As the days passed, Alicia watched girls her age getting boyfriends and having silly lovers’ quarrels in the academy halls. Even her mother, Serena, kept teasing her—pushing her to find someone.
But Alicia remembered it clearly.
The first Crestvale head with the same powers as hers... had killed her own lover.
That memory sat like a stone in her chest.
’If I fall in love and lose control... will I do the same?’ she thought. ’What if I go berserk and hurt the person I care about most?’
One day, she shared these fears with her mentor, Selena Vega.
Selena’s answer was simple.
"Then find someone stronger than you," she said.
To Alicia, it sounded impossible. Aside from Evelyn, she was sure no one her age could match her. Even most adults couldn’t.
That was when she met Alex Dragonheart.
The boy who broke through intermediate rank in four months.
The one who managed to injure her in a duel despite being much weaker on paper.
As time passed, Alicia’s interest turned into something sharper. ’He’s the one...’ she thought. Someone who might withstand her at her worst—and still win.
It took time.
But slowly, Alicia reeled him in.
So when he gave her a ring, she was thrilled.
She didn’t hesitate.
Alicia carved the same restriction runes—the ones that kept her power at bay—onto the ring Alex gave her, throwing away the old one without a second thought.
’I’ll wear the one you gave me,’ she thought, smiling.
But now, with an army of dragons standing in front of her, outnumbering them in the sky—
She finally took that ring off.
And carnage began.
---
[ Present ]
Her body started to drain mana from the atmosphere in torrents, like a bottomless well finally uncapped. Energy crackled around her, snapping and roaring like chained thunder.
Alicia looked up at the sky full of dragons.
She lifted her sword.
In a low voice, she whispered, "Sovereign Blade, Fifth Form: Reignfall."
She moved.
From the ground, it looked like she swung her sword only a few times.
But the air told a different story.
Mana flooded into her blade, and massive sword slashes exploded outward in a blur—dozens of crescent arcs of silver‑violet light flashing through the sky faster than the eye could follow.
Dragons inside the barrier froze mid‑flight.
Then their bodies split apart.
Wings, necks, and torsos were severed cleanly.
One after another, they crashed to the ground, trembling in shock and terror before their eyes dimmed.
Within moments, the interior of the barrier was littered with dragon corpses.
Outside the barrier, dragons shrank back in horror at the sight.
Near the front, a massive dragon with obsidian scales and burning golden eyes—their mander—narrowed his gaze.
He shifted into his dragon‑kin form, towering above the others.
"Such power... from a human," he muttered. "That one is dangerous."
He raised his voice, mana amplifying it across the formation.
"All units—focus on her first!"
More dragons surged toward the breach, forcing their way inside the barrier.
Alicia blurred.
Every time she moved, another dragon fell. Heads flew, wings were shredded, hearts were pierced. Her sword carved through armor‑thick scales as if they were paper.
Slowly, a mountain of dragon corpses began to form inside the barrier.
The mander watched, astonished.
"Do not engage her directly!" he roared. "Focus on breaking the barrier! The moment it collapses, they lose!"
He pointed at Alicia.
"No matter what that white‑haired woman does, it won’t matter when their shield is gone."
Alicia grit her teeth.
"Cowards," she spat.
She glanced up at the dragons hammering the outside of the dome. ’Do I have to go outside the barrier...?’
She noticed it then.
The barrier was weakening.
Each ining blast made new fractures. Little by little, cracks spider‑webbed across the dome’s surface.
’Damn it. If this keeps up, I’ll have to go out there,’ she thought.
Zara landed beside her. "Don’t even think about it," she said sharply.
Alicia glanced at her. "Zara—"
"I know what you’re thinking," Zara cut in. "Going outside is exactly what they want most. The moment you step out, they’ll swarm you all at once. I hate to say it, but even you can’t fight all of them at the same time."
"So what do we do?" Alicia snapped. "Just stand here and wait for the barrier to collapse?"
Zara had no answer.
’Alex, where the hell are you...?’ Alicia thought. ’What are you doing? People are dying here...’
Another deafening crack split the air.
The barrier’s surface was starting to splinter visibly now.
Everyone who could see it went pale.
A soldier sprinted toward them, panting. "mander!" he shouted.
"Report," Alicia said.
"The soldiers inside the seven sanctums are dying!" he yelled. "They can’t handle the strain anymore. Their cores are starting to explode—killing them instantly!"
Alicia’s expression darkened.
’So that’s what Alex meant... when he said he turned them into weapons,’ she thought. ’Did he predict all of this? Just how far ahead did he see...?’
Outside, the dragons were still attacking—but in fewer numbers than before. Enough to keep the defenders busy, not enough to overmit.
Zara frowned. "They’re wearing us down," she said. "By the time the barrier falls, our forces will be exhausted. We won’t have the strength to fight back."
Out near the breach, Aldric, Alyssa, Serena, and Tania were starting to tire as well. They kept preventing dragons from trespassing into the city, but every kill cost mana and stamina.
Elsewhere, Tina and Remus were busy evacuating civilians and taking out any dragon that managed to slip through.
Alicia watched the sky.
"Staying here will do us no good," she said. "I’m going outside."
Zara saw the determination in her eyes.
She sighed.
"Fine," she said. "But I’m ing with you."
Alicia smiled faintly. "Suit yourself."
She vanished.
In the next instant, she appeared deep within the palace’s inner sanctum, near a massive mana crystal that pulsed like a giant, glowing heart. Evelyn stood alone beside it, hands raised, sweat running down her face as she poured everything she had into maintaining the barrier.
"Evelyn!" Alicia called. "The moment I go outside the barrier—close it!"
Evelyn’s eyes snapped to her. "Have you gone insane?" she shouted. "I can’t do that!"
"Just do as I say!" Alicia replied. "It’s the only way!"
Before Evelyn could argue further, Alicia disappeared again.
Evelyn grit her teeth. "Idiot..." she muttered. But her hands tightened on the crystal.
---
In the next instant, Alicia and Zara blasted upward, bodies phasing through the weakening barrier.
They emerged into open sky.
The dragon mander’s eyes widened, then a slow smile spread across his face.
"She came out," he said. "Perfect."
His voice boomed across the dragon host.
"Everyone—tear apart the blue‑haired one! Leave the white‑haired one to me."
He licked his lips. "I’ll handle her myself."
Dozens of dragons dove toward Zara.
Alicia swung her blade once.
A line of light flashed.
All the dragons charging Zara froze—then their heads and torsos slid apart in mid‑air, blood and ash scattering on the wind.
Even the mander hesitated, his confident smirk faltering.
Alicia pointed her sword at him.
"Your head will make a nice decoration in our mansion," she said coldly.
The mander grit his teeth.
"Attack!" he roared.
The entire dragon army lunged toward Alicia and Zara like a pack of starving beasts.
And Alicia stepped forward to meet them.
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