Fire burns hotter when provoked.
A strategy room filled with heat inside the fortress of the Ignis Empire.
Flame lamps lined the walls, but on that day, their flames were flickering.
The strategy room was engulfed in shock at their failure to stop the Terra Empire’s forces, who had barged into their territory and stolen a large number of flame cores.
“How… could we have failed to stop them even one step?”
Vulcanus’s voice was low, but everyone could feel the anger underlying it.
Barkas was the first to raise his head.
“The Terra bastards came charging in with an enormous form in tow. Its entry surpassed all predictions. They did not even show any intention of fighting us; they simply pushed forward with sheer weight.”
“Did we not have ember cores? What were the charred infantry doing at the time?”
“They, too, had been deployed to the front line. But they could barely inflict any damage.”
Vulcanus slowly rose from his chair.
“Are you saying they were that powerful? Just where did they create such a thing?”
Phellos answered.
“Terra built up its fortress once more. They have never once researched dual-attribute cores. Instead, they simply kept gathering their own resources.”
“You mean to say it was a troop type created solely with their own cores.”
The flames lighting his eyes were still burning, but they were wavering.
He, too, seemed considerably flustered by the situation, which he had not anticipated at all.
“We possess two dual-attribute cores. And yet we have been bested by Terra, which does not have even one dual-attribute core.”
None of his retainers could say a word.
The sweltering strategy room was wrapped in a heavy silence.
Ragdor spoke cautiously.
“As expected, the energy that can oppose Terra is wood. If we could somehow train more charred infantry…”
“Did they not say even they failed to stop them?”
“T-then, I believe we must develop a new troop type that can be produced with ember cores.”
“Hoo…”
Vulcanus let out a hot breath.
Sparks scattered wildly around him.
“For now, we must punish Terra before Metallum. We will change the direction of the flames. The problem is that we lack the necessary troops.”
Vulcanus’s eyes shone once more.
“When Terra was driven to the brink of collapse, I mocked them. Was this their answer to that?”
Barkas, gauging the mood around him, asked.
“But Terra likewise has no means to attack us, do they not? Metallum is inside Terra’s camp right now, but if we suppress them…”
“No.”
Phellos shook his head.
“Fire aids earth. That relationship of mutual generation is one-sided. Terra can exploit flame cores from us, but we cannot take Terra’s cores without permission. It is for the same reason that we were able to take Silva’s cores so easily. As things stand, the only way to seize Terra’s cores seems to be through battle.”
Ragdor then asked.
“Do you think we should do what we did before? Approach Silva and take their cores, I mean.”
Vulcanus gave no answer.
After a moment, he said,
“If it is to eliminate what blocks our expansion, then the means do not matter.”
At that moment, Vulcanus and his retainers sensed a presence.
Between the pillars of flame, footsteps approached slowly, quiet in a way that did not match Ignis’s burning surroundings.
“Who is coming?”
Ragdor flinched in surprise.
“That is… Silva, is it not? Drian has come.”
The heat inside the strategy room briefly surged.
Vulcanus slowly rose from his chair and began to walk.
“She has come here of her own accord, for once.”
Vulcanus and his retainers went out to the entrance of the fortress.
Drian, standing before him, gazed at him with calm eyes that resembled a forest.
“What brings you here?”
Vulcanus asked her.
Her lips slowly parted.
“I need your help.”
Vulcanus’s eyes narrowed.
“What help do you mean?”
At his question, Drian continued with her explanation.
“We were recently attacked by Metallum. As you know, we attacked Terra together with Aqua, but Metallum’s soldiers, who had been stationed there, came and struck us directly. They have now become a threat to our growth.”
Vulcanus did not reveal his inner thoughts.
“We, too, have already set Metallum as our target. Is that all you came to say?”
“No.”
Drian’s eyes fixed on Vulcanus.
“We will support you with our life cores. I do not wish to forgive the fact that you entered our territory and took our cores, but I believe now is the time to support you. After all, we share a common enemy in Metallum.”
Vulcanus gave a sinister smile.
“So it is a relationship where the enemy of my enemy is my ally. Those bastards have entered Terra now and are acting as though they are the center. Naturally, beings such as we cannot simply stand by and watch. I share your thoughts.”
Drian also spoke.
“If they take root at the center, all of us will become the periphery.”
Vulcanus slowly looked around.
“Very well. For your sake, we shall stoke our flames even higher. We have already fused our cores with yours to create ember cores. The moment you hand over your cores to us, we can produce soldiers. If you wish, we can also give you a portion of our ember cores.”
“That would be good.”
Drian turned around.
“I will look forward to your efforts. If you can suppress Metallum, there is nothing more I could ask for.”
“Of course.”
After Drian withdrew, Ragdor spoke.
“I never expected Silva to come to us directly to request help. It seems our plan may become somewhat easier as well…”
“Indeed.”
Vulcanus calmly folded his arms.
This time, Barkas asked,
“Then are we attacking Metallum again?”
“No, that will come later. Our target right now is still Terra.”
Vulcanus turned and gave an order to Phellos.
“We will train ember soldiers with the cores Silva hands over and head for Terra. As soon as the cores gather, expand the ember barracks. It is time to create a new troop type.”
“Yes, understood.”
Not long afterward, a large quantity of life cores was delivered from the Silva Empire.
The life cores were transported to Ignis’s fusion facility.
“Something interesting has come in.”
Rexa began fusing flame cores and life cores into ember cores.
Now Ignis had secured numerous ember cores.
“Return about this much to Silva. Consider it a token of thanks for supporting us.”
“Yes, understood.”
Following Vulcanus’s instructions, Ragdor departed to deliver a small number of ember cores to Silva.
Meanwhile, Phellos was expanding the ember barracks.
The waves of flame and life blended without repelling each other, and that fusion transformed the entire barracks into a structure of inextinguishable flame.
The dark-brown ember barracks had outer walls of even greater thickness, burning more fiercely than the existing flame barracks.
Barkas asked Phellos,
“Can we now produce the new troop type?”
“Yes.”
Seemingly tense, Barkas inserted an ember core into the barracks.
Soon after, a soldier of a new form walked out.
Its build was not large.
It held round black spheres in both hands, and its armor was rough and dark like pieces of burning coal.
“A Coal Thrower, then.”
Barkas smiled faintly.
“Silva’s core acts as a combustion sustainment agent, and those burning spheres can spread fire to the surroundings.”
As if giving a demonstration, the Coal Thrower flung one of the coal spheres in its hand.
Tat, crumble, fwoosh…
At the spot where the sphere landed, red smoke rose, and flames spread outward in a circle.
Barkas spoke in satisfaction.
“We need soldiers like this as well. What is more, the composition of that coal has the energy of wood mixed into it. Beyond simply spreading fire, it will also deliver an impact to earth and stone.”
Vulcanus nodded.
“Indeed. Now we, too, can throw fire from afar. Far indeed. We shall have to test just how well it performs.”
His gaze now turned toward the next destination.
“Good. We sortie.”
Vulcanus and Barkas led a force composed of Coal Throwers and charred infantry toward Terra.
By nature, fire was supposed to aid earth.
But now, the Ignis Empire was invading the Terra Empire.
“There was no choice. Terra, this is also a result you brought upon yourselves. Let us see how far you bastards can hold out.”
Not long after, they reached Terra’s southern border.
“The defenses here are not thick.”
Barkas whispered.
“Were those fools careless, thinking we would never attack? Then we go in at once.”
Vulcanus said little and raised his hand.
Of course, Terramont immediately noticed that Ignis was approaching Terra.
“I knew you would come.”
As soon as Ignis’s ember forces invaded Terra’s territory, Terramont appeared.
Vulcanus stepped forward and faced him.
“You did something quite unlike yourself. Since you took our flame cores, we should take something as well, should we not?”
Terramont remained calm.
“Do as you wish. But before long, Metallum will come this way.”
Vulcanus grinned.
“There is nothing to fear from a mere Metallum. Are you at ease because you have stewed Metallum inside your own land? Time is precious, so we shall move at once.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the army of Ignis began moving in all directions.
Terramont said in a low voice,
“It seems there is a bit of a misunderstanding. Metallum does not obey my orders. Their emperor is Oruma, not me.”
At that moment, the ground shook.
Thud, thud, thud…
It was not just one.
The two mountain giants that had appeared last time, along with a unit of Earth Guardians, showed themselves again.
Vulcanus looked at them and sneered.
“Seeing them in person, they are rather impressive. But how much can they really stop us?”
And then, just as Terramont had said, other soldiers also came walking.
Massive forms covered in gray metal—ironclad infantry.
They were surging toward them.
“Huh…?”
Barkas’s eyes wavered.
“Could that be… a fusion of metal and earth…?”
Vulcanus faltered for a moment, but soon gave an order to his soldiers.
“Keep moving! Attack from a distance!”
The Coal Throwers used their long range to attack the approaching ironclad infantry.
However, the ironclad infantry overwhelmed them in numbers.
As time passed, Ignis’s forces slowly began to be pushed back.
The Coal Throwers’ combustion could not lead to a great blaze before their thick structures.
“This is enough. Any more is impossible. Retreat!”
Vulcanus glared briefly at Terramont, who stood still, then turned his back and headed toward Ignis.
Vulcanus and Barkas felt shaken by Terra’s current state.
The first reason was the scale of Terra’s power, and the second was its still-solid relationship with Metallum.
Though the directions of their expansion were different, they were complementing each other.
“The speed at which those bastards are growing is no joke. It seems we will have to revise our strategy.”
Meanwhile, deep beneath the waters of the Aqua Empire, ripples were forming.
Silva, Aqua’s longtime ally, had supported Ignis.
Nereia was lost in thought.
How should Aqua respond to this now?