CHAPTER 188: OVERHEAT

Hissra exhaled slowly, his body tense but grounded.

The temperature around him spiked. The grass at his feet withered and ignited, turning to ash in seconds. The dirt baked, cracking beneath the weight of the heat. The very air shimmered and warped, distorting everything beyond the barrier.

Inside, Hissra stood in a furnace of his own making—breathing fire, shielded by flame.

And yet, even surrounded by his element... he didn’t feel safe.

The domain had one purpose—to keep Eli out.

Anything that tried to enter would be scorched to death, torn apart by the sheer intensity of the heat. It was Hissra’s ultimate line of defense, a burning cage where only he could stand unharmed.

In his mind, Eli wouldn’t dare cross it. No one in their right mind would.

But reality, as always, was less comforting.

This wouldn’t stop Eli.

Not when he had [Fractured Existence] shielding him. The heat meant nothing to that distorted veil—it bent the very rules of damage, dispersing pressure, temperature, and force like vapor.

But Eli didn’t charge in.

Instead, he reappeared just at the edge of the fiery cylinder, his silhouette dancing behind the wavering heat. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a barrage of flame bolts—each one sharp, condensed, and precise—raining them against the outer shell.

Hissra reacted instantly, raising his hands and conjuring bolts of his own to intercept. The projectiles collided midair, exploding in bursts of searing light and smoke. Fire clashed with fire, the blasts sending shockwaves rippling through the already-broken clearing.

And then—Hissra felt it.

Danger. Behind him.

He spun instinctively, eyes wide—

Only to see it too late.

A spear of flame, condensed into a tight, spiraling point, was already mid-flight, screaming toward his face from behind. It had bypassed his defenses completely.

He moved at the very last second, the flame spear grazing his cheek, slicing past with a hiss of vaporized skin.

"Grrah—!"

Hissra winced, staggering as the searing pain flared down the side of his face.

How?

How had Eli gotten behind so quickly?

He barely had time to gather his thoughts before another spear came flying—this time from the left.

Hissra reacted on instinct, conjuring a flame barrier with a sweep of his arm. But he was too slow. The spear struck the half-formed shield and exploded on contact, sending a shockwave rippling through the cylinder.

BOOM!

The force threw Hissra off his feet. He hit the ground hard, rolling across the scorched earth as the interior of the barrier rippled violently. His protective shell held—but just barely.

The ring of runes rotated with him as he tumbled, recalibrating the barrier so that he remained at the center. It was a clever design—adaptive, mobile—but even it had limits.

Hissra coughed, his chest tightening, throat raw from the superheated air. Every breath scorched his lungs. The inside of the domain had become a furnace, and his own magic was slowly suffocating him.

Keeping this skill active for too long wasn’t just unwise—it was dangerous.

But he couldn’t drop it. Not yet.

Not until Eli was dead.

But that outcome wasn’t looking likely.

Eli hurled another flame spear.

Hissra rolled to evade, barely avoiding the searing blast—only for another to strike from behind.

Then another.

And another.

Each strike came faster, more precise, Eli weaving in and out of visibility like a phantom, vanishing before Hissra could even lift a hand to retaliate. The domain was supposed to be his fortress, but now it felt like a cage. A burning tomb.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion rocked the entire clearing as two blasts collided in mid-air—one from Hissra, the other from Eli. The resulting shockwave sent a wall of heat and smoke spiraling in all directions, swallowing the surroundings in a dense, choking cloud.

Hissra groaned, his body slumped against the cracked earth. He pushed himself up with trembling arms, the world spinning as he staggered to his feet.

His skin—once a rich green—had turned ashen, pale, and cracked, like clay left too long in the sun. His lips were dry, splitting at the corners, and sweat no longer formed on his brow.

His body was overheating. Breaking down.

His head pounded relentlessly, every heartbeat like a drumbeat echoing inside his skull. The pressure was unbearable, like his brain was being crushed from the inside.

Each breath burned. Not just heat—but absence. Like inhaling smoke without air. His lungs felt hollow, as if the flame had already devoured the oxygen inside him.

The Heat Domain was killing him.

And Eli hadn’t even touched him yet.

He had to deactivate it.

But if he did... he was dead.

The inferno he had created to protect himself was now slowly cooking him alive. Yet the moment he dropped it, Eli would descend like a vulture, faster than he could react.

Eli was trying to end him.

Each strike intentional. Each appearance from the smoke, the side, the rear—too quick, too clean.

And that was when it hit Hissra:

The seal wasn’t working anymore.

It couldn’t be.

He’d placed the restriction himself. The seal was supposed to block all spatial movement skills—teleportation, blinking, warping. But what Eli was doing? It wasn’t natural. His presence would vanish entirely, then reappear in a completely different place without warning.

Not like someone running. If Eli were just sprinting, Hissra would’ve been able to track his approach, follow his momentum.

But this?

Dot - dot movement, like he was skipping through space itself.

It was teleportation. It had to be.

Which meant the seal was either broken—or Eli had found a way to move outside the rules.

The smoke began to clear, thinning just enough to reveal a silhouette emerging through the haze—still, deliberate, and unmistakably familiar.

Hissra’s heart jumped.

Before the thought could fully register, instinct took hold.

Hissra raised his hand and fired a bolt of flame, the magic surging from his palm in a blinding streak of light.

To his shock, it connected.

The blast struck Eli square in the chest, erupting in a burst of fire and force that sent him stumbling backward, momentarily engulfed in flames.

Hissra didn’t press forward.

Instead—abandoning all thought of counterattack—he turned and ran.

The searing cylinder of the Heat Domain moved with him, tracking his position like a fiery shadow, maintaining its centered formation as he sprinted through the blackened forest floor, every step cracking scorched bark and ash beneath his boots.

His mind raced faster than his legs.

If Eli had somehow broken the seal, then his only shot at surviving this was to trap him again. Disable that cursed movement. Make the fight manageable.

With a grunt, Hissra reached into his inventory, fingers trembling as he searched through the mental list of stored items. His eyes locked onto the object he needed, and with a flash of energy, it materialized in his hand.

The seal.

A sculpted, hexagonal stone etched with ancient runic markings that glowed faintly with a spectral light. It pulsed in his grip—alive with latent power.

He clutched it tight, preparing to reactivate it.

But before he could channel his will into the seal, the system responded.

[Spatial Seal still fixed on a target.]

[Withdraw to use on someone else?]

[Confirm Withdrawal: Yes / No]