Chapter 23: When Giants Bleed
For the first time since the battle had begun...
The Frost Komodo Dragon limped.
Its left hind leg dragged through the snow, leaving behind a thick crimson trail that steamed against the freezing earth.
Yun Che's heart leapt.
"We've got it..."
He whispered.
The dragon had finally been grounded.
Its greatest advantage—its terrifying mobility—had diminished.
Now...
Every shot would become easier.
Every opening would last a little longer.
He raised the rifle.
The runes along its barrel glowed softly as Ki flowed into them.
He slowed his breathing.
The wounded leg filled his sights.
Then—
The dragon's golden eye snapped toward him.
It wasn't panicking.
It was furious.
With a roar that shook the valley, the beast slammed its massive tail into the frozen earth.
The impact was like a mountain collapsing.
The ground exploded.
A tidal wave of snow burst into the sky.
The moon disappeared behind a white curtain.
Yun Che lost sight of everything.
"No—"
Before the word had even left his mouth—
Thousands of glittering lights appeared inside the blizzard.
Ice.
Not enormous pillars like before.
Smaller.
Sharper.
Faster.
A storm of razor-like ice spikes erupted from every direction.
It wasn't an attack.
It was a massacre.
"Tianyu!"
Captain Han's voice thundered across the battlefield.
The young heir had no room to dodge.
Neither did Bingya.
The spikes covered everything.
Retreat was impossible.
Advance was impossible.
There was only one choice.
"Brace!"
Tianyu threw himself low across Bingya's neck.
The Frost Wolf crouched.
Wind Ki exploded around them, desperately deflecting whatever it could.
It wasn't enough.
The first spike shattered against Tianyu's shoulder plate.
The second pierced through the armor protecting his side.
Another slammed into Bingya's flank.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
Stone exploded.
Ancient boulders developed fist-sized holes as though struck by siege weapons.
Entire trees snapped apart under the relentless barrage.
The mountain itself seemed to vanish beneath a storm of crystal.
Far away...
Yun Che had already started running.
"Move!"
His metal wires burst outward.
They spun around him at terrifying speed, weaving a cage of glittering steel.
The first ice spike struck.
CLANG!
Deflected.
The second slipped through.
It smashed into his shoulder.
Pain exploded through his arm.
He didn't stop.
A tree appeared ahead.
He darted behind it.
Three spikes punched straight through the trunk.
The tree collapsed.
Yun Che rolled beneath the falling wood.
Another spike shattered against his helmet.
The impact rang inside his skull like a temple bell.
He barely remained conscious.
A boulder appeared.
He threw himself behind it.
The rock exploded moments later.
Fragments of stone slammed into his armor.
Another spike struck his thigh.
Another scraped across his ribs.
His breastplate finally cracked.
One shoulder guard tore completely away.
He landed hard against the frozen ground.
Every breath hurt.
Fractured...
He could already feel it.
Several bones had cracked beneath the repeated impacts.
The dragon's attack...
Had nearly overwhelmed them all.
Silence slowly returned.
Snow drifted gently back toward the earth.
The white fog began clearing.
Captain Han remained perfectly still.
He had not intervened.
Not yet.
They were still alive.
That meant the battle continued.
Tianyu slowly pushed himself upright.
Pain shot through his chest.
His left side burned.
He looked down.
The armor protecting his ribs had split open.
Beneath it...
Purple bruises were already spreading.
One breath was enough to tell him.
"...Broken."
At least one rib.
Perhaps two.
He ignored it immediately.
Instead...
He turned toward Bingya.
The Frost Wolf struggled to stand.
Blood soaked its white fur.
Several long spikes had pierced completely through its shoulder.
For the first time that evening...
Fear appeared in Tianyu's eyes.
Not for himself.
For his partner.
He hurried over, pulling a jade bottle from his belt.
"Easy..."
He fed one healing pill to Bingya.
Swallowed another himself.
Warm Ki immediately began easing the worst of the damage.
Bingya shook itself once before looking toward the dragon.
"Still breathing."
Tianyu smiled.
"So are we."
"Then stop staring."
The wolf bared its teeth.
"Kill it."
The young heir nodded.
"It can't use that attack repeatedly."
He looked toward the dragon.
"That consumed too much Ki."
"If it could..."
"It would've done it already."
He climbed back onto Bingya.
"We don't give it another chance."
The Frost Wolf growled in agreement.
Across the battlefield...
Yun Che painfully forced himself onto one knee.
Blood dripped from beneath his dragon-shaped helmet.
His left arm trembled.
He swallowed a healing pill.
The familiar warmth spread through his fractured body.
Not enough to fully recover.
Enough to continue.
He looked toward Tianyu.
The young heir had already charged again.
"...Of course you did."
Yun Che smiled despite the pain.
He knew his rival.
The wolf never retreated while prey still breathed.
Mist still covered much of the battlefield.
The Frost Komodo waited somewhere inside.
Invisible.
Listening.
Then—
A white blur burst through the fog.
Bingya.
Tianyu crouched low across the wolf's back.
Wind surrounded them once more.
Not as violently as before.
Their injuries had slowed them.
Even so...
They remained frighteningly fast.
The dragon lunged.
Its enormous jaws snapped shut.
Empty air.
Bingya had already changed direction.
The tail came next.
Sweeping across the battlefield like a collapsing wall.
The wolf leapt.
Its paws landed upon one of the remaining ice spikes.
Then another.
Then another.
They climbed the battlefield itself.
Each frozen pillar became a stepping stone.
Higher.
Closer.
Faster.
The dragon turned.
Too late.
Wolf and rider landed directly upon its back.
Tianyu's claws blazed with Wind Ki.
He drove them downward.
SCREEECH!
Blue scales tore apart.
Blood burst outward.
The dragon roared furiously.
It twisted violently.
Trying to throw them away.
Bingya had already jumped to another section of its back.
Tianyu followed.
Slash.
Leap.
Slash again.
Never remaining in one place long enough to be crushed.
The pair carved a winding trail of wounds across the dragon's massive body.
Like wolves surrounding a wounded elk.
Patient.
Relentless.
Merciless.
Far away...
Yun Che finally reached another firing position.
His breathing slowed.
The rifle settled against his shoulder.
He ignored the pain radiating through his ribs.
He ignored the blood running into one eye.
Only one thing mattered.
The wounded leg.
Tianyu had already weakened it.
The Ice Yeti had weakened it before that.
His own mines had damaged it further.
Enough.
It had to be enough.
He exhaled slowly.
The crosshairs steadied.
His finger squeezed.
CRACK!
The bullet vanished.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM!
It struck deep within the already shredded hind leg.
The explosion erupted inside the torn flesh.
The damaged muscles finally surrendered.
With a sickening crack...
The Frost Komodo Dragon's left hind leg collapsed beneath its own enormous weight.
The giant beast lurched sideways.
Its claws desperately scraped across the frozen earth.
For a single glorious moment...
The Dragon Son lost its balance.
Then...
The mountain shook.
The enormous creature crashed onto its side with a thunderous impact that echoed through every valley for miles.
Snow exploded into the sky.
Trees bent beneath the force.
Even Captain Han's Frost Wolf took a single involuntary step backward.
The impossible had happened.
The Dragon...
Had fallen.
----------------------------------
Captain Han never took his eyes off the battlefield.
The great wind barrier surrounding the trainees continued to spin steadily, intercepting every stray ice spike that escaped the battle.
Each shard struck the invisible wall with a sharp crack before dissolving into harmless frost.
Not one reached the young warriors.
Not one.
The Captain's face remained unreadable.
Inside, however...
He was judging.
Not their strength.
Not their techniques.
Their decisions.
Strength could be trained.
Technique could be polished.
Judgment...
Separated those who survived from those who became stories.
His massive hand rested upon the shaft of his naginata.
Relaxed.
Yet ready.
If either boy stood one heartbeat away from death...
He would move.
The Frost Komodo Dragon lay upon the frozen earth.
Its breathing had become ragged.
Blood poured steadily from the ruined hind leg.
One eye remained half open.
The other had swollen shut.
It looked defeated.
But Captain Han did not relax.
"A wounded beast..."
he murmured quietly,
"...is often the most dangerous."
Tianyu and Bingya retreated several dozen meters.
Both breathed heavily.
The healing pills had begun working, but only barely.
Broken ribs still protested with every breath.
Bingya's shoulder continued bleeding despite the medicine.
The wolf sat heavily upon the snow.
"One minute."
"That's all I need."
Tianyu nodded.
"We'll make it count."
Far across the clearing...
Yun Che never stopped.
His own ribs burned.
His fractured shoulder screamed every time he lifted the rifle.
Blood had dried beneath his dragon-shaped helmet.
His fingers felt numb from the cold.
None of it mattered.
He worked the bolt.
Another round slid into place.
His breathing slowed.
The scales are too thick.
Don't waste shots.
His crosshairs settled upon one location.
The dragon's left side.
Just behind the foreleg.
Near the heart.
One point.
Again.
And again.
Metal failed when struck repeatedly in the same place.
So would scales.
He squeezed the trigger.
CRACK!
The bullet slammed into the exact same wound.
Fragments of broken scale scattered across the snow.
He chambered another round.
Fired again.
The opening widened.
Still...
Not enough.
Tianyu watched from afar.
He immediately understood.
"...One point."
He smiled.
"So that's your plan."
He climbed back onto Bingya.
"We'll open the door."
The Frost Wolf answered with a low growl.
"Together."
Wind gathered around them.
Not wildly.
Not violently.
Perfectly controlled.
Tianyu crossed his clawed gauntlets.
Bingya lowered its head.
The circulating wind wrapped around both wolf and rider until they resembled a single spinning spear.
"This technique..."
Tianyu whispered,
"...Tempest Fang Drill."
The snow exploded beneath them.
Wolf and rider became a white cyclone.
The dragon tried to rise.
Its ruined leg buckled.
Too slow.
The spinning attack crashed directly into the weakened section of its ribs.
BOOOOOOM!
The entire battlefield trembled.
Broken scales erupted into the air.
Blood sprayed across the frozen ground.
For the first time...
A deep cavity appeared within the dragon's side.
The Frost Komodo screamed.
Its enormous body convulsed violently.
Its frost breath escaped in broken bursts.
The ice spikes it summoned now rose unevenly.
Small.
Crooked.
Weak.
It had exhausted itself.
"There!"
Captain Han said quietly.
"It has reached its limit."
Yun Che needed no further invitation.
His rifle settled once more.
The hole Tianyu had created exposed flesh.
Muscle.
The place where scales no longer protected.
He fired.
CRACK!
The bullet disappeared into the wound.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM!
The explosion echoed from inside the dragon's body.
The beast roared in agony.
Yun Che immediately chambered another round.
Fired again.
CRACK!
BOOM!
This time...
The roar stopped halfway.
The Frost Komodo shuddered once.
Twice.
Then...
Its enormous head slowly sank into the snow.
Silence.
No movement.
No breath.
Nothing.
Tianyu cautiously approached.
Bingya sniffed the dragon's nostrils.
Nothing.
The young heir pressed one hand against its neck.
"...No pulse."
He waited another moment.
"...No body heat."
He finally smiled.
"We did it."
Cheers erupted behind them.
The trainees threw their fists into the air.
Several cavalry members laughed.
Even the Frost Wolves howled together beneath the evening sky.
The tension that had gripped everyone for hours finally broke.
Yun Che lowered the rifle with a weary sigh.
His legs suddenly felt unbelievably heavy.
Curiosity overcame exhaustion.
The three youngsters slowly approached the enormous corpse.
Standing beside it...
The dragon appeared even larger than before.
Its body stretched nearly ten meters from snout to tail.
Its shoulders stood almost two meters high.
Its broad torso measured nearly five meters across.
Its scales resembled overlapping shields forged from blue steel.
Yun Che reached out and placed one gloved hand against them.
Cold.
Hard.
Almost impossible to damage.
"It wasn't even a real dragon..."
he whispered.
"...and it almost killed us."
Tianyu nodded quietly.
"If this is diluted dragon blood..."
"I don't want to imagine the real thing."
Bingya snorted.
"One day."
"We'll hunt those too."
Tianyu laughed.
"I like your confidence."
Then...
Something felt wrong.
Captain Han's eyes narrowed.
Too quiet.
The dragon...
Had died too easily.
A faint pulse of Ki flickered.
Its eyelid twitched.
The golden eye snapped open.
"Move!"
Captain Han roared.
The ground exploded.
Ice spread across the snow faster than thought itself.
Before Yun Che or Tianyu could react...
Their boots froze solid.
Bingya's legs became trapped as well.
The dragon's lips curled into a terrible grin.
It had been waiting.
Playing dead.
Saving the last of its strength...
For one final bite.
Its jaws opened.
Venom dripped from rows of dagger-like teeth.
It no longer cared whether it survived.
It would drag them into death with it.
The enormous head lunged.
Time seemed to slow.
Tianyu looked directly into the dragon's throat.
He raised both claws.
If this was the end...
He would cut through its mouth.
Bingya growled savagely despite being frozen.
Captain Han moved.
For the first time that evening...
The giant warrior truly intended to interfere.
His naginata left his shoulder.
One throw.
That was all it would take.
Then...
He stopped.
His eyes shifted.
Not toward the dragon.
Toward Yun Che.
The black-armored boy had released the rifle.
His left hand gripped the sword's scabbard.
His right wrapped firmly around the hilt.
Captain Han suddenly noticed something.
The blade...
Was glowing.
Not the sword itself.
The Ki inside it.
The Ki Storage Rune.
The scabbard shimmered as well.
Every spare fragment of Ki Yun Che had stored over the past week...
Waited inside.
Far beyond what his own body could normally contain.
Ten times more.
Yun Che's eyes never left the dragon.
"So..."
he whispered,
"...this is the moment."
His thumb pushed the guard free.
The blade left the scabbard.
Not slowly.
Like lightning.
SHIIIIING!
A crescent of compressed Ki erupted from the drawing motion.
Brilliant silver.
Pure.
Violent.
The stored energy exploded outward all at once.
Captain Han's eyes widened.
"...A drawing technique."
The Ki blade crossed the battlefield in an instant.
It struck directly inside the dragon's open mouth.
BOOOOM!
The entire lower jaw split apart.
The enormous head was knocked violently sideways.
Its desperate bite missed the three youngsters completely.
The ice imprisoning their legs cracked.
Tianyu reacted immediately.
"Now!"
Bingya shattered the remaining frost.
Wolf and rider became one final blur.
The Tempest Fang Drill struck once more.
Straight through the dragon's ruined neck.
Blood erupted.
The enormous body collapsed for the final time.
This time...
It did not move.
Captain Han stepped forward without hesitation.
One clean swing of the naginata.
The dragon's head separated from its body.
It rolled across the frozen earth before coming to rest against a shattered boulder.
Only then did the Captain lower his weapon.
He looked first at the corpse.
Then at Yun Che.
Finally...
A faint smile appeared beneath his beard.
"Now..."
he said quietly,
"...it's over."