Magic Aura

Everything was burning. Everything was in flames. It hurt, it hurt so much.

My mom, my life, my friends, my future....everything was burning.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦? 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦"

A voice called out in my head.

It gave me hope. I was too young to understand the meaning of life, but I still wanted to live, I wanted another chance, another life.

Yes!!

<Confirmed. Responding to summoner's request.....Successful.>

I can't take it anymore. It's too scary; it's too hot. Help me, Mom...

I lay there and cried, no longer fearful of the flames, as I wished for my life.

<Confirmed. Extra skill [Flame Manipulation] and Attack Nullification].... Successfully Acquired.>

Then my wish came true.

I awoke in the room of a demon lord.

"Another failure..." he whispered.

Leon Cromwell, a man of ethereal beauty. One could confuse him for a woman, due to his sheer beauty.

He turned away, his face filled with disappointment.

"He-help me!! Y-you l-liar!! You asked me if I wanted to live. Help me live..." I begged as tears ran down my face.

I was in so much pain. The grief of losing my mother and my life. The pain from the burns. The pain of hopelessness.

"A liar huh?? Interesting. It seems you're not absolutely useless after all. One moment." he spoke.

Suddenly, a flame giant appeared, no incantation, no time lag.

"Ifrit, I give you this body. Use it well." the demon lord spoke coldly.

Then he turned to me, "You want to live!! Then show me you will!!"

He was cruel. He was heartless. But he was also the reason I lived. I accepted Ifrit into my body and lived.

I lived in service to Leon-sama...but I lived. 

I also gained power.

<Confirmed. Unique Skill [Degenerate]....Successfully Acquired.>

This power saved me. Being possessed by Ifrit should have erased my will, but [Degenerate] saved me.

This power also made Leon keep me near him at all times.

Though I kept my own will, I had no control over my body most of the time. Ifrit was in control.

He was Demon Lord Leon's henchman. And so was I.

-------------------------------

Maybe.....Maybe charging head first into a storm of flames wasn't such a good idea.

I had no way of reaching Ifrit to actually hit him. Not to mention the Salamanders constantly breathing fire at me.

But I wasn't serious yet. I was just dodging the attacks, getting a feel of their attack patterns and moves.

I hadn't performed a single offensive move yet. I was waiting for someone.

"MY LORD!! We have arrived." yelled Garmr to get my attention.

The trio of Garmr, Ranga and Dracula could be seen a few meters away from the battlefield.

"Nice! Dracula, come to me, we're going after Ifrit. Garmr, Ranga and Coatl, you distract the Salamanders and keep them out of my way." I ordered.

Dracula immediately flew to me as I mounted him. We began to rise to Ifrit's position. Caotl slipped off from my neck and started enlargening as he made his way to Garmr and Ranga. 

Now that I can go airborne, I can actually fight. 

Ifrit was using Shizue's body as a vessel, so I was limited to using non-lethal attacks. 

But there was also a plus point. Because Ifrit was in a physical body, he was vulnerable to physical damage, unlike the Salamanders who are completely immune to it.

The salamanders were the only thing I had to worry about, despite their lesser threat level compared to Ifrit. 

This was because I had many ways to deal with Ifrit, but not many to deal with an enemy immune to Physical damage. 

That's why I told Coatl, Garmr and Ranga to distract them while I dealt with Ifrit first. 

"Dracula, take me as near to Ifrit as you can go. I'll take it from there." I ordered. 

Then I activated [Thought Acceleration] and [Ultra Acceleration], cranked up to the maximum. 

'I'm sorry Shizue, but this is gonna hurt..... a lot'

After a small apology to Shizue, I focused all my attention on Ifrit. 

Deep breaths. 

*INHALE*

*EXHALE*

Focus.... Remove all distractions.... And focus on my..... 

Magic. 

Magic is an idea projected into reality

And Aura is the physical manifestation of fighting spirit.

My blade carries my will to win. My unwavering desire to succeed, to be happy, to protect my Legion, and most of all, TO BE THE STRONGEST!!

I combined my magic into my aura and imbued it in my blade. The blade started whirring due to the power flowing through it. 

<Confirmed. Extra Skill [Magic Aura]....Successfully Acquired.>

Yes!! This is it! This is the manifestation of my power and will.

"Let's go, Dracula!!"

"Yes, my Lord!

Dracula began accelerating towards the Fire Giant at extreme speeds, covering the distance in less than a second. 

At the last moment, I jumped off Dracula's back and leapt toward Ifrit.

"[Flare Circle]" It yelled out.

I was only a few meters away from him, cutting through the wind and heat.

A gigantic magic cirlce appeared beneath me, as a large pillar of flames erupted from it.

"ARRGHHHHHH!"

It hurt like hell. My [Temperature Fluctuation Resistance] and [Pain Resistance] could only resist so much.

Additionally, my trump card, [Magic Jamming] was blocking as much of the magical damage as it could. 

But the effectiveness of [Magic Jamming] was dependant of the amount of magicules. 

So it couldn't totally cancel out Ifrit's attack. Though it still helped tremendously, as without it I would have become fresh meat cooked at over a thousand degrees. 

I also had my artificial Unique-Grade garments as armor, but they were nothing to an unleashed Ifrit.

The magic cast by Ifrit was a powerful Spirit Magic.

'SHITT! GODDAMMIT!' It hurts so freaking much.

My [Self-Regeneration] kicked in, and I was stuck in a cycle of constant burning and healing.

'NO! I can't waver!! This weak-ass toaster is nothing compared to me!! I am the ONE who will reach the APEX of this world.'

I ignored the pain as I soared through the torrent of flames towards Ifrit. 

I readied the flat side of my blade as I got closer and closer to the Elemental. 

*SLASH*

"GAHHHH--" A guttural scream came out of it's mouth.

<Confirmed. [Thermal Fluctuation Nullification]....Successfully Acquired.>

'It worked!!'

I used the flat of my blade so as to not severely injure Shizue, but I still did a lot of damage. 

This was due to the [Magic Aura] imbued into my blade. 

As I fell to the ground, I looked back to see Ifrit curled up in the air, seemingly in horrible pain. 

"AGHHGAAGHGARRGHAAAAA" It was making growling sounds filled with pain. 

Though not for long. 

In just a few seconds, it seems to have recovered.. 

It turned to look at me, it's eyes filled with hatred. 

It screamed once more as a sea of flames burst out from its torso. The flames condensed into 20 clones of Ifrit, surrounding me. 

This was the work of it's skill [Body Double].

It allowed Ifrit to create many clones of himself. Extremely useful skill. 

It'd be shame if someone killed him and took the skill. Truly a shame. 

Ifrit then raised his hands, and erected a dome shaped barrier, sealing himself in, with me and his clones. 

<Report. The individual Fire Giant Ifrit likely intends to use all its power attack you from sides using Body Doubles.>

Sorry to burst your bubble Ifrit, but that won't work on me anymore.

With [Thought Acceleration] making me see everything in slow motion, I simply watched, as Ifrit used all his magicules and charged up an attack. 

All the Body Doubles were mirroring it's actions. 

In a few seconds, the attack was ready. 

All of the Clones and even the main body were holding an extremely unstable ball of flames in their hands, ready to be unleashed. 

"HYAGGGHHGGGGGG DIEEE!!" It screamed out. 

All the clones simultaneously fired off the destructive balls of flame. 

It was a truly magnificent attack. Capable of destroying a whole city if not countered properly. 

Unfortunately, it was used against the wrong opponent. 

The dome was filled with an all-consuming flame, incinerating everything, except it's target. 

However the magic had one limitation. It was a Spirit Magic. 

Spirit Magic was grounded in natural phenomenon. This meant that flames created with Spirit Magic required Oxygen, unlike the flames of normal Elemental Magic. 

And since the area was enclosed in a barrier, there was a limit to the amount of Oxygen. 

This caused the flames to die out slowly, dispersing completely. 

As my vision cleared, I could see Ifrit on the ground, barely able to stand. It's flames had become weak, on the verge of snuffing out.

Yet it still kept fighting.

"Why are you so desparate?" I asked the Fire Giant.

It didn't answer, it just started preparing another attack. 

How though? All it's magicules should have been used up in the last attack.

<Received. Ifrit is using it's life force as a substitute for magicules.>

Seriously!?? I need to put an end to this immediately.

Deciding that, I started concentrating magicules in my palm. I extended my hand in the direction of Ifrit.

"[Crimson Ichor]"

*BOOOOOOM*

A red beam shot out from my hand, travelling at extremely high speeds. I obviously held back as I didn't want to obliterate Shizue's body whole.

Ifrit couldn't even react to that attack before it slammed into him.

"AGHAHHAHAA!!" Ifrit screamed in pain while shooting off into the distance.

Ifrit smashed into a tree as it finally lost consciousness. It had depleted all it's magicules and lost all it's strength.

Slowly, the visible influence of Ifrit faded from Shizue's body as she reverted back to her original form.

Firstly, before I could forget, I picked up her mask and put it inside my pocket.

Then I ran to check up on her and her status.

'Hey [Great Sage], can you run an Analysis on her?'

<Report. The individual 'Shizue Izawa' is on the verge of death due to magicule exhaustion. Flame Giant 'Ifrit's presence can still be sensed inside her body. If any action not taken, Shizue Izawa will die, and Ifrit disappear lack a Physical Body.>

Well, can't let that happen now, can I? 

I went and picked Shizue up in a princess carry--

"[Soul Seize]"

I reached out to Shizue's soul and took it in, adding it to the Soul Circuit. But, along with it, came another soul.... it was Ifrit's.

Both of them were added to my Legion.

'[Soul Shift]' I sent them to the [Soul Realm] to recover.

*SIGH*

"That ended well, I guess."

"My lord! What should we do here?" 

'Shit! I forgot about them'

I quickly turned around to see the trio of Legionaries scurrying around, dodging the Salamanders' attacks. 

While the Salamanders couldn't even come close to damaging Garmr, Coatl and Ranga, they were also immune to damage. 

Well, not really immune, but the trio of Legionaries had no way of attacking the flying elementals. 

Their job was just to keep the Salamanders' attention away from me. 

"I'm coming"

'[Magic Aura]'

I imbued by blade with more magical aura and dashed toward the elementals. 

*SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH*

In an instant, I leaped towards the flying Salamanders and sliced them up. 

I could do this because they weren't flying as high as Ifrit. 

*SLITHER*

Coatl immediately shrunk down to cute-sized and slid back onto my neck. 

"You all did well. I'm impressed."

All 3 became overjoyed at my praise. 

"Thank you for your kind words, Lord Ashborne!!"

I just love them so much. 

<Report. Addition of Individual 'Shisue Izawa' and Fire Giant Ifrit has resulted in the acquisition new skills abilities.>

'JAAACKPOOTT!"

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A/N: New Chapter!!

I tried my best with this fight scene, did it turn out okay?

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

And Don't forget to REVIEW the story and drop some POWER STONES!!