Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

The air moved and changed before it even looked like the First had done anything. With every breath they took, the others could tell that it was growing hotter and hotter. It didn't take long before it felt like they were breathing fire.

The First inhaled deeply, breathing in until the air touched the bottom of his lungs. He held it inside for a moment, just enough to prepare and gather his strength.

Emptying a vessel as large and deep as his of everything it contained couldn't be done instantaneously. It took a little time.

But then again, the First had spent a long time practicing.

Growing stronger was difficult for the Children. In exchange for immortality and blessed strength from birth, their essences and vessels were solid and unmalleable. Taking even a single step forward meant breaking several rock-solid walls.

Most of the Children gave up. It wasn't like they had to get stronger. If they died to someone stronger than them, they would come back and just ask one of their older siblings to deal with it.

But there were two exceptions.

The Second Child and the First Child.

The First had no one to go to if they were defeated. He had to handle it himself. And while he was born the strongest, he was also born with the knowledge and awareness that there were others in the world stronger than him.

That meant there were beings capable of killing his siblings and him.

He had to be the one to break the mold and escape their limits.

With their mother sealed, the First was the Children's only safety.

Yet, he had failed. Twice.

What good was being stronger than his siblings if he still couldn't protect them?

The First poured it all out.

He exhaled.

Crimson flames like lava poured out of the First's mouth and nose in a powerful jet stream that converged and hit the ground with a soft boom.

Instantly, the temperatures in the area soared.

The scarlet flames blossomed and exploded, covering everything in the area before spreading.

The ground around and beneath the First child melted, joining the sea of lava exiting his mouth.

He was reducing the entire floor to ash and smoke, including his siblings.

His cries of sorrow and grief were deafened by the roar of the flames and the heat distorting the air.

The other Children, all of whom possessed nigh-immunity to heat and flames, barely felt it before turning to ash and sinking into the dark and warm embrace of death. Since they were annihilated like this, it would take a little while before they returned, but return they would.

The only thing left untouched by the sea of flames on the entire floor was the ice cube the size of a small mountain or a large hill. The fire tried to ascend and melt it. It fought hard to do so, and it sped up the ice cube's thawing. But it wasn't enough.

Not even all of the fire within the First Child was enough to break the Hydra's seal.

But it was enough to wipe out all signs of life on the thirtieth floor.

The ground was a charred mess where it wasn't melted. The forest and the plants that had managed to somehow survive in the Hydra's presence were all gone. The life that had come into existence on a floor originally the concentration of frosty winter was gone.

A certain administrator had a headache just thinking about the cleanup they would have to do. Again.

But this historical event wasn't over yet.

This was just the first act, and not even that had ended yet.

Zach had realized he was in trouble the moment the First started bringing his strength to the surface.

He was incredibly lucky that the First had mistaken the sound of his barriers breaking for the sound of his neck breaking. But it also might have been that the First didn't care. Whether Zach's neck was broken or not, he wouldn't survive what was coming next—No one would, except the Hydra and the First.

He was also incredibly lucky that the First was experiencing loss for the first time in millennia.

If he had to guess, the First had probably grieved the moment the Second Child turned against them and decided to create a family with the sole purpose of exterminating the Children and the Hydra. He would have also grieved the moment the Second traded his immortality for that family and eventually died.

But that was a long time ago. The pain would have become bearable. The wounds would have scabbed.

The loss of two more siblings would have torn those scabs right off and been like a glowing hot dagger stabbed right into his heart.

The First wasn't not of a clear enough mind to notice what was going on around him.

He would not have noticed Zach, Visla, Lexi, Yanael, Alzara, Soara, and Mandra disappearing before the flames could consume them. If he did notice, he might have just simply thought they were annihilated.

It would be a reasonable assumption since Zach had just barely gotten them out in the nick of time. The powerful fire had disturbed his concentration and world essence energy.

If he hadn't already done it once, he would have been too slow.

Even now, almost all of them were covered in blisters and burns. Lexi, Visla, and Soara were especially bad. They weren't in mortal danger, but they were not going to be ready to fight anytime soon.

So, Zach asked Ra to look after them. Alzara volunteered to help since she was the only one with any kind of medicinal expertise.

It was also because she didn't want to be a dead weight back in the Labyrinth. Deep in her heart, she wanted Zach to ask her to come.

But he wasn't going to do that when he needed someone to take care of his sister.

Alzara was both disappointed and relieved.

With Yanael and Mandra by his sides, he returned to the Labyrinth.