The powerful wind started swirling into a tornado right above our heads, and Katrina was already sparkling with accumulated energy.
"Vivi, I hope you still have the gloves that Aileen made for you?" I winked at the brave spearwoman.
"Yes, why?" she asked.
"Run up and jump onto Ultras. Try to hit him in the heart."
"Alright, though I'm not sure about the success."
"Katrina, get ready to strike as soon as Vivien attacks, hit her spear with lightning!"
"What? Will she withstand it?" Katrina was worried about her comrade. During the tournament, she almost died absorbing such a powerful charge.
"I'll endure, don't worry. But I won't be able to fight for some time after that."
"No problem, that's part of my plan," I gathered wind mana in my blades and inflicted two slashes on the monster's face to attract its attention. "Attack!"
Ultras rushed at me, and I barely touched his head before somersaulting in the air and landing on his neck. The girls started their attack.
Climbing up to the highest rock, Vivien leaped down, and the force of the hurricane pressed her to the ground, enhancing her strike. Katrina released a huge lightning bolt that, piercing the sky, started being drawn towards the spear like a lightning rod. The blade of Naganata grew in size and was enveloped in a golden light. Aiming precisely at the heart of the creature, the warrior thrust the spear into the dragon's body. An electric discharge drilled into the massive body, branching out into small sparks. I took advantage of the moment and thrust my blade into the neck; the discharges spreading across the dragon's body were partly absorbed by my small blade, but most of them paralyzed its muscle movements.
The red lord howled in pain, but the attack wasn't lethal; the spear slowed down in its flesh and, colliding with something deep inside the chest, rebounded to the side.
"You beasts, know your place!" the dragon performed a sharp somersault in the air, and Vivien and I were thrown aside. Grain and Rizel managed to catch us before we hit the ground, but the tremendous charge gathered by Katrina continued to dissipate in the atmosphere. The storm clouds collected by the hurricane began to crackle with static electricity.
In the sky, there was only the dragon one-on-one with the white clan's warrior.
"Hey, red princess, where are you?" Ragni was meditating behind her comrades' backs, and Kurone was trying to help her reach her friend's consciousness. "Why can't I hear her... She's not dead, is she?"
The dragoness was completely immersed in the realm of the mind, wandering in the darkness, searching for that bright girl who always cheered her comrades. It seemed like an eternity had passed, but she was nowhere to be found. Yet in the darkness, a little light flickered - a red tear glowed dimly.
"I hope it's her," Ragni approached the strange stone uncertainly. The tear was slightly larger than a fist and looked like a very bright ruby, with flames raging inside it. "I want to take it."
Making sure that no one saw her, the girl reached out to the stone. And as soon as she touched it, the darkness opened up, and an unstoppable flame enveloped everything around. Under her feet, there was no solid ground; she was simply floating in a sphere of eternal flame, but it felt like she wasn't here; these were the sensations of the one she was looking for. The dragoness's mind circled around the girl's body hugging the red ruby in an ocean of fire.
"Seleria! Wake up, how much longer are you going to sit here?" Her words didn't reach the princess; they were extinguished in the ocean of roaring fire. But the girl began to wake up; she blinked timidly, and the flames around her started taking shape. A huge body, sharp scales, and rows of pointed horns— a massive red monster circled behind Seleria's back. "Ultras!? No... something else..."
The fiery monster resembled Ultras, but there was something different about it. It didn't evoke the same fear and revulsion as the cursed dragon. Its aura was more powerful, majestic, and calm. "Who are you?" Ragni hoped to get an answer from this monster, but in response, it merely smiled slightly and charged forward. "Stop!"
Ragni couldn't halt it; the red dragon lunged at Seleria and entered her body. The girl's body began to glow, as if all the surrounding flames became an extension of her. She opened her eyes, and a red flash expelled the black princess from the depths of her consciousness.
"Hey, the brains of the team, looks like your plan didn't work!" Hilde was more interested in teasing me than coming up with a new plan.
"Where did you get that idea? My plan is just starting to unfold," I smirked and surveyed the battlefield again.
The tornado slowly and uncertainly descended from the enormous thundercloud. Golden lightning flashed through the sky every minute. The ground trembled in anticipation of disaster.
"Graine, stop playing with stones, take everyone and get out of the crater," I gave the command to the mage, and he instantly picked up Algo, Leira, and Asura, soaring towards the crater's edge. "Miriam, Aileen, climb higher on the rock and keep it in the center. The show begins in three..."
Two...
One...
Dr-rrrrrrrrr.
A deafening roar shook the earth. The volcano on which we had just stood began to burst from within. Hundreds of lightning bolts struck the ground, and black ash clouds started rising into the sky. The earth began to shake violently.
"Well, that's it! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Only the red dragon found this spectacle immensely pleasurable. "With the power of the awakened volcano, I will turn this whole valley into a scorched desert. You've lost, insects!!" The dragon landed on the crater's edge and eagerly awaited the long-awaited power.
"Come on, wake up and give me your power again!!"
The earth trembled one last time, and a massive stream of lava and flames erupted into him, lifting the crater's bottom and throwing it up into a cloud of ash in the thunderous cloud. The eruption further intensified the charge in the sky, and lightning flashed almost every second.
"Yes, give me your power," the red monster extended his paws towards the fiery stream, trying to absorb its strength, but something was wrong. His face changed, bewilderment and fear flickered across it. "Why can't I absorb it?!"
"That's because..." a thunderous female voice sounded from the volcano's maw, "it's all MY power now!!!"
The lava formed the shape of an enormous paw and swatted the red lord into the sky. The lava flow that erupted from the volcano didn't fall to the ground; instead, it gathered in the sky, forming a massive fiery star.
But the color of this flame was not the same as lava should be. It was a bright crimson, creating a fiery star, and in its center, one figure was visible. In the midst of the raging flames, there stood a young girl. Her eyes burned with red light, and her hair rose upwards, immersed in flames. On her temples, there were small red horns, and behind her back, red scaly wings fluttered.
"Now we'll fight on equal terms, cursed god!" Seleria shook the earth with her voice alone.
From the fiery sphere, a paw made of pure flame burst forth and with one strike, sent Ultras soaring high into the sky.
"YOUUU, WORTHLESS CREATURRRE!! HOW DARE YOU TAME DIVINE FLAME!!!!" The dragon boiled with rage.
"Just like that, very easily," Seleria smirked slyly, intentionally teasing the monster, and it was yielding results.
"That's MY power!!" Ultras fiercely lunged at the princess, but a massive fireball shielded her. The dragon tore at it with his claws, but the flames immediately regenerated. He tried to consume it, but only burned himself with its power.
Seleria raised her hands, and small tongues of flame shot out from the sphere. Transforming into shurikens, they rained down upon the enemy. The flames easily seared his skin, and stars fell like hail on the surrounding forest, leaving deep gouges. However, even hundreds of stars couldn't inflict significant wounds; the dragon absorbed them instantly.
The girl spread her arms wide, as if wielding invisible weapons, and two crimson blades materialized from the crimson flames. Skillfully wielding the swords, she delivered two attacks to the dragon, but he shattered the fiery blades in mid-air, causing them to dissipate. The girl continued to summon various weapons, but Ultras repelled all the attacks. While he couldn't counterattack, the battle seemed to be a stalemate.
"Yes! That's it!! Go, Seli!!" I don't know where Vina had been hiding until now, but if she had the right materials, she would have made numerous posters and turned us into a fan club for the red princess.
"Vina, it's too early to celebrate. The battle isn't going in our favor yet," I carefully observed the new suns around Seleria. "Each attack slowly depletes Seleria's strength; the fireball has already shrunk by almost twenty centimeters after only three attacks. If this continues, she'll lose."
"But Ultras' power isn't limitless either," Ragni protested against my conclusions. "He won't be able to regenerate forever!"
"Perhaps, but I wouldn't risk betting on who will come out stronger. Seleria still lacks something," I said as the flame mainly remained in the form of a sphere, changing only for attacks. "It's her first time harnessing such immense power, and she doesn't know how to wield it properly."
"Well, she could create several royal hydras from it; they worked pretty well with me," Ragni nonchalantly scratched her side, recalling the bites of fiery fangs.
"That's only because you were trapped in a dome; now it's too foolish. The most impressive form she has ever seen is Ultras, but she can't summon him to this battle. He knows his weaknesses better than anyone, so she needs to find a better form," I explained.
"But there is one such form!" Ragni delved into her memories. "I saw it just now, the creature that helped her rise from the flames."
"But you saw it, not Seleria," I smiled, and it began to dawn on the dragoness. Spreading her wings, she soared towards the fireball. "Kurone, do everything you can to merge their minds."
"It won't be easy," Kurone focused on Ragni. "In the end, Seleria is protected by divine power."
"Are you saying you won't be able to do it?"
Kurone let out a satisfied snort.
"Oh, of course not. It'll just take a bit more time," she replied.
"SELERIA!" The black dragoness flew into the fiery sphere at high speed, but the red flames didn't burn her; instead, they allowed her passage to the spellcaster.
"Ragni, what are you doing here?!" The girls reunited at the center of the sun, holding hands as they floated in an ocean of flames, beyond the world's reach.
"I came to give you a little help. Not too long ago, I did wake you up, or do you not remember?" Ragni frowned in disapproval.
"I heard your voice, but I thought it was just my imagination," Seleria admitted.
"No, Kurone tried so hard to lead me to you, and now you're saying nothing happened. I want to share with you the image of someone who could fight Ultras on equal terms."
"Eh?" Seleria paused for a moment. "Could it be your mother?"
"Nope," a cunning smirk appeared on the dragoness' face. "Someone even better."
The girls closed their eyes and connected their memories. Images of a massive dragon awakening within Seleria's power flowed from Ragni's mind. The crimson aura enveloped the princess and gradually began to encompass her companion.
"What's this?" Ragni looked in awe and fear as the glow rose from her hands and covered her entire body.
"Calm down, I just thought I could share a bit with you."
For a moment, the colossal sun contracted to ten meters and then suddenly expanded into a new form. From the scorching center emerged tongues of flame, which immediately took the shape of scaled limbs. Huge wings and a sharp-toothed face on a long neck completed the appearance of the red dragon.
Now, two red dragons of immense size hovered in the sky. Ultras, the dragon of destruction, and the dragon of crimson flame. They appeared equal in size, but the crimson dragon was slimmer and more elegant than Ultras. Its paws were covered with sharp spikes up to the elbows, and it had only two rows of pointed horns on its head. Yet, somehow, it exuded an aura of much greater strength.
"F-Father?" The voice of the red dragon conveyed genuine fear.