BOOM.

The impact ripped through the air like a physical blow, driving a shock through the battlefield that sent stone groaning and pressure rippling outward in visible waves.

CRASH.

The translucent black dragon reeled in midair as it was sent flying in a scene reminiscent of a person getting struck by a truck.

The layered abyssal and source energy field surrounding its body—those sheets of corrupted authority that had been amplifying abyssal domains across the field—buckled outright.

Distortions rippled outward and had a noticeable impact on the battle situation. On the eastern front, the liquefying sludge composing the Abyssal Demigod's domain stuttered, its forward surge losing cohesion as the borrowed reinforcement abruptly weakened.

Even to the north, the Wrath and gravity abyssals working together faltered. Their domains flickered violently at the edges.

The human 9-star tamer's eyes widened. Not only from surprise but also trepidation at this unfamiliar golden dragon.

He had already resigned himself to another grinding clash—another exchange that could only be measured in hours, blood, and endurance. Inside the collapsing relic, he had thrown everything he possessed at the abyssal dragon and never once secured a decisive upper hand, even while it was weakened. His goal had never been victory—only delaying it or exhausting it so that it could hopefully not escape the relic's collapse.

Although, it was unknown if the collapse of the relic could even kill it. But if he were lucky, it'd get thrown into an unstable space and be unable to reunite with its kin.

Then this unfamiliar golden dragon appeared—vast and effortlessly pressuring the surroundings, its golden scales catching no light yet dimming everything around it.

The 9-star tamer felt it at once: not a surge of power, but a sense of rank. The same instinctive awareness that told him his own dragon contract stood above lesser beings now whispered something colder—that this newcomer stood a clear step above even that.

And now the black dragon had been helplessly sent flying in a way that reinforced that realization

Because it was actually suppressed.

That unknown golden dragon had flown onto the field and was forcing a demigod back with unsettling ease—and the human 9-star tamer had no idea what that meant, how one could be even stronger than a demigod, what realm it could possibly have reached, or where this golden dragon's loyalties truly lay.

The 9-star tamer could not articulate the sensation, only the instinctive dread rising in his chest—fear not of the abyssal dragon that had been his opponent not long ago, but of what stood opposite it.

Aurem hovered between them, golden figure suspended without effort, his gaze fixed on the abyssal dragon as one might study a stain that refused to wash away.

The black dragon's pupils narrowed.

It knew it was wounded. Its form flickered at the edges, scales cracked, one wing dragging lower as it expended constant effort simply to remain coherent and offset some of the opposing attacks' force.

And yet—it was still a demigod. And it had its own pride.

It had torn free from imprisonment.

It had endured the killing moves of a human 9-star tamer for hours.

It had stepped onto this battlefield and, through its mere existence, restored abyssal laws and allowed domains to unfold. Within the Abyss, it was an existence only second to the Great Mother!

Being suppressed by another dragon was a huge stain on its ego!

The black dragon's energy surged inward, compressing tightly around its own body, sealing up the corrupted light bled from fractures in its scales, leaking into the air in thick, oily ribbons.

Then it attacked.

Space ahead of it tore open in ragged arcs—black fissures snapping outward like the talons of an unseen beast. A crushing wave of abyssal corruption followed, not fire or lightning, but a suffocating flood that sought to coat Aurem's scales, seep into his presence, and rewrite what he was.

The air screamed.

Stone below warped.

Even distant defenders felt themselves losing control of their bodies and almost attacked their allies, as though the world itself were trying to convince them that the Abyss was the true order and goodness they should be defending, not opposing.

Thankfully, the 9-star beast tamer observing the changing battlefield situation removed the influence with a wave of his hand, allowing them to keep their sanity.

But despite helping the soldiers in the fort, his gaze remained fixed in the distance, curious about how that golden dragon would deal with the brunt of the attack.

But contrary to his expectations about launching a desperate defense, Aurem did not even bothr to move.

Nor did he need to.

The fissures reached his proximity and unraveled.

Not deflected.

Not blocked.

They simply could not maintain shape where he existed.

The wave of corruption thinned as it approached him, black fading to gray and then to nothingness, force bleeding away as though poured into a bottomless void.

Aurem's gaze did not change while the opposing Abyssal Dragon's gaze became tinged with fear.

The attack had been spectacular. Its strongest attack launched yet. Far stronger than anything the human 9-star tamer had had to face.

But it had also been completely ineffective.

The black dragon roared—as if to use the warcry as a method to bolster its courage—and lunged.

Its claws, reinforced by abyssal authority, descended like guillotines aimed at Aurem's head and neck. Its intact wing snapped forward as an anchor, attempting to drag Aurem into its own space—into the densest concentration of abyssal energy that it wielded.

Aurem tilted his head.

He met the claws with his own.

There was no flash.

No clash of energies.

Only a clean, brutal impact that rang like metal striking mountain.

The black dragon's talons stopped.

Then they were forced back.

Aurem's claws advanced steadily, inexorably, sliding over corrupted scales and carving gouges that did not immediately heal.

The 9-star tamer watching in the distance widened his eyes in shock and horror, this was the first time he'd seen the dragon abyssal suffer a wound it couldn't heal from.

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