Atop a giant stone platform, a slender green dragon lay flat on its stomach, its long body coiled loosely around the edges of the altar in a deep, undisturbed slumber.

Its breathing was slow. Steady. Untroubled by anything around it.

Suddenly, its eyes snapped open.

A thick miasma had crept in without warning, engulfing its body and the surrounding stone in a slow, creeping haze. At first the dragon only blinked, confused, its head lifting slightly as it tried to make sense of the shift in the air around it.

Then the feeling of danger washed over it all at once.

Its scales bristled, the hair-like ridges along its spine standing on edge, its entire body jerking upright in a sudden burst of alarm.

But it was already too late.

Hela appeared directly in front of it, the curved blade of her scythe already sweeping through the air in one clean, decisive arc.

The surprise attack, combined with the disorienting effect of the miasma, tore a deep gash across the side of the dragon’s face. It recoiled instantly, releasing its grip on the altar’s edge, scrambling backward with a hiss of pain.

Roar!!!!

The beast let out a furious roar, rage overtaking the confusion as it turned to retaliate against Hela directly.

But she was already gone.

In the next instant, three shock rounds embedded themselves into the dragon’s back, sending jagged bolts of electricity crackling across its scales.

The creature convulsed, its massive body collapsing to the ground in a helpless, twitching struggle, muscles seizing under the current running through them.

The pain didn’t hold it for long.

As soon as the sensation wore off, the dragon snapped back into motion, rising sharply into the air and unleashing a churning cloud of fire down across the platform below.

When the flames cleared and the miasma finally thinned, Ella’s massive holy shield stood revealed at the center of it all, untouched, the surface glowing faintly where the fire had washed harmlessly against it.

"Now."

Ethan’s voice rang out clearly as he appeared directly above the beast, already riding along its back, his grip firm despite the creature’s violent movement beneath him.

In that same instant, Ella’s shield dissolved, and all three of them moved as one, converging on the dragon from three separate directions, driving it steadily away from the altar with coordinated pressure.

They knew what they were dealing with. This particular dragon carried the designation of Flying Mind Dragon, a species known for intelligence far beyond what most beasts possessed, paired with a temperament twisted enough to make it dangerous in ways strength alone couldn’t measure.

Even luring it away from the altar had been difficult to plan around. A creature this perceptive would recognize a deliberate maneuver almost immediately, unraveling their intentions before the trap fully closed.

Which was why Ethan had summoned Morgana to perform dragon dive against it.

At her current strength, she couldn’t overpower the beast outright. But she could disrupt it, cloud its instincts just enough to create the narrow window they needed to draw it off course and away from the watching eyes below.

"It’s gone. They succeeded!!"

One member of the Dracontis family called out, stepping cautiously from where he’d been hiding behind a jagged outcropping of stone.

"Yeah, let’s get this over with before it kills them."

Another chimed in, brushing dust from his sleeves as he walked toward the now-empty altar, his tone carrying no real concern for the three who had just risked themselves to clear the way.

They were here for one reason. If someone else’s life became the cost of that reason, it was a cost they were more than willing to let stand.

Only Lorn seemed unsettled by how easily the others had moved on.

It was as though they’d already forgotten the dragon wasn’t the only danger lurking in this fractured place.

"They have a plan. They said so themselves."

He muttered it under his breath, more to steady himself than to convince anyone else, turning his attention back toward the altar as preparations for the summoning ritual began around him.

Meanwhile, far above the platform, the fight continued without pause.

Whip!!

Whip!!!

The leather whip cracked sharply through the air, striking true each time, the dragon snarling in pain as its flight pattern grew increasingly erratic. Its thoughts were clouded, its instincts scattered, and the relentless pressure from both above and below made maintaining altitude an exhausting, uncoordinated struggle.

It was still stronger than any of them individually.

That much hadn’t changed. Their combined attacks barely scratched at its true durability. All it needed to do was hold out, buy enough time for its senses to clear, and it fully expected them to lose momentum long before that happened.

"Get ready. He’s going to ground it."

Hela called out to the two beside her, her eyes fixed on Ethan’s position atop the beast’s back, tracking his movements closely.

He nodded once, and a moment later, a portal shimmered open beneath the dragon’s flailing form. Smaller rock drakes surged through it, latching onto the creature’s limbs and wings with vicious, unrelenting bites, their combined weight beginning to drag it steadily downward.

The dragon thrashed, but there was nothing left to resist with. Its wings, weighed down and torn at from every angle, could no longer hold its mass aloft.

"Go!!"

Fin’s voice cut through the chaos as he activated a glowing array beneath the falling beast, the magic circle bidding it toward the ground with focused intent.

On all sides, their summons materialized in sequence, feeding power into the array’s shifting light while the group worked quickly to secure the beast with heavy rope, binding limb after limb before it could recover its footing.

Several long, tense minutes passed.

At last, the dragon lay still, pinned and struggling weakly against the restraints holding it down.

"We’ll keep a close eye on it. Go do what you have to do."

Hela said it evenly, glancing toward Ethan as he dropped down from the dragon’s back and landed lightly on the stone below.

"Hm!!"

Ethan nodded without hesitation.

This had been the plan from the very beginning.

His actual goal wasn’t far now. Already he could make out the sky ahead, painted in shifting bands of color stretching toward the horizon.

Somewhere beneath it, his prey was waiting.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​