Arms crossed over his chest to brace for what was about to happen, Melmarc ran straight into the man. Their section of the plane was already thrown into a cacophony of panicked screams and cries and people trying to scatter away.

They young woman had since made it to Melmarc's seat. Unsure of what she was trying to do now, Melmarc focused on the more important problem.

Amidst the spreading chaos of raised voices and potential stampede, he rammed into the man. He didn't tackle him, instead, he used the weight of his body to throw him back. Pain flared all over his torso and legs. His entire body lit up in a terrible burning sensation.

Fry an egg.

Melmarc did his best to ignore the thought as the man went flying back and into the wall of the plane. He bounced off it, still shining bright and yellow, heatwaves growing hotter and stronger around him.

The man took advantage of the momentum from bouncing off it and rushed at Melmarc. Melmarc caught whispers of the flames from his still burning clothes moving away from him. He ignored it.

Suplex, his mind called out.

Melmarc ducked, weaving around the man's swinging hand. He grabbed him as he rounded him uncomfortably, restricted by the space of the sitting section. Pain filled every inch of him, and he roared in it.

Only his knowledge of the effects of [Knowledge is Power] kept him going. It was only pain. He wasn't taking damage.

When he moved to throw the man back and into the wall of the cabin again, he felt a sharp pain as the man's elbow cracked him in the jaw.

The pain was so great that he had no choice but to let go. It was like having your jaw shattered by a vicious elbow while someone took a prodding iron to it. Letting go, Melmarc staggered back as his vision distorted.

"Nice try, kid," the man smirked, teeth white amidst his shining brightness. "But you can't stop this."

He held his hands out dramatically. Melmarc watched his brightness increase. His eyes darted around. Not too far into the distance the static mana of [Knowledge is Power] was coming back. He only had a short time of taking no damage.

He rushed the man again.

The man frowned. whispers of his flames moved in an odd direction rather than settle on him. He ducked out of Melmarc's way. He wasn't fast enough. Melmarc grabbed him at an odd angle, then pulled him back, straight towards the seat's windows were a scorched section of the wall remained a sharp black.

Tears filled Melmarc's eyes from the pain and his clothes finally caught on fire. He held on tight as the man struggled in his grip. The man was strong, unhealthily so. It felt like fighting a strength type class.

The moment when went into the wall. The young mother darted through the center aisle and grabbed her remaining two kids.

Melmarc's eyes were full on weeping by the time she'd taken the kids away. The pain of being burnt alive threatened to undo him as he cried like a wounded child

I am pain.

It was a strange thought as the pain filled his head. It was his thought, but it was also not. He recognized one of his Oath quirks when he felt it.

The moment he saw the woman and her kids dart back down the aisle, he released the man from his hold. With a belly thrust, he created a small distance between them. The man must've been aware of his pain because he tried to double back on him. Melmarc didn't anticipate it, he simply moved with his continued plan of attack.

The man moved through the distance. Melmarc's leg shot out in a spartan kick. It slammed into the man's chest. The force of the blow sent him flying all the way into the other row of chairs.

Melmarc thought he would brace for impact when he rushed him again. He did not. The pain did not scare him.

Pain is pain.

He barreled through the distance and slammed straight into the man again. Pain was pain. He yelled at being burnt. The man adjusted himself in their struggle. One bright yellow hand pressed fingerprints against his face and pushed.

Melmarc wept, chest heaving in sobs. His eyes darted to the side. The static mana was too close. This altercation would soon start killing him.

"Why won't you just die, kid?" the man snarled. Then he shoved his thumb in Melmarc's mouth and Melmarc's tongue boiled.

Melmarc screamed, reflex begged him to release the man. But pain was just pain. It hurt, threatened to undo him, but it was just pain. It was a terrifyingly weird way to think. Melmarc knew why.

The static mana grew too close. It passed through Ark who still had his hands held out. His eyes lit up in sudden focus and he cried out a warning.

"Mel, MOVE!"

Melmarc released the man, shoving off him with a kick that destabilized him. The force and panic of being a walking patchwork of burnt scars sent him flying back across the aisle.

[Skill Knowledge Is Power is concluded.]

[All stats are increased by +1.5.]

[Life forms detected: 152.]

[You have received 152 Potential buffs.]

Knowledge flooded his head in the blink of an eye. Of the one hundred and fifty-two, less than twenty-five were Gifted. Melmarc had never seen so many Gifted in one place. Yet most of them had domestic skills with classes that peaked at C-rank.

There was an A-rank there, though, and one B-rank. They also had skills that could help him. Once reduced damage taken, a B-rank tank. The other confined the effect of skills with an area of effect, confining its reach to a certain limit.

In the split second of gaining the knowledge, panic flooded Melmarc's mind. There was one piece of knowledge that he had been hoping against. It explained why a pyromancer had been able to survive his strength instead of just caving under the weight of it.

The man's indicator shined a sharp red.

[Jonathan Blacknorn (Pyromancer)(S).]

They could not beat an S-rank. Unless they bought time for whoever the A-rank was to get to him.

Melmarc's best choice was to pick the skill that confined the enemy's attack range. With flames, there was no way that it didn't have a wider reach. It would keep the rest of the passengers currently creating a stampede as they fled to the back of the plane on one side and the front of the plane on the other side safe.

[You have selected I Walk With Flames.]

[I Walk With Flames (Mastery 13.02%)]

The Gifted does not wish to fear fire. So, fire becomes their friend. Their resistance to fire grows.

He had wanted to pick the suppressing skill, but he had panicked. Not wanting to be a walking scar, he had taken his opponent's skill.

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The [Pyromancer], Jonathan, rushed him. Melmarc noted the knife of fire that suddenly appeared in his hand as he did. Fear lit up in his mind at the thought of getting stabbed and he stepped away. For all his experience in the portal, watching an S-class Gifted bright with flames coming at him with a knife made him hesitate.

Hesitation is the beginning to apples.

Melmarc frowned at the thought. Uncle Dorthna had definitely not said apples.

Stab wound.

Melmarc stepped into the man's thrusted knife, shocking himself and the man. He felt whispers of fire slip through the air beneath them and an empty hand slammed into his side.

The man paused, confused. It took only a moment for Melmarc to realize what had happened. With [Will of Hades], Ark controlled fire. He'd snuffed out the knife somehow.

The man frowned in annoyance and moved for another attack. Melmarc had no idea what he intended to do so he headbutted him in the nose. The man reeled back. The cacophony of screaming passengers drowned out his grunt of pain.

Melmarc's clothes were still burning, but it didn't hurt so much. The man's skill didn't completely extinguish the pain or damage of fire. It certainly did not ignore rank disparity either. Melmarc could still feel the pain, but it was more of a stinging sensation than a burning one.

He doubled his effect, rushing the man once more. Thoughts of using [Secrecy] to disable the man crossed his mind, but he hesitated. Airplanes like the one they were on were known to have some magical functions built into them to keep them in the conditions they worked in. The last thing he wanted was to deactivate something important and send the plane crashing.

The [Pyromancer] frowned at him through gritted teeth and a bleeding nose. Melmarc rushed him once more. As long as he didn't give the man any space to breathe, he could keep the man unfocused on any further task than fighting.

"I got a fire resistance skill!" Melmarc declared for Ark's sake as he crossed the distance.

Fire erupted from the man's eyes like lasers. Streams of liquid flames slammed into Melmarc's chest, throwing him back. He slammed into the wall again and the cabin trembled. The man stepped forward. The flames engulfed Melmarc slowly until it felt like his eyes were going to boil.

He cried out in pain once more, tears that ran down his cheeks boiling into nonexistence.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Ark roared.

The flames disappeared suddenly, turning upwards and crashing into the ceiling. They guttered out as the man turned on Ark.

"You two are becoming a thorn in my side," he snarled, then held his arms out on his side again.

Two things flashed in Melmarc's mind, and he smiled in his pain as he scrambled up from the ground, ignoring the now burning seats around him.

The first was that the man's words had held no dissonance. He and Ark were actually stressing an S-rank Gifted. There was some pride in that. The second was that whatever he wanted to do that kept making him spread his arms out whenever he had the chance was something they could not allow him to do.

Melmarc rushed him again.

"Why won't you—"

The man turned to face Melmarc immediately, cutting his own words off. A whip of fire cracked against his cheek, staggering him back. It seemed more from shock than any real pain. His eyes darted very momentarily to the side where Ark held a whip of fire.

Melmarc ran into him with a shoulder tackle that sent them straight into the opposite row of seats, straight into the cabin's wall again.

[You have used skill Mana Dilation]

[Mana Dilation]

The Gifted releases a pulse of mana that increases the cooldown time of active skills used by the enemy by 50%.

It was Melmarc's hope that whatever skill he was trying to use that he and Ark kept on interrupting was a channeling skill—a skill that needed time to activate—as he felt the pulse of mana leave him. He also hoped that just channeling it counted as an activation, because most channeling skills he knew worked that way.

[Skill Mana Dilation is concluded]

[Skill Not So Fast is in effect. Opponent will lose 0.5 stat points to all speed related stat for 00:04:00]

Melmarc threw a vicious blow into the man's side. The pain of being burnt was slowly growing from a biting sensation to a burning one. Melmarc feared being scarred and missing lunch.

The man grunted in pain from the blow.

"Fuck this!" he spat, then placed his hands on the wall.

Melmarc panicked, not knowing what was about to happen.

He needs a hug.

Melmarc obeyed without hesitation. He snatched the man up in a bear hug. The man slipped under it, forcing him to miss, then kneed him in the groin.

A new kind of pain flared in Melmarc's mind, and he staggered back. His vision blurred as the world spun around him. A sharp pain shot up from his groin to his brain in a straight line. He did his best to fight against the urge to trap the pain in his mind as he had been subconsciously doing with the pain from the entire fight.

He didn't want this pain.

He dropped to his knee.

The man moved on him and a pillar of fire erupted between them, fizzling out as it hit the roof.

"Don't you dare, you scum!" Ark snarled, stepping forward.

Melmarc's hand shot out to stop him. [Will of Hades] gave Ark a certain level of fire resistance, but it was not immunity. And Melmarc didn't know how it handled against fire that came from a rank higher than him. At A-rank, how would he handle an S-rank burning man.

"S-rank flames," Melmarc managed to choke out in explanation as he staggered back to his feet.

He could sense the A-rank person forcing his way through the crowd of people packed on one side still struggling to get away. He was having trouble pushing through. The crowd in their bid to save themselves delayed the man's attempt to save them.

"You little shits!" the [Pyromancer] snarled. He held his arms out again, paused before Melmarc could rush at him once more.

"FUCK!!!!" he yelled, as nothing happened. At this point he was nothing but a human bonfire. Bright and strong. Even with the distance between them, Melmarc could feel the boiling heat of him. "I don't have to put up with this."

The man turned and blasted the wall with a ball of fire that seemed to come out of nowhere. It had enough force to obliterate it.

Blaring sounds suddenly filled the entire plane. Oxygen masks dropped, dangling from the overhead compartments. The plane grew noisier as the roar of rushing wind filled the plane.

Melmarc's eyes widened. Why hadn't the man hit him with it? If he had hit him with that, he probably wouldn't have survived it.

Survive it.

Melmarc was already on his feet, moving.

The man turned and stepped into Melmarc without missing a beat. Something in his eyes changed as the plane tilted to the side. It destabilized Melmarc and a whip of fire crossed the air, missing the man. Ark staggered where he was.

The man didn't stagger or get thrown off balance like Melmarc and his brother. Instead, his feet seemed to leave the ground slightly.

Melmarc barely noticed it before he took a blow to the face. It rattled his brain, but he didn't go down. The plane tilted again, sending him off balance.

He took a liver blow that brought him to his knees.

"Always take out the threat," the man said as he slammed a burning knee into Melmarc's face.

Ark burst out of nowhere, tackling the man. He ran him into one of the chairs in front. He screamed, letting out an ear-piercing shriek that shook Melmarc from his stupor.

Melmarc felt the pain, all of it. It felt as if Ark was dying just from touching the man. He moved quickly.

By the time he staggered to them, Ark was sent flying back.

[Secrecy].

Melmarc refused this command, fighting back the pain. He would save Ark, but he wouldn't bring the plane down. The fear of being the reason over one hundred people died in a plane crash was too much for him to handle. Besides, it would also defeat the purpose of saving Ark.

Ark flew into him before he even got to him and the man.

He caught his brother as gently as he could. Smoke and steam rose from Ark's body. There were burn marks, but nothing too bad.

Melmarc moved Ark to one of the chairs on the side. Then he got tackled.

The force of the impact knocked the wind out of him. The man loomed over him, straddling him as they went down. Melmarc was bigger, had more leverage.

Balls!

Melmarc was in no position to execute the other. Instead, he thrust his hips upwards with enough force to send the man flying over him. A blast of fire from the man's eyes grazed the side of his face as he went over.

Melmarc turned quickly, rolling over and charging the man. The crowd screamed and Melmarc felt pain from them.

He pushed past it as he rushed the man. A blast of fire from the man's eyes came at his chest. The plane tilted once more. Melmarc fought for balance. The blast of fire nicked his shoulder. Pain flared up and he trapped it in his mind.

Balls.

Melmarc got to the man in time to attack. The man weaved back a little too slowly and Melmarc landed a haymaker. The man staggered from the blow. Blood splashed over seats.

Melmarc snarled, baring teeth. He drove his foot into the man's chest and missed as the man threw himself to the side. Melmarc's eyes widened as the man held up his hands and pointed at him.

He ducked to the side, putting chairs between him and the [Pyromancer]. A blast of fire took out the ceiling. Even safe, Melmarc felt the heat of it all.

The chaos of the plane worsened.

Ark staggered next to Melmarc as Melmarc pulled himself out from behind the chairs. They stood side by side now, amidst burning chairs, broken chairs, and dangling oxygen masks.

People were still screaming.

Melmarc wanted them to shut up.

He would've said something if not for what he and Ark were currently staring at. The man stood next to the first hole he'd made in the plane. His arms were held out on both sides. A wicked grin enveloped his entire face.

He shined bright. Too bright.

Melmarc understood immediately. He had channeled the skill.

They had failed.

"Today!" he snarled at Melmarc and Ark, burning very bright. "You will know the existence of the league of the Bright Flames!"

Someone burst out of the crowd of people. The A-rank Gifted. He was late. Too late.

"Become an amazing Delver, Mel," Ark muttered, voice solemn, resolved.

Something about the way he said the words made Melmarc's whole world freeze.

"Ark, no," the words barely left his mouth as everything else happened.

It was slow, eventful. Yet Melmarc wasn't fast enough to stop it.

Ark moved, scaling the distance in a burst of speed.

The [Pyromancer]'s eyes lit up in shock.

Melmarc took a step forward. The world was silent now. The screaming crowd was forgotten. The rushing wind, gone. The A-rank unimportant.

Melmarc's world cracked around him as he watched it all happen.

Burnt badly, Ark slammed into the [Pyromancer] where he stood not far from the hole in the plane.

With the [Pyromancer] in his arms, Ark shattered Melmarc's world.

He jumped.

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