The instant Golden Dragon Lo Quen rose into the air, every gaze on the battlefield was irresistibly drawn skyward.
His golden form, stretching over four hundred feet, stood out starkly against the gloomy, oppressive heavens.
The Ice Dragon looked down coldly with its blue, crystal-like eyes. Faced with this golden dragon radiating searing heat, it seemed far from impressed.
Casually, it opened a maw vast enough to swallow a castle, unleashing a sickly pale stream of icy breath toward Golden Dragon Lo Quen.
Where the breath passed, the air itself nearly froze solid, leaving behind a curtain of silvery-white frost.
Confronted with an attack capable of freezing mountains in an instant, Lo Quen showed no fear. He opened his own jaws, and a torrent of brilliant golden Dragonfire roared forth.
In the next moment, before the breathless eyes of every living being in Moat Cailin, a spectacle perhaps never before seen in the history of Westeros unfolded.
Ultimate heat and ultimate cold, two forces born of absolute opposition, slammed together in midair.
"BOOOOM!!!"
A thunderous explosion rolled across the land.
On one side blazed golden fire so intense it burned white. On the other surged an icy-blue torrent of extreme cold.
At the point where they collided, blinding light erupted, giving birth to a terrifying storm.
Shards of ice and fire blasted outward like a torrential downpour. Superheated steam mixed with razor-cold ice crystals, forming a roiling, ever-expanding cloud of chaos. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed within it, like a true doomsday tempest.
A visible, ring-shaped shockwave burst outward from the collision point, racing in all directions.
The ice-covered ground shattered layer by layer like fragile glass. Countless wights were hurled into the air like dead leaves, torn apart by the violent energy before they could even hit the ground.
Even the powerful Others knights were knocked sprawling by the shockwave. Skeletal warhorses screamed and collapsed, ice spiders staggered backward, and mammoths trembled violently.
The walls of Moat Cailin shook hard, stones raining down in a clatter.
"Get inside the castle!"
Davos shouted himself hoarse.
Clutching his longsword, he urged everyone still on the walls to retreat at once.
Ignoring the wights closing in, soldiers stumbled and scrambled for cover, throwing themselves behind any shelter they could find.
Davos clenched his teeth as he stared at the two colossal figures in the sky, a swirl of indescribable emotions rising in his chest.
As he looked at the golden dragon that Lo Quen had become, the lingering doubts he'd carried since the naval battle at Bloodstone Island years ago finally fell into place.
The golden dragon had never been Lo Quen's mount.
It was Lo Quen himself.
Years ago, in the Narrow Sea, it had been this Eastern King, transformed into a golden dragon, who had annihilated the fleets of the Seven Kingdoms.
...
Elsewhere, Blooddancer and the other dragons sensed the violent turbulence of energy in the air. Gripped by instinctive fear, they let out low growls, rapidly losing altitude and retreating behind the solid towers and fortifications of Moat Cailin, unwilling to take to the skies again.
A battle on this level was far beyond anything they could interfere with.
Meanwhile, the storm of ice and fire in the sky continued to grind against itself, locked in mutual annihilation, until it finally faded away.
Even so, the chaotic air currents it had created lingered for a long time before gradually settling.
The first exchange of breath between the Ice Dragon and Golden Dragon Lo Quen had ended in a stalemate.
That realization made Lo Quen's heart tighten.
The Ice Dragon before him was far stronger than he had expected. The magic contained within its icy breath was vast and pure, no weaker than his own Dragonfire.
If they continued to clash head-on with breath alone, victory would not come quickly, and the drain on his strength would be enormous.
"I have to close the distance and use my advantage!"
The decision was made in an instant.
Using the lingering energy storm as cover, Golden Dragon Lo Quen twisted his massive body sharply. Abandoning the battle of breath, he surged upward, plunging straight into the dense, raging blizzard clouds above.
Inside the clouds, visibility was almost nonexistent, and the wind and snow cut like blades. But for Golden Dragon Lo Quen, whose senses were extraordinarily sharp, it was the perfect concealment.
Seeing its opponent "flee" into the clouds, the Ice Dragon let out a furious, provoked roar.
Its enormous crystalline body looked cumbersome, yet its speed was astonishing. With a powerful beat of its wings, it whipped up an even fiercer storm and plunged straight into the thick cloud layer in pursuit.
Those on the ground could only see bursts of dazzling golden light and ghastly pale blue flashes erupting again and again within the dark clouds, accompanied by dull, thunder-like collisions of dragon roars and violent energy detonations.
The clouds churned as if boiling, as though two ancient titans were locked in a desperate battle to the death within.
Every flash and every deafening boom sent hearts leaping into throats.
"His Grace… can he win?"
A young soldier asked in a trembling voice, his face drained of all color.
"Have faith in His Grace. He is a true dragon!"
Ser Waymar shouted, though the hand gripping his sword hilt was slick with sweat.
Daenerys and the other Queens were just as tense, gazing up at the sky, silently praying in their hearts.
Within the clouds, the battle was ferocious.
The Ice Dragon relied on its massive size and the advantage of its environment, repeatedly unleashing freezing breath, trying to lock Golden Dragon Lo Quen in ice once and for all.
But Golden Dragon Lo Quen was far more agile. He made full use of the mobility and gripping power granted by his four powerful limbs, darting through the roiling clouds, narrowly evading lethal breaths while constantly searching for a chance to close in.
At last, during a brief lull after one of the Ice Dragon's breaths, Lo Quen seized the opening.
He accelerated sharply from the rear flank and slammed into the Ice Dragon's back with brutal force.
"Boom!!!"
A heavy, mountain-shaking impact rang out.
The Ice Dragon roared in pain as its massive body lurched forward, beating its wings wildly to regain balance.
Now!
[Blazing Inferno]!
Lo Quen activated the skill in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, a vast, brilliant golden field of fire erupted outward, centered on his golden dragon form.
The temperature within the domain skyrocketed. Snowflakes and ice crystals vaporized before they could even draw near.
He was like a small sun suspended in midair, radiating endless light and heat.
Caught within this sudden inferno, the Ice Dragon let out a sharp, agonized shriek.
Though its body, forged from ten-thousand-year-old dark ice, possessed tremendous resistance to ordinary flames, under the relentless baking of this high-temperature domain infused with powerful magic, its icy scales began to sizzle, showing faint signs of melting.
The melting was slow, but the damage was unmistakable.
Seeing this, Lo Quen's spirits soared.
He drove his four claws deep into the Ice Dragon's back and wing roots, locking on tightly. No matter how violently the Ice Dragon twisted and thrashed, it could not shake him free.
The golden dragon's four talons bit deep into the Ice Dragon's armor, providing stable leverage. This was an overwhelming advantage that a two-limbed flying dragon structure could never hope to match.
"Look! The clouds are turning red!"
"It's His Grace's power! He's burning that monster!"
Mychel, a knight of the Vale on the walls, shouted excitedly.
Through occasional breaks in the clouds, people could see a blazing mass of golden flame clinging to the Ice Dragon's enormous body, scorching it without mercy.
The Ice Dragon's struggles and roars grew more frantic and more pained by the moment.
The balance of victory was clearly beginning to tilt toward Lo Quen.
"Incredible! His Grace is actually suppressing that Ice Dragon!"
Marlon Manderly cried out in disbelief.
"Four legs really are better than two wings!"
Ser Mychel pumped his fist into the air, his face glowing with excitement and awe.