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The winds howled furiously, and it felt as if the entire world were roaring.
Rain sliced through the air like sharp blades.
The downpour wove itself into a tightly sealed net across the sky. Within this chaotic expanse, a raven flew headlong against the gale. Its black feathers snapped loudly in the storm.
"This definitely isn't normal weather."
Ian pressed his wings tightly against his body to minimize drag. His sharp eyes were fixed on a spot in the dim light. His talons curled close, and every feather pulled taut.
He moved through the storm with the most streamlined posture possible.
Anyone who had studied aerodynamics would know the fastest way to fly. Sometimes, magic and science complemented each other.
Ian's pitch-black wings sliced through the tumbling thunderclouds. Violent air currents battered him, trying desperately to flip him over. But his form remained steady, like an arrow shot from a bow.
He cut through layer after layer of resistance.
"This kind of storm feels more like a barrier, as if it's sealing off whatever lies in the center from the outside world. I suppose you could call it one of the earliest forms of protective magic."
The raven Ian had transformed into continued weaving through the storm.
He could feel the magic in the air. But it was different from the magic he knew. It could manipulate nature itself continuously.
However, he still didn't know what the energy source behind this magic was.
Hōng lóng...
Hōng lóng...
Hōng lóng...
Thunder ripped across the sky again and again.
A searing white light lit up the heavens, exploding almost directly above Ian's head.
It was as if the sky itself had been ripped open, leaving behind an enormous wound. Violet-black thunderclouds churned like a furious, boiling sea.
Lightning danced wildly between the clouds like silver serpents, each eruption bleaching the world pale. The wind shrieked, dragging sheets of rain and hail that hammered the raven's feathers with crackling force.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning crashed down, violet light tearing through the darkness and exploding almost beside him.
"What kind of cursed weather is this, worse than traffic during rush hour!" Ian grumbled mentally as his wings snapped open and he dodged a bolt of lightning that fell straight down from the heavens.
Electricity scraped past his feathers, sending a pleasant tingling numbness through them.
The air currents within the storm were chaotic, an updraft one second and a vicious downdraft the next. Ian maneuvered as if performing an extreme sport, fighting to maintain balance amidst the violent winds.
His feathers were already soaked, and each flap of his wings sent a spray of water flying. The wind grew even more ferocious; the swirling currents were like unseen claws trying to rip him from the sky.
Yet Ian continued flying through the storm as steadily as an old dog.
"This storm is even bigger than I expected."
He whispered inwardly, though his voice was instantly shredded by the gale, leaving only meaningless fragments of sound behind. Ian could sense the eye of the storm still ahead, but the massive wall of clouds concealed everything.
It felt like the end of the world, or perhaps the entrance to another.
Suddenly, the clouds churned violently ahead, and in a flash of lightning, an enormous silhouette flickered in and out of view.
"Wait...that is..."
The dark clouds rolled, and a strange aura brushed past Ian's senses.
It was not the wind. Nor the energy of lightning, but life.
A creature unlike anything Ian had ever seen lurked somewhere within this raging world of thunder and storm.
As Ian crossed through the storm, a creature suddenly appeared before his eyes... a long, serpentine being wriggling through the air with incredible agility, its body shimmering with iridescent colors.
It seemed to be made entirely of air and light energy.
"Holy crap, an actual atmospheric lifeform?" Ian was stunned.
He stared at the silhouette before him.
The long, serpentine creature had a slender body stretching hundreds of meters. With every twist, the air around it distorted, forming small whirlwinds.
It tore through the sky like the claws of a colossal beast. Roaring winds swept across heaven and earth. Rain slashed downward like blades. Thunder exploded overhead as if intent on crushing the entire world.
"Atmospheric lifeform confirmed!" Ian felt a jolt in his heart, followed immediately by excitement. He had never seen such a bizarre creature, and his curiosity made him flap his wings and fly a little closer.
Because of that, the serpent seemed to notice his presence. It instantly turned and let out a high-pitched screech as if sensing its dignity being challenged.
A tiny bird...
Daring to challenge such an enormous magical life form?
"ROAR!"
The serpent unleashed a deafening bellow, and shock waves rippled visibly through the air. It snapped its tail, whipping a blast of high-pressure wind toward Ian like a lashing tail.
"So aggressive? I'll be so gentle when I grow up..."
Ian quickly adjusted his posture, ready to fight. Ever since he gained his Animagus form, close combat was no longer his weakness.
The invincible raven...
With a body of overwhelming strength and absolute magic immunity.
If magical resistance were graded, he didn't know how many X-levels he would score. Because of that, Ian remained calm when the serpent suddenly attacked.
"Roar."
The serpent had likely never seen a creature like Ian. In a storm this terrifying, there probably wasn't another bird alive that could fly inside, let alone appear before the serpent.
The sheer force of the winds alone would rip apart future generations of mixed-blood Western dragons. Despite their iron-hard scales, they would succumb to nature's fury and fall.
If mixed-blood dragons couldn't withstand it, ordinary birds stood no chance.
Except for phoenixes, there was no bird on Earth capable of enduring this pressure. Ian was an exception, born after who knows how many years.
Then...
The serpent lunged at Ian in an instant. Its speed was astonishing, and the wind pressure was enough to make one's heart tremble.
"Not much technique there."
Ian was unafraid. He flapped his wings strongly, riding the wind to evade the serpent's first strike. Observing the creature's movements, Ian noticed that, although agile, its massive body required inertia to turn in the air.
Seizing the opening, Ian dove downward suddenly, ramming into the serpent with all his strength.
BOOM!
The collision detonated a shockwave. Ian felt the powerful impact but remained unharmed. In contrast, the serpent was knocked tumbling away, hissing furiously. Yet it was stubborn and quickly righted itself to launch another attack.
"Can't we just communicate peacefully for once?" Ian tried to use Legilimency on the magical creature, but he discovered that it seemed to possess no language system whatsoever.
It was as though it belonged to no species, had no kin, and had no need for communication. This bizarre situation sent Ian's thoughts spinning. A creature like this clearly couldn't be the product of natural evolution.
After all, evolution theory applied to magical creatures as well. As long as a species reproduced, there had to be a form of communication between individuals, and a "language" would naturally arise.
Not just humans.
Almost all animals, even insects, have their own "language systems." The only difference is how developed or primitive those systems are.
But inside this serpent's mind, there was no language system at all. Even Ian's attempt at mental communication received no response.
This meant... that the serpent's intelligence was probably very low. It was unlikely to be a creature born through natural evolution. It was more likely that it had been manufactured through some kind of biological alchemy by a higher life form.
"Titan..."
Ian recalled what Zeus and the others had mentioned earlier: an immortal Titan who exiled a fellow Titan who made a prophecy about a raven. Perhaps the exiled Titan had returned to the Titans' homeland.
That was a reasonable guess.
Whether or not this could be confirmed would have to wait until Ian found the Titans' home. For now, he needed to teach the clueless "atmospheric lifeform" before him a lesson.
With that thought, Ian stopped defending himself passively and began to take the initiative.
Using his agile flying technique, he circled around the serpent, looking for openings. Whenever the serpent tried to approach, Ian dodged swiftly and counterattacked at just the right moment.
This was clearly nothing more than play.
Ian had no desire to kill such a miraculous creature. As Newt's favorite student, he naturally held great affection for magical creatures.
Even though the serpent had attacked first, Ian had intruded into its territory. He respected the creature's survival instincts and habits.
Of course, that didn't stop him from using this battle to satisfy his curiosity and see what was special about this atmospheric, serpent-like magical creature.
Because of that, Ian adopted a hit-and-run style, never ramming it with full force. To him, the battle was nothing but a game. His body traced elegant arcs in the air, as if he were dancing with the storm.
With each precise and powerful strike, the serpent was forced to retreat. Though it struggled and attempted to counterattack, Ian's speed and strength overwhelmed it completely.
The serpent let out a deep roar that pierced the storm and shook heaven and earth. Its body twisted violently, churning the surrounding air into a ring-shaped wind that pushed Ian back several meters. Then, golden lines appeared along its spine like ancient runes flickering in the air.
"Hm? This looks… a bit like Rayquaza's move?" Ian narrowed his eyes, he was genuinely surprised.
The next second, the serpent opened its mouth wide, and a blazing white thunder beam erupted, shooting straight at Ian! The lightning column was as thick as a tree trunk, ripping open the clouds and scorching the air.
"Good! Magic?" Ian shouted, spreading his wings wide and charging straight at the thunder. He didn't dodge; he crashed directly into the beam!
BOOM!
Thunder exploded, lighting up the entire sky. When the radiance faded, however, Ian was still hovering steadily in the air, not a single burn mark on his black feathers.
His magic immunity was absolute... still as glorious as ever.
"That's it?"
Ian's beak curved upward.
A vivid, expressive smirk of contempt appeared on his bird face.
"Roooaaarrr—"
The serpent was clearly stunned by what it had just witnessed.
But it quickly regained its composure, a spark of battle intent flashing in its eyes. Its body stretched out, coiling through the air like a western dragon.
Its speed spiked, and it turned into a streak of afterimages as it lunged straight toward Ian! Instead of dodging, Ian charged forward head-on. The two collided midair with a deafening crash.
Kā-chā, kā-chā!
The serpent's fangs clashed with Ian's talons. Though one was huge and the other tiny, sparks flew everywhere and a shockwave tore the surrounding storm clouds apart.
"Not bad. Your strength is already comparable to that of a pure-blood Western dragon." Ian flicked his body, effortlessly slipping out of the serpent's grasp. Then, with a powerful flap of his wings, he whipped up a fierce gust of wind and slammed it straight into the serpent's flank!
Boom!
The serpent was sent tumbling through the air.
It quickly stabilized itself, however, its gaze becoming even sharper. Suddenly, its tail lit up with a violet-blue glow, and it lashed out like a whip, slicing through the air straight toward Ian.
"All right, that's enough. I'm only curious about the one who created you now."
As the serpent launched another attack, Ian simply sidestepped and delivered a swift kick with his small black talon in the same motion.
Small body.
Huge power.
The blow landed cleanly and without suspense. The serpent's body fell straight from the sky, slamming into the stormy cloud sea below and sending up towering waves.
The storm still raged on.
But the serpent finally seemed to recognize its limited intelligence and that it had kicked an iron wall. Once hidden inside the storm, it seized the chance to flee. Ian didn't chase it; he simply continued moving forward.
He wasted no time.
The moment the serpent escaped, Ian spread his wings and shot toward the thick storm barrier ahead.
The gale still howled.
Finally, after one fierce burst of force, Ian tore through the edge of the storm. For an instant, the roaring and violence fell behind him, replaced by warm sunlight spilling across his wings. He looked up at the clear blue sky and felt a wave of indescribable exhilaration rise in his chest.
The storm was far behind him, and Ian saw a peaceful island.
Who could have imagined?
That the very core of the storm was actually a world, isolated and protected within it, with impossibly tranquil skies and gentle sunlight, it was a place of impossibly tranquil skies and gentle sunlight.
On the island... golden flecks of light danced over emerald leaves. The air carried the fresh scent of grass blended with the sea breeze. A few colorful birds circled around him, chirping.
As if welcoming him.
Ian slowly descended to the center of the floating island, which hovered above the cloud sea. His feathers quivered slightly as he prepared to transform back into human form. Just as he folded his wings...
Suddenly...
A stone sphere shot toward him, slicing through the air with a sharp whistle and aimed right at his head! Ian shifted aside instinctively, and the stone ball crashed onto the grass. It rolled a few times before stopping.
"..."
Ian looked in the direction from which it had been thrown.
A moment later, A childish yet frustrated voice came from behind the forest.
"Huh? Why didn't it work? Aren't you supposed to catch magical creatures like this?"
A boy of around ten burst out from the trees, his face full of confusion and reluctance. He wore a strange, rough linen tunic and held several stone spheres similar to the one he had just tried to capture.
Clearly some sort of ancient capturing device.
"You seriously think this is Pokémon?" Ian returned to human form.
He was dumbfounded.
The child was dumbfounded, too.
(End of Chapter)