The fire wasn't just burning anymore.
It was consuming.
Not just wood, or flesh—
But faith.
Eli's zealots began to falter as they watched Rui step through the fire untouched, the mutated Ghost Batch Zero trailing behind her like a silent sentinel. Their robes caught flame. Their chants broke. Their blades wavered.
Chen Yu leaned against a pillar, breathing hard, blood dripping from his arm where one of the cultists had cut too close. Still, he grinned.
"I knew she was creepy," he muttered. "But this is next-level."
Li Wei said nothing. His eyes were on Eli.
The Prophet was trembling.
Not from fear.
But from rage.
"You think fire obeys you?" Eli hissed, lifting both hands to the heavens. "The Ember is not yours, Girl. It speaks to me! It chose me! I am the Chosen Burn!"
Rui's response was quiet.
"No… it's been whispering to me since I was born in the tanks."
The shard in her hand pulsed.
The air twisted.
The mutated creature began to shift — its limbs cracking, merging with heat, its eyes glowing like twin coals. It let out a guttural sound that was neither roar nor howl, but something older.
Then it bowed again — and fell apart.
Its body melted into ash and coiled into Rui's shadow like smoke returning to its source.
The silence that followed was heavy. Even the fire stopped crackling.
Then—
"WITCH!" Eli screamed.
He hurled his staff at her. Mid-air, it ignited like a falling comet.
But Rui didn't move.
The staff exploded before reaching her — burst midair by a bolt of dark energy that came from Chen Yu's outstretched fingers.
He stared at his hand. "Oh… oh, that's new."
Then he laughed. "I'm a freaking warlock!"
Eli charged, roaring, mad.
Li Wei stepped forward, intercepting him mid-lunge. Their blades clashed — but the Prophet fought with fanatic strength. Not skill, not grace — just burning belief.
"You will burn like the others!" Eli snarled. "You will drown in flame!"
Li Wei didn't answer. He shifted his grip and stabbed low, cutting through the robes and muscle of Eli's side.
The Prophet screamed, staggered — and was met by Rui's shadow. Her foot rose and struck him square in the chest, sending him crashing into the altar behind them.
The fire around it flickered.
Then died.
No smoke. Just sudden blackness.
And a deep, echoing silence.
They didn't stay long after that.
Rui gathered the ash of the mutated creature in a cloth pouch. Chen Yu robbed every artifact he could find that looked remotely magical or absurd — including a burnt mask he wore on his head the whole time, claiming it made him smarter.
Li Wei found a map.
Old, hand-drawn, possibly prophetic. It marked several sites with symbols, one of which matched the crystal Rui carried.
"We're not done," he said quietly.
"Nope," Chen Yu replied, chewing a burnt apple. "But at least we're not bored."
As they left Emberveil behind, the surviving cultists watched in silence. No one dared follow. No one spoke.
Eli's body was left at the altar.
Burnt.
But smiling.