Gravity took hold, but the battle didn't pause for the fall.
They plummeted through the darkness, a tangled comet of man and beast. Jin wasn't just holding on; he was still enagaged in the fight.
His right hand started to have a glow. The skin didn't just harden; it turned a deep, glossy obsidian—Armament Haki. A pitch-black hue that seem to absorbed the light.
He drew his fist back. A white sphere of chaotic energy coated the black knuckles. Tremor.
BOOM.
He slammed his fist into the Dragon's chest. The impact didn't break the scales fully —But it travel through. The vibration traveled through the armored hide like a shockwave through water, detonating inside the wet, soft organs beneath.
The Dragon shrieked, a sound of wet tearing, and thrashed violently in mid-air, trying to dislodge the pest on its chest.
Jin didn't let go. He dug his claw which were also coated black.
BOOM.
Another hit. Ribs cracked inward. The dragon coughed, spraying black blood into the air as they fell.
BOOM.
A third hit. The heart stuttered.
Then, they hit the architecture.
CRASH.
First Impact: They smashed through the sub-level armory. Stone rubble and old munitions exploded outward, showering them in dust and sparks.
CRASH.
Second Impact: They tore through the upper prison levels. Iron bars screamed as they were bent like twist-ties. Ancient cells were obliterated, sending rusty chains and debris raining down into the abyss.
THUD.
Third Impact: Solid stone. The dungeon floor.
The impact was seismic. The foundation of the castle groaned. The shockwave forced the Dragon's jaws open, and in the chaotic tumble, the beast finally got its wish—Jin was thrown loose, skidding across the damp stone floor.
The Dragon crashed sideways, wedged tight. The dungeon corridors were narrow, never designed for a creature of this mass. The beast struggled, its massive wings tearing, membranes ripping audibly against the rough stone walls as it tried to right itself.
Jin landed last. He hit the ground . Steam hissed from his body. His left shoulder, dislocated in the fall, snapped back into socket with a sickening pop. Flesh knit together over exposed bone.
Here, the Dragon lost its greatest weapon: space. Here, in the dark and the tight corners, Jin was the monster.
Torches on the walls flared as fire leaked from the dragon's maw, illuminating the grim surroundings—chains hanging from the ceiling, skeletons rattling in cages, and a heavy iron door at the far end... the door to Valerie's cell.
Above them, hovering through the hole in the ceiling, Marius descended. He was pale, sweating, his hands extended. Streams of violet mana poured from him, feeding the Dragon, forcing it to stand, forcing its wounds to close.
"Kill him!" Marius screamed, his voice cracking. "Eat him!"
Jin didn't look up. He looked at the shadows. And then, he stepped backward.
He melted into the gloom of the dungeon, his presence vanishing completely.
The Dragon roared, thrashing in the confined space. Its tail smashed a row of cells, stone and iron raining down. It couldn't see him. It couldn't smell him over the blood and ozone.
Then—pain.
The floor beneath the Dragon exploded.
Jin erupted from the stone like a missile. His claws were coated in the black hue. He drove them upward, straight through the softer scales of the Dragon's underbelly.
Blood flooded the dungeon floor, hot and thick.
Jin didn't drop back down. He hung there, clinging to the Dragon's chest, and began to carve. He rode the beast's convulsions like a rodeo rider on a bull. Stab. Rip. Carve. Stab. Rip. Carve.
The Dragon, driven mad by the pain and Marius's forced command, did the only thing it could. It snapped its head down.
Its jaws opened wide, a cavern of serrated teeth and fire.
CRUNCH.
The Dragon bit down. Jin was swallowed whole.
Silence fell over the dungeon.
The Dragon stood panting, its throat bulging as it swallowed. Marius, hovering above, let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. A smile touched his lips.
"Digest him," Marius whispered.
Inside the beast, there was only darkness. Heat. The crushing pressure of muscle. The burning sting of stomach acid.
Then, the Dragon froze.
Its eyes widened, the pupils dilating in sheer, impossible agony.
It let out a roar—but it wasn't a roar. It was a scream. A high-pitched, tea-kettle shriek of terror.
From inside the neck, something punched outward.
SQUELCH.
A single black claw pierced the scales of the throat from the inside, dripping with dark ichor.
SQUELCH.
A second claw punched through the other side.
Then, everywhere.
The Dragon staggered, smashing blindly into the dungeon walls, collapsing a tunnel in its thrashing death throes.
Jin tore his way out.
It was gruesome. He ripped through the meat of the neck, separating the windpipe, shredding the vocal cords. In a spray of arterial blood and dying fire, Jin burst free from the throat of the beast.
The Dragon collapsed. Its body hit the floor with the finality of a falling mountain. Its wings were shredded, its breath stuttering into a final wisp of smoke.
The dungeon fell silent, save for the dripping of blood and the settling of dust.
Marius, who had been constantly supplying mana to the beast, felt the connection snap. He wavered in the air, blood draining from his face, his mana reserves hollowed out.
Jin stood atop the Dragon's ruined neck.
He was drenched in blood, his clothes dissolved by acid and fire, his skin steaming as the last of the burns healed over. His black claws were fully extended, dripping.
Above him, through the shattered layers of the castle, the light of the burning Great Hall poured down like a spotlight from hell.
Jin looked up.
Marius was hovering there, staring down at the Jin.
The hall was gone. The floor was gone. The dragon was dead.
And the hunter was looking at his prey.