"Then... go die."

Only children are that cruel, knives wrapped in sugar; in their eyes, life is a toy you toss. Ling’s voice fell like frost on glass. She declared the Azure Dragon’s death, and the Magic Cannon roared from her palm like a thunderhead splitting.

The Azure Dragon bellowed, a mountain’s echo rolling. Mana flooded out like a bursting dam, coating his scales until they glittered like cut diamond.

The cannon struck that gleaming shell with a bell-tower crash. When the beam guttered out, the Azure Dragon still hovered before Ling, unscathed, though his scales dulled like ash over embers.

Only he knew what it cost; fear bit first, sharp as winter. He spun mana like a cyclone to meet the beam, yet a third of his core drained away. A casual shot had driven him to the cliff’s edge, and he could only respect the abyss.

Ling snapped shut the [Script] she’d been leafing through; the sound was a blade kissing a sheath. Her gaze skimmed the azure bulk with a curl of contempt. She’d expected odd tricks and hidden fangs. Instead, decent defense, a few parlor ploys, nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

His wary stare clung to her like a shadow at noon; mischief rose in her like a cat arching its back.

"My, my~ you lived," she chimed, voice like bells over ice. "Using mana to neutralize the Magic Cannon—nice idea. But... you’ve only bought yourself, what, two more breaths?"

Her clear tone slipped through his ears like a ghost wind; to him it was a reaper’s whisper.

His golden pupils widened, shock flashing like lightning on steel. She’d seen through him in a blink. That meant battle instincts honed like a blade—or a Yokai who’d lived a thousand winters.

"How did you figure that out?"

Ling sighed and rubbed her brow, exasperation like a wave slapping stone. "Why do you dragons always ask that after I beat you? What’s strange about it? I’m stronger. My kit’s better. That’s it."

His eyes narrowed to knife-slits. Her words struck memory and rang. He studied her, then the book floating at her side like a moon. A tale the Black Dragon once told flickered, and realization flared in his pupils.

"S‑So... you’re the Yokai Lord..."

That title again, dropping like a pebble in her boot. Irritation prickled.

"So tell me, what the hell is this ‘Yokai Lord’ you keep calling me?"

He ignored her bait and shot a stare hot as a forge. "Yokai Lord, did you kill the God-King?"

She paused; a chill ticked down her spine before thought caught up. She rifled the death list in her head like shuffling blood‑red leaves. "Huh? Oh. That pervert? Yeah, I killed him."

He nodded, unsurprised, like thunder after flash. "Looks like Lord Aer’s plan went through. But there were... accidents."

Another name, another knot. The sense of strings pulling from the dark made her want to rip them. "So! What are you two even talking about?"

He shook his head, then pinned her with fire-bright eyes. "We agreed you’d save my people. Since you, the Yokai Lord, forgot, and killed Hashiqi—what you called the Black Dragon—there’s no pact to keep. From now on, we’ll come for you with everything."

Frustration surged first, a storm before rain. Ling clawed at her hair like she wanted to rip the tide out of the moon. The baited line cast, the instant tug, then the smug reeling away—she hated that game most.

"I don’t recall killing a dog, but you still haven’t answered my question!"

Helpless, she drew the [Script] and flipped it open; pages fluttered like moth wings.

[The Azure Dragon sees the Yokai Lord before him, memory stripped clean; joy sparks like tinder. The Lord is at her weakest now. Even like this, she killed the God‑King. But this is the Dragonfolk’s best chance to break fear. Alone, he can’t slay her. Then...]

No answers, but one truth bloomed like a bruise. He wanted her dead.

Plans be damned; desire was clear as a blade’s edge. They’d come to kill her. So she’d turn the wheel and kill them first. Start with the Azure Dragon.

"Magic Cannon, twenty percent output!"

A beam lanced from her side like a comet. The Azure Dragon didn’t dare take another hit; his wings snapped open like storm sails, and he tore aside with all he had.

The shot missed. Ling clicked her tongue; the sound was a pebble on ice. More cannons bloomed around her like a ring of green moons.

"Magic Cannon, twenty percent output—twenty‑round volley!"

Twenty beams streaked out, cordoning the skies like iron bars. Every escape line the dragon eyed turned into a wall of light; a dense blockade knitted itself, tight as a woven net.

When the volley ceased, the flight trails didn’t fade. They hung in the air like glass scars.

They lingered, forming a natural cage, and the Azure Dragon found himself penned like a beast in bamboo.

Ling surged in, a green comet toward the trapped dragon. She drew back her right fist; verdant mana coiled around it like ivy on stone. Pressure piled there like a mountain hanging by a thread. The dragon froze under that weight, slack‑jawed, a grim little joke on a colossal face.

But at the last step, his daze vanished like morning mist. A victor’s smile and a scornful tilt flashed across his jaw.

"Your Excellency Yokai Lord, let me return a lesson you once gave me—if you can solve it at range, never go melee!"

Light burst from his body, white as a newborn sun. Gravity puckered around him, a sinkhole in the sky.

"All mana, compress! Self‑destruct!"

The flash stabbed Ling’s eyes; pain came first, hot and tearing. She rubbed at them, blind in snow. She heard his roar about self‑detonation, but she couldn’t see a path to flee, only panic like birds trapped in her ribs. She flung up Magic Cannon: Shield, a ring of green bulwarks blooming around her like lotus leaves.

Pop...

The expected thunderclap never came; instead, a tiny pop, a dud firework fizzling in rain. Self‑destruct can fail?

Her sight crept back like dawn. She looked down and saw half a mana core on the ground, its other half gone like a swallowed moon.

Failed? Doubt prickled, and she opened the [Script] again.

[Ling is dazzled, as the Azure Dragon foresaw; he smiles in victory. He records the Yokai Lord’s return and amnesia onto half a mana core. The other half fuels the self‑destruct. The body dies. The half with the message flies to Dragon’s Gorge. The other core half vomits mana to mimic an imminent explosion...]

So she’d been played? Played by a lizard?

Bastard. He dared to make a fool of her. Fine. She’d wait right here for the rescue he arranged. Let them taste despair together in the Underworld.

"Ling, are you okay?"

Rafi’s voice drifted from behind like a warm breeze. She’d waited for Ling’s fight to end, then brought Remi and Flan down under her wing.

Anger ebbed the moment the little storm saw her lover; heat melted the ice.

"I’m fine. Just annoyed by a small accident," Ling said, calm sliding back over her like silk. "In a bit, take Remi and the others and hide. There might be a lot of dragons. One or two could try to harass you. Better stay clear." (She was really afraid of friendly fire.)

"Emmm... okay." Rafi nodded. Wind magic rose under them like invisible hands, and she flew off with Remi and Flan.