Chapter 214: Talking To Flare [1]
Damon left Alena at the valley’s edge and walked toward the flames.
The heat pressed against him like a physical wall, but his Incubus Dragon Lord bloodline adapted quickly. His skin absorbed the warmth rather than burning under it.
The flames parted as he approached, as if recognizing something in him.
He reached the stone platform where Flare sat.
She didn’t open her eyes.
"Leave," she said. Her voice was low, steady, carrying the weight of someone used to being obeyed.
"I’m not here to fight," he said.
"Then you’re wasting my time."
She still didn’t move. The flames around her rose higher, responding to her irritation.
He stepped onto the platform.
Her eyes snapped open.
They burned with the same orange light as the fire around her. Her pupils were vertical slits, like a serpent’s, and they fixed on him with predatory intensity.
"I said leave," she repeated.
"You heard me the first time."
"I heard you," he said. "I chose not to listen."
She rose to her feet in a single fluid motion. The flames around her surged, forming a protective barrier between them.
"I don’t know who you think you are," she said. "But I didn’t come to this realm to make friends. I came to get stronger."
"So did I," he said simply.
The words hung between them in the heat-warped air, carrying neither challenge nor apology.
"Then we have nothing to discuss."
She turned her back on him with the casual finality of someone who had ended a hundred conversations the same way, her fiery hair catching the ambient glow of the surrounding flames as she settled back into her stance.
He didn’t move.
He didn’t speak immediately either.
He simply stood there on the edge of the stone platform with his golden eyes tracing the flow of spiritual energy around her body, watching the way it moved through her with the detached interest of someone noticing a flaw in otherwise excellent craftsmanship.
"You’re cultivating wrong," he said at last.
The words fell into the silence like a stone dropped into still water.
She stopped.
The flames around her flickered once, disrupted by the faint break in her concentration.
A long, taut moment passed.
Then, with a slowness that carried its own particular kind of menace, she turned back to face him. Her serpentine pupils had contracted to thin, sharp slivers, and her expression carried the full weight of someone who was not accustomed to being told anything of the sort.
"Excuse me?" The two words came out low and precise, each one clipped at the edges like the snap of an ember.
"Your fire affinity is high grade," he said.
"But you’re forcing the energy through your meridians instead of letting it flow naturally. You’re wasting at least forty percent of what you absorb."
Her eyes narrowed.
"And you know this how?"
"I can see it."
He activated his Incubus Celestial Eyes briefly, letting the golden patterns shift in his irises.
She stared at him for a long moment.
"You’re that Damon," she said finally, the sharp edge in her voice giving way to something quieter and more calculating. "The one who defeated Kai Reventon in the selection."
"I am."
Her gaze moved across him with the slow, deliberate assessment of someone recalibrating an earlier assumption.
"I heard you used a black sword. Something spatial, they were saying. A technique nobody recognized."
"That’s right."
The silence that followed had a different quality to it than the one before.
The hostility was still there, coiled just beneath the surface, but it had been joined now by something else.
"What do you want with me?" she asked.
"To offer you a deal."
Her chin lifted a fraction. "I don’t make deals with strangers. Especially ones who walk up uninvited and start pointing out my flaws."
The corner of his mouth curved, unhurried. "Then let’s not be strangers for long."
He sat down on the stone platform, crossing his legs.
She watched him warily but didn’t attack.
"The tournament isn’t just about individual strength," he said.
"The Eastern Continent Tournament will have team rounds. We’ll need to work together eventually."
"I work alone."
"That’s your choice. But the other representatives will be from my group. Ariel, the Nightrider twins, Seraphina. They all follow my lead."
Her eyes flashed.
"Are you threatening me?"
"I’m informing you."
He met her gaze without flinching.
"The realm gives us a hundred days inside. That’s plenty of time to build trust. Or to waste it."
She was silent for a long moment.
The flames around her flickered, then slowly died down.
She sat down across from him.
"What’s the deal?" she asked, her voice carrying a scepticism, as though she had heard a thousand empty promises before and had no patience left for another.
"I help you cultivate more efficiently. In return, you join our group for the duration of the tournament."
She waited, as if expecting something more — some hidden clause or predatory condition lurking beneath the simplicity of his words.
"That’s it?"
"That’s it."
A beat of silence passed between them. Then she laughed — a short, sharp sound, all edges and no warmth, like a branch snapping clean in two.
"You expect me to believe you’re doing this out of kindness?"
"I expect you to believe I’m doing this because a strong team benefits everyone."
She studied him again, her orange eyes searching for deception.
He held her gaze without blinking.
"One condition," she said finally.
"Name it."
"If you try anything... inappropriate... I’ll burn you to ash."
He smiled.
"Fair enough."
She extended her hand.
He took it.
Her grip was firm, her skin hot to the touch.
"Flare," she said.
"Damon."
They released.
"Now," she said.
"You said I’m cultivating wrong. Prove it."
He reached into his storage ring and pulled out a jade slip.
"This is a technique I found in the temple. It’s called the Ninefold Body Tempering Art. It’s designed to optimize elemental absorption."
He tossed it to her.
She caught it and pressed it to her forehead.
Her eyes widened.
"This is... this is Saint Grade."
"Keep it."
She stared at him.
"Why would you give me this?"
"Because I want you become strong."
She didn’t respond.
She just looked at the jade slip in her hand, then back at him.
"You’re strange," she said finally.
"I’ve been told that before."