Because I Am Surtr Chapter 13

—Unless...

Unless, the instant Frostnova saw her opponent make a move, she had judged that a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble was her only chance at survival. But how many people in this world were powerful enough to make a top-tier caster like Frostnova abandon all hope the moment she merely caught a trace of them acting?

Ludmila suddenly shuddered.

It was as though her skull had been pried open and an entire bucket of ice water poured inside, chilling her to the bone.

Her supple neck stiffened, every inch of her spine crackling as she twisted around—and when she struggled to look down, she saw a faint yellow stain beneath her feet.

—Sulfur.

At last, she understood what had been wrong with the scent she had noticed earlier...

In this world, there was only one person who caused the air to fill with smoky sulfur before making a move.

Her mouth opened, but her entire body suddenly tensed.

—Run!

And just as she took her first step to flee, the entire world before her—every building, every street, every ruin, every crack—

Burst into fierce flames.

Bullying Junjun Is One of Life's Greatest Joys

The Ember Demon...

It was said that no living person had ever seen the Ember Demon's true form. When it descended, survivors could see only tidal waves of flame and sulfurous smoke that blanketed the sky. Its gender was unknown, its size unknown, its preferences unknown, its purpose unknown, its methods of battle unknown—only two things could be roughly confirmed.

First, it was very likely a Sarkaz. This description had been provided by survivors of Kazdel's Hunter King War amid hysterical madness.

Second, it might use a bladed weapon. Before the previous emperor of Ursus was declared mortally wounded by his successor and thus able to hand over the throne "with dignity," there had been a cleanly severed wound on his neck.

Beyond that, the world knew nothing of it. It was not as though no one had ever cast suspicious eyes upon famous masters of flame—the Fire Giant King of the mercenary world, Kazimierz's Smoke Knight, Lateran's Witch of Pain, Higashi's Flame Princess, and even Reunion Movement's "Tyrant"... Many had been suspected, and even tested. Yet such suspicion and probing were utterly meaningless.

Kazdel's demon army could not stop the Hunter King, and Ursus's Imperial Guards could not withstand the Ember Demon. With that being the case, what benefit could exposing that monster's true identity possibly bring? Enrage it, only to watch one's entire family bathed in wildfire? Or did they think that earth-shaking silhouette was merely a clown in a mirror, something they could control as long as they knew its true name?

That was not how one went looking for death.

And the suspects qualified to invite such speculation were not people whose strength could be taken lightly.

After all, in a world where war had yet to cease, public opinion was often nothing more than useless trash. It could not drive good people to death as it did in Arknights. And those powerful enough to reshape the terrain with a single strike had never cared about the idea that the law could not punish everyone.

If someone offended them, they simply killed them. Even if the offending hand came from a great power, so what if they severed it? Those worthy of suspicion possessed the strength and authority needed to maintain their own standing. Even in Reunion Movement's wilderness, there were countless nameless corpses left exposed in the wild for precisely this reason.

The strong needed no reason to kill the weak. They did it simply because they could.

Ludmila had dealt with such testers for her leader more than once in the past—Ursus Internal Guards, Kazimierz's Uncrowned Knights, Sargon's shapeshifters, Sikely's Black Attendants. She had seen many people like them. She had killed many people like them. And on occasion, she had watched Talulah personally execute troublesome opponents.

She had witnessed Talulah's flames: scorching, violent, like a natural disaster. For a few moments, she had even believed Talulah truly possessed some unspeakable identity. That only made her loyalty to Talulah firmer.

Only someone like her could help her.

Only such a powerful person could allow her to complete her revenge.

However...

However, when that distant gaze descended from within the flames and fell upon Ludmila amid surging waves of fire, the wolf girl of the Reunion Movement finally understood how grave and absurd her former suspicion that Talulah was the Ember Demon had been.

—I'm dead.

—Frostnova and the others should be dead too... No, Frostnova might still be alive. She's the greatest ice caster. Since she wasn't killed immediately, she might be of some use to that monster.

—But what use am I?

—Damn it... Why me? Why did this monster set its sights on the Reunion Movement!?

—I... I can't die here yet!

Run, run, with everything she had.

Her Originium Arts were pushed to an unprecedented extent. The spreading mist allowed her to barely conceal her trail even beneath the shadow of this sea of flame.

However...

She could clearly sense the continuous rupturing behind her. She could feel the deadly terror that nearly set her skin and fur ablaze, melting them away.

Death... was in relentless pursuit.

—I haven't gotten my revenge yet...

How many ruined buildings behind her had melted in the flames? Had nothing remained behind her but a lake of fire?

She did not know, nor did she dare look back.

She knew only that the stone beneath her front foot became scorching hot the instant her back foot left it. She knew only that magma and molten flows filled the edges of her vision.

Had a volcano erupted behind her?

Or had a burning meteor fallen there?

She did not know, and had no time to guess. Her blood was boiling hot, and her lungs, working at full force, made her chest feel as though it were on fire.

She felt like a butterfly caught in layer upon layer of spiderwebs, desperately beating its wings just to touch the faint sliver of light at the edge of her vision.

Get out.

Get out of here.

As long as she could reach it, that place. As long as she could make it into the wilderness before they caught up to her, there was still a sliver of hope for escape.

As long as...

A tongue of flame licked at her ankle.

The long boots made of tough, multilayered protective material melted in an instant. The searing pain made her fleeing steps falter for a moment as her nerves reacted.

How long was a moment?

Half a second?

A tenth of a second?

Or a twentieth?

She didn't know.