She looked down. And Wiskeria saw Belavierr’s lips move. She saw, but it took her minutes to understand. And when she did, her eyes did fill with tears.

“Oh.”

Belavierr was trying to smile. But she had forgotten how. Wiskeria’s eyes ran, and wetness trickled down her cheeks. Belavierr’s smile vanished. She reached down.

It makes me wonder just how ancient she is. Just what kind of life she’s lived.

“No, Daughter. You ask for more than I can give.”

“But why—”

“Because I would fight for you, Daughter. I would take lives for you. I would use my magic. Defend. Protect. Seek what you desire. But you ask me to change my craft. To change who I am. If I did so, I would not be Belavierr. I would not be your mother.”

And so they are at an impass, but I still disagree with Belavierr. Her craft may be part of her, but her craft is to hurt people.

And he burned. The air ignited. The area around Ser Raim turned to flame. The metal needles melted before they touched him. The [Summer Knight] walked forwards. His steps lit a trail of fire. His armor burned with it. For twenty feet, fire burned. And it walked with him as he advanced on Belavierr.

This reminds me a lot of the effect of the Heartflame Breastplate, and it is known that certain spells have very similar effects to certain skills. A hint at the nature of the Breastplate’s enchantment maybe?

“[My Life, be Thou My Fire].”

It is very rare for a non-immortal to have coloured text. This Knight must be incredibly powerful.

Not really. Even in modern society, domestic violence is a major issue. And realistically, it rarely gets punished. There would be a lot of people that would be all for Hedag’s justice. Give the wife and child beaters what they deserve – and then send them through the normal justice system so they can’t do it again.

I don’t believe Belavierr actually ended up agreeing to that, because that wasn’t what Wiskeria actually wanted.

Wiskeria conflated using her stitch magic with her stealing of life, when they were two separate things. Belavierr could probably have used other forms of magic and whatnot in the meantime, but she would still be making deals to take life from people.

Once Wiskeria actually came out and said she wanted her to give up her craft, the whole deal was off.

I think you are possibly looking at the two skills incorrectly, especially the red skill.

The first seems to use his life as fuel for strong flames. Probably an ongoing life drain for as long as he keeps the skill in use. So, how much of his life he expense will depend entirely on how long he is fighting for. Useful, but certainly costly, especially since we have no idea how much life it actually drains. Sure, him paying a few years of life in order to survive and defeat an opponent could be a good trade, but if he’s burning like a year every few minutes, he wouldn’t be able to use it all that often. It’s also possible it has a set cost and duration, regardless of how long he actually has to use it. Either way, it’s a trump card, just like many high level skills, but this one has a downside as well.

The red skill, though. That seems like it’s an all-or-nothing skill. He uses it, and it gives him a lot of power, enough that he can punch way above his level. But he’s likely not walking away afterwards. Or, if he does still live, he’ll be a broken remnant of what he was before. Red skills seem to have massively detrimental effects, and this should be no different.

Neither skill guarantees he will be able to kill Belavierr. And, given their likely level disparity, I’d say it’s probably only giving him a low to middling chance of doing so. Without those skills, though, he’d probably have no chance whatsoever.

Ryoka had hated talking about anything from her world, especially possibly inventions. -> especially possible inventions.

Blood was tricking from Ryoka’s mouth. -> trickling

Hedag’s sounded like thunder still, rolling and distant. -> Hedag’s voice/words/warning (maybe?)

And the others [Witches] may have understood -> other [Witches]