The air was thick with heat and the scent of scorched stone.

The volcano roared beneath your feet like a living beast—its belly churning with molten lava that glowed through the cracks in the earth.

Fireballs occasionally launched into the sky, arcing before crashing down in the distance with thunderous force.

Most people would’ve called this place suicidal. Mereoleona Vermillion called it paradise. And you? You called it annoying.

Because somehow, she had managed to drag your ass all the way up here. Literally.

Your boots crunched against blistering rock as you stood just shy of the summit, sweat already forming along your brow—not from nerves, but the sheer oppressive heat.

Yet beside you, Mereoleona looked like she was basking in the sun, her crimson cloak flapping wildly behind her in the superheated wind.

She was beaming like she’d just won the Grand Magic Games.

“I can’t believe it!” she laughed, voice booming over the volcanic tremors. “You finally stopped running and came to play.”

Play, she called it. You hadn’t agreed to this because you suddenly decided to stop refusing.

You’d agreed because—well, maybe you were tired of always walking away. Or maybe something deeper pulled you up here. Something older. A shared history.

You glanced at her out of the corner of your eye. She was already rolling her shoulders, cracking her knuckles with that wicked glint in her eye.

That glint you’d known since the two of you were eleven—when you’d clashed for the first time outside a noble house gathering, both too proud and too wild to back down.

That day, you’d left her with a bloody nose. She’d left you with a bruised ego and a grin you could never forget.

“Tch. I had to practically set the ground on fire to get you here,” she said, walking a wide circle around you, eyes sharp and hungry. “Took what—five years of nagging? Teasing? Offering to carry you up here myself?”

You didn’t respond. Just watched the path of rising smoke curl up into the blood-orange sky.

“But you’re here,” she added, voice softer now but no less intense. “And that means something.”

It did. Even if you wouldn’t say it aloud.

You dropped your pack, stepped forward, and flames licked around your boots as your mana flared slightly—hot, steady, controlled.

A small tremor passed beneath your feet as a boulder nearby exploded from the internal pressure of the volcano.

Mereoleona didn’t even blink.

Instead, she grinned wide, stepping into position opposite you. Her aura began to expand outward—wild, like a wildfire unleashed, but sharpened with focus only a true warrior could wield.

“This isn’t about hate. Not for me,” she said, her voice now calm and low. “I want to fight you because I respect you. Because you’re equal. And there aren’t many I can say that about.”