"Careful!" Kaelira warned instantly.

She’d seen this move up close. Varik didn’t just swallow attacks—he could spit the power back out and smash it right into you.

"A cheap trick."

Elowen snorted and stepped forward.

Cold poured out of her. The air around her froze so fast it felt like it snapped—battle smoke and drifting dust locking in midair, suspended as if time had stalled for them alone.

She brought her hands together. Ice-blue energy surged behind her and took shape, a huge ring unfurling slowly in the air. Light flashed inside it—then, in the next instant, countless ice spikes shot out like a storm.

At the same time, the void vortex in front of Varik had already swallowed Andona’s sword aura.

Black shadow wrapped around that golden slash and forced it back out of the vortex—reversed.

The reflected sword aura wasn’t pure gold anymore. A layer of darkness clung to its edges, tainting it with chaotic, jagged cutting power as it cleaved back toward Ethan’s group.

Elowen’s ice spikes met it head-on.

The moment spike and aura touched, a screeching, teeth-gritting note rang out.

Then Elowen’s cold chased along the ice spikes like it had a mind of its own, crawling forward and latching onto the corrupted sword aura.

Something unbelievable happened—

That sword aura froze in midair.

Frost-blue rime spread across the tangled gold-and-black energy, sealing it over in a heartbeat.

Crack!

The frozen sword aura shattered in the sky, breaking into countless light specks and ice fragments that rained down from above.

Seeing his counter fail, Varik’s face darkened.

He lifted one arm and dragged his five fingers slowly through the air. Black energy streamed from his fingertips, drawing a perfect circle in midair.

The moment the circle closed, its center collapsed inward. Light around it twisted and got dragged toward the middle, forming a rotating black vortex.

Hummm—

It spun faster and faster, its edges tearing out rings of black ripples. With a furious roar from Varik, a massive dragon—pitch-black from head to tail—pushed its way out of the vortex.

First the head. Then the shadow-drenched body. Huge claws hooked the rim of the vortex, yanking, and the entire Black Dragon tore free and surged into the battlefield.

When that black draconic pressure slammed down, shields on nearby soldiers shuddered hard, wobbling under the weight of it.

Ethan didn’t retreat.

He pressed his palms together. Transparent lightning erupted between them, spilling down his arms and whipping outward. It coiled in front of him, stretching, weaving, compressing—shaping itself with every breath.

In only a few seconds, a giant dragon made of transparent lightning formed in the air. Its body was clear and luminous, arcs flowing through it like blood through veins. The instant its eyes lit, it charged straight at the Black Dragon.

One black dragon. One transparent.

They collided in the high sky.

The Black Dragon lunged and clamped down toward the lightning dragon’s neck. Void energy bled along its fangs, trying to devour the lightning body from the bite outward.

The lightning dragon twisted, and transparent current detonated along the black dragon’s scales, ripping the void energy apart layer by layer. The two dragons wrapped, tore, rolled, and snapped at each other, their impacts throwing shockwaves across the battlefield overhead.

That was when Draxor came back in.

He forced down the transparent current still ripping around inside him and launched himself forward, throwing a punch straight toward Ethan.

The fist carried a crushing wind pressure. The air in front of the knuckles caved inward like it had been hammered, and lingering shards of stray energy were scattered violently along the path.

Kaelira intercepted immediately.

Her phoenix phantom flared behind her again. Purple-red wings swept wide, and scorching power blasted off the edges of those feathers—colliding head-on with Draxor’s punch.

Thump!

A dull ring of force burst from the contact point. Draxor’s punch was stopped cold, but Kaelira was driven backward too, sliding a short distance through the air. Broken ripples cracked under her feet where she "stepped" against the air to hold her ground.

Ethan was fully focused on controlling the lightning dragon, locked in a death-tangle with Varik’s Black Dragon. He didn’t register the shift behind him right away.

Then a red light flared.

It was insanely fast—cutting in from the side of the battlefield, streaking straight for Ethan, Andona, and Elowen. As it skimmed past, the air carried a wet, heavy rushing sound, like something thick and sticky was being dragged through space at high speed.

"Watch out!"

Elowen sensed it first.

She snapped her hand outward, and a hard ice wall rose out of nothing. The wall had barely finished forming when the red streak slammed into it.

The impact exploded into a spray of ice chips. The entire wall shuddered violently, deep gouges cracking across its surface—but it held, stopping the red strike dead.

"Ugh, ugh—That hurt!"

The red light slowly unraveled.

Ethan turned.

In front of the ice wall stood a woman he didn’t recognize.

She patted at her arm like she’d bumped into a doorframe. There wasn’t a trace of embarrassment on her face for a failed sneak attack—just irritation, like the whole thing had been inconvenient.

"Zeritha! Get over here and help me!"

Varik’s voice carried from the distance.

Against Ethan’s lightning dragon, he was already starting to strain. Cracks kept opening across the Black Dragon’s body where transparent current tore through its scales. Every time void energy tried to swallow the lightning, sharper arcs split it apart from the inside.

If this kept going, Varik was going to lose the advantage—soon.

Zeritha crossed her arms, flicked her eyes toward him, and scoffed.

"Tch. You old fossil. I told you you’re trash, and you still won’t believe it."

She said it like she couldn’t be bothered... but she moved anyway.

Dropping her arms, she rubbed her hands together in front of her. Vivid red energy seeped from her palms, first congealing into a sticky-looking mass of bloodlight, then slowly compressing into a sphere.

The ball was a uniform, violent crimson. Its surface pulsed and heaved like it was breathing. A thick, metallic stench of blood rolled off it, tinting even the surrounding air with a faint red haze.

"Eat this!"

Zeritha gritted her teeth and hurled the blood-red sphere with everything she had.

It arced across the battlefield, aimed straight at the two giant dragons tangled together high above.

Where it passed, it left a wet-looking red trail, and the air grew heavy under the pressure of that bloody power—like the whole sky had turned thick and damp.

"Master, watch out!"

Andona sensed something wrong instantly and beat her wings forward.

She raised the Angelic Sword high. Golden holy light poured into the blade, and she drove the tip toward the incoming red sphere. A sharp sword aura shot off the edge and struck the ball dead center.

But the moment the sword aura touched it...

It didn’t split.

Ripples spread across the surface like water. The sphere only dented inward for an instant—then sprang back, whole and intact.

Seeing that, Zeritha’s mouth curled with smug satisfaction.

"Heh. What an idiot."

Bang!

The blood-red sphere detonated without warning.

A violent blast rang out, and a flood of fresh red liquid swept outward in every direction. That "blood" wasn’t normal—every droplet carried a corrosive, energy-laced fluctuation. As it sprayed into the air, even the light dimmed, stained darker by the spreading crimson.