Chapter 5 – The Judgment of Fire
The wind in the forest blew like a wail of pain.
The trees twisted, deformed by the heat and the flames of the catastrophe.
Cadets screamed, scattered, some falling into panic, others frozen with fear.
Amidst this chaos, Zayn stopped.
His eyes were wide open.
His breath was ragged.
His heart beat like a war drum.
In front of him… Yojuro.
But it was no longer Yojuro.
An aura of red and black enveloped his body, undulating like living flames.
A halo of fire floated above his head, dancing as if mocking the laws of nature.
His eyes, incandescent red, shone with cruelty and arrogance.
A diabolical, cold, cruel smile stretched across his face, distorting the familiarity of Yojuro into an infernal silhouette.
Lucifer. The vessel. The master.
"Baraka…" he said, his voice a sharp echo, caressing fear.
"Today, I will teach you Hell."
Baraka sneered, sinister.
Black, glistening snakes erupted from his arms and chest, writhing in the air like a stream of liquid steel.
"Organic Pillar!" he screamed.
The snakes lunged at Lucifer.
But Lucifer… dodged.
He moved with superhuman fluidity.
His strikes, precise and violent, turned each snake into dust with a single touch.
Then, in a lightning-fast motion, he teleported behind Baraka and launched a titanic punch into the Djinn's chest, sending him flying through several trees like a broken wooden toy.
The trees shattered under the impact.
The fire began licking the canopy.
Baraka got back up, spitting pieces of smoke and blood.
He launched his snakes again.
Lucifer raised his head, his diabolical smile stretched.
With a lightning strike to the chin, he broke Baraka's defense.
Baraka tried to fend off the blow…
But Lucifer tore off his hands with inhuman strength, chaining a series of brutal strikes.
Then, black and white flames licked Baraka's face, burning his flesh with a cruel laugh.
His coat was ripped away.
The Djinn was thrown against a tree… which exploded like crystal under the flames.
Lucifer murmured:
"Hellfire…"
A flame burst from his hand.
The effect of the flame: ice.
Baraka was immediately imprisoned in black and blue frost, frozen like a statue.
But the Djinn, by his will, broke the ice.
Lucifer did not slow down.
He continued his assault, striking, burning, crushing, his movements too fast for the human eye to follow.
He smiled, reveling in the chaos.
"It's so… fun…" he murmured, and the forest around him erupted in flames, illuminating the ashes of what was once peaceful.
Zayn, trembling, clenched his fists.
Tears ran down his cheeks as he grasped the full extent of Lucifer's power.
Around him, the students fled, panicked, running through the burning forest.
Baraka, still alive, spat blood, suffocating in the smoke.
Lucifer approached, each step burning the ground beneath his feet, the flames licking the air around him.
"Finison…" he said, his voice resonating like a thunderclap.
"The Sun of Engwinthan."
A mini sun appeared in his hands, burning with white and black fire, radiating unbearable heat.
He slammed Baraka onto the ground.
The impact caused a massive explosion.
The mini sun erupted, reducing nearly half of the forest to ashes, leaving behind an oppressive silence.
Baraka screamed.
The fire consumed his body.
The flames licked his skin, turning him into a carbonized specter, motionless, dead.
Lucifer laughed.
His laughter tore through the silence, a diabolical and triumphant sound.
Then… everything changed.
The red in his eyes dissipated.
The black flame extinguished.
Yojuro's body regained control.
He fell to the ground, unconscious.
Zayn ran to him, his tears mingling with sweat and dust, his breath broken.
Around them, the world was reduced to a nightmare of fire, ashes, and silence.
And at the center, amidst this chaos… a new weight pressed upon Zayn's heart.
The power of Lucifer.
The fragility of humanity.
The truth of fire.