Waves of golden light radiated from Sebastion’s skin like magma. He held the front of my shirt in a vice-like grip. His eyes were two daggers, wanting nothing more than to flay my skin and rip out my heart. The pure hatred, fury, and sorrow I saw there sent shivers through my spine.

“What happened to my father!” He repeated with a furious roar.

I cast my gaze downwards, not wanting to meet those familiar accusatory eyes. “You know what happened. You saw it,” I said softly.

“No!” Sebastion shouted as he threw me into the rocky ground. He grabbed a fistful of his own hair, nearly ripping it from his skull. “This can’t be happening again. He can’t be gone. You… Why didn’t you save him?”

“I didn’t even have enough power to fly, let alone stop an Alpha of that level.”

“Don’t bullshit me!”

Sebastion’s scream echoed through the ruined plains. An explosion of light radiated from his body. The searing heat set my clothes on fire instantly, and it was only by activating my own innate talent that I was able to control the fire and prevent my body from be burned by the sudden burst of power.

The light slowly faded. Sebastion was practically hyperventilating as he glared at me. “Don’t sit there and lie to me. You always have an ace up your sleeve, another trick you save for the last minute. You could have saved him if you really wanted to.”

I closed my eyes in resignation. These were the same words Sebastion had used when Lucia died. My words were soft as I spoke. “I am not a god, Sebastion, nor am I the omnipotent hero Dom used to tell you stories about. I am weak. I have always been weak. I am the weakest of the Five Calamites, I am the weakest of my teacher’s students, and even with my full strength restored, I am still weaker than you. Could I have stopped what happened if I had known ahead of time? Probably, yes, but so could have you.” My eyes opened. I clenched my trembling fingers into a fist as I forced myself to meet Sebastion’s condemnatory gaze. “Dom made a choice. He proved he was stronger than either of us. So, don’t you dare sully his bravery with your childish tantrum!”

Sebastion’s face turned dark red. An overbearing pressure began to weigh down on my shoulders, and a wave of bloodlust began to radiate through the air.

“Why don’t we all just calm down and—” The nearby Svend pleaded, trying to defuse the situation. Before he could finish talking, though, Sebastion raised his finger towards me.

The beam of light hit before I could even blink. This wasn’t just some ambient energy radiating from his body. It was a direct, purposeful attack.

My body was strong, but it wasn’t at the level of Svend’s. The force of Sebastion’s full might hit like a sledgehammer. I felt one of my ribs crack as the attack ripped into my chest. I was tossed across the field like a ragdoll, only coming to a stop after several seconds.

I coughed up a mouthful of blood and glared at Sebastion. All the pent-up frustration and anger I felt at Dom’s death, my mom’s injuries, and my own continuous helplessness boiled up to the surface.

“Fine, if that is the way you want to play this,” I growled furiously.

With a snap of my fingers, Lucia dropped down from the sky. Her green eyes burned with intense flame. Sebastion balked in alarm at her appearance, but I didn’t order her to attack the man. No, I wanted to do this myself.

I placed my hand on Lucia’s chest. For a brief moment, there was almost what looked like reluctance in her expression, but it faded too quickly to be sure. A moment later, a wave of immense energy was transmitted between her and me.

The undead Lucia had spent fifty years feeding off the energy core I stored in the Chronicle. The power was practically fused with her flesh to a worrying degree. Drawing power out of her was more challenging than with other undead. It couldn’t be down from a distance like with other undead. Rather, with how powerful she had become, it was me that would get drained if instead if Lucia decided to resist. I stored the concern away for later as I faced off against Sebastion. Since he wanted to force this fight, I would happily oblige.

A wave of renewed power rushed through my body. Towering green flames erupted in every direction, spreading across the ground like a tidal wave. The fire blocked my view of Sebastion, and likewise, his view of me vanished into the haze.

Sebastion scowled as he fired a beam of light into the raging flames, aiming for where I had just been standing a moment before. I moved quickly as six more attacks tore through the fire.

A rush of adrenaline coursed through me as one of the beams nearly grazed my shoulder. Sebastion couldn’t see me, but he wasn’t stupid. He shot each attack across the field of flames like a spreading fan. With each beam of light, he narrowed down where I might be hiding.

If he found me, it would be impossible to dodge Sebastion’s attacks with how fast they were. My only hope of beating some sense into that thick skull of his was hiding from view. It was the same tactic Svend had used, creating a dust cloud when they fought in Kala. Only, my flames could not be scattered nearly so easily. They were ephemeral and untouchable unless I decided otherwise. Firing a giant dispersed wave of light in every direction would do nothing but waste Sebastion’s energy, and he knew it.

Like that, the fight became a game of cat and mouse as I ran to avoid Sebastion’s sweeping search. I didn’t just wait to be found, though. No, with each second that passed, five balls of flames in my hand grew. They became denser and denser until they were practically plasma rather than fire. They almost looked like marbles.

As another of Sebastion’s attacks whizzed by my head, I tossed out the five green marbles. Each one followed a different trajectory. They shot out in a blur almost too fast to see with the naked eye, controlled with the practiced precision that let me beat Cyra in the game of flame control. Sebastion may not have been able to see me, but all I had to do was share my vision with Sylvie, and I could see the entire battlefield clearly.

The plasmatic marbles charred the earth as they flew out of the torrent of fire shielding me from Sebastion’s view. Each one flew out from a different direction, attacking the man from the front, both sides, and even above.

Sebastion narrowed his eyes at the sight. The marbles were small, but he knew better than to underestimate them. Without hesitation, he attacked the marbles with his full strength. Blinding light filled the sky, followed by four deafening explosions that shook the earth and shattered stone. However, that was exactly what I had been expecting.

The light and explosions filled the air. It was almost a cataclysmic sight. I hadn’t held back at all with my attacks. The clash between our powers was devastating enough to wipe a small town off the map had we been fighting anywhere populated. This desolation was what I was counting on.

Only four of the marbles had entered Sebastion’s sight originally. The fifth one had been slightly delayed for just this moment when dust and fire filled the air. By the time Sebastion noticed this danger, the marble was only an arm’s length away.

In a surprised, panic response, light radiated out in every direction. Sebastion’s domain armor cracked as the two talents collided.

I didn’t wait to see the effect as I dashed with all my might. With my body’s increased strength aided by the propulsion from my domain, I was able to close the distance between Sebastion and me before the light of his talent faded away. My fingers gripped at his neck, blocked only by the cracking layer of domain armor.

Sebastion, however, reacted far faster than I anticipated. Even as I reached for his neck, Sebastion’s hand shot forward, almost as if he had been expecting my approach. A radiant ball of condensed light was already prepared, resting against my chest.

From beginning to end, the fight had only taken ten seconds.

The result… was my loss.

My attacks had not been strong enough to shatter his domain, while his was enough to pierce through even Svend’s tough hide. Despite this, I found myself smiling.

“You’ve gotten faster.”

“I have seen you use that strategy before,” Sebastion replied curtly.

With a sigh, I released Sebastion’s neck and plopped down on the ground. “So, what now? Will you kill me? Avenge your father?”

The condensed power in Sebastion's hand grew brighter. Our eyes met, and I truly looked into them for the first time. I could see the struggle there, the rage, of course, but also the intense grief of losing a loved one.

The last time I was in this situation, Sebastion had indeed followed through. I could still feel the searing heat of that death in my mind. I had expected it, wanted it, maybe, as some twisted form of apology. But as I looked into his eyes now, all I saw was the little boy that had followed me so enthusiastically all those years ago. He had grown so much.

Despite facing what could be my death once again, I couldn’t stop smiling.

The light in Sebastion’s hand wavered before slowly petering out. He cursed softly as his hand limply fell to his side.

“Why do you always do that?” he grumbled in annoyance.

“Do what?” I asked in confusion.

“Why do you always smile when you think you might die? Is it because you know you can come back from it?”

I blinked in surprise as I thought about the question for a second. “No, that’s not it. I might treat death a little more cavalierly than others, but I don’t enjoy it. I think, maybe I smile because I know that I have done all that I can, and even if I die and don’t come back, I know that everything will still be ok. Regardless of what you might think of me, Sebastion, I believe in you. Even if you decide to kill me, I think you will have the strength to rise above any challenges you might face. I believe Dom felt the same way. He knew we would be able to shoulder all the hardships his passing would leave behind. In the end, his only worry was how you and Tia might take it.”

Sebastion’s face turned pale as all the anger drained from his body. “Tia… She doesn’t know yet.” He whispered softly.

“Do you want me to tell her?” I asked, knowing how hard such an encounter would be.

Sebastion shook his head. “No, she is my sister. He was our father. I should be the one to tell her.”

I nodded in understanding. It was not something I should interfere with. Even if Sebastion wanted to blame everything on me, I would accept it. “If… If anything remains of Dom’s body, there is a chance I can still bring him back.”

Sebastion looked up with a flicker of hope followed by a scowl. “Do you really think the Demonkin would leave anything behind? You know them better than that. Do not try to give me false hope.”

I lowered my head knowingly. Sebastion was right, but I still held out hope that maybe, just maybe, I could make this right.