?Nine suppressed his smile and grabbed Kyle's hand with a serious expression.
"Don't worry, ki.. Ahem I mean brother, I will protect you!"
His expression was so righteous that Kyle almost believed himself to be a kid who needed protection.
A blank expression appeared on his face as he yanked his hand away from Nine.
"No thank you!"
Nine stared at him from head to toe with crescent eyes.
"Are you sure?"
With a hum, Kyle narrowed his eyes and blue flames appeared around his body. The air turned extremely cold as the flames enclosed him in a protective shield.
Startled, Nine stepped back with a wry smile.
'Due to his appearance, I forget he is the strongest. Not to mention the flames..'
Nine's eyes trailed off to the surging flames. He stared at them for a second and blinked.
'Am I imagining or the color of the flames had really gotten darker?'
A familiar cry snapped him out of his thoughts, Nine looked back at the battered person crawling toward him.
Jian raised his teary eyes to stare at Nine. He opened his mouth but when he saw Kyle he clicked his mouth shut.
'What am I doing? He is a kid how can I ask him to help!'
Instantly, he jumped to his feet and approached Bia, his only hope.
"Bia! I need help come with me!"
The phoenix stared at him for a second before gazing at Kyle.
With a sigh, Kyle gave her a quick nod.
-'Stay safe.'
Bia spread her wings and followed behind Jian who jumped in the battle with joy.
After Bia's towering figure left, an injured winged man attacked Kyle and Nine with a loud cry.
Nine kicked the man away smoothly before stepping toward Kyle.
"Can you use any other skill except your flames?"
At Kyle's silence, Nine knew he couldn't. With a frown, he stopped another attack aimed at them from behind.
"Should I stay with you?"
"No need. Go fight with the others."
Kyle gazed at the battlefield around him and the flames around his body became violent.
'As long as I avoid direct combat I believe I can help.'
He sucked in a breath and left Nine side. A few eyes traveled in his direction but because of the chilling flames not many dared to approach him and the ones who did were reduced to glistening ice sculptures.
Kyle's eyes scanned the surroundings as he cautiously climbed the highest boulder around him to oversee the situation better.
The hair on his back stood up when a winged man attacked him from behind. With a decisive move, he jumped forward before the attack could land on him.
Kyle's body landed on the ground as he rolled off and stared at the person who attacked him. A trail of blood oozed out from his palm due to the sudden movement.
He clicked his tongue.
"I can use the flames but my body is too weak to sustain deep injuries. What a realistic punishment."
The atmosphere was heavy with various metallic sounds ringing in the air. Kyle rubbed his palm with his thumb and gazed at the man charging toward him with a cold expression.
The wings behind the man fluttered frantically as he extended his hand but before his nails could reach Kyle, blue flames materialized around him. The flames took the shape of spears and stabbed him from all directions.
A painful cry rang out and within a few seconds, the man turned into another ice sculpture that vanished into thin air.
Kyle grabbed his knees and dragged his body to stand up properly. He wanted to attack another dark race individual fighting with an elf beside him when a familiar voice echoed behind him.
"Are you alright?"
"Huh?"
He lifted his gaze to stare back at the pair of amber eyes looking at him with worry. Kyle blinked in surprise. Unlike their previous encounter, Yue appeared disheveled. Her hair cascaded down her back and shoulders, untied. A frown creased his forehead when he sensed the aura around her.
'What happened now? Bia did say she can absorb the aura from treasures but is it really safe for her body?'
He wanted to ask, but then he held back. First, it wasn't his place to pry, and second, they weren't exactly close enough to share secrets like that.
Amidst all this, he failed to notice the hesitation in Yue's steps when she saw his knitted brows.
'Is he uncomfortable?'
Different from Yue who stopped a few steps away from him, Sia immediately made her way toward Kyle with a bright and curious smile.
"Kyle, how did you turn into a kid? Can you tell me I want to reduce my age as well-!"
Her sentence was cut short because someone attacked her from the left. With a curse, she spun her spear and stabbed it toward her enemy.
Yue hurriedly formed a few spells to help Sia. Countless lava snakes rose around her body and the moment she raised her fingers, the snakes shot out toward her enemy.
Kyle gazed at her figure for a second but then started walking in the opposite direction. He used his flames to help the ones in need while carefully avoiding all direct contact with the others.
Even though the battle was quite intense and bloody, he could see it. The battle was in their favor especially due to Alec, Carcel, Bia, and Jian.
Kyle let out a chuckle. Jian would always run off at the first sign of danger, but surprisingly, he was the one taking down the most enemies.
Suddenly, he raised his head when a loud battle cry reverberated in the distance.
Kyle raised his brow when he saw a familiar figure flying in the sky. It's been a while since he saw the winged demi-human. Sinon dived down with a lightning-fast speed and rolled on the ground to join the battle.
Kyle mused softly.
"It's like he's become comfortable with heights. The last time I remember, he was scared to even use his wings."
Soon, just like the dark race many outsiders arrived to join the battle. A few familiar faces also appeared, and Kyle was surprised when he saw Regius with two beautiful demi-human girls.
Regius was practically glowing with smiles as he entered the battle and fought against the enemies.
The battle raged on for an entire day, and with every passing minute, more and more outsiders joined the fight against the dark race. In the end, the remaining dark race people wanted to flee, but for some reason Alec gathered many people to surround them from all directions.
He didn't stop until he had taken down every last person from the dark race. But even after the battle was over, Alec and the others knew that a few dark race people might still be alive.
Afterward, everyone erupted in joy and raised their weapons high in the sky to celebrate their hard-earned victory.
Countless faint murmurs echoed in the air as everyone gathered together to discuss what they should do next.
Regardless of the buzzing atmosphere, Alec and Carcel both raised their weapons to attract everyone's attention.
The crowd went silent but a few people were still talking as everyone stared at the two men standing opposite them.
Alec cleared his throat but before he could speak Bia huge figure landed beside him. Almost everyone went quiet when they saw the majestic phoenix.
Alec gazed at Bia and blinked. He followed her eyes, only to see Kyle's tiny figure standing at the end of the crowd.
Kyle raised his hand and waved at him. With a smile, Alec raised his voice and delivered a quick speech.
First, he expressed how happy he was to see everyone fight together regardless of their race. He did not go into much detail and closed off his speech with a few more lines.
"I believe the strong enemies had been killed. Now all of you can venture around and enter the treasure islands to fight for treasures. Still, to make sure no more deaths occur please stay together with your friends. However, the ones who think they are capable of protecting themselves are welcome to roam around alone."
After Alec was done, slowly the crowd scattered in different directions. There were a few people who made teams but many left alone.
He sighed. Still, the danger lurking around them was gone. So, he believed at least no one would die under the dark race now.
Alec and Carcel went toward Kyle. Just like the duo, all of Kyle's friends approached him. After all, they could not just leave him to fend for himself in his current condition.
Kyle let out a sigh and hurriedly told them he was fine. He just needed to find a cure that was present inside a treasure island.
Yet, his words backfired and Jian and Nine immediately urged to go together. Nine was very displeased when he saw Seraphine lurking around Kyle but he could do nothing but tolerate her presence.
Kyle groaned when he saw so many people surrounding him from all directions. The voices grew louder and louder as they insisted on following him until he found the cure.
In the end, he grabbed his ears with a fed-up expression.
"Okay! Just stop speaking already!"
