CHAPTER 23: Will of Fire

The battlefield returned in a rush—ashen winds, crumbling stone, and the scent of blood thick in the air. Jace barely had a moment to regain his bearings before a familiar voice roared.

"NOW, ADELLE!"

Michael’s command cut through the chaos like a blade, and Adelle didn’t hesitate.

A burst of golden flames exploded to life around her. She locked her eyes onto Malrik who was still focused on Jace and propelled herself forward, her feet kicking off the ground in an explosion of embers.

"Wait, stop—!" Jace shouted, but it was too late.

Adelle struck with raw ferocity, flames coiling around her fists as she approached. Malrik turned slowly as her first strike cracked the ground beneath them. The impact sent a shockwave kicking up a hurricane of dust and flames. The sheer force sent both Malrik and Jace skidding backward.

Jace would have been flung further if not for his own blood snapping out like a reflex, twisting into thick, rope-like tendrils that latched onto the stone behind him, pulling him to a halt in midair. He landed, his blood retracting into his skin as he clenched his fists. 

"Damn it."

Malrik stopped suddenly as his feet kicked against the invisible air as he landed, his feet barely touching the ground. Adelle wasn’t done. She pressed forward in a relentless barrage of burning fists. Malrik moved like a shadow, twisting away from her flames with effortless grace. But she was faster—faster than before. Her fists grazed him, the embers touching against his dark coat.

“Adelle, stop!” Jace yelled, moving toward them.

A roaring burst of flames engulfed the air, swirling like a living inferno. Malrik flicked his wrist, a void of darkness expanding around him, swallowing the fire in an instant. Adelle spun, landing on her feet awkwardly. Jace approached her.

“Get away JACE! I got this!” she snapped, her flames surging back to full power.

"He wasn’t trying to—” Jace started, but she was already moving again.

Malrik’s silver eyes flickered as he sidestepped, but Adelle twisted in midair, her leg igniting in a crescent of golden fire, her heel swinging down like an executioner’s blade.

CRACK!

The force of her kick shattered the ground where Malrik stood an instant before. He reappeared a few feet away, floating effortlessly above the ground, his coat catching a little fire.

"Enough," Malrik murmured, his voice low.

Jace exhaled slowly and looked at his hands. “Okay, you got this.” He flexed his fingers and blood seeped out solidifying into hardened veins, twisting like living whips of rope.

Adelle thrust her hands forward, her flames sparked to life in a spiraling inferno. Malrik raised a single hand and an invisible force slammed into Adelle sending her backward like a ragdoll.

The moment Adelle was thrown back, Jace’s blood shot forward, expanding in midair like a blooming flower, weaving together into a ‘blood net’ that caught her before she could crash into the dirt. The blood coiled around her like thick ropes lowering her gently to the ground then slowly flowed back into Jace’s hands.

“Woah!” Michael said watching from a distance.

For a brief moment, Adelle lay still, her flames flickering weakly.

Jace rushed forward, shaking her. "Adelle! Listen to me! This isn’t what you think. Let him go!"

"You don’t get to say that!" she snapped, her flames flaring in response to her rage. "You weren’t here! You didn’t see what he did!"

Jace gritted his teeth. He knew Malrik wasn’t innocent. He wasn’t naive. But even he could see that Malrik could destroy them as he said, if he wanted to. Even if he joined Adelle in the fight, they wouldn’t be victorious against Malrik.

"I know what he did," Jace said, stepping forward. "I also know he isn’t our biggest problem right now!"

“Are you crazy?” Adelle asked standing up. “Look around you! Our friends! He...did that. I don’t know what he told you or what he gave you and I don’t care. But this…ends NOW!”

The flames around her exploded outward, their golden hue burning fiercer, hotter and then shifted to a cold blue. Jace stepped back as the air around her became much hotter, it warped. She was losing control as her flames exploded outward and rose higher.

Jace threw his hands up, his blood whipping forward, but the flames tore through it like paper. Her body was no longer just burning—she was fire itself.

Adelle let out a roar as blue flames exploded from her mouth. She lunged at Jace, her fist grazing his chest and instantly burned through his uniform, his skin searing and blistering from the sheer heat. Jace winced, pain rushing through him as he instinctively threw his blood out, trying to restrain her but she burned through them before they could even take hold.

Adelle screamed—a sound of pure agony and rage, as the flames started eating at her skin, peeling it away, exposing raw, blistered flesh beneath.

"Jace, get back!" Michael yelled as he and the others rushed in.

Frank dropped to one knee slamming his palms against the ground. A wave of ice surged outward, the frozen mist shot up Adelle’s legs, racing across her torso arms attempting to encase her in a cocoon of frost. But the fire fought back. The ice cracked melting away in an instant. Steam exploded outward in a blinding cloud and then Adelle shot into the air. Her flames propelled her upwards like rockets. The ground beneath her scorched and cracked from the sheer force, embers raining down as she hovered erratically, her whole body engulfed in blue fire.

Jace clenched his fists, forcing his blood to extend once more. The thick coils shot upward trying to snare her legs. The moment they wrapped around her, they burned away in seconds. He was quick, however, as he kept replacing them fighting through the pain as the heat burned his blood.

Frank ran up beside him. “Keep that up, I’m gonna try something.”

Without hesitation, Frank cupped his hands over his mouth, inhaling sharply. Then he exhaled, a concentrated stream of freezing air swirling outward. The icy breath shot up, merging with Jace’s blood, coating it in frost as it traveled toward Adelle’s feet.

But it wasn’t enough. The moment the cold touched her flames, they hissed violently, steam exploding outward. The ice barely slowed the burn.

Jace’s body was being pulled upward, his grip slipping as Adele tried to go higher. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Malrik. Standing above them, watching.

“Help us!” he yelled.

Malrik merely smiled. "Why would I do that?"

“She’s going to die!” Jace shouted, his voice raw with desperation. “Help her, and we’ll stop following you.”

“Hmm.” Malrik’s expression shifted, his silver eyes narrowing slightly.

Without a word, he raised his hand.

A wave of darkness surged forward, not like smoke, but like liquid. It wrapped around Adelle’s feet merging with Frank’s ice swallowing the flames whole. The burning slowed and then stopped. In an instant, the black liquid wrapped around Adelle entirely, as she passed out. Jace released his blood, Frank stopped exhaling, and Adelle drifted downward, weightless, as Malrik’s darkness gently lowered her to the ground. Frank caught her before she hit the ground as the darkness disappeared.

Jace exhaled sharply, his chest heaving. He glanced down at Adelle’s body—her arms were charred and slightly disfigured. Pieces of skin had melted away revealing raw, bleeding muscle. The scent of burnt meat filled the air. Emma looked away gagging.

Jace looked up, locking eyes with Michael.

For a long moment, neither spoke.

Then Michael exhaled, his shoulders dropping.

"Let him go," he said.

Jace looked at Malrik, at Adelle’s burned form and finally back at Michael.

He nodded.

Malrik gave them one last glance, nodded then in supersonic speed disappeared like a blur in the distance.