BOOM.
The ceiling split.
Two more puppets dropped one crashing into the rear quarter of the training hall, the other landing dead center in the dueling pit.
Level 20.
Both.
Marlon raised his head, still kneeling from his fight, eyes wide.
"You've got to be kidding me."
But Eugene didn't hesitate.
His coat flared behind him as he stepped forward, dragging his right hand across his chest, fingertips sparking.
"Burning Heart."
The activation was near-silent no chant, no theatrics. But the temperature in the room jumped instantly. Heat shimmered around Eugene like a heatwave over glass, distorting light. His eyes narrowed, irises flaring molten gold.
His breath fogged backward.
The pressure hit first.
Then the flame.
FWOOOM.
A plume of red-white fire burst upward from his chest not uncontrolled, but anchored to every part of his frame. His silhouette burned with layered rings of energy, a hybrid core of fire and lightning twisting around his spine like a coiled reactor.
