The battle in the village had reached its brutal peak. Half the goblins already lay dead. The air rang with the endless CLANG–CLANG! of steel on steel and had grown so thick with acrid, choking smoke from the burning huts that every breath felt like swallowing ash.
Rion and Bren's duel burned hotter than the fires around them. Rion's legs completed their transformation into powerful draconic limbs. The instant his clawed feet touched the ground, a thunderous SHUDD! exploded outward, the earth itself trembling beneath the impact.
He drove a devastating kick into Bren's stomach. Bren crossed his sword with both hands and blocked, but the sheer force hurled him backward. His boots carved two deep furrows through the dirt; dust billowed into the sky.
Bren flashed a thin, defiant smile.
"So you really are a dragon…"
Rion cast a brief glance at Bren's companions, then locked his glowing eyes on Bren once more. When he spoke, a low draconic rumble vibrated beneath his words.
"You're not bad. But you are not nearly enough to defeat me."
Bren shifted his grip, tilting the blade sideways, leaning forward, breath coming in sharp gasps, "Haa… haa…" Yet the fury in his eyes had not dimmed a single degree.
"Dragon or not, you're still just a hatchling. If you were fully grown, one blow might have ended me."
He lunged.
Rion angled his body slightly, ready.
"You entered this fight without victory in your grasp."
Bren attacked low, blade flashing upward toward Rion's throat in a silver arc, "SHUFFF!" almost grazing skin.
Rion planted his left foot forward, right foot back, and twisted sharply. The sword missed by a hair's breadth, "VIZ–ZZZ!"
Inside, Bren smirked: Got you…
But in that same heartbeat, Rion seized Bren's wrist and yanked him forward with terrifying strength. Wind howled around them. Rion hooked his leg behind Bren's, spun him once, and hurled him through the air. Bren could only exhale a strangled "UUFF!" as the pressure wave slammed past him.
He crashed back-first into a crumbling hut, BOOOQ!, wood splintering, dust erupting in a choking cloud. Bren forced himself up almost instantly, teeth gritted.
Rion's lips curved into a cold smile.
"See the difference between us?"
He advanced slowly, each footfall a deliberate TUM… TUM… TUM… that shook the ground. Bren steadied his stance, sword clenched tight.
"You're no ordinary dragon whelp, I'll give you that. But that was a mistake. There won't be a second."
Before the sentence finished, Rion struck.
A descending heel-kick tore downward like a meteor, "VUUUSH!" Bren threw himself aside, but not fast enough. The foot smashed into the earth with a cataclysmic DOOOM!, sending out a shockwave that cracked the soil. Bren's left leg buckled under the pressure wave, CHIR-RRAQ!, bone snapping.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Bren screamed, dropping to one knee, clutching his shattered leg with one hand, sword still gripped in the other. Sweat and dirt streaked down his face.
Rion loomed over him.
"Dodged the killing blow? Then what will you do about the next one?"
He drew back a fist, "SHAAQ!", but suddenly froze mid-swing, eyes flicking sideways.
An arrow slammed into the exact spot where he had stood a heartbeat earlier, "TZZZ–PING!"
Rion slowly lifted his gaze to the archer perched high in the distant tree.
"You truly believe an arrow fired with killing intent can touch me?" A soft, mocking laugh rumbled in his chest.
Inside, he decided: First the swordsman. Then you.
He turned back, only to see Bren's leg already knitting itself together, bones realigning with faint cracks. Rion's eyes widened.
Farther away, Lira's hands glowed as she channeled healing mana, the air humming VRRRR…
Rion charged. Black-tinged flames licked along his claws as they raked toward Bren's throat, "SHAAK!" The strike was inches from landing when Bren's silhouette simply vanished, leaving only a ripple of wind.
Rion's claws sliced empty air. He stumbled forward a step, regained balance, and slowly looked behind him.
Bren stood there, eyes closed, breathing hard, sword held in both hands. A faint mana hum, vrrr—vrrr, pulsed around him.
Rion's brow furrowed.
What was that? Has he always been this fast…? Or is it her doing…?
He glanced at Lira; yellow sparks crackled between her palms.
Bren's blade suddenly ignited with golden mana. The metal lengthened slightly, edge glowing white-hot, slicing the air itself with a deadly hiss.
Rion's expression hardened.
This ends now.
Bren opened his eyes, cold certainty blazing within.
"Ten times sharper when infused with mana," he said with a thin smile. "Come."
He charged. The ground cracked beneath his sprint, dust exploding behind him.
Rion met him head-on.
Bren thrust straight for the heart, "FUUUSH!" Rion raised his claws; black-draconic mana bled from his fingertips, sizzling TSZZZ…
He parried the thrust with a deafening CHLAAANG! Bren twisted the blade, aiming to take Rion's head clean off, but Rion caught the sword by the throat with his bare claw and yanked Bren forward.
The blade sailed harmlessly past. Instead of steel, Bren's own forearm slammed into Rion's neck.
In a flash Rion seized Bren's sword arm at the wrist, clamped his other claw around the man's throat, and hoisted him into the air.
A cruel smile spread across Rion's face.
"Ever wanted to fly?"
Crimson, membrane-winged appendages erupted from his back, radiating searing heat. The air pressure spiked. Rion crouched, then launched skyward with a thunderous VUOOOM!
He hovered above the burning village, holding Bren dangling by the throat.
"Let's see you soar."
He spun Bren twice and hurled him earthward. Wind screamed past: "VUUUUUUF—FUUUM!"
Bren plummeted, eyes wide, unable to even scream.
But the ground itself rippled, SHRRRRR—SHAAA, turning to soft sand an instant before impact. Bren sank into the dune unharmed—Mira's desperate spell.
Lira sprinted over, pressed glowing hands to his throat, and poured healing light into the crushed windpipe. Bren staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his lips, and glared upward.
Voice hoarse but iron-hard, he roared:
"Get down here if you've got the guts!"
Rion's expression soured. An arrow whistled past his ear, "FIUUU—PING!"
He glanced at Kovo atop the tree.
"You're starting to annoy me…"
Crimson wings beat once. Rion dove toward Lira like a crimson comet, each wingbeat sending shockwaves, VUOOF—VUOOF.
Kovo reacted instantly.
"Now or never!"
He loosed arrow after arrow in a black storm, "FIUU! FIUU! FIUUUU!"
Rion twisted through the barrage with inhuman grace, thinking coldly:
Dragons possess senses beyond mortals. Arrows carrying killing intent will never touch me…
Yet the air beside him suddenly roared with heat.
FSSSHHHHH!
A colossal fireball the size of a house hurtled toward him.
Rion's eyes ignited with fury. Black mana condensed around his claws until they shone like obsidian blades.
The fireball was almost upon him.
He snapped sideways, claws flashing, and bellowed:
"DRAGON TALON!"
Five blades of pure black-draconic mana erupted from his fingertips, slashing straight through the inferno.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion dwarfed every blast before it. A mushroom cloud of fire and dust billowed skyward, trees bending from the shockwave alone.
At that exact moment, Noa reached the village outskirts.
The detonation rolled over him like a physical blow, "DOOOOMMMMM—UUUM!"
His heightened senses caught the mana shockwave straight to the heart. A shadow of dread crossed his young face.
He turned to Kovo.
"What is happening in the village?"
Kovo squinted through the smoke, assessing.
"Adventurers… and what looks like a dragon. They're fighting."
Noa's small hand clenched into a fist.
"Who is winning?"
Kargal hesitated, then shrugged grimly.
"The adventurers. A handful of goblins are still alive, but they'll be dead in two minutes. After that, all five humans will turn on the dragon at once. He won't survive."
Something inside Noa cracked.
He scratched his head, exhaling a shuddering breath.
"What can I even do right now? With my current power… nothing. Damn it…"
He bit his finger hard enough to draw blood, not noticing the crimson trickle running down his hand.
But… Rion is the only family I have left. I won't let them kill him.
His heart pounded like war drums.
Blood dripped from his bitten finger onto the dirt.
And in that moment, something ancient and terrible stirred behind his five-year-old
Friends, who do you think will win, Rion or Bren, don't forget to give 100 power stones, 1 bonus chapter