Fire Mage

Edith instinctively took to the sky, her black flame wings flapping hard.

But the earth below erupted.

Hundreds of reddish chains shot out, all with snake heads for tips, their mouths opening wide to hiss and bite.

They darted toward her with frightening precision.

"Tch."

Edith twisted mid-air, dodging the first barrage.

One chain zipped past her left wing, narrowly missing. Another snapped toward her throat—but she spun sideways, narrowly evading. Below her, the roots from the monstrous trees surged upward like tentacles, swaying and coiling in midair.

She weaved through them, her wings slashing through the air with blazing speed.

The chains moved as if they had their own minds, coordinated and relentless.

One even tried to wrap around her ankle.

Before it could grab her leg, her sword sliced downward, severing the chain mid-length. The snake's head at the tip screamed and disintegrated into dust.

From below, Jagis let out a guttural laugh, his deep voice echoing with layered tones.

"I wonder how long you can last."

As he spoke, his attention moved towards the city.

At that moment, almost every Legend powerhouse managed to see his demonic figure and was pretty startled.

On the other hand, Edith looked at twenty-plus visions through her left eye and furrowed her brows.

At that moment, she saw herself bound by the strange chains in some of those visions before getting cornered.

"These chains are annoying."

As soon as she spoke, the cloudy sky started to turn crimson.

Suddenly, massive balls of fire, each around 1 meter in radius, started descending from the sky.

At first, there were only around ten fireballs. But as seconds passed, hundreds of massive fireballs rained down from the sky and started slamming into the forest.

Upon witnessing such a powerful spell, Jagis's complexion turned pale.

Not only Jagis, but most of the Legend Rank powerhouses were shocked by the large-scale spell.

Like meteorites, those massive fireballs landed in the forest, bathing the trees, vines, ponds, and everything in crimson flame.

Meanwhile, Jagis suddenly let out a roar and leaped into the sky.

Then, he stepped onto the air and suddenly accelerated his speed.

The next second, he arrived before Edith and raised his broadsword.

A purplish aura radiated around the sword's edges, causing Edith to furrow her brows.

'Grandmaster Aura…'

She calmly raised her finger and snapped.

A golden shield made of fire appeared before her and blocked the sword attack.

"Demons are indeed arrogant," she said and locked her gaze on Jagis.

The next second, the demon suddenly forgot what to do next and stared at her blankly as his broadsword collided with the shield.

On the other hand, Edith disappeared from where she was before and reappeared behind Jagis.

At the same time, the same illusionary third eye started to open on her forehead, gathered chaos fire, and released a dense ray.

By the time Jagis snapped out of his dazed state, he felt blood dripping down from his head.

A bloody hole appeared on his forehead!

A sharp pain appeared in his mind, causing him to roar in rage and shock.

But what surprised everyone was that even though a bloody hole appeared on Jagis's forehead, he didn't die!

No, a strange white light enveloped his body and started healing the wounds at a visible rate.

'Is this the demon's innate regenerative power?'

But as Jagis tried to move, he felt countless minute webs binding him all over his body!

Although he tried to break the invisible threads through brute force, he couldn't move a muscle.

"Don't waste your breath."

Edith appeared before Jagis, snatched the broadsword from his hand, and cast the [Purple Consciousness] spell on him.

At the same time, she continued to cast the [Burning Thoughts] spell and disrupted his thinking continuously.

Meanwhile, Charles, made of purple fire, appeared in the demon's inner world, casting [Knowledge Seeker] and [Fire Seed] spells everywhere.

Edith extracted all the memories of the demon Jagis for the next few minutes and learned a lot about the Sacred Empire's current situation.

Once she gathered enough information, she locked her gaze on his left chest and waved her hand.

A needle made of chaos fire appeared out of thin air and flew towards Jagis's chest.

In a blink, the [Ember Needle] spell tore through flesh, entered his body, and completely exploded from within, sending fire everywhere.

The chaotic fire burned the heart, lungs, and other organs and soon destroyed the demon from within.

Within seconds, only a burned corpse of a demon hovered in the air before Edith.

She looked deeply at the demon's corpse and turned her gaze towards the Holy City.

She cast the [Finger of Destruction] spell and disintegrated the corpse.

'I should take the loot before leaving.'

After that, she enveloped herself in crimson flame and disappeared from there.

…

A minute later, Edith suddenly appeared in the room at Mermaid's Inn and looked at the burned dress.

'I badly need a bath.'

But before she could move to the wardrobe, a knocking sound came.

She used her 'Hands of Wonder' skill and unlocked the door from inside.

Outside, Rhea and Runeth stood with solemn looks.

"What the hell are you thinking, Miss Edith? Are you planning to start a war with the Sacred Empire?" Rhea asked angrily and walked in.

"No. What she did today will silence all the council members. You did a great job finding a demonic creature in the heart of the Sacred Empire. We'll use it for our political gain and strengthen Rhea's position," Runeth muttered as he arrived beside the table and sat in the chair beside it.

"I only found out someone was distributing demonic drugs to the masses, but didn't expect the demon to come out on its own," Edith said as she picked up a new set of formal clothes from the wardrobe and added,

"And I managed to extract much information by devouring his memories. This demon seems to be a subordinate of the Avatar of Asthar, God of Fate."

"Charles said that's the original name of the God of Order, Filo," Runeth muttered, recalling the information Charles shared.

"Yes. He is also one of the candidates for the next Union Council Leader, supported by the Azure Federation."

"Azure Federation is already under the control of demons?" Rhea asked in shock.

Edith shook her head.

"Currently, Asthar is a prince of the Azure Federation and seems to be planning to become the next Emperor by eliminating the potential threats. I learned that he seems to have already eliminated the 2nd and 5th Princes of the Federation."

"The current emperor is in sick bed, isn't he? The moment he becomes the Emperor, the Azure Federation will face a threat, huh?" Runeth turned solemn and then asked,

"What about the other two candidates? Are they avatars too?"

"You've guessed right. The candidate supported by the Blood Empire is Nedia. She is a daughter of the Duke of the Blood Empire and is being supported by the Earth Church."

"Her real name is Nedia, too—the Forgotten Devil. Charles said even Fate Professor knew nothing about her," Runeth answered.

"What about the last candidate sponsored by the Rogue Throne?"

"Zegan. He is the official successor of the Rogue Throne itself," Edith said with a sigh.

"Ha! All three Empires are already under their control, huh? What a hopeless situation," Runeth said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"What about other areas?"

"Arc Kingdom and Hearth Kingdom were supposed to be united by Red Devil, but Charles killed him and spoiled their plans much earlier. Sasha was supposed to take over Moon Kingdom and Iron Kingdom, but Charles killed her avatar, too. Charles also killed Fate Professor during the Miracle City incident. With three Doomsday Avatars already eliminated, there are only three more hiding in different kingdoms," Edith said solemnly.

"Why only three? There are thirteen Lawful Gods. Then, there should be seven more avatars, right?"

"No. The Sun God and Goddess Rodia aren't Edhen's Children organization members. And Goddess Nira's real intention may be unclear, but she was born in this world. So, it is very likely that she will betray the world."

"Still, there should be four more Lawful Gods, right?"

Runeth curled his lips upward.

"You forgot another person was born in this world and became a God."

"Who?" Rhea asked curiously.

"It's better to keep his identity hidden for now," Runeth said solemnly.

Rhea nodded and asked further,

"Do you know where the remaining three avatars are?"

"There is one in the Arc Kingdom. Charles said the current King is a Doomsday Avatar, too." Runeth thought for a moment and then added,

"When we visited the Ember Kingdom, we realized that the King of Ember Kingdom might also be a Doomsday Avatar. We only need to find the last one."

"Is there a rule that only one Doomsday Avatar comes from each God? What if there is more than one?" Rhea asked.

Runeth shook his head.

"If there were more than one avatar, Sasha might have reappeared again.

There must be some restrictions they made before sending their avatars down.

If my guess is correct, the Gods wouldn't have realized that Charles had already killed three of them."

…