The impact between Umbra and Nidhogg made the entire corridor tremble as if the very structure of the castle were being crushed between two incompatible forces. Umbra’s black blade t the creature’s scales in a precise arc, releasing a wave of dark energy that coursed through the dragon’s colossal body. Nidhogg responded instantly, spreading its torn wings and striking the ground with one of its gigantic claws, causing the stone floor to shatter into fragnts that were hurled down the corridor like shrapnel from an explosion.
Umbra slid a few ters back as the impact of the claw struck the ground where it had been a second before. The ground cracked open into a deep crater, revealing smaller roots of Yggdrasil crisscrossing the castle’s structure like the living ribs of an ancient creature. The queen of the Umbral raised her gaze with calculated calm as she assessed the extent of the destruction that the dragon’s re charge had caused. Her white dress was now marked by dark dust and small tears, but her posture remained impeccably stable.
Nidhogg gave her no ti for contemplation. The dragon snaked through the destroyed corridor with surprising speed for sothing of its size. Its colossal body surged forward like an avalanche of black scales, and its gigantic jaw opened again in a brutal attack that sought to crush Umbra between its fangs. The surrounding air vibrated with the creature’s mass displacent, causing the walls to creak under the pressure.
Umbra responded with a minimal, yet extrely efficient movent. Her body dissolved again into liquid shadows the instant the fangs closed. The sound of the jaws clashing was like the crack of a mountain breaking. Stones from the ceiling plumted as the pressure of the impact reverberated throughout the entire structure.
The shadow that had been Umbra reappeared behind the dragon, reforming into its elegant silhouette as its sword already traced a new arc in the air. The black blade slid against Nidhogg’s scales, and this ti the cut was deeper, opening a long line along the side of the creature’s neck. Thick, dark blood splattered across the stones of the corridor.
The roar that followed was fiercer than all the previous ones. Nidhogg spun its colossal body in a violent motion, and its gigantic tail swept through the space with the force of a colossal battering ram. Umbra instantly raised a wall of shadows, but the impact still threw her several ters back, crushing another supporting column that broke in two.
She landed on her feet among the rubble, but this ti she did not remain motionless. Umbra advanced imdiately, her blade enveloped in dark energy that pulsed like an ancient heart. Each of her steps made the shadows around her stir, as if the Umbral itself were answering the call of its queen.
Nidhogg responded by opening its mouth again, but this ti the attack did not co in the form of a bite. A concentrated jet of the black substance that dripped between its teeth was fired directly at Umbra. The liquid hit the ground with corrosive violence, lting stone and living wood from exposed roots in seconds.
Umbra leaped aside, disappearing into a veil of shadows before the attack could reach her. She reappeared above the dragon’s head, briefly suspended in the air as she raised her sword with both hands. The blade descended with devastating force, striking the base of one of the torn wings.
The cut pierced through scales and flesh.
Nidhogg roared again, slamming its wounded wing against the corridor wall with such force that the entire structure trembled violently. The blow sent Umbra flying like a leaf carried by a storm. She spun in the air and landed again on the cracked ground, sliding a few ters before stopping.
For a brief instant, the two stared at each other again.
The dragon was breathing heavily now. Dark blood flowed from multiple cuts scattered across its colossal body. The luminous fissures in his scales shone ever more intensely, as if the energy he had consud from the roots was being forced out of his body.
Umbra watched everything with clinical attention.
"You’re becoming unstable," she said calmly.
Nidhogg responded by advancing again.
This ti the attack was even more brutal. The dragon leaped forward with an explosion of force that completely shattered the corridor floor. His claws ca from above, seeking to crush Umbra against the ground.
Umbra raised her sword horizontally.
Shadows exploded from the ground around her, forming a dense barrier that received the direct impact of her claws. The collision was so violent that the surrounding air compressed into a visible shockwave.
The shadow barrier shattered into fragnts.
Umbra was pushed back again, her feet dragging on the ground as cracks spread beneath her weight. Even so, she didn’t lose her balance.
She breathed slowly.
Then she disappeared again.
Nidhogg growled as he lost sight of his target. His red eyes frantically searched the destroyed corridor, trying to find the presence of the Queen of the Umbral.
Umbra reappeared directly above the dragon’s head.
This ti she didn’t attack imdiately.
Instead, she extended her free hand.
The shadows around her began to gather.
First ca thin strands of darkness. Then larger masses, dense as liquid smoke. In seconds, a gigantic structure of dark energy began to form around the dragon’s body.
Chains.
Dozens of them.
Hundreds.
Each link was as large as a chariot wheel and pulsed with compressed dark energy.
Nidhogg realized what was happening.
The dragon roared and tried to move, but it was too late.
The chains descended like a storm.
They enveloped the creature’s colossal body, binding its wings against its torso and binding its legs with brutal force. The impact of the chains against its scales produced a tallic sound that echoed throughout the corridor.
Nidhogg fought imdiately.
The gigantic body writhed violently, tearing chunks of the floor as it tried to break free from its bonds.
Umbra watched from above.
Her hand was still raised.
The chains tightened further.
The entire corridor structure began to creak under the combined pressure of the chains and the monstrous force of the dragon trying to escape.
For a few seconds it seed that Umbra had succeeded.
Then the fissures in Nidhogg’s scales glowed once more.
The energy it had absorbed from the roots began to explode out of the creature’s body.
A pulse of red energy coursed through the entire dragon.
The chains began to crack.
Umbra narrowed her eyes.
"Of course."
The second pulse was stronger.
The chains snapped.
Fragnts of dark energy were hurled in all directions as Nidhogg finally broke free from its prison. The dragon raised its head and let out a roar so powerful that the corridor walls began to crumble.
Umbra fell to the ground again as the energy explosion pushed everything around her.
She slowly rose from the rubble.
The corridor was now almost completely destroyed. Large sections of the ceiling had collapsed, and several gigantic roots of Yggdrasil were now exposed, snaking through space like veins of a colossal organism.
Nidhogg was at the center of the destruction.
The dragon breathed heavily, but its eyes glead with sothing different now.
Hunger.
Umbra noticed imdiately.
Her gaze moved to the exposed roots.
The dragon looked at them too.
For a mont there was silence.
Then Nidhogg dived.
The creature sank its teeth into one of the gigantic roots, tearing a huge chunk of the living wood from the World Tree. Golden energy exploded from the root wound as the dragon chewed.
Umbra let out a long sigh.
"You are absolutely impossible."
She raised her sword again.
Shadows began to gather around her once more.
But this ti they didn’t just co from the walls.
They ca from across the dinsion. The entire Umbral seed to respond to the call.
Nidhogg raised his head again, the energy of the roots still seeping between his teeth.
Umbra advanced.
This ti the battle no longer seed like an attempt to contain the dragon.
It seed like a war.
The destruction that had spread through the corridor had now completely transford the battlefield. The partially collapsed ceiling left gigantic roots exposed everywhere, piercing walls and floor like petrified serpents of a living organism that existed far beyond that dinsion. The energy emanating from these roots filled the environnt with an almost tangible pressure, making the air vibrate irregularly. Fragnts of stone continued to fall slowly in so places, and dust still floated in the air like a heavy fog that made even long-distance vision difficult.
Nidhogg seed completely indifferent to the devastation. The dragon had partially coiled itself around one of the larger roots, using its claws to tear at the living wood while repeatedly sinking its teeth into the pulsating surface. Each bite ripped large chunks from the World Tree’s structure, releasing jets of golden energy that spread like divine blood in the air before being absorbed by the creature’s body. The fissures in its black scales glowed more intensely with each piece consud, as if the dragon itself were becoming a distorted extension of the force that sustained the worlds.
Umbra watched all this in silence.
She had retreated a few ters after the last collision, montarily disappearing into the shadows cast by the rubble of the destroyed corridor. Now she stood completely still behind a set of broken pillars, her presence practically dissolved into the very darkness of the Umbral. Her eyes were fixed on the dragon, but her mind worked with cold precision, calculating every detail of the situation.
She had already noticed sothing essential during the fight.
Nidhogg wasn’t really focused on her.
The creature was focused on the roots.
This ant its behavior was being guided more by instinct than by any kind of conscious strategy. Umbra tilted her head slightly as she watched the dragon violently tear another piece of root. Golden energy surged forth again, montarily illuminating the destroyed corridor with a warm, vibrant light that contrasted strangely with the natural darkness of the Umbral.
The dragon swallowed the torn piece and let out a deep sound that seed almost satisfied.
Umbra narrowed her eyes slightly.
"So that’s the problem," she murmured to herself.
She slowly raised her hand, letting her fingers move in the air as if drawing sothing invisible. Around her, the shadows began to react imdiately. Not explosively as before, but with an almost imperceptible subtlety.
Small threads of darkness began to slide across the cracked floor.
They spread slowly among the broken stones, snaking along the cracks in the floor and contouring the exposed roots. Each strand was thin, discreet, almost impossible to perceive amidst the natural darkness of that environnt.
Umbra wasn’t trying to capture Nidhogg directly.
She was preparing sothing bigger.
The dragon continued its monstrous al, seemingly content to remain in that spot while devouring piece after piece of the colossal root. Each movent of its jaw produced deep cracks that echoed through the destroyed corridor.
anwhile, the shadow strands continued to spread.
They seeped beneath the dragon’s body.
They slowly climbed up the roots.
They connected with the walls.
Umbra remained motionless, controlling each movent with extre patience.
Minutes passed.
Nidhogg ripped another gigantic piece from the root, chewing slowly as the energy of the World Tree seeped into the environnt like a river of living light.
Umbra took a deep breath.
"Now."
Her fingers snapped shut.
Instantly, the entire corridor reacted.
The shadow threads that had silently spread exploded into activity simultaneously. The entire floor seed to open up as dozens of gigantic chains erged from the fissures, enveloping Nidhogg’s body from all directions.
The dragon barely had ti to react.
The chains coiled around the creature’s wings, legs, neck, and even jaw in a fraction of a second. Each link was reinforced with dense Umbral energy, far heavier and more solid than the chains Umbra had attempted to use before during direct combat.
This ti it wasn’t a frontal attack.
It was a trap.
Nidhogg roared furiously when she realized she had been caught.
The colossal body imdiately writhed, attempting to break the chains with the sa brute force that had destroyed the previous ones. The surrounding roots trembled violently as the dragon began to fight.
But Umbra was already moving.
She erged from the shadows in a single fluid motion, advancing across the devastated battlefield with a speed that contrasted sharply with the calculated calm she had maintained until that mont. Her sword reappeared in her hand, enveloped by an aura of dark energy that seed to absorb even the ambient light.
Nidhogg tried to turn its head to attack her.
But the chains had restrained even the movents of its neck.
Umbra leaped.
Her body crossed the air in an elegant arc as she landed directly on the dragon’s colossal head.
Nidhogg roared again, trying to break free.
Umbra didn’t hesitate.
She plunged her sword between two of the larger scales, right at the base of the creature’s skull.
The blade pierced flesh and energy simultaneously.
The impact released an explosion of dark power that coursed through the dragon’s entire body like a black lightning bolt.
Nidhogg let out an even deeper roar, this ti filled with real pain.
The gigantic body thrashed violently, making the chains creak under the monstrous pressure of its muscles.
Umbra gripped the sword’s hilt firmly.
The energy around her began to intensify.
Shadows began to gather again, but this ti not to form chains or barriers.
They were being channeled directly by the blade embedded in the dragon’s skull.
Umbra closed her eyes for a mont.
When she opened them again, her voice echoed through the destroyed corridor with an almost eerie calm.
"Lunchti’s over."
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