Not caring about the shouts from beyond, Rio bathed in the warmth of the destructive flames around him and most importantly, relished the trembling and screams coming from the armour beneath him.
At first, Rio had feared that Ark would up his strength faster than he could melt through his armour, and while he had actually been unable to melt through Ark's armour so far, not even making an imprint on it, he was glad to know that not only could Ark not use his armour's strength within the heat he was being baptized, but that he was also being cooked inside it.
Arhhhh !!
Please stop!!
Please!!
Those were Ark's cries but sadly for him, though Rio could understand the information he was trying to relay, he didn't care.
Since Rio couldn't get past Ark's armour and slice into his flesh, he decided to settle for the next best thing, roast him till he died or his organs exploded.
Knowing victory would soon be in his hand, Rio's lips stretched into a wide smile, and just as the unmistaken sound of a splatter echoed within the armour, a foot slammed into his side, sending him off Ark and into the air, but before it he could even ascend past 5 meters, a huge burning figure rammed into him with their shoulders, grabbing him from the air and running forward while letting out a roar.
One second, Rio was surrounded by his flames, the next, he found himself out of the comfort of his flames, his form carried by someone who was moving at speeds that made the world a blur in his eyes.
Suddenly, danger came to Rio from all angles, and he was still trying to make sense of what was happening when his figure was used to smash through a tree.
A loud cry left Rio's lips, a sharp pain shooting through his back, his spine feeling like it had been snapped, but he had not even finished screaming when he was smashed through another tree and then a third, a fourth and then,
"Die"
Though drowned in pain, how could Rio not be mad when he found himself suffering such brutality from a creature he deemed below him?
With a roar, he set himself on fire, consuming both himself and the man carrying him and though his efforts did not save him from being smashed through a fifth three by the time he hit the sixth, the being carrying him was out of strength.
With the mad charge stopped by the sixth tree, against the pain rampaging through his body, Rio freed himself from the grip of the man who had assaulted him and dropping to his knees, took in the form of his charred, burning remains.
Against the pain in his body, Rio agonizingly pushed himself to his feet, but just as he stood, he heard a croak from what should have been a corpse, a sign of life.
"Bam"
Immediately, Rio brought his right foot down on the man's head, fire lighting across his leg as he turned his opponent's head to roasted paste.
Looking at his right hand, Rio tightened it into a fist that lit up on fire and then his gaze turned to the long slash across his chest.
It had stopped bleeding but was still far from being healed, his body's healing prowess seeming to have drastically slowed down.
"I can't leave it like this"
Rio was still contemplating what to do about his injury when his eyes snapped forward, zooming on two bald men with badly burnt bodies who had just swords and patches of black burnt clothing to cover their modesty, running towards him.
The men followed the path of destruction that had been created during the mad charge, and their eyes carried the intent to kill.
Rio's expression was calm, and with just a single thought, his entire body lit up and, thrusting his right palm forward, he unleashed a long torrent of flames at his approaching opponents.
Rio's fire tore through the trees in front of him, expanding as it travelled, digging through the ground and burning everything in his path.
It was a show of majestic destruction, but in the end, he had a single depressing thought about his fire as he cut off his attack and retreated from the sword swing from his left side.
"Slow,"
Rio's fire was dangerous, but if it was too slow to hit his opponent before they escaped, it was useless.
Escaping, the first swing, when the next opponent came from the left with his sword looking to slice him, Rio punched out his left hand, a blast of fire soaring towards him, and while the man hastily retreated from his flames, Rio shot after him.
Seeing his colleague in danger, the other man moved to stop Rio quickly closing in on him, but with a jump into the air and a blast of fire from his feet, Rio propelled himself over him, and as he began falling towards his retreating opponent, his figure shooting through the air, he released a blast of fire.
Arrhhhhh!!
Landing in front of his burning opponent, Rio released a fist on his face, and with a smirk grabbed the man and threw him at his colleague who was rapidly approaching from behind.
With his friend flying towards him, the man had the option to either dodge him and focus on Rio or catch him and leave himself vulnerable and to Rio's surprise delight he took the stupid option.
Vwuuuuuush!
Not wasting a second, Rio raised his hand and unleashed his flames on the pair, his palms following them as they tried to escape his flames.
Rio let his flames pour out unceasingly for several seconds till the screams of his opponents ceased.
When the flames went out, their black bodies fell to the ground, both men dead.
Nodding, Rio turned and began heading back to the top of the hill but suddenly, he paused and putting his hands on his knees, let out several heavy breaths.
"I'm running low on energy"
Rio wasn't sure how he knew this, he just did.
As far as he could remember, whenever he called on the mysterious energy, it had always been there, its supply seemingly endless, but now, he could feel that he had used a significant amount and was running on a quite limited quantity.
"Guess I'm not limitless"