Just as Alicia expected, the two-headed dragon arched its back; scales lifted like a field of razors, sunlight flashing off them in needle-bright splinters.
“That’s only natural. Otherwise, why are we here?”
The towering body pulsed red then blue, like storm beacons in a squall. The shorter figure—Alicia—raised her hand; a red glow flooded her wrist, brighter than the beast’s flare.
Impatience snapped like a whip. The red head lunged first, temper spitting sparks into the air.
“‘Liquid Fire’!”
Flames roared from its maw like a poured river, not smoke and light but a molten tide you could touch—and be devoured by.
Pain—raw and certain—spiked first, like a thorn under the ribs. Thought followed, tight as a knot: This will hurt. This will hurt. Don’t let it touch me.
Even with a Yokai body, even as a fire mage with thick fire-resistance, dread prickled along her skin like sleet.
She slid back a step, boots whispering over dust, and the torrent missed by a breath. The fire hit the ground with a wet hiss, a lacquer of flame that seeped like oil.
Earth sagged and ran, melting into a glassy wound; the heat rose in waves, harsher than any magma, a desert gale slamming even Alicia from meters away.
Troublesome. The word came cool as shade. Yet her mouth curved upward; battle-light flared in her eyes like twin comets.
Emotion tugged first, hot as wine: Match the dragon in fire, break its pride with its own crown. That’s the truest respect; that’s how you win a heart that only yields to power.
Reason cut in, cold as a blade: Don’t use fire. You’ll lose a clash with the red head. You’ll get hard-countered by the blue. That’s the dumbest way to die.
She paced that line for a heartbeat, then settled on reason, steady as a stone. She wasn’t Ling; she didn’t have the strength to ignore rules and write her own.
Ten fingers danced at her hips like dragonflies. Brown rings coalesced, one by one, and hovered under her palms like earth-colored halos.
The red head saw its strike miss and grew hotter, like a kiln stoked too long. It ignored the blue head butting its neck; scarlet lines crawled over its jaws like burning veins—prelude to ruin.
The blue head butted a few more times, then gave up with a frosty snort. Cold flooded its throat; dense white vapor spilled from its mouth like winter fog over a river.
One dragon and one woman prepared their spells, eyes locked like drawn bows. No one charged; the air curdled into an odd, brittle quiet.
It didn’t last. Both sides felt the awkward pause and snapped it like thin ice.
“—‘Frozen Path’!” the blue head cried.
“—‘Raging Blaze’!” the red head roared.
Arctic breath surged first, laying a road of jagged ice blocks that ran straight to Alicia like a pale spine.
Heat followed like a sandstorm; flames swept, and every lick of fire kicked up a heatwave fierce enough to rattle stones.
“—‘Ice-and-Fire as One’!” Red × Blue.
Opposites should devour each other, yet the two elements braided like twin rivers from one spring.
The ice didn’t melt under the blaze; the fire didn’t dim under the frost. It was wrong by common sense and right by blood, the way hand and foot move—different tools, one body, no quarrel.
Hm?!
The stray thought flashed like lightning. A good idea, sharp and sweet, lit up her mind.
She didn’t pause. The array spinning over her palms gave a neat, lock-clean click, and its center stilled, a soft glow blooming like dawn behind clouds.
Her smile tilted. Both hands pressed to the earth; the array sank in and seated like a key sliding home.
“—‘Wall of Sighs’!”
A vast stone wall heaved up, shadowing the ground; a grieving face was carved upon it, sighing as if mourning the world, weeping for something just out of reach.
They called it the Wall of Sighs, a barrier in the Underworld that severs the road to the Pure Land, stopping souls that almost, almost touch bliss.
It was made to bar spirits, yes, but it took time to call and came armored in endurance. Frost and flame crashed against it, and the wall didn’t so much as tremble; the desert and the glacier broke like waves on a cliff.
They wrestled only a moment. The Wall of Sighs won as expected; the carved face grew sadder, lines deepening like rain on stone, and nothing else changed. It crushed the twin elements in a quiet, absolute way.
Alicia let out a long breath, cool as mist, and called the wall back. Earth magic wasn’t her home ground; pain stabbed her temple like an iron nail. The unknown thing in her chest stirred again, mending the hurt before darkness could close in.
Her gaze locked on the dragon’s body, bright and sharp as a hunter’s moon on cold water.
“Alright~ I just thought of this and had no time to test it. Be sweet and help me run a proper experiment~”
