"Is that so... figures. Humans fear death and pain; refusing isn’t strange. Then, I hope you can stomach what’s coming."

The Black Dragon tossed out the line like a blade catching sunlight, cool and cruel. He snapped his fingers. Black mist unfurled like spilled ink.

"Eternal Night!"

He spoke the tangled tongue of dragons. Daylight folded shut like a book; darkness draped the sky like a mourning veil. His face stayed calm as stone. Alicia’s eyes widened like a lantern flare.

"Hey, hey—this a joke? Changing the weather—that’s high-tier Elder Dragon stuff. What did I piss off?"

Cold fear crawled up from her gut like ice water, then froze behind her eyes. Elder Dragons were bad enough. A high-tier one? That was a death notice.

Even so, Alicia leveled the Demonblade, the steel a thin horizon in her shaking hands.

"Twice in a month... I’ll be useless for a long while after this," she said, the words hollow as wind through ruins. She let blood fall on the blade. "Blood Seal Release—Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

Blood lit the steel, but the glow was dim, like embers under ash.

The Black Dragon sniffed, a hunter catching a trail on a winter night. That scent. It bled from the Demonblade like smoke.

So. His friend.

He sighed, the sound heavy as rain on old eaves. "Seems that old bastard really died. I kept hoping it was a lie. Forget it. Go die."

His wings boomed once and he rose. His jaws opened. Black light pooled in his mouth like a newborn star, a seed of ruin.

"Destruction Deathbeam!"

A black pillar roared for Alicia, fast as a lightning strike, far quicker than Ling’s Magic Cannon. She hadn’t even registered the shot before it filled her world.

Training moved where thought froze. She threw the Demonblade crosswise before her chest. Fire-dragon mana surged along the edge like a scarlet river. The annihilating beam met that torrent; the two forces snarled and locked like storm and tide. Alicia shoved the blade forward with a cry. The beam split like a cracked mountain. She lived. Her hands trembled so hard she nearly dropped the blade.

A flicker of surprise and respect passed through the Black Dragon’s eyes, a brief glint like moonlight on mail. "Human. Not bad. You even took my Destruction Deathbeam. I’ll praise you a little. Seems you’re not only leaning on my friend’s power. You’ve got some skill. Then... try to amuse me."

His wings snapped. He lunged, a thunderhead streaking low.

Alicia stared at the mass bearing down on her, more tons than she could count. She couldn’t stop that avalanche. She could only get out from under it.

Broken buildings hunched around her like a jagged forest, cover and burrow both. Good enough.

She leaped hard and dove into the ruins. Dragon-train—no, the Black Dragon—corrected in an instant and veered after her like a hawk.

Sight failed him in the rubble’s maze, so he hunted by scent, his eyes blind behind the stone thicket.

Alicia slipped through the wreckage like a shadow between trees. The Black Dragon chased like a stormfront, smashing ruin after ruin, rubble blossoming behind him.

Her mind raced like a spinning wheel, shredding and sifting plans.

"Headquarters, in three seconds, fire an Ancient-class capture round. Ten meters ahead of me. Targeting an Elder Dragon. And don’t use thermal thrusters!"

She chose the plan with a ninety percent success rate, a stake thrown into a raging river.

Three seconds later, the capture round arrived like a falling star. Alicia cleared the mark with an easy bound. The instant the Black Dragon swept over her old spot, the round triggered. A giant blue net snapped open like a lightning-woven sail. The Black Dragon was caught in a blink.

Alicia stopped and looked back. Their gazes met through dust like two knives in fog. She saw no shock there—only a playfulness sharp as a wolf’s grin.

"Human, is this the mysterious weapon my kin brag about? Not bad. The net suppresses the mana of us Ancients, and there’s a strange draught that hampers the Dragonfolk. Hm. Humanity deserves a prize."

Unease rose in her chest like a tide under the moon. She raised the Demonblade to strike.

"Moser Style. Final Form—Deathline Severance!"

Over two hundred needle-fine strikes flew for the dragon’s fault lines, silver threads stitching death. Her hands, already trembling, went numb after the release, empty as winter branches.

Boom.

The thread-storm shredded nearby walls and kicked up a smoke cloud like a sandstorm.

Alicia’s heart sank like a stone in deep water. If Deathlines hit, the world stayed quiet. Collateral meant only one thing.

Just as she feared, his voice came from the smoke, lazy as a cat in sun.

"Human, clever. But you lost for one reason. Your opponent is me—Husky! I’m not only an Elder Dragon. I carry Daemon blood."

The capture round had one flaw, sharp as a thorn in silk. It worked only when the target fit the lock. Faced with a non-targeted power, that net was flimsier than paper in rain.

The smoke thinned. The Black Dragon was gone—or rather, he had changed.

A man stood there, about two and a half meters tall. Bare-chested, muscles like forged iron. Scales armored his legs like midnight mail. Two pairs of wings unfurled behind him—one Daemon-black, one dragon-broad. Long black hair framed red eyes, a furnace glow in a winter face.

Alicia’s fear finally bloomed, full and black as a night flower. Before, she’d feared and fought. Now, before this human-draped dragon, resistance shrank like a candle in wind.

He flexed his fists, and spoke to the empty air like a man testing an echo. "Hah. I’m not used to this look. Still, not bad. I’m pretty satisfied. Don’t be fooled. I’ve never tried this form before. I need time to get used to it."

Alicia stared and fought the urge to kneel. Her index finger trembled to the hidden earpiece.

"Initiate Alpha—"

Before she could finish, his pressure rolled out like a falling mountain. Her arms wouldn’t rise past her shoulders. Her grip faded like heat from a cooling blade. The Demonblade slipped.

Clang.

The sound rang in the hush like a bell in a temple. It pulled his attention back like a fish on a line.

"Oh? Forgot I had a guest. What’s this—dropped your blade?"

He stepped up and picked up the Demonblade, weighing it like a jeweler’s loupe. "I won’t lie. Your human craft isn’t a joke. Quite good. I can feel the heart beating in it. My friend’s scent is strong too."

He set the Demonblade back toward Alicia’s hands. She reached, nerves twanging like drawn wire.

Before she touched steel, a black-scaled fist cut for her face with a howl of air.

Alicia shut her eyes. Death stood close as frost on skin.

So this is as far as I go? I hope they avenge me. I hope the Empire endures. I hope...

A thousand images flared like fireflies in her mind. The last was Ling’s smile, warm as spring sunlight.