Chapter 1678: To Live Another’s Life
"There’s nothing heavier than the weight of a life. Especially when said life was used to save another’s."
-The musings of a father to a martyr.
...
It was instant.
Faster than instant.
Serena had opened the door and saw that the Erupting Dawn Emperor and her sister were locked in battle against a strange figure that looked less like a person and more like a living flame.
And as soon as she opened the door, she found herself on the floor as a strange feeling of coldness was filling her limbs as she felt warmth blooming from her stomach like a flower.
Dying.
She was dying.
The robed intruder had blasted her in the stomach to distract Alfina and the Emperor long enough to turn things around.
Whilst dying, Serena could only watch as the strange being tossed Alfina aside like a ragdoll while sinking fiery tendrils into the Emperor’s head...before disappearing entirely.
Whether or not the flaming being had fused with the Erupting Dawn Emperor or disappeared into smoke didn’t really matter to Serena at the moment.
Death had a funny way of causing one to lose focus on their surroundings. That is, unless something or someone got real close to the dying person.
And in this case, Serena could see her big sister looming over her dying form.
Through her fading vision, she could see that Alfina was wreathed in sparks of the [Sacred Flame], its holy power healing the injuries that she had amassed while fighting the intruder. Although, there was a strange slowness to the healing that she didn’t notice at the time.
"A-alfina...I’m...so..."
"Save your energy," Alfina said with surprising vigor and an odd smile despite her own injuries. "You’re going to need it for this next part."
"N-next part? What are you..."
The next thing Serena knew, Alfina began to channel the power of the [Sacred Flame] directly into her broken body. The power of the flame began to stitch together and heal the wound that had been inflicted upon her...but alas, it wasn’t enough.
The earlier treatment of the Erupting Dawn Emperor, the battle with the intruder, and the injuries Alfina had sustained had more or less drained the Hearth Tender of most of her energy.
At this point in time, the [Sacred Flame] could only stall Serena’s final moments...unless...
"Serena...I’m sorry I won’t be able to go to the beach with you after all," Alfina began to say, her eyes glowing with the light of the [Sacred Flame]. "Take care."
"W-wait, Alfina...don’t..."
But it was too late.
Despite her pleas, despite her not wanting her sister to die for own folly, Serena was forced to watch as Alfina transferred the [Sacred Flame] from herself into her.
This process saved her life...but doomed her sister at the same time.
The overwhelming healing force of the act rendered her unconscious...but she could still in the fading light of her eyes, her sister starting to succumb to her own wounds.
...And now, the present...
"Right...that’s what happened that night," Serena said to herself "The [Flame of Ambition] pulled the trigger, but I was the one who helped him get to that point."
As this revelation dawned upon Serena, she also figured out the real reason why the [Sacred Flame] had been "sleeping".
"You weren’t sleeping because you were weakened from the encounter. You were sleeping because you’re just as guilty as I was feeling this entire time..." Serena said as she summoned a fireball in her hands.
The ball of [Sacred Flame] felt more vigorous than it had before now, probably due to the presence of the [Hearth Tender Trio], but there was also a touch of somberness to it.
Serena stared at the ball in her hands for a few moments before taking a deep breath and coming to a rather important conclusion.
"Neither of us are to blame of Alfina’s death," Serena told the fire that was burning inside of her. "The fucker who did is down there currently sobbing crocodile tears of burning ichor. I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking we should get some pay back."
As if understanding her sentiment, the fireball in her hand suddenly grew hotter and brighter.
"Good," Serena smiled as she dismissed the flame and drew forth the [Hearth Tender Trio].
"Well, might as well go all out..."
...Okay, now let’s get to the fun part...
[Fuck! I didn’t—sob!—know I would be affected by own—sob!—move too!]
When Infernola had used [Sorrow Note], he fully anticipated the attack to render the kaijin useless.
He had learned from the knowledge from the people he had absorbed that the kaijin had a surprising amount of weirdly specific weaknesses, but he only had access to one that could be used in this moment.
Unfortunately for him, he failed to realize that since he was technically in the body of a kaijin, it made him just as vulnerable to those exact same weaknesses.
Then again, it was possible he was feeling like this because he hadn’t fully integrated with Copper’s body quite yet.
Unfortunately, the bastard was able to recover from his own attack a bit sooner than the other kaijin or Zhen Liu.
[Bah! Okay, once I kill these guys and take control I’ll take my time to—]
"[Phoenix Feather Storm!]"
[What the—GRK?!]
Before Infernola could act, a flurry of burning feathers came falling down on him and perforated his newly acquired body like a pincushion.
These feathers had actually done more damage than anything else up until this point because these feathers weren’t loaded with [Chaos] nor aether.
These feathers were enhanced with the [Sacred Flame], aka, Infernola’s progenitor.
[Did that bitch finally get the nerve to—]
[Sacred Flame Spear!]
[What the—?!]
Before Infernola could complain or retaliate, Serena was on him like...well, a house on fire.
She had gotten in close to the copper bastard, fire poker in hand like she was wielding a spear.
But she wasn’t aiming to stab Infernola, she was aiming to smash the fire poker over their head like a hammer.
An explosion of power rung out as the flaming fire poker made contact with Infernola’s metallic arms. The metallic fucker managed to block the attack in time, but the flames were still vicious enough to melt and distort him.
[Oh wow, and here I thought the fact that I’m inside the body of your friend would cause you to pause,] Infernola darkly chuckled as he pushed back against the burning poker. [But I suppose someone who essentially allowed their only family to be killed would be that cold-hearted.]
"..."
Serena didn’t respond to this obvious provocation, at least in a verbal manner.
Instead, she cranked up the heat and increased the pressure she was putting down on Infernola.
Needless to say, he wasn’t expecting this level of aggression.
[Whoa! Where the hell is all this power coming from?!]
"You want to know?" Serena asked, the venom in her voice as obvious as stripes on a zebra. "You really want to know?"
Infernola didn’t even get a chance to answer before Serena decided it was her turn to monologue.
"Realistically, it’s because I’m using the [Hearth Tender Trio] for it’s intended purpose and empowering the [Sacred Flame] inside of me back to the power it once had when it was owned by the very first Hearth Tender."
[Sure as fuck feels like it,] Infernola agreed as he did his best to push back against the fire poker. [Oh it’s going to be sweet once I get my hands on them, I just know it!]
Infernola spoke hot shit, but Serena could sense the worry bubbling in the inhuman figure’s voice.
"But my personal answer is that I’m channeling the collective grief of myself and the [Sacred Flame] itself. If you’re an offshoot born from hubris and ambition, than the [Sacred Flame] inside of me is now fueled by my rage, my sorrow, and every last bit of regret I’ve had leading up to this moment."
As if the universe was agreeing with this sentiment, the floor underneath Infernola began to crack and crater even further.
"And you want to know something great? Something hilarious?" Serena asked in a sardonic tone of voice.
"What?" Infernola spat back, his voice losing the ease it had just moments ago.
"I haven’t even used all three yet."
[What?!]
As soon as this answered registered in Infernola’s non-existent brain, Serena immediately summoned the [Everburning Coal Stone] and the [Hearth Tender’s Bellows] and activated their respective effects.
The former embedded itself into Serena’s [Regalia], causing her full body armor to take on a burning quality and glow with even more power than before. As for the latter, it somehow attached itself to the burning fire poker in Serena’s hand and caused the blaze coming off of it to almost triple in strength.
It was a this point in time, that Infernola fully comprehended that he was absolutely fucked.
[Wait, wait, wait! There’s a deal we can make. I know a way to bring back the—]
POW!
Before Infernola could run his mouth, he got clocked in the face.
Hard.