That didn’t sound threatening at all, Azaroth thought.

Kael Hound was angry, red energy rose from him in strands that covered him like a too-big red cloth. The flames drawn into his mask glowed and stood out like lava against black rock.

When he walked in smoke came from his steps and where he stepped blackened. He radiated heat in waves as if he were an oven, the dry smell of flames filled the training hall.

They all reacted instinctively, they all channeled their essence and put in their respective body part and pointed their weapons at the thing that screamed danger to their head, Kael Hound. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

They all stared at the masked Kael and Azaroth was reminded if he had forgotten that this was not only a Hound but a Captain. It was easy to forget with Kael’s calm manner and the point that he was their teacher.

Now, Azaroth understood why the Inferno Legion’s Hounds were feared.

"What do you....mean?" Stallus hesitated as she asked. "I thought you said our Advancement happens naturally?"

When Kael spoke his voice was like snapped flames. "Anything done naturally can be done unnaturally. Your Advancement can be sped up depending on your situation and since you were all at the very peak, I will trigger it."

Alex opened his mouth but Kael didn’t wait for him before he punched the air in front of him, fire the size of Alex’s head blasted with the force of a released arrow at him, instead of panicking or dodging, Alex transferred his sword to his left hand and with a fist covered with essence he punched the fire.

The punch snapped in the air as it connected, the fireball dissolved as if it had lost its power source.

It all happened so fast that Azaroth was impressed with Alex’s quick response.

"Well, look at that. You were able to stop that but what about this?" Kael raised his hands, and the flames on his mask glowed brighter then a fireball the size of two human heads popped into existence before him.

Azaroth counted seven, eleven, and twenty before he stopped counting and started preparing because the fireballs were not only pointing at Alex, they were pointing at all of them.

The popping sound of more fireballs sounded and the temperature increased until the very air shimmered with heat. The water that clung to Azaroth had long dried and even his skin was now dry and warm.

"Have fun," Kael said and his hands came down sharply.

It started raining fireballs inside the training hall. Azaroth didn’t bother with putting essence into his hand, the only thing that could help here was not his ability to cut harder but the one to move faster.

The first fire reached him and Azaroth moved away just in time, it landed just behind him and it exploded with such force that it sent Azaroth staggering forward, straight into an incoming fireball.

Azaroth’s red eyes widened, if he had a bigger core or he was using his chaos with the normal core he could have used both feet to jump after covering them in essence.

He had neither of the options, the only thing he could do was cut the fire with his sword. Azaroth covered his right hand with essence, raised his sword, and brought it down as hard as he could in his unbalanced state.

It was like cutting water or syrup, worse still this was fire and when he did cut it, flames still washed over him even as the fireball unraveled and slowly disappeared.

Azaroth gritted his teeth as he hit the floor hard, his left hand throbbed with burn but his right hand was alright since it was covered with essence.

Something whooshed close to him and Azaroth put his sword parallel to his length and started rolling. The fireball hit where he was minutes before, and the wooden floor broke with a cracking sound, sending splinters of hardwood flying.

The force lifted Azaroth and threw him against the wall, fortunately, his sword didn’t get in the way or he could have cut himself on the sharp edge.

Azaroth looked at the training hall. It was chaos, fire burnt freely, wood popped as the fire ate into them, and wooden dummies were nothing more than charcoal now. And the dry harsh smell of burning wood was heavy in the air.

Kael stood in the middle of it all, surrounded by fireballs that kept popping into existence even after minutes. Now and then he would choose one of his students to focus his assault on.

It was Stallus now and she was doing far better than Azaroth, since most of her training was based on speed it was easy for her to put essence on one foot and slide easily between fireballs.

She moved between the fireballs, quick as a sparrow dodging raindrops, her weapon remained unsheathed by her side. It should look awkward, sliding through the room on one foot but she made it look graceful.

Kael Hound narrowed on her and sent five fireballs one after the other, he had also increased the speed too. He must have been wearing her down with those fireballs he sent earlier and meant to take her down in one move.

Stallus slid between the first two but she was getting tired, sweat-soaked and she was breathing from the mouth. It must have taken a massive amount of essence to slide like that without movement not to talk of using only one foot.

The next fireball grazed her shoulder, she winced as she was sent whirling. She stopped channeling essence to her feet to stop her movement and that was when the fourth fireball hit but she was prepared.

Stallus hit the floor in a roll and the fire passed overhead, she stopped breathing and closed her eyes as the fire passed then she stood up and channeled essence into her right hand that now rested on the hilt of her saber.

When the fifth fire arrived Stallus drew her saber so fast it was a dark blur and cut the fireball. The fireball was cut in two, each going a separate way and avoiding her.

Stallus, sweat-covered and nearly out of essence grinned at Kael Hound. A big mistake.