Flame Eater

Yicha tilted his face up at the sky where sulfur flowed in reverse, as if waiting for something.

Then he raised his other hand, the one with the gleaming cuff.

Ripples of concentric circles spread from his cuff, looped once through the air, and slipped into the magic array beneath Nese.

As if they had triggered a resonance, the array trembled in the sorcerer's eyes. Dense, fist-sized pure-white rings surged from every line of the array and rapidly merged together. Large rings devoured smaller ones, swelling by a circle each time they consumed one.

The large rings kept devouring as they rose. They merged with one another like soap bubbles, steadily dwindling in number.

Nese watched this wondrous supernatural phenomenon.

He had no time to be astonished. He had already been astonished too many times in the span of a single day. He knew what he needed was to focus on seeing, understanding, accepting, using, and changing.

The largest ring devoured all the remaining smaller rings. It had risen as high as an ordinary city-defense tower and was nearly the same size as the magic array.

The last small ring was swallowed. Only the largest ring remained, suspended in the air like a gigantic angelic halo.

The demon moved his fingers.

Soundlessly, the pure-white ring seemed to suddenly gain weight and plunged straight down.

It settled over the enormous inscribed magic array.

Only then did Nese realize that it was not merely close in size—it was exactly the same size as the array.

The pure-white ring met the ground and vanished into the pale-gray magic array, like water dissolving into water.

The magic array glowed red.

Hiss—

A sudden blaze began spreading along the paths of the array. In an instant, it reached the sorcerer's feet.

Nese did not forget what he had originally been doing because of this sudden turn of events. He had already made his judgment.

"The fourth kind is Law Energy," Nese shouted.

Without question, the rings Yicha had released were pure Law Energy, the truest and most primitive form of power in the domain of Law Energy.

Law Energy was ever-changing. In energy vision, it could appear as points of light, curves, geometric planes of any shape, or even cubes. The fused concentric rings Yicha had released were also one of its common forms. They were often used to activate magic arrays related to the elements.

All human spellcasters, mages, and sorcerers should have been familiar with it.

As its name suggested, Law Energy followed the most logically coherent rules. It only required magic arrays and astral positions, with no need for faith, no racial restrictions, and no excessive concentration of will.

Most importantly, it was so accessible that any kind of creature could use it.

On the Prime Material Plane, it had thus become the most widespread and commonly used supernatural power in spellcraft.

Although humans were material beings without an innate energy domain, after countless eons of continuous understanding and accumulation, they had gradually mastered methods of using Law Energy. Nearly every kind of spellcraft used this source of power to drive all manner of spells and talismans.

In human terminology, it was generally called: "mana."

The hem of Nese's robe had already caught fire, and tongues of flame leaped upward.

Yicha nodded with interest, acknowledging that the sorcerer had answered correctly. He folded his arms leisurely, showing no intention of intervening in his student's predicament.

Snake-like flames coiled tightly around the sorcerer's legs. Heat rushed over him. Nese glanced at the demon instructor and instantly realized this was an additional test for him.

Before he could think of the best solution, human instinct made him raise his hands and slap at the flickering flames one by one.

Whoosh—

Something even more terrifying happened. The moment his fingers touched the leaping flames, they ignited rapidly like dry twigs.

A string of little flames scampered up his arm.

His fingers blistered, and his face was instantly scalded bright red. Nese curled up and rolled across the ground, trying to put out the flames.

He rolled once.

Fortunately, he only rolled once. That single roll coated him evenly in a layer of surging crimson flames, like a fried fish dropped into a pile of flour. The scattered little flames connected into one large blaze, gathering together and shooting three feet high.

As an energy being, he did not feel much pain, but the charred smell filling his nostrils told him of his current predicament.

All right, flames that could not be extinguished physically. It seemed his teacher wanted him to use magic.

He raised one hand, preparing to make a gesture.

A tiny, ordinary Clear Water Spell that could be used at any time of day would do. He only needed to use sacred symbols to add the power of order opposite to demon flame...

Yicha grinned and snapped his fingers.

Nese's spell was interrupted—his fingers pressed together, and webbing like a duck's grew between them.

Nese struggled. The Undying Demon Flame was like liquid; after corroding through his robe, it flowed down his collar. Whether his throat had been burned out or not, he could no longer cast spells.

Physical means could not extinguish it, and he could not use the various spells he excelled at—his hands could no longer draw a magic array.

There had to be a way...

Since it was a test, there had to be a solution.

In the instant that thought turned over in his mind, the wicked flames erupted into fireballs five times their former size and swallowed the sorcerer whole.

An extraordinarily bizarre sight appeared before Nese's eyes—

On one hand, the crimson flames filled his entire field of vision, crackling endlessly beside his ears. On the other, he saw countless multilayered concentric circles rushing at him from every angle, as if they meant to knock him flying from all directions.

Energy vision.

He could see energy.

What if I could use it directly...

His brain buzzed. He did not know whether it had been cooked or was merely a little muddled.

There was no time to think. He concentrated with all his attention and imitated Yicha—

He glared at the crimson flames.

Of course, he also thought inwardly of things like "Repel Flames" and "Gurgling Spring." He desperately tried to recall the magic array symbols corresponding to those two simple spells.

Yet all of it still seemed terribly weak and hasty.

No talismans, no suitable astral positions, no carefully prepared ritual, no incense, essential oils, gemstones, or magical implements made of precious metals to channel power.

Could this work?

He seriously doubted himself.

Nese could see nothing and hear nothing. There was only fire before his eyes and the sound of fire in his ears.

The next second, the flames on his face vanished.

It really worked...?

Something seemed to step across his stomach, pressing heavily down on it.

He groaned and curled up.

A sticky, fishy liquid replaced the crimson tongues of flame, and Hell's sky reappeared before his eyes.

Something covered in barbs moved across his face. There was also a deep, rumbling snort.

The sorcerer sat up in confusion and saw a dog's head.

A dog.

A dog with ram's horns.

A dog with ram's horns sat on his stomach, crystalline green drool hanging from the corners of its mouth. Its teeth were as large as spindles, and where its eyes should have been were two burned-out hollows.

Nese felt his entire body stiffen.

The dog lowered its head and licked his burning chest—a huge mass of flame was eaten out of thin air.