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["Fight on, Dragonheart."]

Though unspoken, those words last thought by the Devilheart reached the soul of the unconscious Dragonheart at that exact moment, dragging Emilio from his slumberous state as his eyes shot open, left bloodshot.

Melisande didn\'t notice his awakening, having her eyes drawn to the horrific sight of the Devilheart\'s undoing as tears strolled down her cheeks. It wasn\'t a moment after that the Dread returned its attention in their direction, walking towards them.

"...Stay back…" Melisande stood up, holding her hands in front of her as she conjured mana of wind.

The Dread didn\'t heed any such warning, merely moving without anything stopping it now. Even as Melisande called out an invocation–"Wind Bore"--nothing came from it as it simply dispersed on the entity\'s chest.

"Stop this futile flailing," The Dread spoke quietly, looking down at the girl with eyes filled with pity.

Melisande felt a hopelessness gripping her heart, unable to react as the Dread raised its hand before bringing it down, serving it across her cheek.

"--Eek."

It was a surprising action taken; it wasn\'t the death she had expected, but something horrible in its own right: humiliation.

As if the Dread, a being that embodied violence itself, found it difficult to derive pleasure in fighting her.

Even though it was a small slap of minimal effort, if not nothing more than batting a fly from near it, Melisande felt her cheek redden before a cut appeared, feeling an acute pain blending with her humiliation.

–

How long was I out? Emilio questioned, I don\'t really…remember much. But, what\'s this feeling? This sadness in my heart–it\'s aching, gripped by a heat that makes me want to cry. Asher, you said something to me, didn\'t you?...

Laying there, Emilio looked up, only hearing the confrontation near him as though it were leagues away, yet damning all the same. As he yearned to get up, his body refused to listen. It was a herculean task in itself just to wiggle his fingertips, hardly feeling anything resembling control in his aching body.

"...Nngh…" He groaned quietly.

["Fight on, Dragonheart"]

Again, those words resonated inside of him, this time becoming more potent as he could feel their meaning and what they came from.

"...Asher…" He whispered to himself.

Though he had not seen it for himself yet, the Dragonheart already knew; it was through a connection, a natural bond that transcended the logic of Arcadius, one that originated from Earth itself between the two reincarnation.

At that moment, Emilio knew the sacrifice that had been made.

You idiot…Emilio thought as tears welled up, there was so much I wanted to talk to you about…Your favorite movies, what bands you liked, and what sort of celebrities you had a crush on–in this entire world, you were the only one I could talk to about that. Dammit…

It was as though he had lost his very own kin, causing the young man\'s heart to swell with emotion, overcome with a burning resolve, yet his body was broken and devoid of mana.

…Melisande is there. The Dread is right there, too. I need to fight, Emilio thought, I have to fight. They\'ve been giving it their all…I have to get up, but I\'m…! My body isn\'t listening!

[Burn.]

In the deepest depths of his soul, it was the system that spoke to him–a voice not often heard, like something out of a dream, resonating through his entire being.

[Burn. If you wish to fight, then burn.]

Though cryptic at first, Emilio understood what was being told to him as he looked up towards the sky with an expression of realization.

I see. Thank you, he thought.

–

As Melisande stood there, enduring pitiful slaps from the Dread, who held no expression of joy, she kept herself between the monstrous figure and Emilio.

"I won\'t you–" Melisande weakly uttered.

Another slap came, harder this time as the air gave off a small crack as the girl spit out a mixture of saliva and spit, stumbling a bit before fixing herself.

The Dread looked down at her with that bored stare, "Won\'t let me what? You may have the wrong impression here, girl. You\'re no wall. You\'re but a pretty little flower, waiting to be crushed beneath my foot. For now, I am simply grazing your petals."

Just as the figure, painted in black blood, raised his hand again, he was stopped, along with everything else as an unknown heat was born.

A flash of seraphic white blossomed, coming from an aura of flames that cascaded off a figure briefly seen by the Dread when looking past Melisande.

The silver-haired girl was perplexed, turning back, "Emilio–?"

Though just as Melisande looked back, the figure vanished, instead reappearing in front of the Dread as the malignant entity went for a vicious strike to the girl\'s neck, catching him by the wrist.

"So, you\'ve awakened, Dragonheart? You should be in a long slumber after what you\'ve put your body through…so what obscenities have you put your body through now?" The Dread spoke.

Steam came off of Emilio\'s body as a white heat emitted from his skin; the blonde of his hair faded out before shifting to a snow-white as if the life was squeezed from each strand.

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.

At a more rapid rate than ever, his heart pounded against his chest, fueling his veins with the draconic blood within.

Burn everything, Emilio thought, my body was completely spent–my mana, too. In that case…I did the one thing I could: I burned my body. I\'m directly converting the calories in my body, my muscles, everything, all into mana.

It was a last-ditch move among last-ditch actions; Emilio knew well the consequences of what he was doing as he allowed his own body to wither as he supplied himself with an abundance of newfound mana, awakening a desperate evolution of his Dragonheart System–

This is my \'Burnout\', he thought.

["Fight on, Dragonheart."]

Emilio could see the fallen Devilheart across the torn field, feeling his heart ache though he already expected such a site.

…Asher…I\'m sorry. It seems we\'re both going to get reckless with our lives here, he thought.

What the young Dragonheart embraced was an aspect of his past that he seldom wished to return to; foregoing the constitution he\'d yearned for, discarding the strength of his body as he burnt through it like fuel to stoke the flames in his heart.

The white flames cascading off of his withering body were just that:--the essence of Emilio Dragonheart; the very core of his being.

This is everything I have, Emilio thought, this is it. There\'s no more chances. Right now…I have to finish this.

With a single wave of his hand, he sent a wave of the pure, white flames forth as they rippled as a majestic curtain of heat towards the Dread.

In the usual, stoic confidence held by the primordial being, it raised its hand, countering with a loftier sum of darkness than the pure flames, however, the Dread quickly realized the error in his thinking.

"I\'ll kill you," Emilio promised, unblinking as his eyes turned to a deep bloodshot from the strain.

Even the mighty, dense shadows forged of centuries of violence wielded by the being were torn away in an instant by the flames, which were unimpeded in their beautiful stride forward.

"--?" The Dread looked perplexed.

Just before the bright, white fire could reach the Dread, having penetrated the burst of darkness effortlessly, he jumped up to avoid the searing heat.

Even distanced from it, the Dread could feel the signature of the snowy flames, though they burned to such a high heat it felt almost like a brisk cold, searing to such lengths that it surpassed the boundaries of temperature altogether. The air rippled as heat waves contorted the area, throwing the Dread off as Emilio propelled towards him with frightening speed.

"--Ungh!"

The Dread was forced to wave his hand to summon a barrier of intertwined darkness just as the Dragonheart swept into the air, using propulsions of white flames at his foot to move in. It was usually wind that Emilio used to move like such, but the fire provided further firepower to his movements, allowing him to spin around into a searing kick that shattered the Dread\'s barrier with the pure-white embers.

"How–? What\'re these flames?" The Dread questioned.

As the darkness shattered like fogged glass, the violent entity felt a small shock wave of heat break through as the Dragonheart swept in, approaching him swiftly as one of his legs was already midway through a quick, propelled by those heavenly flames guiding him.

"I didn\'t lie. I\'m going to kill you," Emilio solidified.

Before the Dread could raise any sort of guard, the shin of the Dragonheart slammed against the entity\'s nose with a resounding crack, backed by the velocity of the flames boosting him at the soles of his feet.

As blackened blood spilled from the crushed nose of the Dread, the figure slumped over while hovering in the air, exhaling as darkness crawled out of every bleeding pore of his body.

"...Fine. I\'m tired of trying to maintain this fragile body...I need to kill you. That\'s that," the Dread spoke.