I sighted down the length of the sword and let the Vigor flow through me. The power of the ember sprites. The power of the scorched salamanders. The power of the dajis and the hellhounds. The power of every fire creature I had defeated and absorbed flowed as one in a single, seething torrent.
Fire burst out along the blade, and the flames rose so high that I felt as though I was wielding a bonfire. I swung around with the strength of my whole body, and the hound raised its paw to deflect the attack, but the blade sliced straight through. The severed limb tumbled through the air as lava-blood spouted like a burst faucet.
The beast staggered back, and I pressed on, determined to use the advantage while I had it. I swung and it dodged, then lunged at me with its teeth. I dived beneath the attack, hit the ground hard, and rolled back to my feet a dozen feet away, sword still in hand.
The hound twisted around and got in the way of its companion. It seemed disoriented, whether from the pain or still shocked at the sheer wall of flames I had summoned. I wasn’t going to miss my chance, so I stepped straight toward its mouth. The hound opened its jaws wide and lunged, but at the last moment, I sidestepped, sprang forward, and chopped my sword down. A rainbow of fire seemed to shine in the air, then my blade hit the monster’s neck and continued until it struck the ground in a shower of sparking embers. The head rolled away and the body collapsed, revealing the other hellhound behind it.
The final beast roared, and a blue fireball burst from its maw. It spiraled through the air as it grew into a whirling tornado of azure flames. I pointed my sword at the elemental storm and poured Untamed Torch through the blade. A flaming spear lengthened from the end of my weapon and struck the whirlwind in the center. My orange flames engulfed the whirlpool, and it faded away.
“How creative,” Nydarth commented.
With Untamed Torch still igniting my sword, I advanced upon the hellhound, but it kept advancing and forced me back. I tried to dodge left, but it was ahead of me. The monster used claws and teeth to box me in while it swiped at me from both directions, keeping me on the defensive, unable to make a decisive move. I had injured it, so the monster was slower and its attacks easier to evade.
The fire was still raging through the sword, but my arm was growing unsteady. I didn’t know how much longer I could control it. The constant stream of flame was already getting beyond me, and it threatened to break free, to escape my control entirely.
I raised the sword and pointed it at the hound. If I couldn’t control the fire, maybe I could use that to my advantage. I gave one last push on the power running through me, and a vast gout of flames burst from the tip of the Sundered Heart Sword. My fire attack fanned out into a broad arc, and the hound’s head and half its shoulders evaporated, turned in an instant into a cloud of ash. Every time I’d tried Untamed Torch on the Ember Cavern’s strongest monster, it barely did any damage, but it seemed that the sword increased the power of my attacks a hundredfold.
My Vigor channels were running low, and exhaustion threatened to topple me. I forced myself to remain standing and stared at the corpses of the hellhounds smoldering beside me.
“You were fortunate,” Nydarth said. “For many people, channeling that much power without a technique would kill them.”
“That’s why we use techniques,” I said as I came to understand the relationship between techniques and raw magic.
“Indeed,” Nydarth said, her tone proud. “Raw channeling is for study and improving your core skills. Only use it in combat as a last resort.”
I drank some water and felt my spirits revive. Then came the messy business of cutting out the skeletal corrals from the hellhounds, removing the cores from their bone-cages, and absorbing them.
“Is that five hellhounds you’ve taken now?” Nydarth asked.
“Yes. I can learn Burning Wheel now,” I answered as the energies of the cores burned through me. “And at least 10 dajis. That’s enough to learn Fire Empowerment.”
I took hold of the energy inside me and fished out the daji and hellhound cores. Heat blazed within me, and I balled my hands into fists as I controlled a sudden rage. The fire element set my heart aflame, and every fiber of my being roared for release. My muscles tensed all at once, and I clenched my teeth.
I forced back the fire’s anger and breathed deeply to control it. Then my body eased, and the Vigor pathways cooled down. I felt new channels form inside me, new ways to direct the flames.
“Try the new techniques,” Nydarth said.
I used Fire Empowerment first, the skill I had taken from the dajis. I stretched my hand toward the remains of one of the hellhounds and used the power to take hold of the flames eating away at its fur. The fire lifted from the body and danced through the air before I let go and it faded away.
Then, I reached inward for the ability I’d gained from the hellhounds and grasped the power of Burning Wheel. Rather than open my mouth and roar, I swung the Sundered Heart, and a blue fireball launched from the blade. It expanded as it traveled until it was a whirlwind of roaring flames. It spun around the cavern until I concentrated on dispelling it. The spinning torrent of fire faded into embers and ceased to exist. My Burning Wheel wasn’t quite as strong as the hellhounds’ version, but I figured
