Brandishing a blazing sword, May kept marching forward, her steps melting the black dirt into a puddle of gooey matter.

  This won’t even be a fight if I go all out. I also need to avoid striking the pillar down, or Stella won’t be able to work her magic.

  Knowing her full power well enough to understand the destruction she would cause, May chose to hold back.

  Wiping out this rubble is an easy task, but it wouldn’t be fun. Let’s experiment. Maybe… Her thoughts wandered as she approached the first skeleton, which ran at her with unwavering determination.

  The skeleton lifted its arms, claws outstretched to tear into her.

  May bent her right knee, tilting her body just enough for the strike to pass harmlessly above her. In a single, fluid motion, she spun around the skeleton’s side, her movement as precise as it was graceful. Before the creature could recover, her molten blade drove through its spine, slicing cleanly as the heat devoured bone, turning it into drifting ash.

  This simple display of agility unsettled the puppeteer. It began to panic, sending more skeletons than necessary at her.

  "Send as many as you desire. The result will be the same."

  Rotating her wrist lightly, she spun the sword back to its neutral position along her thigh, her feet carrying her forward.

  Before any opponent could dare to catch her, she was already past them in the blink of an eye.

  She had simply crossed them faster than what could normally be possible. All that remained after her seemingly warped advance were red streaks across the skeletons’ bodies.

  As May smirked in satisfaction, they all burst into flames, creaking bones and roots alike.

  Amelia, I’ll have to thank you for teaching me this. Thinking of the woman who wielded the purest form of fire imaginable, she felt genuine appreciation. Now…

  With only five skeletons destroyed, the battle hadn’t even truly begun. The number of walking puppets was in the thousands, leaving May to contemplate her options.

  The best solution is to make my way to this manipulative and cowardly skeleton, but I doubt it will let me. It knows I can’t destroy the pillar. That’s why it refuses to move away.

  Without even bothering to avoid another batch of enemies, she slashed mercilessly. While in thought, she became a vicious, merciless general.

  Leaving behind a trail of molten dirt and piles of ash, she kept up her unstoppable rampage into the enemy lines.

  I had always wanted to try this. A playful smile appeared on her face, her expression untouched by even the faintest hint of threat.

  Indifferent to the attacks coming her way, she pushed her idea forward.

  I know I can go faster. But how much, I wonder. The control should be…

  A surprising amount of energy gathered behind her waist. May gripped her sword with both hands, as if preparing for an upward slash.

  But where she had stood an instant before, May had already vanished. Leaving a trail of fire behind her and a low shockwave that pushed the enemy away, she dragged her sword into the dirt to slow her advance.

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  "Damn!"

  Turning around hurriedly, she stared at the carnage. Instead of ashes, however, many skeletons had exploded into shards of bone. Limbs were broken, chests ripped open, skulls shattered under the impact of the shockwave.

  Right after, she touched her back with a face of worry.

  "I haven’t burned my clothes, have I? Ah, it seems fine." Breathing a sigh of relief, she straightened while pulling her blade from the ground—or so was her plan.

  The sword had melted after reaching its critical point, unable to withstand May’s terrifying excess of fire magic.

  "Hmm~" She frowned. "I guess this is too much for any weapon. I can’t reproduce Karteira’s explosiveness, and it’s difficult to control too. Let’s seal that one away."

  Letting go of the sword’s hilt, she stepped back, reassessing her situation.

  "Oh." She smiled. "Good one. This is a smart tactic against a lone opponent."

  Surrounded by hundreds of human husks, she smiled.

  "Now, what to do? I am unarmed." Lifting both hands in mock desperation, she gave it some thought. "Though… my skills aren’t limited to close-range encounters."

  Watching the skeletons rush toward her, she crouched lightly, fire igniting under her feet.

  As the first skeletons leapt at her to pin her down, May vaulted into the air, tens of meters above them.

  Spinning midair, she stared at the marionettes forming a considerable pile below.

  "Hey. Do you think this counts as a fireball?" Still ascending, she lifted her right hand above her head, gathering an absurd amount of fire into a growing sphere.

  The spinning fire stirred violently, like the sun and its devouring solar flares, illuminating everything beneath it.

  Hurling the blazing sphere downward, she absorbed the recoil entirely, which pushed her even higher.

  Her attack struck at an absurd pace, crashing into the bony remains in a catastrophic explosion of hellfire.

  May fell to the ground, knees bent to absorb the impact. She suffered no damage, her face remaining untouched by pain.

  But the fight was far from over, and she began to take it seriously. What had been playful now gave way to her innate nature.

  The need to win, to strategically dispatch the enemy, and the desire to stay true to herself returned stronger than she realized.

  This reminds me of the war.

  Unconsciously, May’s expression turned grave. Her face dropped slightly, her eyes taking on a more dangerous hue.

  Fire burned within them as she elegantly spun once, her hands holding nothing but emptiness—yet seeming to draw a bow.

  It took only seconds for the bow to materialize. Orange flames shaped it like a wild beast poised to strike, threatening to burn even May.

  Yet, it remained still as she drew the scorching string.

  "Helheim."

  A single arrow burst forth, devouring everything in its path. Like the maw of a dragon, it ravaged all before exploding in the center of a group of skeletons.

  A cloud of smoke swallowed the fire, hiding the aftermath.

  But it wasn’t over. Hundreds of smaller arrows emerged within, raining down on the enemies. As the smoke dissipated, it revealed a wide field of scorching fire devouring the empty husks that survived the first explosion.

  Each smaller arrow fed this blazing storm, creating a maelstrom of hellfire.

  The sight left a faint, rare trace of shock in May. Bones melted, reaching for safety as they fused with the earth into a gooey mess.

  Screeching flowers burned, roots blackened by flame. Unable to support the bones, they crumbled alongside them.

  "…"

  May knew that with a little more power, she could have ended this entire area. Her fire had consumed the entire hill except for the peak where the pillar lay.

  Trembling bones and shaking eyes remained as the sneaky puppeteer fell to the ground in terror.

  But this was it. Only a few hundred skeletons remained, barely enough to resist her onslaught.

  Her footsteps grew heavier as she walked through her field of fire. Stepping before the terrified skeleton, she frowned.

  "I don’t know who you are. You might have been a human of the past, brainwashed, or an entity possessing these remains. I care little for your true identity."

  Her hands clasped together, releasing heat more intense than ever. Pulling them apart, a sword of her purest fire formed, which she seized.

  It sizzled in her hand, but her skin remained uninjured, untouched by the flame.

  "Let me put an end to your struggles."

  With an effortless motion, she sliced the enemy’s neck cleanly. As its eyes locked with hers, its entire body disintegrated.

  At last, the army of skeletons fell, freed from the master’s control.

  May turned to the sky, releasing her sword as it vanished into thin air.

  "The pillar’s free. You can get down."

  Only carnage remained behind her, proof of her growth as a warrior.

  As an Agathion warrior.

  As Orion’s general.