Rihillon pounced forward, planning to give her a powerful hit. Not enough to kill but more than enough to get her incapacitated. He lowered his output slightly precisely because he wanted to get the information on the sword out of her.

He gloated internally as his burning palm hit true. Certainly, it reached the half-assed shield she put out first and lost some power from this but! But the remaining energy rushed straight at his foe and hit her defenseless self.

She reeled from the shock and was forced to fly a few meters away while spitting out some blood.

A quick scanning of herself revealed that she was indeed, as expected, in a very bad state. Four broken ribs and damages to her lungs. Nothing life-threatening for sure considering her existence as a 22nd stage but still. She would not be in a state to fight Rihillon. Of course, that would only be the case if the location was different.

This was within the array.

And the sword finally awoke.

A grade 3 treasure. An artifact of the highest level on this continent.

It had three functions:

1) Boosting the fire elements.

2) Adding the purification element to the fire element.

And a third secret function that made it a true grade 3 artifact: It acted as a key. Any flames of might below that of grade 3 could be forcefully controlled by it.

This was the greatest secret of her faction and the reason it had survived so long. If not for the trap that her master fell into...If not for her master leaving the premises of the sect... Then, nothing bad would have happened. But her Master left after receiving a letter from an old friend asking for help. And he was killed. Then, the church went after the sect. Losing its 'key', the defenses were futile in front of the opponents.

It was a stupid thing. But her Master’s honor forced him to plunge into this obvious trap.

Everyone but her died. That was the result.

…

She survived through the sacrifices of her friends and comrades. For a single reason: she knew how to activate the key.

And she would repay this man for what he had done.

As she steadied herself, the sword hummed. And on it, between the handle and the blade, an eye appeared and opened. It was white with intricate circles of bright red flames dancing within.

Rihillon could no longer contain his excitement. The awakening of the sword that he researched for so long! It was right here in front of him! If he could learn of the secret activation?!

And Ame was not in a state where she could fight him. He laughed as he told her: "Resistance is futile, Ame. I will make sure to give you a clean death if you tell me the activation sequence"

She grinned as she answered back: "Did you already forgot where we were, Rihillon?"

Rihillon became frantic as realization hit him. Forgot?! Of course, he did not! But he never expected her to know the sequence as he rushed within the flames... And he was too focused on the sequence and the possible gains that it had distracted him.

He was within the gigantic array... A fire array.

Rihillon made up his mind in an instant. He revolved all of his energy as he pounced at her. It was a shame but he had to kill her before she took control of the array flames. If she managed to get them under control...

She smirked as she saw him approach and thought: "Too late, Rihillon"

White flames began to burn through her eyes and all flames became as if a part of her. With a single move from her hand, all the array's flames began to converge and rush at Rihillon. Using the three states of matter, Rihillon was forced to fend off fire in liquid, gaseous and solid forms.

The gigantic pillars of flames that had ascended to the heavens no longer stood tall. Every spark was redirected towards the area she was in, forming a compressed dome of fire. It scorched the spiritual energy protections of Rihillon for minutes and stopped his advance. The might of the fire was beyond his ability to tank after it became concentrated.

He felt 'death' approaching him.

From within the orange, red and yellow colors that flashed in his vision seemingly erratically, he perceived two bright spots of white, always focused on him, as if the grim reaper's eyes.

He had been too greedy.

He had been too complacent.

He smiled sadly as he felt the last of his spiritual power starts to escape him. He spent his all and, as he expected, failed. The might of a grade 3 treasure... It was beautiful.

As his skin began to melt, his thoughts were not of anger or regrets but amazement.

Fire was truly majestic.

And so, he burnt to death.

As for Kaen Ame, she stopped using the 'key' as soon as she saw her opponent drop down. He was overcooked. And she was quite exhausted. Using such a potent power had its own consequences. Mainly a loss of spiritual energy. As she stopped using the third function, the sword's eye closed and was reabsorbed within the blade. It returned to its normal appearance.

She walked to the body and plunged the sword into the man's heart. He was already beyond dead beforehand but she wanted to make sure. Cultivators had to be careful when finishing their opponents.

Once she was certain of the man's death, she plundered his spatial ring and retrieved the gloves.

Then, she proceeded to leave the scene. She exited the fire on the other side.

She had quite the disheveled look. Her hair was all over the place, she had soot all over, her robe was torn and burn in many places and blood became a part of her outfit.

She was exhausted and injured too but she clenched her teeth as she forced herself into a half-sprint. She had to leave quickly for the other forces of the church would likely arrive soon. Such a big display would surely attract even bigger fish. She did not want to face those.

So, she fled.