Elemental Cats

Back in the cell that Dyra and Yill put him in after they kidnapped him and the cats, Toz hadn't had any outside interference when he melted the cell walls. He had been allowed to completely block out everything else and freely sink into his fire magic using his mana vision.

But now, Toz was in a much larger room. One that wasn't cut off from the rest of the world. There were also boatloads of enemies trying to attack him with their weapons or with magic that he didn't know how it worked. The conditions were far less optimal than they had been in his cell.

However, Toz had after he broke out of his cell. His understanding of fire had deepened, his mana had reached a new level, and his mind and mana vision had improved and grown stronger.

There was also the fact that Toz was more desperate in his current situation. Although he desperately wanted to get out of his cell back then, he wasn't in a position where he would absolutely end up dead if he failed.

The situation Toz was in now was a little different. There were uncountable ways that Toz could die from if he made even the slightest misstep.

A sword could nick his Achilles tendon and force him to the ground, after which he would be left unable to defend himself against the onslaught of attacks and magic that would follow. Or maybe he would be so overwhelmed by the shower of magic attacks that he missed a spell that disrupted his casting and left him vulnerable. He could also end up with no mana before the enemies die.

However, nothing good would come from worrying and building up reckless amounts of anxiety, so Toz cleared his mind and focused on the fire surrounding him.

The flames and heat had come become a solid defense since they even disrupted the magic attacks that came his way. But it was unfortunately not enough.

The fire wasn't aggressive or fast enough to catch the armors and mages, who could just step back and attack Toz from beyond his reach. Even if they didn't attack him, they could just step back and wait until Toz ran out of mana, which he was sure to do.

Toz managed to replenish some mana with the creased blanket method. But not enough to make up for how much keeping the sea of fire alive drained. The only solace he had was that it took less mana to maintain the fire after he increased the temperature enough to melt the metal scraps on the floor that remained from the first wave.

However, he would still run out of mana sooner or later. And since he couldn't decrease the number of enemies waiting for him to do just that, he would be swarmed by more followers of Death than he could count.

After thinking about it, Toz came up with two ways he could go about it if he wanted to defeat all his enemies using only fire magic. Or maybe he had to do both things.

As Toz thought more about it, he realized that either of the two things he came up with wouldn't be enough. He would have to do both if he wanted to get out alive by defeating all his enemies.

Both ideas Toz came up with carried risks, especially the second one. But they were also the only two ways he felt would succeed, and only if he combined them.

The only problem came with figuring out the details. How much fire should he use? And how much mana could he and his mana core withstand? Toz once again realized that he wasn't entirely sane as he started to execute his ideas.

There were too many variables on the battlefield and within the Fortress of Death for him to calculate everything. And Toz would much rather follow his instincts and feeling instead of trying to overcomplicate things.

Toz was still a little anxious even after he cleared his mind and started spreading his flames like wildfire. But he held onto that anxiety. It was what would hopefully save his life, after all.

Under Toz's control and urging, the flames and fires grew and surged furiously. The sea of flames became a raging storm of fire that gradually began threatening to spread to the entire Fortress of Death.

The chamber was still sturdy enough to contain most of the flames and heat, at least for now. With how quickly the temperature and range of Toz's flames grew, not even the chamber would be safe for much longer.

But before the chamber fell to the flames, there was still one way out that the fire could follow.

Toz's wildfire spilled out of the archway and into the hallway like a tsunami and burned the armors and mages until not even ash remained.

Toz felt the Fortress of Death begin to fight back and try to subdue the flames. But Toz didn't buckle. He had already decided to go all in. He had already used stupendous amounts of mana to fuel his fire. What would the Fortress's defenses matter if he used even more?

Toz's fire swept through the hallways of the Fortress, burning enemies and walls all the same. It also burned through his mana far beyond what he could hope to recover using the creased blanket method, but Toz didn't care. He was counting on it.

Eventually, the Fortress' walls began melting and dripping to the floor. It was a sturdy building made for defense, but it wasn't prepared for the eruption of fire from within. And it was also a building made for the proxy war. It wasn't meant to be indestructible and to last forever. It just had to be good enough for the duration of the war. However, that wasn't enough to block Toz's fires, and they continued to ravage through the Fortress.

Eventually, the death mages, hollow knights, zombies, and every other servant of Death stopped heading toward the Fountain of Death. It was entirely useless to even try and reach it. But that wasn't why they changed direction.

Although the mages and some other servants of Death had will and consciousness, they weren't all at the same level, and if someone of a higher rank ordered them, they had to obey. That was why they headed toward another location of the Fortress instead.

The legions of undead swarmed toward the location where Toz had sensed the spatial fluctuations come from. Not that Toz was aware since all he heard and saw were the flames raging around him.