Regression of the Tower's Final Survivor-Chapter 36: Floor 9 — The Burning Halls

Dante’s lungs burned with his first breath on the other side of the gate.

[Floor 9: The Burning Halls]

[Format: Survival and combat]

[Objective: Reach the exit gate]

[Hazards: Extreme heat, lava flows, volcanic eruptions]

[Time limit: None]

The air was thick with sulfur and ash, the temperature high enough that every breath felt like swallowing fire. Lava rivers cut through a landscape of black stone and volcanic glass, their surfaces glowing with the promise of painful death, and ahead, stretching into the haze of heat distortion, a massive fortress built from obsidian and flame dominated the landscape.

"This is hell." Astrid shielded her eyes from the glare, squinting at the fortress. "Actual, literal hell."

"Close enough." Dante distributed the heat resistance potions he prepared, watching each of his companions drink the bitter liquid. "These won’t make you comfortable, but they’ll keep you alive. The effects last about eight hours. We’ll need to pace ourselves."

Ren took his potion without complaint, though sweat was already running down his face in thick rivulets. His massive shield would be more liability than asset in this environment, the metal conducting heat that would have blistered unprotected skin, but he adjusted the straps anyway, wrapping them with insulated cloth he packed specifically for this floor.

"You came prepared." He nodded approvingly at the big man’s foresight.

"I researched Floor 9 before we left." Ren’s voice was steady despite the heat. "Obsidian fortresses, fire-based enemies, environmental hazards that kill more climbers than the monsters do. Seemed wise to know what we were walking into."

"Smart, and that’s exactly the kind of thinking we need." He clapped Ren on the shoulder before turning to check on Ravenna.

She stood at the edge of their entry platform, her face turned toward the roiling heat with an expression that bordered on bliss. Her lavender skin took on a faint glow, as if the fire was somehow feeding something inside her rather than threatening it.

"I can feel it." She raised her arms slightly, drinking in the heat. "Not just the heat. The fire itself. It’s like... like it’s talking to me. Welcoming me home."

"Your demonic heritage includes fire affinity." He moved to stand beside her, studying her reaction with a mixture of concern and curiosity. "This environment should enhance your abilities significantly. The Tower recognizes what you are and responds to it."

"Is that dangerous?" She lowered her arms and turned to face him.

"Potentially, because power gained too fast, without control, can burn out the user as easily as their enemies." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay focused. Don’t let the fire overwhelm you."

"I won’t." But her eyes stayed fixed on the flames, and he wasn’t entirely sure she was listening.

---

The path toward the fortress was treacherous beyond anything they faced on previous floors, every step requiring careful navigation.

Bridges of volcanic stone spanned lava rivers that bubbled and spat gobbets of molten rock without warning. Vents in the obsidian ground released jets of superheated gas that could flay skin from bone in seconds. The ground itself was unstable, sections crumbling into the inferno below if you put your weight in the wrong place.

"Left," he called, guiding them around a patch of stone that looked solid but would collapse under any pressure. "Wait here. The vent cycles every thirty seconds."

They pressed against the cliff wall as a column of fire erupted from the ground ahead, close enough that Astrid’s hair crackled with heat despite the potion’s protection.

"How do you know all this?" she demanded once the vent subsided, shaking singed hair out of her face.

"I’ve walked this path before." He moved forward, leading them through the narrow window of safety.

"In your other timeline." She fell into step behind him, still brushing ash from her clothes.

"Yes, and some things change between timelines but geography usually doesn’t." He kept his eyes forward, reading the terrain. "Step exactly where I step."

They continued in careful formation, with him at the front navigating hazards that would have killed them without foreknowledge. Ren came second with his shield raised to catch any stray debris. Ravenna followed, the heat seeming to energize rather than drain her, and Astrid brought up the rear, watching for threats from behind.

The fortress loomed larger as they approached, its obsidian walls rising maybe a hundred meters into the smoke-filled sky. He could see movement along the battlements, shapes that flickered between solid and pure flame. Guardians, waiting for intruders.

"That thing is huge." Ren adjusted his grip on his shield, studying the structure. "How long does it take to clear?"

"The fortress itself is maybe two days of travel, moving at combat pace." He pointed toward visible safe zones on the walls. "There are rest zones scattered throughout, safe rooms where the fire can’t reach. The real challenge is what’s inside. This place was built by infernal entities, beings who considered lava pools comfortable and flame jets decorative."

"And we’re just supposed to walk through it?" Ren’s tone suggested he found this plan optimistic at best.

"We’re going to walk through it, fight what we have to, and come out stronger on the other side." He turned to face his team. "That’s what we do."

---

The first enemies appeared as they approached the fortress gates, flame elementals made of living fire that danced across the volcanic stone with predatory grace.

They emerged from the lava rivers like swimmers surfacing, their bodies shifting between solid and pure flame, and six of them spread out to flank the party from multiple angles.

"Standard formation," he ordered. "Ren, center hold. Astrid, right flank. I’ve got the left. Ravenna..."

"I’ve got this." She stepped forward before anyone could stop her, her hands rising with Hellfire already flickering between her fingers.

The black-edged flames erupted from her palms in a wave that met the elementals’ orange fire and consumed it utterly. The creatures didn’t even have time to react before they were gone, devoured by a power that treated their flames as nothing more than fuel.

[Enemy slain: Flame Elemental x6]

[System points: +180]

Silence fell over the battlefield, and even the background roar of the lava seemed muted.

"Did you see that?" Ravenna’s eyes were bright with exhilaration, her chest heaving with something that wasn’t quite exertion. "They just... disappeared!"

"Your Hellfire is demonic in origin, different from normal fire, older, hungrier." He moved to stand beside her, examining her for any signs of strain or damage. "On this floor, you’re not just resistant to the enemies. You’re their natural predator."

More elementals emerged, drawn by the destruction of their kin, and a dozen rose from multiple lava pools with rage burning in their featureless faces. They charged as a coordinated wave, clearly intending to overwhelm through numbers what they couldn’t match in individual power.

Ravenna destroyed them just as easily.

Her Hellfire swept across the battlefield in controlled bursts, each strike precise and devastating. The black edges of her flames seemed to spread with each enemy consumed, darkness eating into the orange until her fire was almost entirely shadow edged with ember.

[Enemy slain: Flame Elemental x12]

[System points: +360]

"She’s evolving," Ren observed quietly, watching Ravenna with an expression that mixed awe and wariness. "Right before our eyes. Is that normal?"

"Nothing about Ravenna is normal." He kept his voice low, not wanting her to overhear. "She’s half-succubus, half-human, raised in the Tower by people who wanted her dead for existing. The fact that she survived is a miracle. The fact that she’s growing powerful..." He shook his head. "I don’t know what her limits are. Neither does she."

"Is that concerning?" Ren glanced at him, shield still raised.

"It could be, because power changes people, sometimes for the better, sometimes it reveals things that were always there just waiting for strength to express them." He watched Ravenna laugh with pure joy as another wave of elementals emerged, only to be erased before they could even attack. "We’ll see which way she goes."

"You trust her." It wasn’t a question.

"I do, more than I’ve trusted anyone in a long time." He met Ren’s eyes.

"Then I’ll trust her too." Ren adjusted his shield and moved forward to support. "That’s how teams work."

---

The fortress gates were closed when they finally reached them, massive doors of obsidian that radiated heat even from a distance. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The surface was carved with symbols that writhed in the firelight, ancient script that predated the Tower itself, and he recognized some of them from his studies in the original timeline, warnings and invocations to entities that no longer walked any realm accessible to mortals.

"How do we get in?" Astrid examined the doors with growing frustration, running her hands along the edges in search of hidden mechanisms. "There’s no handle. No keyhole. Nothing."

"Blood payment." He drew his blade and made a shallow cut on his palm. "The fortress was built by infernal entities. It responds to strength, power, sacrifice. Not keys."

He pressed his bloody hand against the door. The obsidian drank his offering greedily, glowing briefly where his blood touched the ancient stone, but nothing else happened and the doors remained sealed.

"Maybe it needs more?" Ren suggested, eyeing the sealed doors.

"Or different blood," Astrid added thoughtfully. "You’re human. Maybe it wants something else."

Before he could respond, Ravenna stepped forward with determination in her eyes.

"Let me try." She didn’t wait for permission, her nail scoring a line across her palm with dark blood welling in the wound, and she pressed her hand against the door beside his.

The fortress exploded with response.

Power surged through the obsidian walls, visible as waves of crimson light that raced along the corridors beyond. The heat inside intensified briefly, then settled into something almost comfortable. Somewhere in the depths, something stirred, awakened by the presence of demonic blood on its threshold.

[Hidden mechanic triggered: Infernal bloodline recognized]

[Optional objective unlocked: Find the Shrine of Flames]

[Reward: Unknown]

"Well," Astrid said into the sudden silence, her hand dropping from the door. "That’s new."

The doors swung inward without resistance, revealing a corridor of black stone that stretched toward the heart of the fortress. Flames flickered along the walls in sconces that might have been decorative or might have been alive, and the heat, rather than intensifying, seemed to wrap around them like a welcoming embrace.

He stared at the notification, memories flooding back. In his original timeline, they forced the fortress doors with brute strength and sustained damage from the assault. There was no hidden objective, no shrine, no special treatment from the ancient structure. Ravenna’s presence changed something fundamental about how this floor responded to them.

"There’s a shrine somewhere inside," he said slowly. "Something connected to your heritage. The system is offering rewards if we find it."

Ravenna’s expression was complicated, hunger and fear warring behind her eyes. "Do you think we should?"

"That’s your choice because your blood opened these doors." He gestured toward the waiting darkness. "Whatever’s waiting in there, it’s waiting for you specifically."

She stared into the corridor ahead, her Hellfire flickering at her fingertips with an eagerness that seemed almost sentient.

"Then we find it." Her voice was steady despite the uncertainty in her eyes. "Whatever I am, whatever I’m becoming, I need to understand it."

They entered the fortress together, the doors closing behind them with a sound like a tomb sealing.

In the depths ahead, the shrine of flames waited for the one it called to since she first set foot on this floor.