Chapter 19: The Angel

When the fire finally subsided and the pillars stopped burning, Raffy came out transformed. He is not wearing any shoes and gloves because his feet and hands are burning, which he can control whether it should burn or not. His clothes are changed with a red robe. His hair is fire-shaped and is of the color red with orange highlights.

"Nice. I can't wait to tell the guys about this."

Raffy hurriedly walked out of the room to head to the throne to be transported outside. However, what he saw stopped him on his tracks.

"Well, well, well. So you are the Fire Guardian. Planning to sit on this thing? I don’t think so."

With one punch, the stranger smashed the throne into a million pieces. The punch was so strong that it caused a chain reaction that caused the volcano to tremble.

"Look at what you've done? Who are you anyway?! Show your face!"

"How rude of me."

With a blink of an eye, the stranger was in front of Raffy, and he can now clearly see the face of the stranger.

"Froi...Froilan! What are you doing here? And why are you doing this? This is not like you Froi. You don’t act like this in our world!"

"Stupid boy."

With no effort at all, the stranger raised his hand and Raffy suddenly flew across the cavern, crashing on the opposite wall.

"I am Vladimir, Quirella's Minion of Fire. I am here to claim what is supposed to be mine, the power of the guardian. You have no escape from me boy. I have destroyed your escape route from this place. Now, prepare to die!"

Vladimir conjured balls of fire from nothing and threw it directly at Raffy. Raffy, who still does not know how to use his power, tried to dodge every hit the enemy could throw at him.

"You could not evade my attacks forever boy! This volcano will erupt soon and you will be gone with its eruption."

"It means that you too will be destroyed. Who's the stupid one now?"

"You're so feeble-minded. I can easily get out of this place. Unlike you, I can teleport myself wherever I want."

Raffy, now getting really upset, tried to conjure a ball of fire from thin air to throw back at Vladimir. However, he was unsuccessful in conjuring fire.

"No more playing around. I shall finish you off now so I can get your powers."

Vladimir fell silent as Raffy still tries to conjure fire. After a moment, Vladimir was slowly being swallowed by smoke from beneath him.

This frightened Raffy and tried to concentrate in conjuring anything that can help him survive. Then there was a loud explosion coming from Vladimir. His whole body is burning.

"Now, face the wrath of Vladimir!"

Vladimir flew upward into the air and jetted towards Raffy. Raffy froze in his place as Vladimir neared him.

Just like Joed, Raffy heard a voice in his head telling him what to do. Raffy slowly closed his eyes and did as he was told.

"So you are afraid after all. I thought the Fire Guardian should be the most courageous of all guardians! Ha, now...you will die!"

As soon as he was about to hit Raffy, a wall of fire came between them.

"What is this?!"

Vladimir flew away from Raffy and waited for the fire wall to go down.

"How did you do that? I thought you don't know how to use your powers? You couldn't even conjure a ball of fire!"

The wall of fire protecting Raffy slowly faded out, revealing a new Raffy.

"Now you will face the wrath of the Fire Guardian."

For a moment, Vladimir stepped back. He saw fire in Raffy's eyes that only means that he is determined to defeat Vladimir.

"Now this is going to be a better fight than before."

"You bet it is."

With great speed, Raffy stood in front of Vladimir knocking him backwards in shock.

"Surprised?"

"Not really."

"You should be...Meteor Punch!"

Raffy's fist began to blaze as he punched Vladimir on his face sending him flying towards the opposite side of the cavern.

"Does it hurt, Vladimir?"

Vladimir stood up and flew towards Raffy.

"You hit like a girl! Blazing Screw!"

While flying towards Raffy, Vladimir spins wildly in mid-air as he surrounds himself with blazes of fire. But he was not expecting the next thing that happened. As he was about to hit Raffy again, a lava wall appeared in front of him and he went through it, with lava still on him.

"Do you really think that lava can stop me?"

"No. But that is no ordinary lava, Vladimir. That is my Aphonic Lava. That lava can indeed stop you, literally."

"What are you talking about? I can still mo...why...why can't I move!"

"You underestimated me, Vladimir...Flame of Vulcan!"

After Raffy said these words, the place started to quake.

"What are you doing? You're going to kill us both!"

"Don't worry; I'm not going to kill us..."

"That's a relief."

"...I'm only going to kill you!"

"NO!"

As the quake begins to get stronger, the lava around them started to fly wildly around them.

"Perish by the Flame of Vulcan!"

Raffy jumped a few meters away from Vladimir and hurried towards him.

"You may have defeated me, but my spirit will still linger and someday, I will return and claim what is rightfully mine!"

As soon as Raffy punched Vladimir, the lava around them flew towards them resulting to a massive explosion.

Vladimir was destroyed but Raffy still has one problem. Without the throne, Raffy could not get out of the volcano’s cavern.

The explosion that Raffy caused affected the volcano so much that within minutes, it will erupt.

"Okay, think Raffy, think. What will you do?"

Raffy, having no choices left, hurried towards the blocked entrance of the cavern.

He started smashing the rocks that blocked his only way out of the volcano. After a few punches, a speck of light went through the blockage.

"Yes...just a little more."

As Raffy was smashing the blockage, he heard an explosion. He looked behind him and saw lava rushing towards him. With one last punch, he removed the blockage and run outside.

"Oh, no. The lava. It's going to destroy the spring."

Before the lava spilled out, Raffy managed to stop it by using his Pyric Wall. However, his wall is not enough to hold back the lava.

"It's not working. I need help. Any help."

As soon as Raffy let go of his hold on the wall, he heard someone shout.

"Seismic Wave!"

Tons of earth flung from behind him covering up the entrance to the cavern. He suddenly became weak because he used up all his energy to hold back the lava. With the little energy he had left, he managed to look behind him, hoping to thank Joed for his help. Instead, he saw a girl smiling at him like an angel and slowly walked towards him. She touched his hand and felt as though he was flying and after she let go, he fainted.