The fire elemental magic was a less intuitive magic than all others.

  All magic was derived from the manipulation of mana in specific environments, and the reaction that the movements in mana had on the elemental matter in question.

  This meant that physical applications of elemental magic for air, water and earth were really quite straightforward, given that the elements in question were in abundance.

  However, given that the world was not some sort of hellscape with fire sprouting from every corner, the manipulation of the fire elemental required the user to create the reactant for spells. Meaning that creating flames through fuel was a vital component of fire spells.

  Fire mages in the commission often carried around fire-starting charms to create fire at a moments notice, so as to improve their reaction time during their fieldwork.

  For Archsage Livia, she did engage in the use of the physical application of fire magic for less intense cases, given its speed of casting together with her devils.

  However, for more extreme cases, where she used the abstract applications of her magic, she used ichor as a fuel source to deal devastating damage to enemies.

  This was done by using the remnant soul remaining within the blood of the devils and using it directly as a fuel source by converting it into mana.

  And given the magical properties of ichor, the spell would enact the archsage’s will with disproportionate force after she ‘ignited’ these reactions.

  However, as a dual elemental archsage, Archsage Livia had a much more potent source of fuel.

  Her own soul.

  ???

  Archsage Andrew was having a little bit of a difficult time calming his heart.

  The Fae Queen was using incredibly sharp spears to try and damage his prized dragons.

  Every swipe made his hands increasingly sweaty, as he coordinated the dragons in the heated battle.

  The dragons had succeeded in knocking 8 simulacrums out of the fight, damaging their vessels enough to render it immobile.

  A few heads, each one an image of Mr. Tona, his now dead colleague, lay smashed against the rubble below.

  Andrew genuinely could not believe that the dragons had only managed to knock 8 of them out of the fight so far.

  Each simulacrum was a divided self of the Fae Queen, meaning they were all identical copies crafted from a single divided soul.

  The Fae Queen was likely already split between Herself at Her divine kingdom and here in the fight.

  Yet, each of her copies were moving almost at the level of a combat knight, which more than made up for the lack of higher level spells.

  She had dedicated half of Herself to focusing simply on head on attacks, imbuing a horrifying amount of mana in the spears of Her copies.

  It was a difficult task to keep Her and the glowing green spears at bay on its own. And combined with the support of various teleporting copies sending more presents his way from Her various pillars of iron and obsidian, it would be only a matter of time before his dragons started to get injured.

  His dragons had fended off the attacks gracefully, slipping in and out of the spirit realm with incredible battle prowess, and letting off waves of magic at the various simulacrums.

  His current steed, an Elder Dragon of the fire elemental, had melted several patches of rubble into large lava pools the size of football fields with its attacks.

  Archsage Andrew could physically feel the impossible heat radiating from the dragon’s mouth as he stood on its sharp, shimmering scales.

  The other dragons also engaged in their own battles, with the two wind elemental sending slashes of wind across the ruins that left scars in the concrete and stone.

  The water elemental dragon summoning a thousand illusions in the air, and the earth elemental sending countless rubble to float and orbit the battlefield menacingly.

  Andrew was already thinking about the scars that his dragons would leave this battle with, and calculating how much longer he had to fight this insane, crossdressing woman for.

  He had plans for tomorrow…

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Fool. Getting distracted in the middle of battle? It seems I have overestimated the education of your disgusting institution!” The Fae Queen snarled, sending a spear hurtling towards his fire dragon.

  D-Dammnit! Andrew thought as his dragon bounced around and escaped into the spirit world. The spear had cut through the scale like butter, but was thankfully stopped against the sheer volume of the dragon before doing too much damage…

  So… like 3 bottles of high quality recovery potions? It was not… that bad… yet?

  As he entered back into the dusty ruins of Tlacualtzin, he quickly stepped backwards on the dragon clumsily and pulled the spear out.

  Then, imbuing it with his own mana, he magically threw it at one of the approaching figures contemptuously with a flick of his finger.

  This sent the copy, with its fluttering trench coat far, far away in the distance, as Sha barely managed to block the shot artistically with the snap of her spear.

  ???

  This particular copy would land, by chance, perfectly onto the devastated ruins of Vecius Street, with a few rat-golems charging enthusiastically at Her in greeting.

  Golems had once more started to form all across the city, coalescing around the thin golden threads burning its way through the iron lids.

  “Bang.” A loud bang rang out just as this copy of the Fae Queen swatted the rat-golems away disdainfully.

  And from beneath the rubble emerged two battered mages, one of whom the Fae Queen had the displeasure of recognising.

  “YOU DISGUSTING COCKROACH.” The Fae Queen yelled out, Her face practically letting the blood shine through the thin walls of flesh.

  That prompted the two fighters to immediately turn towards the source of distraction, one in complete confusion and the other in absolute horror.

  “Tona?” Sage Yeltz muttered briefly under her breath as she shattered another one of her charms to summon a barrage of illusions and icicles towards her opponent.

  With a simple step, the Fae Queen stepped out right behind the shocked sage, taking a stab at the air with contempt.

  Sage Yeltz dodged just in time, lifting herself out of harm’s way with a jet of water under her feet, and immediately started to teleport a distance away to put space between the two opponents.

  However, this opening would prove to be fatal, as the lich simply tapped his staff in the air, sending a barrage of rocky bullets straight into the sage’s heart.

  “Ah-” The Sage managed, shattering all of her charms the moment she felt the rocks press against her ribcage.

  With her last breath, the sage’s face twisted, now filled with a rueful recognition of what was happening.

  Her mentor was dead.

  And… she was too-

  The whole street erupted in a burst of random magic, washing the rubble in steam, illusions and ice as the Fae Queen and the lich teleported away…

  ???

  The Fae Queen barely glanced back as She reemerged onto the rubble next to her pathetic subordinate, one knee on the floor and wearing the trophies of torn and filthy clothes.

  And beneath these tears lay deep wounds, burns and frostbite, clearly a parting gift from the now dead sage.

  However, what infuriated the Fae Queen most of all was the fact that he was now frantically adjusting his damn mustache even while on his damn knees.

  “What part of ‘collect souls’ did you not understand?” She asked.

  “I-”

  The Lich didn’t quite get the chance to explain. Instead, being met with a strong slap to his dusty and battered face, upturning his beloved mustache from his face.

  The Fae Queen didn’t even look at the shamed lich after this, Her face awash in anger and Her eyes filled to its very brim with disgust.

  Varian Greenwich could not do anything but look down, kowtowing before his Queen.

  He had been a fool.

  The Fae Queen shook her hand as if it had touched something repulsive and slimy, stepping into the blurry air once more, and leaving the shamed Greenwich and his now crooked mustache behind…

  ???

  Far up in the skies above Tlacualtzin, an orb of impossible heat, nearly 200 meters in diameter formed, its center harbouring a ghostly white rod.

  This rod was the second wand that Archsage Livia had forged over her life.

  Crafted from the bone of her forearm, it carried within it an innate connection to her soul, and harboured remnants of her soul.

  It had incredible enchantments cast on it, courtesy of fire elemental magic.

  But for Archsage Livia, who absolutely preferred to use her staff, there was only a single spell cast on this wand that was worth even considering.

  The wand attracted and pulled mana towards itself, a feat that was assisted until the very last moment by the falling archsage and the numerous charms dangling from her staff.

  In wind magic, vows contained great power.

  The ritualistic process of vowmaking, and the conditional activation allowed for an efficient and effective consumption of mana.

  The kind of power that Archsage Livia had been bestowed as an Archsage was the capacity to bind and enforce vows at the sage level.

  While available even for single layered mages, the ability to bind, and create contracts at the pinnacle of magic was exceedingly compatible with fire elemental magic.

  And the spell cast on the wand was just that.

  A contract forged with herself.

  When the conditions were met for activation, the wand would become fuel, burning her soul itself in a ritualistic fire to cast a spell at the realm of the draconic gods.

  She did use a similar spell with her blood sometimes when she got bored, but burning her enchanted wand was much more significant than a casual spell like that.

  It would take more than 6 months for the catalysing soul to reform to become whole through the natural mana circulation cycle.

  And what a great deal it was.

  As Archsage Livia melted from view into the darkness, and reappeared back onto the battlefield, the golden threads had started to crawl out from the iron lids of the city.

  The invisible sphere of heat and mana split itself down the middle like an egg.

  It pulled together horrifying quantities of air from the surroundings, like the breath of a hungry and angry dragon.

  Then, these two spheres of wind and heat started to spin, individually and in different directions.

  They formed mini-hurricanes in the air, creating a horrifying noise that would soon engulf all of the central continent itself.

  And bit by bit, the air itself started to burn…