The Burning Fiend

Reynolds and family spent the next few days relaxing on the courtyard. Rosarie would sit on Reynolds's l.a.p, and they both soon would find themselves lost in their own world while reading their new book that seemed more complicated than the ones they had studied before.

Jenne would be sitting next to Reynolds resting her head on his shoulder while she was also lost reading her new book on poisons, Koral would play the flute while Talia's saint body sat next to her trying to gain insights as she listened to her mother's music.

Not far from them, Talia's earth avatar seemed to be on a light trance as she followed Windsor instruction while sculpting a velocidragon from a boulder. The sound of metal clashing against rock seemed strangely harmonious with Koral's music making setting a peaceful environment on the garden. There were no external sounds as Rosarie had placed and runic array to avoid interruptions guaranteeing that their insights would not be lost.

Catherine and Talia's fire avatar were perusing the cookbooks with a light smile on their faces, Catherine was merely curious but Talia seemed a little more interested and considering trying a few dishes. She decided to take her father's word and ask him to find a chef for them, she could learn easier this way and would not have to shoulder the pressure of their high expectations for delicious food.

Rosarie and Reynolds were perplexed as the runic array the were studying was completely different to the normal application they were used to. It was an attack formation, the runes were imprinted on the armor and linked through divine power that would connect four combatants to work as one. They would not be able to use the Elemental Laws or the Edicts while being part of the attack formation, but their divine power would create a powerful energy construct that, when powered by Gods, could resist the attack of Highgods without problem and could easily destroy a Highgod with mere physical attacks.

Reynolds first thought was that his wives could use the attack formation under Rosarie's direction without problem and protect themselves effectively, he decided that they would use a group of bandits to try it out during their travel to the Crystal Cave City. But then he started to wonder if he could use the attack formation while using fire constructs. 'Perhaps if I understand the array completely I might make some modifications and create powerful attacks formations without needing help from others to power the array'. He was already imagining how powerful his Ba-Serpent construct could become if he used an attack formation.

"Perhaps it would pay out to spend some time on this idea..." He muttered to himself as his eyes shinned with curiosity. Following the instructions to create and sue the attack formation would not be very difficult, but understanding how it worked would be a complete different project. Reynolds was determined to follow through, at times he felt that understanding runic arrays seemed akin to understand how the universe worked, he chuckled at his crazy idea and thought. 'Whatever keeps you motivated, eh?'

---

A few days later Reynolds had received an invitation from the City Lord, and he felt curiosity about it, it would be the first time that a City Lord would try to establish friendship or ask something from him. He arrived to the City Lord Mansion and found it to his liking, it was not excessively luxurious and had an air of simple practicality aiding to the aesthetic feeling.

He was received and guided by a maid to a room that served as office for the City Lord and perhaps as well as an informal meeting place, the City Lord was waiting for him and smiled when he entered the room. "Welcome, friend. My name is Atrius, I hope you don't mind but I heard of your arrival and felt curiosity... it is not every day that you can meet another 7-star Fiend in friendly terms".

Reynolds knew that his statement was not entirely true, but it was sincere enough. So he smiled and said. "Well met Atrius, my name is Reynolds. I guess that it would be the first time for me in which a have friendly meeting with another 7-star Fiend". Atrius smiled, this was the first time that Reynolds had used his name since arriving to the Infernal Realm, even when he registered for the Fiend Trials or after his registration as a Fiend, he had only used a number as a reference.

Not that he was trying to be mysterious, but he saw no reason to reveal information about himself. Atrius took this as gesture of friendship and the meeting turned more cordial immediately. "I invited you with the intention of having a friendly sparring match and hoping to make a friend, one never knows when having a good friend would be useful. I have a little present for you". He took a couple of ancient looking books from his desk and gave them to Reynolds.

"I obtained this books a few decades ago, but I have no talent for runes... I heard that you were looking for rare books on runic arrays and poisons, perhaps this would be useful to you". Reynolds smiled sincerely as he instantly knew that this book would be important for him, the first one was about attack formations while the second approached the topic of using runic arrays to strengthen artifacts.

"I think this two books would be of great use to me, I am sincerely grateful. And I will be happy to have a sparring session with you". Reynolds had to suppress the urge to go back to the courtyard and start perusing the books. Atrius chuckled as he saw that Reynolds was really happy with his gift and realized that he was very young.

The reports said that he had arrived at the Infernal Realm around 500 years ago, but he was already strong when he arrived and even killed a couple of guards of the Jadefloat Army as soon as he arrived to the Infernal Realm for insulting his family. So most people thought that he had lived thousands of years in a lower plane before 'ascending', now he was sure that he was treating with a child that had not lived a thousand years and felt surprised and a little depressed as he realized that a kid was already stronger than he.

He laughed at his own inadequacy, this kid had already made a good impression on him. He wondered if Daliarc was wise or just lucky...

A few hour later, both Reynolds and Atrius were floating a few thousand kilometers outside the city. Atrius moved at high speed having fusing the laws of 'Velocity', 'Sound', 'Wind Essence' and 'Wind Walking', every time he moved the space seemed to resonate with a distracting sound that affected the Reynolds's perception.

(A/N- velocity = fast + slow, sound = music + sound waves)

Reynolds smiled surprised as Atrius seemed to teleport and thought that it had to be related to the mystery of 'Wind Walking', he was doing something similar to what he did with his fire constructs when teleporting... but Atrius seemed to be able to do it with air itself, and to make matters more complicated... the laws of sound created a distortion that, while it could not affect his soul or body, messed with his perception making following his moves a more difficult task.

He felt fascinated by how skillful Atrius was, he had applied the fusion of the laws into a perfect attack based on speed and his moves were difficult to follow with divine sense, perhaps his attack would not be impressive in power but with this speed would be difficult to defeat him without using killing moves.

Reynolds smirked and turned into a Ba-Serpent, the entire fire construct was made by the incomplete fusion of the four laws that he had managed to control and 'blessed' with his purple flames. The snake seemed to pulsate distorting space, Atrius had tried to get close to attack, but he instantly felt the effect of the soul attack only by getting closer, and the instant that his dagger 'cut' the body of the snake he felt how the effect of the soul attack increased in intensity.

This ever present soul attack worked as an impregnable defense making Atrius sweat in disbelief as he protected his soul for the burning flames that were now present in his sea of consciousness and seemed impossible to extinguish. Atrius understood that Reynolds was close to complete the fusion of the four laws, but he grinding his teeth thinking that he was only a God. 'What are those purple flames? Innate ability?'

"In a few decades he would manage to fuse the four laws and, just by adding his purple flame, he might reach the level of an Asura!" He muttered in disbelief and thanked the heavens that he had not come to challenge him for the rule of the city.

Since he could not approach, Atrius could only attack with mid range and long distance strategies without much effect. He realized that Reynolds perfectly countered his fighting style and decided to develop more powerful attacks to avoid similar situations on the futures.

"Reynolds, I'm ashamed but I have to admit that I cannot do anything to you..." Atrius said depressed while Reynolds recovered his human form and responded. "Well, I cannot do anything to you either even if I seem to have complete advantage... I was not able to touch you even once, you could escape from me with ease as long as you manage to resist a few soul attacks".

Reynolds was frustrated as well realizing that speed was a problem for him, perhaps this would be solved once he managed to add the mystery of 'explosion' to his battle prowess. But that would not make a difference until he managed to fuse it with another three laws, this battle turned out to be quite educational for him as well.

They returned to the city while discussing their battle and giving each other a few ideas of how to improve thinking of their previous experiences fighting people with similar skill sets.