The floating city trembled violently beneath our clash.
Ancient towers cracked apart as shockwaves rippled across the frozen landscape. Entire bridges collapsed into the abyss below while blizzards spiraled through the streets like living predators. The dragon's roar alone shook the heavens, carrying centuries of hatred inside every deafening vibration.
And still…
it kept healing.
Dark veins of frozen energy spread across the city itself, feeding directly into the colossal ice dragon. The entire floating fortress was acting like a heart for the creature, pumping endless resentment and ancient magic into its body.
I skidded backward across the frozen ground, massive sword dragging sparks of dark-purple destruction behind me.
My breathing was uneven.
Not from fear.
From frustration.
Every strike I landed should've split mountains apart.
But this thing simply regenerated again and again.
Amelia landed beside me with enough force to crater the ice beneath her boots. Blood-red magic rolled violently around her body while black flames burned along the edge of her scythe.
"It's adapting to your destruction magic," she growled. "That's annoying."
"Everything adapts to him eventually," Yura said calmly from above us.
The air behind her shimmered with enormous frozen sigils rotating slowly across the sky. Hundreds of ice spears floated overhead like divine execution stakes waiting to descend.
The dragon's glowing eyes suddenly locked onto me again.
Hatred.
Pure hatred.
Not toward dragons.
Toward me specifically.
Then the voice returned.
"You carry his blood…"
The city itself groaned as the voice echoed around us.
"You carry the blood of the Destroyer."
My grip tightened around the sword.
The dragon lunged.
Its jaws split open as a tidal wave of freezing energy erupted toward us, cold enough to freeze magic itself. Buildings behind us crystallized instantly before shattering apart like fragile glass.
"Move!" Amelia barked.
We scattered instantly.
The beam ripped across the battlefield, slicing the floating city in half.
Yura moved first.
Her hands came together gracefully as frost magic exploded outward.
"Frozen Dominion."
The world around us turned white.
Massive glaciers erupted upward beneath the dragon, spearing through its limbs while countless frozen chains wrapped around its wings. The entire sky darkened under the pressure of her ice magic.
For the first time…
the dragon actually stopped moving.
Amelia grinned savagely.
"My turn."
Blood-red aura detonated around her.
The Sin of Wrath fully manifested.
Cracks spread beneath her feet as black-and-crimson flames spiraled around her scythe violently enough to distort space itself.
She vanished.
Then reappeared directly beside the dragon's neck.
"One hundred severing arcs."
The sky exploded into crimson light.
Her scythe moved so fast the air screamed apart. Hundreds of slashes detonated simultaneously across the dragon's body, shredding entire sections of frozen armor away in violent bursts of ice and blood-colored energy.
The dragon roared in agony.
But it still wasn't enough.
Its wounds began healing immediately.
The city's hatred flowed into it endlessly.
"SHIRO!" Yura shouted.
I understood instantly.
The city.
The floating fortress itself was the source.
Destroy the city…
kill the dragon.
Dark-purple energy erupted from my body as my armor flared alive around me. The Voidsteel synchronized completely with my destruction magic while my scales spread farther along my neck and jawline.
The Beast of Destruction inside me laughed.
Not with words.
With hunger.
My sword shifted violently in my hands.
Longer.
Heavier.
The blade widened into something monstrous, pulsing with dark energy like a living heartbeat.
Then my wings exploded outward.
The force shattered nearby buildings instantly.
I shot upward into the sky.
The dragon sensed my target immediately and broke free from Yura's restraints with a furious roar. Entire glaciers shattered apart as it launched itself toward me.
Too slow.
I raised the massive blade overhead.
"Destruction Style…"
The atmosphere cracked.
Purple lightning spread across the heavens while my magic surged so violently that even Amelia stopped moving for half a second.
The floating city began trembling beneath me.
The dragon opened its jaws again.
I smiled.
Not calmly.
Not heroically.
Disrespectfully.
Violently.
Like a man who had already stopped caring what happened afterward.
"You talk too damn much."
I swung.
"WORLD CLEAVER."
The strike split reality.
A single crescent of dark-purple destruction erupted downward, larger than the floating city itself. Buildings evaporated instantly upon contact. Ancient defensive barriers shattered like paper.
The dragon screamed.
The city screamed with it.
For one brief moment…
I saw it.
A massive frozen core hidden beneath the city.
A heart.
No.
A prison.
Inside it…
something was chained.
Something ancient.
Something draconic.
The voice suddenly became frantic.
"NO!"
Too late.
The destruction wave crashed directly into the core.
Silence.
Then—
the floating city exploded.
Not outward.
Inward.
The entire fortress collapsed into itself as frozen structures folded violently toward the center. Streets, towers, glaciers, and magic all imploded simultaneously.
The dragon convulsed.
Cracks spread across its body instantly.
Its regeneration stopped.
Amelia appeared beside its head immediately.
Her grin was terrifying.
"Told you we'd kill it faster."
Her scythe came down.
The dragon's head separated cleanly from its body.
The corpse collapsed across the remains of the city while freezing winds slowly began fading from the atmosphere.
Everything became still.
For a few seconds…
none of us moved.
Then the frozen core beneath the ruined city cracked open completely.
A pulse of ancient purple light erupted into the sky.
And from within the shattered prison…
a woman emerged.
Massive dragon horns curved from her head.
Chains wrapped around her arms and neck.
Her silver hair drifted weightlessly around her body while ancient purple eyes slowly opened.
The moment they landed on me…
my instincts screamed.
Not danger.
Recognition.
The woman stared silently for several seconds before her cracked lips finally moved.
"…Destroyer…"
Then her eyes rolled back.
And she fell.