Aya threw a punch. The force of it set the air roaring like a dragon, and golden Chi swept into the rushing wind, forming a solid-looking shockwave that blasted toward the pursuing Antikas.

“Now that’s more like it!”

Antikas showed no surprise or panic. As if he’d been ready for this, he charged forward and threw a punch of his own. He used the exact same move as Aya—his Chi erupted, his Chi scales unfurled, and his iron fist first shattered a bolt of lightning falling from the clear sky before meeting Aya’s fist head-on.

The air between their fists was compressed to its limit by the force of their blows, then burst apart, creating a brief vacuum. The impact of the two dragons colliding sent vast amounts of air blasting in every direction, and the vacuum kept expanding.

“Amazing, little Aya can take that punch head-on now. Before, she’d get knocked down if she didn’t dodge.”

Below Tiran, Miss Ruko had been floating in the air with wind magic, without even flapping her wings. When the shockwave from the two fighters’ collision reached her, the sudden gust made her wobble. She quickly beat her wings to steady herself, then let out an impressed sigh.

“Heh heh, of course! If you weren’t strong enough, how could you be worthy of carrying me—mmph!”

The princess proudly folded her arms, then abruptly realized she’d let something slip. She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth and nervously glanced down at Miss Ruko, who she was riding, then at Doris and the little Angel beside her, both of whom were flapping their wings and watching the fight intently.

Had they… not heard that?

Thank goodness.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Tiran turned her attention back to the battle between Aya and her own father.

Neither side gained much ground in that exchange. The moment their strength ran out, they used the last of the shockwave to pull back and open some distance.

“Hah… My hand’s numb.”

Aya casually shook out her right hand. With her left hand, she spread her fingers and instantly conjured more than a dozen explosive fireballs, each the size of a basketball, for cover. Her old man still took them right in the face, and they couldn’t even shake his Chi scales, which had only just been released and were still in a weakened state.

Still, that was to be expected of an adult Golden Dragon.

Aya gave a wry smile and got back into stance.

Charging in without thinking clearly wasn’t going to work after all. She hadn’t seemed to lose out in that clash, but in reality, there was still a small gap between her and her adult-form dad. She’d felt it clearly when their fists met.

Would she have a chance in a magic duel?

Wanting to give it a try, Aya glanced around at her surroundings.

It was cold at this altitude, and the wind was strong. The clouds were fairly dense, which meant there was plenty of moisture. Were the wind and water elements concentrated here?

She drew on her mental power to weave the elements into shape. Green and deep-blue light flickered around her hands, while wild gusts and frost gathered on either side of her body.

“Let’s see how you like this!”

She slammed her hands together in front of her. The restless wind and frost fused into a massive crystal tornado that surged toward Antikas. Its powerful winds and freezing cold cleared a path through the dense, flowing clouds, and in the blink of an eye, it swallowed Antikas in his human form.

Did it work? The thought came to Aya on instinct, then she dismissed it.

As if! This was her dad, after all. Aya couldn’t help laughing at herself.

Clink—

Sure enough, after a clear, crisp chime, the massive tornado that had swallowed Antikas vanished without a trace. All that remained was a clear sky, the clouds around it swept away.

“I forgot you could do that.”

“Guess it’s been a long time since you fought another Golden Dragon, son. You actually thought magic could help you?”

Antikas tapped his head and sighed dismissively.

The Elemental Annihilation Aura—a broken-tier spell that could easily disperse every element and return it to the world around it. It was almost lost to history because its requirements were so demanding.

But Golden Dragons could meet those requirements, since they had mastery over every element. In other words, they could nullify almost every magical attack in existence.

“Oh, right. The requirements for mastering every element…”

Aya froze. As she raised both hands, her lips began moving rapidly, and a broad wash of bright purple light flared behind her once more.

A volley of arrows!

Countless arrows of the same purple light shot straight toward Antikas, dense as a forest and swift as fire.

“Heh. Still haven’t learned your lesson, son? You were stubborn before, but you weren’t this stupid.”

Antikas confidently raised a hand and conjured another Elemental Annihilation Aura. But this time, the glowing arrows within its range didn’t vanish as he’d expected.

“What’s this?”

The first arrow to pass through the aura ignored the physical defense of his Chi scales and pierced the skin of Antikas’s palm—but that was as far as it got. An adult Dragon’s body was still monstrously tough.

Realizing the aura was useless, Antikas put up a defensive spell instead: the Guardian Barrier. A transparent white screen enveloped him, and the arrows clearly weren’t strong enough to get through this time. Countless shafts bounced off and slid away like raindrops striking an umbrella. Aya soon stopped wasting her strength on the ineffective barrage.

“That’s an interesting spell. Is it made entirely of pure energy?”

“Arcane: Arrow Rain.”

Aya clenched her fists, excitement bubbling up inside her. It turned out that stubbornly begging Li to teach her a few spells had been worth it. If she remembered right, this was the first time in all their fights that she’d ever drawn blood from her dad.

For ordinary human mages, this spell’s main advantage was that it had no elemental attribute, so it ignored magic-type weaknesses. But if you already needed affinity with every element just to use it, learning spells from several different elements and switching between them in battle was far more practical. The spell was practically useless by comparison.

But against Dragonkind, who could use the Elemental Annihilation Aura, it was a completely different story.

“Human ingenuity comes in handy after all!”

Aya quickly chanted another, much longer and more complicated incantation. As she finished, she shouted, “You rotten old man! Take this!”

Arcane: Star-Piercing Heavy Lance!

Arcane energy, formed directly from magic power, became a gigantic knight’s lance and shot through the air. You could see it even from the ground.

“Well done, kid! Guess I’ll have to take this seriously!”

Antikas shifted sideways to dodge the heavy lance, but the enormous-looking weapon locked onto him and turned to pursue.

“I’m not done yet! Arcane: Sky Kites!”

Several birds formed from the same purple light blocked Antikas’s escape route. They homed in on him, too.

“Now that’s a bit of a pain… Hey, at least let me finish talking!”

Before Antikas could finish a single sentence, several of the kites exploded around him. That brief moment of hesitation gave the pursuing Star-Piercing Heavy Lance time to catch up. An even more violent explosion swallowed the kites’ fiery flashes, setting off a brilliant burst of fireworks in the sky.

“Huh… What’s that up in the sky?”

“The festival’s tonight. Are they setting off fireworks this early?”

In the small town below, someone noticed the commotion in the sky and scratched their head in confusion.

“Are you an idiot? What kind of fireworks could shoot that high…?”