The chaos of the forced mutation had vanished, replaced by a charged, terrifying stillness. The basin, still scorched and steaming, now radiated a stable, immense power. The former Challenger Ignarok, now ascended to Tier V: Soul Sentinel, stood at the edge of the cooling magma pool. Its body, forged anew in Magma-Infused Adamantine, pulsed with an internal fire that was no longer frantic, but controlled, strategic, and absolute.
Its head, crowned with burning red crystals, tilted towards Sebastian. The action was one of deep, draconic gratitude, a profound acknowledgment of the human who had engineered its evolution. Yet, in the intelligent depths of its fiery eyes, there was an unshakeable question, a demand for the final act of the pact: permission to claim its victory and erase its humiliation.
Sebastian, despite the overwhelming aura of a newly awakened Tier V monster, remained utterly composed. He simply met the dragon's gaze with a steady, confident nod.
"Go," Sebastian said, his voice carrying surprising authority over the seismic hum of the volcano. "You have earned your ascendancy. Go and claim the dominance you risked everything to achieve. Do not challenge his strength; dismantle his strategy."
The Ignarok—now fundamentally a creature of higher intellect—let out a deep, resonant rumble of understanding. It did not need further instruction. With a final, focused breath that manifested as a pure wave of elemental heat, the dragon turned. Its massive, powerful limbs carried it up the side of the basin, moving with a speed and efficiency that its old body could never have managed. The fight was no longer a matter of brute force; it was a matter of destiny.
The journey back to the Dominant Male's territory was swift. The ascended Ignarok's movements were fluid, its new Igneous Heart allowing it to traverse the treacherous volcanic landscape with ease. Sebastian and Kael followed at a tactical distance, protected by a reinforced barrier maintained by Kael's Duskmane and Sebastian's Gale Shield Cicada.
They reached the crest of the ridge overlooking the Dominant Male's lava river territory. The older dragon was still there, resting heavily near the molten flow, its body radiating a steady, but depleted, heat. It was recovering from the earlier battle, complacent in the knowledge that its rival was defeated and banished.
The Dominant Male was instantly alerted by the arrival of the massive, new presence. It rose slowly, its old, familiar obsidian scales dull in comparison to the searing, metallic crimson of its approaching rival. The Dominant Male let out a furious, territorial roar, the sound filled with the threat of the Volcanic Eruption it was prepared to unleash.
But the Ascended Ignarok did not roar back. It stopped a calculated distance away, its entire posture radiating a controlled, focused contempt. It simply let the Dominant Male feel the overwhelming, undeniable power of its new Rune Power Level: 1,854.
The Dominant Male, for all its brute strength, was a creature of instinct. It sensed the gap, the sudden, impossible chasm of power that now separated them. Confusion flickered in its eyes, quickly replaced by pure, desperate rage.
Knowing its armor was its greatest asset, the Dominant Male immediately focused its remaining mana and activated its signature defense: Obsidian Armor. Its scales hardened, turning into the near-impenetrable volcanic glass.
The Ascended Ignarok observed the familiar defense. Its new Cinder-Mind Supremacy allowed it to instantly analyze the ability: a 60% damage reduction for five minutes, effective against brute force.
It didn't charge. Instead, the Ascended Ignarok unleashed its first new ability: Volcanic Singularity.
With a controlled, precise maneuver of its Fused Igneous Heart, the Ascended Ignarok didn't attack the dragon, but the ground beneath it. It focused its entire power, not outward, but downward, manipulating the deep earth and fire mana of the core. The obsidian ground beneath the Dominant Male turned liquid white, instantly vaporizing the stone.
Before the older dragon could react, the singularity pulled the ground into a tight, incredibly dense pocket of concentrated heat and gravity. The Dominant Male found its legs suddenly trapped, sinking into the newly-formed, hyper-heated pit. The localized energy field completely destabilized the external mana required to maintain the Obsidian Armor.
The armor cracked instantly, not from impact, but from mana starvation. The Tier IV defense shattered, leaving the older dragon exposed and immobilized.
Enraged and now vulnerable, the Dominant Male struggled violently, pulling its massive legs free from the molten pit. It roared and attempted its most powerful offensive maneuver: the Volcanic Eruption, channeling magma through its body for a devastating area-of-effect explosion.
This was the attack that had won the previous duel. The Ascended Ignarok was ready.
Instead of retreating, it charged, a crimson blur of speed that defied its massive size. But its charge was not an Inferno Charge. It was a tactical, disruptive maneuver. As it covered the distance, it activated its new defensive ability: Adamantine Fortification. Its new scales pulsed, becoming harder than any volcanic glass, granting it instantaneous, near-perfect physical defense.
It slammed into the charging Dominant Male, not to inflict damage, but to interrupt the internal mana channeling. The collision was a seismic event, but the Ascended Ignarok felt nothing but a powerful jolt.
The disruption was total. The Dominant Male's Volcanic Eruption failed catastrophically. The pent-up, violently channeled energy, unable to be released outwardly, erupted internally. The older dragon's hide flared, and an uncontrolled, chaotic burst of fire mana ripped through its own system, sending it reeling backward, scorched and critically wounded by its own failed attack.
The battle was over. The Dominant Male lay defeated, its immense strength betrayed by its lack of strategic control. It struggled to rise, but its core was too depleted, its will too shattered. It looked up at the towering, magnificent form of its opponent.
The Ascended Ignarok stood over the defeated dragon, its crystalline spines burning with triumphant fire. It placed one massive, newly forged claw—composed of glowing, controlled fire-adamantine—onto the Dominant Male's chest.
It did not inflict a death blow. Instead, the Ascended Ignarok unleashed a focused pulse of its Tier V aura, a wave of absolute, mental authority that washed over the defeated dragon. It was the final, non-verbal communication of its new status: You are no longer the Alpha. I am the Soul Sentinel.
The Dominant Male, recognizing the magnitude of the new power, its instinct for survival overriding its primal aggression, slowly bowed its head in submission. The reign of the old tyrant was over.
The Ascended Ignarok lifted its claw, its final task complete. It spared a single, victorious glance at the retreating form of its former rival—now a defeated beta seeking new, subservient territory—and then turned back to the ridge where Sebastian waited.
It descended the slopes with the stately, powerful gait of a true emperor. It was magnificent, a creature of myth made real, its massive body exuding a power that demanded respect from every fiber of Sebastian's being.
When the Ignarok reached Sebastian, it did not stop. It lowered its immense, crested head until its fiery eyes were level with the small human. The gaze was direct, intelligent, and filled with a profound depth of respect that went far beyond mere strength.
The pact is fulfilled, the Ignarok projected, its thought resonating in Sebastian's mind with the deep, rumbling force of a seismic event. The humiliation is purged. The power is claimed. I have received what I craved, and now, I am yours to command.
Sebastian, feeling the overwhelming weight of the Tier V: Soul Sentinel's trust and power, reached out a steady hand and rested it gently on the dragon's Magma-Infused Adamantine snout.
"Welcome to the family, Ignarok," Sebastian said, his voice quiet but firm. "The world outside this island awaits the display of your true mastery."
He brought out a new, empty Beast-Ring. The bonding process this time was not an experiment, but a formality—a mutual agreement between two minds of supreme strategic intent. The golden aura of the ring enveloped the Ignarok. With a silent, majestic acceptance, the dragon's colossal form dissolved into the ring, becoming the third Tier V creature in Sebastian's possession—a prize of unimaginable value, won not by fighting, but by a strategic understanding of evolution itself.
Sebastian turned to Kael, the exhausted but victorious companion. "The second target is secured, Kael. And with it, the final, crucial step of our plan. We have two Tier IV Arcane Protectors, and three Tier V Soul Sentinels. The true trial has only just begun."