Rogue Villain-Chapter 333: Step Up

"Makkel!"

Wilma carried Mastrax like a shield to defend against the stray sparks of lightning, blue fire, orange fire, and black fire as she headed over to Makkel and Karandiel so she could tell Makkel what to do.

The siege on Mbelg made it difficult to communicate. Wilma also didn’t want to shout across the entire hall so that Mbelg would hear what they were planning. She decided to make a mental note to ask Ackster to teach her that silent communication he did.

Wilma continued holding Mastrax up in front of her as she arrived.

"Makkel, just adding more fire won’t do anything to solve the problem!"

"What do I do, then?!"

Makkel had also realized it, and since he was the source of the mentioned problem, he was very panicked.

"You need to step up your game. Make your fires better!"

"Don’t you think I would if I could?!"

"Have you tried?"

"..."

Wilma took Makkel’s silence as him opening up to suggestions as well as a confession that he had not tried.

"Your luck-burning flames won’t be enough to go against a demon. Demons don’t have luck or misfortune the same way humans do. They also don’t believe in fate, destiny, or something like that. But they are they still affected by coincidence, chance, and whatever else you might call it."

"What?"

Even with his history of sensing, experiencing, and burning luck and misfortune, Makkel had a hard time understanding what Wilma was trying to say or what her words meant.

"Think about it! Isn’t it a coincidence that this demon ended up encountering Ackster and us? It was sealed for countless millennia by an ancient civilization. What are the odds that its seal would weaken at the same time as Ackster exists and wants to enter the Alchemaze?"

"I guess...?"

Makkel was still unsure. What did that have to do with his fire?

"Even if the demon doesn’t have its own luck or misfortune, doesn’t meeting Ackster like this mean that it was unlucky? I’m not sure of the details, but what if the demon’s fortune and misfortune look and feel differently because it’s from another realm? Or maybe instead of floating around and interfering with others’ luck like the fortune of humans do, it’s part of their being and concentrated into their bodies somehow? Whatever the case, demons can be lucky and unlucky, especially when visiting Millmeria!"

"I see...!"

Makkel’s eyes lit up slightly as he realized what his flames lacked. They lacked depth, both in how deep they burned and in the depth of understanding.

Makkel wasn’t completely sure what luck was. He just knew it affected how people in seemingly random circumstances. Someone lucky wouldn’t trip all the time, or they might find coins and stuff like that, while someone unlucky might take one wrong step and end up with a broken nose. Makkel had personally experienced that.

But what was luck? Was it an individual trait that affected each person differently? How was it quantified? Could it be different qualities?

Makkel could vaguely sense people’s luck like a cloud floating around their bodies. Was that cloud luck, or was it how he perceived luck? Why did different people have different degrees of luck?

All the questions and thoughts Makkel had had regarding his ability and luck, in general, popped into his head.

His mind spun like a wheel, trying to understand luck, his ability, and himself. But eventually, the wheel slowed down and settled on something. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Luck, whether it was positive or negative, was luck. It didn’t matter what shape, form, or expression it took. Luck was luck. Makkel saw people’s luck as clouds around them because it made it easy to estimate how lucky or unlucky they were. That didn’t necessarily mean that was the universal truth. But it was his truth, and it was his truth that mattered for his ability.

However, his ability was too lacking to see that cloud around a demon. Demons didn’t express their luck the same way humans did. Makkel needed to change the way he looked at things.

The clouds of luck were how he saw the world. Makkel not seeing a cloud of luck around his target didn’t mean his target wasn’t lucky or unlucky. It simply meant his perspective wasn’t suitable for viewing the target’s luck. After all, being lucky or unlucky was a universal truth, regardless of what Makkel or anyone else thought.

You could call it fate, destiny, coincidence, or whatever. But the circumstances leading to that decision and conclusion were a matter of luck.

Makkel’s hair fluttered in the nonexistent breeze and seemed to deepen in color as the flames in his hands raged with the intensity of the breakthrough and enlightenment going on inside his mind.

Luck exists in all kinds of different shapes, sizes, forms, and expressions. Makkel might only be able to see part of it in his current state. But that didn’t matter.

Even without being able to tell what Ackster’s luck was, Makkel had still been able to light him on fire. The fire not bothering Ackster or harming him in the slightest was another matter related purely to the fire side of things. Ackster’s luck still existed, and it burned.

Oh, it burned.

Makkel’s eyes lit up with a crazed sheen as they reflected the glorious light of the fire in front of him. It was beautiful! The fire blossomed and spiraled like a tornado of flowers, orange, blue, and black.

Makkel’s expression melted and lit up in ecstasy.

It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what luck was. It didn’t matter what anything was.

The only thing that mattered was that it was all flammable. Everything burned. Luck burned. People burned. Demons burned. Stone burned. The world burned!

Makkel saw it. The world, ablaze with flames that melted the sky!

"...amazing...!"

It was the most beautiful thing Makkel had ever seen! Everything was kissed by fire, eaten by the flames, and reduced to embers.

Makkel cried. His tears were filled with such vivid emotions that only his flames were a suitable vessel to express.