Even's shield clattered to the ground and vanished as his world was consumed by fire.

No matter that the Mega Flare spell didn't so much as singe him; he felt the flame blistering his skin, felt the pain as it devoured his body. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run, no way to fight - he was exhausted, backed into a corner, no way out and no way back, nothing in the world but that smile -

Even staggered back against the wall with a thin scream. His hands upraised as though to block some incoming blow, frost feathered out where his back struck the stones.