The Burning Fiend

A year has passed since Reynolds and his family left the peak of the mountain over Crystal Cave City, the winged serpent shaped metallic life form was flying at high speed over a beautiful and calm violet sea, though they have never experienced a cloudless day during this time, and they easily understood that the Starmist name came from this.

The clouds and mist, accompanying the violet never-ending waters, were a mixture of white and silver but from time to time the clouds would concentrate forming giant tornadoes that produced powerful lightning that would easily kill a 5-star Fiend in a single hit.

They have not gotten caught in one of this terrible storms and their travel continued smoothly to the point of boredom. Reynolds knew that the bandits on the area near the Bloodridge Continent were eliminated by a powerful 7-star Fiend during the last century, making the area safe if one were to ignore the powerful and deadly storms.

They were traveling toward Miluo Island, that was an independent area free from the control of the sovereign armies. Still, the city had its own army that allowed the place to flourish in commerce, due to be the entry point to the Bloodridge Continent from both Jadefloat and Redbud Continents, and tourism, due to the peculiarities of the island itself. Reynolds was curious about the 'Arena' where powerful combatants could battle to the death, but he did not have any expectations there as he could not imagine that even a 6-star Fiend would participate in that sort of spectacle willingly.

His hope was directed at the thought that Miluo Island was a great hub of commerce and the traffic of people going in or out of the Bloodridge Continent would mostly pass through the island. Reynolds planned to look for rare books on runic arrays, refining and crafting techniques. He smiled as his daughter finally made a move on the chess board, she had hesitated for 10 hours but was unable to escape his previously well-placed trap, though he was indeed surprised that she had managed to minimize her loses.

Talia did not seem amused though and was frowning unwilling to give up, he enjoyed this games and remember that he could win so easily during the first years they started playing. But now, he had to dedicate his full attention and ended with as many victories as defeats, he admitted that it was more enjoyable this way.

---

Reynolds had not departed immediately after his last battle with Alfont and Kendrics, so the recording orbs were moving ahead of him through the different information channels. One of these orbs reached the hands of the master of Miluo Island, Mosi who was a Commander forthe Planar Wars and his level is equal to that of an Asura.

He mostly trained the Edicts of Death, but what made him a troublesome opponent was his Titan bloodline. His 2.5 meters tall body and his strength were terrifying and along with his mastery of the Edicts of Death, made him into a peak Asura. He was a clear example of using his innate abilities along with the mastery of the Laws, or in his case... Edicts. Mosi felt excited as he watched the reproduction of the battle with the recording orb, he liked the fighting style of the purple haired kid and Mosi was excited at the idea of battling with him.

But what really surprised him was Reynolds's mastery on runic arrays as he could identify immediately that he was using an innate ability, perhaps obtained by his soul mutation, along with the runic array to battle two powerful Asuras at the same time with complete advantage. Mosi knew that he could not defeat the behemoth, but he would not be easily defeated either.

He smiled and muttered to himself. "I really want to meet this kid, and it seems that I might not need wait much longer... if he really is travelling toward the Bloodridge Continent, then he must pass through my island". He smirked with expectation and sent instructions to his slaves though the telepathic link.

'Make sure that the army and all the clans pay attention to the arrival of the Burning Fiend, I don't want any meaningless confrontation... This includes all those idiotic young masters, you are allowed to subdue them without mercy if they were to cause trouble. I want to be informed of his arrival immediately'.

He ignored the many responses acknowledging his command and took p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e on their feelings of delight for receiving direct instructions from their Master and be able to serve him. Mosi loved the feeling of controlling others, specially their meek responses after being reduced to simple and obedient slaves from the arrogant and prideful combatants they used to be.

---

Reynolds was looking at the distance with a slight frown on his brow, he could see how the mixture of silver and white started turning dark as the clouds coalesced into the biggest tornado they had yet to see within the Starmist Sea. He understood that this was a different kind of storm and that they would not be able to avoid it at the speed that their metallic life form could fly.

His family was already prepared, and they were looking at the humbling might of the natural powers while standing next to him, they were not worried... just slightly inconvenienced. Reynolds chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt and said. "I know I said that traversing the Starmist Sea was boring, but there was really no need for this".

Talia looked at him for a moment and then turned her attention to the storm, she was curious about the lightning but knew that her request would be denied as it was too dangerous to approach such a storm to try gaining insights on the Elemental Laws. She had managed to create a darkness avatar during their stay at the Crystal Cave City, Talia was excited as she was one step closer to her goals. She was still missing her earth, lighting and light avatars, and only her fire avatar was at the God level, but she was in no hurry.

Reynolds noticed her curiosity and smiled but suddenly the metallic life form trembled dangerously, and he sighed unwilling to lose his favorite metallic life form. "The metallic life form would not be able to resist the wind and lightning much longer, it will be better to collect it and travel on our own until we leave the storm". Jenne looked at him with worry as she did not have any way to survive the current wind and lightning without help and it seemed that things would only get worse.

He noticed she was looking at him with misty eyes and smiled. "Don't worry, I would be the one doing the work, you lovely girls just need to stay near me". A moment later, they left the metallic life form and Reynolds storage it within his interspatial ring. He took four bracelets and created four flame doppelgangers that surrounded him along with the 5 women.

Soon they were encased within a sea of purple flames while the attack formation activated creating a Ba-Serpent construct. The five women suddenly found that they were no longer floating but standing on an invisible floor, they had experienced similar situations while training with the attack formations, so they adapted quickly.

They found delighted that the flame construct was translucent if viewed from the inside while they already knew that from the outside was impossible to look what was inside the attack formation. Rosarie sat cross-legged and the other four women followed her example, they turned their attention toward Reynolds who was also sitting cross-legged a couple of meters from them with his eyes closed as he became the brain and soul of the Ba-Serpent.

The flame construct then turned to look at the storm in the distance and advanced toward its center with the intention to experience its power directly. Talia's eyes lightened up when she realized that she would have a chance of gaining insights on the mystery of 'Lightning Essence' and smiled brightly.

The Ba-Serpent moved with leisure toward the storm ignoring the lightning and wind that seemed offended by the behemoth approaching and retaliated without mercy. But the power of the attack formation was not something a mere storm could contain or damage, and after a couple of hours they finally arrived at the center of the storm where the serpent coiled itself unaffected by the terrifying scenery.

There was no wind or lighting within the center of the storm, all the destruction seemed to move outwards and Reynolds and his family stayed there for while taking in the view. They could not say that the view was beautiful as they could only see dark clouds moving at high speed while encircling them, and the lightning being expelled outwards, even the violet sea below them had formed a whirlpool creating a scene worthy of a nightmare.

Talia's eyes were shinning as she took her recording orb hoping to use it to gain insights later on before calming herself and concentrated all her attention to engrave the lightning aura in her memory and soul. After half an hour, the Ba-Serpent started moved again and clashed against the inner wall of the giant tornado breaking through it without effort. Reynolds continued flying toward their destination and his speed was higher than the one their metallic life form could use, he was using the opportunity to test the limits of the attack formation and a smile was forming on his lips as the serpent increased its speed once again without causing any disturbance inside the construct nor causing any damage to the structure of the runic array.

(A/N- Guys, it took me a little longer to get my ideas together for the new arc... I had forgotten that the Amethyst Mountains were located within the Redbud Continent and not the Bloodridge Continent and that messed up my plans a little. Anyway... things should go back to normal now.)