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Chapter 49 - Chapter 49: Ascendant Fury

Seven days cloistered in the mountain monastery had transformed Dunce. Now when he clenched his fist, crackling white energy coalesced into a shimmering dagger – the Life Rockforce Manifestation technique Master Heavenly Saint had beaten into him through dawn-to-dusk drills. The blade hummed with destructive potential, capable of shearing through enchanted steel like parchment. 

A bitter smile touched Dunce's lips. This wasn't the first time he'd wielded such a tool. Back in the slums of Ninuo City, similar knives had kept him alive... by cutting purse strings. Had fate dragged him back to thievery, just with deadlier tools? 

*Crack.* Dunce splintered under massive claws. Holy Evil, now five feet of coiled grey scale and sinew, stretched leathery wings that scattered monastery dust. Twin pools of molten gold blinked awake – dragon eyes piercing the gloom. Seven obsidian spikes crowned its spine, throbbing with latent power. 

Heavenly Saint observed them both, scarred fingers stroking his beard. The boy progressed faster than anticipated. Beneath that lumbering exterior burned fierce intuition. The dragon... it unnerved him. Just days ago hatched from that eerie egg in the Whispering Caves, yet already its shadow swallowed the chamber whole. 

"Cultivate control, boy," the Master rumbled. "Life Rockforceflow Spirit isn't brute force. It's extension of will." 

Sunrise painted the Deathspine Peaks blood-red as Dunce plummeted down the cliff face. Rock became a blur under his calloused soles, the Life Rockforceflow aura cocooning him against razor winds. Above him, Holy Evil shrieked delight, diving in reckless arcs that shredded low-hanging clouds. 

Suddenly, the dragon reared mid-air, wings snapping taut. It crashed onto an outcrop, talons gouging granite as a low hiss escaped its maw. Dunce skidded beside it, yellow energy sword blazing to life. "What is it, Holy Evil?" 

The answer slithered from poisoned ferns. Thirty feet of iridescent blue scales uncoiled, each plate thicker than a knight's shield. Serpent Armoris, ancient terror of the peaks, tasted the air with a forked tongue dripping neurotoxin. Golden slits locked onto Holy Evil – predator recognizing primordial rival. 

Dunce moved first. His spirit-blade struck like lightning, shearing through armored hide. Blue ichor sprayed where steel-sharp scales parted. Serpent Armoris screamed, a sound like grinding tombstones. Its spiked tail whipped mountain pines into kindling. 

Holy Evil struck. Not with fang or claw, but with a torrent of soul-corroding Shadowflame. The grey fire met Serpent Armoris's venomous breath in mid-air, dissolving stone where toxins splattered. Dunce gagged as fumes seared his lungs; only sheer Life Rockforceflow pressure purged the death inside him. 

"Focus, Dunce!" Heavenly Saint's voice boomed from the cliffs. "Defense is a shield wall – impenetrable! Attack is a warhammer blow – unstoppable!" 

Nodding, Dunce nocked a spirit-arrow. The Life Rockforceflow Manifestation flared amber as he drew his blacksteel bow. One shot. That's all his power could forge. He aimed between the serpent's eyes where ancient scales thinned. 

Serpent Armoris sensed doom. It reared, sacrificing its tail to intercept the shot. The explosion painted the cliffs in gore, shearing off ten feet of scaled flesh. Mountain stone melted where azure blood splashed. 

Wounded but enraged, the beast lunged at the shrieking dragon. Holy Evil met the charge with wings spread wide, seven obsidian spikes glowing like damned stars. Shadowflame gathered in its gullet – too slow. Serpent Armoris's fangs loomed... 

Until Dunce landed between them. Not with a blade, but with unleashed fury. Life Rockforceflow Spirit detonated from his fists, a shockwave hurling serpentine tons off the ledge. The beast's scream faded as it tumbled into fog-choked oblivion. 

Holy Evil nuzzled Dunce's bloody knuckles, purring thunder. At the cliff's edge, Heavenly Saint watched stone drip where Serpent Armoris's blood fell. "Six months," he murmured. "The boy holds two generations of Life Rockforceflow now. Soon... he won't need daggers." 

High above, Holy Evil's roars shook glaciers loose. Its wings beat with new rhythm – the sky itself bending to draconic will. When those pinions could bear its weight fully? Not even mountains would cage this storm.

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