Karl’s charge was like a wall of molten metal collapsing forward.
Each step sank deep into the earth, claws carving furrows in the cracked street. Heat rolled off him in waves, curling the air like it was trying to flee his presence.
Lucian didn’t move right away. His stance shifted just enough—feet angled, shoulders low, eyes steady on the incoming dragon.
The moment Karl’s claw came down, Lucian vanished.
Not in the blur of normal speed. Not in the jump of a teleport. He simply wasn’t there.
Karl’s strike smashed into the ground, sending a burst of shattered stone and molten dust up in a violent geyser. But Lucian’s voice came from behind him.
"You’re fast for your size."
Karl’s head whipped around—Lucian stood just out of reach, the edges of his form bending, warping the light. The ground between them shimmered faintly, like heat haze, but colder, sharper.
Karl lunged again, tail whipping in a deadly arc. Lucian’s heel slid back, the space around him folding. The tail passed through where he had been, but his body now stood three paces to the left, as if the world had taken a shortcut to put him there.
Karl’s molten gold eyes narrowed. "Space manipulation..."
Lucian didn’t answer. His right hand rose, fingers curling slightly. The air around Karl’s left wing joint twisted inward, like the pull of a collapsing whirlpool. The dragon snarled as the joint locked for half a second—just long enough for Lucian to close the gap.
He appeared under Karl’s chin, arm snapping upward. His palm struck, and the air cracked—sound bending, time in the small radius slowing just enough for Karl to feel every fraction of the blow as it traveled through his jaw.
Karl reeled back with a guttural growl, but his counter came quick—white-gold fire roaring from his mouth.
Lucian stepped forward. Just forward.
The world tilted. The flames bent mid-path, drawn into a razor-thin rift that split the air before him. They vanished into the fold, gone as if they never existed.
The rift closed with a faint snap.
Karl’s roar deepened, but Lucian was already moving again. His body flickered in and out of existence, every reappearance marked by a precise strike—ribs, knee joint, throat, wing root. Each hit was clean, measured, carrying a ripple that froze the point of impact in a bubble of slowed time before releasing it.
Karl staggered back, scales chipped in places where they should’ve been unbreakable.
From the sidelines, Evelyn’s mouth tightened. "He’s not just moving through space. He’s bending it."
Athena’s eyes stayed locked on the fight. "And time. Look closely—every strike hits twice."
Karl shook himself violently, dust and fragments of molten scale falling away. His wings snapped open fully, catching the light in blinding arcs. "You think you can dance around me forever?"
Lucian tilted his head slightly, green light spilling faintly from his fingers. "I don’t have to."
Karl roared and leapt, wings beating once to launch his massive body high. His shadow fell over the ruined street as he dove, claws extended like spears.
Lucian didn’t step back. He raised his hand—and the space between them stretched.
One moment Karl’s claws were an arm’s length from Lucian’s head. The next, they were twenty meters away, his massive body suspended in an unnatural distance that hadn’t been there before. His momentum faltered just enough for Lucian to cut through it—space snapping back as Lucian’s knee drove into Karl’s chest, the blow echoing like a bell struck underwater.
Karl hit the ground hard, the impact sending cracks out for blocks.
Lucian appeared at his flank instantly, hand slicing downward. A thin black line opened in the air, no wider than a finger, and dropped straight through Karl’s shoulder armor. The dragon’s roar was sharp, the wound burning with something colder than frost.
Karl swung wildly with his good arm, claws ripping the earth apart, but Lucian was already gone, reappearing at his blind spot.
The fight was becoming a rhythm—Karl’s raw, devastating force against Lucian’s precise, impossible angles. Space bent, time hiccupped, and every inch of the battlefield felt unstable under Lucian’s control.
Karl crouched low, his breath heavy and hot. His tail slammed the ground twice, cracking it open in wide trenches. "You’re holding back."
Lucian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Maybe."
Karl’s grin returned, jagged and predatory. "Bad idea."
His wings flared, then swept forward—not to fly, but to throw a wall of burning wind in all directions. The gust tore through the ruined district, lifting debris into the air. Karl charged through it, claws raised high, heat blinding.
Lucian’s form blurred, but this time Karl anticipated it. His claws came down not at where Lucian was, but where the distortion of folded space hinted he would be.
Lucian’s body slammed into the ground, the impact ringing through his bones. Karl didn’t pause—he drove his claws down again, only for Lucian to vanish beneath them, reappearing behind the dragon’s neck.
A hand pressed to Karl’s scales. The air locked.
Karl froze—not his will, but the flow of time around him, like the gears of the world had jammed. In that stillness, Lucian’s palm struck five times in the same spot, each blow stacked in the same sliver of time.
When the lock broke, all five impacts landed at once. The detonation of force sent Karl skidding across the battlefield, carving deep scars into the earth.
Karl coughed smoke, his molten breath curling from his fangs. "That’s more like it."
Lucian didn’t respond, just stepped forward slowly, the ground folding faintly under each pace.
Karl lunged again, but this time Lucian didn’t dodge. He raised his hand, and the clawed strike slowed mid-swing, hanging inches from his face. Lucian’s other hand pressed into Karl’s chest—and twisted.
Space buckled inward, compressing the force of the impact into a single point before releasing it outward. The explosion sent Karl’s massive form tumbling back, his wings struggling to steady him.
He landed hard, tail carving a trench as he stopped himself. His molten eyes burned hotter. "If you’re done playing..."
Lucian’s expression didn’t change. But the green glow at his hands dimmed slightly. He could end this now—tear through space, stop time long enough to dismantle Karl’s body piece by piece. But that wasn’t why he was here.
Karl straightened to his full, towering height, chest heaving, heat waves rippling off him. His voice rumbled through the ground. "Then I’ll make you use it all."
Lucian’s eyes stayed on him, silent, calculating.
And then Karl’s wings spread wide, his body arching as molten veins burned brighter than before. The ground under him began to liquefy from the heat, the sky above warping under the rising pressure.
The dragon roared, the sound tearing through the ruins, as he launched himself forward—faster, heavier, the full fury of his peak Rank X aimed at the man who bent reality around him like paper.