The Winter Warlock's hand trembled on her staff.
Beneath the distant roar of the crowd, she spoke before she could stop herself. "He's going to kill him," she breathed. The quiet words felt heavy and cold.
Her eyes snapped sideways, scanning the others seated with her.
The Dragon God sat forward with his elbows on his knees. His gaze was pinned to the battlefield, his face a mask of stone. He was just waiting. Behind those timeless eyes, he had already seen the outcome.
Burdado, on the other hand, lounged like a man watching a festival show. His grin had not shifted since the start. It was a wide, lazy, dangerous grin. A golden eagle tattoo rippled on his skin with every amused chuckle that rumbled in his chest.
The Astral Sovereign also smiled, but hers was different. It was a thin, knowing curve, as if she were reading the final page of a book everyone else had just opened.
The Winter Warlock's jaw clenched.
Then the Astral Sovereign moved. She gave a small shake of her head, just once. Her mouth formed silent words. The Winter Warlock felt their meaning as if a spell had been hammered into her mind.
Scourge Rite.
Nothing we can do.
Her fingers curled tighter around her staff. A storm of power itched at her fingertips, but she held still. The Sovereign was right.
Down in the arena, where the real storm was gathering, there was only one path forward: fight, or fall.
A moment later, it hit. A crushing power slammed into the arena like a black, silent wave. It was heavy enough to steal the breath from a thousand lungs at once. The very air seemed to buckle and warp. The announcer did not even scream; he simply dropped where he stood, like a puppet with its strings cut.
The audience froze.
In the sudden pressure, Leo's ears caught a pair of soft, broken meows. He turned to see both cats fighting to stay awake, their small bodies flickering like weak candlelight.
Ai! Leo barked in his mind, panic in his thoughts.
She answered, but her voice shattered, glitching like an old radio.
"The Dragon… Lord has used Tyrant's... Authority..."
Leo gritted his teeth as the weight pressed down harder, like phantom hands clawing at his spine.
Ai's voice stuttered again, broken by static. "Ability... collapses weak foes... suffocates... strong ones... vision darkens, muscles... seize..." A crackle twisted her shape.
"It... can also... unsummon... entities... like... us..."
Then, silence.
Both Ai and the cats blinked out of existence. They were shredded into motes of dust by a blade no one could see.
Leo's hand flexed at his side. His fist clenched tighter and tighter as a slow, burning breath ripped into his lungs. The world around him blurred under the Tyrant's Authority. The ground was full of cracks. Even the light seemed to lean away from the Dragon Lord, warped like heat haze over a battlefield.
The Dragon Lord sneered. "You pushed your luck too far."
He took one step forward and vanished. The space where he stood collapsed in on itself.
There was no time to flinch, no moment to think. The Dragon Lord reappeared right in front of Leo like a falling star. The attack was instant. Brutal.
Both blades slammed into Leo's chest with a wet, heavy sound of steel tearing through flesh.
Leo staggered. A rough cough tore from his lips, spraying hot blood across the arena floor. His knees buckled, and his sword slipped from his trembling fingers. The light in his eyes began to fade.
Outside the ring, Amanda shot to her feet. Her scream ripped through the crowd, a raw, shattering sound of pure pain. Talia grabbed her by the arm, and Elois by the waist, holding her back with everything they had. But Amanda thrashed, wild and frantic, her voice cracking as she screamed Leo's name.
A cold feeling rippled through the stands. This was not a rite anymore. It was an execution.
Leo's body jerked. The flesh around the Dragon Lord's blades, still buried deep in his chest, began to burn. A cruel heat burned him from the inside.
Was this it?
His mind wobbled between the burning pain and the cold emptiness beyond.
Second day of being an adventurer, he thought.
A short, broken chuckle rattled in his ruined throat. The blood running down his chin felt hot and angry. The world's sounds thinned into static.
Until, from somewhere deep, deeper than flesh or bone, a voice whispered.
Not yet.
Leo's eyes fluttered, but his strength drained away.
Another helper in my mind?
Too bad I'm about to die...
The Dragon Lord leaned in close, twisting the jagged blades deeper into Leo's chest. He hissed into Leo's ear, his breath hot and foul, "Thank you. For Amanda. I'll make sure every inch of her...is used. Day in and day out."
A wicked chuckle vibrated against Leo's dying heartbeat. The Winter Warlock's face twitched. She wanted to look away but forced herself to watch.
The world went black, and Leo's legs gave way.
Darkness yawned open to swallow him whole.
But then, from somewhere beyond the black, a voice hit like a war drum.
Wake up usurper!
A pulse, then a roar.
It felt like a punch to his soul. Blood caught fire in his veins, running hotter and faster than before. Power, fierce and new, coiled in the pit of his stomach.
Leo's fingers twitched.
Slowly, his hands rose. It was an impossible strength. He grabbed the blades still stuck in his chest. He gripped them, and fine cracks weaved across the steel. The Dragon Lord yanked, but Leo did not let go.
Something ancient howled awake inside him.
Above Leo's head, the air warped and shimmered, forming a blazing, golden crown that pulsed with a soft light. At the same time, a flowing cape of see-through cloth unfurled from his shoulders. It moved and breathed like a living thing, shimmering with the light of a thousand distant stars.
The Dragon Lord froze. His boots carved into the stone as a strange feeling of respect fought with his rage. An old instinct screamed at him to bow or run.
Outside the ring, Amanda's frantic struggles stopped. The terror washed from her face. It was replaced by a surge of strength that left her fearless and full of energy. Her eyes focused on the glowing, powerful man he had become.
His eyes opened. His dark pupils were gone. In their place, a furious emerald green burned like a raging sun.
His body straightened, and he took a single step forward. A glowing symbol burned briefly on the ground before fading, a mark of the godlike power now in his body.
Leo's voice came out low, strange, and endless.
"Let's finish this, shall we?"
With a deafening crack, the blades in his chest shattered. The pieces scattered across the arena floor.
Without warning, his power exploded outward. It was a sudden, strange surge that cracked the air. The Astral Arena screamed, folding around him as if it could not contain the force tearing loose from his body. The symbols at the arena's edge sputtered, then flared in a blinding green light. People in the crowd flinched back.
Up in the royal balcony, the Dragon God rose to his feet. The movement was slow, as if gravity had suddenly doubled its hold on him alone. His hand brushed over his right shoulder, where he had a deep scar. His fingers moved slowly over the healed flesh that still remembered the wound. He stared down at Leo. For the first time, his expression cracked. It showed curiosity, disbelief, and a sliver of something colder underneath.
Amanda watched with wide, wet eyes. Her mouth opened as a sound slipped out.
"Aether's Aspect..."
Her voice was barely a whisper, not meant for anyone but herself. Yet it carried across the stunned silence with perfect clarity.
The Dragon God heard it. His head snapped toward her. Their eyes locked. They shared the same disbelief and confusion, like two people watching a ghost claw its way back into the world.
Down in the arena, the Dragon Lord bellowed. The sound was like giant rocks grinding together. He threw himself backward, his boots carving trenches in the stone. A thick, crimson light coiled around him, tight and violent.
Crack!
Crimson wings burst from his back. The wings did not appear gracefully. Their bursting was brutal, as if something inside him had been torn open to make way. The leathery wings beat once, sending a ripple through the dusty air. At the same time, his shattered blades reformed. Liquid metal knitted itself back together until the blades gleamed once again in his hands, hot and heavy.
His grin returned, wider and wilder than before. A madness now burned in his eyes. Roaring, the Dragon Lord blurred into a streak of crimson. He crashed forward, a meteor aiming straight for Leo.