Viscount Luke burst into wild laughter, the sound sharp and broken, like a madman pushed past the edge. His shoulders shook as he cackled, eyes wide and bloodshot.

"You see what you've driven me to?" he roared. "This, this is the price of standing against me!"

Raze and Fey didn't spare him a glance.

Their attention was locked on the massive undead dragon looming amid the shattered remains of the manor. Its skeletal frame towered over the ruins, massive wings half-spread, purple flames leaking from between its jagged teeth. Slowly, deliberately, it turned its skull-like head toward them.

Then it opened its mouth.

A torrent of thick purple-and-red flame erupted forth, crashing down like a falling meteor.

Raze reacted instantly, grabbing Viscount Luke by the collar and yanking him along as he leapt aside. The ground where they'd stood vanished beneath the blast, stone and earth melting into scorched slag in a heartbeat.

They skidded to a halt several meters away.

Raze sucked in a sharp breath. "Damn… that's really hot."

He stared at the scorched ground, eyes narrowing. He'd seen fire spells before, plenty of them, but never something that burned straight through stone as if it were paper.

Fey glanced at him. "What do we do?" he asked. "Should I take it head-on?"

Raze shook his head. "A fight on this scale will wipe out the town. If we don't move it, people die." His gaze swept the distant streets. "We either lure it out… or we end it here and keep casualties as low as possible."

Fey grimaced. "And how exactly do you expect that thing to follow us out of town?"

Raze exhaled slowly. "I don't yet" His eyes shifted. "Not unless we understand what it really is."

He turned to Viscount Luke, who was still dangling in his grip. "That dragon, what's it here for? Us? Or just destruction?"

Luke met his stare and smiled.

A slow, mocking smile.

"As if I'd ever tell you."

Raze's jaw clenched. The next moment, his bat swung.

Crack.

The blow slammed into Luke's head, snapping it sideways before Raze tossed him aside like trash.

"Piece of shit," he muttered.

By now, the town had noticed.

People poured into the streets, frozen in terror as they stared at the colossal figure in the distance. Screams echoed as the dragon reared back once more and unleashed another breath of flame.

Raze and Fey leapt aside again, but this time, the attack didn't stop.

The dragon swept its head sideways.

The flames followed.

Like a burning whip, the fire tore through buildings, ripping houses apart in seconds. Stone crumbled, roofs collapsed, and screams filled the air as people were caught in the destruction.

Raze's fists tightened.

If this continued, Oden would burn.

"Damn it…" he growled. "We end this now."

He turned sharply. "Fey, transform!"

Without hesitation, Fey shifted to his fenrir form, fur bristling with energy, lightning dancing along his frame.

The undead dragon's gaze snapped toward him.

A worthy opponent.

With a thunderous roar, it unleashed another blast of flame straight at Fey.

Fey slammed his paws into the ground and roared back.

A glowing magical circle formed before his jaws, lightning condensing in an instant before erupting outward. The bolt collided with the dragon's breath midair.

The impact shook the world.

A deafening sonic boom tore through the town, followed by a blinding explosion of light that forced even Raze to shield his eyes.

"Hold it there!" Raze shouted over the chaos. "I'll go for its heart. That's the only way we kill it!"

"How are you planning to reach it?" Fey growled, muscles straining as he held back the inferno.

Raze didn't slow down. "Don't worry about that. Just keep it busy."

And then he ran.

Straight toward the undead dragon.

Heat washed over him instantly, intense enough to warp the air. The ground beneath his feet softened, buildings around him burning as Fey and the dragon continued their clash.

Fey dug in deeper, forcing everything he had into the struggle. He was a Fenrir, raw power incarnate, but this wasn't his element. Lightning wasn't meant to overpower dragon breath.

Still, he held.

Because if he didn't, everything would burn.

Raze rushed forward, and when he was close enough, he teleported.

The next instant, he reappeared high above the battlefield, the heat thinning the air around him. From here, he saw it clearly, the undead dragon's heart, a writhing core of purple-red flame caged inside its ribcage, beating like something alive.

He raised his hand.

Fire bloomed.

Dozens of flame arrows screamed downward, ripping through the air in tight formation. They should have pierced straight through.

The dragon's ribs ignited.

Flames erupted outward from its skeletal chest, coiling like living serpents. The arrows struck the barrier and disintegrated one after another, bursting into sparks before they could reach the heart.

Raze clicked his tongue.

The dragon noticed his presence, and without breaking its attack on Fey, it swung its tail at Raze, a blur of bone sweeping through the air.

Raze teleported again, reappearing several meters away as the tail whipped through where he had been. The dragon didn't slow. Its wings snapped open and it shot upward, faster than Raze expected, bone tearing through smoke and flame.

Above him.

Its jaws opened.

Fire poured down.

Raze teleported at the last possible instant, heat tearing at his back as he reappeared beside Fey, landing hard on one knee.

"That thing's insane," Raze muttered.

The dragon turned on them together.

Flames descended like judgment.

Fey slammed his paw into the ground.

Stone surged upward, forming a dome around them just as the fire hit. The earth glowed red, then orange, melting into lava that dripped down the sides. Inside, Fey growled low, magic roaring as he reinforced the barrier again and again until the flames finally died out.

The dome collapsed.

Fey launched upward.

Wind exploded beneath him, carrying his massive form skyward. The dragon twisted in surprise and fired again, but Fey answered instantly, lightning flared as a magic circle snapped into existence, a beam of brilliance crashing into the flames and canceling them out in a blinding explosion.

The dragon flapped hard, retreating, then curved back around, faster, heavier.

Impact.

It slammed into Fey midair.

An invisible wall of air that Fey set up quickly shattered between them as Fey was hurled downward, crashing through stone and skidding across the ground before digging in and forcing himself back up.

Screams echoed.

Raze's eyes snapped toward the town.

People were running. Buildings burned. The dragon swept its head and unleashed a wide torrent of flame, carving through streets and rooftops alike.

"Damn it," Raze hissed.

He moved.

Teleport.

Above the dragon's head.

Raze swung his bat downward, casting a water spell.

A massive lance formed instantly, two meters long, spiraling violently as it condensed. Raze dropped with it, driving the attack straight down.

The lance struck.

Water slammed into bone.

The dragon's head snapped downward with a deafening crack, fractures spreading across its skull as steam exploded outward. The creature roared, sound tearing through the sky.

Raze's eyes widened.

That worked.

The dragon surged upward violently, smashing into him. Raze was flung high, tumbling through the air before vanishing and reappearing beside Fey in a rough landing.

"Water," Raze said sharply. "That's it. Hit it with everything you've got."

Fey didn't question him.

He slammed his paw down.

The ground lit up.

One magic circle formed beneath him. Then another above. Then two more snapped into place, rotating in opposite directions. The air vibrated as the spell completed.

Water erupted.

Massive jets blasted forward, roaring through the air toward the dragon. The creature threw back its head and screamed, flames surging across its entire skeletal body in response.

Water met fire.

Steam exploded outward, swallowing the dragon whole. The battlefield vanished into a blinding white cloud, pressure rolling outward in crushing waves.

Inside the steam, the dragon still moved.

Its silhouette thrashed.

The flames didn't go out.

The fight wasn't over.

The good thing about the situation was that this undead dragon seemed to lack the intelligence of a normal dragon, relying only on its base abilities to fight.

If it had been a real dragon, Fey would have had a very difficult time fighting it, because not only would it have better battle experience, it would have magic, and among divine beasts, dragons were said to have better affinity to magic than the Fenrir.

"If we want to kill this thing, you are going to need to evacuate the town somehow, so that we can fight better," Fey said.

Immediately, Raze had a spark of an idea. "Or we can take it out ourselves," he said. "I'll create a gate as large as possible, and all you have to do is make sure to force the dragon through the gate. That way, we can take it somewhere else and fight it properly," Raze explained.

Fey was unsure as to how Raze would be capable of opening a gate that large, but he decided to trust, after all, it was Raze.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.