As those simple words hit his ears, a sense of calm washed over him he couldn't quite understand in his state, but even so, he smiled and said to the gray-haired boy who had just swatted the barrel of death away.

  "It's been 30 seconds already. Ha... I didn't even notice."

  Meanwhile in front of them, eyes widening in surprise, his grandfather stepped back, as a look of fear appeared on his face but it was immediately replaced with angry and hateful expression

  "WHY WON'T YOU DIEEEEEEEE?" he shouted like a man possessed before jumping back to give himself space and conjuring all the flames he could, both internal and those around him, once again that sun-like attack from before, but this time facing him.

  "Draconis EminenteEighteen Hundred Degrees Is All I Need To INCINERATE!

  But as the sure death rushed towards them, Riven simply asked a question in a monotone voice.

  "Do you know what the most dangerous thing in a fire is?"

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  As he asked the simple question, he raised his left hand, revealing a condensed orb of swirling smoke in his palm. It was dense and roiling like a storm trapped in a bottle.

  "Smoke," he answered for him.

  And on cue, the orb detonated outward in a deafening roar. And a colossal tornado of choking black smoke exploded from Riven's hand, spiraling upward with the force of a hurricane.

  It slammed into the sunlike attack, completely overtaking it before slamming into Ignatius like a living tornado, lifting him off his feet and hurling him skyward.

  The tornado eviscerated his body from head to toe, leaving no section of him uncovered in gashes and cuts. It then embedded him in the brickwork of the office building with bone-jarring force, causing his now barely clothed body to be in a perfect T-pose that created spiderweb-like cracks outward from the impact point.

  As the roar of tornado wind dissipated, a silence fell over the crater—broken only by labored breathing, distant sirens, and the faint crackle of dying embers.

  Lowering his hand, he began swaying slightly, but this time he remained upright even as his vision and hearing periodically cut out.

  Meanwhile, behind him, Alice and Holden, the only two who were still conscious on the battlefield besides Riven, of course, stared at him wide-eyed.

  "You... you did it," they both whispered, their voices barely above the breaths they took.

  As the relief flooded both of their systems, Holden let out a shaky breath before collapsing to the ground, while tears of said relief formed in Alice's eyes before she did the same.

  And as they drifted into unconsciousness, the last they heard was the flapping of wings.