Kael struck again, faster, stronger. His clawed hand seized Aric's sword arm and flung him across the arena like a ragdoll. Aric hit the obsidian floor hard, pain lancing through his ribs. Blood filled his mouth, metallic and hot.
The crowd roared with savage delight.
Kael stalked forward, fire dripping from his claws. "This is the strength of dragons. You were a fool to stand against me."
Aric staggered to his feet, vision swimming. His sword clattered beside him. His body screamed to stay down, to surrender, but his heart—the bond—refused.
He looked toward Serenya. Their eyes locked. Her golden gaze trembled, fierce and desperate, and in that moment the bond flared.
Fire surged through Aric's veins—not Kael's fire, not dragon fire alone, but theirs. His body glowed faintly, runes etching across his skin like molten tattoos. His sword ignited, not from steel, but from the bond itself.
Kael froze, eyes narrowing. "Impossible."
Aric lifted the burning blade, shoulders straight despite the blood, voice hoarse but steady. "You're wrong, Kael. I'm not fighting as a mortal. I'm fighting as her bond."
With a roar, he charged.
Their blades—steel and claw—clashed, sparks exploding in waves. Kael's strength met Aric's newfound fire, and for the first time, the dragon lord staggered.
The crowd gasped.
Kael snarled, wings unfurling wide. "Then I'll tear that bond apart myself!"
He transformed further, horns curving from his skull, scales cascading across his body. The arena shook as his dragon form surged outward, fire blazing high into the night.
Aric's knees buckled beneath the pressure of it, but he held his sword high. Serenya's fire wove tighter around him, the bond burning brighter than the Courts had ever seen.
The duel had escalated beyond mortal and dragon.
It had become a battle of fate itself.
And as the flames rose higher, only one truth echoed in Aric's mind:
If I fall, I take Kael with me.