The last rays of sunlight finally vanished. The curtain of night descended slowly, draping itself over the ruins of the shattered village. In an instant, every beast scattered in haste, fleeing without looking back, abandoning the corpses of the villagers they had hunted so savagely.

Small fires still licked at the rooftops, mixing with the suffocating stench of flesh and blood. From afar, the forest encircling the village was nothing more than a looming shadow.

The silence was so heavy it pressed against the chest. No crickets, no howls, no human screams. As though the world itself held its breath, waiting to witness the duel about to erupt.

In the middle of the wreckage, Ashtoria stood tall. Her long red hair flowed in the night wind, her crimson eyes glowing as they locked onto the sky.

Before her, the colossal dragon hovered, its massive wings beating slow and heavy, stirring storms that battered the last houses still standing. Its shadow swallowed the village whole, reducing Ashtoria to a speck of defiance, a single grain daring to challenge a mountain.

Their gazes met. Silent, cold, piercing. Two lights colliding, crimson human eyes that would not bow against dragon eyes burning like embers.

Then came the voice. Not through her ears, but stabbing straight into Ashtoria’s mind. A heavy, echoing sound, steeped in primordial fury, as old as the earth itself.

**”Human… was it you who stole my child?”**

Ashtoria did not move. Her body was rigid, her face unmoved, only her eyes narrowing. She answered, not with her lips but with her mind.

“I have no interest in your child. But because of you, that man lies broken. Do not expect me to let you leave unscathed.”

For a moment, silence. Then the stillness shattered with booming laughter rolling across the heavens.

**”Hahaha… arrogant human. Do not test my patience. Tell me where my egg is, or I will burn you until nothing remains.”**

A thin smile tugged at Ashtoria’s lips. Cold, mocking, anything but fear. She raised her chin slightly, her voice flat.

“You want to know? Yes, I am the one who took your egg.”

She paused, letting the words hang.

“And do you know what I did with it? I cracked it… stirred it… and cooked it into an omelet. It was… delicious.”

The sky rumbled.

“GRRAAAAAAAOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!”

The dragon’s roar shook the earth. The night clouds split, stars vanished behind the sheer weight of sound. Trees at the village’s edge bent violently, branches snapped, leaves whirled madly. The ground itself quivered as if trying to escape divine wrath.

But Ashtoria did not flinch. Her body stood like a statue, unshaken, while at her feet Riven lay unconscious. His body was torn, blood still seeping, clothes tattered. In her other arm, Melly rested in her embrace, her face serene as if the world were not collapsing.

The dragon dove. Its jaws spread wide, teeth long and sharp like spears of hell. From its throat pulsed a glow of molten orange, throbbing like a heart pumping liquid fire.

FWOOOOOOSHHHHH!

A torrent of flames erupted, thick and relentless, flooding the night air with infernal blaze. The last houses burst into fire from the sheer heat. The air itself hissed, as if it too were burning.

At the same time, Ashtoria’s body blazed with black fire. Not ordinary flame, but a dark liquid blaze, thick and alive like molten obsidian. It coiled, spiraled, then shaped itself into a dome of darkness, sealing her, Riven, and Melly within.

The dragon’s fire slammed against the dome. The impact screamed like worlds colliding. Black fire devoured red, swallowing greedily. Sparks burst, setting the forest ablaze, but the core of the inferno vanished into shadow.

The sky turned red, the ground split, the air thick with the stench of ash and scorched iron.

Ashtoria exhaled softly. “Now… it’s my turn.”

Her hand rose. The black fire encasing her body exploded outward, a tidal wave of darkness crashing into the heavens. Its heat made the soil smoke, and the surrounding forest collapsed in flames.

The dragon roared in fury, its wings whipping tempests into existence. The black tide did not falter. With a guttural cry, the beast hurled its maw wide and exhaled a second inferno, vaster and longer, a river of fire pouring forth.

From the distance, it seemed as if two suns had risen—one burning crimson, the other a void of darkness—clashing in the heart of the night. The heavens bled with red flame, while the earth drowned in black fire.

Ashtoria stood between them, her body illuminated by the twin forces of ruin. Her hair whipped wild, her crimson eyes burned cold, her aura cloaked every inch of her form.

The clash did not explode. There was no detonation. The black fire consumed the red, swallowing it whole. The heavens dimmed, leaving only the shadowy blaze crawling toward the dragon.

When the fire touched its scales, Ashtoria narrowed her eyes. The black flames writhed, clung, but the crimson armor remained untouched. Too hard, too ancient.

The dragon bellowed and dove, its colossal body plummeting like a mountain. Its wings scattered storms, the ground trembling even before impact.

BRAKKHHHHH!

Ashtoria raised her hand. From the darkness surged heavy black chains, coarse and brutal, wrapping around the beast.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The chains bound its neck, its wings, its legs.

Then the black fire swelled, taking shape as a monstrous axe, jagged and brutal as though forged in hell. Ashtoria swung it.

CRAAAKHHHHH!!!

The axe tore into the dragon’s flank. For the first time, its crimson scales split, and blazing blood gushed forth, glowing like molten metal. The beast reeled, twisting violently before crashing to the earth.

BOOOMMM!

The impact shattered what remained of the village, splitting the ground, toppling trees, scorching the air. The dragon’s body erupted in red flame, its entire form ablaze, eyes burning like torches. It rose again, towering, its inferno sweeping across the ruins until the village became a sea of fire.

And in the heart of that inferno, Ashtoria still stood. Unyielding. Her crimson eyes blazed like the last star in a collapsing sky.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep