Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 14: Man of Ash

The Luminary Colosseum is withering away. The ground rumbled loudly, the subterranean force rising fiercely from the void.

The pristine white platform was replaced by jagged, uneven volcanic rock, night black color and glowing from inside with a wicked, crimson red color.

WHOOSH!!

Massive roaring pillars of fire spurted from the platform. These were the twelve Eid Pyres, which are ancient, towering pillars of fire mana acting as the boundaries of the arena. They will not flicker for mighty wind howls or dim out of mana. They stood like burning sentinels, instantly altering the air inside the arena into an asphyxiating, lethal oven.

The calm and cool temperature skyrocketed in a mere brink of seconds. The audience in the front rows clenched their teeth in suffocation, immediately covering their faces, shielding from the blistering wave of heat. This specific arena is designed for a brutal trial of flame.

The grand announcer’s voice roared across the arena, through the crackling inferno of the twelve Eid Pyres.

"The arena has awakened! Prepare yourselves for the First Match of the Infernal Bracket: Karl Wade Vedaryan of Zephyros versus Honoer Kyle Pyrosend of Pyrosend!"

The crowd erupted into a frenzy of screams and cheers. Every single member in the arena knew tense in the upcoming battle.

The undeniable ’Legend’ against the rising ’Prodigy’.

The iron chains of the East Gate rattled and opened. From the Zephyros entrance walked Karl Wade Vedaryan. He was the father of Kairos, and the man widely known across the continent with the name "Great Fire Magician." Yet, as he stepped out onto the burning rock, he looked like the raging sun with pride. He wore simple, loose, flame-resistant training robes of humble dark grey. His hair was the color of white ash, looking like an aging man. His face was prolly lined with the heavy wrinkles of a man who had smiled often in his youth. He walked with a faint unnoticeable limp, looking like a permanent souvenir from a battle experience even before many young warriors were born.

Across the crimson abyss, the West Gate rumbled open wide. From the Pyrosend entrance entered Honoer Kyle Pyrosend. He was a blood prince of the Fire Kingdom, and he looked exactly like a royal conqueror. His heavy crimson armor shone bright, looking as it was forged through the breath of mythical phoenix. Intense, truculent heat swirled around Honoer’s body in distorted sparking waves. He ran incredibly hot. The black volcanic tiles beneath his tinkling metal boots started to smoke and hiss just from his mere physical presence.

Both men walked forward at a steady pace and stopped at the center of the infernal arena. The heat exhibition from their aura was harsh and impeccable. For normal, unawakened men, standing in the blazing aura for more than a minute will pulverize the lungs. But for these, magnum opus of the flame, it was felt like breathing the calm, fresh morning air.

Honoer broke the silence. He tightly clenched his gauntleted fists with a cracking sound. Bright orange sparks flew from his knuckles, popping aside.

"I’ve waited many, many years for this exact moment, General Karl," Honoer said, his voice trembling slightly from an overwhelming surge of pure adrenaline. "I am here to surpass your legend... or die trying to take your crown."

Karl Wade did not get into his combat stance. He casually stood with his calloused hands resting comfortably at his sides. He looked at the young, burning prince with a look of fatherly pity.

"Fire is absolutely not a competition, Honoer," Karl said his voice softly, calm like a father. "It is not a magical ladder for you to blindly climb."

Honoer’s dark eyes sharpened with instant offense. He always hated lectures, and dropped into a low, stretched combat stance, the crimson mana surrounding his body rampantly rising from orange to burning violet.

"Today, old man," Honoer growled, "it is."

High above, the bronze bell rang loudly.

GONG!!

Honoer launched himself forward immediately. He didn’t bother to test the older man’s defenses. He dove directly into the end without any warm up. Enraged violet fire convolusively enshrouded both of his armored fists, expanding rapidly looking like falling meteor.

"Vortex Inferno!" Honoer roared with raging breath.

He instantly created a whirling tornado of blazing heat. It was a pure whirlwind of enhanced fire mana which was burning the stones, debris around it.

The roaring tornado lunged forward and swallowed Karl Wade whole in an instant with devastating power.

"He’s gone!" someone screamed in sheer panic from the noble pavilion.

Up in the Royal Pavilion, expert fire mages from the Pyrosend Kingdom leaned forward in their cushion seats, their eyes wide with genuine shock. They knew the temperature core of the high-tier spelling enchanted by Honoer, a destructive magic which even melts reinforced steel beams in seconds. Honoer had absolutely abandoned all tournament etiquette, gone for lethal direct kill.

The violet tornado groaned in the center of the arena, turning the entire crucible of war into a vortex of orange, white, and purple fire. The rumbling sound was too loud, along with suffocation of heat.

****

Down in the competitors area, the warriors watched in awe. But Kairos calmly leaned against the stone wall and smiled a tiny, knowing bit.

Father is just giving false hope to Honoer, Kairos thought comfortably, folding his arms over his chest. He’s letting the boy tire himself out.

****

BOOOMM!!!

Then... the fire tornado twisted unnaturally.

It jerked piercing upward into the sky, but it was surely not by Honoer’s command or intention. It withered apart obeying a more powerful, unseen authority. The roaring violet flames veritably moved off to the sides like a pair of curtains.

Karl Wade Vedaryan walked cavalierly out of the blazing inferno. He was untouched. His simple, grey training robes remained unburnt. He didn’t have a single scorch mark on his skin. He wasn’t even sweating. He walked expeditiously through the center of the fire like he was walking through normal, calm air.

He looked at Honoer with a calm, steady and unbothered expression. "Your flames rage wildly because they desperately want to be seen by the world," Karl said softly, whetting a tiny flake of grey ash from his shoulder, "but mine burn simply to endure."

Honoer roared in blistering frustration. The older man’s calm, effortless rejection of his ultimate attack hurt his pride infinitely more than a physical punch ever could do.

"Don’t you dare look down on me!" Honoer screamed, his voice cracking with rage.

The Pyrosend prince slammed both of his burning palms rigidly into the black rock floor. "Volcanic Geyser!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Highly pressurized, explosive flame shot frantically upward from the deep, jagged cracks in the volcanic rock. Ten, twenty, thirty prodigious pillars of roaring fire erupted in all directions simultaneously, crisscrossing the entire battlefield like a deadly, glowing grid of pure destruction. There was prolly nowhere left to step, nowhere to hide. The entire floor was a lethal minefield of erupting fire.

But... Karl didn’t try to hide. He simply stepped forward once, walking slowly. He didn’t chant a single incantation. As his boot touched the burning ground, the erupting pillars of fire roaring curved. The gargantuan columns of deadly flame bent away from his body, unnaturally changing their own vertical trajectory just to avoid touching a single inch of his skin with fear. It looked like the fire itself, profoundly afraid of him.

He walked in a straight line directly through the blazing chaos. He walked through the roaring flames as they actively moved away and bowed low in deep reverence as he peacefully passed them by.

The fire just obeyed him.

Honoer’s breath hitched, caught entirely in his throat in sheer, horrifying disbelief. He involuntarily took a staggering step backward, his back hit from heat radiating from outer Eid Pyres.

"You..." Honoer stammered. "You just bent my flames? That’s impossible. That’s my personal mana! You can’t control another mage’s core output!"

Karl stopped walking, pausing exactly ten steps away from the terrified prince. He slowly lifted his right hand slightly, a gentle gesture that looked like a maestro guiding a grand Opera orchestra.

"Flames respond to emotion, boy," Karl said, his voice echoing in eerie silence in the arena. "They deeply fear those who secretly fear themselves. But they absolutely trust those who do not waver."

He looked Honoer, his gaze piercing through the boy’s arrogant armor.

"You are secretly afraid that you aren’t strong enough to carry your kingdom’s legacy," Karl stated bluntly. "The fire smells that hidden fear in your heart. It does not respect you as its master."

Honoer clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. The philosophical lecture made him angry, and devastated his fragile royal pride. He gripped his flaming gauntlets so hard that the enchanted metal actually began to bend and groan under the pressure. His furious aura spiked screeching in arena.

"If my flames can’t make you kneel," Honoer growled, "then my lava certainly will!"

He slammed his right fist brutally down into the solid black rock beneath his feet, sinking his arm up to the elbow.

"Molten Core: Eruption!"

The center of the arena cracked wide open. Thick, molten lava pushed forcefully upward from beneath Karl’s feet. It was boiling liquid rock, glowing an angry, vibrant crimson red. It was unstoppable destruction. It rose high, forming a massive tsunami of molten lava raged up to kill the old man.

Wind and lightning battles shook the arena.

Earth and water battles collapsed mountains.

But when Karl Wade stood alone before the swirling wall of descending lava, the entire Infernal Colosseum fell into a state of terrified silence and disbelief.

He again lifted his right hand, casually facing his open palm toward the falling wave of lava, and released a quiet command. "Halt."

The towering wave of lava froze dead in the middle of its destructive eruption. It remained glowing brightly, radiating lethal heat, but it stopped moving forward. It defied the gravity itself for obeying only his absolute will.

Karl’s voice was as soft as a whisper, but in the eerie silence of the arena, every person heard it clearly.

"Fire is absolutely not meant for pure destruction," Karl said, dropping his hand slightly. "Fire is a heavy responsibility."

He slowly moved his fingers in a small, circular motion. The lava pounds in the wall started rotating. It rotated smoothly and harmlessly around Karl’s body, orbiting him like glowing red planets rotating around a calm sun. He controlled the most volatile and deadly element of the earth with absolute mastery. He showed the reason to the arena, why he was called as Greatest Fire Magician.

The crowd didn’t dare to breathe. They were witnessing a legend. Even Kairos, watching intently from the sidelines, felt freezing chills run down his own spine. He had obviously seen his father fight before. He had always known he was incredibly strong. He had watched him forge steel swords in the village. But this... this was way too strong. This was inevitable.

This is the true realm of a Grandmaster, Kairos thought, his eyes wide with profound awe. It’s not just magic anymore. It’s absolute, undeniable dominion over the very laws of nature.

Karl lowered his hand towards the floor. With a precise motion, he smoothly guided the boiling lava into the cracks of earth. It flowed smoothly away, sinking back into the dark depths of the arena.

CLANG!!

The bronze bell rang out sharply. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Time Limit Reached! End of Phase One!" the grand announcer shouted, his voice shaking in sheer shock at what he had just witnessed.

Honoer stumbled, his legs suddenly weak. His massive mana reserves were drained. His heart was thudding painfully against his ribs with sheer exhaustion. But his dark eyes were burning brighter than ever. They burned with the undeniable, intoxicating thrill.

"You’re everything..." Honoer panted heavily, wiping his mouth with the back of his scorched gauntlet. "You are exactly everything the world claims you are, Karl Wade."

Karl waited in the center of the ring, remaining calm and entirely silent, without offering a single word of confirmation or denial.

"But I am absolutely not done yet," Honoer promised fiercely, forcing his core to rest.

Behind him, the towering flames of the twelve Eid Pyres suddenly grew significantly higher, burning much hotter and a much angrier shade of red. They clearly sensed the massive, impending change in the air pressure. They were incredibly hungry for what was about to come next. The arena itself wanted to know who would truly walk away as the absolute victor: the arrogant ’Warrior’ of the Fire, or the gentle ’Guide’ of the Flame.