In the heart of the mountain, chaos raged. The clash between Scarlet and the creature that had once been her apprentice, Scathach, reached a brutal pace, like a symphony of fire, claws, and steel. Neither would back down. Neither would surrender.
Scarlet spun in the air, using the propulsion of her own fla to dodge a crushing blow from the dracofera’s claws. With almost supernatural elegance, she landed on one of the floating rocks that trembled in the dense air of the volcanic chamber. Scathach, overco by magical corruption, let out a guttural roar and leaped to reach her, her black wings beating with titanic force.
The explosion of the impact between the two created a shockwave of fire and energy that reverberated throughout the cave. Scarlet blocked with the shaft of her spear, but Scathach’s brute force was colossal. Even reinforced with magic, the weight of the blow threw her against one of the rock walls, opening a crater in the spot.
Scarlet rolled to the side and got up, part of her scaly armor shattered and a thin line of blood running down her chin. But her eyes were steady. Determined. The pain didn’t matter. What mattered was bringing her back. It was rescuing the soul of her apprentice.
Scathach roared and fired a burst of black fire. Scarlet raised her spear and spun, creating a vortex of pure fire that collided with the corrupted magic. The clash of energies shook the earth. Black and gold flas consud each other in the air, in a storm of color and destruction.
The battle continued at a steady pace. Each attack was t with a counterattack, as if both knew each other’s styles deeply — which was true. Scarlet recognized Scathach’s movent patterns, even distorted by corruption. Scathach, in turn, responded with instinct and sharp reflexes, as if, despite being taken over by a dark force, she still recognized her ntor as a worthy opponent.
Scarlet delivered a downward blow with her plasma spear. Scathach raised her arm covered in reinforced scales, parrying the blow with a tallic clang. The heat from Scarlet’s weapon vaporized the air around it, creating flashes of light with each impact. The two separated with the explosion, only to collide again in midair with superhuman speed.
Scathach used her body as a weapon. With a flap of her wings, she launched herself like a missile. Claws, teeth, tail—everything moved in sync, like a perfect predator. Scarlet, more agile, used pirouettes and fla propulsion to dodge, her spear tracing incandescent arcs in the air.
With every passing second, the volcanic chamber around them was crumbling. Rocks lted, the ceiling cracked, columns of magma rose in nacing columns. But neither Scarlet nor Scathach retreated. They were locked in that dance of destruction.
Scarlet threw her spear in a spiraling motion, a flaming spear that split into incandescent fragnts in the air, like a teor shower. Scathach spun in the air, opening her wings like shields. The flas exploded against her, but so passed through. One of the fragnts hit her left leg, causing her to fall with a roar.
Scarlet dove in, ready to deliver the final blow. But Scathach, even wounded, spun around and struck her with her tail. Scarlet was thrown to the ground with a crash, raising a cloud of dust and ash.
She rose slowly, panting, the flas on her skin briefly subsiding. Scathach advanced, red eyes glowing, claws ready. Scarlet channeled her energy and, with a roar of her own, burst into flas again. Her body was enveloped in an aura of golden fire, and her spear rebuilt itself with pure light.
Both charged at each other. The impact was titanic. Scarlet’s spear pierced the beast’s left shoulder. Scathach’s claws tore through Scarlet’s side. Blood, sweat, and fire exploded in all directions. They staggered away, both wounded, both breathing heavily.
Scarlet spat blood. But she smiled. "You’re there... I know you are."
Scathach roared, but for a mont, she hesitated.
Scarlet wasted no ti. She spun her spear and delivered an upward blow, which exploded into flas. Scathach leaped backward, but Scarlet pursued her. Blows, kicks, bursts of fire. It all ca in quick succession. Scathach responded fiercely: bursts of black flas, wing slashes, claws tearing through the air.
The ground beneath them gave way. They fell into a new underground chamber—a sea of magma below, floating platforms of solid rock, pillars of fla rising from the abyss.
Scarlet landed masterfully. Scathach fell heavily, but quickly got back up. The battle resud.
With an agile leap, Scarlet appeared behind the creature, striking with the shaft of her spear. Scathach turned and spat fire. Scarlet spun in the air and used her own spear to absorb part of the fla, channeling it and returning it as a concentrated burst of plasma.
"Wake up!!!" Scathach shouted, staggering. But she responded brutally, punching the ground and causing a column of rock to rise under Scarlet’s feet, throwing her upward. In midair, Scathach intercepted her, spinning like a storm of scales and claws.
The collision was brutal. The two rolled through the air, exchanging punches and slashes, until they collided with one of the floating platforms. The impact explosion split the stone in two.
They separated again. Scarlet was bleeding in several places, but her eyes still burned with determination. Scathach gasped, her scales beginning to lose their luster.
With effort, Scarlet raised her spear once more. Scathach, staggering, lunged forward.
"Co to your senses! You foolish disciple!!!" Scarlet shouted.
The voice echoed like thunder. And for a mont—just a mont—Scathach hesitated again. Her eyes flickered, her vertical pupils oscillating between the infernal red and the pure violet of yore. Scarlet noticed.
She advanced with a battle cry, spinning her spear like a whirlwind of plasma. Scathach tried to react, but her guard was down. The weapon struck the creature squarely in the chest, forcing her backward, dragging her across one of the platforms until she collided with a rock pillar.
Scarlet ran, leaping from rock to rock, and fell upon Scathach with a flurry of thrusts and spinning blows. Scathach roared, blocked, counterattacked, but was visibly declining. Each blow from the master seed to wound not only her flesh—but her soul.
The final blow ca like an ancient dance. Scarlet raised her spear, summoned the primal fire of her draconic blood, and descended with a force that cracked the very reality of the chamber.
The spear did not pierce Scathach. It stopped milliters from her heart. Silence fell.
Scathach looked at her, her gaze returning to itself...
For a mont, silence reigned in the ruined chamber, as if the volcano itself held its breath.
Scathach’s eyes trembled, the traces of her fury dissolving into confusion. The creature before Scarlet was no longer just a beast—it was her disciple, buried under layers of corruption, slowly erging.
"Master...?" the creature murmured, its voice hoarse, reverberating between restrained roars and pain.
Scarlet did not respond with words. Her gaze said it all: steady, painful, full of love and reproach. The spear still trembled between her fingers, inches from a heart she refused to destroy.
But then, a crack in the air. A flash of shadow distorted the ambient light. Scathach’s pupils dilated, and a muffled cry of agony escaped her throat. Sothing—an invisible, perverse, ancient force—tore through her mind again.
Scathach’s eyes glowed like burning coals, covered in deep darkness. The spark of consciousness disappeared. The beast returned.
With a deafening roar, Scathach lunged forward, grabbing Scarlet by the waist with her claws and wrapping her wings around them like black blades. Before Scarlet could react, a flash enveloped them both—and then, in a single monstrous flap of her wings, Scathach shot like an arrow toward the sky above the volcanic chamber.
Scarlet felt the world spin.
Rocks, magma, and fire were left behind as the creature carried her hundreds of ters high. The pressure increased. The speed was superhuman.
"Scatha—!" she tried to scream, but there was no ti.
With a primal roar, Scathach spun violently and threw Scarlet brutally upward—a throw that tore her through the upper layers of the mountain, breaking through the rock and exploding into the skies. Scarlet was shot like a cot of flaming light, disappearing beyond the clouds above the crater, thrown with enough force to travel miles.
Her body cut through the skies in a fiery trail until she disappeared from the horizon.
Below, Scathach hovered in the air, panting, blood dripping from her broken scales, her muscles taut. The sound of the impact echoing from the cave still vibrated through the floating rocks around her.
She stood there for a mont, wings spread, eyes blinking in confusion and anger—until a new sound caught her attention: voices, distant echoes... Footsteps.
She turned slowly, her breathing quickening like a stalking animal.
Strax.
The mory crept into her corrupted mind — jumbled images, words and promises, distorted confrontations. She growled, her eyes narrowing. The dark energy that still dominated her vibrated like a raging tide.
In one swift motion, Scathach folded her wings and leapt from the air. The stones shook beneath her descent, and then, with a bestial cry, she unfolded her wings fully and shot off in the direction Strax had gone, like a living arrow of fury and corrupted fire.
The heat left behind by Scarlet still vibrated in the rocks, but Scathach was now pure chaos. The beast had returned, more violent than before—as if, upon touching the edge of liberation, the pain of imprisonnt had beco unbearable.
She flew low, in a straight line, cutting through pillars and caves like a living storm. Lava exploded in her wake, and the shadows of the mountain seed to tremble as she passed.
The real confrontation was just beginning.
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