Round Seventeen: Rebirth from the Flames

He first pointed at the succubus.
The succubus immediately screamed in agony as Stephanie fully unleashed the power of her command spell. Her graceful figure began to deteriorate; her soft, smooth skin cracked apart. She spread her enormous bat wings, her body twisting and changing. Her beautiful face vanished, and her entire body turned a deathly gray, like a statue. She reached around helplessly, her eyes clouding over as if lime had been thrown into clear water. Her voice became hoarse and unpleasant as she muttered something unknown. Her sharp claws left marks on the scorching iron plate, resembling a rock rapidly weathering…
Then Stephanie unleashed a withering spell on the old witches’ heads. With a gesture of her hand, pale yellow mist sprayed from her fingertips and spread out like a sandstorm that devoured all moisture. The already withered old witches screamed and scattered in all directions. The mist pursued them, draining every drop of their foul, murky bodily fluids and turning these ugly creatures into dried corpses.
Stephanie began preparing her third spell. Magical energy turned black and surged rapidly to her fingertips. The negative energy representing pure death was concentrated into a point, ready to be unleashed—
But Merganis’s spear of flame interrupted the mage’s deadly gesture.
“Has anger and hatred clouded your mind? I love souls like yours!” Merganis laughed maniacally, staring at the mage skewered on his spear like barbecue. The smell of burning souls and flesh intoxicated him. “You didn’t even attack me first, your greatest threat!”
He prepared to feast on this delicious meal, while the surface of the iron lake behind him had almost completely solidified.
The old witch disguised as a blue elf narrowly escaped the mage’s destructive spells and ran toward the portal. The demons’ screams grew louder; it wouldn’t be long before they attacked. She no longer hoped to get the mage. Although consuming his soul would surely boost her power and possibly allow her to evolve into an elite old witch, the interference from the devil meant she had to protect the wealth she already had. After all, she had tricked the mage into creating many magical items for her. Combined with her accumulated wealth and what the devil promised, it would be enough—
The succubus let out her final scream.
A heavy object landed on the old witch’s back.
The old witch loved to ride on the backs of unconscious victims in her spirit form, enjoying their helplessness and agony. Now she knew what it felt like to have someone on her back. Her spine was instantly crushed, and she collapsed like mud. Thick, black liquid flowed from beneath her—blood.
The old witch howled and struggled as her beautiful blue elf form gradually reverted to its ugly true shape.
“Cute blue elf?” The metal man descended from the void, surrounded by flames and blood. He turned his head, seemingly still unaccustomed to being summoned. “So am I Grimmauld now?”

“Iron Man!” Melganis shook off the dying mage, slamming him hard against the wall before he slid down. Why did he have to give up what he had already obtained every time he saw this Iron Man!
The metal man twisted on his heel, spinning half a circle. The old witch stopped screaming now, as her entire back and internal organs were charred.
Melganis and his men threw flaming spears at the metal man, as if a rain of fire had descended. Amidst these swirling flames, the metal man leaped up, several burning spears embedded in his body, and charged at Melganis, who was also rushing toward him—like a bullfight. This time, Melganis failed to strike the metal man; instead, his two flaming horns were firmly grabbed. With a strong push, the metal man sent Melganis staggering several steps back. Immediately afterward, the metal man pounced, wrapping his arms around the devil’s waist and using unimaginable strength to push him backward. Melganis roared, swinging his huge, flaming fists at the metal man, his entire body radiating intense red light, engulfing both of them in flames. Yet the metal man seemed unharmed, even ignoring the huge dent formed on his back—
Melganis’s claws left long trails of flame on the frozen iron lake. As the metal man kept advancing, they felt extreme panic—they were heading straight for the black giant shadow that was freezing the entire iron lake!
The devils were stunned.
The giant black shadow also reacted, its blazing gaze turning toward the human cannonballs charging at it. It stretched out its hand as if to block them, but couldn’t withstand the immense force. It could only watch as they tore through its claws and crashed into its embrace.
The shadow devoured them. Then came a deafening scream—Melganis’s voice.
The next moment, the metal man and Melganis passed through the shadow, becoming inseparable.
Both Melganis and the metal man were immune to fire—but any so-called immunity has its limits.
They were melting together, merging into one.
A large chunk of darkness was torn away, sticking to them as they left the shadow and rolled onto the iron lake.
Fire. Nothing but fire.
Every piece, every thread, every speck of darkness turned into fire. The heat contained within that darkness was unimaginable—like throwing a small piece of ink into a water tank, turning the entire tank black. That spreading darkness continued endlessly, igniting everything it touched, not even sparing the devils.
The steel melted, and huge cracks appeared in the iron lake. Scalding molten iron gushed out, flowing wildly as it reclaimed the power that once belonged to it.

Melganis continued to scream and struggle, but it was all in vain. His fists could once pierce the Metal Man’s body, but now they seemed to melt like wax against it. The flames on both of them were intensely fierce and eerie—so bizarre that even their color was an absolute black. The heat was beyond description; all that could be seen was Melganis slowly melting away in the black flames, merging with the metal that seemed to flow along certain paths before gradually being drawn into the Metal Man’s chest cavity, spreading throughout his body through clearly defined pathways…

“The Blood of Phaethon…” The shadow seemed unharmed at all, yet it howled, each syllable raising the temperature further: “You actually possess the Blood of Phaethon…”

The last line of defense finally broke, and demons swarmed in.

“Flame Monarch!” One of the Soul Judgers who rushed in first let out a shrill scream upon seeing the shadow. Its massive body froze abruptly, as if trying to retreat, but the shadow’s incandescent gaze turned to fix on it, several focal points locking onto the Soul Judge, causing its entire body to ignite instantly and turn into a pile of ashes—whomever the shadow’s gaze fell on would surely burn screaming. Among the swarming demons were elite warriors, but none could even land a blow against the shadow! Fortunately, the shadow didn’t continue to engage with the incoming demons. It spread its black wings, enveloped in endless flames, and flew upward, crashing into the steel dome. It pierced through it as if burning through a thin layer of paper, disappearing just as suddenly as it appeared—leaving behind a huge cavity consumed by flames.

With the departure of the Flame Monarch, the iron layer on the surface of the Iron Lake emitted a loud cracking sound as it began to shatter and melt.

The Metal Man stepped out of the lake, one step at a time.

The demons looked at the Metal Man and noticed some changes in him. A pair of massive steel wings unfolded behind him—wing bones resembling those of bats or insects, narrow and sharp like blades. Transparent wing membranes were dotted with countless burning flames, like streams of blood. His melted body re-solidified, with flesh and metal intertwining to form a tall, powerful torso and limbs. Recast black metal armor covered his shoulders, back, waist, abdomen, and limbs, layered upon each other in a terrifying manner. The damage on his chest also began to heal automatically under some unknown force. Strange, biological-like tissues writhed as they healed. For a moment, it seemed Melganis’s twisted, agonized face formed, but it soon changed into various blurred faces or shapes, spinning as it absorbed all the heat and flames left behind by the Flame Monarchs. Finally, it settled smoothly, twisting into a huge, radial dark red symbol that covered half of his body.

The black flames of the Flame Monarch finally merged completely with the tens of millions of infernal creatures’ hearts and flesh that the Metal Man had devoured over time, shaping him into a terrifying monster that straddled between machinery and demons.

The Metal Man folded his winged blades behind him and, looking at the demons surrounding him, said coldly, “You’re too late.”