His body was charred. His skin looked like obsidian cracked with light. His hair, what remained of it, was burning. His mana was out of control, leaking from his body, burning everything it touched. His stance was crooked, uneven. But he stood.
"I... won't... lose..." he growled.
The words came from a throat half-burned. His eyes were blank, flickering like dying embers.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer cried, stunned and trying to match the intensity of the moment. "Tarnil is standing again! This man... this inferno... refuses to fall!"
The crowd erupted, half in awe, half filled with fear.
But Kai wasn't cheering.
'No... He's unconscious. His body's moving, but his mind's gone. If he keeps this up… he'll die.'
The temperature around Kai climbed fast enough that his vision blurred. His frost magic, still lingering across his limbs, crackled and vanished as though ashamed to exist in the same space as Tarnil's heat.
