A Story of Evil

[Day 3 of the Culling - Camp of the Fire Domain]

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"Dammit! Why are we losing so badly?" Blaze was furious. Apart from the fact that two domains dared take their transportation spot, there was literally no action going on for them. They encountered a few monsters but, these were easily handled by the group.

"That's probably because they sense your immense mana Blaze." Nathan praised.

"Is that why they are cowering away? Because they're afraid of me?"

"Sure looks like it." Tristan commented.

"But that isn't enough! How can I shine if we don't even get included in the major fights! This is not a proper place for champions! We need to hunt those other titans!"

"You're the boss." Nathan said.

At that moment, nobody countered what Blaze was saying. Yet they all knew deep down that the prince would be the cause for their downfall. All because he thinks too highly of himself and acts as if he was the strongest in the team. Where in fact, it was Jade who should've ben the true leader of the group.

"My prince, we should just keep on hunting monsters and raising our points. That way we can lure the other domains to ourselves." Jade finally spoke his mind, a decision which the other three thought to be unwise as Blaze unsheathed his sword.

"Huh? Did I say you can talk back?" Blaze covered his sword with flames, ready to take down Jade at that moment if not for Cinder who grabbed on his shoulder.

"We need all the firepower we can get. Doing that would not be in your best interest my prince." There was an irritated look on Blaze's face. He didn't like being ordered around by anyone but, it did make sense to him. So, he put his sword back to its scabbard.

"Jade, come closer." The boy already knew what would happen to him. Blaze didn't waste time and punched him in the face, knocking him down the ground.

"Man, you can't even retain your balance when I'm punching you. You really are useless huh?" The prince commented, shaking the hand he used.

"I have an idea, I'll use my heat signature skill to find another group of monsters. Let's just focus on raising our points for now." It was the same thing that Jade said, Blaze just changed some of the words.

"Understood Prince Blaze." Was the reply of the three as their leader nodded – walking away while Cinder helped Jade to get up.

"That was dangerous you know." Jade commented to the female titan who suddenly grabbed the prince.

"Yeah? Well so is you giving sensible instructions to that idiot." Cinder said in reply, offering her hand which Jade took.

"It's no use. Somebody has to knock some sense into him somehow. If not, you're all gonna die a probably stupid death."

"You should keep comments like that to yourself." Cinder said; walking alongside Jade who carried most of their items.

Unlike Sol's strategy, Blaze thought that it was best for them to keep on bringing all of their items. Saying something along the line of "we never know when we'll need to take a break" Hence, they all brought their equipment. With the majority of it being carried by Jade.

The boy didn't mind however. Bringing most of the weight enables his teammates to act swiftly in case they encounter another group of titans. Plus, it wasn't like Jade wasn't used to carrying dead weight. He's been carrying Blaze's stupid ass since they began training after all.

"Wait." The same idiot prince gave a command at that moment.

Blaze made his whole group stop at their tracks because, his [Heat Signature] was able to detect something. It was the only high tier skill which he had. The only one which was of actual use for the group. His other flame skills were simply flashy but lacked power overall.

"There's a pack of orcs nearby. Thirty of them scattered fifty meters from here." This was the limit of Blaze's range. As soon as he detected any presence, he would tell his teammates. Yet the skill wasn't something that he could continually keep active as it also consumes a large amount mana.

"We're gonna hunt those things down. All of you follow my lead."

The group began closing in on the orcs. There were a lot of collapsed buildings to go around but this wasn't a cause for worry since Nathan already placed a flame mark on their target location. Another utility spell that works like a GPS. Enabling Nathan to see a string of fire leading to the location he marks.

This ensured that the group wouldn't get lost. They moved quickly; not caring about the noise they were making. Frankly, this was the scariest thing for Jade because, some enemies may be nearby. If they were and, if they heard all the noise made by Blaze and the others, then tracking them down would be a piece of cake.

"Be very careful we don't want any – ACK!" Blaze almost tripped on a puddle of water as soon as he tried saying something about being careful

"Are y-you okay prince Blaze?" Nathan was holding back his laughter.

"Dammit! Why is there a puddle of water here of all places?"

"It seems to run from underground." Tristan commented; pointing to the crack on the ground where the there was water coming out.

"Everything just has to go against what I want doesn't it? Faster you four, I need to get my points higher!"

The group moved quickly. For some reason, Jade couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with the incident earlier. Not Blaze's carelessness because that was normal. What he found a bit strange was how there was that stream of water which appeared so randomly. He wanted to think about it more but, the group has finally reached their destination.

The group of orcs was right before them – in a field closed by walls made of ruined buildings.

"Lucky~ this must be their nest." Nathan commented.

Meanwhile, Jade just focused on the fact that there was still water on that area. It was weak and almost unnoticeable but, a weak flow ran down some cracks on the walls. He wanted to voice this concern out but, Blaze already rushed in – bringing out his flame sword while ordering everyone to follow his lead.

"Use all your skills!" Blaze said, noticing the Odd Ball that was directly above them. It was the perfect spot as the people will have a good view of the fight.

"Show the audience why we are number one!"

The orcs noticed them right away. Making a war cry that echoed throughout the area. There was a red orc in the midst of the green ones and, all these monsters stood at a solid seven feet in height. They were naturally muscular and, used tree logs as their primary weapons.

"Flame Dominance!" Tristan began with his ultimate skill, covering the whole area in flames.

This hurt the feet of the orcs who leapt up in order to avoid getting burnt. While in the air, Nathan and Cinder rained down artillery flames at five orcs. Burning them down while the others were able to close the distance. The orcs smashed the ground with their bats., creating shockwaves that could've easily crushed any human.

Unfortunately for the creatures, the flame titans easily avoided this. And as soon as the danger was avoided, Blaze closed in. Swinging his flame enchanted sword and cutting off both knees of an orc. He then twisted it, creating a burst of flame that hit the impaired orc point-blank.

However, the orcs didn't simply stop their assault there. A rain of large chunks of debris came down on Blaze. The other titans tried destroying all of these but it, their attack wasn't enough as there were just too many debris. Adding to this predicament were the other melee orcs that tried hitting them with their bats.

Blaze dodged one after the other. It was a pitiful sight which Jade looked at but, he couldn't just step in. Not until Blaze directly ordered him to.

"Damn these cowards!" Blaze continued evading, with each debris coming closer and closer until, he finally made a wrong dodge. The projectile crashed on the ground beside him and, particles of this entered his eyes – temporarily blinding him. Blaze didn't see as two more boulders came straight down at him. Yet they were destroyed by the green flames of Jade.

"Goodness this guy's is really an idiot." He thought, gaining the interest of the red orc right away. Monsters recognized if a human was strong or not and, just by that simple skill casted by Jade, it already knew who among the flame titans was the strongest.

"And I have an enemy now." Jade whispered, feeling the red orc's bloodlust directed at him.

The creature stood from its spot and took a gigantic sword that was actually hidden on its throne. The flames didn't seem to work on it, making Jade understand that it somehow had a kind of either affinity or resistance to flames.

Blaze's vision was restored just in time for him to see the creature dash towards Jade. Ignoring him altogether.

"Wait come back here! I am the one you need to face!" He shouted but, the orc didn't even think he was a threat.

"He's being such a crybaby about this." Jade thought, using one of his skills at that moment. Runes gathered on the tip of his fingers and, as soon as he made a snap, the red orc exploded into a burst of green flames.

Within a single second, Jade took out the strongest orc in the area. This was enough to shock he other orcs who were at a loss for what to do. This was the leverage needed by the titans to turn the tide of battle back to them as, they mercilessly continued their assault.

"Don't you make another mover you weakling!" He commanded Jade who had every intention of following this as everyone else continued killing off the remaining orcs.

Skill after skill was used. Blaze in particular went over the edge and even commanded the other titans to use as many flashy skills as they could. This made the fight drag longer and, as soon as they finished, the group had exhausted most of their mana.

"DID YOU SEE! THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE FIRE DOMAIN REMAINS ON TOP!" Blaze stood on top of an orc's corpse. Proclaiming the victory directly at the Odd Ball.

Blaze continued with his speech and, instead of listening to it, Jade continued observing the waters. The stream was beginning to grow stronger…and stronger…until he was sure that something was wrong.

"PRINCE BLAZE!" It was all that he could do to shout their leader's name because, the small leaks suddenly bursted into strong currents of water. The group was completely surrounded and even their feet were submerged in this. The waters rose into a wall, surrounding them on all sides and, it was at this moment that jade knew his premonition to be correct.

The fire titans were caught in a trap.