In the shadows of a back alley, shielded from the blinding light of the transformation, Kai, Liane, and Ren watched in awe. Towering above the Hao Pavilion, the Dragonoid form of Sebas was a pristine, terrifying white. His scales shimmered like pearl and bone, reflecting the flames he created, making him look like a phantom disaster.
"Whoa," Kai whispered, his eyes wide. "Is our Master really a dragon?"
"We are disciples of a dragon!" Liane squealed, clutching her daggers.
"Shut up," Ren hissed, smacking them both on the back of the head. "It's our cue. Ready the body when the 'Hellfire' starts."
Kai dragged a heavy canvas bag from the shadows. Inside was a corpse—freshly created for today's plan, modified to have the same build as Sebas's human form, and pre-burned with scars matching the [V] card's visage.
"Do you know what the 'Hellfire' Master mentioned meant?" Kai asked, looking at the white beast roaring above.
"We'll know it when we see it," Ren said grimly. "That's what Master said."
…
Across Evercrest, the Rune Alarms began to blare—a sound rarely heard, reserved for calamities.
At the 7th Precinct, Captain Céline stood by the comms array, her face pale. "Report!" she screamed into the crystal.
"I-I-It is a dragon!" the Gryphon rider stammered over the static, the wind whipping his voice away. "A White Dragon has landed on our sky! The heat... my mount is refusing to go closer!"
A shockwave rattled the windows of the precinct, followed by a sudden spike in temperature that could be felt even miles away.
"Confirmation verified," Céline whispered. She grabbed the fleet-wide mic. "All units! This is a Code Red Omega! Initiate emergency evacuation immediately! I want a twenty-mile radius cleared! Move!"
…
On the main street, the Watchers were paralyzed. The sheer primal fear radiating from the White Dragon froze them in place. The beast stood atop the ruins of the Pavilion, its wings spread wide, white scales glowing with an internal, molten light.
Chief Black shook his head, clearing the shock. He reached for his back to grab his secondary scroll case—the heavy artillery—but his hand grasped only air.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
From the opposite side of the street, red runic light flared.
Black turned to see Erwin standing atop a pile of rubble. Floating around him were the heavy rune-cannons and repeating rifles from Black's missing scroll.
"Hey, ugly!" Erwin shouted, his voice amplified by his own commanding aura. He unleashed a barrage of red magical energy, the shots slamming into the Dragon's white scales, creating explosions of sparks but little damage.
The Dragon turned, its golden slit pupils locking onto Erwin.
"What the..." Black muttered, then realized Erwin must have swiped the scroll during the chaos. "ALL UNITS EVAC!! SWAT TEAM, WITH ME!!"
Black sprinted toward Erwin, drawing his twin scimitars as the SWAT team followed, their shields raised.
Sebas, looking down at the "heroes," smiled internally. 'Good. The stage is set.'
He didn't just breathe fire. He moved. Drawing upon the martial arts of Iroh, the Dragonoid performed a slow, circular sweep with his massive claws. The air distorted.
WHOOOSH!
A wave of fire didn't just blast out; it flowed like water, controlled and precise. It crashed into the street, not hitting the Watchers, but encircling them.
"Shields up!" Black roared.
The SWAT team heavy members raised their shields, barriers flaring against the orange onslaught.
"It's not stopping!" a SWAT officer yelled. "He's... he's bending it!"
Sebas twisted his wrist. The fire obeyed. It rose up, forming a towering wall of flame. It sealed off the block, trapping Erwin, Black, and the SWAT team inside with the monster, while simultaneously pushing the civilians back to safety.
To the people watching from outside the ring of fire, all they could see were the silhouettes of their defenders fighting against the shadow of the beast. It was pure theater. [V]'s influence bled through.
Sebas roared, and with a conductor's grace, he triggered explosions in rhythm. Boom-boom-Clap. Buildings shook.
Erwin, sweating from the heat, gritted his teeth. "Chief! I'll suppress him! You take the legs!"
"Got it!" Black yelled.
Erwin pointed both hands forward. The floating arsenal unleashed a storm of ice-rounds and kinetic bolts. Sebas flared his wings, using them as a shield, letting the rounds ricochet harmlessly to the side, destroying parked cars and streetlamps to add to the chaos.
Then, Sebas lunged. He didn't bite; he struck with open palms, dragon-style.
CRASH!
The pavement shattered. Black wove through the debris, slashing at the Dragon's ankles. His blades sparked against the white scales. Sebas countered with a tail whip, sending three SWAT officers flying into a pile of trash bags, out of the fight.
"Is that all you have, insects?!" Sebas roared, his voice a terrifying mix of human speech and draconic growl.
He inhaled deeply. The fire surrounding them seemed to be sucked toward him.
"He's charging a breath attack!" Erwin shouted. "CONVERGE FIRE!"
Black, Erwin, and the remaining SWAT members unleashed everything they had at the Dragon's open maw.
Sebas held the fire in his throat, letting the glow build until it was blinding, letting them feel the despair, the heat, the overwhelming odds. He was crafting a legend for them, forging their heroism in the fires of his own making.
…
The street was a ruin. The SWAT team lay scattered around Erwin and Black, unconscious from the shockwaves or thrown clear by the dragon's tail. Only the two of them remained upright, half-standing amidst the rubble.
Black looked at Erwin. The rookie was wielding the floating magical weapons as if he had been born with them, using a heavy runic shield to tank the searing heat radiating from the white beast. Both of them were bathed in the dying red glow of their cracked shields.
"Hahahahaha!" Black laughed, a wet, rattling sound. "You're more talented than I thought, son. Pity. You're too good with those weapons. I shouldn't have brought you here."
"Chief!" Erwin shouted, his voice cracking. "You're bleeding profusely! How can you laugh?!"
"Hahahaha," Black wheezed, clutching a deep gash in his side. "You're also bleeding."
Erwin realized it then. The Chief wasn't laughing because it was funny. He was laughing to alleviate the tension, to make sure his rookie didn't die terrified. He was being a leader until the very end.
Black grabbed a floating magic spear that circled him, leveled it at the towering white dragon, and gritted his teeth. "One last attack. You and me, lizard."
Sebas, peering down with golden, slit pupils, spoke in a voice that vibrated in their chests. "WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?"
"Let my subordinates live," Black demanded.
"I AM DONE WITH YOUR TRICKERY."
Sebas inhaled. The air around him shimmered as he charged a devastating fire breath.
Black saw it coming. It was futile. He let go of the spear. Instead, he grabbed two heavy runic shields from his floating arsenal. He didn't raise them to defend himself. He stepped in front of Erwin and the unconscious officers, planting his feet. If he couldn't stop the monster, he would at least be the wall that bought them a few more seconds.
"CHIEF!!" Erwin screamed, reaching out.
Black smiled, a peaceful expression amidst the inferno, and closed his eyes.
WHOOOOOSH.
The roar of the fire was deafening. Black braced for the end.
A second passed. Then two.
"A bit too hot, wouldn't you say?" a calm, accented voice asked.
Black opened his eyes. The fire wasn't hitting him. Standing just a few feet in front of him, casual as a morning stroll, was the man from the noodle stall. He held one hand up, a translucent, shimmering barrier diverting the dragon's breath around them like water around a stone.
"Protego," Gellert whispered, his wandless shield holding firm against the draconic heat.
Through the Animus Hub, a split-second command fired: 'Stop.'
The shield cracked loudly. Sebas ceased the breath attack instantly.
Black stared, his mouth agape. "A mage... Are you sent by the Duke?"
Gellert glanced back over his shoulder, his mismatched eyes unreadable. "Just a traveler passing by."
Sebas roared, feigning rage at the interruption. He didn't breathe fire this time; he lunged, his massive claws tearing up the street as he charged to crush them all physically.
Gellert twisted his hands in a complex, geometric pattern. Orange sparks of Eldritch energy flared at his fingertips. He slammed his hands against the air.
CRACK-SHATTER.
The world didn't just break; it folded. Gellert cast the Mirror Dimension, deliberately expanding the range to catch Black and Erwin within its event horizon.
Reality shifted instantly. The asphalt street twisted upward, becoming a wall. The sky folded down to become the floor. Gravity became a suggestion.
"What the—" Black gasped, stumbling as the ground he was standing on rotated ninety degrees. He looked up or down to see the city of Evercrest bending into a kaleidoscope of glass and concrete. It was a mind-bending, nauseating experience.
Sebas, caught in the shift, found his massive dragon body restrained not by chains, but by the architecture itself. Buildings twisted around his limbs, the street wrapped around his torso like a snake.
Gellert stood on a floating platform of cobblestone, looking down at Black and Erwin, who were sliding down a vertical sidewalk.
"Oh my," Gellert said, feigning surprise. "Why are you here? Get out."
He flicked his finger casually.
The ground beneath Chief Black and Erwin dissolved into crystalline fractals. They didn't fall down; they fell forward, tumbling into a kaleidoscope of impossible geometry.
"CHIEF!" Erwin shouted, his voice echoing infinitely as if he were shouting in a cathedral made of mirrors.
Inside the Mirror Dimension, isolated from the real world, the geometric chaos settled.
Gellert stood on a floating island of cobblestone, the twisted skyline of Evercrest rotating slowly above his head. He lowered his hands, the orange sparks of Eldritch magic fading from his fingertips.
The massive White Dragon, no longer restrained by the bending architecture, landed gracefully on the platform. Its white scales shimmered, then receded. Bones cracked and reformed, wings folded and melted away. In seconds, the terrifying beast shrank down, snout becoming a face, claws becoming gloved hands.
Sebas stood there, straightening his tattered, burnt butler suit. He dusted off his lapels with a dignified grace, as if he hadn't just been a forty-foot monster breathing hellfire.
"Thank you for not using excessive restraint, Young Master Gellert," Sebas said, his voice returning to its calm, polite baritone. "The crushing gravity was a nice touch, though."
Gellert smirked, his mismatched eyes glinting with amusement. "You, on the other hand, almost singed my eyebrows with that last surge. A bit dramatic, don't you think?"
Sebas chuckled, a low, refined sound. "Theatrics are the language of the people, Young Master. If we are to sell a legend, we must sell it loudly." He looked around the fractured dimension. "Shall we close our play?"
Gellert swept his hand toward a newly formed portal of swirling sparks, leading back to a safe alleyway. "After you."
…
Black and Erwin tumbled through the kaleidoscopic void of the Mirror Dimension for what felt like an eternity, though it was only seconds. Time stretched and warped, colors bleeding into sounds, gravity pulling in three directions at once.
It was a calculated disorientation, just enough time for Kai to flicker into the crater, dump the scorched, pre-prepared body of "V", the scarred man, and vanish before reality snapped back into place.
Sebas had already moved on, merging with the deep darkness of the alleyways.
Gellert snapped his fingers.
SNAP.
The geometric madness collapsed. The sky rushed back to where it belonged. The ground slammed up to meet them.
Black gasped, heaving violently as he hit the asphalt on his hands and knees. His mind struggled to reassemble the concept of 'up' and 'down.' The vertigo was nausea-inducing. He clawed at the ground, his fingers digging into the grit and debris, needing to feel something solid, something real.
"What... what in the name of the Gods was that?" he wheezed, bile rising in his throat.
He looked up, his vision swimming. The towering white dragon was gone. The overwhelming pressure was gone. In the center of the smoldering crater where the beast had stood, surrounded by dying embers of hellfire, lay a single, charred body. It was human-sized, the skin ruined, bearing the distinct, horrific burn scars of the man who had unmasked himself earlier.
Black stared at it, his brain trying to process the victory. 'The Mage... he defeated him? In seconds?'
"The world is not as rigid as you believe," a calm voice said from above him.
Black looked up to see the man from the noodle stall, standing untouched amidst the ruins, adjusting his cufflinks.
"It is merely a reflection..." Gellert looked down at Black with his mismatched eyes, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "...of will."
He turned to leave.
Black scrambled to get his footing, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. He looked to his side and saw Erwin slumped against a piece of concrete, his eyes rolling back, seemingly on the verge of losing consciousness. In truth, Erwin was fine but he needed a realistic way out of this situation. He let his head loll to the side, feigning a total blackout.
"Wait!" Black called out, his voice raspy. "Who are you?"
Gellert stopped. He didn't turn back. "It is not the time yet."
CRACK.
With a sound like a whip breaking the sound barrier, Gellert twisted on the spot and vanished into thin air.
"Teleportation..." Black whispered, recognizing the high-level teleportation magic instantly. 'A mage of that caliber... just a traveler?'
He couldn't think anymore. The adrenaline that had sustained him through the dragon fight, the duel in the sewers, and the reality-bending trip was gone. The fiery ring that Sebas had created began to die down, no longer fueled by the dragon's will.
Through the gaps in the smoke, Black saw flashing lights. He saw Watchers and medics sprinting toward them, their faces masks of panic and relief.
"Chief! Chief!"
He couldn't hold it anymore. His vision grayed at the edges. His body simply shut down. As he fell backward onto the rubble, his eyes fixed on the night sky above. He saw a Gryphon rider beginning to descend, their great wings creating a silhouette against the moon.
As his consciousness faded, the image of the spinning, folding sky of the Mirror Dimension superimposed itself over real stars, a haunting reminder of those overlapping skies.
Then, everything went black.
…
Thorne Black awoke to the smell of antiseptic and the hum of healing crystals. His body felt heavy, wrapped tightly in bandages from his chest to his legs. He blinked the blurriness away and looked around the large hospital ward.
In the nearby beds, he saw his SWAT team. Some were sleeping, some were reading, others were bandaged heavily, but as he scanned the room, counting heads... they were all there. Not a single bed was empty. A weak, relieved smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He had kept his promise.
"You're awake," a voice said from his bedside.
Black turned his head. Captain Céline Dubois was sitting in a chair, looking immaculate despite the chaos of the last twenty-four hours.
"Should I not be?" Black rasped, his throat dry.
Céline placed a small bouquet of flowers on the side table. "You should," she said, her voice firm but relieved. "Being unconscious while the Dream Catcher anomaly is about to arrive is not good. You need your wits about you tonight."
Black tried to sit up, wincing slightly. "What time is it?"
"4 PM," Céline checked her watch. "The sun is beginning to dip."
Black nodded slowly, settling back against the pillows. He looked at the ceiling for a moment, then looked back at Céline with a serious expression.
"Céline... can you get me something?"
…
At Café LeBlanc, the mood was the complete opposite of the somber hospital ward. It was a riot of celebration. Soma, never one to miss a marketing opportunity, had launched the "Conquer the Dragon" event. It was a spicy food challenge designed to capitalize on the "Golden Commander's" victory over the "Dragon."
"Three more Dragon Challenges!" Zero shouted, walking into the kitchen.
"Coming right up!" Soma yelled back, firing up the wok.
Zero leaned in close, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Make it a bit hotter. They will buy more drinks. Look at table four—some of them are even spilling their drinks on their shirts because of how fast they're trying to cool down."
Soma smiled, tossing a handful of bird's eye chilies into the pan. "The more they drink, the more they buy. Hehe. Business 101."
The bell over the door chimed. Zero smoothed his apron and walked back behind the bar. "Welcome!"
He paused. Standing there, looking slightly out of place in her civilian clothes; a simple blouse and trousers was Captain Céline. She looked around the rowdy café, her eyes landing on the menu board.
"Is this Café LeBlanc?" she asked, her tone professional despite her attire. "Where one can get a drink called... Boba Tea?"
Zero smiled, recognizing the Captain immediately. "Yes, it is. For here or to go?"
Céline hesitated. "One to go, please. Make it... sweet."
"Coming right up." Zero went to work, mixing the tea and milk, shaking it with ice, and scooping up the dark pearls.
As he sealed the cup, Céline looked at it, then thought of how good it looked. "Actually," she said, "can I get one more? To go."
"Sure," Zero said, whipping up a second one effortlessly.
Céline paid, took the carrier with the two drinks, and nodded. "Thanks."
She walked out of the alley, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun. She got into her unmarked car, placing one drink in the cup holder for the Chief. She picked up the other one, looked at the straw, then took a tentative sip.
The sweetness hit her tongue, followed by the chewy texture of the pearls. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Huumm... it's good," she whispered, a rare look of delight crossing her face.
She caught herself in the rearview mirror. She cleared her throat, her face returning to its usual monotone mask. "It is... acceptable."
She put the car in gear and drove away toward the hospital.
As her car disappeared down the street, smoke still rose from the ruins of the Hao Pavilion in the distance, but scaffolding was already going up around damaged buildings. Masons were repairing the streets. Life, resilient and stubborn, was returning to the city. The gangs were broken, the Dragon was gone, and the Silent Night approached... but for now, there was peace.
**A/N**
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~🧣KujoW
**A/N**