The world went dark for a split second as gold and darkness collided in a brilliant explosion. Heaven and earth folded into each other, as if a god had driven his hand into the ground and crushed the battlefield beneath his palm. The impact did not stop at the clash itself. It burst outward in a devastating wave, shaking the air, the land, and even the sky above, as though the very world had recoiled from the force of it.

The destructive golden flame roared as it tore into the darkness, burning with the fury of something ancient, trying to overpower it through sheer force alone. Yet the darkness was even more terrifying. It did not explode wildly or lose control. It swallowed. Everything that touched it was devoured without resistance, as if the golden flames had rushed into a bottomless abyss the moment the two powers met.

Max’s attack consumed the golden beam, crushed through it, and surged toward the dragon progenitor with terrifying momentum. The beast’s molten eyes shrank, and for the first time, something close to fear stirred within them. The mana produced by that little human made its scales tremble violently, every instinct inside its ancient body screaming at it to flee, to turn away, not to take that attack head-on.

But the pride flowing through its blood refused to yield.

That pride had existed long before this battle, long before Max, long before even the clans who still worshipped the dragons from below. It was the pride of a creature that had stood above countless lives and had never once bowed its head. Even now, with danger clawing at its instincts, it refused to give a single inch.

So it met the blast head-on.

The moment the darkness swallowed the dragon’s head, the molten glow within its scales began to wither before the eye. The mana flowing through its body was stripped away layer by layer, devoured so completely that it looked as if the darkness itself had rejected its power and was tearing it from the beast by force.

What should have been an untouchable existence was suddenly being overwhelmed, its molten scales dimming, its aura buckling, as Max’s attack continued to chew through everything in its path without showing the slightest sign of stopping.

KRRRRAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!

A sudden roar ripped from its maw as golden flame burst from the abyss-like pit of its throat, pouring past rows of molten fangs and crashing against the all-devouring darkness. It was a challenge born from an ancient lineage, from a pride so deeply rooted in its blood that it refused to accept defeat at the hands of human magic. Its crazed, bloodshot eyes blazed with golden light as it forced the flames forward with maddened fury, pouring more and more power into the clash.

Rosalia could barely stop herself from passing out from the shockwave. She held Max’s limp body with all her strength. The power he had just shown made her heart skip a beat. She already knew Max was a monstrous powerhouse when it came to magic, but this... this was not human.

"Come on, we must hide!" Rosalia patted the ancestral beast’s head, urging it to flee while the darkness kept the progenitor occupied. Her blood churned violently. Even now, the suppression over her bloodline made her thoughts spiral, as if demanding that she die today and offer herself up as a sacrificial meal.

Another wave of explosions tore across the sky. The giant maw erupted like a hundred detonating suns, bursting outward inch by inch as the golden flames ripped through the darkness and slowly began to overpower it.

The moment Max’s attack dispersed, those feral eyes swept across the empty sky. The beast roared with hatred and rage, so deep and violent it sounded as if the sky itself were being torn open, desperately searching for them.

Golden light pulsed wildly in its bloodshot eyes, but after failing to find even a trace of their presence, its giant wings spread wide and slammed downward with enough force to unleash violent winds across the ruined land. In the next moment, its massive body shot toward the unknown horizon, vanishing like a nightmare carried off by the heavens.

Only after its presence disappeared did Rosalia allow herself to breathe.

Her lungs burned. Her arms trembled from the strain of holding Max’s limp body, yet she forced herself to keep moving. The ancestral beast had already carried them into the Fire Clan’s castle through the hole Agnia had crashed through during her clash with Rosalia, before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

Rosalia breathed heavily inside the ruined stronghold, her chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm. She could feel the suppression there being nullified, and that alone made her suspicions rise further. Carrying Max toward the nearest wall, she lowered herself down with him carefully, while the ancestral beast crashed face-first onto the ground, fully unconscious.

Her eyes fell on Agnia, who lay buried in the rubble, lifeless at first glance. "It’s all because of you..." Rosalia rested Max’s body gently against the wall. Her steps were slow, each one echoing through the building, each carrying more fury and murderous intent than the last.

Her sharp claws glinted beneath the rays of the sun, casting a deathly shadow over Agnia.

As if sensing the disaster drawing near, the pair of exhausted eyes slowly opened, only to see a dark shadow walking toward her. Agnia did not yet understand what that shadow was. Her head spun violently, ringing like a bell struck by a giant hammer.

A sharp pain suddenly tore through her scalp when the shadow loomed over her. She screamed and thrashed as her hair was yanked upward.

There was no light left in Rosalia’s eyes. She pulled Agnia up by the hair and leaned in, staring deeply into those now-black eyes. Agnia had reverted to her human form the moment she passed out, and now her body was vulnerable to any attack Rosalia wished to inflict.

She held Agnia at her mercy, like a chicken prepared for slaughter. One sharp claw rested against Agnia’s delicate neck, drawing a thin line of crimson across the skin. Deep hatred churned in her blood, from the moment of her mother’s death, to the many times her husband had been forced to risk his life.

And now to the fact that the Fire Dragon Clan had unleashed yet another disaster upon the world, one she knew would bring chaos and likely force them into the center of attention in the greater world, one Max had yet to explore...