"Yo, Saya."
Saya turned her head toward the voice.
"Oh, Serena."
"Can't you move, Saya?"
"No…I've exhausted most of my mana, and now the fatigue has caught up with me."
"Ahaha…"
Saya was lying on her back on the ground, while Serena was using her longbow as a walking stick to steady herself.
"Serena, please…go and check on Master. I'm really worried about him."
"Same here…but I still have a healing arrow left. I can use it on you."
"No. Use it on Master. He could be in much greater need."
"Yeah…you're right."
From there, Serena began limping toward where Julius lay, while Solvarin was still locked in his fierce battle against the old man.
Julius was sprawled beside the wounded dragon, breathing shallowly.
"Ah…now that I look at you up close, you were already wounded before they arrived…and they just weakened you even more."
GUAGHH.
The dragon let out a low, pained cry.
"Say, dragon…if you were fully healed, could you defeat Wilhelm?"
A different fire, a quiet determination, lit up in the dragon's eyes.
"Okay. I understand. You really can."
He continued, voice hoarse but resolute.
"Then…it's all on you. Please…defeat him. You are our last hope."
GUAGHH.
The dragon gave a confused rumble, not understanding what Julius was talking about. But as she looked at him—bruised, broken, but still trying—she realized he had been waiting all along…waiting for someone. And that someone had finally arrived.
Julius shouted with every ounce of strength he had left:
"SHOOT THE DRAGON!"
Wilhelm frowned, confused.
"Mr. Koruto…do you want me to kill this dragon before I kill you? You humans really are a heartless race. But I refuse."
At that moment, an arrow streaked past Wilhelm's face—a brilliant, shimmering green arrow.
"Wha—?"
Wilhelm's eyes went wide in shock.
The arrow struck the dragon right in the neck.
Julius forced a ragged smile.
"Good luck…Dragon Empress, Lelena."
The dragon roared so loudly the earth trembled:
GUAGHHHH!!!
Every wound on her colossal body mended in an instant. Flesh knit together, cracked scales healed, her great wings straightened and flexed with renewed strength.
Wilhelm slowly turned his head. Behind him, standing in the wreckage, was the archer maiden—Serena—her bow still glowing with residual energy.
"You bitch! Do you realize what you've done?!"
He spun back to the dragon, but she was no longer on the ground.
She was gone.
Julius, half-conscious, was smiling weakly.
"Wilhelm…a piece of advice…always be aware of the sky."
Wilhelm's eyes snapped upward, and all color drained from his face.
High overhead, the Dragon Empress was suspended in the darkening sky, her wings unfurled so wide they blotted out the last light of the setting sun. Her jaws were open, and a vast sphere of swirling pink energy was gathering in her maw.
A single, deafening roar split the heavens—
GUAGHHHHHH!!!
—and the beam erupted.
Wilhelm didn't waste a single heartbeat.
"Ice Shield!"
He threw both arms up, conjuring an enormous barrier layered with a hundred plates of glacial ice.
The dragon's beam struck.
The impact sounded like the sky itself collapsing.
The first twenty layers shattered instantly.
Wilhelm gritted his teeth, pouring more mana into the shield as each stratum exploded. The roar of annihilation swallowed everything.
When the last layer gave way, Wilhelm flung himself aside with blinding speed. The pink beam slammed into the earth, carving a molten canyon straight through the battlefield.
But he wasn't fast enough.
His left arm caught the edge of the blast.
In an instant, it disintegrated into white ash and blew away on the wind.
Wilhelm crashed to the ground, his body trembling violently. Blood streamed from his mouth and dripped onto the ice at his feet.
He clutched the stump of his arm, breathing raggedly, eyes locked onto the dragon hovering above with a terrible, regal calm.
Wilhelm staggered to his feet, clutching the stump of his severed arm, his pale face smeared with blood. Overhead, Lelena hovered with her wings spread in silent dominion. A low, resonant growl rolled from her throat as pink energy began to gather between her fangs again—thick coils of destructive force swirling like a miniature star.
Gritting his teeth, Wilhelm thrust his good hand forward.
"Ice Barrage!"
Hundreds of razored icicles burst from the air and screamed toward Lelena. She didn't even flinch. With a flick of her colossal wing, the shards shattered into powder against the invisible pressure radiating from her presence.
Wilhelm clenched his jaw, sweat and blood mixing on his face.
"Frost Tomb!"
He slammed his palm onto the ground. A pillar of glacial ice erupted from beneath Lelena, engulfing her in a crystalline prison. The air cracked as the temperature plummeted. For an instant, he dared to think he had stopped her.
Then the ice glowed pink.
A deafening thunderclap tore the pillar apart, shards spiraling away in a blizzard of molten steam. Lelena emerged unscathed, her jaws yawning wide. The pink light inside her maw intensified, searing Wilhelm's eyes.
He stumbled backward, his boots skidding on the frost-slick earth.
"Absolute—"
But he never finished the incantation.
Lelena fired.
A vast torrent of concentrated pink annihilation burst from her mouth and roared across the battlefield. Wilhelm raised his remaining hand, screaming as he conjured every last barrier he knew. Plates of ice, domes of enchanted frost, walls thicker than fortress gates—all melted like paper before the onrushing storm.
His scream dissolved in the roar.
For one terrible moment, Wilhelm's silhouette flickered against the blinding light. Then he was simply gone—erased without trace or remnant.
Lelena exhaled a shuddering gust of heat and folded her wings. The battlefield was silent save for the crackle of vapor rising from the scorched earth where Wilhelm had stood.