A mischievous child scooped a ladle of water to pour over a large ant; Wu must feel like that now, and he is the ant.
But what he's facing isn't water, it's endless flames and lava cascading from above.
The lava and flames engulfed Wu's figure, accompanied by intense explosions besides the high temperature.
The ground melted, buildings collapsed, and several nearby streets turned into a sea of fire, with not a single intact building within the red glow.
Natsu wanted to turn back to take a bite, while the others felt as if the flames were right behind them, almost ready to scorch their clothes.
Beads of sweat rolled down Wu's forehead but quickly evaporated. The shield he conjured held up perhaps a second or two longer than the surrounding buildings, then shattered amid the explosions.
"This is... a dragon..."
Wu murmured, his vision filled with red flames, his whole being slammed into the ground by the impact of the dragon's breath.
The exaggerated magic power surged from his body, trying to dispel the flames around him, yet how could he manage?
The immense pressure kept pushing him into the ground, even causing the surrounding streets to sink, with stones, mud, and various materials either melting into lava or simply evaporating.
A huge hole appeared on the ground, penetrating into Nirvana's core. If the base of Nirvana wasn't made of special materials, it would've been pierced and shattered by now.
After a breath of dragon fire, small flames danced at the corners of the Purgatory Sub-Dragon's mouth, puffing out and vanishing like a street fire-breathing performance as he breathed.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon gazed in the direction Wendy and Natsu left, muttering, "Did I just miss something, seemed like there were two dragon whelps? Gosh, wasn't I not so cool upon my entrance?"
He scratched his chin with his front claw, appearing genuinely perplexed.
Suddenly, the Purgatory Sub-Dragon noticed a small fiery figure leaping out of the fiery pit. Just as he was about to commend its fortitude, he saw the figure wave and send a green magic beam towards him.
The magic power, entwined with some flames, spiraled and struck the Purgatory Sub-Dragon's jaw, sparking an explosion.
He flexed his jaw and touched the few shattered dragon scales: "***!"
With a beautifully delivered compliment, the Purgatory Sub-Dragon flapped his wings and dove downwards.
When Wu saw that his most penetrating magic could only shatter a few dragon scales, he had already given up, letting the flames consume him.
Thinking of the Poison Dragon Slayer Mage in his guild, Wu began to doubt if humans could truly surpass dragons.
In the ancient dragon wars, how did humans even get involved? Could a Dragon Slayer Mage achieve that with his level of magic power?
Perhaps today, Wu would really return to 'nothing'.
Boom!!!
A loud noise echoed throughout the city as the Purgatory Sub-Dragon plunged straight downward, rewarding the one who wounded him.
Huge waves were stirred up in the sea of fire, and the ground crumbled inch by inch with explosions, though it was hard to see with the sea of fire covering above.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon raised his head from the sea of fire and roared, like a fiery creature born from flames emitting its wrathful howl.
He suddenly swung his wings and flew along the street's direction towards the edge of the city.
How many seconds does it take for a dragon to cross a city? No one was there to time him.
If someone could see the sight here, they would only see a massive figure rocketing by at low altitude, with continuous explosions ensuing along the street's buildings.
The fire and explosions simultaneously engulfed two adjacent streets, as if someone used a red-inked brush to swiftly draw a fiery red thick line in the center of a circular canvas.
And this line kept spreading to the sides.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon flew sideways, wingtip scraping Nirvana's edge, like a bomber with endless ammunition, crafting a fiery red circular boundary line for the ancient city of Nirvana amid the explosions and flames.
He soared and danced over the city, steadily plunging it into a sea of fire.
Auto-repair? Such scale, such rapid damage, had long exhausted Nirvana's magic supply, significantly reducing the pace and frequency of its strides.
Hibiki's countdown for everyone reached its end, explosions echoed simultaneously at the roots of Nirvana's six legs, halting its advance completely.
Everyone dashed out of the chamber, some carried by Beaked Birds, others with cats, or held by Mira, flying away and evacuating before the sea of fire engulfed them.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon watched the little figures leave, and grew even more lively in his revelry.
Nirvana continued to tremble, sparks and explosions bursting from above. The massive mobile city rapidly began collapsing.
Numerous fragments, big and small, fell into the forest below, some still carrying flames.
Until a fiery red figure rose into the sky, trailing a long red tail flame as it descended into the center of Nirvana, piercing through the buildings and the base directly.
Nirvana began its final collapse.
The six long, fiery legs fractured and fell, the city's main body splitting into irregular sections and crashing downwards.
Those who had retreated to the distance gathered together, witnessing the burning city's collapse igniting the nearby forest and causing intense ground tremors around them.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon roared loudly, its figure vanishing into the air. Rhode roughly understood the meaning behind this roar—"Splendid! Brothers, call on me whenever this happens again!"
"We did it!" The happiest ones present were Wendy and Carla.