Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Himiko's soul quality was somewhat beyond the greedy man's expectations. After so many years of sacrifice and being accompanied by the golden apple day and night, Himiko's soul had actually reached the point where it could be refined into a weapon.

The storms around Yamatai were not due to geographical factors, but rather to Himiko's power to control them. It was precisely because of this power that Himiko was revered as a queen in ancient times.

Now that Himiko has been killed by the greedy, the storms around Yamatai will also disappear.

'In that case, why not make things bigger?'

Standing atop Yamatai, the Greedy One began to adjust his power. He needed to maintain control of the power without destroying the island, yet still possess a formidable presence; this required his complete dedication.

Laura and Conrad carried Samantha and raced toward the shipwrecked beach. Skeletons cleared a shortcut for them, allowing them to evacuate as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, as if she had heard something, Laura glanced behind her and shouted to Conrad, who was clearing the way, "We need to hurry, this island is going to be destroyed!"

"Destroyed? What do you mean? Wasn't the demon fighting Himiko?"

Laura recalled the scene just now; it was clear that Himiko had yielded. Now, within her mind, the greedy one was sending her a warning, giving her a time to leave.

It's obvious that greedy people are planning something that will turn the entire island into a dead zone.

Laura did not answer Conrad's question, and the two quickened their pace in silence.

On the shipwrecked beach, following Conrad's instructions, the ship's engines were kept running, ready to leave at any moment.

Conrad separated from Laura ahead of time and boarded the Resilience first to take control of the ship in the captain's cabin.

With Jocelyn's help, Laura had just lifted Samantha aboard the Resilience when the ship left the beach and headed out to sea.

The small boat unleashed all its power, its engine roaring as it shot off.

As Conrad steered the ship, he asked Laura, who had just entered the captain's cabin, "What's going to happen to this island?"

As Laura gazed back at Yamatai, she whispered, "The flames of chaos will burn everything to ashes, and the flames will herald the resurrection of demons..."

Listening to Laura's cryptic mutterings, Conrad, still puzzled, asked, "What does this mean?"

"It's here, the destruction of Yamatai..."

As everyone looked back at Yamatai following Laura's words, they discovered an enormous fireball in the sky above Yamatai.

This fireball was like the sun, with flares erupting from its outermost layer, and flames constantly dancing around it.

Like a falling star, the fireball plummeted straight down from the sky to the very center of Yamatai, where it then exploded.

The burst of flames did not cause the fireball to explode; instead, it engulfed everything around it, becoming even larger.

The fireball grew larger and larger than Yamatai, then absorbed the flames from the ground, incorporating all matter into it.

To everyone, the fireball resembled a mushroom cloud, absorbing everything on the ground before slowly descending and finally merging into Yamatai.

At this moment, Yamatai had become a place where lava flowed, and the ground was covered with magma. The magma rushed to the sea, and then, driven by some force, it abruptly turned a corner at the seashore, before returning to the very center of Yamatai, repeating this cycle repeatedly.

[Remnants of a Breeding Ground: The remnants of a breeding ground from which demons are born. Capable of hurling chaotic flames that can incinerate everything around them. Demons born of fire reside in the soot, gradually marching towards their demise. This is also the current state of fire and humanity.]

After this change in landform, a colossal creature emerged from the ground.

It has complex horns, and its beard, which has been neglected for countless years, is as tangled as tree roots, resembling a hunched old man dragging a long-handled axe.

The flames from the ground flowed down its body and gathered inside. Its hunched back slowly stretched out, and finally it roared towards the sky.

The scorching beam of light from the old demon king pierced the fireball that had not yet fully merged into Yamatai, and from the position of the greedy one, substantial flames began to flow throughout Yamatai.

The old demon king seemed unsatisfied with this performance, so he stretched his hammer into the sky and shook it, causing countless meteorites to fall and crash into the sea around Yamatai.

The tsunami caused by the meteorite impact surged outwards, but it did not cause any damage to the Resilience; it merely pushed the ship away from Yamatai.

The Resilience began speeding across the sea. This small civilian vessel's ocean speed exceeded that of the hydrofoil. Seeing that the speedometer had reached the bottom, Conrad simply let go of the reins.

Finally, after more than an hour of racing, the Resilience slowly came to a stop in the middle of the sea.

Those who had survived the ordeal breathed a sigh of relief and shared their joy with one another.

However, Jonah shattered this idyllic scene by bringing a chest full of gold coins and antiques into the captain's cabin. Placing the chest before everyone, Jonah explained the origin of these antiques.

"The ship had just stopped, and I was about to go to the kitchen to make something to eat. But there was this box at the kitchen door, with a note for Laura on it..."

The people on the ship gathered around, looking at Jonah and reading the note.

The note read, "Don't forget your promise to Laura regarding her archaeological sponsorship..."

The group looked at each other in dismay. They thought that by getting away from Yamatai, they could escape the demon's control, but they never expected to see the demon urging them to work.

After witnessing the destruction of Yamatai, no one wanted to hide it anymore; they would probably never forget that earth-shattering power.

Captain Conrad set the ship to autopilot, pulled Laura into his arms, and comforted her, saying, "Don't worry, we're with you... We'll help you, after all, we're in this too, right?"

----------

The eruption of Yamatai naturally attracted worldwide attention, as its energy level exceeded the explosive yield of several Jade Castle projects.

This damage was confined to Yamatai; external data was difficult to detect with relevant equipment and could only be analyzed through satellite images.

Therefore, cautious analysts only use limited data to compare with the most representative weapons programs.

Let other countries worry about this; it's something that greedy people do, and it has nothing to do with anyone else.

Ash, who was looking at the satellite images, also put them down. Anyway, it had nothing to do with him. Would I, Ash, the director of the Bureau of Control, do such a thing?

His most important task now is to re-cultivate the egg in his hand. This Titan was born underdeveloped, and because its serome had been repeatedly extracted, the little guy inside was already weak.

Ash moved the egg to Firelink Shrine, using the campfire to provide it with energy, and Ash would release a warm fire once a day to heal the little creature's previous wounds.

[Warm Fire: A wondrous spell of the Accumulators. It can summon a gentle flame that restores health to those it touches. They fear being freed from the shackles of God, and they yearn for family. Perhaps this can be considered a flame of harmony and joy.]

The campfire overlapped with the warm fire, and outsiders could not detect the difference, so no one associated this trick with another person.

After casting her spells for the day, Ash stood up and walked to the entrance of the sacrificial altar. The little creature inside the egg saw Ash's spot and strangely curled up, as if it were afraid of something.

Ash looked at the empty sacrificial site, took a deep breath, and shouted outside, "Chen... Xiao... Yu!!"

As Ash roared, a figure came running like lightning from afar, stopped in front of Ash, and looked at his feet with a bit of embarrassment.

Like a parent's most common tactic, Ash asked slyly, "Are you going to tell me or should I?"

Xiaoyu fidgeted and stared at the ground, as if she could make flowers bloom from it.

Finally, seeing Ash's stern face, Xiaoyu whispered, "I just formed the Dragon Group..."

"So you're going to fight crime with Bob's three kids? If George hadn't called me, I wouldn't have known a new superhero had appeared in New York..."

You have to think about those criminals. They're just robbing or bank robberies; there's no need to use superhuman speed cameras or explosives to stop them. They're still incontinent in prison!

Xiaoyu grinned foolishly at Ash, trying to fool him, but under Ash's serious expression, she gave up and said, "I'll never do that again..."

"Really! There's more!"

"And...and I meant well! I just didn't expect it..."

"I can't believe you blew up a port! Kingpin was developing that place recently, and you blew up his livelihood! If the Onion Knight hadn't shown up, were you planning to beat everyone up and reform them?"

Hearing this, Xiaoyu argued, "But they kept talking about my past criminal history, and they even had a seniority system for choosing a leader!"

"Oh right, right! Look, New York offers jobs to people with criminal backgrounds. They've already reformed! Why would they get beaten up again by a three-foot-tall kid? That seniority system is just for selecting foremen! For these people, their background is just a way to get others to obey orders!"

Ash was truly at her wit's end with Jade; she didn't know how Jackie Chan managed to keep an eye on her. Right around the Firelink Shrine, Jade had already caused chaos for everyone.

Fortunately, she was just a child and mostly meant well, so no one blamed her. Kingpin's port was undergoing renovation and expansion, which saved a lot of demolition costs, but they did have to pay some medical expenses.

Rubbing his head, Ash continued, "Anything else?"

"Anything else? What else did I do?"

Seeing Xiaoyu's thoughtful expression, Ash reminded her, "Snow said you've been eating a lot lately, enough to feed ten people. Tell me, where did you take all that food?"

At this point, Xiaoyu scratched the back of Ash's head and said, "I recently met some friends who have nowhere to live and have to live in the sewers, but they are all good people... uh... good creatures?"

Hearing this, Ash was truly devastated. What kind of monsters and demons roamed the New York sewers? Even the New York police dared not venture in easily, and Xiaoyu was actually making friends there? And they weren't even human?

Forget it, let's just destroy it. Let's leave this epic mission to Jackie Chan.

Ash looked at Xiaoyu with a headache, but finally gave her a chance and said, "This afternoon, I'll call everyone over for a party. You need to apologize to everyone! You can also invite your new friends; I need to see if they're really good people!"

After saying that, Ash was about to leave, but as he entered the room, he seemed to remember something and said to Xiaoyu, "There's one more thing... I sensed spatial fluctuations. Dad and Jackie Chan might arrive today... So, you need to prepare early!"

"Do not!!!!!!"

## Chapter 244: A Chaotic Yet Harmonious Gathering

Leslie, the go-to guy, took care of the party arrangements; all the others needed to do was show up.

Most of the attendees were from Ash's social circle. The writer, the Cassel family, were among the first to arrive, and it's said that Cassel has now proposed to Beckett and has been busy preparing for their wedding.

Kingpin arrived with Onion Knight, the best chef who immediately took over the kitchen, and Kingpin followed him around like a little brother.

Jade, along with Bob's three children and Fleck's two, was earnestly instructing them on how to become proper members of the Dragon Team. Peter Parker, for some reason, had also joined in, taking notes as a potential reserve member of the Dragon Team, ready to answer Jade's questions.

Okay, the Dragon Group has expanded again. Ash took a deep breath, telling herself not to be angry. She would be going back in a month or two; she just needed to bear with it for a short while.

George arrived late with his family, but something was off about Gwen Stacy. Was she a soul fusion? Could she be Spider Gwyn?

The world is getting more and more chaotic!

Ash watched as Peter Parker stood motionless after seeing Gwen, before being kicked in the shin by Jade, who was earnestly teaching him the conditions for joining the Dragon Group, and only then did he react in pain.

Kalim's Irina and Ego also appeared, but they became outsiders, not talking to anyone else, but wandering around the Firelink Shrine.

The assassins didn't show up. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, along with Fire Fox, followed Hillis to complete their Darkmoon Knight training. Meanwhile, the good man John Wick was with his wife.

Wife? Right! Where is my wife? Ash thought about how long it had been since she had seen the Fire Keeper. The Fire Keeper almost never appeared at Firelink Shrine these days, leaving Ash all alone in the empty house.

"Lord Ash..."

As Ash was feeling down, a familiar voice appeared beside her; it was the Fire Keeper, who had appeared after much deliberation.

The Fire Keeper slowly walked over to Ash's side, sat down on the same step as Ash, and rested her head on Ash's shoulder.

This familiar feeling was one of the few quiet moments Ash had. Even though everything outside was now destroyed, as long as the Fire Keeper was by her side, that was enough.

"Lord Ash, could you spare a flame for me? Just a tiny bit, enough to let me see that faint light in the darkness..."

Ash was somewhat taken aback by the Fire Keeper's sudden request. The Fire Keeper now possessed eyes, and with Ash wielding the First Flame, she wouldn't lose her way in the Abyss.

However, Ash naturally granted the Fire Keeper's request, taking out a First Flame, separating it, and handing it to her.

The First Flame was handed to the Fire Keeper, who was also taken aback. In her opinion, all Ash needed to do was separate a little bit of the flame's power; she never expected it to be the First Flame.

"Lord Ashes, thank you for your guidance. May the flame endure forever... I have met a friend in the darkness, and I hope this flame can..."