Ah~ so this is what that sound was.
When his consciousness drifted into chaos, only occasionally regaining a sliver of clarity, Night, in this state, heard a heartbeat clearer than the one he had heard when he first arrived at the center of the square.
The so-called heartbeat of the earth was, in fact, the heartbeat of a dragon.
Now, all his doubts were resolved.
Why had the wolf, a sacred beast statue, collapsed?
Why had the earth pulsed like a heartbeat?
As a dragon born from the will of Carthage's land, how could it tolerate a wolf standing above it?
Similarly—
A proud dragon would never allow any other creature to ride on its back, even if that creature was of its own kind.
*Roar~!!!*
The red dragon soared through the sky, stirring up terrifying gales.
Helena, now fully transformed into a dragon, tried to shake Night off her back.
But his limbs clung to her like claws, refusing to let go.
She could feel that the man on her back was incredibly weak, his breathing almost indistinguishable from a corpse's, his consciousness completely lost.
Yet his body was still fighting!
The flickering flame of his life, like a candle in the wind, refused to be extinguished.
The blue flames in his eyes flickered, revealing the cold gaze of a predator.
*Unfathomable—*
Like the earth and sky, once separated by the gods, now merging back into one, the queen of the sky was bound, no longer free to soar.
Though Night had not transformed into a dragon like her, in Helena's eyes, he was no different from a dragon now!
So strong—!
Strong enough to make one tremble, strong enough to shake one's very will!
'What is the most crucial factor in tipping the scales of victory in a battle between dragons?'
If someone had asked Helena this question in the past, she would have smiled and answered without hesitation—strength!
But now, she wasn't so sure.
After transforming into a dragon, not only was her strength immense, but even her speed, which was once her weakest point, far surpassed his.
Yet, even now, she couldn't shake off the figure stubbornly clinging to her back.
Compared to the red dragon, the rider on her back was incredibly small.
So small that the people on the ground couldn't even see him.
The Roman citizens could only see a crimson figure shining like a path of light across the sky.
Helena flew higher and higher, heading toward the upper layers of the atmosphere.
As she ascended, Night began to suffer from oxygen deprivation, but for him, whose body was now fully engulfed in the blue flames, this disadvantage had little effect.
Each breath was like the turning of the universe, each exhale a reflection of the world's myriad wonders.
Ether, like sparks, surrounded him, replacing oxygen and fueling his parched body to continue fighting.
Like a furnace,
Night's burning form made the red dragon's back feel scalding hot.
This is...
Helena was shocked, when, suddenly, the man moved on her back,
*Bam!*
He pulled his fist out of the dragon's flesh, then, like a dragon's claw, brutally plunged it back in.
*Boom~!!*
A white shockwave erupted in the sky!
The red dragon's body shook violently, letting out a mournful cry.
But the figure on her back remained unmoved.
In the next moment, he clamped his legs around the dragon's back and began to attack wildly with both hands.
*Bam~!!*
*Bam!!!*
Torrents of blood rained down from the azure sky, the scalding dragon blood piercing countless holes in the ground below, where the ruins of Carthage lay.
Countless Roman citizens screamed and began to flee!
The red dragon endured the pain and continued to fly toward the horizon—!
She had a mad plan: to take Night with her as she plummeted from the stratosphere, transforming into a meteor to strike the earth.
With such force, their bodies would ignite from the friction with the atmosphere halfway down.
By then, no matter how strong the man's will, his battered body would be torn to shreds.
Though the result might not be pleasant for Helena, who was already severely injured, and might even lead to her death.
But—
I don't want to lose, I don't want to lose, I absolutely don't want to lose—!
For the first time in her life, a strong sense of unwillingness surged within her.
Ah, so this is what it feels like to be unwilling.
I want to win! I want to keep winning, to continue this exhilarating battle with this man.
By now, she had long forgotten about fate, forgotten about the struggle between the dragon of Carthage and the dragon of Rome, forgotten about the need for revenge against the hero Aeneas.
What nonsense is fate?!
She didn't wait here all these years just to kill someone or to live for someone else.
The gods who trapped her here....
The gods who kept her imprisoned in this lonely, dark world of the dead, unable to leave until the hero Aeneas arrived.
The gods who demanded she avenge her so-called mother,
If it's revenge she seeks—
The enemy she would burn herself to ashes to destroy and kill is none other than the gods themselves!
The decision to fight Night to the death was never about divine prophecy or the commands of the gods.
It was her own heart.
The moment she saw him, she felt the joy of meeting a kindred spirit.
She wanted to fight him—she wanted to clash with him.
As for the reason—?
That's nonsense!!
Do dragons need a reason to fight each other?
When a powerful being encounters another powerful being, every cell in their body rejoices, urging them to fight, to revel, to celebrate.
This was more than enough reason for her.
And so, she extended the invitation to battle and he accepted.
Both of them, with intense joy, immersed themselves in this primal, all-out battle, the first of its kind since their birth.
So weak, yet this comrade, who could have been torn apart with a single strike from her true power, displayed infinite resilience, fighting her to this point and still growing stronger.
To respond to this wholehearted fighting spirit—
How could she lose?
How could she lose here?
Would she have to make excuses, saying she lost to a weaker comrade because her will wasn't strong enough?
That would be an immense shame!
*Boom~!!!*
As the red dragon soared to its highest point, Night, who was now bare-chested and disheveled, raised his head and looked toward the sun on the horizon.
For a moment, his consciousness returned.
As the red dragon turned, with his back to the sun, he looked down at the dragon diving rapidly toward the earth in a suicidal attack and suddenly laughed.
At this moment, his lips curling into a ferocious, manic grin, even more unrestrained than when Helena had revealed her true nature.
The blue flames around him blazed fiercely as he spoke.
"Don't kid yourself!
You damn perverted dragon! The weak should just fall!"
He raised his right fist as if grasping the sun itself.
*Boom!* Crimson lightning began to crackle across Night's body—Mana Burst.
He would squeeze every last bit of his life into the final thirteen seconds, releasing it all just before hitting the ground.
The moment his consciousness returned, his strong combat instincts immediately recognized Helena's plan and formulated a response.
.
.