Page 69 of House Ignis

The shield screamed, magic straining against the impact.

When the steam cleared—

Zorian was still standing.

Dripping.

Smiling.

Unburned in ways he should not have been.

Not even scorched.

The water around him didn't boil.

It absorbed.

"What the actual—" I breathed.

Aether's growl vibrated through my bones. "He should be down. I hit him with everything."

The Core inside me pulsed once.

Sharp.

Warning.

Zorian tilted his head slightly.

And the water at his feet darkened.

He didn't hesitate.

He swept both arms outward and a spiraling cyclone of water tore toward us, thick with salt and something darker. Seaweed whipped through it like lashes. The smell of brine filled my lungs.

I called fire into my palms and blasted it outward in a wide fan, trying to evaporate the surge—

It barely dented it.

The wave hit like a collapsing wall.

It slammed into me, soaking me through and hurling me sideways across the stone. My shoulder struck hard. Gravel tore skin.

Cold.

Too cold.

Styx was already on Aether.

Tentacles lashed with brutal precision, wrapping around him—one coiling around his neck, another cinching tight around his hind leg. Aether sank his teeth into the nearest limb, flames erupting across his body in a blinding flare.

The shield flared violently at the impact of colliding magic, runes blazing as steam exploded outward.

But the octopus did not recoil.

It did not scream.

It did not burn.