Part 1
The peaceful picnic atmosphere shattered the moment Kael felt the strange wave of heat. It lasted only a second, like opening a very hot oven, and then it was gone.
"Did you guys feel that?" Kael asked.
Elara, still busy with her soap bubbles, shook her head. "Feel what? The wind?"
But Rina and Lyra were instantly on alert.
"It wasn't wind," Rina said. She stood up, her eyes scanning the surroundings sharply. "That was a thermal anomaly. Weak, but not normal."
"Heat," Lyra added. She looked towards the city center. "It's like something is angry in the distance."
Rina's phone vibrated. A priority call. She answered it immediately.
"Understood," she said curtly, then ended the call. Her face was now serious. "That was the command post. The same reports are coming in from several other locations across the city. Brief heatwaves with no apparent source."
Kael immediately remembered the final message from the Crimson Hunt leader. The Lord of Flame. A bad premonition ran down his spine.
"A new Phantasm," Kael said softly.
"Most likely," Rina agreed. "But the pattern is strange. There's no Rift. It's more like… someone is testing matches in different places."
They decided to end the picnic immediately. The cheerful mood had vanished, replaced by a heavy tension. On the way home, Kael kept glancing at Lyra and Chroma. Both of them seemed uneasy. Lyra kept staring out the car window with a wary gaze, while Chroma hugged her sketchbook tighter than usual.
They feel it too, Kael thought. This new threat was making them uncomfortable.
That night, Kael couldn't sleep. He lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His mind kept racing. Was this the work of Crimson Hunt's "Master"? Was "The Lord of Flame" the next Phantasm he had to face?
Feeling thirsty, he got up and walked to the kitchen. As he passed the living room, he saw the silhouettes of Lyra and Chroma standing in front of the large window, looking out at the city lights.
"You're not asleep?" Kael asked.
"Can't," Lyra replied. "The air tonight feels… dry. And angry."
"Hot," was all Chroma said, her voice barely a whisper.
Kael stood beside them, also looking out at the city view. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together."
As he said that, his phone, lying on the coffee table, buzzed violently. An incoming call from Rina. This was strange; Rina never called this late unless it was an emergency.
Kael quickly picked it up.
"Kael! Turn on the news channel!" Rina's voice was urgent.
Kael immediately turned on the holographic screen on the wall. The local news channel was showing a live broadcast from the West Industrial District. The image displayed made Kael's blood run cold.
An old factory was engulfed in raging flames. But this wasn't an ordinary fire. The flames were a blackish-red, and they seemed to dance ferociously, forming pillars that licked the night sky.
"A massive fire has broken out at an old, abandoned factory," the reporter's panicked voice sounded. "The cause of the fire is still unknown, and firefighting teams are reporting difficulty in extinguishing the flames, which seem to be burning without any fuel."
"This is no ordinary fire," Lyra whispered, her eyes glued to the screen. "This is a manifestation."
Then, the news drone's camera zoomed in on the roof of the burning factory. In the middle of the blaze, a figure stood. The figure of a girl with flaming red hair, wearing black armor. She just stood there, letting the flames lick her body as if it were a comfortable blanket.
It was Ignis.
"She's appeared," Rina said from the other end of the line. "Sooner than we expected. The Order is en route. Stay in the apartment, Kael! Don't go anywhere!"
But Kael didn't hear the last part. His mind was blank. Their new enemy had revealed herself. And she had done it in the most blatant and destructive way possible.
Part 2
At the fire scene, Rina landed nimbly from an Order transport, already in her full Chrono-Gear. Several other Order units had already formed a perimeter, trying to contain the spectral fire from spreading.
"Situation report!" Rina commanded the nearest team captain.
"This fire can't be put out with water or chemical foam, Commander Volkov!" the captain reported. "The temperature at its core is incredibly high. And that Phantasm… she's just standing there, as if she's enjoying the show."
Rina looked up, gazing at Ignis who stood atop the inferno she had created. She could feel the waves of pure rage emanating from the Phantasm, even from this distance. This was completely different from Lyra or Chroma. There was no sadness, no longing. Only a burning rage.
"Rina, can you communicate with her?" Commander Kirana's voice came through her headset.
"I'll try," Rina replied. She activated the external speaker on her helmet. "Unidentified Phantasm! In the name of the Chronosentinel Order, cease your actions and surrender!"
Up above, Ignis finally moved. She looked down, her orange-gold eyes seeming to pierce through the darkness and stare directly at Rina.
A smirk appeared on her face.
"Surrender? To the lapdogs of humans?" her hoarse, mocking voice echoed through the air. "I'm not here to surrender. I'm here to deliver a warning."
She raised her greatsword, Laevateinn, which was immediately engulfed in a hotter, brighter flame.
"Rising Phoenix!"
With a single downward swing, she unleashed a wave of fire in the shape of a giant phoenix. The attack wasn't aimed at Rina or the Order units. It was aimed at an empty skyscraper next to the factory.
The resulting explosion was devastating. Half the building was destroyed in an instant, collapsing into a pile of smoldering rubble.
Everyone there gasped in horror. This was a brutal and merciless demonstration of power.
"This is just a warm-up," Ignis said, her voice filled with cruel glee. "I'm looking for someone. A boy named Kaelen Vance. Bring him to me."
She drove her sword into the melting roof of the building. "If you don't, this entire city will be my next warm-up stage."
In the command room, Commander Kirana clenched her fist. "She knows Kael's name. Alaric deliberately leaked it."
In the apartment, Kael, Lyra, and Chroma watched everything on the screen. Kael's face was pale.
This enemy was different. This enemy didn't just want to destroy. She was specifically targeting him.
"I… I have to go there," Kael said.
"No!" Lyra immediately stood in front of him. "She wants to kill you! I won't let her!"
"But if I don't go, she'll burn the whole city, Lyra!" Kael argued back.
A loud, sudden knock on the door made them all jump.
Not the front door. But the balcony door.
Rina Volkov, still in her full Chrono-Gear, stood there, having just landed with her thrusters.
"There's no time to argue," she said, catching her breath. "The Commander has a plan. And that plan requires all of us."
She looked at Kael, then at Lyra, and finally at Chroma. "The warm-up is over. The real fight is about to begin."