Thessa's body seized.
She knew that this would happen from the very start. That was why she likewise knew that this would be a make-or-break moment for her.
If Theron wanted to use her as bait, and this was part of his plan, then he would also be the one to protect her.
While her body integrated with his Fire Soul, she wouldn't be able to move a single inch. If she let up for a single moment, it would be her soul that was swallowed by the Fire Soul.
One of a Fire Soul's favorite "snacks" was the souls of those with strong fire affinities. Of course, Thessa's Fire Mana affinity was only average. She was a Spirit Mancer, not a Fire Mancer.
However, this was precisely what made her so shockingly powerful.
Even as a Spirit Mancer, she was still born with the Firewing Bloodline. Usually, this would make her an invalid, an abandoned genius by her Clan.
But to the Firewings, this was a celebratory affair. It had been a very long time since the last Fire Spirit Mancer was born in their Clan.
Having an average Elemental affinity while not being an Elementalist was impossibly rare. And it was even rarer to have a method of taking advantage of it on top of that.
This was all to say that the true goal of the second Fire Soul wasn't to swallow Thessa's soul, but rather what resided in it… the original Fire Soul it was born from.
If it succeeded in doing that, it wouldn't just be a matter of Thessa losing all the cultivation she had built up. This Fire Soul had long integrated with her.
To start, Thessa integrated with a Bronze Fire Soul. When she was ready to step into Silver Mancy, she found a Silver Fire Soul. The two fused into one and reformed the very foundation of her soul.
Right now, they acted as both her Echoes and had a strong tie to the core of her soul.
If the original Fire Soul was taken over, Thessa's body itself would fall into the control of the second Fire Soul. For all intents and purposes…
In a moment as pivotal as this one, she needed absolute focus and couldn't be distracted.
On one side of her, there was death…
On the other side… there was also death.
Right down the middle, an impossibly thin blade's edge resided. It was what she would need to balance to maintain her life.
She pressed down all the fear, all the anxiety, all the angst. So long as she could succeed… so long as she could take this step… she could change everything.
Selena honestly didn't know how she died. Not for certain.
Her last memories were that of seeing Thessa in the distance, focused on absorbing the Fire Soul.
At first, she was stunned, then horrified, and then ecstatic. If they could succeed, then everything would change. But she also had no idea why Thessa would even be here, and part of her thought that it was an elaborate trap, a projected illusion of some sort.
So, even though she saw Thessa, unlike Dorian and Vaeilina, she didn't rush toward her immediately. There was also no rush either. With how wide open the landscape was, any enemies would be clearly seen.
Unfortunately, while she didn't make the first mistake the late couple had… she made the second: assuming that no one could hide within the lava itself.
Her body froze as a blade passed through her back, shattering her heart to pieces with a burst of Water Mana. She didn't even see the person until the very end, not understanding what was going on.
Where had this person appeared from? How come her Third Eye didn't pick up on them until the last moment? It couldn't be that…
She looked down, her gaze passing over the short sword in her chest down to the sea of red gold beneath her feet.
"Thess…" she said softly, her lungs too shattered to produce more air for a louder shout. "… Run…"
She tried her best, but she knew that Thessa wouldn't hear her. Even if she shouted at the top of her lungs, it wouldn't have mattered.
In the sort of focused state Thessa was in, the world itself could collapse around her and it wouldn't have shaken her awake.
Selena burst into a rain of fire and ash, sprinkling down and vanishing.
All the while, Thessa wasn't even aware of what was happening. Maybe she could guess that this would occur, maybe she knew that it was inevitable that she was sacrificing yet another friend of a lifetime for this opportunity…
But what choice did she have but to be used? To suffer and carry this weight until she had the strength to control her own fate moving forward?
Theron slowly sank into the lava once again.
There was just one man remaining, and he would kill him just the same.
Blood, that was all there was. Or, that was all there would be if it didn't incinerate the moment it left the body of its host.
The masked man and Jodie stood over five corpses, the latter looking toward the former with a frown as though still trying to understand who he was. But after a while, Jodie lowered his gaze and didn't dare to look any further.
Was there a need to consider this much further? The dense Wood Mana coming off of the man more than painted the picture.
"Is the formation set yet?" a gruff voice came from behind the mask.
"I don't know." Jodie replied hesitantly. "But it should be close."
There was only one way to know for certain. They made a move to go and check, only for their expressions to turn to frowns.
Every single last one of them.
And the Eruption Bloomstones they should have had with them had vanished into the wind as well. Just what happened here?
They went to check across the various locations, only to find nothing at all.
But then they looked into the distance at the same time.
What happened? Why was there a large number of people moving toward this location all of a sudden?