The white void cracked like a shell around a hatching star.
Light peeled away in immense flakes, dissolving into golden dust as they drifted outward. The pocket dimension trembled, warped, then stabilized just long enough for the audience to suck in a single, collective breath. Thunderous silence swallowed everything. Smoke curled upward from the shattered arena, painting the fractured sky with spirals of fading flame and molten dust.
The Wolf King stood alone within that destruction.
His chest rose and fell—not with exhaustion, but with the slow, steady breath of anticipation. Flame still rippled along his fur in disciplined waves, but for the first time the mantle wavered, flickered, recoiled. His royal posture shifted subtly, acknowledging something that even he had not expected.
Something in the light was alive.
Something was rising.
"Impossible…" the King murmured, voice rumbling low in his chest.
The crater at the center of the arena glowed brighter—too bright to look at directly. The radiance intensified until every spectator squinted, shielding their faces, hair whipping in invisible wind as raw power surged upward.
In the commentary booth, Julian clung to the railing with white-knuckled hands. "Jimmy… Jimmy, whatever is happening down there—"
Jimmy curled into a ball beneath the desk. "I'M TOO YOUNG TO BECOME A WISP OF EVAPORATED HUMANITY, JULIAN!"
The light burst.
A shockwave blasted outward, flattening molten ridges, flinging chunks of crystal into the bubble walls where they vaporized instantly. Cameras glitched and flickered. A few simply died.
A sound rolled through the dimension.
A low, bass-heavy growl—
primordial, ancient, echoing for miles—
vibrating straight through the bones of every spectator.
Julian covered his mouth. "No… way…"
The golden glow surged again—brighter, sharper—and from within the collapsing void, something colossal began to shift.
A claw emerged.
Not a hand.
Not a fist.
A massive, talon-tipped dragon claw, each scale shimmering like molten daylight, edges glowing white-gold where creation energy leaked between the gaps. The claw dug into the crystalline ground, gouging trenches effortlessly.
Then another claw emerged—larger still.
Then a massive neck, ridged and plated in golden armor-like scales, pulsing with radiant threads of energy.
Then a head—horned, sharp, elegant, terrifying—lined with serrated gold spines trailing down its length like the crest of a celestial beast.
The wolf spectators fell silent.
The dragon fighters in the crowd dropped to their knees, instinctively bowing before a creature older than history.
Danny rose.
Not in human form.
In his true form.
A full-fledged Golden Dragon.
He tore free from the last shell of light, wings unfurling with a shattering boom that split the crater open wider. They stretched outward—massive, bat-like membranes of shimmering gold, every inch glowing with soft creation energy. The wings beat once, sending gusts of wind rolling over the battlefield in devastating waves.
Danny lifted his massive head, golden mist spiraling from his nostrils.
Every wound from earlier was gone.
Every bruise vanished.
His body glowed with perfection.
He had awakened.
The Wolf King stared upward, pupils narrowing to slits.
"So. You are finally awake."
Danny looked down at him, teeth gleaming like sculpted sunlight.
When he spoke, the dimension shook.
"Ah… a little wolf wants to be the strongest king…"
He laughed.
The laugh rolled across the battlefield like thunder, like an avalanche of music and storm. Spectators screamed. Some fainted. Others bowed. Every Wolf Clan warrior dropped instinctively to one knee except the King himself.
Jimmy crawled out from under the desk only to collapse again. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE—IS THIS—IS THIS THE END OF THE TOURNAMENT—IS THIS THE END OF LIFE—"
Julian slapped his shoulder. "No, Jimmy. This is history."
Danny leaned his massive head forward, eyes shining like small suns.
"Stand tall, Wolf King."
The King smirked faintly. "I intend to."
Danny moved.
He didn't move like something enormous.
He moved like lightning.
One moment he stood inside the cracked crater.
The next, he was in front of the Wolf King, forearm slamming downward like a falling mountain.
The King crossed his arms to block—
The impact launched him across the dimension, smashing him into an unbroken wall of crystal. The wall splintered, then detonated.
The King pushed off before rubble buried him, flipping mid-air and landing on a fractured platform. His flame mantle flared bright, struggling to compensate for the dragon's overwhelming force.
Danny was already there.
He slammed a wing into the King's guard—a wing that was larger than a house, the membrane snapping through the air like a divine whip. The blow triggered a sonic boom that hurled the King downward in a spiral of flame.
He crashed, rolling across the molten floor. He sprang up instantly—injured but unbroken—flames surging outward in a torrent of blue-gold.
Danny exhaled.
The flames vanished.
Simply snuffed out. Unmade.
The Wolf King's eyes widened.
"Creation…"
Danny's golden gaze narrowed.
"Your fire is beautiful. Royal. Refined."
He lowered his head, teeth glowing.
"But this is my sky."
He lunged again.
Claws flashed.
Wings beat.
Teeth snapped.
Creation energy rippled.
The Wolf King fought with everything he had—
Flame arcs, feints, grappling counters, royal strikes—
But every move met a wall of overwhelming draconic power.
Danny bent the King's flames sideways with a flick of his wing.
He shattered a royal guard stance with a twist of his tail.
He bulldozed through a defensive mantle like it was smoke.
The King leapt upward—attempting aerial advantage—
Danny met him mid-air, jaws clamping around the King's forearm, dragging him downward with crushing force.
The King broke free mid-fall, twisting with wolf-born agility, but Danny's tail lashed across his back, cracking the air like a divine whip.
The King slammed into the ground, flames bursting outward.
He rose.
He always rose.
But Danny was relentless.
He landed at the King's side with a tremor that shook the dimension. His massive head lowered, eyes glowing brighter.
"I like you," Danny rumbled. "You stay standing."
The King wiped blood from his muzzle, flames flickering in his breath.
"Kings do."
Danny grinned.
"Then survive this."
He pounced.
What followed wasn't a fight.
It was a mauling.
The dragon's talons raked across the King's guard, sending him flying.
A massive claw slammed into the ground where the King had been a second earlier, creating a crater the size of a small building.
The King vaulted upward—Danny snapped his jaws, nearly catching him.
The King countered with a full-bodied flame burst—Danny's creation aura devoured it instantly.
The King landed a desperate strike across Danny's snout.
Danny barely noticed.
He swept the King off his feet with a wingbeat, sending him cartwheeling through a row of crystalline pillars that shattered like glass.
The King rose again—but his flames flickered weakly now, unstable, betraying exhaustion deep beneath his fur.
Danny's voice rolled through the smoke.
"You fought well."
He stepped forward, each movement cracking the foundation of the arena.
"But the dawn always rises."
The Wolf King planted his feet, raising his arms as the last of his flames gathered behind him. A massive sigil flickered into existence again—unstable, trembling.
His final howl tore through the sky.
Danny lowered his head, honored.
The King charged.
Danny met him.
The impact shook the bubble, the stands, the cameras—everything.
Flames and gold tangled, spiraling upward in a chaotic duel of fire and creation.
The King leapt onto Danny's neck, clawing for leverage.
Danny snapped his wings upward, slamming the King off.
The King struck Danny's jaw with a royal uppercut—Danny's head jerked slightly.
Danny growled—pleasure and challenge mixed.
He lunged and caught the King in a crushing grapple between his forelimbs.
The King struggled—enough to terrify armies—
But Danny's strength was cosmic now.
"Hold tight, little wolf," Danny whispered, voice like distant thunder. "We fly."
He launched upward.
The dimension shook as a golden dragon carrying a monarch arced into the air like a rising star. Wind roared around them, kicking up dust and debris that spiraled into the sky.
The Wolf King clawed at Danny's scales, trying to shift weight, break free, reposition—
Danny tightened his grip.
The King's flames sputtered.
They reached the peak of the dimension.
Everything below shrank—crowd, arena, shattered battlefield.
Danny rolled mid-air.
The King's eyes widened.
Danny dove.
The air split around them. Sonic booms cascaded down the descent. Danny's wings folded tight to his body, making him a golden spear plummeting toward the ground with terrifying velocity.
The King fought, twisting, trying to redirect—
Danny roared.
Creation energy spiraled around them like a helix of living light.
They hit the ground.
The explosion tore across the entire dimension, blasting molten crystal outward in a shockwave that rippled to the very edges of the bubble.
Silence followed.
Danny rose from the crater, the Wolf King pinned beneath one massive claw—alive, dazed, defeated.
The King's flames dimmed.
Danny lifted his head, golden light pooling in his throat. He inhaled deeply, creation energy spiraling upward into a swirling sphere.
The Wolf King looked up at him and smiled, weary but proud.
"You have… surpassed me."
Danny nodded.
"Thank you… for pushing me far enough to wake."
He released the breath.
A torrent of golden creation flame poured out, enveloping the Wolf King. Not burning him. Not killing him.
But rewriting him.
Healing him.
Calming him.
Claiming victory through creation, not destruction.
When the breath faded, the King lay unconscious—but whole, restored, even strengthened in subtle ways.
Danny shrank.
Wings folded inward.
Golden plates dissolved into shimmering dust.
Mass shrank.
Form compressed.
Light dimmed.
Danny landed on the cracked ground in human form, breathing calmly, posture steady, eyes glowing with new clarity.
The arena was silent.
The Wolf King lay still, chest rising with deep, peaceful breaths.
Danny exhaled.
It was done.
The dimension lights flickered back to life. The bubble stabilized. Cameras rebooted.
Jimmy burst into tears. "HE DID IT—HE DID IT—OH SWEET CELESTIAL BUTTERCOOKIES HE DID IT—"
Julian lifted Danny's victory slate with a glamorous flourish. "Ladies and gentlemen… behold the Golden Dragon."
Spectators erupted into deafening cheers, screams, prayers, laughter, tears.
Danny raised his head toward the crowd.
His voice was soft—but carried power.
"It's time."
End of Volume 1.