As the final syllables of the ancient voice echoed into the molten sky...
"Let the First Match... BEGIN!"
A towering wall of translucent flame erupted between Jacob and Vortigash with a roar like a beast awakening from a thousand-year slumber.
FWWOOOOOOSH!!!
The flame wall stretched from floor to sky, rippling like liquid glass, etched with countless runes flickering between golden and crimson. It radiated no heat—yet the sheer pressure it exuded was suffocating. They were separated by a mystical, translucent wall of flame.
Jacob and Vortigash instinctively stepped back, narrowing their eyes as the flame barrier surged to life.
His gaze snapped toward Vortigash, who also looked towards the former and then sneered but made no move. The regal ram-headed being stood tall, his arms crossed arrogantly as the flames cast dancing shadows across his burning armor.
"A preliminary match, then..." Vortigash muttered under his breath before he jeered at Jacob, his voice conceited, "Looks like we’re not meant to fight just yet. I hope you’ll survive these matches, or I’ll be very disappointed! I want to sacrifice you to the Flame God myself!"
Jacob remained impassive, but his gaze turned infinitely colder. He had a feeling that Vortigash wasn’t as simple as he appeared, and he was hiding something.
At this moment, from above, two blazing sigils descended like falling stars—one on Jacob’s side, the other on Vortigash’s.
As they struck the flaming floor with twin detonations of heatless fire, two humanoid figures began to emerge, sculpted directly from flame, coalescing into fully formed warriors.
On Jacob’s side, a tall, elegant flame acolyte manifested, its form resembling a humanoid woman wrapped in layers of glowing ash. Her arms and legs were adorned with ember-veins that pulsed like slow-burning magma.
Her long hair flowed like trails of smoke, and her eyes were twin, quiet coals—seemingly dim, yet unnervingly intense.
She held no weapon. Instead, her very body exhaled renewal flame, seemingly a combination of death and rebirth. Every time her outline flickered, it seemed to momentarily vanish into smoke before forming anew.
"I’m Ashflare Nyza, the Ember Rebirth Acolyte under the Blazing Flame! I was granted the authority over the Ember Rebirth Flame–the flame that never dies, smoldering beneath ash and reigniting from ruin!" Nyza said in a whisper that reached Jacob’s mind, her voice curling around his thoughts like smoke, startling him.
Furthermore, she wasn’t done as her powerful might surfaced, creating a suffocating pressure, "I can feel it... You walk the path of borrowed flame. Your will can’t burn longer than mine."
As she spoke, the surrounding ground blackened and hissed, her flame’s pressure flaring like a warning bell.
---
On Vortigash’s side, in contrast, a hulking flame warrior—his body forged from volcanic obsidian cracked by glowing rivulets of white-hot flame. His face was a burning skull with no flesh, and from his back sprouted jagged flame-spines, like infernal spears formed mid-eruption.
He carried a massive lance made of compressed, spiraling fire, shaped like a twisting spike of lightning. Each step he took left gouges of molten trail beneath his feet.
Just like Nyza, he introduced himself with blazing pride and a hint of fury, "I’m Pyrothorn Gahlreth, the Piercing Wrath Acolyte! I have authority over the Piercing Wrath Flame–a destructive flame that sharpens and concentrates itself until it cuts through all resistance."
Vortigash’s expression turned slightly stern when he heard that prideful voice in his head, and Gahlreth seemed inherently arrogant just like himself.
The wrathful white flame suddenly burned violently around Gahlreth, and lance hummed with bloodlust, he snarled, "Take your best shot, filthy Ram-ling—if you can. Otherwise, I’ll cut through you and that flickering shadow beside you before this trial even begins..."
Vortigash’s eyes flickered with murderous intent when he heard Gahlreth calling him ’Ram-ling’. He laughs suddenly, filled with killing intent.
"I might be afraid if this were the real you, but a mere remnant of a defeated dog isn’t qualified to defeat me, Vortigash!" His fiery aura surged slightly, as if he didn’t place Gahlreth in his eyes.
At this moment, the ancient voice returned, now closer and heavier.
"The First Trial Begins.
"Ashflare Nyza & Pyrothorn Gahlreth Ranks have been adjusted to Demigod Rank.
"Two Flames—One Will.
"Fight... until one is extinguished."
As the command echoed, the flame wall shimmered, and the two Acolytes knew it was their cue to exterminate their opponents.
The first one to move was Nyza, but not like a warrior; she was like a wildfire dancing through the ashes.
Her form unraveled into smoke, no footsteps, no weight, no warning—just cinders flowing with eerie grace.
The ember-veins in her body glowed bright crimson, then dimmed, then reignited with an even deeper hue, like a living cycle of collapse and rebirth.
Jacob instantly felt threatened, not because he was afraid of Fire Law, but because Nyza was using concepts beyond his comprehension. Furthermore, the flames on her seemed very special and dangerous.
He immediately activated his defense as a kaleidoscopic barrier formed around him.
FSSSH!
Almost instantly, Nyza appeared behind him mid-burst, palm open like a blooming flower. Her palm smashed on his kaleidoscopic barrier, and the next moment, it instantly ignited with a smoldering, ghostly flame that refused to be extinguished.
Jacob was startled when he felt that flame burning his soul force. Although it was far from breaking his soul force, which was a combination of thirteen laws, it was still able to damage it, which was evident of Nyza’s Ember Rebirth Flames’ prowess!
Nyza’s eyes flickered with astonishment when she noticed how powerful Jacob’s soul force was, so that even her flames couldn’t burn through it. Although the power of her flames had been reduced tremendously, it wasn’t something a mere Demigod could endure.
Jacob wasn’t going to stand still for her to attack, and instantly, his foot lashed backward in a wide arc, laced with void law.
But Nyza reacted almost instantly as she vanished into smoke again, and his attack passed through nothing.
’Her body...’ Jacob’s eyes flickered coldly as his Eyes of Judge opened completely, ’...it’s not just made of fire. It’s constantly dying and reviving.’
A haunting whisper entered his mind—her voice.
"Are you an abomination from ’Void’?"
Suddenly, the ground beneath Jacob ruptured. Dozens of ember tendrils surged upward from beneath the flaming sigils—roots of ash, forming a trap.
Jacob also reacted instantly, and his figure flickered, leaving afterimages as he vanished, appearing far away. The afterimages below were consumed in a flare of flame pillars.
But right at this moment, Nyza reformed directly in front of him, her face serene as her hands formed a seal.
"Third Cycle of Ember Rebirth... Ashening Spiral!"