An inferno of blue expanded outward from Mathew, leaving him unharmed, but destroying everything else it touched.
The flames, not hot enough to melt stone and turn people to ash, did not affect him.
Was he now immune to all fire-based attacks? Or were these flames special?
Whatever the reason, the sight around him was one of pure destruction.
The spear in his hand immediately disintegrated, its metal tip splashing on the ground, completely melted.
The corpses around him were instantly cremated, leaving not even bones behind, and the stone ground had turned to a molten mess, leaving only a circle of floor beneath Mathew's feet untouched.
The flames had even reached part of the calendar in the center of the room. The stone was scorched and warped, causing the writings and etchings upon it to become unreadable
It was only a moment later that the fire was extinguished on its own, with nothing in range left to burn.
Mathew didn't quite understand how he had created such an effect, and so he didn't have the faintest clue if he could replicate it.
The ground around him was still smoking from his strange and sudden attack, and he saw a large ring of black scorched stone surrounding him.
Argus stood on the outside of the ring, his arm wrapped around Ophelia's abdomen. He had most likely sensed the danger ahead of time and had grabbed Ophelia before throwing them both out of Mathew's range.
They had both survived relatively unscathed.
Ophelia's expression went from wide-eyed and slack-jawed to twisted up and bitter. She pushed at the arm of her companion.
"Release me, you oaf. Why did you grab me so suddenly?" She said. Her voice was shaky, but it was obvious she was trying to cover up her anxiety.
"My lady, if that fire had hit you, you would not have survived, nor would your armor. Everything would have melted and burned away, leaving behind only ash. It is… a power of a height I have never before witnessed… something that could destroy a powerful Decennium-Grade Blessing so easily? It is beyond dangerous." This was the most Mathew had heard Argus speak.
Granted, they were too busy trying to kill each other to have a conversation before.
It seemed he wasn't just hired muscle, but some sort of instructor or tutor.
Ophelia's expression changed as she beheld Mathew. Her eyes narrowed, but less like she was drilling holes in him and more like she was looking through a magnifying glass. Was that an expression of curiosity?
"The monster of metal and flame…" She muttered to herself, as if trying to recall a memory. But a shout from her opponent snapped her back to attention.
"You!" Mathew said, his voice breaking with emotion, "You killed them… You killed all of them… Why?"
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. "I was quite upfront with my intentions. I have need of that-" She pointed to the relic. "And they were hellbent on getting in my way. It was no fault of mine."
"No fault… of yours?" Mathew's thoughts turned to static as he failed to comprehend the words of the woman before him. His hatred of this person rose to fill the hole in his understanding, and he took a step towards her.
"My lady!" Argus shouted in warning.
Ophelia took her own step forward before calmly saying, "I will handle this."
She thrust her hands forward, as if holding a large, round object between them. The air rippled as a near-invisible force was sent from Ophelia toward Mathew.
His body went rigid, and he suddenly found that he couldn't move. He pushed against the invisible restraints, but they did not budge. Ophelia continued to hold her hands in the air, and as long as she did so it appeared that Mathew was stuck in place, unable to move a muscle.
The thought formed in his mind that he should use his Truesight to attempt to gain more info about what was going on. Perhaps he could gain the needed info to escape her grasp.
Upon activating it in one eye, he was able to see multiple interesting things about the situation.
The first thing he noticed was that the armor of Ophelia and Argus was glowing, as were Argus's strange sword and Ophelia's Vambraces, though the glow of the sword was still orange, not gold.
He also noticed several strange glowing lights floating near them in the misty void realm, or Divine Realm, in a variety of colors.
In addition, both Argus and Ophelia glowed with the same faint golden light as their armor, though Ophelia seemed to also have a strange white light coming off of her as well, mixing with the golden light but not fully merging with it. It was similar to how oil reacts to water.
Mathew did not yet have the knowledge to decipher what any of this meant, but there was one detail that was easy for him to understand. The force that Ophelia was using to hold him in place manifested in the misty realm as pure white chains she was holding in her hands, which stretched from her to Mathew.
These chains had bound themselves around Mathew's entire body, restricting his movement completely.
Even though Mathew could see this with his Truesight, it did not seem like there was anything he could do about it.
"Argus, hold him. I cannot keep up the Chains of Order for long." Ophelia's voice sounded strained.
"And if he uses the strange blue flames?" Argus said cautiously.
"Do you have no way to withstand it for even a few moments? What of the Plate of Rectitude?"
Argus stroked his chin, "With the plate I could survive for a few moments…"
"Then hold him down, and if he begins to catch fire once more, simply toss him across the room." She was speaking slowly through gritted teeth.
Argus sighed, but seemed to comply with her statement. His white chest-plate seemed to fade out of existence, and a different set of white armor appeared to replace it. This armor covered his entire body, head to toe, complete with a full helm, cauldrons, and gauntlets.
To Mathews Truesight, it was glowing brightly with a silvery light. It elevated the presence of the already intimidating giant to a level close to the divine.
He interlocked his armored arms with Mathews, trapping him in a joint lock. Ophelia then released her chains.
But Mathew was far from free.
He immediately struggled and pushed against the large man's grip, but he could barely move more than when the Chains of Order were wrapped around him.
Ophelia walked casually over to the statue of The Lady, looked it up and down quickly with a small measure of interest. The golden vambraces on her arms faded from existence as she reached out and took the strange rod from The Lady's stone hands.
It came free easily, allowing her to inspect the artifact.
Mathew felt pathetic, and he stopped trying to free himself from Argus's grip. What could he do at this point?
He looked around at the remains of his followers. The ones that were still mostly intact lay on the ground near Ophelia and the statue, a few missing limbs and other extremities. It seemed that the white sword that had killed them left bizarre wounds that didn't bleed.
The rest of the acolytes had been turned to ash by Mathew himself, including Aesop, whose face would never be seen again by mortal eyes.
"I failed…" Mathew whispered to himself.
He couldn't save the acolytes who had died to the Catastrophe. He couldn't save the acolytes who had died at the front gate. He couldn't save the followers who had died in this very chamber. He had failed to save anyone.
Just like he had failed to save his mother, in the end.
He cast his gaze downward, his body losing strength. Surprisingly, Argus let him go, perhaps sensing his opponent had given up.
Mathew sank to the ground, his body folding forward in pure dejection. It was only when he heard Ophelia's approaching footsteps that he looked up.
"Would you like me to spare your life, monster?" She asked, as if she was doing him a favor.
Argus started to protest, but she hushed him. Mathew simply shrugged in response. She took a step closer, her voice lowering ever so slightly.
"I do not wish to kill you. I was told about you. If you wish to live, all you must do is grab hold of this blessing." She held the rod towards him, as if offering a gift.
Mathew tilted his head at her words, thinking them over. She had been told about him? Was she referring to Mathias or to Mathew? What did she know about the beings called Alchemy and Sequence? His mind was filled with questions.
He wondered what would happen if he took hold of the rod. Would it kill him?
He dismissed the thought almost instantly. These two were easily more powerful than Mathew in his current state, and he had no knowledge of how to summon the blue fire again. If they wanted to kill him, there were a plethora of ways, and that was just using their abilities that Mathew had seen so far.
He reached up slowly and wrapped his fingers around the object, a few of the strange sapphire thorns biting into his palm.
Instantly, an artificial feeling of calm hit him. It was overwhelming, invasive, and forced his body into a sort of trance.
He tried to will his body to move, but it did not respond at all, his hand still clutching onto the rod.
A devious smile appeared on Ophelia's face.