Black fire suddenly erupted from the ground before Haru, as if hell itself had opened its maw.
The *Bloody Flame Monster* was colossal. Its body was composed of undulating red flames that incinerated everything they touched, and at its center, a deep, glowing crimson heart beat like that of a human. It opened its mouth and unleashed a deafening roar, sending tongues of fire in every direction, melting rusted cars and charring abandoned buildings.
Haru stood before it alone.
She was trembling, her hands clenched against her chest, her eyes wide with terror. The flames were closing in, the heat searing her face.
"No… no… stay back… I don't want to kill you, Father," she whispered in a broken voice, her steps retreating.
But the monster did not relent. It lunged toward her with terrifying speed, unleashing a dense wave of fire that resembled a fiery tsunami. At the last second, Haru raised her hand by instinct.
*"Flame of Protection!"*
A wall of red fire exploded before her, barely blocking the wave. But the wall immediately began to crack, the heat piercing through. Haru stumbled and fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks, evaporating instantly from the intense heat.
"I… I can't… the fire will burn everything… it will burn me too… just like it burned my mother and father."
The monster lunged again, indifferent to her wall of fire. In that moment, something inside Haru snapped.
Something broke.
She remembered her mother's burning face. She remembered her father running while the fire consumed him. She remembered the smell of smoke in her childhood home, every night she woke up screaming from nightmares. The fear that had controlled her entire life was now boiling inside her chest.
Her eyes changed.
From a fearful brown to a glowing, incandescent orange.
"Enough. To hell with you... look at yourself... you remind me of my father screaming as the fire ate his body."
She rose slowly. The flames that were approaching her suddenly stopped—the monster recoiled.
"I am… tired of being afraid. I really want to kill you just so I can rest. I don't want to become like you..."
She raised her hand, and a *Flame Spear* erupted from her palm with a power she had never shown before. It pierced the monster through its shoulder, making it let out a cry of genuine pain.
She didn't stop.
Haru charged forward, her face no longer carrying fear, but pure, unadulterated rage.
"You… no, it wasn't you I feared all my life… I was afraid of myself."
She summoned the *Combustion Ring*. A circle of fire swirled around the monster, trapping it, burning it slowly. The monster tried to break out, but it collided with the ring and burned even fiercer.
"Now… you are the one who will be afraid."
She stepped inside the ring with it. She unleashed a barrage of punches, piercing its body as they traded blows at close range within the circle. Her body began to be covered in the *Eternal Fire*—a pure blue flame that did not burn her, but surrounded her like a royal armor. Haru looked like another being entirely: a little girl transformed into a monster of fire.
She attacked with ferocity.
Spear after spear, ring after ring, flame swallowing flame. Punch after punch. The monster that had terrified her minutes ago was now retreating, screaming, trying to flee.
"No… don't run!" Haru shouted with a powerful voice that wasn't hers before. "You started this… you burned my life… now I will burn you! Come to your fear!"
She leaped onto the monster, placed her hand directly on its head, and unleashed all her power.
*"Eternal Fire!"*
The blue flame exploded from her body, engulfing the monster completely. The creature let out a horrifying, final scream, its body melting and burning from within. It tried to resist, but there was no escape. A little girl who was afraid… had become stronger and more dangerous than it.
Finally, the monster collapsed on the ground, its body smoldering with blue eternal fire. It tried to crawl away. Instead of letting it go, Haru grabbed it by the leg and dragged it across the floor into a shattered apartment building nearby. She seated it on a chair inside the kitchen and sat beside it. The monster no longer had the strength to defend itself or attack. Haru was nearly losing her mind from the heat radiating from her blue flames.
"Right here," Haru said, staring at the Flame Monster whose fire had nearly died out. "The stove caught fire while I was helping my mother set the table. My father was watching TV. How I got outside, I don't remember. All I remember is the sound of my father and mother screaming and the smell of burning meat. I hate meat. I haven't eaten it since then. And now, you remind me of that smell. You know I'm going to kill you, don't you?"
The monster could only sit there, weakened.
"Never mind... just die... *'Blue Flame Bomb'*!"
The entire building exploded, leaving nothing ehind. Haru emerged from the flames indifferent, walking with staggering steps. She fell to her knees, her body still flickering with a faint fire, her breathing erratic, her eyes still glowing.
She looked at her flaming hands in wonder… a new kind of power she had never known before!.
Questions for Readers😎:
1) The scene of forcing the monster to sit in the "kitchen" was terrifying and brilliant. How do you feel about Haru's dark side that suddenly emerged? Did she cross the line of a "Hunter"?🤏🏻
🥰 Writing this chapter was a grueling journey into the depths of human pain. Conveying Haru's mixed emotions—the struggle between a girl protecting her father's memory and a monster born from the ashes of truth—exhausted me. The screams you heard in these words were echoes of a heart that burned years ago. If this chapter touched your soul, please support the novel by adding it to your Collection and voting with Power Stones. Your Gifts are the balm that soothes Haru's wounds and encourages me to continue telling this epic tale.🙏🏻