The southern hemisphere had become a frozen wasteland.
Indura stood panting heavily in the middle of a vast icy plain, cold screaming winds howling around him like angry spirits. Snow and ice particles whipped violently through the air, stinging against his crimson armor. His chest rose and fell in deep, labored breaths, golden eyes narrowed as he looked up at the two figures hovering above.
This is getting exhausting, he thought, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. I didn't realize how far we've traveled. How many attacks I've taken. Their speed… the gap is real. Their movements are perfectly synchronized. Every pattern is calculated. If I don't separate them, this will drag on forever.
Juriel floated higher, sword still glowing with divine light, his voice carrying over the wind with that same reasonable, melodic tone.
"Red Dragon, it is not too late," he called down. "Reconsider the offer. I am willing to overlook everything that has happened here. All you have to do is stop fighting. Join us, and this senseless violence ends."
Indura didn't answer immediately. His mind was elsewhere — calculating, analyzing.
If I can isolate one… take out Noriel first, the coordination breaks. Juriel is the leader. Remove the support, and the head becomes vulnerable.
Juriel continued, voice calm and persuasive, as if they were discussing terms over tea rather than standing in a frozen battlefield.
"The Sky Palace does not hold grudges against those who see reason. Your power is immense, but wasted here. With us, you could achieve true greatness. Think about it. No more running. No more boredom. A purpose worthy of a dragon like you."
Indura remained silent, golden eyes half-lidded, one hand resting on his chin as the wind howled. He was still deep in thought, barely registering the words.
Separate them. Create an opening. Use speed, not power. Force one away from the other.
Juriel waited a moment, then spoke again, tone still patient. "You are strong, but even strength has limits. Why continue this when peace is still possible?"
Indura finally exhaled slowly, the breath visible in the freezing air.
In that instant, he moved.
He blurred forward with explosive speed, closing the gap to Juriel in a fraction of a second. His armored fist cocked back and slammed forward with everything he had — a nasty, brutal punch that connected squarely with Juriel's chest.
The impact was catastrophic.
Juriel was sent crashing downward like a meteor, carving a deep crater into the icy ground as snow and ice exploded outward in a massive cloud.
Noriel immediately shot forward to intervene. "Juriel!"
Indura was already there. He grabbed Noriel by the arm and waist with crushing strength and rocketed upward, accelerating to supersonic speed in an instant. The air screamed as they tore across the planet, leaving the southern hemisphere behind in a blur of white and blue.
They crossed continents in seconds.
Indura slammed Noriel down into the eastern lands with bone-shattering force. The ground erupted on impact, sending dirt, rock, and trees flying as a new crater formed.
The two crashed into a desperate, brutal 1v1.
Noriel recovered instantly, blade flashing. "You dare—!"
Indura didn't give him room. He charged straight in, deliberately taking hits head-on just to close the distance. A divine slash cut across his shoulder, drawing blood and sharp pain, but he pushed through, landing a heavy fist to Noriel's side that sent the warrior skidding.
Noriel spun, unleashing Eclipse Divide — a vortex of alternating darkness and blinding light exploding around Indura's head. "You're too reckless!"
Indura tanked the burst head-on, pain flaring across his face and chest as the light seared his eyes and the darkness clawed at his armor. Blood trickled from his nose, but he pushed forward anyway, closing the distance with raw brute strength.
Pure strength, Indura thought, eyes locked on his target. Overwhelm him. Get close. Don't let him dictate the pace.
Noriel's blade came down in a rapid series of Thunder Seraphim strikes, lightning-chained slashes cutting across Indura's shoulder and ribs. Each hit drew fresh blood and sharp, burning pain.
Indura hissed but refused to back off. He swung a heavy fist that forced Noriel to block with both arms. The collision sent a visible shockwave rippling outward, flattening trees for hundreds of meters.
Noriel shouted, desperation creeping into his voice. "You think you can take me down?...alone?"
Indura lunged, catching the divine sword between his teeth mid-swing. He bit down hard, jaws straining, muscles bulging along his neck as he pressed with everything he had.
Noriel's eyes widened in panic. "Let go—!"
The sword began to crack under the brute force.
Noriel desperately released a chaotic burst of aura, trying to blast Indura away. The explosion rocked the area, scorching Indura's armor and sending fresh pain through his body, but he held on, biting down even harder.
He's a true monster, Noriel thought desperately, sweat pouring down his face. No dragon fights like this...this is insane. How is he this strong?!
Indura's golden eyes burned with cold focus.
Almost there, he thought. Just a little more...just a little.
With a sickening crack, the divine sword shattered in Indura's mouth.
Noriel's face filled with pure shock. Impossible… he broke a divine sword with just brute strength? This dragon...is insane. I have to distance myself!
The two struggled wildly in close quarters. Indura gripped Noriel tighter, claws digging deeper into his armor. His hands began to transform — shifting into massive dragon claws. His head and mouth enlarged just enough, jaws widening as he tried to crush the warrior between them.
Noriel screamed, deploying a desperate glowing barrier around himself. "Get away from me!"
Indura's jaws clamped down on the barrier, pressing with terrifying force. The barrier cracked audibly under the pressure as Noriel pushed back with everything he had, aura flaring wildly, hands pressing against the upper and lower jaws inside Indura's mouth.
The struggle intensified.
Indura pushed harder, veins standing out on his neck, jaws straining as the barrier began to splinter. Pain shot through his teeth and skull from the resistance, but he refused to let go.
Noriel screamed louder, releasing burst after burst of chaotic aura in a frantic attempt to break free. "I said— GET OFF!"
The barrier cracked further. Small shards of light flew outward.
Indura's mind raced. He's strong… but I'm stronger. Just a little more…
Noriel's face twisted in terror. He's not stopping. This monster is actually going to—
With a final, desperate roar, Indura fully transformed right there — mid-bite.
His body exploded in size. Bones lengthened. Scales surged outward. Wings unfurled. The 5000-foot titanic crimson dragon rose in an instant, Noriel still trapped between his massive jaws, pushing desperately against the upper and lower rows of spear-length teeth.
The ground shattered beneath Indura's colossal weight as he stood tall, casting a shadow that swallowed entire valleys.
Noriel screamed, still inside the dragon's mouth, hands pressed against the roof and floor of the jaws, aura flaring wildly in a last-ditch defense.
He's a true monster, Noriel thought, voice breaking. No dragon should be this enormous...wait...no!
Indura's golden eyes gleamed with cold triumph.
Got you, he thought. Fool.
He tilted his massive head toward the sky and charged a point-blank annihilation breath right there — red and yellow flames roaring to life between his jaws.
The blast erupted with cataclysmic force.
A blinding column of crimson-yellow flame exploded upward into the sky, obliterating Noriel in an instant. The beam kept soaring, punching through clouds and lighting up the entire eastern horizon like a second sun, the explosion echoing across the land for miles.
Smoke and flame billowed where Noriel had been.
The battlefield fell into a heavy, ringing silence.
Only the wind remained.
Indura stood in his titanic form, chest heaving, the taste of blood and ozone thick on his tongue, golden eyes glowing with raw intensity. . The eastern lands around him were a blackened scar — smoke curling from the crater where Noriel had been moments ago.
He exhaled slowly, jaws aching from the strain of shattering a divine sword with raw force. Pain throbbed through his massive frame, but a strange, exhilarated satisfaction bloomed in his chest.
Terrific, he thought, golden eyes half-lidded. I never thought I'd do something like that in my life. But it did feel satisfying. Now then...one down, two to go.
He looked around slowly. The landscape was unrecognizable — hills flattened, forests erased, the ground itself gouged into deep, glowing trenches. He had no idea where he was anymore.
How long until Juriel gets here? he wondered. He should have been right behind us—
A blinding white light descended from above.
Indura squinted, trying to make it out. The light was too intense, too pure, like the sun itself had decided to fall.
In the next heartbeat, Duriel struck down.
The Hammer of the Sky came down with all the fury of divine wrath — a colossal hammer of monstrous size, crackling with roaring electrical energy that lit the sky in violent arcs. Duriel swung it with both hands, putting every ounce of his power behind the blow.
The hammer connected squarely with the side of Indura's head.
The impact was beyond catastrophic.
Indura's entire titanic body was driven downward like a meteor. His head slammed into the ground first, carving a crater so deep and wide that the surrounding earth simply vanished. The rest of his colossal form followed, the force so overwhelming that the entire planet seemed to buckle.
A deafening BOOM erupted.
Electrical energy exploded outward in a blinding white-blue nova, visible from orbit as a second sun blooming on the planet's surface. Concentric rings of shockwaves blasted through the atmosphere, sweeping across continents in visible ripples. The world itself shook.
Earthquakes tore through distant kingdoms. Volcanoes erupted in chains of fire. Landslides thundered down mountainsides. Underwater tsunamis surged across oceans, flooding coasts miles inland.
Every kingdom on the planet felt the tremor — a single, planet-wide heartbeat of destruction.
In the capital of Vartas, the golden barrier around the empire flickered violently under the distant pressure. People screamed as the ground lurched again.
In the elf kingdom, Syphon and Drune braced themselves as the barrier dome hummed under the strain.
Asterdolf, still on his balcony, "That must be the hammer's power…"
Back on the battlefield, only an enormous crater remained where Indura had stood. All nearby trees had been erased clean from existence. Smoke and electrical arcs danced across the scorched earth.
Indura's eyes jolted open.
Pain — raw, overwhelming pain — flooded every inch of his titanic body. He transformed back into his armored humanoid form in a desperate shimmer of red energy, collapsing onto the crater floor. Electrical sparks shot out from his armor and skin in violent bursts, his muscles convulsing.
He gasped for breath, chest rising and falling rapidly, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.
What… the hell… was that?
Duriel stood in the distance, massive divine hammer resting casually on his shoulder, walking silently towards Indura.
Indura's vision was blurred. He could only see fragments of light and shifting shapes where the warrior moved. He tried to push himself up — one hand at a time — but his body refused to obey. Muscles screamed. Bones felt like they were on fire.
For a terrifying moment, his life flashed before his eyes — the mountain, the wars he had ended, the castle he had waited for, the quiet evenings in the capital, Jin's endless talking, Shia's smile, Syphon.
Am I… going to die here? he thought, the realization hitting harder than any hammer. Recovering from a hit like this… it shouldn't be possible. Ah...I can't move.
He forced his eyes toward the blurred figure in the distance. He blinked hard, trying to focus.
Suddenly, Duriel was right in front of him.
The Hammer of the Sky was already swinging — two-handed, full power, aimed straight at Indura's face.
Time seemed to slow.
Indura's golden eyes widened. Ah...I'm dead.
The hammer struck head-on.
Bones cracked audibly on impact. Indura was sent flying upward like a ragdoll, blood trailing behind him as he broke the sound barrier. The shockwave left behind was on another level entirely — a visible dome of force that flattened everything for miles.
Indura soared unconscious and bloody across the sky, crossing the central region in a blink. He passed over the Great Forest like a falling star, then slammed directly into Asterdolf's golden barrier surrounding the Vartas Empire.
The barrier shook violently under the wild impact.
Indura crashed down outside the walls, carving a long, smoking trench into the earth as he finally came to a stop.
The Sky Palace was not merely a realm of clouds and light. It was a bastion of absolute divinity and iron order, a place where power was ranked and measured with merciless precision.
Its warriors were beings capable of overthrowing entire worlds, their strength echoing across the universe. Yet not all were equal.
Hammer of the World: The destroyers. Those who could almost bend reality to their will, bringing cataclysmic destruction with every swing. They stood above even the Swords in raw destructive potential.
The battlefield in the eastern lands was deathly silent.
Juriel flew up from the crater where he had been punched, his divine armor dented, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He caught up and landed beside Duriel, who stood tall with long white hair flowing in the wind, blue eyes cold and piercing. Duriel was broader and taller than both Juriel and the fallen Noriel, his muscular frame radiating raw, destructive power. In his hands rested a massive divine hammer of white and gold, the size of a large boulder, its head etched with runes that could increase its size at will.
Juriel looked around at the devastated landscape — deep craters, scorched earth, and the lingering smoke from Indura's final breath.
"Is Noriel… really gone?" Juriel asked, voice tight.
Duriel simply nodded, his deep voice calm. "The dragon is on the brink of death. It won't be able to recover from my attack that easily. We can take him back with us as it is."
Juriel sighed in frustration, acknowledging the sacrifice. "Noriel fought with honor. His loss will not be forgotten."
Duriel's grip tightened on the hammer. "My duty is to end this battle. The Hammer of the World does not fail."
Back at Vartas, Indura still lay unconscious outside the empire's walls.
Then, in the darkness of his mind, he woke up in the familiar void.
He turned and saw the True Self — a mirror reflection of himself, but far more matured, armored in layered crimson scales, arms folded across his chest.
Indura sighed. "I'm back again just like last time. Are you going to give me another speech?"
The True Self remained silent, simply looking at him with steady golden eyes.
Indura asked again, "What should I do now?"
The True Self cut him off. "It's not over yet." His voice was deep and commanding. "Wake up."
Suddenly, an ocean of warm mana poured into Indura's body.
His eyes snapped open.
He was still lying on the ground outside the empire. To his left stood Asterdolf, one hand placed firmly on Indura's chest, pouring golden mana into him.
Asterdolf smiled faintly. "Welcome back from the land of the dead."
Indura scoffed weakly, then tested his right hand. It moved. He checked his legs — they responded. The bones that had felt crushed were back in place.
Huh! This old man from the palace. How did does he possess such vast amounts of mana?!... No, more importantly, how is he here?
Asterdolf withdrew his hand. "How are you feeling?"
Indura sat up slowly, still confused. "Why are you here, old man? Shouldn't you be somewhere safe?"
Asterdolf laughed, stroking his grey beard. "Are you looking down on this old man? I just happened to be passing by until I saw you. It seems like you're into something out here."
Indura blinked, thinking to himself how confusing the entire situation was. "Are you really just an old man?"
Asterdolf's eyes twinkled. "Stand up and prepare yourself. Let this old man help you out. It's not over yet."
Indura rose to his feet, checking his body. The pain was still there, but the worst injuries had been stabilized. "My bones… they were crushed. How…?"
"I only temporarily healed your body, well...you might say I've only undone a little of what damage you received," Asterdolf explained. "You will still feel the shock afterward. Your body isn't fully healed — it's in a temporary state. That means you have to end this battle quickly. And I will help."
Indura smirked, genuinely surprised. "I don't even know you so well. We only met on a balcony. I didn't realize a human such as you lived here."
Asterdolf chuckled and teased, "You underestimate old men too quickly."
Indura's expression turned serious. "Well I do thank you for your kind deed, but if you really think you can face these warriors, you've come here to die."
Asterdolf scoffed, playing with his beard. "These warriors aren't that big of a deal… well, for now, they are. But with the two of us working together, we can defeat them. Besides, you are a dragon after all, and not a typical one"
Indura laughed, thinking to himself, Now that I think about it, this old man said his name was Asterdolf. Could he...Is this the human that Drune and Syphon spoke so boldly about? Asterdolf...something Trudus...oh...this man...is he that Emperor? This old muscular man? No...it makes sense. It should be fine...
Asterdolf continued, "It will be fine. It has been a while since I faced a sky warrior. Though my body is now old and wrinkly, I should be able to put up a fight."
Indura was stunned. "You really took down a sky warrior before? You're not bluffing?"
Asterdolf chuckled. "There was so much I did when I traveled to Chaos. I met with so many possibilities. To the point I grew so strong that the Sky Palace tried to recruit me into their ranks… but I declined. Although right now I am half of what I was, it will not be that easy."
Indura praised him quietly. "How did an old man like you manage to go to Chaos?"
Asterdolf smiled. "Curious huh there lad! I was in my prime when I went there. But I wasn't alone."
Indura let out a sigh of relief. "First Drune, then Syphon, now you. It seems I keep standing beside the strong. ...don't hold me back. I feel like I could go wild right now."
Hhmm...does this old man also know what I am? I'm sure he'll be fine.
Asterdolf chuckled and turned back toward the barrier. "First, I have to put this away."
Indura turned. "What is it?"
The ground began to rumble throughout the empire. The golden aura reached deep into the crust. Asterdolf whispered, "It's finished."
The whole crust began to rise — slowly detaching from the earth. The entire empire, coated in golden aura, began to lift into the air.
Citizens inside panicked and held each other tightly, as buildings were held still by the mana, keeping each in place without collapsing.
Julius stood up in the palace, murmuring to himself, "The ground, it's rising. It's not possible… This is father's mana. I thought he was still weak. How is he giving off this much power?"
Everyone in the capital held on as the whole empire rose higher and higher, slowly and steady, reaching the clouds and stabilizing just enough.
Below, only an enormous hole remained where the empire had once rested.
Asterdolf stretched himself, cracked his neck, and told Indura, "That should do it. At least our attacks won't split the people apart. You should be the one not to hold me back."
Indura looked in shock and awe… then laughed.
This old man...Asterdolf...what an interesting human.
They both laughed together.
Until Juriel and Duriel appeared before them, hovering in the air and staring at the floating kingdom.
Juriel's eyes widened as he looked down at Asterdolf. Something clicked. His expression turned to pure shock as he stuttered, "I-It's...Asterdolf…?"
Asterdolf grinned with pride and greeted him warmly.
"It's been a long time, Sword of the world, Juriel."