The Burning Fiend

Reynolds made his way to the secret training room to avoid interruptions during his breakthrough, he couldn't help but feel excited. He felt more excited than 5 years ago when he became a saint warrior, in his understanding a greater change would occur within his soul.

He entered the secret training room and seated on the stone bed trying to empty his mind of emotions and thoughts waiting for his magical essence to baptize his soul and then acc.u.mulated within his body. After half an hour he felt his soul trembling and had a fantastic feeling as his soul left his body and hovered over it before starting taking the form a flaming tree, he was surprised as he did not have reference from other saints and could not understand if the shape a soul takes during the breakthrough to a saint magus had any meaning. 'I will have to find a saint magus and ask this questions...'

Then his soul descended gently and merged again with his body, the baptism of the soul was completed and now he only needed to wait for the magical essence acc.u.mulate within his body to finish his breakthrough. He could feel as the fire, life and death magic essences entered his body and finally reached the necessary acc.u.mulation. He felt his magical essence resonating with his soul and knew that he had become a saint magus at least.

Then without any warning his body was engulfed in purple flames producing a moment of panic on him before remembering that he had experienced something similar with his life and death magic reached the 7th rank. He could feel how these purple flames nurtured his body and soul and started burning anything not useful within.

He lost track of time and had a fantastic moment of enlightenment getting a glimpse of the role that fire had on the cycle of life and death. Fire burned the forest destroying it, but the ashes became nutrients to the land and years later a new forest would grew from them, a continuation of life...

When he opened his eyes again he realized that the purple flames were fading away after a couple of hours of refining his body and soul. He extended his spiritual perception to study and understand the changes on his body. His appearance had changed slightly, his hair used to be black with some touches of red now the red had changed into purple but it would only be noticed under the direct light of the sun or if someone pay particular attention to it.

His height and body shape remained the same but he could feel that his flesh was stronger, he was not sure as he had no comparison but it seemed that his flesh was near the saint level. He would not be able to compare to Linley and much less with the Baker brothers after their transformation but a normal saint would not be his opponent in pure body strength.

Finlay, he noticed that his qi had changed from pure fire into purple fire just like his magical essence had when he reached the 7th rank as a magus. Excited he decided to try if there was any difference if he powered his battle techniques with this new qi and decided to left the secret room, but before he passed through the strange black substance that connected this place with the Yulan Continent he smiled and extended his left arm penetrating the passage to try the strength of his body. He felt pain in his arm and retrieved after a few seconds, there were a few scratches but no real damage he understood that his body was strong but it might not reach the level of a saint level magical beast, he turned himself into purple fire and exited the secret room and made his way out of the castle.

He floated over the air and his body divided into 10 purple feathers and another 100 feather were created from the fire elements within the air an slowly turned into purple as they were connected to his own body through the fusion of mysteries so he could feel complete control over the 110 purple feathers and move like a cloud without any effort.

He recovered his body and laughed out loud for a while in excitement as his strength after the breakthrough was greater than he thought it would be, he did not understand how this mutation worked but he was sure that it was due to that accident when he became a rank 1 death magician.

After calming himself and realizing that he was n.a.k.e.d, he took some gray training pants from his space ring and wore them. 'I need to spend a few days familiarizing with the changes and my new power realm before going to play with a few saints and make my way to the Dowson Conglomerate to get the fire type saint level spells. It would be nice to met with eldest brother, I wonder if he found a woman already?'

He made his way towards the ground were Koral's fire body was sparring with Windsor and Jenne, he stayed for a moment observing the three women with a smile. Windsor had not changed at all but her charm seemed to grow along with her power while Jenne looked like a ghostly beauty with her silver hair giving her an air of mystery. Koral on the other hand was a sight to behold, she had created her body taking Jenne and Windsor as templates while adding a few draconic features like her horns and pointed fangs that gave her a wild dangerous atmosphere.

"Ladies, I will be taking a short trip in a few days. I plan to find a few saints to fight and visit the Dowson Conglomerate to get the fire type saint level spells, do you want to come with me?" He asked the girls with a calm smile.

"Master, why wait for a few days? Lets go now! The great Koral wants to fight other saints too!" Jenne and Windsor smiled showing their determination to join the trip, it has been 10 years since the last time they visited a city and the idea was beyond appealing for both of them.

"Well I need to place some runes on the surrounding mountains to avoid trespassers during our absence and I want to try a few things as well... do not worry we will be living in no more than 5 days, ok?" He added as he saw Koral's face full of disappointment and laughed at her antics.

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A few days later a giant dragon made its way through the sky while moving leisurely in the direction of the O'Brien empire looking for a city big enough to have a trade base from the Dowson Conglomerate as Reynolds thought that it might be the best way to get new of what had happened the last 10 years and learn were Yale was.

They were approaching what seemed to be a big city and Reynolds considered for a moment to ask Koral to reduce her size to avoid gathering much attention, but then decided against it. They were still within the Anarchic Lands and it would be rare for saints to be here although he was surprised by the size of the city.

Soon a commotion could be seen as they approached the city, apparently the people had already noticed the saint level best making its way towards them and a saint started to move in their direction as if to battle outside the city. Reynolds was surprised as he found that the approaching saint was a dragonblood warrior holding a giant blade while saying.

"Dragon, you are not welcome in my city! I will kill you if you keep approaching!" A familiar voice reached his ears and he smiled with scorn as Reynolds recognized him while Koral growled in disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Reynolds decided to intervene before a battle started and this dragonblood warrior got himself killed for insulting Koral.

"Brat aren't you being too disrespectful to my companion? How weak are you as a saint that you cannot even use your spiritual powers to see who is approaching? Or are you blocking access for all saints in your city?" Reynolds's annoyed voice resounded in the whole city while he floated off Koral's back. "Are you little Wharton? Linley's brother?".

Wharton felt relief as he recognized the saint who was floating in front of him. "You are Reynolds..." then he seemed to remember his dignity and said. "I'm king Wharton, be careful of how you address me". Reynolds felt annoyed now and he said with disdain. "You are weak, it doesn't matter to me if you are a king or a table waiter. I don't care for you brat, is there a trade center from the Dawson Conglomerate in this city?" He said while releasing his aura on Wharton making him aware of the difference in power, after all he was only a 9th rank warrior and depended completely on his dragonblood warrior form to reach the saint realm. He didn't wait for an answer and started to make his way towards the city with Koral and the girls.

Wharton was on a foul mood but he realized that being a king had no meaning to those who are powerful and released a sigh before following to point the direction of the Dowson Conglomerate to avoid more commotion withing the Capital of the Baruch Empire.

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Reynolds showed a medallion to the clerk on the Headquarters of the Dawson Conglomerate and said. "I require a summary of the important events of the last 10 years regarding the Anarchic Lands and The O'Brien Empire and if there is anything relevant from other places. I also need to know where can I find Yale Dowson".

The clerk took a second to react but soon corrected the situation while smiling. "Lord, I will gather the information you required in less than an hour along with the whereabouts of young master Yale. Please come to the VIP area and enjoy wine and some delicacies we have prepared for you while you wait".

Windsor, Jenne and Koral were happy when they heard that. "I want a roasted boar! Master can I have roasted Boar?" Koral said excited floating next to Reynolds while Bolt started purring while begging with his eyes destroying the image of the powerful saint he created as he arrived at the city making him laugh.

The clerk smiled and said. "It should be no problem, but it will take a little time... please come with me".

They followed the clerk to a luxurious waiting room where a couple of maids were already waiting with wine and food making Koral and Bolt excited.