A wound in the heavens, a scar in the earth.
The sky tore open with a savage gash.
Black clouds thickened like ink, and crimson thunder roared deep within them, weaving together until it formed a red cross of interlocking lightning across the heavens.
Boom!
The lightning proclaimed the will to destroy, striking the earth again and again.
Every roar of thunder shook the ground, reducing stone bricks to dust and filling the air with the stench of scorched earth.
Facing the red lightning, which seemed like divine retribution, Marys held her holy lance before her, its light shining bright.
She swung it with both hands, and the shaft spun rapidly like a golden vortex, cutting through the oppressive night.
“Break!”
Her humming lance clashed with the red lightning.
Holy light and thunder collided, exploding in a blinding flash that lit the dark world as if it were day.
The red lightning was completely shattered, its sparks scattering.
The tremendous recoil numbed Marys’s hands, and the ground beneath her feet split apart.
As Marys struggled against the furious red lightning, a crimson blur flashed past her.
Red-and-black flames ignited atop Sacher’s horns.
Her eyes burned scarlet, her pupils narrowed to pinpoints.
She clenched both fists and slammed them into the ground with immense force.
The earth shook.
The dead magma around them seemed to answer some kind of summons, briefly breaking free of the red-and-black dragon’s control.
Scalding magma surged from the volcano’s crater, defying gravity as it flowed skyward.
In an instant, it formed two enormous demonic claws that blotted out the sky.
The claws were made of dark-red obsidian and flowing lava, radiating heat intense enough to suffocate any living creature.
They clamped down hard on the red-and-black dragon circling overhead.
“How about you try this!”
Sacher gritted her teeth and suddenly brought her hands together.
The blazing demonic claws closed completely, trapping the roaring red-and-black dragon in their grasp.
“How was that? Did it work?”
Sacher looked up, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
Her gaze fixed heavily on the pair of seemingly indestructible magma claws she’d summoned.
But before Marys beside her could reply, a furious dragon’s roar once again shook the heavens and earth.
“Roar!”
Its savagery and disdain rang through the air.
The gusting pressure became a tangible impact, forcing Marys and Sacher to bow their heads.
Even standing upright had suddenly become almost impossible.
Trapped within the magma claws, the red-and-black dragon suddenly spread its wings.
A metallic sheen appeared along the edges of its wing bones.
Its enormous body spun rapidly, and the next instant, its sharp wings sliced clean through the solid magma claws.
The unsupported claws instantly crumbled into mere chunks of scorching rock and collapsed with a crash.
The enraged red-and-black dragon didn’t stop its assault.
Something crimson, whether hellfire or blood, dripped from between its interlocking fangs and sizzled against the bricks.
A red gleam flashed in the dragon’s eyes.
Like a tyrant displaying its power, it ordered the volcano to return to its master’s control.
Rumble!
The surging magma erupted with several times the force of before.
Countless streams of lava, carrying blazing black stones, reshaped themselves in midair into several enormous swords that blotted out the sky.
They plunged straight down toward Marys and Sacher.
Facing the heavy shadows falling from the sky, the two witches felt the pressure mount.
Just as they braced themselves to take the blow, a streak of black blade light suddenly blossomed.
A cool full moon rose from the ground, its silent glow meeting the crimson greatswords.
The blade flashed, leaving only black and white in the world.
The indestructible obsidian swords split into neat chunks, their cut surfaces smooth as mirrors.
Tunzuo sheathed his blade.
His breath formed layers of frost in the thick, scorching air.
Then he raised a hand, spread his fingers, and willed it.
The falling rocks seemed to lose all connection to gravity and hung suspended in midair.
Guided by his telekinesis, they floated upward and reassembled.
In an instant, an enormous stone spear took shape, its tip gleaming as it pointed at the red-and-black dragon, sovereign of the skies.
At the familiar move, a clear look of scorn and contempt appeared in the red-and-black dragon’s eyes.
It opened its jaws wide, red light surging in the depths of its throat.
It intended to burn Tunzuo’s harmless attack to ash, just as it had before.
But what the red-and-black dragon didn’t expect was that, just as its hellfire was about to leave its mouth, several unremarkable pellets came whistling through the air and struck it squarely in the face.
The pellets didn’t explode as expected.
Instead, they snapped open with a click and released countless clouds of irritating gas that spread outward, enveloping the dragon’s entire head.
“Roar?!”
The unexpected attack made the red-and-black dragon let out a startled roar.
The acrid, sour gas seeped into its nostrils and eyes, making tears stream down its face as its vision vanished into darkness and pain.
Hearing the stone spear whistle through the air beside it, the red-and-black dragon didn’t dare hesitate.
It relied on its other senses to locate the attack and instinctively breathed hellfire toward the spear.
Hellfire surged out and collided with the stone spear.
The gust from its wings scattered the toxic cloud.
By the time the spear had been burned to nothing, the red-and-black dragon had recovered from the irritating gas.
The red-and-black dragon shook its head, its thoughts clearing as its rage intensified.
But as soon as it opened its eyes, it was horrified to see a streak of golden light rushing toward it through the ash-filled sky.
The golden light moved at incredible speed, breaking through one Mach cone after another and leaving a brilliant golden trail.
Bang!
A fist struck the red-and-black dragon squarely in the head.
With an incredibly heavy thud, Olivia’s fist, wreathed in dragonfire, slammed into it.
The physique that the Golden Dragon Witch took pride in allowed her to gather enough force in that punch to move mountains and fill seas.
The impact bent the red-and-black dragon’s long neck unnaturally to one side, as if it had snapped.
Its eyes rolled back.
Several broken fangs, spattered with blood, fell from its monstrous head.
Unfortunately, Olivia’s mountain-shattering blow hadn’t dealt the red-and-black dragon a serious wound.
The dragon wobbled in the air for a while, then beat its broad wings and barely steadied itself, avoiding a crash.
The next moment, it jerked its neck and forced its displaced bones back into place.
“Roar!”
Hellfire surged in the red-and-black dragon’s mouth.
A line of fireballs streaked toward Olivia.
The golden streak maneuvered nimbly through the air, like a dancer on the edge of a blade, dodging every fireball with precision before landing safely.
Olivia skidded several yards after landing.
Her brows furrowed as she looked up at the red-and-black dragon, which had regrouped in the sky, her expression grave.
“Be careful. Its defense and attack are both top-tier. At the rate we’re going, it’ll probably take us several days to wear it down.”
“Then what do we do?! We don’t have that much time. This place is about to blow!”
Bethlanna cried out anxiously as she blocked the falling fire with an ice wall.
The volcano’s increasingly violent tremors showed that they were running out of time.
Olivia fell silent at Bethlanna’s question.
Their most urgent task was to find a weakness in the red-and-black dragon as quickly as possible.
Just as Olivia was frowning over the problem, Tunzuo suddenly felt something vibrate at his waist.
He quickly pulled out the Grimoire stored there and scanned the information inside.
His eyes lit up.
“Hey, freak dragon! Landon and Hai Lanyue found a way to deal with the red-and-black dragon! But first, we have to lure it to the designated spot!”
At Tunzuo’s shout, Olivia paused, then looked in the direction he pointed.
In front of a relatively intact raised platform in the distance, the barrel of a massive Dragon-Suppressing Cannon pointed straight ahead, clearly ready to fire.
Behind it, Landon and Hai Lanyue were jumping up and down, waving to them with all their might.
“All right, then…”
Olivia took a deep breath, her gaze sharpening.
Her grave expression turned resolute as she quickly gave her orders.
“First, knock that big guy out of the sky! Xiao Youling, cover me!”
Before her words had even faded, Olivia shot toward the red-and-black dragon like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Seeing the ant charging at it, the red-and-black dragon swept its wings.
The space around Olivia shattered with a crash.
Red lightning and hellfire poured through the cracks, weaving a net of death around her.
But strangely, Olivia seemed to know how the red-and-black dragon attacked.
A split second before space shattered, she bent her knees and leaped, jumping clear of the trap.
Again and again, Olivia perfectly dodged the red-and-black dragon’s attacks, as if she could predict its every move.
A closer look revealed a faint white glow flickering at the corner of Olivia’s eye as she charged forward at breakneck speed.
On the stone platform, the same white glow streamed from Meryl’s eyes.
Beside her, Vera rapidly recorded the changes on the battlefield, analyzed the situation, and shared the data with Meryl, helping her make more accurate predictions and track the red-and-black dragon’s movements.
Seeing her attacks repeatedly miss, the enraged red-and-black dragon gathered hellfire in its mouth, preparing to unleash another wave of fire and leave Olivia with nowhere to dodge.
Suddenly, a heavy force of gravity surged from the ground and pressed down on the red-and-black dragon’s enormous body, rudely interrupting its charge of hellfire.
Before the red-and-black dragon could free itself from the gravity, another cry rang out.
A holy winged horse galloped through the air, splitting into countless spears of light above the dragon.
They rained down, clanging against its sturdy scales.
At the same time, a huge meat hammer made of ice appeared above the red-and-black dragon.
Even worse, beneath its icy shell was scalding magma, utterly at odds with the frost around it.
“Take this!”
A sharp shout rang out of nowhere.
The ice-shelled magma hammer crashed down, bending the red-and-black dragon’s rigid spine inward.
“Roar—!”
The immense pain made the red-and-black dragon forget its original target, bringing its violent attack to a halt.
Then the artillery positions of Ashen Mountain Heavy Industry Academy began to roar.
The relentless bombardment kept the red-and-black dragon distracted and on edge.
Seizing the chance, Olivia suddenly drove off with both legs, cracking the ground beneath her.
She leaped onto the red-and-black dragon’s head and grabbed its one remaining horn with both hands like an iron vise.
“Up!”
Olivia twisted and heaved with both hands, unleashing unreasonable strength.
With a suplex, she threw the red-and-black dragon over her shoulder!
The dragon’s enormous body slammed into the Ancient City Ruins, raising a cloud of smoke and rubble.
The portions of the Ancient City Ruins that had still stood were reduced to broken bricks and rubble by the blow.
Amid the swirling dust, the red-and-black dragon rose from the ruins.
Blood tears of hatred streamed from its eyes.
It twisted its neck, frantically searching for its sly prey.
Just then, a teasing, sharp voice reached its ears.
“Hey, lizard! Miss me?”
The red-and-black dragon turned toward the voice.
On top of the broken walls, Tunzuo stood with his Tachi resting on his shoulder, grinning at it and even giving it a friendly middle finger.
When old enemies met, their eyes burned with hatred.
The red-and-black dragon flew into a rage.
It used no hellfire, no red lightning, and no shattered space.
It simply gathered all its strength, dug in with its four limbs, and charged straight at Tunzuo.
Seeing Tunzuo dare to provoke it, the red-and-black dragon instantly flew into a rage.
“Three, two…”
Facing the red-and-black dragon as it charged through everything in its path, Tunzuo neither defended himself nor counterattacked.
He stared at it as it drew closer and began counting down.
“—”
Finally, when the red-and-black dragon was barely a foot away, Tunzuo clapped his hands.
Strange ripples spread through the space around him.
Tunzuo vanished, replaced by Olivia, who had been waiting in position.
Olivia braced both hands against the red-and-black dragon’s monstrous jaws.
Her muscles tensed, veins bulging.
The dragon’s tremendous force drove her backward, carving two deep furrows in the ground with her legs, but Olivia fought with all her might and stopped its charge.
The red-and-black dragon had stopped exactly where the Dragon-Suppressing Cannon was aimed.
Seeing that their strategic goal had been achieved, Olivia gritted her teeth and gathered her strength.
Her uppercut slammed into the red-and-black dragon’s chin, knocking its enormous body upward and exposing its scaled chest to the cannon’s line of fire.
“Fire!”
At Landon’s command, Hai Lanyue pushed the lever.
Boom!
After a deafening roar, the enormous Dragon-Slaying Lance shot forward, its sharp armor-piercing head aimed precisely at the red-and-black dragon’s chest.
The unstoppable impact forced the dragon backward.
The spinning tip sank several inches into its scales, sparks flying, but it could go no farther.
Just as the red-and-black dragon thought the attack was over and prepared to counterattack, a dazzling light suddenly bloomed inside the Dragon-Slaying Lance.
The next instant, a violent explosion swallowed the dragon’s upper body.
As the smoke cleared, the red-and-black dragon crouched on all fours.
A huge section of its chest scales had been blasted away, exposing its bloodied flesh and bone.
But even this injury wasn’t enough to take the red-and-black dragon out of the fight.
Soon, an even more vicious red light flared in its eyes.
But just as the red-and-black dragon prepared to attack again, its vision suddenly blurred.
It began frothing at the mouth, and its enormous body abruptly weakened into a state of utter exhaustion.
Its limbs went limp.
Landon’s smug voice accompanied it.
“Hahaha! I brought hundreds of kinds of poison, and every last one of them was for you! Hey! Hurry up and attack! Strike while it’s down!”
As soon as Landon finished speaking, two figures, one gold and one black, shot forward like lightning.
“Dragonstar Fall: Blazing Sun!”
“Ghost Lantern: Sanzu River!”
The Tachi gave a clear hum.
Shadows curled around its black blade, turning into a vicious serpent of dark mist.
The dragon lance roared, and golden flames surged over its tip, forming a majestic golden fire dragon.
Black and gold, yin and yang, two opposing forces that complemented each other perfectly fused in that moment.
“This ends now!”
Tunzuo and Olivia’s roars shattered the deep-red world, declaring the end of everything.
The golden fire dragon and the serpent of dark mist coiled together and tore into the blasted-open wound in the red-and-black dragon’s chest.
The golden flames’ intense heat ignited the dragon’s blood, while the dark mist’s corrosive poison seeped into its heart.
The forces of life and death, yang and yin, crashed through its body, completely destroying its last defenses.
“—!!!”
At last, as the red-and-black dragon roared in pain and despair, the two forces of gold and black pierced through its body and burst out the other side.
The world fell silent.
The boiling blood grew still, and the scorching heat began to cool.