The world had become light and heat.
Kai fell to his knees with a ragged cry, the sheer force of Saphielle's flame pressing down like the weight of a mountain. His right hand lost grip on his broadsword, the weapon clattering uselessly to the scorched ground beside him. All that remained was the shield on his left arm, his last line of defense.
He used both his hands to hold up his shield. The shield burned hotter with each passing second, a molten wall of resistance against a celestial onslaught. The scent of charred earth filled his lungs as he gritted his teeth, blood pouring down the side of his mouth in rivulets. The light from Saphielle's breath engulfed the battlefield, painting everything in blinding silver and white. Grass turned to ash. Air shimmered. The sky above them quivered, veins of cloud scattering like frightened birds.
The heat was unbearable. The pain, worse. But Kai didn't fall.
He closed his eyes, teeth bared in a grimace as he poured everything he had into his arms. Temporal energy surged wildly from within, flowing down his shoulder, flooding his muscles, reinforcing torn ligaments, knitting burning skin. The shield wavered, edges turning red, but it held....because he made it hold. Seconds crawled. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty-five. Each tick was agony. At thirty, the beam faltered.
Saphielle's fire faded, dissolving into a storm of dying sparks that drifted lazily through the battlefield like remnants of a shattered star. Kai collapsed onto his elbows, gasping, blinking through the thick smoke. The grass around him had vanished, replaced by a wide crater of cracked earth and smoldering dirt. His vision blurred. The scent of ozone and scorched soil clung to the air. Every breath burned. Then her voice came, rich and calm like a bell ringing through fog.
"You've endured far longer than I expected," Saphielle called down, her massive form silhouetted against the half-clouded sun. Her sapphire eyes, even in dragon form, held a flicker of something approaching admiration. "You're close now."
Kai pushed himself to his feet, barely. His legs quivered beneath him, arms limp at his sides. He raised his eyes weakly, only to see Saphielle lift one of her colossal front legs. With a swift swipe, she carved the air, unleashing multiple crescent waves of glowing sapphire energy.
Kai's instincts screamed. He threw himself sideways with a burst of desperation, crashing into the dirt as the energy slashes slammed into the space he'd just occupied. The impact carved a deep furrow into the earth, sending chunks of stone and ash hurtling skyward. Smoke billowed from the smoldering wound in the valley. But there was no time to recover.
Another flurry of slashes. Then another. Then four more, each faster, sharper, hungering for him. Saphielle moved with impossible speed for something so massive. Her claws swept the air like blades from a divine executioner, and each strike spawned a jagged crescent of sapphire energy that raced toward him. The valley became a death trap of rippling explosions and vaporized terrain.
Kai gritted his teeth through the agony screaming in his ribs and spine. He forced himself to accelerate, each footfall a battle of its own. He surged forward in erratic steps, zigzagging, ducking, diving, his Temporal Aura sputtering like a flickering flame. He wasn't at his fastest. Not even remotely close. But just fast enough.
The projectiles whizzed past by the width of a breath, slicing through trees in the distance, leaving deep gouges in the battlefield. The ground beneath his boots cracked and blistered from the heat. Then Saphielle's voice boomed overhead, clear and resounding across the crater-scarred field. "Thirty more seconds," she declared. "That's all you need to survive."
Kai's breath caught in his throat. He skidded to a halt, staring up at her as she began to gather energy once again. "No," he whispered, eyes wide. "You can't be serious..."
Above him, the dragon reared back. Her jaw opened, and once more, a radiant swirl began to form: brighter, hotter, angrier than before. The air howled, and the light bathed the valley in an apocalyptic glow. The ground beneath Kai's feet cracked again, his knees buckling. This time, there would be no surviving it. He fell to both knees, trembling.
"I....I can't....." he muttered, despair overtaking every part of him. His arms hung limp. His shield dipped low. For a brief moment, the world was quiet, except for the growing hum of impending destruction. Then, as all hope seemed lost....
"Raise your shield." A voice. Feminine, firm and familiar. Kai's head snapped up, his eyes going wide. That voice...
It wasn't Saphielle. It came from inside his mind. A whisper woven from starlight and memory. Gentle.... and proud. "Umbra...?" he breathed. No answer. But his body moved on instinct. His left arm snapped into place, raising the shield with sudden precision, as though guided by something beyond himself. Light flared across its surface: blinding, pure, and hot as a newborn star.
Saphielle's beam burst from her jaws, a cataclysm in motion. "Strike the emblem of your shield with your blade," the voice urged, unwavering. "Strike it now." Kai didn't think. He didn't hesitate. His right hand surged forward, summoning his broadsword to his palm. The broadsword materialized with a snarl of energy, roaring to life. He raised it high....then brought it crashing down on the center of his shield. A sound like reality tearing in half exploded across the battlefield.
From the emblem, an immense blast of royal azure erupted. A column of light shot straight upward, crashing into Saphielle's beam with titanic force. The two energies met in midair with a blinding detonation. White flame collided with azure fury, locking in a roaring stalemate. Shockwaves exploded outward in concentric rings, flattening trees on distant hills, shaking the heavens themselves. Light surged across the sky, splitting the clouds like curtains drawn apart by divine hands.
Kai stood beneath it all, shield planted, sword clenched, energy coursing through his veins like wildfire. He wasn't going to fail now. Kai grit his teeth, a snarl curling from his lips as he forced himself to stand against the hurricane of clashing energies. His muscles screamed in protest, every tendon stretched to its limit. He poured what little he had left into his core, commanding the last embers of his temporal energy to surge across his limbs.
Bolts of light sparked along his skin, veins glowing faintly with that royal azure hue. His Temporal Aura pulsed wildly, no longer a steady flame but a chaotic inferno battling to stay alight. Above him, the roaring clash between beams raged with renewed fury. The column of light from his shield trembled, flickering beneath the pressure of Saphielle's breath, now growing hotter, denser and deadlier.
Kai felt it, the tide turning. The white fire of Saphielle's beam began to overwhelm his, inch by inch. The azure column wavered, its edges peeling back as the glow across the face of his shield flickered. His knees buckled again. The taste of iron flooded his mouth. Blood ran from his nose in thick streams. His vision doubled, then tripled, blurring at the edges like watercolor bleeding on soaked parchment. His eyes burned.
Something warm and wet spilled down from them too. He blinked once, and blood dripped from his lashes, streaking across his cheeks like war paint carved by suffering. I'm not strong enough, he thought. Even now....it's still....not....enough. But even as the thought came, he clenched his jaw and roared. "NO...!"
With a primal, defiant roar, Kai hurled everything into one final act. He channeled the remnants of his temporal energy into his right arm, every flicker, every last spark. The limb shone like a dying star, the veins beneath his skin glowing bright and raw. With a scream that tore from his soul, he drove his fist into the back of the shield. A second explosion of light.
The symbol on the shield blazed like a beacon. Energy screamed upward, reigniting the azure beam with staggering force. It surged with new life, roaring up the sky like a pillar of divine wrath. The backlash knocked Kai to one knee, but he didn't falter further. Not yet. Above, Saphielle's sapphire beam flared.
Her draconic eyes widened in sudden clarity, and without hesitation, her massive wings flapped wildly. She twisted her colossal form with impossible speed, veering out of the beam's path just as the combined energy of both their attacks collided in the upper atmosphere. Then....KABLAM!
The sky split open. A blinding explosion erupted across the heavens, swallowing the clouds, the sun, everything. White light expanded in all directions like a supernova, an expanding sphere of brilliance that silenced the world. The sheer magnitude of it turned the battlefield into daylight incarnate, casting shadows that danced madly before vanishing entirely. Then everything went silent.
Kai felt like he was blind. The brilliance filled his vision until even that slipped away. All that remained was heat... and then stillness. The final minute had passed. Wind whispered through the aftermath, carrying ash and light like a gentle lullaby. From high above, Saphielle descended, her wings folding in a quiet sweep. Her dragon form shimmered, then with a gentle ripple of light, she shifted back to her normal form, descending from the air like a celestial being returning to earth.
Her feet touched the scorched ground softly. Her long golden hair drifted in the wind, strands catching the last of the glow still fading from the sky. She stepped forward slowly, the expression on her face calm, but not cold. There was warmth now. Pride, even.
"You survived," she said quietly. "The full five minutes. My breath, my fury, my final strike... all of it." She looked down at Kai with narrowed sapphire eyes. "You stood where most would have turned to dust. Well done." Kai barely heard her.
He was still on one knee, swaying like a dying candle. The shield on his left arm flickered....then disintegrated into specks of light, drifting away on the wind. His Temporal Aura fizzled, sputtered....and died. There was no energy left.
Kai exhaled once, then collapsed forward. His body hit the scorched grass with a dull thud, limbs slack, breath ragged. The sky above him blurred to gray, and then to black. All sensation faded. No pain. No heat. Just a numb silence as the world slipped away. And for a time, there was nothing. Only darkness.