No more words passed between the two dragons. Mythara understood that Cefketa could not be reasoned with at the moment, so he wouldn't try. He'd just have to knock some sense into him. The Tiny Tots looked up at Cefketa with complex expressions—even if they could help Mythara in this moment, they weren't sure if they should. But before anyone could properly gather their thoughts, they were knocked off their feet by the shockwave of Cefketa and Mythara clashing.

Cefketa's fist crashed against Mythara's forearm, which was coated with nanite armor. As Mythara's mask began to cover his frown, he sent a sidekick toward Cefketa's stomach. Cefketa gleefully received the blow, flipping in the air and landing gracefully on the ground. He chuckled before speaking.

"No one interferes."

"Everyone step back," Mythara commanded.

The Tiny Tots and the Theronites backed away as far as they could to the outside of the clearing that Nina had created. The 8 Seats didn't move from where they had entered the battlefield—they simply nodded.

The two dragons began circling each other, not daring to look away even for a moment. Mythara glared at Cefketa, whose scales began covering his body as his wings unfurled. The instant those budding horns appeared on Cefketa's head, the two leaped at each other. They clashed once more and engaged in a furious exchange of blows. Each strike received and blocked cracked the ground beneath them.

Mythara parried Cefketa's punches aimed at his midsection, then sent a counter-punch toward the right side of Cefketa's face—but had his wrist grabbed. Mythara grinned as a pistol manifested in the hand of that captured fist, and he instantly shot a barrage of energy bullets point-blank at Cefketa's face. Cefketa's head reeled back, and he released Mythara's wrist as he pulled out a black bar that elongated into a spear. Mythara manifested a gun in his other hand as he sped around Cefketa, sending momentum-enhanced shots.

With his spear drawn, Cefketa gracefully deflected those shots with ease, twirling his body and spear in tandem as the two dragons entered another deadly dance. Their movements were simple, their use of abilities subtle—a masterclass in how sometimes less is more.

There were no flashy systems or overt grand displays of Programs. It was just a precise, efficient use of ability, accompanied by the power of a Dragon's body. Every motion contained power tremendous enough to reduce most of the Tiny Tots to paste. Every action moved faster than the Tiny Tots could properly comprehend. The sounds of their clash only reached the onlookers' ears after several dozen more actions had been performed.

While the Tiny Tots watched in awe, the Seats and Theronites looked on in admiration, both sides given hope by the power of the Dragon representing their interests. And Mythara was growing annoyed. No matter how much he increased his speed, he could not find an opening. He could feel himself getting faster and stronger by the second, and Cefketa seemed to be matching his growth—or slowly revealing more of his own strength.

Then there was no choice. Mythara began to manifest the Clockwork Paradox system. Still, through the barrage of shots, Cefketa's purple eyes glowed as he waved his left hand through the air, dismantling Mythara's system. Mythara's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder at his shattered construct.

"Where are you looking?" Cefketa whispered.

In a single bound, he was in front of Mythara, sending a spear thrust forward. Mythara barely dodged, twisting his body out of the way. The power of that spear thrust sent a devastating shockwave along its path. The shockwave blasted through the parts of the city that hadn't been destroyed, leveling buildings and streets in its wake.

Though Mythara barely dodged the spear's thrust, Cefketa's assault wasn't finished. A scythe blade composed of energy formed as Cefketa pulled back on his spear. Mythara crouched to avoid the blade, only to receive a punt to the face. He was dragged across the ground by that kick, his mask instantly breaking under the force.

Instead of gathering himself, he sank into the earth. The charging Cefketa slid to a stop and looked around. His head then snapped to the side as if struck across the face by an invisible force. He swiped his scythe sideways, swinging at empty air, but there was the sound of something making contact with it.

Cefketa's eyes glowed as he began to dip, dodge, and parry. To the onlookers, Cefketa appeared to be fighting the air. But he was avoiding a barrage of earth and energy raining down on him. He stopped fighting ghosts and turned his head toward the sky. As he did, everyone felt the heat begin to rise and looked up to see a second sun.

A massive orb of fire hung in the sky above them. Its heat intensified as it turned blazing white. A spatial barrier formed around it to prevent its heat from igniting the ozone layer. The spatial barrier shrank as the white-hot flame condensed to the size of a beach ball.

Mythara named this technique "Supernova." Once the target was touched by the spatial barrier surrounding the mini white sun, that barrier would expand to engulf them. The white sun would then burst, unleashing a cataclysmic explosion several times more deadly than the antimatter explosion created through the combined efforts of Fenrir, Gladiolus, and Selistar. Cefketa flapped his wings and took off into the air to stop Mythara from completing the orb of flames.

However, he found himself trapped in a spatial corridor. The faster he went, the further away Mythara seemed to be. With the small sun fully formed, Mythara spoke:

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What's the favor?" Cefketa asked.

"Don't die." Mythara smiled as he launched the small sun. Like a bullet, it shot through space as Mythara increased its speed while simultaneously locking down Cefketa by manipulating his spatial position.

"Same to you, kid," Cefketa responded as tongues of black flames burst from the corners of his mouth. He opened his maw as a concentrated blast of black flames erupted forward. It engulfed the spatial corridor, the Supernova, and Mythara as well. There was no heat emitted by those flames—they didn't burn, they didn't destroy, they simply erased everything in their path. All matter vanished, even air particles, causing the flames to leave a temporary vacuum in their wake.

Cefketa looked at the part of the sky where Mythara had been, but no one was there, and he couldn't feel his presence.

"There's no way you died that easily, right?" he thought to himself wistfully.

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"Where are you looking?" a voice whispered as Mythara manifested before Cefketa. Using an elaborate combination of spatial, light, wave, and vibration control, Mythara had achieved perfect stealth—it was as if he had merged with creation itself, for just a moment.

"That's my boy—" Cefketa's praise was cut off as he received a powerful blow to his sternum. It was shocking because that blow brought him immense pain, unlike anything he had experienced since before he started his shedding. Mythara picked up on his wince of pain and did not let up on his assault.

Cefketa bounced across the ground and gathered himself as he slid to a stop, wincing in pain as he grabbed the center of his chest. It was the same spot where Selistar had unleashed a savage barrage on him earlier, breaking through his shedding.

"Is this a side effect? Has it not healed?" Cefketa thought to himself, but his train of thought was stolen as Mythara appeared in front of him, aiming another blow at the obvious weakness that had revealed itself. Cefketa instinctively put up his guard to protect his midsection. Mythara smiled—this was just a feint.

He shifted his weight and increased his momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick to the side of Cefketa's head. Cefketa tumbled through the air, and Mythara finally had space to do what he wanted. A system emerged behind his head as Cefketa's momentum—and the momentum of everything around them—came to a stop.

Mythara looked at Cefketa frozen in midair as countless miniature systems appeared in front of him.

"Lock..." Mythara spoke, and those systems came to life at his command. Two guns manifested in his hands as he fired off a barrage of energy shots into those countless systems hanging in the air.

"Load..." Mythara called out again. The systems caught those shots and held them in place, but began increasing the rotation of the captured projectiles. Mythara teleported in front of the floating Cefketa, leaving his guns behind as he sent a punch at Cefketa's exposed midsection. The frozen Cefketa was blasted backward, crashing through multiple buildings. Mythara gave chase, taking notice of just how eerily empty the city was. This made things easier—he wouldn't need to hold back.

Mythara reeled back his fist and plowed it into the middle of Cefketa's chest. He continued attacking relentlessly, each blow sending Cefketa barreling through another building. Cefketa's 'time' was still frozen, so he could make no move to respond to the aggressive onslaught.

"RAARGH!" Mythara grunted as he sent a final blow with all the strength he could muster. Cefketa flew through the city's buildings, his body slamming into the side of the Space Needle. Mythara appeared in front of the time-stuck Cefketa embedded in the Space Needle's side. Cefketa's Veridahn suit was tattered, having not been given time to repair itself.

Mythara brought up his right hand, pointing at Cefketa with a finger gun.

"Fir—" Mythara hesitated as he saw the pendant of Cefketa's necklace floating in front of the center of his chest. Mythara closed his eyes, knowing what was contained in the pendant was the last bit of Dr. Varma. If that was destroyed, even the 3D AI version of her would be gone. Mythara let out a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"Fire..." He would no longer hesitate.

The shots that had been locked and loaded earlier were released from the systems that held them. During this entire onslaught, the systems increased the rotation of those shots adding to their penetration power. It should be enough to pierce Cefketa's chest and destroy his heart. Being a dragon, it wouldn't kill him, but it would leave him vulnerable.

"This is my world, and I will protect everyone I must. Even you... especially you. Even if it's from yourself," Mythara spoke in earnest.

Those shots burst out at the speed of light, following the path created by Mythara's destruction. They weaved through the terrain and debris as they passed Mythara, converging toward the center of Cefketa's chest. Mythara closed his eyes as the bullets locked onto their target.

"I don't need protection, kid." Mythara's heart leaped as he opened his eyes to see those streams of light frozen in the air, stopping just short of the necklace pendant.

"I need blood." Cefketa groaned as sickly black energy radiated off his body. Those streams of light began to disintegrate. That same energy rolling off his body rejected the influence of Mythara's system. It began eating away at the Space Needle.

Mythara looked on in horror as the Space Needle disintegrated completely before his eyes in seconds. He could still hear the ticking of his system, letting him know it hadn't ended.

"How?" Mythara asked.

"I don't know... yet." Cefketa looked at his free hand, which had.

Cefketa dropped his hand to his side and contemplated whether he should continue. This energy surrounding him was deadly, and he had no idea how to control it.

"Are you sure you want to continue—" Cefketa coughed up a mouthful of blood into his hand, cutting off his words. He then winced in pain as he grabbed his chest. He had obviously taken significant damage.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" Mythara asked in return. This was a bluff. He had gained the upper hand by exploiting Cefketa's temporary weakness and managing to summon his system, but this new uncontrollable power that Cefketa exuded clearly nullified not only his system but life itself.

Mythara frowned. This must have been the power hidden inside Cefketa all this time—the same power that had prevented him from gaining nanites to begin with. Mythara manifested his guns and prepared himself. He would need to keep his distance and continue striking at Cefketa's center.

"Am I sure I want to continue?" Cefketa pondered as he looked at the necklace hanging from his neck.

"I'm not sure," Cefketa said with a smile.

He winced once again, and that dark energy radiating off his body began to flare against his will. Mythara backed away as that energy devoured not only the matter in the area but every law that kept creation together. The areas where the energy passed had their momentum restored.

The black energy licked at the air, and tears in reality formed. Mythara looked into one tear and on the other side saw humans walking freely, completely oblivious to what was happening. Several more tears formed as the black energy continued to rage.

Mythara looked at Cefketa and shouted, "What is happening?"

"I don't know." Cefketa looked at Mythara with concern. "Take the others and leave, now!" Cefketa shouted as he grabbed his chest again, and the energy began expanding even more. Nothing in its path provided even the tiniest bit of resistance.

"Shit, shit!" Mythara cursed as he fired several shots toward Cefketa, but everything that made contact with that black energy was extinguished. Mythara let out an irritated shout—he needed his System. He found himself once again in a situation where he felt powerless. Mythara felt his rage peak as he stared daggers at the dark energy surrounding Cefketa.

"No... NO!" Mythara shouted.

He felt something stir within him as his eyes began to glow once again. Light began flowing off his body as he took aim at Cefketa. Mythara knew that if he could pierce through that energy and strike at Cefketa's heart, even if he didn't fully destroy it—

"I think that's enough for today... fledglings." A voice echoed from creation as a hand rested on Mythara's shoulder. Mythara felt his power fade away as he looked at the cloaked figure that now stood beside him.

The cloaked figure floated past Mythara and passed through Cefketa's dark energy like a fish flowing through the water. He stopped in front of Cefketa as the two locked eyes. Even though the cloaked figure stood inches in front of him, Cefketa could not make out his face.

"Calm down, you little shit." The cloaked figure tapped Cefketa on his chest.

With that simple tap, the dark energy dispersed and the power that raged inside Cefketa was calmed. The cloaked figure floated backward until he was positioned between Cefketa and Mythara.

"Who the hell are you?" Mythara frowned at the new arrival.

"The Wanderer..." Cefketa muttered, and Mythara's frown deepened even further.

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