Chapter 40: Red Sovereign
The battlefield screamed in agony as Joshua staggered under the crushing weight of the Hollow Crown. Every second stretched into eternity. Cirth the Black King loomed like a specter, the twisted throne of his Soul Domain pulsing behind him with malevolent grandeur.
Joshua's Black Flames raged in defiance but flickered erratically against the oppressive fog. Sweat beaded across his forehead. His body ached—torn between resilience and collapse.
Cirth twirled his spear and walked forward with regal amusement. "You've done well, Joshua Ikemba. But this is the ceiling of a Master Soulborne."
Joshua didn't reply. He crouched low, breath heaving, flames licking his arms—still resisting.
Karen took a step forward before Leslie grabbed her arm. "He's still alive."
"But he's—"
"No," Sia interrupted from behind them, silver eyes glinting with eerie calm. "Now she moves."
A soft breeze drifted across the ruined field.
Cirth stopped.
From the air itself, Rose Ikemba emerged—serene, poised, and wrapped in a coat the color of blood-soaked embers. Her heels clicked gently as she stepped between Joshua and Cirth, her expression unreadable.
Cirth tilted his head, genuine intrigue rippling across his face. "The Red Sovereign," he murmured. "I was wondering if you'd come."
Joshua looked up from behind her. "Aunt…"
Rose didn't glance back. Her aura was quiet, but reality itself seemed to hold its breath. "You've overreached, Veil operative. It ends here."
Cirth's smile widened as he dismissed his Hollow Crown with a single gesture. "I've heard the stories. That you incinerated a member of the Elder Race. Thought it was just family propaganda."
"I don't care what you think," she said softly. "Leave or burn."
Cirth laughed—and lunged.
It was a mistake.
Rose's eyes ignited.
"Soul Domain—Heart of Flames."
The world exploded in heat.
Not fire—heat.
Pure, oppressive, all-consuming.
The ground didn't catch fire—it disintegrated. Space warped as though fleeing her. Cirth's spear evaporated mid-swing. The red fog of his previous domain curled and burned like paper in the sun.
He stopped.
Twitched.
Tried to move.
The flames reacted.
Each step he took multiplied the temperature.
The more he resisted, the faster the inferno climbed past anything mortal. Then beyond immortal.
Even Cassandra's eyes widened. "What—what is this…?"
"She told me about it once," Sia said reverently. "It's not just flame. It's concept. Movement begets heat. And standing still just… delays the inevitable."
Cirth roared, unleashing a devastating soul burst.
The flames laughed.
His robes ignited. His bones glowed red from within.
"No—NO—!"
He tried to retreat.
Too late.
Rose raised one hand—fingers gentle, almost graceful—and closed them into a fist.
Cirth's body detonated into embers.
No scream.
No soul fragment.
Nothing but smoke and a blackened crater.
Even the throne he conjured, the Hollow Crown, had been melted into slag.
Silence.
Karen, Marie, Leslie, Jim, and even Cassandra stood dumbfounded, the raw magnitude of Rose Ikemba's power leaving them paralyzed.
Sia stepped beside them, arms crossed, expression soft with awe. "Every Ikemba is unique," she said simply. "But her? She's different. She's not just strong. She's an extinction-level event."
Karen slowly turned toward the blackened battlefield, where Rose now stood, the flames ebbing gently away like respectful servants.
"Is this," Karen whispered, "what it means to be a High Soulborne?"
"No," Cassandra murmured, swallowing dryly. "This… this is what it means to be Rose Ikemba."