While the Fire Dragons stood frozen in shock at the sight of their queen being blasted away in a single strike, the Ice Dragons lunged forward and turned that brief opening into slaughter.
A dagger burning with purple flame carved through the stunned warriors in a mad blur. Blood sprayed hot across William's face as he moved through the enemy ranks like a man possessed by bloodlust, his lips twisted into a savage, almost psychotic grin.
"Die! Die! Die!"
There was nothing William hated more than the Fire Dragon Clan. Even his hatred for Max could not compare. Every throat he opened, every body he dropped, filled him with vicious joy.
Somewhere deep inside, he even found himself grateful that Henry had stopped him from killing Max earlier. If he survived today, he had already decided he would thank him for this chance.
Even if Stonehollow burned to ash, exterminating their ancient enemies was a reward worth paying for in blood.
The battle erupted once more in full.
Both sides had already suffered losses, but as the moments passed, the Ice Dragons began falling faster. One after another, they were cut down until the difference in numbers became suffocating, nearly six to one. Yet none of them retreated. Every single one fought with the resolve to die only after dragging as many Fire Dragons as possible into hell with them.
Above them, Henry and Ra clashed again, and the battlefield trembled beneath the force of their collision.
Meanwhile, Max stared at his palms, his breathing uneven. The black vortexes spinning there made his heart pound. For the first time since this nightmare began, he felt power flowing in his veins. Real power.
"Finally... I—"
Golden flames exploded from the place where Agnia had fallen, cutting his words apart.
A dragon of golden fire, at least ten times larger than Ra's, surged toward him with terrifying speed.
The attack swallowed him whole.
Scorching air crashed into his lungs, so hot it felt as if the inside of his chest had begun to dry and crack. Heat chewed at his skin, but hidden beneath it, tiny black vortexes too small for the eye to notice spun hungrily and devoured the flames. The fire was not just failing to kill him. It was feeding him.
More power crept into his body. And Max did not even realize it.
Agnia stepped out from the shattered trees, and for the first time, fear shone clearly in her eyes. One of her strongest attacks had failed to truly wound him.
"What kind of monster is this...?" she whispered.
The arrogance that had wrapped around her like perfume was gone. In its place came cold caution. Her eyes flicked toward Henry, then back to Max, then toward the ruined platform where his awakening had taken place.
And then she understood.
"So... he's the one who shattered their concealment over this entire area. No wonder the mana here is so sparse. His power is devouring it all and pulling it into himself." Her eyes narrowed, a dangerous gleam rising within them. "That means..."
Max knew none of this.
He did not know that Agnia was a warrior who had lived for centuries, nor that beneath her youthful beauty stood a monster feared across the continent.
With a single beat of her wings, she vanished. "That means you are weak to physical attacks! Hahahaha!" Her laughter rang out, melodic and beautiful, yet twisted with madness.
Max jerked his head around wildly, fear tightening every muscle in his body. He threw both hands forward and unleashed his magic on instinct. Black light erupted from his palms, and violent winds twisted through the air with such force that the space ahead seemed ready to tear apart.
But Agnia slipped past it effortlessly. The attack missed her by inches and struck the earth behind, detonating it into a crater five meters deep.
Then her fist flashed into view. A split second later, her clenched talons smashed into his nose.
Pain exploded through Max's skull with such savage force that his vision nearly went white. He had never felt anything like it. The hit ripped him off his feet and hurled him across the battlefield. He spun helplessly through the air, too stunned to even understand what had happened, until his back crashed into the wall of a village house.
CRAAASH!
Wood exploded in every direction. Splinters tore through the air as his body smashed through the structure and buried itself in rubble, a wave of agony ripping through his spine.
But Agnia was still not satisfied. She stared at the wreckage, her expression twisting into something dark and ugly.
"Even physical attacks are being intercepted somehow..." she muttered, her voice tight with unease. "His body is protecting itself on instinct. There's no way he's doing this consciously. He's too inexperienced... he doesn't even understand what he is."
Her wings snapped open once more. The ground cracked beneath her feet as she launched herself forward again.
"I have to kill him now... before he learns how to control his magic..." Agnia did not fear Henry. She did not fear the Ice Dragon Clan. The only thing she feared was the thing rising inside the rubble.
Because if that monster survived today and grew up, she knew with absolute certainty that one day he would return and erase not only her, but her entire kingdom from this world.
The moment she flew into the broken building, mana turned to death on Agnia's tongue. Her eyes widened, flashing with real fear for the first time. Golden flames exploded from her body at once, wrapping around her in a desperate shield.
Then sharp winds burst from the rubble where Max lay buried.
Black light erupted outward in a devouring sphere, swallowing everything around it for at least five meters. Wood, dust, broken stone, even loose mana in the air, all of it was dragged into that darkness. And then, just as suddenly, the entire sphere collapsed back into Max in a single violent instant.
Agnia's body trembled as fear seized her heart. Then the world around her exploded.
A violent blast tore through the air and sent her body flying away, blood spilling from her ears and eyes. The golden flames that had protected her were gone, completely erased.
Everyone froze as the strongest dragon on the battlefield was thrown down in the middle of war, her body carved with fresh cuts as though the darkness itself had shredded her apart.
Slowly, Max rose from the ground.
His eyes were black as ink. Black light bent and twisted around him, warping the air and swallowing the light until he no longer looked human at all, but like a shadow given flesh.
"I'll kill you..." His voice was faint, almost quiet, yet every soul on the battlefield trembled in fear, no matter which side they stood on.