We had to resort to our zip-wear and using blue sonium to give us a cooling aura that helped offset the heat. Even Za'Fia had to take measures to cool off a little.
Venlor itself was a small city of 70,000. It was made entirely of black stone and cindium to withstand the heat. The heat was so intense there that I noticed many civilian places had to use blue-sonium-operated machines that replicated nitrogen air. It was the only way to make the place visitable to others (who still needed to wear zip-wear). Fun fact: those cooling devices could only be used in Venlor; otherwise, they'd risk freezing the area immediately.
Venlor was ruled by the Hellhound Crest, who governed the place with might above all else. There, the weak submitted to the strong. The crest itself was much smaller than the others, consisting of only 150 pneumarians and 200 klevonians, most of which could utilize the magma element, making them much more destructive than other crests. In fact, the crest made most of its money by deploying small groups to other worlds as demolition teams or bodyguards for high-profile aliens. They were coveted that way, granting them an 870 billion-spendil crest worth.
Out in the distance, I saw a pack of fiery dogs, hellhounds, running together outside the city. They looked as if they were hunting, which made me wonder what it was they ate in a place like that.
Souls, Viraa stated. Hellhounds can burn and devour the souls of any living thing they eat. The nature of this ability is called Hellfire, the sacred gift passed to the Crest Head, granting them the unique ability to attack our souls directly. Even pneumarians fear a power such as that.
"I can see how an ability like that can be useful for keeping even them in check," Avarice mused.
Out of nowhere, an eruption of lava burst from a nearby building as a klevonian was sent crashing into a small building. Then a pneumarian casually dropped into the engulfed building and tossed the klevonian outside before stepping out of the dripping lava as civilians ran screaming and alarms rang.
"How can you be this stupid? You can't hit me!" The pneumarian called out to the klevonian, who stumbled to stand.
"Bastard! I'm sick of your attitude. Always lording over me. I'll destroy everything if it means taking you out too..." The klevonian declared, full of hatred as he willed more magma around him, then swiped his arm horizontally before him, sending out a shapeless wave of immense heat. The wave of heat bounced off the pneumarian effortlessly, who laughed. His mark must've subconsciously prevented the attack from having any real substance to it.
"Then you should've been born strong. You should've been born a pneumarian! But you weren't, so accept your role beneath my feet," the pneumarian grinned lecherously as it willed even more magma to overwhelm the klevonian's.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I may not be able to beat you now, but one day I'll ascend...and I won't rest until I kill you," the klevonian gritted his teeth.
"Consider yourself fortunate that I wasn't the one who granted you your mark," the pneumarian stated seriously. "Otherwise, I'd remove it now and leave you to die. But severe punishment will have to do..." It prepared an attack when, in mere seconds, a large, powerful figure of lava rose from the ground and grabbed the pneumarian, lifting them while it stepped on the klevonian, causing him to struggle beneath its foot.
"Hm. To stop a pneumarian and a klevonian that's in their hybrid form so effortlessly...," Avarice stated as he watched closely.
"Is that the Crest Head?" Za'Fia asked from next to me.
"Yeah, it's strong," I agreed and tilted my head as I peered closer. "But something's different about it. It doesn't look alive. I don't think that thing's a person, let alone the Crest Head. It looks like something summoned by someone even more powerful."
We suddenly felt another presence closing in as a blue blur approached the area and stopped. He wore a silver, metallic, militant suit with a matching pair of dark shades and had short, light, and dark blue hair shaved on the sides. Given his presence, he was someone important, despite being a klevonian. By then, I understood he was likely one of the Crest Head's personal guards, making him strong.
"Both of you stand down," he commanded, walking toward them. Each step created a footprint of snow that quickly melted.
The pneumarian grimaced at the klevonian with a contemptuous sneer.
"You're commanding me!?" It erupted in fury. "I don't take orders from you, dog!"
"Unless you can best me, you'll obey. Even if you have to be beaten into submission," the klevonian assured him cockily.
That did it. The pneumarian charged toward the klevonian, but the klevonian reacted faster. He transformed so fast I couldn't really make out his appearance as he dashed forward and touched the pneumarian on the chest, causing it to stop suddenly. It stared down at the klevonian through the cold mist, wide-eyed as we saw the heat from the pneumarian be drawn into the klevonian, causing the pneumarian to darken like significantly cooled magma. The area around them became much colder – enough for their breath to be seen.
When the klevonian removed his hand, the pneumarian dropped to its knees and fell over. The klevonian slowly turned to the other klevonian who was still beneath the lava creature's foot.
"And you? You done or do you need to cool off too?" He asked as he returned to normal.
"I'm okay, man. I'm done," the subdued klevonian protested with his hands up in surrender.
The commanding klevonian turned toward the burning buildings and closed his eyes, willing the heat to draw into him once more. Once the flames were extinguished, the buildings, apart from the one the klevonian was thrown through, were still intact (perk of being made of fireproof material). The klevonian then sent a cool blast of arctic air skyward, creating a temporary snow day for the immediate area, which many families seemed to enjoy.
The klevonian walked toward us next but looked at the large lava creature before issuing another command.
"Take them to the Hell's Grip. They'll be dealt with later."
Now that he was still enough, I was able to read his bio card. His name was Brodwi, aka The Fire Eater. He was a 3-star threat with a base EQN of 45,886,500 and had two cintracies. One was Kryo, which gave him control over ice, while the other was a temp cintracy called Heat Absorption. It gave him the power to draw heat from external sources and convert it into cold. Pretty useful in a place like the Hellhound District.
"Follow me. Kit's wanted to get a good look at you for himself," he said before sprinting toward to the Crest House.