirit, hidden and watching in silence until now, frowned. "It seems Water Demon is useless after all... Even as a pawn, he doesn’t stand a chance."
The invisible fla rged into the visible Dragon Fla like wind feeding a wildfire. The result — a fla that could not be seen, yet felt by all. Skin prickled, bones groaned, and deep within their cores, their souls writhed.
Water Demon’s expression darkened. The blood water swirling around him trembled, evaporating faster than it could gather. Even with his soul-protecting tribulation affinity, he could feel the heat drawing closer, pulling on his soul like a harbinger of death.
He clenched his fists, face slick with sweat.
"I definitely shouldn’t let that fla reach ..."
Panic surged. He was a master of water-path techniques. Fluid, evasive, adaptable — but Draeven’s flas were absolute. There was no room for flow, no path to deflect. He had accepted his death before, but now — standing here, staring into the fla that tore at the very fabric of his being — he felt the unmistakable urge to live.
Delusion, maybe. But it burned within him all the sa.
And Draeven? He saw it.
He snorted coldly, disdainfully — and flung the twin-flad sphere forward.
It was silent.
Not the roaring of fire, but the vacuum before annihilation.
Water Demon’s heart sank. Desperation seized him. With a roar, he channeled all the blood water he’d gathered, forming a massive wall — layered with karmic sigils and soul-binding patterns. Draeven only scoffed.
"I reached this level after studying flas and their relationships for centuries. If it were that easy to stop, then I’m not worthy of the title — Fla Devourer."
The ball of fla struck.
There was no explosion — just... evaporation. The blood wall vanished, turned to vapor in an instant. The void trembled, ripples spreading like waves across a still lake. And then — silence.
Water Demon didn’t hesitate. He transmuted into pure water form, a spectral stream surging away at lightning speed.
In this form, he was faster than most could follow. He should’ve escaped.
But no speed could outrun the reach of soul fla.
The heat caught him first. Then the pain.
His form faltered. The water boiled.
His consciousness scread, soul unraveling.
"No—!" His shriek tore through the void... until it didn’t.
His body reverted back mid-flight — charred, lifeless — before the fla caught up.
It consud him whole. There was no body left. Not even ashes.
Only the quiet hiss of evaporated water... and the silence that followed. The gathered races stood still, stunned by the raw devastation.
Draeven, standing amidst the vanishing mist, didn’t even look back.
Only one thought echoed through every mind present. This... was the true power of the Fla Devourer?!
And he had only just begun.
Just as silence threatened to settle over the blood-soaked void, where Water Demon’s soul had been reduced to a fading echo, a shift rippled through the atmosphere—like the sudden intake of breath before a volcano’s eruption.
From beyond the veil of space, a fiery crack split the sky open, radiant and majestic, as if the heavens themselves had been torn apart.
A single figure stepped through.
Her presence alone sent tremors through the void, igniting fear and awe alike. The blood rain hissed and evaporated long before it could even touch her form. Flas—no, not flas, sothing more—coiled around her like a living crown, unyielding, sacred, and eternal. Where others used fire as a weapon, her fire was law.
Aephyra had arrived. The Empress of the Undying fla.
The wielder of the undying fla that could never be extinguished, not by ti, not by space, not even by divine intervention.
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