Lilith raised her holy sword. It couldn’t bite, but its pale glow let the Hero girl steer the phantoms at her side like kites on moonlit strings. The Black Swordsman lifted his blade, a starter stance tight as a drawn bow, wary of the charging Red Dragon.
Ofira tapped her toe. The flat earth caved like a cookie cracked by a thumb. Hardened ground split into brittle veins. The Red Dragon shot out like a cannonball, and her talons reached for Lilith’s crown in the next breath.
Old battle instincts pulled Lilith down. Heat flashed in her chest, then she rolled, came up, and thrust. The Black Swordsman’s edge kissed through tough scales and left a red line blooming on Ofira’s shoulder.
Stung and surprised, Ofira kicked back and opened distance. She fell straight into Lilith’s net. The White Holy Maiden swapped in the Archer and the Witch. Magic bolts and feathered arrows pointed at the Red Dragon hanging in the air like stormbirds.
Too late to dodge, Ofira crossed her claws to shield her heart. She ate an arrow that had once pierced the Demon King’s skull. The sharp head pried up the scales on her forearm. Two scarlet lines wrote pain across her pale, slender arm.
Lilith rushed before Ofira could land. The Black Swordsman rose with her and chopped hard at Ofira’s shoulder. The Red Dragon roared, hot breath like a furnace, and raked for Lilith. The sword at her waist flashed faster than claws. Ofira had to abandon the strike and guard her vulnerable waist.
Steel bit Ofira’s right arm. The Black Swordsman spun and slashed for her head. Ofira took it on her left forearm and swatted him away with her right like swiping a gnat in a storm.
Seeing the swordsman fly, Lilith hopped back and reset the gap. The Witch called up six more magic orbs. All six locked onto the Red Dragon like hungry fireflies.
“Haah, you’re a tougher little cub than I thought.” Blood sheeted down Ofira’s arms like red ribbons. She wiped sweat from her cheek. Orange slit pupils fixed on the girl, bright with a hunter’s thrill. “I haven’t had this much fun in ages.”
“Your trash talk’s weak. Hurry up and phase up. Your HP bar’s locked, I can’t even finish you.” Lilith’s voice was ice. She summoned the Archer, arrowhead leveled. “Your HP and poise both suck. Calling you a high-tier blight fiend was me being generous.”
“Arrogant White Dragon!” Ofira laughed. Crimson scales crawled over her white arms like dawning fire. Human-sized claws swelled to half a person high. Her tail doubled in girth. Jagged bone spurs jutted out and swung like a spiked mace behind her, brutal as a storm club.
Lilith’s gaze hardened on tail and claw. Either could end her like a lightning strike. Together, they were a twin avalanche. From here on, she’d live by the dodge.
“I want to taste your blood!” Ofira’s claw fell like a falling mountain. The White Holy Maiden threw herself right and felt the wind shear past. The earth took the blow. Five trenches, each near a meter long, opened like clawed wounds on the plain. Lilith’s scalp prickled. One hit like that and she’d be five neat slices on the dirt.
“You’re serious?!” Lilith yelped and shot for Ofira’s eye. Ofira covered her head with a claw. The arrow split midair into three with a dry snap. They nailed her belly and both thighs like angry wasps. “Do you really mean to kill me?”
“Tsk… you didn’t go easy either. Relax. For dragons, this is play.” Ofira plucked the shafts out and flicked them away. Bare skin flowed back into scales like frost reforming. Not a drop of blood fell. “See? Dragons don’t get hurt by games like that.”
“Don’t joke. I’m not a dragon.” Another arrow sang from Lilith’s string. Horns curled on her brow, and a tail tugged at her skirt, but her body stayed a teenager’s—light bones, soft breath. No dragon’s might in her frame, just stubborn fire.
Ofira batted the arrow aside, flared her wings, and dove straight like a hawk stooping. Lilith threw herself sideways. The Black Knight hauled her out of the dive line like a shadowy steed. Talons punched into barren dirt. Fire roared. Rock slumped into molten honey, and magma spat under pressure like a burst vein. The scalding spray almost flipped Lilith off her feet.
Half-dragon, Ofira pushed off the ground and raised a giant claw to hammer the little saint. Lilith scrambled up, panic beating in her chest like a trapped bird. A spear-bearing phantom coalesced and carried her away from Ofira like a gust.
Ropes of magma surged under Ofira’s claw. They chased Lilith, tearing the ground open in jagged mouths. Sometimes they curved ahead and burst in her face, forcing her to wrench the Knight Commander’s charge sideways with a gasp.
“Ugh, what even is that?” Lilith ducked low. A returning swipe hissed over her hair. She flung a scatter of magic bolts behind her and bought a heartbeat. Ofira folded a wing to block the shots with a sizzling thrum and barely slowed, then nicked Lilith’s back with a passing claw.
“Eek! Don’t rip my clothes!” Lilith snapped, cheeks burning. She dismissed the mount beneath her and pulled the Black Swordsman back into being, blade already swinging for the Red Dragon behind her.
Ofira hadn’t expected it. One little tear in the White Holy Maiden’s dress, and the docile Little White Dragon flipped like a storm squall. She came on with steel and fury.
Ofira lifted a claw to meet the cut. Lilith didn’t let go. The Black Swordsman’s form flickered, ghost-thin, then turned solid past the claw and drove straight into Ofira’s belly.
Lilith didn’t hesitate. Ofira cried out, and a mushroom-shaped shadow puffed in her face. She sucked in a lungful of green spores. The biting toxin clawed her throat, and she coughed hard. Lilith stabbed for the throat like a snake strike. Scales bloomed in a rush and jammed the blade. Both claws were tangled. Ofira could only snap her knee up and kick at the White Holy Maiden’s stomach.
The Black Swordsman vanished like smoke. In his place stood the Knight Commander with a warhammer the size of a tombstone. The hammer took the kick with a clang, knocked the leg aside, then came down on Ofira’s head like thunder.
“Guh!” The imperious Red Dragon girl got clubbed into the ground. Her proud horns wedged into the cracked earth like forks stuck in dry bread. They wouldn’t budge. Lilith hoisted the hammer and brought it down on Ofira’s skull again and again, wanting to pound her flat into the dirt. For the last one, she leaped high with the Knight Commander and crashed down. The ground split in spiderweb cracks. Only Ofira’s wings still showed above the earth.
“Huff… huff.” Lilith’s breath sawed in her chest. The Knight Commander’s phantom faded back into the Black Swordsman. He steadied the swaying White Holy Maiden and patted her back, easing her breath like a calm hand smoothing water.
“Host, is a torn dress worth getting that mad?” The System sounded dazed. In its memory, Lilith rarely fought this brutally. She liked the Black Swordsman’s nimble style. Only when furious would she stack the Knight Commander with the Hero’s power and shout things like “Supreme Ninefold Slam” while smashing faces.
“You don’t get it. It’s not just a dress. She—she smeared my dignity as a man.” Lilith’s face went scarlet. She huffed and stomped Ofira’s head twice with her little foot, more petulant than painful. The System wanted to note that, with Lilith’s build, this was basically a reward. It kept quiet. “She cut my—my gaff! Do you even know how long it takes me to put that on? And she just—casually—snip!—like it was nothing!”
Lilith stomped twice more for good measure. A thin piece of fabric slipped from under her skirt with the motion and landed on Ofira’s back. The System glanced at it and understood. Poor Red Dragon.
“S-System… huff… can I absorb her skills?” Lilith sank to the ground, exhausted, glaring holes at Ofira. The more she thought, the madder she got. She propped her little foot on Ofira’s shoulder, leaned against the Black Swordsman, and asked, “Those claws are nasty. If I learn them, I’ll spike hard.”
“Hm… not easy. She’s not a blight fiend, so you can’t purify her and read her memories.” The System studied Ofira and fell silent. “Maybe there’s a way. Give me some time.”
“Mm. If you make it, call it Demon Dragon’s Claw.”
“What a tacky name.”
“Hey!”
