Master Of None



Heat. That was what everyone could feel. The somewhat cool interior of the massive interlocked stone dome had been blessed with heat that was unlike what they felt outside. This was for a simple reason, battle. 

Ignus had left them with a roar and a feeling of security. Every single soldier knew that Ignius could easily handle an entire army of undead by himself. Therefore, when he left, they had expected that he would attack and defeat the undead in record time. What they didn't expect was that he would use flames that were much hotter than they realized he could create. 

The fact that the royal dragons had been in their dragonkin form had limited what the angels and some soldiers realized was possible. Because they had a limited view of dragons battling, they had lost the fact that the dragons were always holding back to protect those around them. 

It wasn't just the space that limited the dragons. They could easily use their full forms and barrel through the ruins. The spaces were large enough to some degree for them to fit. If it was too small, then they could just smash their way through without any issues. But where would that leave their dragonkin? Where would that leave their allies? Where would that leave their goal to properly end the undead that definitely had tricks up its sleeve?

Now the strength that Ignus kept in check was able to be put on full display again. The angels in particular were some that had never seen such a monster in terms of strength. The flames were as bright as the sun, but perfectly guided toward different stone buildings. Many undead even rushed out towards the large red scaled dragon landing here and there to open the roofs of the stone buildings and send flames within. 

The follow up attacks after Ignus had blessed the entire former market area with flames was a single large gust of wind. This came from a large green scaled figure of Ventus flying higher in the dome. Her winds were controlled with the perfect balance that would increase the duration of flames. They kept burning to prevent the undead from reforming under any circumstances. 

The metal spikes that had been attached to the mummified spiky lizards had not been able to resist even with the rune carvings on them. They had melted in to molten puddles that would be unable to reform. Even if the mummified spiky lizards had the chance to reform their bodies. They would be in a much easier to defeat form than before. They lacked the normal bone spikes since they had been replaced. 

The starving mummies and mummified worshippers were different. They were trying to reform but had no way to resist. Even the additional speed of recovery that the starving mummies had was nothing compared to the flames that were blossoming all around them. 

As the soldiers marched forward, they witnessed even more incredible flame control. Ignus wasn't just burning large areas. That had only been to remove the poisons that were around first. He was now focusing small dots of flames on every single pile of undead ash that he found. That way, they would not regenerate at all. It meant that in just the smaller space that the soldiers could see, Ignus had over fifty undead constantly burning. 

The awestruck faces of the soldiers and angels only grew more amazed as they did the math. They could understand being so powerful and firm in control that fifty flames were able to be manipulated. But hundreds? That was a level that they never thought attainable. The only ones to act as if this was normal were the dragonkin that had full belief and devotion to their royal dragons. They knew exactly how powerful those they served were. Their loyalty wasn't something they gave just because of what they were as a race. It was rightfully earned by the dragons. 

"The entrances are unguarded. We can not climb the pyramid but we will enter!" Walker gave the order as Mordant, Rise, and Current took the lead. The massive openings were very ornate. Compared to every single stone building, this was the only one that did not look rundown or even close to what a ruin should be. 

The runes all over the pyramid were intricate and coursed with mana. They were in use and clearly being manipulated to allow for the defenses that kept the soldiers from climbing the pyramid. Such strong rune formations were ancient and closer to the origin runes that the group had seen before. Yet, they were also strong enough to stop a dragon from forcing its way through. An example of why these undead had to be stopped. 

When Walker tried to use his all around appraisal on the entire pyramid, he only received information on the outer parts. Unfortunately, the pyramid was much like every other building here. It was made with interlocking stone pieces. A brilliant architectural technique that managed to keep things stable for many years. But it also made his appraisal identify all of the pyramid as parts and not one whole. Therefore, he couldn't get information about what it was used for overall. 

Upon entering the massive entrance, the heat seemed to die down instantly. The entire inner passageway of the pyramid was strangely quiet as runes pulled with mana. "I would say there are some sort of barrier runes here. The temperature isn't changing which means Ignus probably wouldn't be able to send flames in from the outside." Su had a feeling that this was the case with many elemental mana attacks from the outside. 

"That means that even the light attacks from the outside would have done nothing. I dislike this place immensely." Rise was looking at the runes with disgust. She could feel some of the light mana being oppressed by darkness mana and the odd false death runes. The feeling was enough to make her want to attack the source of it all even more. She didn't just want to purify these undead, she wanted to thoroughly defeat them. 

"I can't even get a proper all around appraisal. Everything is made with locked parts. The runes were carved before they were placed together. This race was very smart. But they fell to this state…" Walker was very impressed with what this race had done before they fell. He wished that they had not become undead. If they still existed, then the entire Sigil continent might be more united. Might be stronger. 

"That doesn't matter right now. We have to understand what we are walking in to. More runes, more mana, and more danger." Walker saw that Current and Mordant had become fully focused on the fact that even the white sands were not here. Whatever had been done with runes and mana had stopped even the biggest curse sent by the world to handle this undead. That meant the undead was stronger than they had believed. 

"Some runes are new." Alice stopped them to look at the runes near the floor. They were clearly carved from the older stone walls. New runes that were made to add to the strength of the existing formations. 

"Good eye, I nearly missed those too. I bet we can cause some trouble by cutting it to…damn." Gil tried to cut the stone with his daggers and found that they didn't chip at all. The stone had mana over the top perfectly holding off damage. He would have to use much more force to break these runes. 

"Another problem then." Current growled a little as he spoke. He already had to tolerate being in a palace with very little water elemental mana. He had barely been able to gather some from the water crystal pillars around the city. And now, they were unable to break away the runes around without destroying too much. 

"We can wait to destroy the runes after. If we do it now, the entire pyramid might collapse and hide the undead we have to stop." Onyx also seemed to want to begin using attacks to destroy the runes. He had hidden away and not attacked much at all. Now he was ready to use all the light elemental mana he had stored up. He would be able to properly fight and defeat undead to clear up this plague now. 

"No. we can destroy the undead first." Alice spoke calmly before starting to sing. She and Gil had looked up from the runes and seen the approach of undead ahead from the leading group. The large passageway allowed for the undead to come in a group of ten across easily. But it wasn't that the undead came in a small group of ten. It was their appearance. The difference in their strength was evident. 

….

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