Lumindra was silent again.
"I don't want to keep feeling useless," Zoey said quietly. "I don't want to keep watching others fight for what I care about while I stand back doing nothing."
She breathed in deeply.
"It's my life, Lumi. Not yours. You don't have the right to make that decision for , no matter how much you love . Please… help ."
For a long mont, there was only silence in her mind.
If Lumindra was in her physical form, her face would've been twisted in frustration. Because Zoey was right. Completely, painfully right.
She had given Zoey speech after speech about change. About realness. About embracing herself, no matter the consequence. But now, when it truly mattered, she had recoiled in fear of losing her.
But could she truly force Zoey away from this situation now? Even if it killed Zoey, was it truly her decision to make?
Lumindra let out a heavy sigh, mind shimring with conflicted thoughts.
Then… her voice returned, calr, but resolute.
"…Alright, Zoey."
Zoey's heart pounded.
"There's every likelihood that you'll end up dead. But I won't stop you anymore. So listen carefully."
Zoey's breath stopped, and she nodded instinctively.
…
The forest had beco a charred wasteland.
Ash danced in the sky like cursed snow. Blackened soil cracked beneath scorched winds. The flas of hell and dragonfire intertwined, reducing the world around them to ruin.
And in the center of it all…
Viktor was bleeding.
Draktharion's claw had just torn through his chest, a savage arc that sprayed searing blood across the air, painting the ground crimson.
Before the pain could register, a savage blow followed, his fist colliding with Viktor's ribs and sending him crashing like a teor through the blackened terrain.
BOOM!
The earth exploded on impact, a crater left in his wake. Viktor groaned as he pushed himself back to his feet, his body trembling, muscles torn and shredded, skin flaking from burns and blood pooling beneath him.
And still… he stood.
He dragged his arm across his mouth, wiping the blood off.
But then, his eyes narrowed sharply.
'It's not healing…'
The realization sent a chill through his bones.
A wound like that, normally, it would've healed before he even hit the ground. But now… the wound remained. Raw and burning.
'My body is reaching its limits.'
His expression hardened.
The battle was nearing its end. He could feel the thread of his strength leaving by the second.
And then, Draktharion approached.
Each step was heavy. Dominant. Cold smoke curling from his nostrils, wings flickering with sparks of fire.
He looked like a beast born from ancient nightmares, draconic scales covering his massive body, horns pulsing with inner heat, his molten eyes calm and cruel.
"You should stop," Draktharion said quietly. "Your body is at its limit. I don't want to kill more innocents."
Viktor's eyes narrowed. Then he clenched his fists, and the air around him combusted.
"You trapped our only hope in there… and you want to give up?"
His voice was low, filled with nothing but fire and rage.
"Don't act like so fucking saint. You knew what you were doing. You made your choice. You're a traitor… and you deserve nothing less than a brutal death."
BOOM!
A wave of hellfire erupted from Viktor's body, but this ti… it was different.
Even Draktharion's eyes widened.
That fire… it was hotter. Sharper. He could feel it licking at his own scales.
But then, his eyes flicked sideways, narrowing.
'He's burning himself too…'
Indeed, he had noticed that Viktor's own body was blackening under the heat of his own fire. His muscles blistering, his skin peeling, but his eyes… were maddened. Chaotic.
'He's preparing his final move…'
Draktharion's body tensed instinctively. His claws curled tighter. Wings flared.
Viktor's voice bood like a war horn.
"I'LL PUT YOU DOWN NO MATTER WHAT!"
And then, he moved.
The ground beneath him exploded.
Every step scorched the terrain, a flaming trail left in his wake. His aura surged sky-high, his body a mass of searing power as he surged toward Draktharion.
His fist reeled back, an inferno coiled around it like the wrath of a dying sun.
Draktharion roared, his claws lashing forward in counter.
CLAAAAAANG!
Their clash shook the world.
Flas exploded outward, ripping trees from their roots, turning the sky into a swirling vortex of fire and wind.
Draktharion's claws t Viktor's punch head-on, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
'Stronger?!'
The impact jolted through his entire skeletal structure, force slamming into his core like a shockwave. He staggered, his footing breaking apart the ground beneath him.
They clashed again, and again, and again.
Viktor burned brighter. Burned hotter. Pushing Draktharion back, inch by inch.
But Draktharion's eyes sharpened.
'He won't last. This power… it's tearing him apart. He's falling apart with every attack.'
And he was right.
Viktor's movents grew more desperate, his body flaking with charred blood, yet his fire only grew stronger, darker, until finally…
Hellfire turned black.
And in that mont, Viktor surged forward again, faster than before.
Draktharion flinched. He sensed it. This was it, the final blow.
"I have to block—!"
He roared, scales layering around his chest to shield it.
But then, at that mont,
A chill struck him.
A cold, bone-deep terror… sothing ancient. Sothing primal.
His instincts scread.
Before he could even think, his claw whipped back, lashing out toward nothing.
Then, he turned and saw it.
A figure had appeared mid-air, just a few ters away from him.
Purple-haired. Glowing eyes. Body crackling with radiant energy.
Zoey.
But it wasn't just Zoey anymore, she had fused with Lumindra.
Her body had taken on a sleek, humanoid draconic form, plated in athyst-toned scales that shimred with spirit energy, claws now ford from Lumindra's essence, wings of translucent crystal light behind her back.
Her irises burned with a power far beyond her rank, an ancient energy wrapped in a mortal shell.
Draktharion's eyes widened.
'Master rank—?'
Despite her transformation, Zoey was still in the Master rank. She hadn't gained any miraculous powers. No. What shocked him was the feeling she radiated, her eyes.
They felt ancient, like the gaze of a being who had lived and been through it all.
However, his instinctive attack t Zoey mid-air, sending her crashing into the trees, blood spraying from her mouth as she hit the ground hard.
As he saw this, the implications slamd into his head.
'A distraction!'
Zoey had distracted him by making him think there was a stronger enemy behind him. She had tid it perfectly.
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