Compared to the bloody and brutal fighting style of the Rathian, battles between Rathalos were all about speed and passion, technique and danger.
Fighting in the sky offered a wide field of vision and allowed a Rathalos to fully display the advantages of its powerful and agile wings.
With no obstacles in the air and plenty of space to accelerate, boosted by high-speed flight, claws, tail spikes, and biting attacks all became extremely lethal weapons.
As a result, although their battles did not involve the kind of close grappling seen between Rathian, the danger was even greater.
A single mistake could mean severe injury.
For Rathalos, fights were often decided in an instant.
Of course, that was under normal circumstances.
Kael's battle was anything but normal.
There was no heart-pounding burst of aerial acceleration, no butterfly-like close-range weaving and biting.
Instead, it was mostly chasing and fleeing, or near-misses like two bulls teasing each other as they passed.
There was no helping it.
Kael was only half his opponent's size.
Even with the Powerhouse trait, he was still at a huge disadvantage in raw strength.
And even if he weren't, he couldn't fight like a normal Rathalos anyway.
His claws were barely half as long as the other's.
If they went head-on, the opponent's claws would already be slapping his face while he still couldn't reach.
So in this fight, brute force was useless.
Only speed—and his unique abilities—mattered.
Another near pass.
This time, the Rathalos had grasped Kael's rhythm.
Unlike before, it didn't lose control and fly off.
Instead, it adjusted instantly.
The membranes of its wings warped under the intense wind pressure as it forcibly twisted its body, opening its fanged jaws and snapping straight at Kael's wing.
Confidence filled its eyes.
It believed this sudden change would catch this inexperienced juvenile completely off guard.
"Die!"
In its mind, it already saw Kael's wing membrane torn apart, blood spraying as he plummeted helplessly.
Swish!
"Naive."
As if he had foreseen it, Kael pulled back his right wing early.
Not only did the bite miss, but his body spun smoothly, and his flame-wrapped tail slammed into the opponent's face, knocking its head aside.
Before the Rathalos could recover, Kael dropped sharply, flapped his wings, and widened the distance again.
The tail strike was like a child punching an adult with all their strength.
It stung a little, but caused no real damage.
Physically, it was nothing.
Mentally, it was devastating.
Its confident counterattack had failed—and it had been slapped in the face instead.
Do you know how humiliating that was for an adult Rathalos?
Its entire body tensed.
Every muscle went rigid.
Enough.
No more playing house.
It would crush this brat in the fastest, fiercest, most vicious way possible.
"Huh? Where did that fire come from?"
A burning sensation spread across its cheek.
A flicker of flame forced it to shut one eye.
Orange-red fire had ignited on the right side of its face.
No matter how violently it shook its head, the flames clung like leeches.
Rathalos had high fire resistance, and its eyes were protected by a special membrane.
But just like humans blinking when startled, the flames kept flickering near its eyes, forcing it to close them again and again.
For a creature that relied heavily on vision, this was extremely uncomfortable.
It created blind spots.
And it disrupted its rhythm.
The Flame Body trait didn't just give Kael incredible fire resistance and wrap his body in flames.
It had also altered his poison glands.
His toxins became highly adhesive, long-lasting, and flammable.
Once exposed to air, even slight heat could ignite them, creating a persistent burning effect on enemies.
Under this burning effect, the Rathalos developed blind spots.
It could no longer launch precise, continuous attacks.
This gave Kael time to breathe.
And more importantly, time to accelerate.
It also created perfect openings.
Enduring the discomfort, the Rathalos forced its eyes open and roared as it charged.
Kael wasn't in a hurry.
He turned and fled.
When he couldn't outrun it, he relied on his Mind's Eye trait to predict attacks in advance, dodged, and kept kiting.
During this, the Rathalos finally lost patience and spat several fireballs.
These uncharged fireballs were slow.
With Kael's speed, dodging them should have been easy.
It was only trying to restrict his movement.
Yet—
One hit.
The fireball exploded against Kael's back, kicking up thick smoke.
The Rathalos let out an excited roar and rushed forward.
Its fire resistance was high, but that didn't mean it was immune.
And fireballs exploded, further amplifying their power.
At the very least, that blast should throw Kael off balance.
This was its chance.
Closer.
Closer.
With every flap, powerful air pressure pushed it forward at high speed.
Suddenly—
From within the smoke, a figure wrapped in flames burst out.
Kael traced a graceful arc through the air and shot straight toward his enemy.
The Flash Fire trait allowed him to absorb external flames to strengthen his flame sac, raising his fire temperature.
And higher fire temperature further enhanced his Flame Body.
After absorbing that fireball, his entire body was wrapped in blazing orange-red flames.
From afar, he looked like a dragon-shaped fireball.
Heat rippled around him.
The air itself warped.
His Acceleration trait had pushed his speed to an extreme level.
Speed was power.
With Acceleration, Flame Body, and Powerhouse stacked together, Kael's combat strength now completely surpassed his opponent's.
He was no longer the fragile hatchling from five years ago.
His bones—dense and hard—could now withstand collisions with giant beasts.
In the sky, he resembled a blazing meteor, constantly circling his opponent, searching for weaknesses.
The Rathalos that had once chased him was now hopelessly outmatched in speed.
No matter how it flew, it couldn't shake him off.
It could only defend passively.
At this moment—
The offense and defense had reversed.
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