A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5836

Only now did Lucas drag his gaze away from Reiner. It landed on Jared like a drawn blade.

His spiritual sense slipped inside the broken body. A heartbeat later, his eyes sharpened to daggers, and a chill, murderous fury detonated around him, cutting the very air.

"Chaotic Origin Flame? Boy, why is that spark inside you? More than that—its taste matches the fragment of source-fire I left inside the Blazefire Secret Realm. Speak. Did you trespass there and steal what is mine?"

Lucas' voice was icy.

The killing intent dropped like a mountain. Bones already splintered within Jared's chest screeched anew; breath refused to draw; every heartbeat threatened to scatter.

Reiner lurched forward a half step. "Lucas, please—this fault is mine. I sensed his unusual bond with flame and—because he had aided our sect against the demon tide—permitted him a haven inside the Blazefire Secret Realm to heal. I could not have foreseen he would awaken the core fragment itself."

"Fool!"

Lucas' roar cracked like thunder. "Do you understand? That shard was won with blood and near death. I left it to nourish the land, to anchor the ley lines, to mark my path forward—and you let an outsider in to drain it dry? Reiner, you have disappointed me beyond measure."

Head bowed, Reiner accepted the verdict, not daring to offer even a whisper of rebuttal.

Lucas' gaze snapped back to Jared. Murder coalesced behind those crimson irises, so tangible the air seemed to curdle around him. "A gnat from the Human Immortal Realm dares reach for what is mine? Hand over the source of the Chaotic Origin Flame, and I may leave you a whole corpse. Defy me, and I will tear your soul to rags, scatter the pieces to every horizon, and bar you from rebirth for all eternity."

He thrust out one clawed hand. Midnight fire—thick, satanic, eager—wreathed his fingers, stretching into a talon big enough to pluck down a star. The infernal hand slashed toward Jared, ready to carve him open and rip the Chaotic Origin Flame straight from his heart.

"Lucas—enough!"

Until that instant, the Fire Spirit Lord, Flegel, had stood silent. Now he stepped forward.

Flegel placed himself between predator and prey. Gentle white fire rose around him, soft as new snow yet boundless as the sea, its purity clashing against Lucas' black inferno.

"Yes, the stranger absorbed fragments of your source flame, but the fact that he could summon and refine the Chaotic Origin Flame is his destiny as much as yours. The origin flame belongs to no one. You left it in this secret realm without a single ward to forbid succession. That choice, whether spoken or not, amounts to silent consent. To seize it back by brute force—does that befit beings who claim higher wisdom?"

Lucas' brow tightened; irritation flashed across his blood-red eyes. "Flegel, must you always oppose me? The fragments he took are mine by right. Reclaiming what is mine is righteous, not robbery. Step aside, or do not fault me for forgetting old ties."

"Old ties?" Flegel shook his head, disappointment flickering through his pale fire.

"Lucas, your heart knows only conquest and darkness. Brotherhood was never more than a word to you. The boy and the Chaotic Origin Flame may well touch the Chaotic Law Fire our master sought. Shall I watch you snuff out that chance to satisfy your ego? Never."

"Then words are useless. Let strength decide." Lucas' lips twisted into a murderous smile. "Show me whether your Blazewraith Technique can still withstand my Demonflare Art after all these centuries."

His rage boiled over. Black demonic fire roared from his body, piling into the sky like a storm made of flame.

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