A New Race and the Progenitor of Fire Demons

"Boom! Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

A merchant caravan laden with goods, traversing the barren land, suddenly came to a halt.

They felt the earth tremble beneath them and sensed a faint heat in the air.

"What's that sound?" The caravan leader climbed to a high point, peering into the distance.

"Boom!" The sound echoed again, and they finally realized its source.

On the horizon, two shadows slowly emerged.

They were mountain-like monsters, locked in combat.

A metal giant and a flame demon clashed on the vast plain. Fire storms raged in all directions, scorching the earth black.

Every movement of the metal giant sent tremors through the ground. Each roll, stomp, or leap in pursuit left the earth unable to bear its weight.

In their wake, the land was pocked with massive craters.

"It's... it's... it's monsters!" The caravan guards, upon recognizing what they were seeing, shook with fear.

"Let's get out of here, head that way!" The well-traveled caravan leader, recognizing these as incredibly powerful Seal Priests, immediately issued orders.

"But that route will take several extra days," someone protested.

"You'd rather risk your life than be inconvenienced?" the leader snapped.

Passing caravans that spotted them fled as if escaping a plague.

The flame demon and metal giant seemed oblivious to their presence, wholly absorbed in their battle.

"Whoosh!"

The flame demon spewed fire and fierce winds from its mouth. The violent firestorm crackled with explosions as stones on the ground heated and burst.

But the metal giant, composed of unknown materials, didn't even glow red under the assault of flames hot enough to melt stone.

"Boom!"

The metal giant's fists bore circular ritual patterns. Each strike carried the power of ritual totems.

This ritual totem technique was first conceived by Haru. It allowed the power of rituals to be inscribed on one's body. Though time-consuming to use and requiring sacrifices and chanting, far less potent than the instant divine techniques of Seal Spirits, it could be remarkably effective in specific situations and against certain enemies.

Like now.

The flame demon's ethereal body visibly evaporated under these blows.

"Elena!"

"I don't want to kill you. Don't force my hand."

The flame demon spoke with a mortal voice - it was the Fire Demon Haru.

From within the metal giant came the voice of the Abyss Knight Elena, this student of Sandean filled with rage: "Drop the act, Haru!"

"You even killed our teacher. How can someone like you speak of friendship and kinship?"

Fire Demon Haru was thoroughly enraged: "I'll tell you one more time."

"I didn't kill the teacher. I didn't kill him!"

"I didn't!"

"I didn't!"

Amidst his roars and howls, Haru once again lost control of his emotions.

Since abandoning his Trilobite Man body, he often struggled to control himself and suppress his emotions.

Suddenly, Fire Demon Haru's body erupted with golden light, crimson-gold patterns crawling across his form.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion overturned hundreds of meters of earth.

When all settled, Haru had transformed back into gas, floating skyward.

But the fire element within him had been consumed to its limit. Soon he would need to descend, seek sacrifices, and perform rituals to replenish his inner fire element.

Much like how Trilobite Men need food.

The Abyss Knight Elena seized upon this weakness, pursuing him time and again. Often, she would strike before he could complete his rituals.

As the flames subsided, only a terrifying crater and scorched earth remained.

This time, the metal giant was covered in cracks, its chest plate falling away to reveal Elena's upper body.

Elena was clearly injured. She finally understood that Haru had indeed been holding back earlier, and also realized why their powerful teacher had fallen to Haru.

She watched Haru drift away at low altitude, knowing she couldn't catch up.

Elena's voice carried from the ground to Haru's ears in the sky.

"When I break through to the fourth level, I'll come for you again."

"Haru!"

"You'll never know peace in this life. Don't think this is over, that you can enjoy a long life and lofty status with the power our teacher gave you."

"No!"

"It's impossible!"

Haru looked down from above, watching the desolate metal giant howling skyward.

He suddenly recalled a scene from the past, when he was still on the Island of Mist.

Though he was Sandean's earliest student, he was actually the youngest.

Elena was the oldest, often secretly bringing him little treasures from the sea bottom, like an elder sister.

Haru murmured, "Elena!"

The metal giant gave up chasing Haru, but the Fire Demon Haru hadn't escaped danger.

Not only was the Abyss Knight Elena searching for him across this land, but priests from the Nine Ritual Temples were also hunting him everywhere.

However, Haru had always looked down on these temple priests. He had killed several who came after him, refining them into fire demons eternally enslaved in his Fire Demon Bottle.

Haru's greatest concern was the Food Priest Lan.

He could only keep fleeing, escaping to places beyond Lan's reach.

He fled to a cliff, his transparent body casting a faint shadow in the wind.

Only upon close inspection could one vaguely make out a humanoid shape.

Haru gazed into the distance, suddenly feeling lost and alone. The world was vast, yet it seemed there was no place left for him to belong.

He took out a bone whistle.

"Hm hm hm hm hm~"

"Hm hm hm hm hm hm hm~"

The sound was like wind passing through a stone forest, carrying a sense of desolation.

This was the melody his teacher Sandean used to play on a bone flute in the Sky Temple when Haru was young.

The sound gradually faded, scattering in the wind.

The wind-like monster spoke: "What have I done?"

"What have I done?"

Haru raised his hand to touch his face, but suddenly realized he no longer had a body.

He had become a monster with a long lifespan, yet forever denied the acceptance of others.

He finally understood that power and life were not everything.

Life wasn't as simple as the experiments and studies he conducted on the island. His life was composed of his teacher and many others, all of whom he had now lost.

Haru replenished his fire element and turned to leave.

"If this world has no place for me, then I'll create a realm for monsters."

He passed through the volcanoes of the former Hosen Kingdom, journeying beyond the borders of Yinsai to a place rarely visited by mortals.

He arrived in the depths of a sunless canyon.

Here lay a hot spring, emitting a strong sulfurous odor.

Following the spring, he discovered an underground dark river.

Haru diverted the river water, flooding the entire canyon. The dark depths of the canyon had now completely transformed into a swamp.

The ethereal shadow, like wind, hovered above the marsh. The shadow searched within itself for a while, finally producing a glass bottle.

Haru took out the Fire Demon Bottle.

More terrifying shadows wandered inside the flask, occasionally pressing ghastly, roaring faces against the glass walls, as if infinite hatred and rage sought release.

The Fire Demon Bottle was different now, engraved with intricate ritual array patterns as fine as hair - this was Haru's self-created fire element ritual array.

Opening it and offering sacrifices would continuously generate fire element.

The fire element could be used to nourish the beings inside or replenish Haru's own power.

Most importantly were the fire demons in the bottle.

Fire demons were neither Seal Spirits nor simple spiritual entities, but a form of life.

And as life, they could produce offspring.

The conditions for fire demons to reproduce were, first, the magical fire seed of a fire demon, and second, a place saturated with fire element.

"Go forth!"

Haru released the fire demons. Over a dozen powerful fire demons floated in the air, submitting to Haru.

These fire demons included the temple priests Haru had killed before, as well as those who had pursued and been slain by him later.

Haru threw the Fire Demon Bottle into the swamp. The fire demon blood fused into the glass emitted a faint glow, serving as the magical fire seed.

Instantly, beams of array light spread across the ground, covering the entire swamp in the blink of an eye.

"Ritual!"

"Activate!"

Dense fire element energy emanated from the swamp, permeating this dark and damp place.

Haru flew to the canyon's cliff face, using pottery ritual arrays to construct a massive castle.

The towering castle stood isolated, with Haru sitting alone on a stone throne.

Outside, darkness gradually fell, and the moon slowly climbed above the clouds.

Fire Demon Haru sat motionless, as if asleep.

Several days later.

Changes finally occurred in the sunless swamp.

Clusters of fire element gas intertwined, flashing with silver light within.

Finally, as if coming alive, they began to consciously traverse the swamp.

They discovered they were not unique; other similar beings drifted through the vast swamp, consuming the power of the fire element.

As they gradually consumed enough fire element, they finally noticed the castle on the cliff.

Something seemed to be calling to them from within.

These gaseous beings composed of fire element emerged from the swamp, ascending to the castle atop the sheer cliff.

Before the castle gates, several third-level fire demons nestled in torch-like pillars, their emergence illuminating the entire castle and cliff.

They passed through the castle gates, moving inward.

In the darkness, a terrifyingly powerful being opened its eyes.

Its eyes were two flames, gazing upon these little fire demons.

"You've come," the monster on the stone throne spoke, uttering words in the language of Trilobite Men.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" These little fire demons showed no fear of Haru. Instead, they affectionately surrounded him, as if protecting their king.

Fire Demon Haru stood, slowly descending from his high perch.

"Children!"

"You will become the fire demon race, the very beginning of this species."

The little fire demons encircled him, as if asking questions.

Haru laughed: "I am not a Trilobite Man."

"I am your progenitor, Fire Demon Haru."

These little fire demons were ignited, finally taking on the semblance of flame demons.

They flew into the various lamps within the castle, nestling inside and becoming flames.

Haru discovered they were born with mythical blood, a special type of transcendent life.

They possessed the Wisdom Ability like Trilobite Men, but with completely different forms and powers. Their Wisdom Ability was naturally constrained to controlling the fire element.

Because their mythical blood was closely combined with other elements - the power of Seal Spirits and Divine Technique Imprints.

This power was also inherited by the little fire demons through bloodline.

These little fire demons had no human form at all, appearing as small flames with only primitive intelligence akin to wild beasts.

However, when they grew stronger and their inner Wisdom Ability bloodline further transformed.

Changes would likely occur.