"How long it’s been since I fought someone who could match me!" the Shaman yelled between attacks. "The last three worlds we conquered had no mages this strong! I’m genuinely having fun!"

Elena didn’t respond verbally but her flames burned hotter in answer, cycling from white flames toward blue while the heat became so intense that the pavement started to melt beneath her feet.

The Shaman noticed and his grin widened. "You’re a true warrior," he said. "Someone worthy of dying in battle. I’ll remember your name when you’re dead."

Then he stopped playing defensive and went on the offensive properly.

He manifested a blade of dark energy in his free hand, a sword made of necrotic magic that drained life on contact, and charged at Elena directly.

They clashed at close range.

Elena’s fire-coated fists met his dark blade, and every exchange sent shockwaves across the street. Her punch collided with his sword and the impact created a burst of fire and shadow that cracked the pavement beneath them. He swung the blade at her neck and she blocked with a fire-constructed shield that appeared in her hand, though the blade cut through the shield and she barely dodged. His follow-up thrust caught her armor and the necrotic energy corroded the metal instantly.

Elena countered with a fire-enhanced elbow to his ribs that sent him stumbling backward with his robe burning.

The Shaman recovered from the hit and instead of being angry he was laughing louder, his eyes wild with excitement while grinning like someone who just found their favorite thing.

"Finally, FINALLY!" he shouted in translated speech, speaking rapidly. "A world that has warriors worth fighting! I volunteered for this invasion specifically because the Red King promised strong opponents! I’ve been bored conquering weak worlds for decades!"

Elena realized she wasn’t fighting a soldier following orders but a complete battle maniac who genuinely loved combat and sought out strong opponents to test himself against.

The Shaman continued talking as they circled each other. "I’m part of the King’s personal guard," he said. "I’ve conquered twelve worlds. I’ve killed thousands of mages but most of them died too easily. I want opponents who can hurt me, who can make me struggle, who can push me to my limits."

He pointed his staff at her. "You are that opponent," he said. "I’m ecstatic about this. When I saw you earlier using S-rank fire magic I knew immediately I had to fight you personally. I’ll remember this battle forever regardless of who wins."

Elena’s expression stayed cold and focused but internally she was processing this information. She wasn’t fighting someone rational who would retreat if injured, but someone who wanted this fight as much as she needed to win it.

"I hope you have an ultimate technique," the Shaman said. "Something that’ll truly test me, because I’m about to show you mine."

His staff glowed brighter with dark energy, and shadow magic poured from it in visible streams while the air around him became cold and oppressive as necrotic energy built.

The Shaman stopped talking and his expression shifted from excited grin to focused intensity. He manifested the dark blade again but this time it was twice as large and radiating so much necrotic energy that the metal around them corroded just from proximity. He moved with speed that shouldn’t be possible for someone his size, using shadow step to close the distance instantly.

Elena blocked his first strike with fire-coated forearms but the impact drove her backward three meters, her boots tearing trenches in the melted pavement.

He followed up immediately without pause.

His blade came from the left and Elena parried with a fire whip, though the blade cut through the whip like it was nothing and continued toward her shoulder. Elena tried to dodge but she was a fraction too slow.

The dark blade cut deep into her left shoulder.

It sliced through armor and flesh, and the necrotic energy flooded the wound. Elena screamed as her flesh started rotting around the cut, the necrotic magic spreading like poison through her shoulder and down her arm.

She stumbled backward clutching the wound, and her left arm went partially limp. Blood poured from the cut mixing with decayed tissue while the pain was overwhelming.

The Shaman didn’t press his advantage yet, instead standing there watching with interest to see how she would respond. "The necrotic energy will spread slowly through your body," he said. "You have maybe five minutes before it reaches your heart and kills you. You should use whatever ultimate technique you have now while you still can."

Elena’s breathing was ragged and her vision blurred from pain. Her left arm was nearly useless now with the necrotic corruption spreading visibly up toward her neck.

She looked at the Shaman and realized he was giving her a chance intentionally because he wanted to see her ultimate technique, wanted to fight her at full power one last time before she died.

She also realized she was dying regardless so she might as well take him with her.

Elena started pouring all her remaining mana into her core, gathering every bit of fire magic she had left while preparing for the technique that would either save her or kill her.

The flames around her intensified suddenly.

They cycled from blue to deeper blue, and the heat spiked so high that the Shaman took a step back. Elena’s entire body started glowing with fire magic and the necrotic corruption spreading through her shoulder slowed as the heat burned it away internally.

"You wanted to see my ultimate technique," she said through gritted teeth. "Now you’ll get your wish."

The Shaman’s grin returned and he raised his staff, preparing to defend or counter whatever came next.

Elena took control of all the mana in the surrounding area, pushing her Mana Zone to its absolute limit. The range expanded to cover three full blocks and the temperature within that zone spiked to levels that made breathing difficult. Fire magic responded to her call and started manifesting everywhere at once, drawing heat from the burning buildings, from the corpses, from the very air itself.

Her body began absorbing massive amounts of fire magic.

Her form started changing, and the blue flames coating her intensified until they were almost white-blue while her entire body transformed into something more fire than flesh.

She was using Phoenix Rebirth Inferno.

Her ultimate spell that she’d only used twice before in her entire career because the physical and magical cost was devastating. Her body became completely covered in fire with flames so hot they burned blue-white. Her eyes glowed with fire magic. The injury on her shoulder burned away entirely as the heat incineerated the necrotic corruption before it could spread further.

She was no longer just channeling fire magic.

She had temporarily become fire itself, pushing her S-rank power to its absolute peak.

The Shaman saw this transformation and his expression shifted to pure joy. "This is it!" he yelled. "This is what I wanted!"

He raised his staff to defend, and dark barriers layered around him one after another creating concentric shields of shadow magic.

But Elena didn’t give him time to finish.

She moved and the speed was incomprehensible, leaving afterimages of fire in her wake. Her first strike was a fire-enhanced punch that hit his outermost barrier and shattered it completely. The second punch broke through two more barriers. The third punch reached his staff and the collision created a shockwave BOOM that leveled buildings on both sides of the street.

Then Elena unleashed the full barrage.

She poured all her remaining strength into a continuous stream of fire-enhanced attacks with punches and kicks and strikes coming so fast they blurred together. Each hit was accompanied by an explosion of blue fire. The Shaman tried to block with his staff and shadow barriers but she was attacking from every direction simultaneously using her Mana Zone control. Fire manifestations appeared around him, above him, below him, all striking at once.

His barriers cracked and shattered under the relentless assault.

One punch caught his ribs and broke bone. A kick to his head sent him stumbling. A fire lance from behind pierced through his back.

The entire area for blocks around them engulfed in blue hellfire.

The heat was so intense that stone buildings started melting, metal infrastructure turned liquid, and every corpse in the zone incinerated to ash instantly. The pavement beneath them liquified. Cars melted into slag. The air itself seemed to burn.

The Shaman was screaming now, not from pain but from ecstatic joy even as his flesh burned. He was laughing and screaming at the same time. "Yes, THIS IS WHAT I WANTED!" he yelled. "BURN ME! SHOW ME THE PEAK OF YOUR POWER!"

Elena didn’t stop.

She couldn’t stop, because the technique had taken over and she was burning through her entire remaining mana reserve in seconds. Her final strike was both fists together coated in the hottest blue-white flames she could manifest, driving them into the Shaman’s chest with all her strength.

The impact created an explosion of fire that engulfed both of them.

When the flames cleared the Shaman was still standing for one moment, his body charred and burning while his staff was cracked in half. He smiled one last time. "Finally found a worthy death," he said.

Then his body turned to ash and scattered in the wind.

The technique ended abruptly.

Elena’s transformation faded and she dropped to her knees gasping, her body covered in burns where the fire magic had damaged her own flesh from the inside. Her mana was completely empty with reserves at zero, and magical exhaustion hit like a hammer while her vision blurred badly.

She kneeled on the melted pavement surrounded by ash and burning rubble.

The Shaman was dead, turned completely to ash and scattered by the wind. One of the four generals was eliminated, but Elena could barely register the victory. Her body was shutting down from the strain of using Phoenix Rebirth Inferno. Burns covered her arms and torso where the fire magic had damaged her from within. Her magical reserves were completely empty, drained to zero, and the physical exhaustion was overwhelming.

She tried to stand but her legs wouldn’t support her weight.

Elena fell forward and caught herself with both hands against the scorched ground, her breathing ragged and shallow while blood dripped from her mouth where internal damage had occurred during the technique. She could hear sounds in the distance, the fighting continuing blocks away where Aiden and Callum were still battling the remaining three generals.

She wanted to go help them but her body wouldn’t move.

Elena’s vision went dark at the edges. She managed to stay conscious for a few more seconds, long enough to confirm the Shaman was truly dead while seeing his ashes scattering across the destroyed street.

Then her strength gave out completely and she collapsed face-first onto the pavement.

Her eyes closed.

The last thing she heard before unconsciousness took her was the distant sound of combat and explosions.