Chapter 180
The corrupted dragon kept staring at Ariana while its massive body trembled violently across the shattered council floor. Black veins continued spreading beneath its golden scales like poison moving through living fire, and every strained breath it released filled the chamber with dark smoke that curled slowly through the cold air.
But despite the corruption consuming it, the dragon's eyes never left Ariana.
Ariana felt her chest tighten painfully as something deep inside the creature reacted to the golden light beneath her skin. Beneath the darkness twisting through its body, she could still feel the dragon itself struggling to survive. The connection between them had become impossible to ignore now. She could feel its fear, its pain, and the desperate instinct fighting against whatever the Underworld had forced into it.
"Mira," Ariana said carefully, "step away from it."
