Chapter 20: The Fire From Hell
As that quote crossed Rise's mind, he smiled.
His eyes were twinkling, anticipating a beautiful scene that only Kamille could create.
The Birth of a Calamity... It was not just a cringy phrase or a metaphor.
The pounding and echoes of the heart raged until a chaotic roar sounded. Almost simultaneously, a wall made of the wind surrounded Rise and the collapsing members.
In just a moment, they were already at the center of a huge whirlpool. The wind was strong and dangerous, enough to slice anyone to shreds. Yet at the same time, it also serves as a protection, blocking the rising aura and chaotic roars the entity from the coffin was making.
Rise's silver hair swayed, the strong wind messing with his hair. At this moment, aside from Rise, who stubbornly resisted the aura on his own, granted Kamille blocked the majority of the impact, and everyone was already collapsed at the center of the whirlpool.
And not far from them was Kamille, standing firmly as he stared at the coffin, waiting for the entity to fully wake up.
"Who?"
A voice, neither female nor male, sounded; it even had a faint echo of madness accompanying it.
Rise's face twisted, and blood trickled from his ears. He bit his lips, holding back from vomiting blood, but some of it still dripped at the corner of his lips.
This voice alone... could annihilate the party.
"Who dares wake me... wait?" The voice then continued and suddenly paused. Soon, chaotic and insane laughter echoed, and the cracks in the glass walls and floors widened.
After a few seconds of laughter, a hand appeared at the side of the coffin. The entity then gradually showed itself.
Rise closed his eyes, and they returned to his black ones. He didn't want to go blind just because he got so stubborn to look directly at it using his Detect ability. He was not Kamille.
Still, as he looks at it... No at the woman with his naked eye, the corners of his eyes still stung, which soon became bloodshot.
The woman, with long blue frosted hair, stood atop the coffin, her blue frozen dress flowed through the ground; her feet were not visible.
Her beautiful face, while considered pretty by human standards, had a kind of off-putting vibe to it. Frozen cracks like mirrors were etched to the right side of her cheeks to her neck, her right eyes were colored blue without white, and the left only had half the normal pupils.
"Broken..." Rise could not help but say inside. She was like a broken glass.
"Oh?" An insane smile lingered on her lips; the cracks in her cheek widened because of that action, yet she seemed not to care. "Humans? You are all... humans, right?"
She looked at Kamille, then in Rise's direction, before shifting back to Kamille and verifying her guess.
However, Kamille did not respond. He was only holding his sword, standing in front of the woman, as if the aura emanating from the woman did not have any effect on him.
The woman stared at Kamille, then tilted her head; the cracks widened again. Rise even thought some of her frozen skin might fall off.
She stared intently at Kamille, suddenly very curious, as if something within Kamille interested her.
"You are... a human, yes?" The woman asked once more, seemingly not sure.
Rise smirked slightly. Her insides were killing him, and his head was torturing him, but he continued watching. He would not have missed a good show.
From the looks of it, the woman was indeed a Viscount, but her condition was not right. She was probably significantly weakened and not in her peak condition at all.
Kamille's gaze flickered, gripping the sword tightly as if something within him was triggered by the woman's words.
He still did not answer the woman, and he even ignored her. He turned his head and looked at Rise. He was the only one awake. His gaze narrowed slightly.
Rise felt the pressure for the first time; he knew that look. Kamille must be contemplating whether to put him to sleep as well.
He only needed a witness to the aftermath, not during it.
Rise smiled, genuine, and even excited. Not afraid to look at those wonderful... hazel eyes, which slowly have a tint of dark red.
Kamille was taken aback for a second, staring at Rise, forgetting what he was thinking.
Smiling? Kamille did not know what Rise was thinking. Did he not feel the malice he was showing earlier? How could he smile?
While they were staring at each other, the woman who was being ignored finally snapped.
"How dare you ignore me?" She shouted; the impact almost blew the wall and the roof. Her murderous gaze bore on Kamille, "I'm asking you a question!"
Her shouts, which were more like a tantrum, caused Rise to wince, faltering his smile. He felt like his eardrums burst at that shout. He almost cursed from the pain.
Kamille's expression slightly became annoyed. He still didn't know why Rise was smiling, and yet someone ruined it.
The already erratic emotions began to surge even more. Shifting from Rise, he turned to the ice woman. His eyes were tainted with dark red.
Hah, I never thought of using it again.
Kamille was told by his mother to never use it. In his life, it could only be counted on one hand when he used this ability. And each of those occasions... The outcome was a nightmare.
He was already a weapon, but with this ability... He was a monster.
No one knew of this side, and so it was not recorded. Anyone who witnessed this was already dead. Not because Kamille directly killed them; he just could not control it.
He despised himself, burying the memories in his subconscious.
"You... humans!" The woman shrieked, the crack became unsightly, and ice shards then appeared from the ground, almost piercing Kamille.
However, to the woman's surprise, the ice suddenly seemed to evaporate around him. Kamille was still standing calmly, but the aura around him was rising, yet his demeanor became cold and emotionless.
"H-How..." The woman's eyes widened, and the cracks now spread to her other cheek. How could a human just evaporate the ice shards? She was now in a weakened state, but not too weak.
Rise, on the other hand, gleamed. His eyes were shining.
"Should I put him to sleep?" Kamille was still thinking of this but was again interrupted by the woman.
Shards upon shards were poured in his direction, and they became sharper each time too.
Kamille frowned, and his temper flared. In this state, his emotions were always uncontrollable, just like how the fire seemed not to want to stop after being ignited.
"I should kill her first," Kamille mumbled, nodding at this plan.
He unsheathed his sword, and soon black fire appeared at the tip of the sword, gradually enveloping the whole sword until it now appeared like a black fire sword.
Black fire rose from the ground, surrounding the palace; it also flowed like water at the walls, as if alive. Soon, the space around them seemed to transform into a hell of black fire.
It was as though they teleported from the Crystal Palace, and now they were in hell.
"The Hellfire..." Rise smiled, his eyes glowing with admiration. "It will devour you, until there's nothing left."
Kamille was called a Calamity, and it was not an exaggeration.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone