An immense power surged around her, and the space surrounding her began to change.
It was not air warping under intense heat. It was a deeper change, wrought by the Flame of Continued Combustion at the level of rules.
The void beside her seemed to turn into flowing, translucent amber. Light refracted and bent within it, while the surrounding scene grew hazy and dreamlike.
Heat tore at space. With the fundamental Concept of Heat so highly concentrated and controlled in her hands, it had a staggering effect on the stability of the space around her.
Then a point of white-hot light slowly emerged from Xilos's palm, so pure it seemed to contain every secret of fire's origins.
The light was not dazzling, yet its purity stirred the heart. It seemed less like light than the embodiment of light and heat themselves.
The instant it appeared, Alvin's vast magnetic field fluctuated noticeably.
A faint barrier of rules formed of its own accord across the surface of his body, which was made up of countless intricate mechanical components and biological tissues. It was meant to ward off anomalous energy fields.
It was an instinctive response to a perceived threat. Though the light came from Xilos and looked gentle enough, the primal power and lofty standing it contained were enough to put any Authority Holder on guard.
Shen Yi watched silently. The Shadow Authority flowed soundlessly through him as he sensed every pulse of the light in Xilos's hand.
It was indeed the power of the Flame of Continued Combustion, born from the spark of Source Fire he had separated from himself.
But under Xilos's guidance, it now showed qualities different from those it displayed when Shen Yi used it.
Shen Yi's Flame of Continued Combustion leaned more toward absolute control, deprivation, and