The night sky was clear, filled with stars, as the full moon shone brightly over the Valley of Fire. Sitting at the edge of a hilltop, Damon gazed at a scenery impossible to view from urban regions.
A gentle breeze blew through his hair as he looked toward the horizon. Calm, serene—the place was surreal.
For two weeks, Damon had stayed with his group in the Burning Valley, under the hospitality of the Fiery Sorceress, who, with their help, had finally reunited with her husband and child.
Today, the mood on the hilltop was heavy. The little Flame Belle would be born today, and it was finally time for the Fiery Sorceress to say goodbye.
In the weeks prior, countless questions had brewed in Damon's mind. Would the plot unfold as it was supposed to? Would Mo Fan become the master of Flame Belle again? Or would things change?
Damon chuckled softly. 'Honestly, I want that child too,' he thought. The flame elemental, one of its kind, with a lineage and powers unmatched—any summoner or fire magician would give everything to gain such a partner. Yet the choice belonged only to the Fiery Sorceress.
The mother of the last Flame Belle. As Damon thought this, he felt a hot presence beside him. Curious, he looked over at the Fiery Sorceress, sitting quietly and gazing at the stars.
"What?" Damon chuckled, then turned his attention back to the crowd—crying Chen Yi, Zhao Yulin holding back tears as he comforted his daughter. Today's mood was somber.
"You should spend more time with your family," Damon said softly, looking away from the father and daughter and glancing at Jiang Feng.
"They'll miss you," he added gently. The sorceress said nothing. Her gaze was distant; she didn't want to leave her family behind either. Slowly, she looked at Damon.
The man who had made her last and only wish come true—to reunite with her family one final time—met her gaze. She made a subtle series of hand signs.
"You're curious about my family?" Damon asked, chuckling faintly. His smile wavered, turning into a hollow laugh.
He looked away at the stars, pain and regret etched across his face as long-buried memories resurfaced.
"My parents are dead…" he murmured. He had lost his life in an earthquake—just as his parents had died before his eyes. Then another memory, one he had accepted as his own, came flooding back. "…for me, that is. I don't have any parents."
"I had a happy family once—my mother, a housewife, loving and caring. My father had eyes like mine," Damon recalled. "He worked as a manager somewhere in the US… ages ago."
"I lived a happy, normal childhood… but good things never last, do they?" A hollow chuckle escaped him. A tear slipped down his cheek, one he hadn't realized he could shed unconsciously.
"Father started coming home late, drunk, angry… Mother grew distant." Pain crossed his face. "Mother was pregnant, and after she told him, Father became furious and frustrated. I was just a kid—I didn't understand much—but I sometimes overheard them arguing at night… cheating, fighting… all that stuff."
"They separated. Father got custody of me before abandoning me at an orphanage." His hands trembled as he recalled the nightmare he had buried deep. "The orphanage, though reputed for noble purposes, was actually a front for human traffickers."
"I was kidnapped, trafficked to China, and taken straight to a lab…" Damon stopped, clutching his left hand where his tattoo pulsed.
Jiang Feng looked at him with pity. Her motherly instinct wanted to wipe the tears from his cheeks, but she dared not touch him.
She let out a sorrowful cry and bowed her head, apologizing for forcing him to remember such pain. Damon shook his head and chuckled softly.
"There's nothing to apologize for," he said. "Honestly, I'm glad you asked. To share my past with someone… Haha." He laughed and turned back to the stars.
"It's… refreshing. I always tried to bury it, to forget the bad things. But talking to you… made me realize how important it is to share them," he said. A knot in his chest loosened, and he smiled—a pure, innocent smile—looking at Jiang Feng.
His parents in this world… it was a topic too painful to touch. He lacked the courage, the will. Their abandonment had left a deep wound he'd never wanted to reopen.
It was a lonely world… and he preferred it that way—away from them, away from their problems, where everyone could chase their own dreams.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, turning to look at her family. "I think it's time for you to say your final goodbyes too."
He rose, dusting off his clothes. "No regrets."
The sorceress looked at him—the boy whose eyes shone brighter than the moon, filled with resolution, power, and potential beyond her own. Her expression, clouded in flames, made Damon wonder what she was thinking. Then she nodded. She floated near him, circled him, and dissolved into flames, merging with Damon.
Everyone gasped at the bright flash. Damon was enveloped in fire, as if he were the king of flames.
Flames strong enough to incinerate anything crowned his head, his veins pulsing with inhuman power capable of controlling all fire in the world.
The possession lasted only moments. The sorceress left his body, collapsing to the ground. Damon panted as he looked at her smiling face, holding the Fire Calamity Fruit before passing it to him.
"This… me?" Damon asked, stunned. The sorceress let out a joyful cry toward her family, slowly walking to Damon while holding the fruit with him.
A stream of white energy left her body and flowed into the fruit. Suddenly, the sturdy shell cracked, part of it springing up and falling to the ground.
A tiny hand reached out. The creature inside the fruit seemed eager to explore, wildly pushing against the shell.
Its little arm was the thickness of a finger but burned with fire, weak like candlelight. The slightest breath of air could extinguish it.
"Is this…" Damon murmured, astonished.
Flame Belle
The tiny creature had broken free from the fruit's protective layer. Unlike ordinary newborns, it didn't cry weakly. Made of fire, it was surprisingly energetic. After breaking free, it picked up fragments of the fruit and chewed on them like a squirrel.
Tiny arms, small legs, and a round body. Elegant and porcelain-like, it sounded like a freshly fed kitten.
"It's the Flame Belle," Damon gasped, holding it gently. The flames around the sorceress dimmed as she dropped to her knees while her daughter and husband rushed toward her.
Yi~
She let out a joyful cry as Damon handed the newborn to her. The Flame Belle looked up at her fading mother, snuggling close. It didn't understand intimacy or family, but it felt warmth and safety like never before.
The Fiery Sorceress' life ended there. Damon believed her eyes held relief as she saw her child born healthy. She would never regret her actions—if anything, she wished she had more time with the little one.
'Please take care of her...' an unknown female voice whispered in his mind as Damon looked into the sorceress' eyes.
Surrounded by her family, holding her daughter, she smiled one last time. Her monarch-level magical energy remained, steady, before a black-purple mass consumed it as her soul floated before his eyes.
Envy's Hand is Itching.
[One with Elements Acquired!]