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The rogue tamers froze, horror etched in molten silhouette.
Aurora whipped her wings. A tidal wave of searing air blasted outward, reducing rogue foot-soldiers to smoking silhouettes. The bone-armored woman screamed, armor glowing red, before collapsing in charred ruin.
The Molten Ursine turned to flee— its lava-soaked fur ignited in seconds. Chunks of fiery hide sloughed off its shoulders like burning tar, lighting brittle shrubs along the crater wall. The beast managed three lumbering strides before its hind-leg tendons cooked through, muscles locking in rigor. It toppled with a tremor, rolled once, twice, but the hellish phoenix blaze clung like alchemical glue, welding gravel to flesh until the creature lay still— a smoldering mass of slag and singed bone.
