She cut the crow off like a blade through rope and fired the most direct order, her will snapping tight as cold steel under moonlight.

The crow tried to speak, but its summoned body moved like a puppet on unseen strings, winging toward the ice pillar that shoved closer like a crawling glacier.

BOOM—!!

Impact rang out like thunder cracking a winter cliff, and the fire crow had the edge, cleaving the pillar clean and shooting straight for the dragon’s blue head like a comet.

The blue head saw its attack shattered in a blink and panicked like frost under sunrise, yet it forced more power out, spewing a winter gale and birthing fresh ice midair to halt that beastlike blaze.

After all, the fire crow was a creature born of the Underworld, and though nowhere near the three-legged Golden Crow, a faint blood-tie still smoldered like ember under ash.

That faint blood-tie was enough to kindle brutal heat, a furnace in feathered shape burning like noon in midsummer.

Yaaah—!!

The Underworld Fire Crow shrieked, beat its wings like drums calling a storm, and burst to a speed past belief, a blade that sliced the tofu-soft pillar without a catch.

It came face to face with the blue head; vermilion pupils locked with crimson, and cold dread flooded first, a lake icing over in a breath.

Guess this is it, the thought trembled through like wind rattling chimes, a shiver rippling the blue head’s scales.

But fate loves to toy with living hearts, and a dragon’s life rises and crashes like tides under twin moons.

ROAR!

From its side, the red head roared like an erupting volcano and lunged, jaws yawning wide to clamp down on the fire crow as if devouring a falling star.

Teeth stabbed in, and blood and flesh flew—nope, scratch that; none of that, because the thing was only a mana-forged mirage, a candleflame painted into a bird.

Alicia knew nothing of summoning, so how could she pull a true Underworld Fire Crow across the veil, like dragging the sun by a string?

Even so, the red head’s bite worked, and fire meant nothing to him; he chewed the crow to shards like charcoal cracking and gulped it in less than a heartbeat.

The blue head gave the red head a strange look, a softer dawn in a stormy face, like a mother seeing her cub finally stand tall.

Rumble-rumble—!!

In that fleeting smile came the rush of water, a river in the ear, and the blue head snapped up to find the old water column still surging forward like a silver spear.

The red head must’ve abandoned holding it back to save me, the thought fell like snow, and even if he spat fire now, it wouldn’t be enough to dam that flood.

But that’s what I’m here for, the blue head’s resolve flared, a torch in a whiteout, hot against the cold.

We share one body, so if the red head can save me, why can’t I save him, the will tightened like braided rope around the spine.

[Sudden Frost Breath]!!

Icy mist blasted out like a blizzard storm, coiling the water column like a white serpent, and in a blink it froze solid and crashed down in glittering slabs.

Alicia cut off the jet from her right hand just in time, nerves pricking like needles of sleet, or her fingers would’ve paid frost’s price.

Even she might’ve taken a kiss of frostbite, a blue bloom on skin, if she’d been a heartbeat slower.

Seeing how hard it was to neutralize Alicia’s strike, the two heads traded a glance like lanterns signaling across fog and nodded, a silent message passing like sparks.

They turned toward Alicia, one pair of eyes red and one blue, and the stare crawled her skin like a north wind raising goosebumps.

“Human… no, Strong One! You truly deserve our respect,” they said, voices braided like fire and ice, “in power and in wit you rank among the first.”

“You even ascend mid-battle, like a blade being honed on stone, and that’s a height we’re far from reaching.”

Both heads bowed deep, mountain peaks bending like bamboo in wind, and offered Alicia their sincerest respect.

“Strong One, forgive our rudeness before,” they said, pride cooling like tempered steel, “our shallow eyes missed your strength, and we offended you.”

Confusion flickered first in Alicia’s chest, a startled bird in a thicket, because when did this become her win?

She hadn’t beaten them down, so by their pride, they shouldn’t be yielding like frost under spring rain.

Unless… they’re recognizing my strength, the thought rose like smoke, a shape forming that she could almost hold.

It was the only reason that fit, a key that clicked, even if the lock still felt strange in her palm.

The Dragonfolk’s respect for the strong surprised her, a mountain bowing to a traveler, and even the hotheaded red head lowered his noble skull to apologize.

Maybe the Dragonfolk are unexpectedly polite, the notion tiptoed in like a cat through reeds, amused and absurd all at once.

She tossed it away a breath later, like a pebble skipping water, because dragonfolk loved to brawl and hardly screamed gentleman.

That settled, her mind snapped to Ling like a bell struck in quiet, and her gaze swept the field like a hawk over grass.

She spotted Ling mid-swing, Scythe raised and arcing down toward an old dragon’s brow, her clothes smudged with dust but her skin unmarked like porcelain after rain.

Relief loosened in Alicia’s chest, a knot undone, and her shoulders eased like thawing ice.

“Hey, Strong One, you’ve only won our recognition,” a teasing voice lilted by her ear like a flute over water, “don’t be looking everywhere~”

Ying’s voice echoed close, and Alicia reeled her focus back like a fishing line, eyes lifting to several dragons flying in from not far away like storm-borne kites.

A soft helplessness rose in her, a sigh under the ribs, yet she still raised her hand, and the ribbon there bloomed with light like a moonflower opening at dusk.