This was the final exchange.
The wyvern gathered all its remaining strength. Its scales began to glow with pale blue light. The air around it dropped to freezing. Frost crawled up the rocks. Its wounds stopped bleeding, sealed by its own cold.
It was going to unleash everything it had in one last attack.
Alex and Saeko stood side by side. They didn't look at each other. They didn't need to.
Alex raised his right arm. His black fingers curled into a fist. Energy gathered there, dark and heavy. Not fire. Not lightning. Something older. Something that remembered breaking armies and unmaking monsters.
Saeko raised her katana. The wind answered, but not as a helper. It answered as a servant. It coiled around her blade, tighter and tighter, compressing until the air itself screamed. The edge of her sword began to glow with a sharp, silver light.
The wyvern screamed. It leaped.
Alex punched the air.
