The battlefield rippled.
At first, it looked like Aegis was preparing a standard earthen trap—stone ridges began forming in a wide circle around the enemy contracts, rising and curving inward like the closing petals of a flower. But just before they locked shut, the ridges trembled, hollowing out from within as thin, glowing veins traced across their inner walls—like magma flowing through cracked obsidian.
Then Vauleth dove.
But he wasn't cloaked in flame alone.
As his body rotated midair, a dark energy flowed from Aegis to himself and condensed earth-fire resonance coiled outward from his wings. Instead of his usual dragonflame, it was denser—compressed through the pressure fields Aegis had set up moments before. The air above the battlefield began to fracture, the dragon's roar muffled by the sheer weight of force descending with him.
What emerged wasn't two skills stacked on top of each other—it was a single integrated technique.
