The frosty volcano alp of the Volcan Empire had never before been so bare. The naked mountain top was covered in black soot as the dragon's red flames were extinguished by the melted snow.
Pyre, as a mighty dragon, was more than capable of controlling its strength to prevent himself from searing the surroundings but… why did it matter? Only the scalding lava found inside the volcano was qualified to be called its territory.
"I don't want to die!" One yelled gripping their sword with trembling lips.
"Focus and get- aaAAAAHH!" His superior didn't even have time to reproach the fearful man before they were both burned to a crisp.
Pyre, true to its name, had created heaps of burning corpses all around the Volcan Fortress as more and more knights charged at it now full of nothing but fear and regret.
The harrowing sight made more and more of the knights falter until becoming nothing more than a disorderly bunch of cowardly people.
As more of the knights dropped their weapons and fled, the more the others were tempted to do the same. Ultimately, there were no longer any knights entering the macabre courtyard.
The magicians, without cannon fodd- Erm valuable teammates, were akin to nothing but leaves in a furnace as they wilted away. Those that possessed some battle sense and tried to save themselves only ended up delaying their inevitable demise as their layers of shields were quickly eroded by the torrid flames.
"AAAAH! AAAAAAAH!" As these high-pitched blood-curdling screams resounded in the formerly beautiful winter courtyard, Mite only smiled watching with a mix of admiration and yearning. This carried on for many hours until an expected guest arrived.
"SON!" An angry scream came from amidst the flames, it was a burly man with whitening red hair. This person was none other than the current emperor, Burne Volcan. He had appeared from inside of the hot red flames.
Pyre, seeing the old figure being impervious to his flames, was not at all intimidated. To be fair, he knew exactly why.
"Burne, I see you are making use of my gift" The imposing red dragon abated its fiery breath to speak those casual words of contempt.
With the torrent of fire stopping, Burne's armor was in full sight. The joints glowed a candent red as they absorbed the heat of the dragon fire. This was a feature of none other than Pyre's scales.
Behind the imposing dragon was the young prince with his blonde hair. His face had formed into a sneer.
"I think that's the first time you've called me that" Mite said somewhat amused. Would his brothers treat him so harshly if his 'dad' didn't allow it? The answer was too obvious to answer.
"S- Mite. Wh- What are you doing?" The emperor asked with a tinge of disbelief. Though flames still remained, now that the endless barrage was over, the battlefield was much clearer.
It was nothing but darkened ground littered with blackened corpses. Any knights or mages that maintained their lives by being out of the direct area of effect were perhaps even more pitiful as their skin oozed a weird mix of blood and pus.
",,,aaaah" Their weak cries of stifled pain made one instinctively feel pity. Of course, to people like Burne Volcan who spent their entire lives mastering the element of fire, this was a sight as common as any other.
The only reason he felt disbelief was due to the fact that this all came from the seemingly compliant dragon at the behest of his outcasted son. The meek boy with banana yellow hair had never been a source of pride for him, he had never seen him as a son never mind a threat. But reality proved different.
"What am I doing...? Wasn't this what you wanted?" Mite could see the obvious intent behind his retreat. The mighty emperor planned to hide away for a bit to test which of his many sons was worthy of the throne.
The main issue with this plan was that Mite never intended to play by the rules. His father's meticulously set chessboard was pushed off the table by his and Pyre's involvement.
"I didn't want you- I mean, not like this" Burne said still carrying his incredulous tone.
His closed-door cultivation plan had worked against him. Due to locking himself up far away from his people, he couldn't make it in time. He wasn't able to safeguard his fighting force and many of the knights and mages died meaninglessly.
Mite found these words to be ridiculous. Not like this? What the hell was that supposed to mean!? How else did he picture this conflict?
Did he not know that he had given birth to literal hellspawn? That each one of his treasured sons was just as incapable of human empathy? But how could they when they were born in an environment ideal for farming hatred?
"You don't have to say anything more" Mite shook his head and said.
"You just have to die" He followed up and declared sending his father a piercing gaze.
Burne Volcan as a mighty emperor was about to scoff at the young man's words but...
"W- Wha-? ...Urgh" Before he knew it, the forsaken boy with golden hair and an innocent face had already dealt him a lethal blow. Though he noticed the approach and intended to guard himself, Mite had basically teleported over.
The speed was unprecedented, only the trail of fire behind mite suggested he had indeed ever moved.
"Nicely done" Pyre complimented from the side.
"Did you expect any less? You were my teacher after all" Mite did not just sit around believing naively that the dragon would help him conquer the world. He had also demanded that being taught magic be part of the exchange.
"Hahaha" Pyre laughed at the shameless bootlicking. Still, he had to admit he had indeed done a good job. The young man was easily brought up to the A-class under his tutelage.
"Yo- You'll doom us…" Burne said weakly as blood dripped from a burning hole in his stomach.
One of the disadvantages of the armor he wore was that in order to use the fire absorbent feature of the scales, they had to be placed to form an array. That meant leaving metals that could be melted with sufficient heat in key areas like the torso.
"How so?" Mite asked while casually removing the light dragon scale armor his father wore. He was already treating him as dead, him being incapacitated from that single strike and being rooted only fortified this belief.
"Hehehe… you are a rat… just like your moth-" The emperor didn't get to finish his lasts words as a sword cleanly removed his head from his shoulders. The incensed Mite hadn't wasted a single second in performing this action.
"F*ck!" Mite however didn't feel any better after doing so. It was due to the fact that the emperor's mocking smile still remained ingrained in his head.
He then quickly cast a spell and incinerated his father's head hoping that would make things better. But it didn't, it did not help.
Just like the flickering red flames of Pyre's breath that continued to burn the previously serene courtyard, that mocking smile continued to burn rampant in Mite's head.
It was a never extinguishing flame.
***
Ed hadn't brought his alchemy materials during the move. The reason was simply that it was unnecessary. He conjured up a new yet smaller cauldron from the ground and made sure to reinforce it with mana.
After that, he went into the recently upgraded storeroom and after admiring the space took out the large container of blood.
There was obviously no space in the cottage so Ed placed it next to the garden and created a table and other basic things he could use to place his ingredients. He then made a simple faucet like those often found on coolers on the blood container.
'A bloody fruit punch. With hopefully no fruity bits' Ed wouldn't be able to explain how that got there. He also couldn't make the potion chunky, what if the patients choked?
After some more organizing and some rummaging through the garden, Ed was ready to start his first potion experiment.
He poured scalding hot water into the cauldron as was customary and mixed it with ground serenity buds. The water's bubbly reaction calmed down allowing Ed to throw in some more ingredients. Namely dry Alivio herbs and pieces of Cura weed.
As soon as he did so, a fragrant tea-like scent spread in the area. It made for a calming atmosphere but Ed didn't let his judgment get clouded just yet. He stirred the small cauldron and did this for a good couple of minutes.
'Something that I never did with the Alivio potions was take my time' it was a miracle he didn't blow off a limb. At the same time that was only a testament to the magical nature of the Alivio herbs. Ed felt that unless the outside was literal paradise then this plant would fetch a high price.
"Now should be a good time for the blood, right?" Thus far he had only made calming tea. The serenity buds had even made him feel a bit muddle-headed.
Ed opened the faucet on the container with magic and blood poured into the mixture, and although Ed tried to close it rather rapidly…
"Fuc-!" An explosion occured.
[You've been dealt explosive damage -35 hp]
[You've been dealt damage -1 hp]
"Cough Cough" Ed coughed after swallowing a piece of the 'cauldron'
"Damn alchemy!" If he was going to be constantly exploding in his trials then Ed was tempted to switch to his skeleton body.. At least like that, he would already be dead.