Bruce chuckled under his breath. Ash was learning how to be a true battlefield predator.

With a smooth motion, he leapt from the dragon's back and landed lightly in the snow just as Ash slammed into the broken formation below like a falling meteor. Ice and wind erupted outward as the dragon tore into the disorganized wolves.

Bruce pointed ahead without looking at the carnage.

"Get them, Ash. You're free to go all out."

Ash roared in response, a thunderous, earth-shaking bellow that vibrated through the storm, before launching itself fully into the pack, claws, fangs, and fire weaving together in a terrifying spiral of destruction.

Bruce did not join.

He remained still, snow drifting around him, his attention fixed not on the chaos but on the one wolf who stood untouched.

The one who had not screamed. The one who had not fallen. The one whose aura pulsed colder, deeper, steadier than the rest.

The pack leader.

Somehow, it had avoided Ash's Soul Flame entirely.

Bruce smirked, folding his arms across his chest as Ash slaughtered the others behind him.

"Well now," Bruce murmured, amused. "This one's interesting."

Ash tore through the first wave, ripping wolves apart with a brutal, fluid grace only a dragon could wield. Every swipe of its claws carved crimson streaks through the snow, every lash of its tail shattered bones and sent bodies flying. The battlefield trembled under the ferocity of its movements.

Bruce stood where he was, still as carved obsidian. Calm. Watching. Waiting. Prepared for the Alpha's move.

Just to keep the creature in check, Bruce allowed the full weight of his bloodlust to leak outward. The air thickened instantly, a crushing, suffocating pressure that would have driven most S-Ranked beasts to their knees or into blind retreat.

But the Alpha did not kneel.

Its muscles trembled. Its pupils shrank. Its aura flared wildly. And instead of fear, rage erupted through its body like a storm detonating from within. Bruce's bloodlust agitated it...

SWOOSH!!!!

The Alpha blurred, its form twisting into a streak of white and frost. In a single heartbeat, it reappeared behind Ash, jaws wide, fangs gleaming with lethal hunger as it snapped forward, aiming to tear straight into the dragon's tail.

Bruce's expression sharpened. 'It ignored me?'

But he moved before the thought could finish forming. One instant he stood still.

The next, he was beside the beast. A controlled burst of mana, precise, lethal, pierced the creature's heart and brain simultaneously, rupturing both organs in two silent detonations.

The Alpha didn't even understand that it had died.

Its body collapsed, steam rising faintly from within as its life spilled into the snow.

Bruce looked down with mild disappointment. "I guess in the end… a beast will be a beast after all."

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I release my bloodlust and you ignore me, but you go straight for Ash? So unpredictable. Am I really that scary?"

A soft breath left him, white mist drifting into the air. But the truth was clear, this Alpha could have harmed Ash. S-Ranked beasts weren't mere animals, they were apex predators. And even dragons, magnificent as they were, weren't invincible against something a full rank above them.

Ash, despite its terrifying evolution, was still newly A-Rank. Its scales were strong, impressively so, but an S-Rank's strike could have pierced them.

Bruce wasn't going to allow the possibility.

With the Alpha gone, the battlefield changed instantly. The pack lost its center. No guidance, no signals, no formation. Their movements deteriorated into unfocused aggression, even their instincts clashed, and they stumbled over each other in the snow.

Ash, however, surged forward with renewed fury.

It dove into the wolves like a demon unleashed, tearing, crushing, ripping through fur and flesh with joyful brutality. Flames burst. Snow exploded. The blizzard itself seemed to recoil from the dragon's rampage.

Bruce chuckled softly.

He noticed it, Ash could have ended the battle already with waves of Soul Flame, or by using its Void Devourer maw to erase them in a single gulp.

It could have wiped the field clean without lifting a claw. But instead, it chose physical combat. Chose the thrill. Chose the struggle. Chose violence at close range.

Just like Bruce.

Bruce sighed, rubbing his temple. "Should I say like father like son… or like master like pet?"

He folded his arms and watched with quiet amusement as Ash reveled in the carnage, tearing through what remained of the fragmented pack with unstoppable draconic pride.

Ash roared, a deep, thunderous bellow that rattled the distant ice cliffs and sent tremors rolling across the frozen battlefield. There was excitement in that roar, too sharp and vibrant to be mere aggression. It was joy. The primal delight of combat. The thrill of testing newfound strength. The intoxicating instinct to dominate.

The dragon drove its claw downward, slamming a wolf into the snow with enough force to crater the ground. Bones snapped in a sickening cascade, blood bursting outward like dark winter blossoms. Another wolf darted from behind, jaws wide, Ash twisted smoothly, tail whipping through the air with a sonic crack.

WHIP-CRACK!

The wolf's body split cleanly in two before it even understood it had been struck.

A third gigantic wolf leapt toward Ash's throat. The dragon caught it mid-air by the snout, snarled, and flung the beast across the field. It smashed into an ice pillar with a violent crunch, collapsing into the snow in a limp heap. Ash was fast too fast for it's current size.

Each of Ash's movements rippled through the storm, shaking the blizzard itself. Snow spiraled wildly around the dragon's massive frame, reacting to every thunderous step, every sweeping strike, every blast of heat radiating off its scales.

Its eyes burned with bright golden fire, pupils razor-thin with exhilaration. Ash wasn't simply fighting, it was reveling in the physicality of battle.

In the strength of its larger frame, in the power of its flames, in the sheer thrill of tearing through enemies with its own claws and teeth. This was its first true battlefield as an evolved dragon, and it embraced the chaos with unrestrained ecstasy.

Ash stomped another wolf into the snow, crushing its ribcage with brutal finality. Then it lifted its head, chest expanding, wings flaring wide...

ROOOOAAAAAAR!!!

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