The sky was no longer just an open space—it had become a battlefield.

The wind cut like invisible blades as Strax charged forward at brutal speed, his wings tearing through the air with enough force to leave turbulent trails behind him. The distance between him and Ouroboros decreased rapidly, not because she was slow, but because he had simply decided he would catch her.

And when Strax decided something—

The world adjusted.

His colossal body leaned slightly forward, maximizing aerodynamics, his white scales reflecting the light of the sky as he violently cut through air currents with controlled force. Ahead, Ouroboros flew… but it wasn't a conscious flight.

It was unstable.

Unsteady.

Wrong.

And this became even clearer when he finally caught up with her.

"Ouroboros!" his voice echoed like thunder, carried by the wind and the natural force of his draconic form.

No response.

Her eyes didn't focus on him.

They didn't recognize him.

They didn't react.

She kept moving forward, as if being pulled by something invisible, something only she could feel—or worse… something controlling her movement.

Strax narrowed his eyes.

This wasn't distraction.

This wasn't confusion.

This was… absence.

"Ouroboros!" he tried again, now closer, almost glued to her side, his wings adjusting their rhythm to maintain position.

Nothing.

Not a single sign.

Behind them, the sound of two presences tearing through the air approached rapidly—Scarlett and Tiamat.

The two emerged in dragon form almost simultaneously, their distinct silhouettes cutting the sky with precision, approaching at increasing speed until they reached Strax.

"She won't stop!" Scarlett's voice echoed, firm, direct, without hesitation, as she aligned her trajectory alongside theirs.

Tiamat said nothing.

But her gaze… said it all.

This wasn't a chase.

It was containment.

Strax remained silent for a single second.

A single second where he analyzed everything—

Speed.

Height.

Behavior.

Risk.

And then he made the decision.

"I'm going to take her down."

The sentence came firm, heavy, leaving no room for discussion.

"Help me control the fall."

None of them questioned it.

Because they immediately understood what that meant.

Strax then advanced.

Not cautiously—

But with brutal precision.

His body shot forward, overtaking Ouroboros for an instant before spinning in the air with an aggressive maneuver, positioning himself directly in front of her. The impact was immediate as he collided with her body, his claws closing around the neck of Ouroboros's draconic form, gripping tightly enough to impede forward movement, but not enough to crush it.

The shock reverberated in the sky.

A wave of pressure spread around them.

But Ouroboros—

Reacted.

Violently.

Her entire body writhed, wings beating with uncontrolled force, her tail whipping like a living whip as she tried to break free, her erratic movements making her attacks impossible to predict.

A roar tore through the sky.

It wasn't a conscious sound.

It was instinct.

It was pain.

It was something… broken.

Strax tightened his grip, his muscles tensing as he tried to maintain control.

"Ouroboros!" he growled, closer now, more intense. "Look at me!"

But she didn't look.

Instead—

Her body exploded into motion.

She spun through the air with absurd force, dragging Strax along, completely breaking their stability as they began to lose altitude. The sky began to swirl around them, the horizon disappearing in a chaotic blur of blue and white.

"Now!" Strax roared.

Scarlett was the first to act.

She dove sideways, positioning herself below the falling trajectory, her wings spread to the maximum as she tried to reduce the impact of the movement, creating enough resistance to partially slow the descent.

Tiamat came soon after.

But unlike Scarlett—

She didn't try to hold back.

She charged forward.

Her golden body blazed intensely as she collided with Ouroboros's flank with brutal force, attempting to destabilize her even further, forcing the other's body to lose any attempt at control.

The impact was violent.

But necessary.

Ouroboros responded immediately. Her body spun again, now aiming directly at Tiamat, her fangs baring as she lunged forward with clear intent to attack. There was no recognition. No hesitation.

It was pure instinct.

Tiamat dodged by inches, the air tearing where her head had been a moment before.

"She's not there!" Tiamat cried, now completely certain.

"I know!" Strax replied, still gripping her neck with increasing force.

But then—

Ouroboros stopped.

For an instant.

A single instant.

Her eyes—

Met Strax's.

And there…

For a fraction of a second—

She was present.

There was something there.

Something crying out for help.

Something screamed silently.

But before anything could be said—

Her body contorted again.

And this time, with more violence.

A pulse of dark energy exploded around her, forcing Strax to release his grip for a moment as the impact pushed him back.

And then—

She attacked.

Directly.

Without warning.

Her fangs came in a straight line toward Strax's chest, too fast for normal reaction.

But he wasn't normal.

He spun his body, narrowly dodging as his tail moved instinctively, colliding with her body and throwing her aside with enough force to break the flow of the attack.

"Hold her!" he roared.

Scarlett rose quickly, positioning herself above, while Tiamat descended at an aggressive angle, the two creating an aerial encirclement around Ouroboros.

But she didn't stand still.

She never stayed.

Her body shot forward again, trying to escape, but now—

They were ready.

Scarlett dove, her claws trying to grip one of Ouroboros's wings, while Tiamat advanced from the other side, aiming directly at its torso.

The impact was threefold.

Chaotic.

Violent.

The three bodies collided in mid-air, generating an explosion of wind and pressure that made the very sky vibrate around them. But this time—

They succeeded.

Partially.

Ouroboros was contained.

But not defeated.

Her body writhed with absurd force, trying to break free, her wings beating erratically, creating enough turbulence to make the fall even more unstable.

And they were falling.

Fast.

Very fast.

The ground began to approach.

And there was no more time for error.

"Hold on tight!" Strax roared, repositioning himself and diving alongside them, taking the lead in the fall while spreading his wings to their maximum, trying to absorb the imminent impact.

The air began to burn around them.

Not from fire—not yet—but from the absurd speed with which they cut through the atmosphere, three colossal bodies trying to contain a fourth that refused to yield, while the ground rose to meet them with merciless haste. The impact was no longer a distant possibility.

It was inevitable.

And everyone knew it.

Strax adjusted his body in the air, his wings spread to the limit, every muscle tensed to the extreme as he positioned himself below and in front of the fall, assuming the most dangerous role—that of absorbing most of the impact. The wind howled around him like a living entity, trying to tear at his stability, but he remained firm, like a pillar in the midst of chaos.

"Ouroboros—!" His voice came out again, deeper, heavier, not just a call, but an attempt to pierce through whatever was consuming her from within.

But this time—

There wasn't even that earlier flash.

No response.

Nothing.

Her body writhed with even more violence.

As if reacting against something invisible.

Or being pulled by it.

Scarlett growled softly, her claws digging firmly into Ouroboros's wing as she struggled to maintain any kind of stability in the fall, her own wings trembling under the strain of compensating for the downward force that increased with each passing second.

"She's getting worse!" she cried, her voice now laden with real tension, not just strategy.

Tiamat, on the other side, pressed her body against Ouroboros's flank, using weight and strength to prevent her from spinning again, but even that was becoming difficult. The energy emanating from her… was changing.

Darkening. Distorting.

"This isn't just loss of control," Tiamat said, her eyes narrowed as she observed the subtle fissures of dark energy that began to course through Ouroboros' scales like living veins. "Something's interfering with her."

Strax listened.

And agreed.

But there was no time for theories.

Because at that exact moment—

Ouroboros screamed.

It wasn't a roar.

It wasn't an animal sound.

It was something… broken.

Something that shouldn't exist coming from a creature of that magnitude.

And then—

She exploded.

Not physically.

But energetically.

A wave of dark force erupted from her body, violent enough to launch Scarlett upwards and push Tiamat several meters away, completely shattering the formation they had managed to maintain.

"Damn it—!" Scarlett was thrown, spinning in the air before regaining control by pure reflex. Tiamat stabilized more quickly, but even she was forced to retreat.

And that left—

Strax alone.

Still holding on.

Still trying to maintain control.

But now facing it directly.

The dark energy pulsed around Ouroboros like an unstable second skin, distorting the air, making the very space around her seem… wrong. It wasn't just power.

It was interference.

Something that didn't belong on that plane.

"Ouroboros…" his voice came out lower this time, but carrying something firmer. More personal.

He brought his head closer to hers, completely ignoring the immediate danger.

"If you're still there…"

The fall continued.

Faster.

Closer.

The ground was no longer a blur.

It was form.

It was imminent impact.

"…fight against it."

For a second—

Nothing happened.

Ouroboros continued to struggle, its tail whipping the air, its wings beating erratically, its breathing heavy, unstable.

But then—

A tremor.

Subtle.

Small.

But real.

Her eyes—

Blinked.

Just once.

And in that instant—

Strax saw.

Her.

Again.

Present.

Weak.

But there.

And that was enough.

"Scarlett! Tiamat!" he roared, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Now!"

The two reacted immediately.

Scarlett dove from above, her wings cutting the air with deadly precision as she descended like a projectile, aiming directly at Ouroboros's back.

Tiamat came from below, rising with full force, her golden body gleaming intensely as she positioned herself to intercept any escape movement.

This time—

Synchronized.

Perfect.

The impact came from three directions at once.

Strax maintained his grip.

Scarlett dug her claws into Ouroboros's back.

Tiamat collided with her chest, pushing upwards.

And, for a moment—

Ouroboros's body stopped.

Locked.

Trapped between opposing forces. Time seemed to slow down.

The wind died down.

The world… held its breath.

But then—

She reacted again.

Weaker.

But still fighting.

The dark energy pulsed one last time, trying to expand, trying to break free, trying to drag everything back into chaos—

But it couldn't.

Because this time—

They were prepared.

"Now, hold on!" Strax shouted, his wings opening even wider, forcing the air below them to compress in a desperate attempt to slow their fall.

Scarlett adjusted her weight, redistributing the force.

Tiamat pushed upward with all her might.

And then—

The impact came.

The ground exploded.

A massive crater formed under the combined weight of the four, earth and rock being hurled in all directions as the sound of the crash echoed for miles around.

But it wasn't an uncontrolled collision.

It was… contained.

Forced.

Reduced to the bare minimum.

Strax's body absorbed most of it, his wings partially closing around the others at the last instant, acting as a shield.

Dust rose.

The air grew heavy.

Silence… returned.

For a few seconds—

Nothing moved.

Then—

A heavy breath.

Another.

And another.

Strax was the first to move, slowly raising his head while his claws were still firmly gripping Ouroboros's neck, but now without the same pressure as before.

The dark energy…

Had vanished.

Her body—

Was motionless.

But not dead.

Not defeated.

Just… unconscious.

Scarlett exhaled slowly, still above her, her claws slowly relaxing.

"…that wasn't normal," he murmured.

Tiamat, beside him, watched in silence.

But her gaze was… heavy.

More serious than usual.

"No," she replied softly.

"It wasn't."

Strax remained staring at Ouroboros for a few more seconds, his gaze fixed, analyzing, processing everything that had happened.

And then—

He spoke.

"…there's something inside her."

It wasn't a doubt.

It was a conclusion.