The forest clearing had become a wasteland.
Smoke rose from the crater behind them, the earth still glowing with residual heat. The trees that had once surrounded them were gone, replaced by a landscape of ash and shattered stone. The sky above was dark, the clouds swirling as if responding to the battle below.
Azi Dahaka rose to his full height.
His form shifted....not changing shape, but deepening. The blackness of his scales grew darker, absorbing the light around them. Shadows coiled around his body like living things, and from his maw, a dark mist began to seep.
The Abyss had awakened.
His wings spread wide, their membranes now translucent, showing glimpses of a void beyond. His single eye burned with a cold, ancient light. And when he spoke, his voice was no longer mocking. It was hungry.
"You have made me bleed," he said, his words dripping with anticipation. "For that, I will make your deaths slow."
He moved.
Damien's eyes widened as the dragon crossed the distance between them in an instant. The massive form that had once been slow and ponderous was now a blur of darkness and destruction. Azi Dahaka's claw descended, and Damien barely managed to throw himself aside.
The ground where he had stood exploded, a massive trench carved into the earth by the force of the blow. Dark energy radiated from the impact, sending shockwaves rippling across the landscape.
Damien rolled to his feet, his shadow wings flaring. "He's faster!"
Ais appeared beside him, her dark purple wings beating against the air. "I noticed."
The dragon attacked again—not with his claws, but with a wave of darkness that erupted from his throat. The black breath consumed everything in its path, melting stone and earth alike.
Damien raised his hands, shadows rising to meet the attack. The two forces collided, sending shockwaves rippling across the battlefield. He gritted his teeth, pushing against the onslaught.
"Ais, now!"
She moved.
Her sword carved a path through the darkness, her Avenger's Slash cutting toward the dragon's chest. Azi Dahaka's claw intercepted her, the dark energy on his claws meeting her blade. The impact sent her flying backward, but she rolled to her feet, unharmed.
Damien pressed his advantage.
His shadows exploded outward, forming tendrils that wrapped around the dragon's legs. Azi Dahaka stumbled, his massive form swaying. Damien was on him in an instant, his daggers...Nyx and Nótt...carving a series of slashes across his chest.
Shadow Slash.
The attack carried the power of five hundred shadows, each strike stronger than the last. Azi Dahaka roared as the first few slashes connected, carving deep gouges into his scales. Black ichor sprayed across the battlefield.
But he was not done.
His tail swept around, catching Damien in the side and sending him flying. Damien crashed through a pile of rubble, his shadow armor cracking.
Ais attacked.
Her sword drove toward the wound on his chest, the Avenger's energy flaring. Azi Dahaka caught her blade with his claw, the impact sending sparks flying. He pushed her back, his mouth opening to unleash the black breath.
She dodged, her wings carrying her to the side. The darkness passed where she had been, carving a trench through the earth.
Damien rose, his armor already repairing itself.
The battle continued.
Damien and Ais worked in perfect synchronization, their attacks flowing around each other like a dance. Damien's shadows created openings, and Ais exploited them. Ais's speed forced the dragon to divide his attention, and Damien capitalized.
But despite their efforts, they were not winning.
Azi Dahaka's new form was too powerful. His speed, his strength, his dark breath—all of it was overwhelming. Damien could hold his own, could even hurt the dragon, but Ais was struggling.
She was fast. She was powerful. But she was not doing meaningful damage.
Her attacks, while precise, seemed to slide off his scales without effect. The wound on his chest was slowly healing, the black ichor clotting and hardening. She tried to target his eye, but he was too fast, too aware.
She felt frustration building.
This was the dragon. The one she had sworn to destroy. The one who had killed her mother and driven her father to his death. She had trained her entire life for this moment, and yet she could not even scratch him.
But then... she sensed it.
Something in his eye. The one her father had slashed all those years ago.
There was a faint swirling there....a trace of something ancient and powerful. It was barely visible, hidden beneath the scar tissue that had grown over the wound. But she could feel it.
Wind.
Her mother's wind.
She reached out with her senses, trying to touch it. The wind responded, faintly, weakly, but it responded. It was a last gift from Aria, buried within the wound, waiting for the right moment.
Ais's eyes widened.
That is my opening.
She turned to Damien, her voice cutting through the chaos. "I need a distraction."
Damien understood immediately. "How long?"
"Long enough for me to reach his eye."
He nodded. "You have it."
He turned to face the dragon, his shadows gathering around him like a storm. The shadows rose, forming a massive wave that crashed toward Azi Dahaka.
The dragon raised his claws to block, but Damien was already moving. He appeared above him, his daggers carving a series of slashes across his back. He appeared below him, his shadows wrapping around his legs. He appeared to his left, to his right, everywhere at once.
Azi Dahaka roared, his claws swinging wildly, trying to track the elusive shadow.
And in that moment of chaos, Ais moved.
Her wings carried her forward, her sword extended. The dark purple energy of Avenger blazed along the blade, and she drove it toward his eye.
The scarred eye.
The one her father had wounded.
Her sword connected.
The blade sank deep into the old wound, opening it anew. Azi Dahaka's roar was deafening, shaking the very ground beneath them. He stumbled back, his claw clutching at his eye.
But Ais was not done.
She reached into the wound, her hand finding the swirling wind. She could feel it...her mother's magic, waiting all these years. She grasped it, pulled it toward her.
And she smiled.
"Damien," she called. "We have him."
The pain had never stopped.
For centuries, Azi Dahaka had carried the wound—a small, insignificant scratch that should have healed within days. But it had not healed. The wind that had been lodged in his eye by Albert's final strike had remained there, spinning, grinding, never ceasing.
It could never damage his eye enough to enter his skin. But it had been constantly spinning for hundreds of years.
A small pain.
But over the centuries, that small pain had become agonizing. It had driven him mad, piece by piece, year by year. He had tried everything to remove it—magic, claws, even tearing at his own flesh. Nothing worked.
The wind was a part of him now.
And now, Ais had taken control of it.
He felt it shifting, responding to her will. The grinding, spinning pain that had tormented him for so long was no longer his to command. It was hers.
Fear flickered across his face.
For the first time in a millennium, the One-Eyed Black Dragon was afraid.
He pulled back, his massive form retreating. His mouth opened, and the dark plasma began to gather in his throat. The beam would be devastating—enough to flatten the city, enough to kill anything in its path.
He aimed at her.
"Die," he snarled.
The beam erupted.
Damien moved.
The plasma was fast...impossibly fast....but Shadow Exchange was faster. He appeared in front of Ais, his body taking the full brunt of the attack. The force of the beam sent him flying backward, his shadow armor cracking, his body screaming in protest.
But he had bought her time.
Ais's eyes widened. "Damien!"
He crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop. His armor was shattered, his body smoking, but he was alive. He pushed himself up, his voice hoarse. "Ais... do it..."
She turned back to the dragon.
The tornado in his eye had grown. It had been a small thing before, barely visible. Now, it was a swirling vortex of wind and fury, expanding outward, consuming everything in its path.
Ais raised her hand, and the tornado obeyed.
It exploded outward, growing in size until it was as massive as the city of Orario. The vortex of wind, infused with her mother's magic, carved through Azi Dahaka's body from his face all the way to his tail.
He screamed.
The tornado was relentless—hundreds of slashes per second, each one carving deeper into his scales, his flesh, his bones. His hard skin held for a moment, then another, then another. But even the toughest defenses could not withstand such an assault.
He was being torn apart.
Piece by piece, his body was sliced into ribbons. His scales fell away. His flesh was carved from his bones. The tornado consumed him, tearing him apart from the inside out.
And then, it was over.
His body collapsed, chunks of dragon meat raining down across the battlefield. The tornado dissipated, leaving only silence in its wake.
But something else fell.
A humanoid body.
Azi Dahaka stood up.
He looked at his hands....soft, flesh, humanoid. His eyes narrowed, disgust twisting his features.
He looked at Ais, his hatred burning brighter than ever.
"You forced me to forgo my honor as a dragon....and resort to protecting myself with this pathetic humanoid form..." His fists clenched. "You... Ais Wallenstein... WILL DIE FOR THIS!"
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