High above the sprawling metropolis of the Upper Realm, the City Lord sat peacefully on the balcony of his spire, enjoying his morning tea.
The air was crisp, the sky clear.
Then, a blur of motion shattered the silence.
A boy plummeted past his balcony, diving straight toward the streets below.
The City Lord froze, his heart hammering against his ribs as he stared over the edge.
Wait... was that who I think it was?
Before he could process the thought, a massive shadow eclipsed the sun.
A roaring dragon, its wings beating a furious tempest, hurtled down the same trajectory.
On top of it an elf, his face coverd in absolute fury.
The elf screamed, his voice echoing over the wind.
"I will kill you, you bastard, Nol !"
Plummeting through the sky, the boy who looks no older then 16—Nol—looked back.
His pitch-black hair whipped violently around his face, but his crimson eyes gleamed with absolute, unshakeable confidence.
He flashed a brilliant, arrogant smile.
Nol shouted back.
"That's the spirit!".
Nol hit the rooftops, maneuvering through the city streets.
Behind him, the dragon pursued ruthlessly, smashing through spires, tearing up paved roads, and leaving a trail of absolute destruction in its wake.
Below, the citizens panicked.
The streets erupted into chaos as people scrambled for cover, their screams filling the air.
A man shrieked, dragging his child into an alleyway.
"It's Nol !"
"Run and hide! He's brought another catastrophe!"
Suddenly, Nol leaped backward, launching himself straight toward the pursuing dragon.
He reached the elf in a heartbeat, throwing a brutal punch.
The elf reacted instantly, raising his spear to block the strike.
The impact rang out like a thunderclap.
Nol taunted, landing on the dragon's back.
"Show me more,"
"I'm getting sleepy here."
A deadly dance began atop the soaring beast.
Nol fought with nothing but his bare hands, while the elf retaliated with lethal spear thrusts.
All the while, the dragon soared higher, spiralling up into the clouds.
The elf lunged, aiming to impale his target, but Nol slipped past the spearhead.
With terrifying speed, Nol delivered a devastating stomach punch.
The blow connected with a sickening crunch, sending the elf sliding backward across the dragon's scales, desperate for air.
Nol smirked, looking down at his gasping opponent.
"Don't act like that. I didn't hit you that hard."
Those mocking words exploded the elf's fury.
Screaming with raw rage, a brilliant aura erupted from the elf's body, coating both him and his spear.
He rushed forward, putting everything into a fatal stab aimed straight for Nol's heart.
Nol didn't dodge.
Instead, he reached out and caught the spearhead barehanded, halting the thrust instantly.
The sheer momentum of the clash overbalanced them both, throwing them off the dragon's back.
Falling through the open sky, the elf refused to let go, using all his weight to push the blade closer to Nol's chest.
" just die already !!! ".
Nol muttered with a sadistic smile.
"Enough games"
With a surge of strength, Nol throwed the spear aside.
The elf, seizing the opening, threw his arms around Nol's neck, attempting to strangle him as they plummeted.
"I don't care if you're the son of the Upper King!"
the elf roared into his face.
"You will die for what you did!"
Nol's smirk only widened.
"I told you, this is the spirit I want."
In a flash, Nol delivered a vicious headbutt, dazing the elf and forcing a reversal of their positions.
Nol grabbed the elf by the collar, positioning him beneath him as the ground rushed up to meet them.
CRASH.
Nol slammed into the earth, using the elf as a living landing pad to absorb the impact.
A cloud of dust and debris exploded outward.
As it settled, Nol stood casually, grinding his boot heavily into the elf's face.
Nol said, his voice cold and demanding.
"I want you to fight me like you want to kill me,"
The elf, pinned under his boot, glared up at him with eyes burning with pure hatred.
Nol smirked
"But it seems like you've reached your limit—"
Before Nol could finish his sentence, a massive blast of fire engulfed him, exploding the entire plaza in blinding heat.
When the smoke cleared, Nol was gone, and the elf was retrieved by the dragon.
He was back on the dragon's back, clutching his recovered spear.
the elf whispered to his dragon, his voice trembling.
"Good girl,"
"Don't worry, we'll pull through this."
A voice called out casually.
"I also had a dragon as a pet once,"
The elf snapped his head up.
Nol was standing entirely unharmed on the roof of a nearby building.
Nol continued, looking the dragon up and down.
"But I killed it once I felt he wasn't fun anymore,"
"But your dragon... it seems he is stronger than you."
Nol grinned, a wicked light in his crimson eyes.
"Maybe I should kill you and just fight just the dragon."
the elf screamed in defiance.
"We are a team!"
"We stand together, and we fall together!"
Answering its master's resolve, the dragon opened its maw, unleashing a devastating torrent of flame directly at Nol.
The heat threatened to melt the surrounding stone.
Nol stood his ground, calmly stretching his right hand forward.
"Let's see whose flame is stronger,"
(Crimson Flame)
A torrent of blood-red, crimson fire erupted from Nol's palm.
The two infernos collided in mid-air, creating a spectacular wall of contrasting fire.
But the struggle was short-lived.
The sheer disparity in power was absolute.
Nol's crimson flame easily overpowered the dragon's breath, tearing through the fire and engulfing the beast.
When the inferno faded, the dragon collapsed to the ground, heavily burned and smoking.
The elf crawled out from beneath its wing, weeping at the sight of his injured companion.
the elf whispered.
"You tried to protect me..."
He looked up at Nol, tightening his grip on his spear.
"Don't worry, I will try my best to get us out of this."
Sliding down from the dragon's side, the elf readyed his weapon.
"I want to fight you one-on-one."
Nol dropped down from the building, an arrogant smile on his face.
"Of course."
The elf pushed himself past his absolute limits, his aura flaring to its peak as he dashed forward.
He unleashed a flurry of thrusts, but Nol simply vanished from his sight.
a voice whispered.
"Behind you,"
The elf spun around, stabbing blindly, but Nol effortlessly slipped past every strike.
Nol mocked.
"See? You're not even close to my level,"
Suddenly, Nol appeared directly in front of the elf.
He unleashed a devastating combo of strikes, his fists moving faster than the eye could follow.
The sheer force of the blows shattered the elf's spear into splinters and sent him crashing to the dirt, broken and helpless.
Crawlng in the dust, the elf used the last of his strength to look up, uttering his final words.
"Please... don't kill the dragon."
Nol slowly lifted his hand, his eyes cold.
"I will think about it."
(Crimson Flame)
A pillar of blood-red fire erupted directly from beneath the elf. In an instant, his body was incinerated, leaving nothing but scattered ash.
Nol sighed, lowering his hand.
"I thought about it".
He smiled.
"I'm going to kill the dragon."
Seeing its master reduced to ash, the dragon exploded with raw, grief-stricken rage.
Bypassing its injuries, it unleashed a point-blank blast of flame at Nol'.
The explosion blasted Nol through multiple buildings, cutting a path of destruction straight through the city.
Before Nol could even catch his breath amidst the rubble, the dragon descended upon him.
It clamped its massive jaws around him, its fangs ripping through his flesh, and flew back up into the sky.
At the apex of its flight, the dragon spat Nol out like a broken doll, then spun, whipping its massive tail around to smash him straight back into the earth.
Nol crashed into the ground with great force.
The dragon wasn't done.
Gathering every ounce of its remaining energy, it unleashed one final, apocalyptic fire blast at the crash site, turning the entire sector into a roaring pit of hellfire.
For a moment, it seemed Nol had finally lost.
Suddenly, a violent spark of dark red lightning crackled within the sea of fire.
(Crimson Lightning)
In a fraction of a second, a bolt of crimson lightning ripped right through the dragon's fire blast, tearing it apart.
Nol surged upward through the remnants of the flames, his right fist crackling with volatile red lightning.
He delivered a devastating uppercut straight to the dragon's jaw.
The explosive force of the crimson lightning detonated on impact, completely blowing away half of the dragon face.
The dragon plummeted, and Nol landed heavily on its head as they fell.
Nol's own body was in terrible shape—covered in deep cuts, severe burns, and blood.
But then.
Incredibly, his wounds began to knit together at a visible pace.
Within seconds, the burn marks vanished and the cuts sealed shut, leaving his skin as flawless as if the damage had never existed.
Nol looked down at the dying dragon beneath him and sighed.
"What a waste of time".
"To think I had to go through so much trouble for just this".
"Truly, the Upper Realm is starting to become a place for nobodies."
A single tear dropped from the dragon's remaining eye.
Defiant until the end, it tried to gather a final, desperate spark of fire through its broken mouth.
(Crimson Lightning)
He raised his hand, and several dense orbs of red lightning materialized in the air, encircling the dragon's head.
"Guess I have to look harder next time,"
He clutched his hand into a fist.
The orbs detonated simultaneously, sending targeted lightning strikes inward from all sides.
A colossal explosion echoed across the city sky.
The massive corpse of the dragon crashed heavily into the cratered street, completely lifeless.
Nol sat relaxed on top of the beast's charred body.
He casually reached down, tore off a piece of the perfectly roasted dragon meat, and popped it into his mouth like a light snack.
As he chewed, he stared up at the sky, thinking his next move.
"Hmmm..."
"Should I go to the Frost Lands next?"
To be continued.