"Ye really don't!" Castor yells in reply, her fists slamming into the nail again and again, "It's helpin' 'im focus his aether! Too much and there'll be nothin' left of us!"

After a few seconds of sustained fire by all five attackers, something in the nail suddenly gives. The structure shatters, the aether that made it up dispersing before rubble hits the ground. Castor immediately and desperately looks at Shiro. She opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by another angry roar from the bestial primal.

Ifrit, enraged, leaps away from Camilla to land in the centre of the arena. "Thy souls shall burn for eternity!"

Fire begins to coalesce around the beast, growing larger and brighter and hotter by the second. Ifrit is pulled into the air, glowing with power and rage and with a final bellow, it all erupts. The arena is flooded with Ifrit's searing hellfire; it's too bright to see, to hot to breathe. The aether burns.

It's a wonder anyone survived this in the first place.

BUt just when the heat and light is becoming unbearable...cool air touches your skin. Ash and sand no longer chokes your every breath. It's dark and quiet.

But don't worry. You're not dead.

Looking up again, the dim beauty of the Dream Width greets you once again. Castor just breathes.

"Sorry 'bout all that..."