The mont Aeliana heard Marcus’s words, her stomach twisted.
She stared at him, disgust clear in her eyes.
"You’ve gone insane, Marcus," she said quietly. "Have you completely lost your humanity? To try and experint with sothing like that on normal people..."
Her fingers tightened around the chains.
"I don’t believe you’re doing this just for power. What is your end goal in all this?"
Marcus fell silent.
For several seconds, he didn’t speak at all. His gaze drifted away from her, as if he were staring at sothing only he could see.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low.
"In life, I’ve learned that only if you have power do you truly control your fate."
He raised his eyes to et Aeliana’s.
"Then what about those hypocritical gods," he continued, "who give you hope... only to shatter it?"
Aeliana frowned.
"What hope?"
"Hope that you will be able to et your loved ones again," Marcus said. "Hope that no one will ever be able to take anything from you again. Hope that you’ll be able to change your fate."
His lips curled into a bitter smile.
"You could say I was once just like everyone else," he went on. "Hungry for revenge, desperate for a miracle. I joined the cult because they gave that hope. They said if I did well, if I served faithfully, they would fulfil my wish."
"They," Aeliana repeated softly. "Who are ’they’?"
Marcus’s eyes sharpened.
"Have you ever heard of the Outer Gods?" he asked.
Aeliana’s brows furrowed further. She shook her head slightly.
Seeing that, Marcus gave a short laugh.
"So you haven’t. It doesn’t matter," he said. "If they don’t fulfil my wish, I’ll force them to. Becoming powerful is the only thod left."
His voice hardened.
"And I will do anything to beco the strongest," he said. "Strong enough that even the Outers won’t be able to ignore ."
Before Aeliana could respond, a deep rumble echoed through the cell.
Powerful shockwaves rippled through the base. Dust fell from the ceiling; the walls vibrated with each impact. Sowhere distant, alarms flared louder, and the unmistakable sound of a battle swelled through the structure.
Marcus looked up briefly, then smiled coldly.
"Looks like he’s here," he said.
He turned his gaze back to Aeliana.
"I’ve said enough."
He placed the vial of red serum on the ground just inside the bars, where Aeliana could easily reach it if she wished.
"You have five minutes," Marcus said. "Drink this and go fight that monster kid."
His eyes glinted.
"If you don’t... I’m sure your daughter will, for you."
Aeliana stared at the vial, her jaw clenched.
After a long mont, she lifted her head.
"Fine," she said softly. "But first... let see my daughter one last ti."
Marcus studied her face, then shrugged.
"Alright," he replied. "It’s not a big deal. Just wait here for a while."
He turned and walked away, the door creaking shut behind him.
Left alone in the dim cell, Aeliana kept her eyes fixed on the glowing red serum in front of her.
Her thoughts churned.
’Elaria...’
The vial sat between her and the door like a quiet ultimatum.
---
anwhile...
High above, on the fortress atop the colossal tree, Alex twisted his body to the side as a torrent of dragon fire roared past him, lighting up the sky in a blazing arc. The heat washed over him, scorching the stone where he had stood a heartbeat before.
The massive dragon in front of him snapped its jaws, spraying fla again, but Alex slid out of the path with effortless steps, his coat whipping in the heated wind.
In the sa mont, the brown‑haired dragon‑kin and the green‑haired woman—Kyra—moved.
They were still in their partial dragon‑kin forms: scales rippling across their skin, horns jutting from their heads, tails slashing through the air for balance. In a blur, they closed the distance to Alex.
A kick shot toward his abdon, fast and heavy. At the sa ti, a punch ca for his face, claws glinting.
Alex’s arms moved almost lazily.
He caught the kick with one hand and the punch with the other, stopping both attacks cold. The ground beneath his feet cracked from the redirected force, but his expression barely changed.
"Too slow," he said.
He countered in an instant—driving his knee into the brown‑haired man’s chest and slamming an elbow into Kyra’s ribs before spinning and kicking them both away. Their bodies flew back, crashing into the fortified platform and leaving cracks in the stone. Blood spilled from the corner of their mouths.
The brown‑haired dragon‑kin wiped the blood with the back of his hand, then laughed.
"Wow, you’re strong," he said. "And we dragon‑kins always respect the strong."
His smile turned sharp.
"Too bad you’ll die today. But I’ll give you the honor of knowing our nas."
He pointed to himself.
"My na is Pyrax."
He gestured toward the towering dragon still looming nearby.
"The one in dragon form is Zerath."
Then he jerked his chin toward the green‑haired woman.
"And this lady here is Kyra."
Kyra narrowed her golden eyes at Alex.
"What’s your na?" she asked.
Alex’s piercing gaze t theirs, and for just a second, both of them flinched under the weight of it.
"Does it matter?" Alex replied, taking a relaxed, almost lazy stance. "Sooner or later, you’ll all be dead."
All three dragon‑kins gritted their teeth.
Zerath snarled, fury burning in his draconic eyes.
Flas gathered in his throat, burning hotter and brighter than before. He opened his maw wide and unleashed a pillar of concentrated fire straight at Alex, the attack so intense the air warped around it.
This ti, Alex didn’t dodge.
He lifted his hand, and black flas flickered into existence around his fingers, swirling into a growing inferno.
A chanical tone echoed in his mind.
[ Using cosmic essence to create Fire of Chaos. ]
The black flas surged forward to et the incoming blaze.
Red and black collided with a deafening roar.
For a mont, the two fires wrestled—one wild and raging, the other cold and devouring. Then, slowly but inevitably, the black flas consud the red. Zerath’s dragon fire was swallowed whole, as if snuffed out by sothing that sat above normal law.
The Fire of Chaos continued on, engulfing Zerath’s massive body.
He roared in agony, thrashing as the black flas clung to his scales, refusing to be shaken off. Flesh, bone, and draconic mana were devoured together. His proud dragon form staggered, then began to shrink as parts of him burned away.
Pyrax and Kyra stared, speechless.
"What did you do?!" Kyra shouted. "Dragons cannot be burned—we’re immune to fire attacks! Especially dragon‑kins who have reached dragonification!"
Pyrax’s eyes were wide with disbelief.
"What kind of fla is that?!"
Alex didn’t answer.
He simply watched as the flas finished their work.
Zerath’s dragon body collapsed, burning down to blackened fragnts. What remained reford briefly into his dragon‑kin form—charred, broken—before even that crumbled into ash and scattered on the wind.
Kyra and Pyrax stood frozen.
A true dragon‑kin, burned to nothing.
Alex finally allowed himself a small smile.
"Don’t think you’re the only ones who specialize in flas," he said. "A friend of mine also uses a unique type of fla."
As if in response to his words, the platform beneath them cracked.
The floor shattered as sothing erupted from below—stone fragnts flying in all directions.
A figure burst up from the broken ground, black flas licking around his body, eyes sharp and ready.
Alden.
Alden hauled himself up through the broken floor, landing on the platform with a heavy thud. He straightened, wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand, and exhaled.
"Finally," he muttered, catching his breath. "At the top."
A mont later, a strange scent hit his nose.
He sniffed the air and grimaced, waving a hand in front of his face.
"What’s this foul sll...?"
Alex stood a short distance away, black flas fading from his hand. He glanced over his shoulder.
"You finally took your sweet ti getting here," Alex said.
Alden shot him a look.
"Well, at least I was helping out the poor elves down there," he replied. "Unlike a certain soone."
"Hey, don’t accuse ," Alex said. He jerked a thumb behind him. "Can’t you see the guy I roasted? I was fighting too, okay."
Alden frowned and stepped forward, following Alex’s gesture.
That was when he noticed them.
Two figures stood a short distance in front of Alex—Pyrax and Kyra—both still in their dragon‑kin forms, scales dulled, blood at the corner of their mouths. Their golden eyes were locked on Alden and Alex, but for so reason Alden sensed sothing else from them.
Fear.
For so reason, both of them looked genuinely afraid of alex.
----
A/N:
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