In the outside world, Feng Qing'er's body had begun burning up intensely. The heat of the flames was incomparable to what she was outputting before, and she wasn't even doing it consciously.
Feng Qing'er's body had decayed to the point where she no longer had extremities. Her tail and wings had become nothing, and even her torso had begun to decay as well. But the second those flames burst from her body, the inky substance was forced to retreat.
It was incinerated the second it even touched the flames.
The flames were wild and uncontrolled. They didn't even seem to listen to Feng Qing'er. Rather, she seemed to be their target.
The flames enveloped her even faster than the cocoon did, and immediately went to work. The corrupted areas on Feng Qing'er's body were burned first, a sacred white light shone from the flames and purified the corruption before burning away the areas entirely.
From her torso to her heart and her head, all of it was burned until not even ashes of Feng Qing'er's body existed anymore.
Sensing the situation, the black substance unwillingly retreated back onto the burnt body of the Apostle Kroa. After all. If there was no body for it to consume and corrupt, there was no point in continuing what it was doing.
When the substance gathered around Kroa's body and began retreating from where Feng Qing'er once was, a wisp of sacred orange flames flashed into being.
It was minuscule at first, being no more than the size of a coin. But it rapidly expanded. As it grew in size, it seemed to take shape as well, it was no longer untamable and wild as it was when the cocoon was encasing it.
A massive pair of flame wings were formed, and a majestic tail and the head of a bird followed after. A Phoenix made entirely of flames that was tens of meters long soon encompassed the empty space.
But as if that wasn't enough, new changes sprouted forth after the initial construct was formed. Bones, blood vessels and nerves, muscles, organs, skin, and feathers.
The makeup of a true Phoenix started to form. Life was being born from fire.
Thump!
A flaming heart solidified its position in the newly created Phoenix's body. It thumped with so much vigor that the sound attracted the attention of the receding Apostle.
Kroa was feeling both fulfilled and unfulfilled at the same time as she was forced to leave the area. While she was extremely happy that Feng Qing'er had died, she was also aghast when she realized her own condition.
Her face was scarred and ugly. She had tried to heal it already, but the scars refused to leave. From now on, her already below-average features were even more tainted.
She was horrified, but by the time she registered the situation, Feng Qing'er had already been consumed by her dark material.
Thump!
It was then that she heard a noise that sounded like the beating of a heart.
Thump!
The noise sounded again, causing her to turn and face the direction she had just left from. And unexpectedly, she was able to witness the final layer of feathers covering Feng Qing'er exposed skin.
In the place where nothing but empty land stood a second ago, there was a majestic Phoenix with its eyes closed peacefully. Its reddish-orange feathers were pristine and beautiful, giving off a regal aura as if the Phoenix was the Queen of everything.
The wingspan of the Phoenix was truly massive, and it seemed to want to blot out the sun. Compared to Feng Qing'er's true body, this Phoenix was obviously a level higher.
Thump! Thump!
The beating sounds became louder and louder. It seemed like every beat of the heart caused the ground to quake and the sky to tremble.
And then, it stopped. Everything turned silent. Even Kroa held her breath as she fixedly stared at the beautiful Phoenix in front of her.
Its eyes slowly opened. Although they were hazy at first, they quickly regained focus. The first thing those eyes saw was Kroa staring back at them.
BOOM!
A raging torrent of flames burst from the Phoenix's body. The shockwave that followed caused Kroa to be pushed back hundreds of meters even with the support of her dark material.
When Kroa raised her head, her mind blanked. The sky was carpeted in runic scripture that she couldn't understand. Those flaming runes danced through the air like little sprites, gleeful that they were finally acknowledged.
It was then that the Phoenix finally spoke. With its full attention on Kroa, its mouth curved into a gloating smile.
"It's only been a few minutes since I was trapped in that shitty cocoon, and you actually managed to get even uglier! Congratulations! Your appearance has officially reached the level where it makes me want to vomit just looking at you!"
Kroa's blank expression was immediately twisted in rage. That bitch! How the hell was she still alive?!
"YOU BITCH! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Bang!
The dark material twisted through the air and flashed in forth of Feng Qing'er's new Phoenix form, capitalizing on Kroa's rage to fuel itself even further.
It wrapped around Kroa's fist and maximized the power output of the wild punch she threw to its peak. It was to the point where Kroa's arm was destined to tear out of its socket due to excess force.
But due to her furious state, Kroa could care less. As long as she could kill Feng Qing'er, nothing else mattered.
Seeing the incoming attack, Feng Qing'er's smirk only widened. 'Seriously? I lost to this?' She inwardly sneered in derision.
Her wings flapped lightly, pushing her back a few inches. But she had never meant to use the maneuver to dodge. Instead, it was a signal. A signal to the runes that were dancing through the air.
Tens, if not hundreds, of runes fell from the sky like shooting stars. Their forms twisted and morphed into the shape of feathers and swords before lining themselves up in a formation and charging at Kroa like a group of torpedos.
The air screeched as the concentrated power of the runes passed through it. If it wasn't for the speed at which the runes traveled exceeding the speed the air broke, the runes would've easily torn through space in an instant.
Before long, Kroa was surrounded by runes that seemed to have a mind of their own. They circled around her and attacked her blind spots, and whenever she was able to catch them, they exploded in her face.
"AHHHH!"
Kroa screamed to vent her frustration. Her body kept flying from one side of the circle to the next. The runes were tossing her around like they were playing monkey in the middle and she was the ball.
But she was powerless to stop it. The dark material that was once able to easily ignore Feng Qing'er's flames now had to put a large majority of its attention on blocking the flames and making sure it wasn't injured.
As a result( Kroa was forced to personally head all the impact force that passed through the dark material and landed on her body. Her ribs shattered multiple times over and blood constantly poured out of her mouth.
"What the hell are you doing?! Protect me you useless piece of shit!"
Kroa madly clawed at the dark material as if blaming it for her inadequacy. But perhaps the stupidest move she could make was to anger the being that had been hard carrying her throughout the entire fight.
Annoyed by her insolence, the dark material slightly let up on its defense, allowing a portion of the flames' heat to pass through and hit Kroa's body.
"AHHHHHH! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me, your excellence!"
Kroa's tone shifted immediately. She begged the dark material for mercy with every fiber of her being. But the voice that came out was nothing more than a croak.
She was probably the most clueless about the situation out of the three that were present. If Feng Qing'er had barraged her with fire rain with the flames she currently possessed, Kroa would have died merely because she was in the vicinity of the heatwave.
Even being directly impacted by the flames was too much for her. A minor portion of the heat had caused her body to blacken and char. Her eyeballs almost melted due to the insane temperature of the heatwave.
Slowly but surely, pieces of the dark material were incinerated. Even as it hurriedly patched itself up as it did before, it was continuously incinerated. The battle soon became a matter of speed.
Feng Qing'er's smile blossomed. "Now then, little thing. Which do you think will happen first? Will you be able to patch yourself up, or will my flames burn you to ashes? Place your bets!"
It was Feng Qing'er's first taste of Reincarnation Flames, and frankly, she was loving every second of it.
