Chapter 92: Flaming Princess, But Without the Flames
The Hestia charged.
It didn’t wait at the edge of the bridge the way Eleanor’s plan had accounted for. It simply surged forward across the narrow bridge at full speed, the bridge shuddering beneath its massive paws, and alarm swept through the assembled Faction as the survivors watched the creature close the distance far faster than something its size would move.
"It’s crossing the bridge!" someone shouted, and the fighters stationed in front began to waver.
"Hold formation!" Eleanor’s voice cut through the rising panic, commanding despite the anxiety flashing across her face. "Let it come to us."
The Hestia cleared the last stretch of the bridge and landed directly in front of the assembled front line, its four massive legs planted wide across the ground as it came to a halt.
The beast in front of them had a lion-like body that seemed to swell with power each time it breathed. Its mane burned in living flame, casting a harsh orange light across the ground.
Eleanor’s eyes met the beast and a moment of silence fell before it roared.
Its jaws parted in a roar that rattled through Lucas’s chest, loud enough to send the nearest line of survivors stumbling backward in terror.
It lunged.
The front line scattered and reformed at once, fighters darting aside to avoid the initial charge while others closed ranks to shield the survivors still funneling back toward the column’s center.
Bertram’s machete flashed, carving a shallow line along the creature’s flank as it passed, and Iris’s arrows sang through the air in rapid succession, most bouncing harmlessly off its thick, flaming hide.
Lucas surged forward, [Ignition] already roaring in his mind, fists raised...
[ERROR]
His eyes widened.
[Skill: Ignition has failed to be Activated.]
"Shit!"
The flame died before it caught fully, and Lucas’s stomach dropped as he was already in front of the beast.
"C’mon. Not now." He skidded to a halt, staring at his own useless fists as the Hestia reeled back toward the front line, preparing to strike.
"Come on, work, WORK!" He waved his arms frantically in the air but nothing answered.
"Work you son of a bitch!"
Still, no answer. The skill sat dead and silent, no stutter, no flicker, just absence where fire should have been and Lucas waving his arms so wildly that it looked more like he was doing a silly dance.
Lucas felt panic settle into his chest as he turned his head desperately trying to think of something.
.
’No flames equals no fists. I need something else and I need it fast.’
His gaze landed on the nearest weapon he could find — a discarded sword, dropped by some fighter already retreating to the centre, already losing his nerve.
However, instead of Lucas to feel relieved, he felt like he was in deeper shit that actually being in front of a Hestia.
’Of course. Of course it’s this.’
He picked the weapon and scowled, feeling the familiar, unwelcomed weight of it in his hands.
’Shit, better than nothing I guess...’
The Hestia lunged again, and Lucas barely got the blade up in time, the impact of its swiping paw jarring straight through his arms hard enough to nearly wrench the sword from his grip entirely.
"Lucas!" Eleanor yelled, her voice, sharp with alarm, and she was already moving, her own blade of living flame igniting as she sprinted across the battlefield to reach him.
Mark arrived a half second later from the opposite direction, gauntlets flaring bright as he planted himself directly between Lucas and the beast’s next strike.
"Ignition’s out," Lucas gasped, as he retreated a step, sword trembling in an unprofessional grip. "Stupid system’s acting up again..."
"Cool, cool, very helpful information at a very helpful time," Mark said sarcastically, catching the Hestia’s next swipe on raised gauntlets.
The clashed, his boots skidding backward from the sheer force of it. "So what you’re telling me is you’re currently just Flaming Princess, but without the fire?"
"Now is not the time!"
"I’m just saying, that’s a significant downgrade if you ask me...."
"Mark!"
Eleanor’s blade caught the Hestia’s exposed foreleg, the flame biting deep, and the creature reeled with a furious roar, giving Lucas the moment he desperately needed to reposition himself with the borrowed sword.
"Lucas, defensive only," Eleanor called, driving another strike in before retreating clear of a swipe. "Don’t try to land hits, just don’t die—"
"Easy for you to say!"
The fight went wide across the open ground before the bridge, the Hestia’s raw power forcing the entire front line into a desperate hit and run, Bertram and Iris peeling off to cover the civilians still repositioning toward the safety of the center line, the other fighters who still had the nerve to fight were striking as hard as they could...
As far as anyone knew, they needed to stay clear till someone came up with something, or, at the very least, gave them an opening.
Lucas fought purely defensively, blocking and parrying with the technique Eleanor had drilled into him over their brief sparring session as best as he could, enough to survive but nowhere close to enough to actually contribute meaningfully to the fight.
Every block sent a fresh shock of pain up through his arms, and more than once the sword nearly slipped from his grip entirely under the sheer force of the Hestia’s attacks.
"You’re doing great!" Mark called, not helpfully in the slightest, as he caught another swipe with his gauntlets. "Very defensive! Very graceful."
"Fuck you!"
Eleanor pressed her own assault relentlessly, blade finding opening after opening along the creature’s flank with each strike drawing it further from Lucas and toward her own more capable offense.
The Hestia’s roars grew increasingly furious, thrashing wide, forcing even Mark’s steady defense to falter slightly against the weight of its assault.
Lucas caught a blow across his forearm mid-block, the beast’s paw tearing shallow into his sleeve as he mistimed the block
He hissed through gritted teeth, forcing himself back into position despite.
’Damn it!’
He threw a desperate, instinctive punch at the creature’s exposed shoulder as it turned, more out of pure reflex than any conscious decision, and his eyes widened as he realized that his bare hands was about to meet living flame...
Flame exploded around his fist instead.
[Ding!]
[Skill: Ignition has been activated]
"Fucking finally!" Lucas nearly laughed as relief crashed through his body.
He threw the sword aside and slammed his knuckles together, the flame roaring up his arm.
"Oh, yeah."
"Oh, thank god," Mark said, sagging with mock relief even as he caught another strike on his gauntlets. "The flaming princess returns!"
"Fuck you, Mark"
The Hestia reared back for another charge, and this time, Lucas met it head on, flame roaring stable around both fists as he ran forward alongside Eleanor and Mark.
He caught another strike, sparks of flame flying in the air as a smirk formed on his face...
"Let’s get this thing over with..."