Morgana finally yanked the long log of wood free from the strapping on her back. It hit the ground with a heavy THUD, rolling to a stop right near my feet.

She crossed her arms, chin lifted in absolute confidence. "Here. That's your new sword."

"…This log of wood?" I asked flatly, pointing out the obvious piece of timber.

"Yes," she said, completely unfazed. "That's Wood Steel. Just hold on to it. Tightly. It cost a fortune to get, so I would be expecting a big thank you later."

I frowned, but reached down and grabbed it anyway. This was the infamous Wood Steel greatest grandfather was talking about? I never expected it to be an actual… ummm… wood.

Bagu stood staring at his closed wings, then smirked. "It's been long since I stretched these wings, little zedd!"

Bagu's wings exploded outward with a thunderous crack, hurling a gale so powerful that nearby trees uprooted as if plucked by invisible hands. The shock wave slammed toward us.

He wasn't even a wind dragon, and he was generating this much power just from his wings alone.

"All of you, get behind me now! Including you, Zuchin!" Zedd commanded.

Lord Zedd didn't flinch. He stepped forward, air spiraling violently around his arm.

His voice cut through the chaos like a blade:

"Path of Devastation—Number Fifteen… HAMMER HEAD."

The air warped. A colossal hammer made entirely of wind and roaring pressure materialized above him, its shape outlined by glowing runes, its head swirling with condensed atmospheric force.

It fell.

WHAM—!

The wind-hammer slammed into Bagu's incoming gale, splitting it down the middle. The Dragon's storm collapsed, shredded as if crushed by a giant invisible titan. The resulting shockwave detonated outward, the earth trembling beneath our feet.

Bagu was visibly taken aback.

"…A Devastation Spell?" bagu rumbled, his voice low with new interest. "Little Zedd knows a Devastation Spell? Impressive.

Your grandfather never had one. How did you accquire such spell?" He chuckled at the situation, but lord Zedd's eyes burned white.

"shut up and fight"

A Devastation Spell? What in the world could that mean? I only saw a strong wind magic, a creation magic of a hammer, but that was something I would think of later. lord Zedd's aura flared, and an oval barrier formed around me and Anna, alongside Morad, like a translucent amethyst shell.

"That should keep you kids protected from any backlash. Are you going on the offensive, or what, Morgana? cause I am."

She responded with a clear and sharp "Hmph."

She slipped sideways, then lunged forward—her feet barely brushing the earth, moving with an almost inhuman poise—as she charged Bagu head-on.

Zuchin, her wyvern guardian, was already at her flank. Smaller than Bagu, sure, but every beat of her crystalline wings cut the air with intent, wind rippling around her like living mist.

With a piercing shriek, Zuchin unleashed a blast of scalding water—so hot it steamed mid-air, the splash sizzling like acid.

Bagu answered with a thunderous roar, hurling a barrage of sonic waves that shattered the air and environment around itself.

His first blasts tore the water attacks apart; the next rippled outward, hammering toward both Morganna and Zuchin in violent succession.

But the duo was ready.

They weaved through the storm—ducking, twisting, sliding between the gaps of Bagu's relentless sonic defense. Their coordination was razor-sharp, their movements almost effortless.

Yet even so, the sheer volume of Bagu's attacks was beginning to swallow the battlefield. His defense and attack was overwhelming.

Lord Zedd vanished in a blur—flash-stepping from one point to another, leaving only a ripple of distorted air behind each movement. In seconds he closed the distance, taking to the sky beside Morganna and Zuchin as Bagu's spider-tail rattled violently.

The warning was immediate.

BRRRAAAAM—!

A sonic blast erupted from the vibrating tail, ripping jagged lines through the air. The trio wove through it—Morganna diving low, Zuchin banking hard right, Zedd flickering in and out of sight as he teleported between shockwaves.

"Zedd! Zuchin!" Morganna shouted over the thunder. "Give me an opening—I'm going for the neck!"

Zedd flashed to her side. "You're aiming to cut that!? With that sword?"

"this is Wood steel," she snapped back, eyes blazing. " the Toughest there is…so yes"

Lord Zedd's eyes glowed white. With a shouted command, he thrust his hands out, and a column of wind materialized beneath Morgana's feet, launching her forward.

She slipped past another blast—barely—and then, suddenly...

I lost sight of her completely.

One blink.

Gone.

A heartbeat later—

SHRANG!

Her blade scraped across Bagu's neck, sending a glittering spray of dust spiraling through the air. It was a thin scratch, almost nothing, but it was contact.

The Dragon's massive head twisted, more irritated than wounded.

Bagu purred, amused. "Not tough enough."

His tail swung out like a falling mountain with great speed.

Morganna was flung backward—but before the impact could crush her, Zuchin dove beneath her, wings flaring. The wyvern slammed her own body into the tail, deflecting it with a raw, pained scream.

Bagu snarled.

Claws shot out.

He seized Zuchin by the torso, lifted her effortlessly

—and hurled her across the battlefield like a spear.

"ZUCHIN!" Morganna screamed.

Before Bagu could turn and finish morgana with another tail attack, Lord Zedd thrust his hand outward, wind spiraling violently around his arm.

"O SLICING HANDS WIND STYLE!!"

A crescent of compressed air fired from his palm.

FWAAAASH—!!

It cleaved through Bagu's tail—slicing the entire spider-like appendage clean in half.

The severed piece hit the ground with a quake.

For the first time, Bagu turned his head fully.

Calmly.

Almost curiously.

He looked at the stump.

A beat of silence

then the flesh writhed.

The tail regrew, segment by segment, until it reformed perfectly whole, as if it had never been touched.

Zedd's eyes widened.

Morgana's breath caught.

Bagu smiled—a slow, monstrous curl of teeth.

"Did you truly believe," he rumbled, "that something as simple as slicing hands could affect a god?"

//////

"We need to escape his domain if we hope to survive and defeat him," Zuchin said, her voice resonant and firm.

I thought back to Galahad his level had been insane. Even my attempt to summon him had failed miserably in this domain.

"We'll have to weaken him first," Zuchin continued. "He's controlling this entire domain while fighting us. That's the only way I can use more powerful spells; a Dragon can't attack another Dragon at full strength in this domain."

Morgana's jaw tightened. "Years of cultivation… that's what this is."

Lord Zedd's eyes burned white. "Leave that to me."

Then he moved.

Or rather, he appeared to move.

One instant he was there, the next—gone. Then there. Then elsewhere. Ten copies of him flickered around Bagu, slicing through the air with deadly precision. Each reappearance launched a razor-sharp slice of wind toward the Dragon.

The forest quaked beneath the relentless barrage. Bagu hissed, struggling to keep his footing, before deciding the ground was no longer safe. He took to the air, dodging and weaving through Zedd's storm of blades.

But Zedd didn't relent.

Zedd intensified his assault. From the spinning torrents of air, he formed Air Bombs compressed spheres of atmospheric force, each one a miniature hurricane waiting to detonate. He launched them with surgical precision. When one hit or detonated nearby, the air exploded outward with the fury of hurricane-force winds. Even aloft, Bagu was buffeted and thrown off balance, struggling to regain control against the storm Zedd had conjured.

Zedd's mastery turned the battlefield into chaos. The Dragon, for the first time, faced an opponent shaping the very air against him. So this was the power of an S-rank mage… incredible, I thought, but the thought was cut short.

Bagu's massive claws dug into the earth as he landed. The ground trembled beneath him. Then, without warning, his tail sank deep into the soil, anchoring him like a living obelisk. His eyes glinted with predatory focus.

The three of them charged: Zedd's wind blades cutting arcs through the air, Morgana and Zuchin pressing forward with lethal intent.

"Requiem Silence," Bagu announced, a low, ominous word.

The battlefield changed in an instant.

I had never experienced such magic before, but what I felt could only mean it affected everything that Bagu laid eyes on. Sound was no longer a trustworthy ally in this battle anymore. All volume, or any audible manner, now belonged entirely to him.

I could see Bagu's roar, which should have registered as a loud, chaotic impact, fall suddenly flat—as though the noise had never existed in this forest anymore. Lord Zedd's powerful wind spells were as if someone had pressed the mute button. It wasn't that sound was entirely absent; it was just a phenomenon I could no longer process.

All these details made it clear: I couldn't judge how strong any attack was upon impact, or when exactly it would land. It was all left for Bagu to decide. Fighting without sound was truly a terrifying power this Dragon possessed.

Zuchin, Lord Zedd, and Morgana all stopped in shock. The trio tried talking, but nothing could be heard. Morgana touched her throat in fear of losing her voice, confused and frustrated. This was bad. How would they communicate?

Bagu's voice came through the silence, amplified by his mastery over the soundscape.

"What are you going to do now, when I control all things sound here? Come on, little Zedd. You thought it was that easy? Even your grandfather never showed such confidence!" Bagu's voice echoed through the manufactured silence.

Then, directional cues vanished. The sound of a foot landing twenty feet to the left suddenly sounded like it came from directly behind me. Zuchin's dragon roar, coming from the air, sounded like it was rumbling beneath my feet. My brain misfired, trying to process this broken reality.

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