Kaeli watched the chaos unfolding, her mind racing.
He's building to something catastrophic. If we don't stop him now, everyone dies.
She snapped her fingers.
"Pantser!"
A dome of pure defensive mana exploded outward from her position, expanding rapidly to cover everyone in the courtyard. The translucent barrier shimmered like a soap bubble—fragile-looking but incredibly strong.
It was a protective technique her mother had taught her, designed to shield multiple people simultaneously.
"Kaeli, what are you—" Richard started.
But she was already running.
Directly toward Jecob's orange sphere. Directly toward the centre of the building, power.
"KAELI, NO!" Richard shouted.
Jecob saw her coming. His eyes snapped open, blazing with furious light.
He stepped out of his protective dome and ran to meet her—moving with shocking speed for someone his size.
He snapped his fingers mid-sprint.
BOOM!
An explosion detonated directly in Kaeli's path.
She threw up a personal mana shield at the last second, the blast washing over her barrier in waves of fire and force. The impact sent her skidding backwards, her boots carving trenches in the ash.
But she didn't stop.
This cracks in his face. I am dam sure he is using Infrno. If he uses his full mana, he can destroy this place by huge explosion. I have to stop him.
Kaeli charged through the dissipating smoke and punched him.
Jecob dodged effortlessly, swaying aside like a dancer. His elbow came around in a vicious counter-strike, slamming into her ribs.
CRACK!
Kaeli felt something break. She hit the ground hard, the air driven from her lungs.
Richard saw his opening. He charged forward, his Illumina Sword blazing.
SLASH!
The light blade struck Jecob's orange protective sphere, which had reformed around him. Cracks spread across its surface, but it held.
Jecob turned his attention to Richard, preparing another explosion.
That was his mistake.
Kaeli forced herself to stand, ignoring the screaming pain in her ribs. She formed another mana sphere—smaller this time, more focused.
And she moved.
What followed was brutal, desperate hand-to-hand combat.
Kaeli launched herself at Jecob again. This time, she didn't rely on raw power—she used speed and precision, techniques her mother had drilled into her during countless training sessions.
She feinted left, then struck right. Her mana-enhanced fist connected with Jecob's jaw.
CRACK!
His head snapped to the side. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
But Jecob was a veteran of the Great War. He'd fought opponents far more skilled than a fifteen-year-old girl.
He grabbed her extended arm and twisted.
Kaeli screamed as her shoulder dislocated. She dropped to one knee.
Jecob's knee came up, aiming for her face.
Kaeli rolled aside at the last second. The strike missed by inches.
She swept his legs with a mana-enhanced kick.
WHOOSH!
Jecob stumbled but didn't fall. He planted his fire-hand on the ground and vaulted over her follow-up attack.
They separated, both breathing hard.
"You're persistent," Jecob admitted, wiping blood from his mouth. "Like your mother. But persistence won't save you."
"Maybe not," Kaeli panted. "But it'll buy them time."
She charged again.
This time, Jecob was ready. He caught her punch, spun her around, and slammed her into the ground with bone-breaking force.
BOOM!
Kaeli's vision swam. She tasted blood.
Get up. Get up. GET UP.
She forced herself to rise, her body screaming in protest. Both arms were injured now. Her ribs were broken. She could barely stand.
But she stood anyway.
"Stay down, girl," Jecob said, almost sadly. "You've done enough."
"Not... yet..."
Kaeli formed one more mana sphere—the last of her reserves. She poured everything she had left into it.
And she threw it directly at the five original magma towers.
BOOM!
The explosion destabilised all five pillars simultaneously.
Jecob's eyes widened in horror. "NO!"
The towers—which had been feeding power into his core, building toward his ultimate attack—suddenly reversed their energy flow.
Instead of channelling mana into him, they began channelling it out.
All at once.
Jecob tried to stop it, to control the flow, but it was too late.
"INFERNO!"
The word tore from his throat—not a spell, but a scream of defiance.
The five magma towers erupted simultaneously in a catastrophic release of volcanic energy.
A massive explosion consumed the entire courtyard—a sphere of fire and force that expanded outward at impossible speed.
The glowing light hit everyone's eyes, blinding them completely.
Jennifer saw it from outside the courtyard, her heart stopping.
"NO!"
Richard threw up his arms instinctively, knowing it was futile.
The explosion was too big. Too fast. Too powerful.
We're all going to die.
But the blast never reached them.
Kaeli's Pantser shield—the defensive dome she'd cast earlier—flared to brilliant life, absorbing the full force of the Inferno explosion.
The dome held for one second.
Two seconds.
Three—
Then it shattered.
The explosion broke through, reaching for the Order members with hungry flames.
But in that moment of collapse, something else happened.
The explosion grabbed Kaeli.
The flames wrapped around her like serpents, pulling her toward the centre of the blast—toward Jecob's disintegrating body.
"KAELI!" Richard screamed, reaching for her.
His fingers closed on empty air.
She was gone.
Consumed by the fire. But saved everyone.
Kaeli opened her eyes.
Her vision was blurry, tinged with blue. Everything felt distant and strange.
I think I'm in heaven now, she thought dimly.
Her vision cleared slowly.
She saw a red sky above her. A horrific, bloody landscape stretched out in every direction. She was floating on a river—not water, but something thicker, warmer.
Blood.
A river of blood.
"What... ?" Kaeli tried to sit up, panic flooding through her. "Hell? Why am I in Hell?!"
Suddenly, a figure rose from the blood river itself.
Where the figure emerged, the water turned from dark crimson to bright, fresh red—as if the river itself recognised its master.
The figure walked toward Kaeli across the surface of the blood.
Long dark hair. Red eyes glowing in the crimson light. An expression of fierce intensity.
Kaeli's terror spiked to new heights.
I'm being judged.
She threw herself forward, pressing her forehead to the bloody ground, her hands clasped together in desperate prayer.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Knowledge Lord, please give me a chance! Richard told me to do those. Please, please forgive me! I'll do anything, just please—" The words tumbled out in a panicked rush.
The figure grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her.
"Kaeli! It's me!"
Kaeli looked up, her tear-filled eyes finally focusing.
"M-Miss Jennifer?"
"Yes!" Jennifer's face was filled with relief, "It's me!"
She helped Kaeli sit up, supporting her injured body carefully.
"You are not dead. You're in my Blood River Dimension. I pulled you in at the last second when the explosion grabbed you. You're safe."
Kaeli stared at her, unable to process the words.