1 year ago, Ingel had been informed by Deep Blue Queen Merguam that if he fought Icarus again, he would be defeated.
Even though he was loyal to his queen, he was shocked into disbelief.
"What?! I've beaten him easily every time! There is no way he could beat me already!"
Merguam shook her head. "he has evolved rapidly every time, reaching new realms of power. Even without defensive magic, his sheer power will overwhelm you."
Ingel's eyes widened, "without defensive magic?! What level could that brat have reached in terms of offense!?"
Maerguam sighed, "The spell that wounded you so gravely was something he can easily use now. Suffice it to say, he would eventually hit you with it if you were to fight, even if you managed to blitz him a few times."
Ingel almost fell into despair, "but... We need to keep him here... Until we are given a new prophecy..."
Maerguam nodded, "Fortunately, we can do that. I will keep him busy with work and training for five months, and then let him off. Exactly then, you will set out on a very particular mission."
Ingel looked up "mission? What does this mean?"
Maerguam smiled weakly. "Well, we need to buy as much time as possible. If you aren't here for more than a year, he might decidejust to leave, so you have to keep him tempted by the idea of you coming back, but when you come back, you will have to be stronger."
Ingel stood tall. "What would you have me do? Are you suggesting I attempt to ascend to the level of a black Dragon? If that is the case, I will do so even if it kills me."
Maerguam shook her head, "No, we both know that is impossible at this point. What you will seek is to claim the Azlat."
Ingel gasped, "The Azlat? Is it real? Why has noone mentioned it before?"
Maerguam sighed, "well you see the Azlat is entombed at the very edge of our floating continent, it is heavily guarded by undead and restless spirits, this alone is not much, but the Azlat has some... Concerning properties."
Ingel nodded, "You know I will do Anything for the survival of our race."
Maerguam smiled, "Of course I do. and that is why I will tell you."
"The curse of the Azlat is that any Red dragon who claims it will forever remain a red dragon. Losing the ability to fully transform and therefore the distinction of being a dragon."
Ingel gritted his teeth.
This was too cruel.
His queen lowered herself before him and embraced him.
"I'm sorry, my child."
Ingel closed his eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek.
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.
.
Ingel stared down at the blade, his scales had already hardened like stone, some of the falling from his body leaving patches on his skin, his hair, once a rich red, was now a dark red, ashy and blackened like the burning coals after a fire has ran it's course.
The sword itself, however, pulsed with life; it felt like an extension of himself.
'It will not be in vain. I swear it by the blood of my people, by our God and Queen!'
He looked up at his opponent.
'Icarus... I will not allow you to leave... Not yet.'
Abe shouted from the side, "Begin!"
Ingel blitzed forward. Several layers of magic met his slash, and it broke through three layers before stopping.
Ingel spun and slashed several more times, but Icarus had already disappeared.
Ingel looked for him, his gaze locked on Icarus, who hovered just twenty steps away.
'flight magic? Wind?'
He roared and lunged forward.
Icarus had already prepared his first offensive spell.
A hyper-concentrated torrent of crimson and black-laced fire met Ingel; he was forced to block with his sword, which absorbed the heat.
He growled and slashed through, cutting the stream of fire apart and lunging forward.
Icarus smiled, a bead of sweat running down his cheek.
"You, physical freak. Cutting through magic with sheer strength."
He formed several shields, barely able to keep up with Ingel's speed due to his mana circulation, which had improved over the last year.
Ingel just roared, "Azlat!!!"
The sword ignited in response, blazing with fire. He slashed through six magical shields this time, and the edge of his sword cut Icarus on the shoulder.
Icarus flew back a pace, but Ingel didn't let him get distance this time; he tracked and predicted the direction Icarus would flee and lunged after him.
Icarus grimaced, "If that's how it goes, I'll show you that you can't rush in like that against me."
A compressed ball of Magenta fire formed at the edge of his staff.
It shot out in an instant, and Ingel barely got his sword in front to block it and was sent flying.
The force launched him clean into one of the walls of the Colosseum-shaped arena.
Dust fell where he had been thrown.
Moments later, he ripped out and dashed towards Icarus again in a mad frenzy.
His sword was dragged behind him along the ground, and blood was streaming out of a wound on his head and pouring into his face.
"Azlat!!!"
The sword ignited once again, and he held it in two hands as his vision swam back into view.
Icarus stood ready, 30 paces away.
Behind him, at least 100 magenta balls of compressed fire hovered.
Ingel's eyes widened in horror.
Icarus waved his staff, Ingel prepared to block, but instead, the ground underneath him opened up.
A massive worm made of earth shot into him. He blocked it with the sword, and it sent him flying up into the sky.
The worm followed him into the sky, and he glared down at it.
He may be transitioning from a dragon to some other type of existence, but he could still use some of his abilities.
He released his breath, a torrent of flames almost as strong as one of the compressed fire streams.
The earthworm was torn apart. Ingel roared again and ignited with bright flames, using it as a propelling force to launch him towards Icarus, who was looking up at him from the ground.
However, mid-air, he was met with a familiar opponent.
A stone golem clashed its fist into his burning sword.
He growled and used the momentum to launch himself high into the sky.
"Do you really think you can match me still!!?!?"
He shouted and swung his sword down with full power. The golem blocked but was struck down from the air, slamming into the ground with enough force to leave a crater and a cloud of dust.
The force of the swing had also knocked him higher into the air; he could see Icarus still standing below him, a calm and unwavering expression on his face.
"I will stop you! FOR MY RACE!"
Icarus calmly raised his staff, and dozens of pillars of ice rose from the ground toward Ingel.
Ingel's entire body burned with the fire from his blade; he roared one final time.
"AZLAT!!!"
The sword responded passionately. Fire erupted from the sword, acting as a means to propel Ingel even faster toward Icarus.
Icarus unleashed dozens of compressed streams of flame at him, each one missing the mark as Ingel closed in.
Ingel's eyes burned like twin comets as they grew closer, his goal within reach as Icarus deployed more defensive magic.
"MAXIM!!!"
Azlat cracked and burned brighter than the stars in the sky. He swung it down into the defensive magic; he was now just a stream of fire, crashing down on Icarus.
Icarus had one pillar of ice beside, and as the flame cracked it and threatened to burst through his last line of defense, the true nature of temperature magic became clear to him at last.
its cracking? Does that mean they create pressure when combined? And pressure is highly reactive in spells... That's it! They are not opposites! They are complementary to each other! If I mix them perfectly...
Icarus took all the magic he could without passing out, merging it into one highly unstable compressed sphere of both hot and cold temperatures forced into one shape. It took all his energy to prevent it from instantly exploding.
Icarus created one final layer of defensive magic between him and the sphere as he launched it.
It met the descending comet; it needed no further reason to explode and did so emphatically.
The crowd shielded themselves, the pillars of ice that had risen during the battle were all shattered, earth was thrown into the sky, and the massive sound deafened everyone in the crowd.
The crowd watched intently as the dusty air became clearer. They saw that both of them were still standing.
Icarus was gasping for air; he had temporarily lost consciousness on his feet, but had managed to take some mana from the air after exhausting his massive internal supply.
He now understood the meaning of using this as a very last resort, as if he couldn't take in outside mana, he would have been defeated right now.
His defensive magic had to be layered, or it would be destroyed easily and be useless. This had used the most amount of his mana; his offensive spells had talent only about 15% of his total mana, the final attack had used 10% on its own, but defending had used a whopping 75%.
He shuddered as he thought about what would happen if just one of those attacks had hit him.
Ingel stood, just barely. He was using Azlat as a cane, breathing heavily as blood streamed from several cuts on his body.
When the last attack had exploded, it had ripped apart the very air, causing lacerations on any part of his body he could not block with Azlat.
Ingel tried to take a step forward, his eyes barely opened.
Icarus grimaced. He had probably about one attack left in him, but it would be the end after that, as he would be completely out of mana.
"You... Damn overwhelming brat..."
Ingel firmly planted the sword hilt up and collapsed completely unconscious.
His body lay next to the sword, and the crowd watched in a mix of disbelief and confusion.
"His last act was to plant the sword?"
"Just how much mana does that kid have?"
"Damn, I thought Ingel had him."
"So this is it.."
Abe rushed to Ingel's side, and the white Dragon Alazea rushed to him as well moments later.
She began healing him and was looking at his injuries worriedly.
Icarus sighed and stopped taking mana from his surroundings.
He felt a little woozy and tipped off balance.
A soft touch caught him, and he looked up.
His teacher stood behind him; she had a sad smile on her face.
"Oh well, I suppose your progress is quite astounding, apprentice. You pass, there is officially nothing more I can teach you."
Icarus laughed, "Thank you, teacher."
She shook her head, "No, not anymore. You may call me Maerguam, or if you prefer, your Highness."
Icarus's eyes widened in shock, and he stood up hastily, suddenly aware of how close she was. "What!? Your Highness? Why didnt you-"
She put a finger to his lips, Don'tt worry about it, for now, there is just one thing I- no, we need you to do for us today."
Icarus, who was still astounded, raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
.
.
.
They stood in front of the smallest building in town, positioned directly at the center of it.
Maerguam led him inside. Ingel had gotten up, although he could barely stand, he still insisted on coming with Abe and Alazea to observe.
She explained, "This is the chapel of prophecy, the center of the village literally and spiritually."
Icarus nodded, "Why is that?"
She frowned, "Well, I'll just show you..."
She opened a door on the inside that led into a room with candles on all four walls. It was dimly lit, but Icarus could see clearly.
An emaciated creature sat in a pose of meditation in the center. It resembled a dragon, but it had a humanoid body with the head of a fully transformed dragon.
It was grey, and its entire body was scaled despite it having arms and legs and no wings.
"Is this... Really a dragon?"
Maerguam nodded, "he is the ancient dragon, from before light he came, he has been in this room long before we were here, we built around him to try and pay our respects, over the years he has occasionally given us prophecy."
Icarus looked back and forth, "prophecy? You mean like the one about me?"
She nodded again, "yes the very same. We had hoped to keep you here long enough for him to inform us what to do. But you have earned the right to leave, and thus, we cannot keep you. We hoped he would provide prophecy if you came in person to see him."
Ingel coughed up blood and spoke, "Please! I know you might not understand what this means to us, but if you leave, we will have no hope!"
Icarus was shocked at Ingels' plea and nodded, "Of course, you all treated me with nothing but kindness, I owe you."
Ingel looked somewhat less concerned and nodded in reply.
Alazea took him away, and Abe stayed to watch on.
Icarus stood in front of the ancient dragon; it didn't move an inch, didn't change, didn't emit any smell or sound, however...
As Icarus stared, he began to see something, a wisp of smoke from a long-dead fire perhaps, gray and decayed, aged for Millenia.
A trace of mana emitted by the dragon, a message? No, there was no pattern of reason, just the faintest line rising slowly.
Icarus instinctively knew what this meant, but could not speak or do so for a long time.
Finally, after staring for a while longer, he turned to Merguam.
"This being has departed from this world."