Flester landed lightly in front of Blazion, his boots skidding across the scorched ground. Smoke drifted between him and Kai, curling in the air like ghosts of the battle's aftermath.
Kai strode through the haze, each step measured and unhurried, his cloak whispering against the scorched earth. His eyes settled on Raizen's fallen form as faint arcs of silver energy flickered around his hand, knitting wounds back together with quiet precision. Raizen met his gaze, exhaustion clouding his eyes but a trace of defiance still flickering within them.
"You are indeed strong, young Flester," Kai said, his calm voice carrying effortlessly through the fading roar of flames, though his eyes never left Raizen. They moved with cold precision, searching for any wound that might remain.
Flester noticed Kai's attention fixed on Raizen and seized the moment. In a flash, he dashed forward, flames already building in his throat. With a sharp exhale, a torrent of fire burst toward Kai, lighting the scorched battlefield in a fierce orange glow.
Kai didn't flinch. "Such weak attacks won't affect me."
He raised his hand lazily, and space itself seemed to bend. A shield materialized, shimmering like a fragment of the cosmos—its surface a deep, endless black scattered with countless specks of light, as though it held an entire night sky within. The flames struck it and vanished instantly, swallowed whole by the void.
Blazion roared, wings spreading wide. From its maw came a massive beam of fire, brighter and hotter than before. Kai turned his wrist, the celestial shield reappearing in front of him, effortlessly absorbing the attack.
Unfazed, he looked up as Blazion soared into the smoke-filled sky. The dragon let out a thunderous, rage-filled scream that shook the ground. In response, the heavens ignited — flames rained down like a fiery storm, scorching everything they touched, all directed at Kai.
Kai simply watched, a faint smile forming at the corner of his lips. "Interesting," he murmured, eyes gleaming as if he were studying, not fighting.
to the sky and the same power he used earlier-black purplish with dots. he shot a beam to the sky which tore through all the flame and narrowly missed Blazion.
"You're not trained properly yet," Kai said coolly, his gaze shifting to the dragon above.
Flester charged, his blade ignited in blue flame, but Kai raised his hand and summoned a sword born of the void itself — a weapon of pure space, its edge shimmering with distorted light as though reality bent around it.
Their blades met. The impact rippled through the air, distorting the ground beneath them. Flester was hurled backward by the sheer pressure of the collision, his boots carving deep lines into the earth as he fought to stay upright.
Before he could regain balance, Kai's figure flickered — and vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared above Blazion, cloak billowing, the cosmic sword gleaming in his hand.
"You thought only you had a speed-based technique?" Kai's voice echoed sharply from above.
Before Flester or Blazion could react, Kai's form blurred—one moment a flicker in the sky, the next a figure standing upon Blazion's back. A sphere of condensed space energy formed in his palm, glowing with crushing density. It pulsed once, warping the air around it like heat over metal—then he slammed it down onto the dragon's spine.
The impact detonated in silence—a burst of compressed force that bent reality for a heartbeat. Blazion roared in agony, his wings faltering as his colossal body spiraled downward, trailing fire and broken air currents.
Kai leapt gracefully from his back, landing amidst the rising dust and debris as the mighty dragon crashed into the forest below, the ground trembling with the impact.
He straightened his cloak with calm precision, eyes narrowing as smoke billowed around him.
Not far away, Raizen leaned weakly against a tree, watching through half-lidded eyes. The spark of lightning that danced faintly across his skin grew steadier.
"So my own magic is returning…" he muttered, feeling the familiar hum of energy beneath his skin. His lips curved into a faint, confident smirk. "Give me a few minutes… and I'll be ready to fight again."
Flame portals flared open behind Flester, their edges glowing like molten suns. From each one, beams of compressed fire erupted, cutting through the air toward Kai. The blasts screamed past trees and scorched the ground, but Kai moved like a phantom—each attack missing him by a fraction before he vanished and reappeared behind Flester in a ripple of warped space.
Flester turned sharply, the portals flickering out as his focus shifted. A magic array spiraled into existence over his arm, glowing with intricate runes of white and gold. Light gathered and solidified, forming a bow of pure energy, radiant and shimmering like it had been forged from the essence of a star.
Drawing the string back, he conjured an arrow of flame, its tip flickering with unstable brilliance. He loosed it—Kai sidestepped gracefully, the arrow tearing through the air and detonating behind him in a fiery bloom.
Flester exhaled, steadying himself as his magic surged higher. "Magic Arts—Blessing of the Holy Star," he whispered.
The light around him intensified. The bow in his hand brightened until it was blinding, the hum of its power resonating through the battlefield. A sphere of white energy formed at its center—dense, holy, and pulsing with raw destruction. As he drew the bowstring to its limit, light poured from the weapon like a miniature sun struggling to be born.
With a cry, Flester released it.
The arrow screamed forward, splitting the air as it blazed toward Kai. Everything in its path—stone, earth, and tree—was vaporized by its sheer energy.
Kai's expression remained calm. With a flick of his hand, the space shield unfolded before him—a shimmering barrier that looked like a fragment of the cosmos, filled with moving stars.
When the arrow struck, light and void collided.
The explosion tore through the forest, blinding and deafening. Waves of energy rippled outward, leveling the surrounding terrain. For a moment, the world was swallowed by brilliance—then silence followed, broken only by the faint crackle of fading magic.
Flester lowered his arm, panting heavily. Smoke and dust filled the air; his senses strained to find Kai's presence.
Then—
A pulse.
His instincts screamed.
Before he could react, a beam of compressed space energy lanced through the haze, striking him square in the back. The impact stole his breath and sent him flying, crashing hard into the side of his fallen dragon.
The world tilted, sound fading to a low hum. His vision blurred—Kai's silhouette stood amidst the smoke, calm, unshaken, eyes gleaming like a god surveying the ruin before him.
"Perhaps if you hadn't claimed the Flame Elemental Marble, you could have lived out your days in peace, rather than being hunted by the likes of us," Kai said. He stood a few meters away, his posture relaxed—an insultingly calm contrast to the carnage around them.
Flester spat a mouthful of copper-tasting blood onto the dirt, his teeth bared in a snarl. "You... Space-user... Why in the world do you want it? What could you possibly gain from my marble?"
"I'm afraid that isn't a secret I can share with the dying," Kai replied, his voice as cool as a winter breeze.
Nearby, the sound of labored breathing cut through the silence. Raizen leaned heavily against the charred bark of a cedar tree, his chest heaving as he fought to reclaim his air after the intensity of the duel. "Flester..." he called out, his voice raspy but steady. "What is it you hope to achieve now? Look at yourself."
Flester tried to rise, his muscles screaming in protest. His knees buckled, hitting the earth with a dull thud, but his eyes never left them. They burned with a raw, unadulterated hatred. "I don't intend to share my soul with bastards like you," he hissed. He forced his shaking limbs to lock, dragging himself upward through sheer force of will. "But I will tell you one thing for certain."
He paused, the sudden gravity in his voice catching the attention of both men.
"I am going to kill you both. I'll send every one of you evil bastards to the hell you belong in."
Kai closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, the coldness had been replaced by a terrifying, hollow tranquility.
"You call me evil? I won't argue with you, Flester. My comrades and I... we are exactly what you think we are," Kai stepped forward, his gaze piercing. "But what about you? What about those comrades you mourn? The kingdom you serve? The 'idols' you worship? Tell me, Flester—from where I'm standing, the only difference between us is who's winning. What is your perspective on them now?"
"Let's talk about the past Flester" Kai said calmly once more. " In reality, there has never been a hero of peace up until now in this world and if there was, he would have been crushed. The heroes you know here in Ruby kingdom are heroes only in the kingdom, outside they are murderers and culprits like how I am." kai looked to the sky.
"Then who is it that are the true heroes of this world?" Flester asked kai who shook his head sideways. "Nobody, at least, not until now."
"Flester…" Kai said, his eyes remained sharp. "If a spoiled fruit is kept among the good ones, the good eventually turn rotten. And when a good fruit is placed among the spoiled, it too decays." He paused, letting the words settle. "No matter how corrupt a person becomes, it's rarely their fault alone. It's the world around them—the people, the society—that twists their path and forces them to commit sins just to survive." He exhaled quietly. "Truly… a miserable cycle."
"Humans are all the same," Kai said, his voice devoid of emotion. "The most intelligent species—capable of solving any mystery in the world, yet powerless to solve the hatred among themselves. A good person surrounded by the corrupt will eventually rot with them. A wicked one among the good will only make the innocent suffer." He paused, his gaze distant, almost reflective. "There has never been a human who hasn't harbored a single dark thought, not even once in their life. And if such a person truly exists…" His eyes narrowed. "Then they are no longer human."
"The spirit a mage summons reflects his inner self," Kai said coldly, his eyes glinting under the fading light. "You summoned a dragon—and what are dragons known for? Hatred. Anger. Violence. Death. Destruction." He took a step forward, his voice calm but piercing. "That makes you the embodiment of all those things, Flester. Your heart is overflowing with those same dark emotions."
Flester's fists clenched, his teeth sinking into his lip as he struggled to contain his frustration. "Dragons also represent strength… warmth… and bravery," he shot back, his tone trembling between anger and defiance.
Kai's gaze didn't soften. He studied Flester for a moment, then shook his head slightly, disappointment shadowing his calm expression. "And yet," he said quietly, "strength born from hatred burns everything it touches."
"Even then, Flester," Kai said, his tone calm yet unreadable, "I'm curious to see which path you'll take in the future."
He turned away. "I'll be leaving."
As he glanced over his shoulder, he caught sight of Raizen already preparing to move, his stance unsteady but determined. Kai's expression softened slightly. "Good…" he murmured. Then his gaze shifted back toward Flester, his eyes narrowing as if sensing something distant.
"Flester," he said suddenly, "someone just broke through the barrier—almost unnoticed. He's coming this way, fast. His magical energy is powerful… yet impossible to trace."
A shimmer of distorted light formed beside him, expanding into a swirling space portal. "Go," Kai ordered.
Raizen hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Understood." He leapt through without looking back, the portal pulsing faintly in his wake.
Kai looked at Flester one last time. "Don't mistake this for mercy," he said coldly. "Escape from whoever's coming… and survive—until the day I hunt you down for the Flame Marble."
With that, he stepped into the portal. It closed behind him with a low hum, leaving the forest in complete silence.
Flester exhaled shakily, exhaustion washing over him. "Blazion… can you move?" he asked, his voice weak.
A deep, resonant reply echoed in his mind through their link. "Yes."
Flester managed a faint smile. "Then let's fly… and find somewhere to hide for the night."
The dragon unfurled its wings, their crimson membranes catching the dim moonlight. With one powerful beat, Blazion lifted them both into the dark sky, leaving behind the scarred and silent battlefield.
Night had fallen deep over the forest, its once-fiery battleground now silent except for the whisper of the wind through charred leaves. The moon hung pale above the canopy, its light breaking through the drifting smoke in silver streaks.
Blazion glided low between the trees, wings beating softly as embers trailed behind him. At last, he landed near a rocky hillside overgrown with vines and moss. Hidden between the roots of two massive trees was a dark cave mouth, half-veiled in shadow.
"This will do," Flester murmured, sliding wearily from the dragon's back. His body ached with every step, exhaustion weighing heavy on his limbs. "We'll rest here for the night."
The two entered the cave. Inside, the air was cool and damp, the faint sound of dripping water echoing from somewhere deep within. Flester leaned against the stone wall and slowly sank down, his chest rising and falling with tired breaths.
Blazion lowered his great head beside him, the glow of his scales bathing the walls in warm orange light. "You fought well today," the dragon's deep voice rumbled in his mind.
Flester managed a faint smile. "You too."
For a while, neither spoke. Only the soft hum of night insects and the rustle of leaves outside filled the silence.
"Rest now," Flester whispered at last, placing his hand over his chest. "You've done enough."
The seal of Blazion—a flame-shaped mark—flared gently beneath his palm. The dragon's body began to dissolve into glowing embers, each spark drifting toward the light over Flester's heart until Blazion's massive form had completely vanished.
The forest grew still again. The cave dimmed, the only light now the faint pulse of the glowing symbol on Flester's chest. He looked down at it once, a quiet sense of warmth and sadness washing over him.
"Just a little longer…" he muttered, eyes growing heavy.
The glow faded slowly as Flester drifted into sleep, and the forest outside whispered softly beneath the moonlight—peaceful, for now.