[Infernal Heart has reached Level 20!]

  My eyes snapped open and the curseflame construct I’d been working on fizzled away.

  I got up and shouted, “YESSS!”

  “Whoa. Haell, what’s up!?” Therick snapped the reins in surprise, and Angerly’s wagon behind us also drove faster to catch up. I was currently sitting on the roof of the lead wagon, and it was lurching uncomfortably under my armored ass.

  “What manner of warcrimes did you do this time!?”

  “Shut up, Angerly!” I shouldn’t have told them about all that. The Angelore Empire did not have any such agreements with any foreign state. At least, not officially. You can’t warcrime if no one knows what a warcrime is!

  [Would you like to evolve your Infernal Heart?]

  Yes! Absolutely upgrade it now!

  [Multiple evolution paths have been discovered for Infernal Heart. Please choose one of the following.]

  [Standard - greatly enhances all aspects of the Mutation.]

  [Hellfire Heart - The heart of someone who wishes to burn the living and make them suffer the maximum amount. Produces hellfire mana.]

  “Yes! The hellfire is there! YES!”

  Moonwash suddenly appeared. She had climbed out of the window and was now crawling up the roof.

  “Tell me more.”

  “Well, wait just a second! Let me finish taking it first.”

  “Okay,” my girlfriend oh so graciously allowed.

  I selected the hellfire option, and then I felt one of my hearts shift painfully. I clutched my chest over the armor as I curled into myself from the utterly weird sensation that was only marginally painful.

  And then my new heart pumped once.

  That was when the true pain began.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” I screamed as a new burning sensation coursed through my body. It was not dissimilar to the infernal magic that came before it, except for being unimaginably more painful. It was a sensation that drilled into every nerve, every tissue, and every single waking moment as my mind was overwhelmed by a sensation that threatened to break it. The pain was alive, and it sought the ultimate destruction of the self.

  I breathed. My wrath was reacting to this, and I was seeking for an outlet, but the only one here with me upon the roof of the wagon was my girlfriend, and I refused to hurt her again. So I anchored my ego, I anchored my emotions, and I anchored every single thought that entered my mind on absolutely nothing but sheer will.

  And then I felt a bloating. It was a discomfort that bordered on torture. It made me want to reach into my body and dig out everything inside.

  “Fuck fuck! My blood is not designed to hold three elements inside!”

  I conjured the largest most inefficient infernal fireball I could and tossed it into the air.

  “That’s not hellfire,” Moonwash commented.

  “I know! That’s the point!”

  I created a sort of funnel with the pale orange mana, and then released a fucking flamethrower into the horizon. It sprayed into the enviroment, continuously fed by more mana, and predictably, the grasslands began to burn as embers rained down like snow.

  “FUCK! FUCK!! Not that!” I turned my aim upwards, and that gave enough time for the infernal flames to die out and not set anything on fire. The amount of the element in my body gradually lessened as more of the hellfire replaced it instead, but I didn’t seem to be making as much progress as I thought… “Ah shit! I’ve been keeping the blood flowing in and out of storage this entire time!” I stopped doing that and sealed off my extradimensional demon blood storage. I then remembered how we had run out of menace mana before due to poor planning. “Quick, Moonwash! Get the containers! I have infernal mana left!”

  “We have plenty at home.”

  Ah right. We did do that just in case before we left. There were gallons stored in the basement of my house and elsewhere.

  “Might as well get this though. It’s our last chance. You’ll even get to do surgery on me!”

  “Alright.” She agreed to my logical argument, which I shouldn’t have made because now she had an excuse to cut me up!

  I’m panicking. I’m panicking! DON’T PANIC! FUCK!

  My girlfriend had gone down to get her tools while I continued to vent out my infernal mana into the sky. I then slapped my face for forgetting that I didn’t actually have to activate the magic. A growl escaped out of my throat as I wanted to just stop thinking, but I remained anchored into the present so I did what I must.

  I had not hurt anyone yet. I did not lose control. And that was a big achievement for the change I was going through. My constant introspections had paid off.

  I stopped my flamethrower, sat cross-legged, and began venting raw infernal mana out from my skin in every direction.

  I was just finishing up by the time the wagon under me lurched and stopped.

  ~~~

  I was cut open by my own lover.

  My friends either watched or looked away from the sinister sight as Moonwash stabbed me below the hearts and ripped the flesh apart to reveal an organ stuck between three large blood vessels. The organ in question was rubbery, bordering on hard, and it had some sparse craters in it for no immediately discernible reason. The reason for them soon became clear though as a schism in space rippled in one of the craters, and a fountain of blood came out.

  That’s… a cool idea. I wanted to have an actual fountain made of myself like this one day, with red water pouring out of a demon’s open chest. It’d be so epic.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Does that not hurt?” Berry asked, and I looked up from my prone position on the ground.

  “Oh, it does.” I winced from the continuous beats of my newly improved heart. “Hellfire is no joke.”

  “What?”

  “Haell, I think Berry meant the open hole in your body,” Granuel said from his lookout post atop the wagon. “I want to know too. You never seem to react much to it.”

  “Ah. That one.” I nodded. Moonwash guided me into a push-up position to aim my geyser of blood into a pot. “Well, of course it hurts. But get in the fucking line, you know? Life is painful.”

  “Oh.” Berry was quiet for a few long moments. “But wait… does that mean you’re like… constantly…?”

  “Yep,” I confirmed Berry’s realization. Moonwash exchanged the bowl beneath me. “I feel like I’m being milked.”

  “Of course she made it fucking weird,” Therick shook his head and looked away.

  “What! I’m draining my fucking blood near the chest and into a container! Am I supposed to not say what we’re all thinking!!”

  “You’re crazy,” Angerly laughed. My discarded armor and clothes were right by her feet. I’d have to quickly hide if some other people were rude enough to pass by near here. “I mean, I was thinking it too. But it’s weird that you brought it up!”

  “Nuh-uh. It’d be even weirder if literally anyone else did.”

  “...You’re right.”

  “But we would’ve all been fine without anyone ever mentioning it!”

  “And leave a truth unspoken? I will never allow it!”

  I glared at Therick. He glared back. Until we both started to laugh. And then everyone else joined in. This was just too fucking funny.

  ~~~

  “Shit! Bandits!” Granuel suddenly cursed just when I was about done with… draining myself of blood. I looked at the same direction as him, then back to my naked self. I jumped into the wagon because I could not be seen like this. The red of my skin was exposed, as even my extensive makeup routine did not reach literally everywhere!

  “Wait! I still have a bleeding hole in my chest!” I realized as blood pooled on the wooden floor. Moonwash recognized my pleas, so she poked her head inside the window and began to shine a healing light upon myself.

  The bandits arrived. My friends readied themselves for war. It started with a conversation that almost made me think this would be resolved peacefully after all.

  “Good afternoon fine travelers!”

  “Good afternoon to you as well.”

  Unfortunately, the negotiations only deteriorated from there. The bandits wanted to take both our wagons and everything in it. The best they were willing to compromise was to let us keep our horreks. They found it interesting that we did not use centaurs as our wagon-pullers.

  Therick refused. He had Moonwash show her gold adventurer’s badge. This was their chance to do the smart thing and run the other way and never look back… but they did not choose to live.

  “Hah! Good try! But I have level sense! I can tell, you know? She’s only level 20! And we outnumber you greatly!”

  Therick tried to argue that it was a true badge. He explained how Moonwash got promoted to gold because of her skills being strong enough to compete with people at that level. It wasn’t the amount of levels that mattered, but how you used it.

  They laughed at him and my girlfriend.

  I growled. I got dressed faster as I squeezed into someone’s random cutesy pink shirt with happy embroidered dancers that I found in the wagon. But it only made sense that they would not believe in Moonwash. Special cases like her weren’t common.

  Still pissed me off though.

  “If you can’t see reason, then we will take it by force. CHARGE!”

  I heard the energetic rush of galloping hooves and the warcries of the enemy. I too rose out of the wagon, ready for blood. I considered for a moment, staring out at the dozens of centaurs charging towards us, if this was a dire enough situation for me to truly go all out. I had gone through the trouble to reclothe myself to hide what I was, with my exposed arms of the right human color, but maybe that wasn’t necessary anymore. Maybe I could finally let go, and leave none alive.

  A massive fireball was launched by Moonwash. The bandits themselves weren’t alone, and they had one human spellcaster behind the centaurs who managed to mildly throw my girlfriend’s attack off course. The cavalry then curved around just a little to dodge the rest of her spell. Some were still caught by the blast, but only a few were completely put out of commission.

  So? Is this enough? Is this enough justification!?

  My armored hooves landed out of the wagon, and I came to a decision. I met the enemy’s charge, I ran faster than they who were built for this, and the entire time, hellfire mana oozed out of my skin in great quantities.

  It manifested.

  Unlike the pale orange of infernal.

  Unlike the bright orange of the mediocre.

  A deep red tide blazed around me, and that wave of magical fire crashed against their front lines.

  “AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

  “No! NO!”

  “STOP!”

  “Stop please!”

  “Make it stop! PLEASE!!”

  They reared. They ran. They screamed. They spread chaos among their ranks.

  Even the ones who were only mildly on fire panicked, and those who had escaped my wrath the first time were forced to stop and regroup all the same as their companions made a mess of their formation.

  I had broken their charge.

  I did not need to throw off my disguise.

  They were not good enough to give me a real fight.

  My friends capitalized on the opening I’d provided and pushed the bandits further into a rout. The remaining healthy centaurs were forced to stand their ground and fight. Therick slashed at their legs to limit their mobility, while Berry took the vanguard and demanded their undivided attention. The mage and archers of the enemy backlines had their hands full just trying to survive against a counter-barrage from Granuel and Moonwash. The bandits had their own ogre who had finally caught up, but she was stopped by Angerly as her mace easily crushed the smaller enemy’s club. I too did not remain idle as I rammed my sword through the largest groups of enemies while shooting fireballs at the most troublesome ones.

  They were now so afraid of my own attacks that anyone even remotely close to where hellfire might land began to panic and flee, further spreading chaos among their lines.

  “Kill me! Stop! Please! KILL ME!”

  I turned my head towards a particular centaur rolling across the ground. Another two of his kind fell on their own spears to finally end the torment of my flames. Some of my burning enemies had naturally died by now, but those that remained continued to lose their fucking minds.

  “No! NO MORE! PLEASE!”

  I walked towards the centaur man begging for death. His agonized screams had broken the last of the bandits’ will, and those who still could were now all leaving. My friends allowed this to happen, and I… obliged by their decision. They could be a problem for everyone else. That was none of my concern.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

  The man continued to wail. He was almost dead.

  My friends stood frozen. They stared at the final fallen enemy, and then at me. There was fear in their gaze, worry, and perhaps… guilt. They felt it on my behalf.

  I took a shuddering breath. I did not act on the unkind thoughts that wished to scream at them, for it was not their place to determine the worth of my actions.

  “What is this? WHAT IS THIS!? MAKE IT STOP!”

  “It’s hellfire,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”

  I would do nothing different.

  But maybe I should try and limit the use of this magic in the future.

  My sword swung down, and the suffering of the enemy leader finally ended.

  Well, that was chaotic!

  Except not as much as it could’ve been. I edited this chapter heavily.

  There was supposed to be one more scene here actually, another fight to showcase more of the hellfire. But I had to cut it when the bandit fight became a lot darker than its first iteration. I feel like it might cheapen the impact of it if I added another fight after that. It was a good fight though… I’ll see if I can squeeze it into the next chapter somehow.

  Read up to Chapter 144 on my now!