The human serenity that was standing right in front of them has disappeared; instead, an entity with flowing fairy hair, glowing skin, and wearing cloth consisting of pure, flickering flames has appeared.
Majestic, fiery, and powerful wings glowing with intense red, orange, and gold feathers that shimmer like flames, along with a golden sheen and jewels on the wing bone.
The ring of eternal flames turned into a dark chain of golden claws; a majestic black crown, full of small red jewels, surrounded her head.
From the chaotic ocean, a huge water serpent came, growling from underwater, wanting to eat her. His fangs almost closed on Serenity; she slowly opened her golden dragon-like eyes, raising her claws and chanting his death.
-Roar-
[deglutire stellas]
From the moment she opened her mouth, a golden ruin circle was drawn in the sky. When she finished, a pillar of fire descended from the sky, destroying everything in its way, and then disappeared as fast as it appeared.
-Boom, fwesssh-
The attack resulted in a strong raging hot wing, plowing almost everything in its way. Ash and Daniel were almost killed by the aftermath of her attack if they hadn't activated their defenses on time.
Daniel raised his hands, surrounding himself with a wall of fire, then turned to Ash screaming, "What is wrong with your woman, man?! Does she want to kill us?!"
Ash, who was casually holding his sword in the air, piercing the wind, didn't say a single word; his eyes were still fixed on where Serenity was standing.
After the wind finally calmed, Daniel came out of his fire, shouting at Ash, "I was talking to you; why the hell didn't you answer?!"
"Front," Ash said.
"Huh?! What are you even saying?...Did the heat knock you silly?"
Ash didn't want to argue with him; he placed his sword on Daniel's face and slowly moved it away, and Daniel's eyes followed it unconsciously.
"What in the world are you doin—what the fuck?!"
Daniel froze in place the moment his eye landed on the scene up front; almost everything in about 500 kilometers evaporated with the heat.
'We are in the middle of the ocean, but there's no water instead a huge hole of raging lava...' Daniel thought.
Sweating all over, he hardly swallowed. In his shocked state, he didn't realize he was talking.
"H...how?!...This is no longer the fire I know."
Ash hid his sword again and calmly said, "At this point does it really matter if you know or not? The deal was to convince you, so..." Ash turned to face Daniel, asking in a sharp tone, "Are you convinced?!"
Daniel looked at the amount of destruction and the girl standing tall in the middle; he felt hopelessly weak.
"I am...I've never seen something like that, but...I am honestly afraid of such power."
Daniel thought, 'This is no longer the gentle fire I know. I feel like I shouldn't be doing this, but I also know this deal is a chance that comes only once. Not taking it will mean I am a fool.'
He smiled, feeling helpless, and gave Ash a side-eye. "You don't seem surprised at all. Did you know she has such powers?"
"Is it that surprising?!"
The way he smoothly answered as if it were nothing stunned me. Daniel,
"U...uh!?! ...You really are not surprised?"
"No!"
"I...I see." Daniel felt confused by him. "Is it because he is a king and all?...But which king has such powers?...When I go back, I must speak with my father about this matter."
Serenity waved her wing and came speeding towards them; Daniel felt scared and fell to the ground, screaming.
"WTF, something is off about her speed. Did she lose control or something? Why is she coming our way?"
Ash didn't even flinch; instead, he raised his hand as if ready to catch something, while Daniel freaked out and covered his face.
"I…is it over?"
After a while nothing happened, and he slowly started removing his hand and saw Serenity holding Ash's hand; she dismissed her wings and slowly landed in his arms.
Daniel was stunned; his jaw dropped. Ash looked at him in disgust.
"What are you looking at?! Careful, or I will gouge those eyes of yours. …"
Daniel shook his head and quickly collected himself together. Standing up, he looked at Ash and Serenity. 'This dog couple something is definitely wrong about them.'
Daniel raised his hand, saying, "Um, excuse me, but...in case you don't know, she is still 16...um...so...you know."
Ash looked at Serenity, then at Daniel. "I know, so what?"
Serenity glared at him with her dragon-like eyes, sending a shiver down his spine, and coldly said,
"Stay out of our business, or else your end won't be better than that water serpent's, got it?"
Daniel spat out blood from the killing intent she directed at him. He looked at her with eyes full of fear. 'This is no longer serenity; such killing intent means an enormous killing count. What the hell did she go through to build such pressure?'
Ash brushed her hair. In a tone full of genuine care, he said,
"Just pretend he said nothing; he's still a kid after all."
The killing intent disappeared right away, and Serenity smiled at Ash, saying, "Is this okay?"
Ash patted her head; a soft smile was slowly drawn on his face. "Ummhum."
Daniel, seeing them like that, had enough of their dog food; he said it as a joke.
"Get married already."
Seeing no slight reaction, he doubted they heard him. "If I didn't know them, I would say they are an old married couple."
Realizing what silly idea came into his mind, he felt disgust. 'Beh, beh, beh...the hell was that? They disgust me just being like that. If they married, that would be double disgust, ew.'
For Serenity and Ash, he was just grinning and shaking his head. Ash looked at Serenity, asking,
"Did he lose it?"
"I doubt it's true, cause this is only the beginning."
Serenity let go of Ash and walked forward, tears "Daniel," she raised her voice.
"Stop spacing out already."
-snap-
The snap of her finger ignited a small flame; she closed her fist on it and started chanting.
[Phoenix, symbolum renascentiae e flammis, vim tuam invoco, intra flammam sternalem, ut revertas quod ignis abstulit]
After chanting, Serenity slowly separated her fists, letting the little flame fall. The moment it hit the ground, it turned into a vortex of flames covering all their surroundings.
Daniel looked at the fire under his feet in disbelief. "It doesn't hurt, not even a sting."
Serenity kept moving toward Daniel, and the fire under them slowly retreated into a small flame, and all the distraction from before was nowhere to be seen.
The little flame returned to her hand, and she closed her claws, putting it down. Standing in front of Daniel, she removed her ring, and her body turned into fire, being absorbed by the ring till serenity was back in her original black dress and black hair.
Serenity threw the ring over to Daniel to catch, and then she said,
"Do you still think being my nexus is a loss?"
Daniel was still scared by her lifeless eyes, but he didn't forget the main topic: 'Are you telling me if I am her slave, I am going to learn such power?'
Daniel swallowed his saliva. "Forget being a slave; even being a dog I am willing."
Serenity nodded and walked back towards Ash, holding his hand tightly again. Ash patted her head and turned to Daniel, asking,
"What happened to the not over my dead body thing? Did you forget about it so fast?"
Daniel gave Ash a thumbs up.
"Life is good as long as you're alive."
Ash looked at Serenity, whispering, "You do have your way with people."
"I don't; they are the ones who are willing to fall into my trap, and I have no intention of saving anyone."
"A bit brutal, but I approve."
Ash pulled Serenity's hand and got her seated on a big stone, saying,
"Don't tire yourself."
"Okay."
Daniel came closer and asked Serenity, "Before we establish the nexus contract, I have one question to ask."
Serenity crossed her legs and raised her hand. "Go on."
"Why are you able to use fire magic?"
"Why you say..." Serenity stared at her left hand, thinking deeply, then she turned to Daniel. "I'm not sure if you realized it or not, but my chanting of spells is different."
Not understanding he wanted more details,
"Different…how different?"
"This is going to be tiring, but so be it..." Serenity took a deep breath and then started explaining, "Fons manae—that's the normal chant, classified by two: a simple version consuming less mana and the complicated one with a huge to life-threatening consumption. And fons vitae—this one is a forbidden chant feeding on the caster's life force, but most don't chant but directly inject mana ,and I use none of them, .... Mundi fons is what I use,it doesn't chain me by my magical attribute, nothing like the normally recognized ones; it's closer to a forgotten language directly addressing the source. I only need to know who I need to call and who I shouldn't, but it's not recommended for others, so no further talk about it."
'There is actually a third ruin; that's huge information. I hit the jackpot,' Daniel said, taking a deep breath. "I don't really understand, but it seems convincing. We can make the contract now."
"Kneel down," Serenity commanded Daniel, pointing at the ground.
'Guess that's what being a slave means.' Daniel got on his knees in front of Serenity, looking right into her eyes, 'Still fracking scary.'
Serenity placed both her hands over each other and placed them over Daniel's head without touching him and started chanting.
[Tenuem lineam inter vitam et mortem invoco ut pactum nostrum regat; legem temporis invoco ut verbum nostrum liget.]
A black ruin started going out of her hand taking thteads shaped by words, wrapping around Daniel. In the middle of his panic, his mouth started talking on its own.
[Per nomen meum et animam meam iuro me servum futurum esse ad pedes Dominae Aeternitatis et Immortalitatis.]
When he finished, the edges of the black ruins started to forcibly go into his head, making him scream his lungs out.
"Aaaaaah."
His eyes glowed white, meaning the contract was approved and the mark appeared on Daniel's left shoulder as a phoenix wing tattoo.
Daniel collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
"Huff...huff...huff...what was that? What did I just say?...Why can't I recall anything?"
"Mundi fons, that's exactly what it's like."
"That was terrible. Don't you ever use it on me, you hear me? Never."
"I can't promise you that."
Serenity opened her hands for Ash, and he gave her the artificial eyes one after another. Then he handed her her gloves. Daniel, who was watching all of this unfold, felt lost but noticed her bandaged hand.
"What's wrong with your hands?" he asked.
Serenity firmly replied, stating her rules going forward,
"None of your business; one rule you must always follow ...never ask anything about me, got it?"
Daniel knew that's how things would be going forward, so he dared not object.
"Got it, but what can I ask you then?!"
"Whatever is you, anything that is not me or anyone."
"Till when can he listen?" Pointing at Ash
Serenity looked at him, then back at Daniel, saying,
"Ash will be here for as long as I am here."
Daniel's thoughts were a mess hearing her respond after all the two worlds are old rivals. 'It's none of my business, you say. It seems like my relationship with His Majesty must improve at all costs.'
"Okay," Daniel nodded and asked Serenity, "In records the eternal flame used by the founder is said to be powerful and upright white flames, which is completely different from the strong domineering flame you used just now. Why is that?"
"Explaining why will mean nothing because you wouldn't even understand, but if I had to put it into words..." Serenity moved a little to the left and patted the stone she was sitting on, looking at Ash. Without any words, he sat next to her.
Serenity scratched her chin, thinking deeply, trying to find a suitable answer Daniel can understand.
"It's not different, but not exactly the same; all are the same eternal flame, but the chance is where it's different. While you met me to teach you the true fire, your founder was self-taught, and I have to say he deserves to be praised "she said
Daniel nodded in agreement, carefully listening to every word she was saying.
Serenity started by asking, "First answer this: What do you know about the eternal flame?"
Daniel started by saying, "I read in an old text box that it's the remnant of a rule fire beast; there was no mention of anything beyond this line. All we knew is that the founder used it, but he died so suddenly..."
Daniel stopped to breathe and then continued, "For that, the technique wasn't shared; hence, it ended up being a normal ring that later became a royal symbol for the new king, a sign of respect to the late patriarch, except for the king of the Vastator and the king of Vulgates; for others, it's just a royal symbol, but you identified it clearly as an eternal flame. That's why I asked you about it."
"Stop with the bullshit; just say you know nothing about it."
"We don't know anything."
He gave up without any words. Serenity's sharp words pierce through his head, but he couldn't argue back. 'It feels so bad to be the weakest party.'
"Your case is hopeless; I need to start from the basics," Serenity frowned, rubbing her eyes. "For now, I will tell you the general idea about the eternal flame."
"Flames in general have four constitutions: destruction, rebirth, transformation, and protection,i used everything except for protection which you used something similar to it... the eternal flame in your hand is made from the eye of the mother of flames and the essence of a rule-grade spirit beast; that's why the ring is like a stone, neither an angel nor a demon but something in between." She opened her hand wide, and the ring of eternal flame flew from Daniel's hand into hers.
Serenity squeezed the ring in her fist, then threw it at Daniel. "Look inside," she said.
Daniel raised the ring and looked at its inner layers; some runic words were engraved inside.
'The ring has always been with us, but I have never seen or heard about a ruin in it.' Daniel's expression turned all serious, asking, "What does it mean?"
[Maledictio eis qui leges suas hereditati meae imposuerunt.]
"A curse be upon those who imposed their laws on my inheritance, and the inheritance means their remains while the curse is the white flame."
Daniel's eyes widened at those words as if he were shot by a bullet. "What ...what do you mean?"
"Playing with rules is an invitation to death, and your founder played with fire but ended up burning himself. I think he did it on purpose and refused to share the power of the eternal flame because, upon using it, he realized he was playing with death...What I respect is his resolve to save the later generations from his curse."
Daniel asked in confusion; right now Serenity was talking about a truth involving the authenticity of their history.
"Why is the white flame a cursed one?"
Serenity stood up, saying, "It's not the flame but the origin. All the materials used to create that ring were from dead beings regardless of origin, and death holds killing, and killing means revenge...Their souls were enraged, which formed the white flames that burned and killed others and their owner alike."
"So the white flames are evil?"
"No!" Serenity stopped him from saying any more. "The true white flame is soft and warm; it's the true constitution of protection, not destruction. It's way too different from the faulty flames your founder used."
Daniel squeezed the ring in his hand, asking Serenity, "So, exactly how am I supposed to use it?!"
"Not as hard as you think, but your way of using it will be different from mine depending on your ability to control and store mana...you can consider the ring as two things: one, a beast you're raising; and second, a third main core inside your body."
Daniel's eyes widened, feeling as if an open book held no secrets in front of Serenity.
"How did you know?!?"
"It's stranger if I didn't know."
Daniel felt as if he were standing naked in front of Serenity; he covered his chest, feeling afraid.
"Creepy woman"
"Why, thank you."