Dr. J'an
The following account is attributed to Warlord Marrick during the opening phase of the Huǒ Róng Yuán campaign.
Unlike conventional war records, this entry reflects a convergence of strategic command, personal testimony, and what can only be described as external interference from the entity itself.
Cross-referenced destruction across the valley confirms the events described herein.
If anything, this record appears restrained.
Marrick —
As I and my other forces—the ones that were not a part of Pluton 7—surrounded the valley the other factions had already descended into, I relied on scouts to track the battle and report everything that transpired below.
They moved in rhythm.
In. Kneel. Speak. Leave.
"My lord, they have just entered the valley. No casualties so far. Everything appears stable."
I said nothing, only watched.
Two hours passed.
"My lord, weaker creatures have begun emerging from beneath the earth. They are engaging with the armies now."
"How many dead so far?"
"Only a few, my lord."
I paused for only a moment.
"Kill a few of their arcanists."
The scout hesitated.
"My lord… are you sure?"
I looked at him.
"Did I stutter?"
"…No, my lord."
"Do it. Make it look like natural casualties. Only a few. And only from the other factions."
"Yes, my lord. Understood."
He left.
Five hours later—
"My lord, they are entering the chamber of Huǒ Róng Yuán."
"Observe closely. Every detail. Report to me every half hour."
"Yes, my lord."
Thirty minutes.
"Huǒ Róng Yuán has awakened."
Another thirty.
"More creatures have appeared. Stronger than before."
Another thirty.
"Huǒ Róng Yuán is moving. He has eliminated most of the Blue-Eye Oni."
Pathetic…
And to think I had planned to reduce their entire race into palace slaves.
"Leave me."
Twenty-five minutes later—
They returned.
Panting.
Shaking.
"My lord… they've taken him down."
For a moment—
I believed it.
Shock came first.
Then something worse.
Was that it?
All my planning.
All my manipulation.
All of this—
For something so easily killed?
Now I would have to deal with far more of the other factions than intended.
A failure.
A miscalculation.
I began to adjust my thinking—
But something stopped me.
Not my mind.
Not my heart.
My soul.
No.
That wasn't right.
He wasn't gone.
Not yet.
And then—
Pain.
Not the pain I lived with.
Not the constant burning that had become so normal I no longer acknowledged it. That pain was life. That pain was breath.
This—
Was different.
It felt as though I had already burned.
As if my body had already been reduced to ash—
And something was forcing that ash to feel.
I collapsed.
Instantly.
No control.
No resistance.
I screamed.
A broken, raw sound tore from my throat—something I had not done since I was twelve.
Since I had taken his power.
I hated it.
In that moment—
I was weak again.
That same boy.
The one who feared the black hands more than death itself.
The one who would rather die than face them.
And now—
I was screaming like him again.
Crying like him again.
Pathetic.
I truly hate myself for this moment.
"Marrick!"
Fuxi rushed to my side and slammed a healing sigil into my chest.
Nothing.
It did nothing.
"Marrick, you're burning—you're going full shooting star!"
And then I realized—
The ground beneath me was melting.
Stone collapsing into liquid.
Heat poured from my body uncontrollably.
I was going to burn everything.
If I didn't stop—
Fuxi cast a sigil of cold.
It struck me—
And instantly evaporated into steam that erupted violently around us.
It did nothing.
Then more arrived.
Xiwu.
The ones I had hired specifically for this war.
They surrounded me and began carving sigils into my skin.
I didn't recognize them.
But I felt it.
Slowly—
The pain receded.
Not gone.
Never gone.
But enough—
Enough to think.
Enough to breathe.
Enough—
For him.
Everything went red.
And I heard it.
No—
Not it.
Them.
"Marrick… oh, little devil…"
The voice was wrong.
Layered.
Broken.
Too many tones speaking at once.
"You have always been foolish… truly."
"You were foolish enough to come to me for power."
"You were foolish enough to try and kill… and enslave every faction in these mountains."
A pause.
Then—
"But this… oh, this takes the cake."
I forced words out.
Barely.
"Go… fuck yourself… you oversized flame salamander…"
"Hshahaha—"
The laughter shattered.
Then—
It turned.
Cold.
Burning.
Hateful.
"I am going to hurt you in ways you cannot even imagine."
The pain tightened.
"First… I will destroy your little campaign."
"I will begin… by killing everyone here."
Something twisted inside me.
"Then… everyone you love."
"Then your empire."
"Then everything that lives in these mountains."
The voice lowered.
"And I will make you watch."
It deepened.
"As I destroy your dreams…"
"Of never being forgotten…"
And then—
"I will make you watch that too… before I kill you."
And then—
I was back.
I was submerged in magma.
I rose slowly, pulling myself free, forcing control back into my body.
Heat poured from me—but I suppressed it.
Forced it down.
Forced myself into control.
When I looked—
Everything around me was burned.
Melted.
Destroyed.
But what shocked me—
Was the dome.
Ice.
Frost.
Encasing a twenty-foot radius around me.
Containing me.
Protecting everything else from me.
And then—
The pain.
Returned.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Heavier.
The constant burning I had once ignored—
Was now unavoidable.
Still bearable.
Barely.
But only because I had endured worse.
I stepped forward.
And shattered the ice.
"Marrick!"
Fuxi's voice was tight with worry.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yes."
A lie.
"For now."
"We don't have long. Send the armies into the valley. Tell the other Xiwu to begin the ritual."
"I will be fighting him sooner than expected."
My army moved.
Descending into the valley.
The Xiwu surrounded me once more.
They began carving again.
Sigils of power.
Strength.
Regeneration.
Resistance.
Anti-erosion.
Each one microscopic.
Individually nothing.
Together—
Everything.
Billions of them.
Covering my entire body.
Layering over even the marks I bore from carrying his power.
Then—
Fuxi stepped forward.
And carved one final sigil.
Dead center of my forehead.
The binding sigil.
The one that unified all others.
One Hour Later
The soldiers descended into ruin.
The valley was a graveyard.
Bodies layered upon bodies, burned, torn apart, crushed into the earth.
Armor fused to flesh.
Weapons melted into bone.
The smell—
Burnt iron.
Cooked blood.
Something worse.
Something wrong.
They did not hesitate.
The wounded were executed.
Quickly.
Efficiently.
Stragglers were eliminated without pause.
Leaders were identified.
Bound.
Suppressed.
Marked for later enslavement.
But not yet.
Not while the beasts still lived.
Then—
The ground broke.
Creatures emerged.
Smaller than Huǒ Róng Yuán—
But not weak.
Some strange.
Malformed.
Others—
Strong.
Too strong.
They attacked in waves.
Fast.
Violent.
Relentless.
But my army adapted.
Spacing widened.
Formations shifted.
Magic layered defense.
They held.
They pushed.
They survived.
I rose.
Stronger.
Far stronger.
For the first time—
I was truly using the power he had given me.
"…oh no."
Fuxi.
"What is it?"
"…your sister. Ki. She's out there."
"WHAT?! You must have misseen—"
"I am afraid not."
He cast shard sight.
And I saw her.
Ki.
Fighting.
Holding her own.
Alive.
Then—
Him.
Huǒ Róng Yuán looked at me.
And smiled.
"I think her life…"
His voice invaded my mind—
Wrong.
Twisted.
"…will serve well as the beginning of your end, Marrick."
His hand raised.
Fire formed.
Wrong.
Too dense.
Too real.
"No—"
He released it.
The sound came first.
A sharp—
Piercing crack.
Then—
Impact.
A violent, contained explosion.
A shockwave hit me.
Something warm struck my face.
Blood.
And then—
I saw it.
Her head—
Gone.
Not removed.
Not clean.
Destroyed.
Reduced to burning fragments that scattered through the air.
Her upper body—
Torn open.
Charred.
Collapsed in on itself as her body dropped lifelessly to the ground.
It was wrong.
Beyond wrong.
Like something that should not have been allowed to happen.
Like the world itself rejected it—
And failed.
And then—
Rage.
Pure.
Absolute.
Unmatched.
Power surged through me.
Pain surged with it.
Enough to destroy anything else.
Anyone else.
Even him—
Would have struggled to move under this.
But me?
My rage made it irrelevant.
My body grew.
Muscle expanding.
Condensing into something greater.
The sigils ignited.
All of them.
Cold filled my hands.
Perfect balance.
I looked at him.
And I moved.
The ground shattered beneath me as I launched forward.
He would die.
No matter what