Nyx and Nozomi were in pursuit of the dragon, flying through the air at full speed. Nyx could reach speeds of over two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. Fast, agile, resilient, and powerful. Nyx was clearly a formidable and intelligent dragon for his species. Since Nozomi had landed in this world, he had never encountered a dragon as exceptional as Nyx. It was as though fate had placed him on his path at the precise moment he needed him most.
Thanks to Nyx, they had made up for lost time and could now see the ancient dragon in the distance—but unfortunately, it was surrounded by several dragons acting as its protection, a royal guard of flying creatures. If Nozomi wanted to bring down the ancient dragon, he first had to get rid of these obstacles.
Nozomi, having spotted the dragon, called out to Nyx and pointed with his fingertips. "Look, over there. Nyx, try to get closer. We'll first stop the..."
He didn't have time to finish his sentence. His cores suddenly began to swirl with an intensity he had never felt before. A wave of heat washed over his body. Then darkness took him. He lost consciousness, falling from Nyx's back and plummeting into the icy void. His body disappeared into the clouds.
As Nozomi fell through the void, thoughts and images came to him. His mind was in a strange, floating chaos. "Uh, what's happening? Why is everything suddenly dark?"
Nozomi was lost, unable to understand the situation. Then suddenly, in his thoughts, he noticed something. "Wait—that light. Those are my cores."
Abruptly, he felt a change. His body burned from the inside—an indescribable and terrifying sensation. "My body is burning from within. What is happening?"
Nozomi could only watch what was unfolding before him in that inner world. He saw his two cores undergo a transformation. His elemental power core began spinning faster and faster, and suddenly, it broke apart into five distinct sections. All at once, his core split into five separate parts, each composed of one of the primary elements.
Fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind were the elements that formed his five distinct respective parts. A symphony of elemental energies intertwined throughout his essence.
Nozomi had no time to process what had happened before he came back to his senses—shocked and panicked to find himself in freefall, plummeting downward. The air whistled around him, the ground rushing up at terrifying speed.
But he heard Nyx's cry from above. He looked up and saw Nyx diving steeply to catch him, wings spread despite the velocity, refusing to abandon him.
Just barely, before Nozomi could smash into the ground, Nyx managed to reach him. Nozomi climbed back onto his back as they both plunged through the void together. Nyx executed a tight maneuver, narrowly skirting the ground, generating a powerful rush of air.
"That was close!" said Nozomi, then placing his hand on Nyx's head with gratitude. "Thank you, big guy, for saving me a second time."
Nyx looked at Nozomi with a worried expression, his emerald green eyes shining with sincere concern. Nozomi met his gaze with a reassuring look, saying without words: "Don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you for caring about me."
For a moment, Nozomi focused on trying to understand what had happened to him. His body spoke for itself. It hadn't been difficult for him to grasp the situation, thanks to the elemental sensations coursing through his veins. The feelings in his body illuminated the truth.
"Nyx, go after the dragon. It's alright—we can do this together. Trust me."
As Nyx soared through the sky, thoughts raced through Nozomi's mind, his eyes gleaming with a new understanding. "It seems that understanding how my cores work has triggered a mutation in my elemental power core. No—it's more of an evolution. If my instincts are right, I feel like I'm now capable of wielding all five elements. Strangely, it feels like I've always had these powers. It's as though I already know how to control them, even though I've only just unlocked them. How strange—as if a part of me had been dormant and is only now waking up."
He clenched his fists, feeling the elemental power flowing through his veins. "Alright, I don't have time for this right now. I'll think about it later. For now, I need to deal with this monster."
Nozomi and Nyx surged toward the dragon, ready to fight and clear away the creatures serving as its living shield. Only a few minutes remained before it reached the kingdom. If it arrived before Nozomi and Nyx could defeat it, they would have no way of stopping it. Time itself was their true enemy.
Meanwhile, Kael and Harris found themselves surrounded by several hundred Vorthrax—an overwhelming number that seemed inexhaustible. They had to stop them, preventing them from getting through and causing even greater trouble for Nozomi. Suddenly, Kael, with azure-blue aetherium pouring from his fists, shouted at the top of his lungs: "Harris, it's our turn!"
Then he charged headlong into the mass without hesitation, his muscles contracting under the weight of restrained power.
Using his superhuman fists, Kael smashed through the Vorthrax one by one without mercy. His superhuman strength—honed in this world—allowed him to cut through the Vorthrax's defenses like paper. His devastating blows sent them flying dozens of meters away, knocking some out cold with a single hit, their bodies hurled through the air.
Given their sheer numbers, they kept coming back, never giving Kael a moment's rest. Yet Kael, with his extraordinary endurance, showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. His breathing remained steady, his movements precise. The longer the fight went on, the more powerful his blows became, his fury fueling his strength.
Kael took care of the ground-level Vorthrax. He grabbed them by the hands and hurled them with full force into the others, creating cascades of destruction. He unleashed a relentless barrage of blows to their faces, stomachs, and ribs—a ballet of controlled and lethal violence. Kael showed no mercy in defeating them.
Suddenly, one Vorthrax managed to slip behind Kael and escape his notice, approaching silently. It was about to strike him from behind, its claws glinting with malice. But in an instant, Kael sensed the murderous presence at his back—his warrior's instinct activating immediately.
He dropped into a crouch and with a back kick, launched the Vorthrax into a stone column with devastating impact, leaving a body-shaped imprint in the rock.
"It seems this world has sharpened my hero's instincts," said Kael with a predatory smile. Then, with a piercing gaze and tightly clenched fists, he spoke in a deep voice: "You're about to see what I'm truly capable of!"
In an instant, aetherium erupted from his feet and arms. Through the swirling energy, glowing scars of deep blue appeared like tattoos along Kael's forearms. The aura around him had become so intense that the air itself seemed to tremble in his presence.
Seized by fear, dozens of Vorthrax decided to charge Kael all at once in a massive, desperate assault. But with one direct, firm blow, Kael struck the ground with his clenched fist. It produced a shockwave in every direction, sweeping the surrounding area in a ten-meter radius. Within that perimeter, the ground shattered into a thousand pieces, stone columns collapsed in an avalanche, and every Vorthrax that had charged Kael lay motionless on the ground, unconscious.
Silence fell momentarily over the battlefield.
"Harris, I hope things are going well on your end?" Kael thought in the corner of his mind.
While Kael dealt with the Vorthrax on the ground, Harris was fighting those flying in the air. With his mastery of wind, he could levitate, creating invisible whirlwinds beneath his feet.
With their razor-sharp claws, they tried to close in on Harris to tear him apart with their terrifying fangs and talons. However, Harris used the wind to keep them at bay—either pushing them back with powerful gusts, or deflecting them to the sides when they charged at him with savage aggression.
But Harris, just like Kael, was anything but passive against these monsters. He created bursts of wind beneath his feet to propel himself quickly and freely through the air. This made it extremely difficult—near impossible—for the Vorthrax to reach him. He moved in every direction like a living tornado, dodging the Vorthrax and striking back before they could do anything.
Once airborne and able to slip in behind them, he launched them toward the ground with concentrated blasts of wind. They slammed into the earth at speeds of a hundred kilometers per hour, knocking them unconscious and carving enormous craters into the terrain.
But their sheer numbers were overwhelming, and Harris's method was too slow to be effective. So he changed his approach, concentrating more deeply. From his hands, he formed lances of compressed air and fired them at the Vorthrax, piercing their bodies with surgical precision. Wherever the lances struck, blood flowed freely before the creatures fell unconscious, dropping to the ground, defeated.
Kael and Harris were steadily working through the Vorthrax, but suddenly, a multitude of roars echoed from the chasm that Nozomi and Nyx had created when leaving the cavern. Without warning, even more Vorthrax surged out to reinforce their fallen comrades, swelling the enemy ranks in a terrifying manner.
Kael, visibly irritated, let out a curse. "There are even more of them. This never ends."
He turned his head toward Harris, his expression grave. "Harris, you holding up on your end?"
Harris moved closer to Kael and said, catching his breath with effort: "Stay close, Kael! There are so many of them. Together we'll have a better chance of getting through this."
They shifted formation—Harris positioning himself just above Kael, ready to fight side by side. The Vorthrax that had emerged from the chasm were stronger than the previous ones, their scales harder, their claws longer. And to the great surprise of both heroes, these new arrivals fired violet, radiant lasers from their hands—a new and terrifying weapon.
Harris reacted as quickly as possible, pressing close to Kael and creating a sphere of wind to shield them from this new threat. He managed to hold against the lasers—but back to back, they were surrounded on all sides by Vorthrax, ready to strike again. Yet with a single shared glance between the two, that was all it took to understand each other—the silent synchronization of seasoned fighters.
The Vorthrax fired their beams simultaneously from every direction, unleashing a barrage impossible to dodge under normal circumstances. But Kael leaped up, lifting his feet off the ground, while at the same time Harris crouched down and performed a sweeping circular motion—a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree rotation. A violent gust of wind burst from his movement, dispersing the Vorthrax's beams in one fell swoop, scattering them like leaves.
Immediately after, Harris rose into the sky while Kael struck the ground with all his strength. The entire area was ravaged by the shockwave, and enormous rocks were ripped from the earth, launched into the air by the force of the tremors.
Harris used his wind control to levitate the uprooted rocks in the air. Kael leaped upward, and with a series of kicks and punches, he launched the boulders at the Vorthrax like projectiles flying at speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour.
The Vorthrax spread their wings and took to the skies. But they were stunned to find they could no longer move. Harris, using the surrounding air, had immobilized them in place—trapping them within invisible columns of compressed wind. He then gathered them in the same spot, compressing them together. He shouted: "Kael, ready! Your turn!"
Kael drew back his fist, overflowing with raw energy, and with a single punch into the air, a wave of energy surged outward and struck the Vorthrax head-on, obliterating them completely.
Sweat ran down their faces, their breath grew ragged, and blurred vision bore witness to their mounting fatigue. They were approaching their limits—and yet the enemy kept coming back. The battle grew harder with every passing moment, each second feeling like an eternity. And still, they held the line, refusing to yield.
On another front, Aria could see in the distance a ravaging dragon army advancing toward the kingdom. She alone stood as the last barrier separating that army from the realm, and she had to stop them at the risk of her own life.
Driven by fierce determination, she conjured an energy disc beneath her feet and launched herself directly toward the dragon army. Once within striking range, she began forming circles with her fingers and overwhelmed them with offensive spells. Each spell blazed with pure pink light, hitting with unerring precision.
This army surged like a hurricane of monsters, but without a moment's hesitation, she plunged straight into that hurricane—diving headfirst into the storm of fire and fury. She leaped onto the back of a dragon and immediately formed a circle on its back. A split second later, a massive explosion erupted, killing the dragon instantly, its body crumpling into the void.
Caught in the blast wave, she fell into the void—but quickly regained her composure and conjured an energy chain that she attached to the tail of a nearby dragon. She used it to climb onto that same dragon's back. She was using the creatures as platforms.
The dragons behaved strangely. Most ignored Aria entirely, and only a handful took notice of her and launched attacks. This worked in Aria's favor, as she only had to neutralize them without constantly worrying about being assaulted from every direction.
From the back of the dragon she stood on, she conjured massive circles with sweeping circular movements of her arms. She then bombarded the surrounding dragons with spells of enough power to pierce their resistant scales and wings. As a result, the dragons fell from the sky, unable to recover—either because their wings were destroyed beyond use, or because Aria's spell combined with the fall had taken their lives.
Suddenly, Aria turned her head and, without any warning, saw a dragon charging at her with its maw wide open, intent on swallowing her alive. But in the nick of time, she had encased herself in a sphere of aetherium, which prevented the dragon from devouring her—though she was now trapped inside its mouth, surrounded by teeth like blades.
She launched a sphere of aetherium inside the dragon, which detonated it from the inside in a cascade of blood and viscera. Falling free, she landed on another dragon and ran, leaping from dragon to dragon. Though some attacked her with slashing claws or devastating breath attacks, she shielded herself with barriers she conjured on the spot, or evaded the strikes with remarkable agility.
From dragon to dragon, leaping across wings and catching chains to avoid falling, she moved through the air amid all those ravaging dragons—a dance in the sky.
In one sudden motion, she leaped into the void and clasped both hands together. In an instant, dozens of dragons exploded in midair. In truth, each time Aria climbed onto a dragon, she had marked it with an explosion spell. And once she clapped her hands together, she activated all the spells simultaneously—a brilliant but exhausting technique.
She spotted in the distance some dragons that had slipped past her vigilance, now heading toward the kingdom. Enormous circles formed on the ground through Aria's power, and giant chains erupted from them, seizing the dragons and binding them in place. An instant later, other circles appeared, and beams of pure aetherium rose up like columns, reducing the chained dragons to dust—a flower of destruction.
Aria was managing brilliantly, but each of her spells consumed vast amounts of energy and aetherium, and her arms trembled after every casting. And even though the number of dragons she had eliminated was significant, a great many still remained. Doing her very best, she was buying the time needed for Shinrei to convince the king of the dragons to offer their aid.
Our heroes fought heroically, with every ounce of their strength, never backing down from the danger or the risks. Each one gave everything they had. But for how much longer could they remain standing against the enemy's relentless waves of attacks?
While the fierce battle raged across all fronts, in a throne room sat a magnificent and majestic dragon of some twenty meters in length. Its scales of pure gold, through which light reflected like solid bullion, spoke of its greatness, power, and innate royalty. Around it, other dragons appeared to ensure its security, forming an imposing guard.
The door leading to the hall swung open, and a dragon entered, dropping Shinrei roughly to the floor. It bowed its head and spoke: "Your Majesty, thank you for granting this audience. Here is the human who trespassed on our lands."
Shinrei, despite the roughness of his arrival, raised his head and gazed with admiration at the dragon with its golden scales. No one had told him directly, but the aura emanating from that ancient dragon—deep and absolute—was unmistakable. He understood in an instant that he stood in the presence of the king of the dragons.
The dragon addressed Shinrei, its voice resonating like distant thunder: "Who are you? And what do you seek, human?"
Shinrei was surprised that some dragons could speak, but he took a deep breath and planted one foot forward, rising with respectful determination. In a calm and solemn voice: "Your Majesty, my name is Shinrei Yuutaka. The reason I stand before you today..."
He paused, gathering all his courage. Then he raised his head, looked the king straight in the eyes with a gaze filled with resolve and sincerity. He spoke: "...I have a request to make of you."
Silence fell over the throne room as the king of the dragons studied this young human who dared to stand before him. His fate—and that of many others—depended on the answer he was about to receive.