Director, You're Alive?

No longer scattered flames, a fiercely condensed pillar of fire roared forth like a dragon's breath.

Saria decisively abandoned her attempt to form another crystal spike. Crossing her arms before her, she instantly formed a heavy calcified shield.

"Boom!!!"

The blazing white pillar slammed into the shield, erupting with a staggering shockwave of energy. The white crystals rapidly vaporized under the intense heat, only to be continuously replenished by Originium Arts.

The ground beneath Saria's feet cracked inch by inch, and the violent force drove her sliding backward.

Seizing the opportunity, the Boss turned without hesitation and left.

He was trying to escape!

Saria's gaze sharpened. Increasing her output to withstand the fire pillar, she charged straight at him.

Yet at that moment, the Boss suddenly turned around. His demon-like face met Saria's head-on.

Saria showed no fear whatsoever. Crystals condensed into a massive gauntlet around her arm, and she swung a vicious punch at him, even triggering a sonic boom.

Molten energy suddenly erupted around the Boss's fist. His punch distorted the air as it swung toward Saria in return.

Saria analyzed calmly:

The energy reading is high, but I'm faster. My fist will hit him first, and the impact will let me evade his attack effectively.

Saria's crystal gauntlet tore through the air, hurtling toward the Boss's face with a piercing sonic boom.

Her calculation was perfectly accurate—this blow should have been enough to disrupt his attack and allow her to retreat calmly.

However, the instant her fist struck him solidly, Saria's expression changed drastically.

The expected heavy impact and recoil never came. Her power vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, instantly absorbed by some invisible force.

Not only that, after taking the blow, the molten energy gathered around his fist did not disperse. Instead, it ignited explosively, as though hot oil had been poured over it.

Energy absorption?!

A startling thought flashed through Saria's mind.

A cruel grin flickered across the Boss's twisted molten face. Only now did the heavy punch he had been preparing truly erupt.

"Roar—!!!"

The belated fist carried terrifying energy multiplied by devouring her attack. Like an erupting volcano, it smashed toward Saria before she could fully defend herself.

Saria's pupils contracted sharply. Her other arm hurriedly rose to block, calcified crystals only just beginning to cover her forearm—

"Boom!!!!!"

The deafening explosion swallowed everything!

A blazing pillar of fire erupted from the fist like a furious fire dragon, propelling Saria's agile body wildly backward.

She tried to steady herself, but the force was far too violent. In an instant, she crashed into the steel wall behind her, and the scorching heat directly melted the metal into glowing red molten iron.

Her body did not stop in the slightest. Before everyone's horrified eyes, she became a white meteor and vanished into the depths of the ruins.

"Director Saria?!"

"How is that possible?!"

The surrounding Rhine Lab security personnel all froze, unable to believe that their Defense Department director had been sent flying with one punch, her fate unknown.

"Roar—!!!"

The Boss roared again, shaking everyone awake from their shock.

Fear drove them to pull their triggers again. Denser barrages of bullets and explosives poured toward the standing molten demon as though they cost nothing.

However, a scene that filled them with despair unfolded.

Every bullet and shell that entered that crimson molten domain, whether physical ammunition or energy attacks,

vanished soundlessly the moment they touched the edge of the domain, like snowflakes falling into lava!

There were no explosions, no impacts—not even a ripple. They were simply erased completely.

"Damn it! What's going on?! This thing is getting stronger and stronger!"

A squad captain stared at the wildly soaring energy readings on his screen, his voice trembling.

"Why aren't the bullets working?! Even if they melted, they should leave some trace behind!"

Another team member stared at the completely unharmed figure, whose presence was still steadily rising, and nearly broke down.

Just as they feared, with every futile attack, the energy absorbed around the Boss's body visibly gathered.

Fed by the surging energy, his body of lava actually began to swell and grow even larger!

The dark shell covering him grew thicker, while the blazing light flowing through its cracks pierced the night.

He stood there like a demon god crawling out of hell, constantly drawing in power to restore himself.

"M-Monster!" Someone was the first to cry out the word.

Fear spread through the security forces like a plague.

Faced with an enemy they could neither understand nor harm, one that only grew stronger the more they attacked, their will to fight rapidly collapsed.

The Boss felt an unprecedented fullness of power within him. The searing pain that had pierced his body had long since been drowned beneath the rushing torrent of energy.

He lowered his head to look at his enlarged molten palm, then slowly raised it. His burning pupils locked onto the humans still firing futilely at him.

Scorching heat waves spread outward from him. The air was thick with an intense sulfurous stench that made it hard to breathe.

Wherever those burning pupils swept, every security officer caught in his gaze froze in place, losing even the courage to pull the trigger.

Fear had seized them by the throat.

He slowly opened his huge mouth of lava, within which churned a blazing light hot enough to melt steel.

Destructive energy gathered in his throat. In the next moment, he would likely unleash a breath that burned everything to ash.

Just at that critical moment—

[Boss! I figured it out!]

Third's tearful yet excited voice flowed into the Boss's mind like a clear spring, which was nearly filled with fire.

[Go home! The way to enter the room is to say "go home"!]

The Boss's movements suddenly stiffened, and the destructive energy gathered in his throat paused slightly.

[Boss? What's wrong? Hurry!] Second urged anxiously.

[Boss, are you hurt? Can't you move?] Third asked worriedly.

[Boss, don't hesitate! Quit while you're ahead!] Fourth shouted as well.

His brothers' concern and urging cooled the surging killing intent in his heart slightly.

He remained silent. Yet to the security personnel, his posture—staring fixedly at his prey without striking—brought even greater psychological pressure.

Finally, the Boss let out an almost inaudible sigh, which took the form of a stream of fire.

With that sigh, he took half a step forward. That motion alone made several security officers in the front row fall backward in terror, their weapons slipping from their hands.

"Whoosh—!"

A scorching wave of fire swept out, instantly melting a charred trench into the ground before them. The blazing air forced everyone to retreat again and again, crying out in alarm.

It was a warning, a demonstration that he could take their lives whenever he wished.

Then, under everyone's horrified gaze, the enormous molten fist smashed viciously into the ground.

"Boom!"

The ground split apart. Surging flames erupted from the point of impact, forming a violently burning fire tornado that completely engulfed him.

The scorching air made it impossible for anyone to look directly at it. They could only shield themselves with their arms as they backed away.

Within the flames shooting into the sky, a deep but clear roar softly sounded:

"Roar..." (Go home...)

The instant the sound faded, the roaring fire tornado abruptly contracted inward and dispersed.

When the flames cleared, the terrifying molten giant had vanished without a trace.

The surviving Rhine Lab security personnel stood dumbly where they were, looking at one another with blank disbelief written across their faces.

"He... he disappeared?"

An eerie silence fell over the scene. Only the occasional sound of steel rebars snapping in the distant ruins, along with the faint wail of sirens from the city, proved that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.

"Boom—!"

"Director Saria! You're alive!"

Ignoring her colleague's tactless remark, Saria rushed to the edge to inspect the area and calmly reported into her earpiece:

"The target has disappeared. It is suspected to possess high intelligence and displayed clear signs of learning and growth during combat. Raise the threat level to 'high risk.' Its characteristics... closely match those of the 'Flame Demon.'"

A roar nearly pierced her eardrum through the earpiece:

"It disappeared?! Where did such a huge Flame Demon go?! Saria! What happened?!"

Saria stood where she was, carefully sensing the surroundings. There was no trace of Originium Arts being activated...

She crouched down and picked up a still-warm fragment of lava. Feeling the strange, scorching power lingering within it, she frowned tightly.

"...The target is suspected to possess an unknown spatial transfer ability and has broken contact. Request an expansion of the search area, and... analysis of the residue."

Removing the earpiece still filled with arguing voices, Saria looked at her blackened arm and slowly exhaled.

"Flame Demon..."

Saria turned and headed toward the infirmary. She needed to see someone.

Ifrit...

"Was it here for you..."