So I've been thinking, it's probably about time I get a beta reader. If anyone's interested, PM me and we can talk about it. I've had bad attempts in the past, but Snapped has had a pretty good editor for quite a while now, so it's about time I open KoC to one as well!

The child raised Yuya's head again, slamming it back to the ground multiple times before the Chevalier finally stopped making any sound at all, and he let go, leaving her lying there as Karin looked away, keeping hidden behind the ruins and moving a hand over the cloth on her mouth, not wanting to witness the sight any further.

The boy stood up, his sharp eyes turning to scan the area around him before he laughed. "Ifrit tells me you're there, you can't hide from me when there's smoke around!" he said, and Karin jolted where she stood, eyes going wide as her hand muffled the small noise she made out of surprise.

She was never someone to be easily scared, but in a situation like this...Yuya was a famous mage, a woman who had in her academy days been in the same class as Osmond the Earthquake. For someone to be capable of defeating her with little trouble like that...It didn't matter how old he was, this kid was on a completely different league from her. What was she supposed to do with her weak control and lack of high-order magic?

If he was telling the truth about his familiar, then he was not only strong in magical power, but in his own will too. Ifrits were a rare race of creatures whose bodies were composed mostly of gases, and alongside manticores and rhythm dragons a part of the most difficult species to summon as familiars. She had every reason to fear him, no matter what he looked like.

"Who are you?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain neutral. "What family are you part of? Are you Count Marteau's brother?"

It was a good thing that she had the reflexes to jump forward as the wall she'd been hiding behind cracked, collapsing into a pile of rubble and exposing her position to the boy, who had raised his arm, carrying what seemed to just be a regular stick in hand, the blue flames again dancing along the wood without burning it as he laughed. "Mister Marteau just told me to wreck things here...It's fun burning things, and I don't like nobles. Are you a noble?"

He's a commoner?! she thought, confused by the idea. It was one thing if he was some high-ranked nobleman's child, but a commoner? What sort of life had he lead before now?

She was about to respond, before her eyes shifted to Yuya, and she stepped back, raising her wand as she narrowed her eyes. "That woman you just fought. She was...she was almost dead, wasn't she? What did you do?"

The Chevalier had rolled onto her back, the molten metal tearing away from her face and pooling on the ground, but despite her obvious injuries, there were no marks on her skin, and she seemed to be breathing normally again, albeit unconscious. Karin had definitely seen what the boy had done to her, and there was no alchemy able to heal someone so quickly...Had she been trapped in an illusion this whole time? It would make sense that the rebellion have mages specialized in elementless mental magic, and of course, there was no way someone so young had magic like that. She'd just been imagining it, of course!

She stared at the boy as his eyes widened, waving the stick in the air. "Enjya. That's what Marteau calls me, since I don't have a name. Enjya, the 'Flame Serpent'."

She was about to respond, before she felt something ramming into her back, sending her flying forward and rolling to her side on the bowl of the crater. She coughed, her breath knocked away from her, and stared in the direction of 'Enjya', before her eyes went wide at the sight of a twisting mass of blue fire, hovering in a vaguely serpentine form in the air where she'd been standing. When had he cast it, and how hadn't she noticed-

Her thoughts cut off as her mouth opened, letting out a silent scream as she rolled to her stomach, arms flailing in an effort to pat out the flames she felt on her back. Had they transferred over when the thing hit her? But, her mantle should have smothered them when she stopped moving!

These were no ordinary flames, and as she squirmed in an effort to roll on the ground and pat out the fire, Enjya stepped forward, the Flame Serpent directed by his wand towards the unmoving Chevalier nearby, and he looked in Karin's direction as she groaned, reaching a hand to him.

"What is this? Why is it so...so hot?" she asked, though her words were jumbled from the pain, and he smiled, closing his eyes and tilting his head.

"What do you mean? Is it hot at all?" he asked innocently, and she blinked as the pain suddenly vanished, the burns from the flames feeling like they'd melted away. She didn't know what had happened, but it was an opportunity. With her wand lost somewhere in the debris, she planted her hand on the ground as a makeshift casting medium, starting to chant.

"Hægl. Ger. Eoh." Yuya would be caught up in it too, but she had to take him down before he simply got bored and left. "Æsc. Heavy-" Her face twisted as the fire started again, and she curled up, shivering on the ground as it lasted longer this time. She'd experienced pain before, but something like this...It was so hot that it was passing the cauterizing effects of normal fire magic, and it felt like it was shredding her body from the inside out.

She couldn't do anything but stare forward, no longer able to speak despite the pain once more fading away. It was a cycle, lighting her body up before repairing the damage...Were these flames able to do both? What sort of spell was this?"

"Purgatory Flames." Enjya said as he stood over Yuya, and as the Flame Serpent swept its bulk over her, the Chevalier jolted back to life, screaming into the sky as Karin, immobilized by another cycle, stared forward at the sight.

She couldn't cast magic right now, she could barely even speak. This spell...It was designed entirely for torture. Burning, then healing again immediately after, giving no lenience. It felt like it was sapping away her life, even though she felt no change in her willpower reserves.

What sort of monster was this child? What had granted him such a devastating ability, that just a split second of contact with his Flame Serpent had completely disabled her? Was this why Yuya hadn't been able to fight back?

The boy looked between his two victims, before humming as he felt the wind change, looking into the sky where the clouds of smoke had begun to swirl. "Ifrit? Go into hiding, I don't need you right now."

The clouds dissipated as the wind picked up, swirling until the sky opened up, the bright blue of the daylight shining on top of the crater, and the Flame Serpent wrapped around his body, wreathing him in the blue fire as he turned his attention to one of the ruined streets. "Another one?" he asked, the blue fire moving to protect him from the wind spell cast by the young man who had appeared.

"I am Guiteau de Martin, Captain of the Griffin Knights. You've been marked by my Hurricane's tracking, and Lord Osmond and Innocentius are arriving as well. Surrender, or you will be captured." The man turned to look at the girls, and blinked, his eyes narrowing. The pinkette was unconscious, but the fire hadn't spread far, and her injuries were minor after it had been put out by his wind, but his fellow Square-class was completely engulfed by now, twitching on the ground. He had to get help quickly, or she would end up past the point of recovery. "Even my superior wind didn't put it out." he whispered under his breath, before he stood at attention again as the boy chuckled, the sound morphing to a laugh as his fire moved under his stick's direction, pulling him into the air as the man watched from the ground.

"So Kent's back here? That means the king and princess are too! I'll have to tell Marteau!" Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out a glass jar of some dark brown liquid, throwing it below as he pointed his wand at the object. "Þorn. Cen. Sigel. Dragon Blood!"

The fire from his wand came into contact with the jar, and it exploded, sending him flying into the sky with force that interrupted the Hurricane, closing up the eye wall behind him. With Guiteau distracted by protecting the girls from the blast, all he could do was watch as the boy escaped.