Darkness... Agony.
With difficulty, Saria's consciousness gathered again. She coughed up several mouthfuls of blood mixed with dust and struggled to sense her surroundings.
She was lying in a cracked Calcification crystal recess barely large enough to hold her body—
This was the last shelter she had instinctively created with Originium Arts before completely losing consciousness.
She was in a miserable state.
Her usually neat white hair was now a tangled mess, covered in dust and clotted blood.
Blood still continuously spilled from her nose and mouth, dripping down her chin onto her ruined uniform.
Worst of all was her right hand. Her already shriveled arm had been completely twisted into a "Z" shape by the final impact, and she could no longer feel even the slightest sensation from it.
That devastating blow had robbed her of all ability to move.
The emptiness brought by overexerting her Originium Arts, combined with the many grievous injuries across her body, made even moving a finger incomparably difficult.
She could only lie amid these nearly shattered crystal remnants, like an insect trapped in amber, breathing futilely.
Barely rolling her eyes, Saria observed the outside through the cracks in the crystal wall.
She seemed to have fallen into a massive underground fault. Collapsed rock walls and fallen building debris surrounded her, forming an enormous subterranean space.
Fortunately, this appeared to be an undeveloped bedrock area, with no innocent civilians nearby.
Not far away, that Lava Giant had fallen here as well.
Having lost its clear target, it vented its rage on the surrounding rock walls instead. Its four arms smashed wildly, making the entire underground space tremble.
But Saria sharply noticed that as it vented without restraint, the palpitating glow around its body was gradually dimming.
[In the mental chat group]
[Second: Boss! Boss, how are things over there?]
[Third: Boss, are you okay? If you really can't manage it, come back first!]
[Fourth: Yeah, Boss! At worst, Second can suffer a bit and stack a few more buffs on herself.]
Boss's consciousness drifted through chaos, but his brothers' calls restored a trace of clarity.
He remained silent, not immediately responding to the suggestion that he return home.
He had his own selfish reasons. The power this body wielded while out of control was too terrifying; even he could not fully control it.
If he returned to the hall now, he could not guarantee that, before the energy settled, he would not lose control and hurt the brothers standing so close to him.
Compared to the Terra people he did not know, he was more afraid of hurting the companions who had depended on one another for survival.
[Boss: ...I'm fine.]
Enduring the still-tumultuous agony inside him, he soothed them through the link.
[The energy is slowly settling down... I can already... gradually control some of it...]
As if to prove his words, in reality, the enormous Lava Giant stopped its meaningless smashing.
Its massive chest heaved violently, and the flames across its body surged and receded. Though it was still unstable, its agitation was indeed weakening.
Saria stared intently at the giant's changes. Seeing it finally stop destroying everything, she let out a slight breath of relief.
This confirmed her suspicions. Its rampage was not permanent; after venting its power, it entered a weakened period.
She tried to gather her strength, wanting to do something while she had the chance.
But the moment she exerted herself, searing pain made her vision go dark again. She groaned and fell back into the crystal recess.
"Ghh..."
Saria helplessly closed her eyes.
There was nothing she could do... Now she could only hope no one else came to provoke it, allowing it to calm down naturally...
However, fate always seemed to enjoy making jokes at the most inappropriate times.
Just as these underground ruins had fallen quiet, a young girl's cry, filled with panic and worry, drifted down from a distant crack above:
"Saria...! Saria—! Are you down there?!"
Saria's eyes flew open, her pale face filled with shock.
"Ifrit!? Why is she here?!"
The perspective shifted to Ifrit—
A little earlier, when the first violent tremor struck, Ifrit had been in her lounge as usual.
She idly flipped through the picture book Silence had left for her, swinging her feet in the air.
"So boring..."
She muttered, her amber eyes shifting as she considered whether she should sneak out and secretly practice her Originium Arts.
Or perhaps she could just go act cute with Silence—though Silence was always busy, she would occasionally pat her head.
Just as she was making her little plans—
"Rumble!!!"
The sudden violent shaking launched her straight off the bed. The cup on the table crashed to the floor with a clatter, shattering into pieces.
"Wah! What's going on?"
Immediately afterward, piercing alarms resounded throughout the entire area.
The hallway outside instantly descended into chaos. She could hear the frightened cries of the other children being housed or supervised there.
Ifrit instinctively threw herself against the lounge's only observation window and stood on tiptoe to look outside.
People were running through the hallway, terror written all over their faces.
In contrast, a large number of fully armed security personnel were rapidly gathering in one direction with grim expressions.
Amid the noisy voices, fragments of conversation drifted into her ears:
"Monster..."
"Attack..."
"...It's the Flame Demon!"
"Flame Demon?" Ifrit froze and tilted her head.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Just then, a researcher rushing past spotted her pressed against the window. His face immediately darkened as he sternly shouted:
"Get back! Stay in your room and behave!"
Ifrit pursed her lips, reluctantly leaving the window and plopping back down on the bed.
"Tch, why are you yelling at me..." she muttered under her breath.
"Whatever. None of my damn business."
She picked up the picture book and was just about to force herself to keep reading, trying to ignore the chaos outside—
"Boom!!!!"
A tremor powerful enough to overturn the whole world suddenly struck, and the entire room shook wildly.
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"Wah!" Ifrit threw the book away in fright and gripped the edge of the bed tightly with both hands.
She immediately understood this was not an ordinary attack or minor accident. Before worrying about her own safety, she thought of someone else.
Where was Silence? Where was Silence right now? Was she safe?
She vaguely heard people outside screaming things like—
"Over at headquarters... destroyed..."
"The Defense Department can't hold them back!"
Wasn't that where Silence and Saria worked?!
Her worry for Silence and Saria instantly overwhelmed her fear.
Silence was so small and frail. Saria was strong, but what if...
She did not dare think any further.
Just then, her door opened from outside.
Several tense-looking security guards rushed in and seized her without a word.
"Quick! Take her away! Transfer her to the deep isolation zone!" the leader urgently ordered.
"Let go of me!" Ifrit struggled, forcefully shaking off the hand trying to grab her arm.
"Where's Silence? Where is Silence?! I want to see Saria! How is Saria?!"
She desperately wanted to know whether the two most important people to her were safe.
But what answered her was not an explanation, nor reassurance.
One security guard, already on the verge of a breakdown, vented all his fear and pressure onto her. With a twisted expression, he viciously cursed at her:
"It's all because of you! It's all because of you, you damned Flame Demon! If it weren't for monsters like you, how could this have happened?!"
"You brought that monster here! Rhine Lab became like this because of you! Director Saria would never have—!"
He did not get to finish. The colleague beside him clamped a hand over his mouth, but those hate-filled eyes remained fixed on Ifrit.
Flame Demon... Monster...
Those two words were like icy daggers, stabbing viciously into Ifrit's heart.
Her struggling immediately stopped, and her amber pupils trembled slightly.
She was not a monster... She did not want to be a monster...
But why... Why did everyone...
In the moment she was lost in thought, they half-forcibly dragged her from the room and transferred her toward a deeper "safe zone."
However, just as they reached the corridor, another violent tremor struck. Everyone had to temporarily release Ifrit to steady themselves.
The shaking jolted Ifrit awake. Like a startled fawn, she ran desperately through the violently swaying corridor, where chunks of debris kept falling.
There was only one thought in her mind—find Silence, find Saria!
"Stop! Come back!" A security guard saw her rushing toward the dangerous area and tried to stop her.
But his companion immediately dragged him back. "Are you crazy?! That's the core combat zone! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
"But she..."
Another security guard, his face filled with post-disaster terror and undisguised displaced resentment, growled softly. Yet his voice reached Ifrit's ears clearly:
"Since that monster is also a Flame Demon... let the two monsters tear each other apart!"
Those words were like cold needles, making Ifrit stumble in mid-run.
She gritted her teeth and did not look back. Instead, she ran even harder, hoping to leave behind those gazes filled with fear and hatred.
Monster...
The passage shook violently. The lights overhead flickered on and off, while fragments of ceiling and dust fell from time to time.
She fell countless times, scraping her knees and cutting her arms until they bled.
But every time, she immediately climbed back up, wiped away the tears blurring her vision, and kept racing toward the place where the tremors were strongest.
The closer she got, the thicker the suffocating heat and aura of destruction became.
Finally, through a hole blasted open in a wall, she saw—
Ifrit's breathing abruptly stopped, her amber pupils contracting from overwhelming shock.
"...Is this... the real Flame Demon?"
She clearly knew that what existed inside her was merely an unstable "Flame Demon fragment."
Yet even that fragment, when it lost control, could unleash enough power to cause enormous destruction.
And this massive being before her, radiating an aura that made even her soul tremble... could it be the complete Flame Demon?
From what those people had shouted, Saria was fighting this monster!
The moment she thought of Saria facing something so terrifying alone, the fear in Ifrit's heart was instantly overwhelmed by even stronger worry.
She no longer hesitated. After identifying the direction, she continued charging toward where the giant was.
"Boom—!!!"
At that moment, an explosive sound far greater than before, as though heaven and earth themselves were collapsing, rang out from ahead.
It was accompanied by the frantic weightless sensation of the ground beneath her collapsing downward.
Ifrit cried out and abruptly stopped, barely managing to halt at the edge of the collapsing pit.
She collapsed onto the ground, staring at the roiling dust and darkness below while gasping for breath, her eyes full of terror at having narrowly escaped death.
Ifrit cautiously leaned forward to peer below.
There seemed to be an enormous underground space beneath her, and that terrifying Lava Giant had fallen into it too.
Somewhat reassuringly, it seemed to have quieted down after falling?
Its massive body rose and fell in the darkness, radiating a steady yet still terrifying red glow.
"...Did it get knocked unconscious?"
Ifrit was not sure what to think. Her little mind could not understand something this complicated.
But no matter what, the destruction below seemed to have stopped.
Then... where was Saria? Was Saria down there too? Was she hurt?
Her worry for Saria overwhelmed her fear of the darkness and the unknown.
Ifrit gathered her courage, cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, and shouted down below:
"Saaaariaaa—!"
"Are you down there—?"
"Answer me—! It's Ifrit!"
The girl's clear cries echoed distinctly through the underground space.
However, what answered Ifrit was not Saria's voice, but the giant suddenly raising its head.
Ifrit fell backward in fright. As she fell, the giant's hand reached toward her.
Saria's blood-choked scream rang out.
"Run! Ifrit! Get out of here!!!"
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