Ethan moved with blistering speed, leaving no space for hesitation.

Neither his allies nor the creature itself had time to react.

Yaya's warning echoed clearly in his mind. The thing was monstrously strong, far beyond what its grotesque form suggested. Her vines and roots could restrain it, but only briefly. Every second that passed pushed the situation closer to failure.

Before leaving Ascension Isle, Ethan had considered capturing it alive. There was value in answers, in understanding how something like this existed. But the chaos in Magnolia Valley had erased his patience for drawn-out plans. A creature that turned living people into puppets, something so fundamentally twisted, did not deserve the luxury of study. It needed to be erased, quickly and completely.

It was still midday. He needed to stabilize Ember City before afternoon. Tonight, he intended to log into Ethereal and experience the Energy Pool system for himself. There was no room for delays.

The air screamed.

Ethan's mech tore through the sky at supersonic speed, a white contrail of condensed vapor trailing behind him as friction shredded the atmosphere. Pathfinder's Guidance locked his trajectory with merciless precision, compressing distance into irrelevance. The gap between him and the creature vanished in less than a blink.

The creature barely managed a strangled screech.

Ethan's spear drove straight through its torso.

Dark green ichor exploded outward, spraying across the air as a hole the size of a man's chest was punched clean through its body. For an instant, the creature went slack, its vitality visibly draining away. Then, impossibly, it did not die.

Instead, it locked eyes with Ethan.

The hatred in that gaze was venomous, concentrated, and intelligent. The creature let out a guttural shriek and began thrashing wildly, its strength surging instead of fading.

Snap. Crack.

Several of Yaya's thick vines shattered under the sudden burst of force.

Ethan paused for a fraction of a second, already shifting into a follow-up strike. That was when Markham's voice rang out, sharp with a mix of awe and alarm.

"A fusion entity! A Primate-type spiritual beast merged with a White-Vine plant Mutant! The probability of a stable fusion like this is less than one in a million. It only exists in theoretical literature." His voice rose urgently. "Use fire. If you do not burn it completely, you cannot kill it. Any surviving fragment can become a seed for regeneration."

The words hit like a bucket of ice water.

Markham was not advocating mercy. His mind was clearly racing far ahead, already dissecting the implications of such an existence. But there was no time to process any of that now.

Fire, however, was a problem.

The only person among them who truly commanded fire was not here. That lunatic was still in the badlands, probably eating half the local wildlife. If Markham had not spoken, Ethan would have already pressed the attack. Now, the hesitation crept in uninvited.

The group exchanged quick, tense glances.

Ethan cursed inwardly. 'Damn it, Blackie. Never around when it matters.' Even lightning would have been enough. That beast could have reduced this thing to ash in seconds.

During that brief moment of uncertainty, more vines snapped. The creature was seconds away from breaking free entirely. Yaya's urgent whispers echoed in Ethan's mind, sharp with strain. If it escaped now, catching it again would be nearly impossible.

Instinct took over.

Ethan's Soul Sense swept through his Mindscape, bypassing the things he normally relied on. His attention landed on the stacks of cardboard boxes he habitually ignored. With a single thought, dozens of them materialized in midair. A casual sweep of his spear sent them flying toward the struggling creature.

The impact was chaotic.

Glass shattered violently. Liquid exploded outward. The air was instantly flooded with the rich, overpowering scent of aged alcohol as high-proof liquor drenched the creature from head to toe, soaking its fur and the vines alike.

"Good gods, you wasteful brat! That's a crime!"

Hank's outraged shout cut through the chaos. He clutched an identical small white bottle in his hand, his face contorted in agony. The boxes Ethan had just obliterated were filled with those bottles, each containing liquor aged thirty years or more. To Hank, this was nothing short of a massacre.

Ethan ignored him.

As the final bottle shattered, a flame-touched yellow scroll shot through the air and slapped directly onto the alcohol-soaked creature.

Fire erupted.

A towering pillar of flame engulfed the creature completely, roaring skyward with violent intensity.

The creature's scream climbed to a new, horrifying pitch as it thrashed wildly within the inferno. The already burning vines and roots finally disintegrated, exploding into flaming debris. With a final surge of strength, the monkey-like creature tore free, its movements still disturbingly agile despite the gaping wound in its body.

"Ordinary fire isn't doing enough damage," Markham muttered, watching with clinical focus.

"You could've led with that!" Ethan snapped back, already accelerating in pursuit. The others moved with him.

"Do not blow it to pieces!" Markham shouted after them, then abruptly changed direction, sprinting toward the crater where the creature had been trapped instead of joining the chase.

Regis was the fastest to intercept.

Just as the creature reached the edge of the island, clearly intending to dive into the sea, Regis struck. A single palm infused with calm, overwhelming force slammed into the creature's side, sending it tumbling back onto the rocky shore. The creature roared in fury, but something in Regis's presence made it recoil. It twisted mid-motion, scrambling away in another direction.

It did not get far.

Thump.

The creature collided head-on with Uncle Jed, who stopped it with a full-bodied shoulder check. The impact sent the burning mass flying backward once again.

"Damn it," Uncle Jed grumbled, brushing at his clothes. "It singed my shirt."

Only he would complain about laundry after physically ramming a flaming mutant with his bare body.

"This is going nowhere!" Hank yelled, conjuring a swirling wind barrier to knock the creature back yet again. "We wasted all that good booze for nothing. Think of something, kid!"

As Ethan closed the distance, his thoughts raced. He reached out mentally to Regis, asking whether his Seal of the World technique could solve this. The response came instantly.

"I could contain it. But destroying it completely? I cannot guarantee annihilation down to dust. If anything remains, regeneration is possible."

Another dead end.

Then, from deep within Ethan's Energy Core, a familiar voice stirred, slow and amused.

"You burned me once, didn't you?"

Ethan froze mid-stride.

"Fire?" he murmured.

The realization hit him like lightning. That's right. I can use fire too.

"Keep it contained!" Ethan shouted. "I'll finish it."

Regis, Uncle Jed, Hank, and Dragon Child moved in perfect coordination, forming an impenetrable wall of power. They herded the panicked, burning creature into a confined space, refusing to let it break line of sight. To their heightened senses, this thing felt like just another plant among countless others, indistinguishable once it vanished from view. The fact that it was invisible to their perception while clearly visible to the naked eye unsettled even them.

"Fire Blaze Radiance…"

Ethan dismissed his spear and raised both hands, palms open. Multicolored light shimmered briefly around him before collapsing inward, separating and condensing into a single blazing strand of crimson-gold energy.

One of the Five-Colored Divine Lights.

Fire Blaze Radiance.

The instant the flame manifested, the creature let out two sharp, broken wails of absolute terror.

Ethan noticed the difference immediately. Channeling the Divine Light no longer tore at his body. There was no violent backlash, no metallic taste of blood. Instead, there was a focused hum, powerful yet controlled. For the first time, he was isolating a single aspect of the Divine Light.

The fire revealed its true nature.

An outer corona of radiant scarlet burned like a miniature sun, while deep within it glowed a core of searing blue, transcendent and absolute.

This fire would leave nothing behind.

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