Ava's focus snapped back to the battlefield. His awareness split across timelines as he remained linked to Azalea's live stream, watching the war unfold through her eyes while existing elsewhere all at once.
The first thing she saw was Ryujin and Kabuka, fighting side by side, completely surrounded.
Ryujin stood at the center like an unmovable force. Steam poured steadily from his draconic nostrils as a sharp grin cut across his face. Shinryū no Ki, the Divine Dragon's Breath, coiled around his massive frame, a blue Dragon Aura rolling off him in heated, shimmering waves as he entered his legendary sword style.
All three of his swords were drawn and positioned with practiced precision. On his left hung the long tachi, on his right the katana, and behind him, wrapped securely in the coils of his powerful tail, rested the wakizashi, held tight like a final promise. His wings remained folded, heat radiating from their membranes as the ground beneath him cracked and smoked, unable to withstand the pressure of the blue Dragon Aura surrounding him.
He glanced sideways at his longtime friend.
"Well," Ryujin said calmly, amusement in his voice, "looks like it's time to see if those battle strategies still hold up. You ready, old friend?"
Kabuka hovered beside him, a relaxed smile never leaving his face. His presence alone warped the air, reality thinning around him. White cloud patterns drifted across his armor like living ink, the stripes curling and reforming as though the sky itself had chosen him as its host. Wisps of vapor spilled constantly from his body, rolling over his shoulders, circling his arms, and pooling beneath his feet like a storm that refused to acknowledge the ground.
The clouds thickened as he raised his hands.
"Dimension Ascension… Wahala," Kabuka said lightly.
The air bent.
Space folded in on itself. His body became strange and fluid, its edges softening, movements slipping slightly out of sync with reality, as if Kabuka now existed half a step outside the battlefield. The clouds around him twisted into impossible angles, drifting sideways, upward, inward, responding not to wind but to distorted dimensions.
He laughed softly, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Yeah," Kabuka said, glancing toward the enemy ranks without a hint of concern. "Let's go. I've been waiting to show off my battle strategies."
His gaze lifted toward the battlefield's center, where power pulsed faintly beneath the chaos.
"First team to get that crystal to wins, right?" he added cheerfully. "The Vajra Crystals. I'll be the one to find it. Hero of the day."
Ryujin snorted, blue Dragon Aura flaring as his wings shifted.
"Always dreaming big, my friend," he said. "Let's focus on surviving this battle first."
Dragon fire surged.
The clouds exploded outward.
Together, Ryujin and Kabuka charged forward, dragon fury and warped sky moving as one, tearing straight into the battlefield as dimensions bent and power collided in their wake.
Ryujin surged forward, his blades singing as he tore into the enemy ranks.
The Xiuhcan Hearthguard formed the front lines, unleashing rivers of molten force. Lava arrows screamed through the air from enchanted bows, while warriors charged head-on, their magma-forged swords slicing and firing bursts of volcanic energy with every swing. The battlefield glowed red and gold beneath their assault.
Ryujin didn't slow.
He moved at a measurable speed, fast enough to be lethal, slow enough to be precise. His body flowed between attacks, dodging streams of lava and cutting through volleys of energy. The wakizashi, bound to his draconic tail, lashed out behind him, slicing through armor and flesh alike. On his left, the katana flashed in wide arcs, releasing surges of blue Dragon Aura that cleaved through entire lines.
As he advanced, Ryujin roared, his voice shaking the battlefield.
"I will show you my legendary sword style Shinryū no Ki, the Divine Dragon's Breath!"
The blue Dragon Aura surged violently around him in response, intensifying with every step. Every strike was clean. Every movement deliberate.
He ripped through them with ease.
With a powerful flap of his wings, Ryujin leapt skyward. The shockwave birthed twisting tornadoes that ripped through the Hearthguard, hurling warriors screaming into the air as fire and smoke spiraled violently around them.
That was when it happened.
Behind him, a group of Xiuhcoatl Sentinels, the Fire Serpent Guard, gathered their power. Their massive macuahuitl blades burned brighter as they raised them together, screaming the name of the great fire-beast Quetzalcoatl in unison. A single, focused energy blast roared toward Ryujin.
He saw it just in time.
Ryujin raised his tachi. The blade expanded instantly, growing massive in his grasp, forming a towering shield of steel and dragon aura. The blast struck, detonating against the blade in a deafening explosion.
He didn't wait.
Ryujin shot forward, grabbed the enormous sword as it embedded into the ground, and swung it down with overwhelming force. He invoked Gentle Fist, compressing the destruction inward as the blade fell. The earth split cleanly in half as the contained explosion erupted, annihilating multiple Sentinels and Hearthguard alike.
The strike did not stop at the battlefield.
The blue Dragon Aura carried through the blade and beyond the ground beneath it, cutting straight through one entire universe contained within the Infinite Multiverses Island. Reality split cleanly along the path of the slash, leaving behind an impossible scar where a universe had been cleaved through.
He shrank the tachi back to its normal size and stepped forward
The ground beneath him shook violently.
A massive skeletal hand, wreathed in fire, burst upward from the earth and seized him. Burning spikes erupted along its fingers, driving into his armor and flesh. Blood spilled as the skeleton continued to rise, its flames roaring.
Ryujin looked up.
Floating above him were the Xiuhcan Tlamacazqui.
They hovered calmly, hands weaving intricate fire magic. Glyphs glowed as they manipulated the skeleton like a puppet. More flaming skeletal warriors clawed their way out of the ground. Worse still, Ryujin watched as the Tlamacazqui healed fallen warriors he had already cut down, their wounds sealing shut in burning light as they were dragged back into the fight.
As he looked around, his vision widened to the rest of the battlefield. Feather students, soldiers, and even seasoned generals were being swarmed by the same flaming skeletons, dragged down and overwhelmed as cursed fire tore through their ranks. The dead rose faster than they could be put down, turning the battlefield into a grinding slaughter where every victory was undone moments later.
The skeletons slammed Ryujin into the ground.
Fire erupted.
Controlled explosions blossomed around him as the skeletons fired concentrated flame blasts, each one shaped and contained by their own version of Gentle Fist. The impacts were massive, the detonations folding inward before erupting outward in violent, precise bursts that tore the battlefield apart.
Ryujin's wings snapped shut around him, shielding his body as he crashed hard into the ground. Several of the flame blasts missed him entirely, tearing past and streaking into the sky. Moments later, distant worlds ignited and shattered, entire planets above the battlefield erupting into fire as the misplaced attacks found their mark far beyond the war below.
Each second hurt.
Blades of bone scraped against his wings, leaving deep gouges. Blood ran freely. Through the cracks in his defenses, blue dragon aura surged violently around him, refusing to be extinguished.
Ryujin raised his hand.
"Ryū no Ame… Aoi Sora no Shi."
Dragon Rain… Blue Sky of Death.
The sky tore open.
Massive portals bloomed overhead, each one spilling colossal swords forged of pure blue dragon Aura. They fell like divine judgment, crashing into skeletons and soldiers alike. Every impact detonated in controlled devastation, Gentle Fist containing the force even as the battlefield erupted in chained explosions.
Silence followed.
Ryujin stood, breathing heavily, scanning the destruction.
"…Hope none of that hit Kabuka," he muttered, "or the others."
Then he looked up.
Hovering above him were the Xiuhcan Flame Lords.
Two of them.
They moved first.
Both surged forward at incredible speed, closing the distance in an instant. Steel and flame collided as all three weapons met at once. On Ryujin's right, a Flame Lord brought down a massive macuahuitl, its obsidian edge burning with ritual fire. On his left, the other leader struck with a tepoztopilli, the polearm's blade humming with controlled, ancient power.
The clash detonated the air.
"You will die," one of the Flame Lords declared coldly. "We will feed you to our great fire-beast, Quetzalcoatl."
Ryujin roared back, wings flaring wide as blue dragon aura exploded outward.
"You're not feeding anyone to nothing."
The shockwave hurled both Flame Lords backward, sending them skidding through the air before they stabilized on opposite sides of him. For a heartbeat, they hovered there, staring each other down.
Ryujin's vision widened.
Around him, the battlefield surged back into motion. Soldiers from the Dark Lord's school students, teachers, generals clashed violently with the warriors of Xiuhtecuhtli. Steel, fire, screams. He saw allies fall. Generals struck down right in front of him.
Panic clawed at his chest.
I need to stop playing around.
He never saw it coming.
The Flame Lord wielding the tepoztopilli hurled the weapon straight at him. Ryujin raised his sword to block
And the weapon transformed mid-flight.
Flames twisted and expanded as the polearm became a massive bird kaiju, wings blazing, talons of fire raking across Ryujin's body. It zipped around him again and again, tearing through armor …and flesh, burning deep with every pass. Ryujin shouted in pain as the creature shrieked and opened its massive beak, diving to swallow him whole.
"I'M NOT LOSING"
Blue Dragon Aura detonated violently around his body.
"Shinryū no Ki, Kaminaru Ryū no Kokyū!"
Shinryū no Ki, the Divine Dragon's Breath!
His eyes burned with fierce resolve as he roared again,
"Mugen Tōjutsu!"
THE ART OF INFINITE BLADES!
"I'll show you why they call me a master swordsman!"
Hundreds of tiny weapons manifested instantly, orbiting Ryujin like a living storm. Swords, daggers, spears, axes every blade wrapped in shimmering blue Dragon Aura, each one moving in perfect harmony with his body. They shifted as he shifted, rotated as he turned, responding to his will alone. Every movement became a strike. Every step, a coordinated assault, the blades slicing as extensions of his own form, overwhelming the kaiju from every angle at once.
The blades tore through the bird kaiju's mouth from the inside out, shredding it completely. The flaming creature screamed as it collapsed, reverting mid-destruction back into its original tepoztopilli form.
Ryujin seized it.
For a brief moment, the weapon flared bright blue, Dragon Aura flooding across its surface as glowing markings burned into the blade. Then the light faded, the weapon settling back into its normal state, changed in a way only Ryujin could feel.
He appeared instantly beside the Flame Lord.
"Ryūso Shōaku."
Dragon Claw Mastery.
The Xiuhcan Flame Lord smirked. "You're stupid enough to think you can control my weapon"
He extended his hand.
Nothing happened.
The smile vanished. "Why… isn't it coming back?"
Ryujin's eyes burned blue.
"When I touch a weapon," he said calmly, "especially one without absolute binding magic, I can seize it for myself. That is Dragon Claw Mastery. I take hold of a weapon the same way a dragon claims prey."
He drew back his arm and hurled the stolen tepoztopilli.
Mid-flight, it transformed once more into the flaming bird kaiju now bound to his will. Wrapped in blue Dragon Aura, it tore through the air, burning and cutting as it swallowed its former master whole in a storm of blue and gold fire.
Silence followed.
Elsewhere, Kabuka stood at the center of his own unfolding war.
The Xiuhcan Hearthguard formed a tightening ring around him, shields locked, weapons raised. Kabuka laughed, completely at ease. Smoke and cloud poured from his body as Dimension Ascension Wahala spread outward, warping the battlefield. The ground beneath the Hearthguard rippled and bent, turning wavy and unstable, as reality itself had softened.
Warriors charged.
They immediately lost their footing.
Kabuka rushed forward, his movements loose and playful. His legs rolled unnaturally as he spun into sweeping roundhouse kicks, his limbs stretching and bending as he struck. Soldiers were lifted off their feet and sent crashing away. His punches distorted mid-swing, growing larger at the moment of impact, slamming into multiple warriors at once. He moved at immeasurable speed, weaving through the battlefield, striking, kicking, laughing, as his clouds drifted into soldiers' faces, blinding and disorienting them.
"This is way too much fun!" Kabuka shouted.
Then pain exploded across his skull.
A Xiuhcoatl Sentinel, Fire Serpent Guard, smashed him across the head with ceremonial bindings, sending him flying. More followed, surrounding him, their massive macuahuitl slicing into his body. Blood spilled as Kabuka covered up, staggering under the assault.
He spat a thick burst of cloud from his mouth, the vapor swallowing their faces. As they recoiled, Kabuka grabbed their weapons. Dimension Ascension Wahala twisted them instantly, bending steel and obsidian like balloons, folding and spiraling into impossible shapes.
Kabuka twisted his own body in a full 360, his arm swelling as he threw a massive punch. The impact sent the Sentinels flying in all directions.
Before he could recover, fire lit the sky.
A large group of Xiuhcan Tlamacazqui hovered above, unleashing taboo-fire magic. Fireballs rained down toward him, each blast heavy with ritual force.
Kabuka's eyes widened.
"Man… this is when I really wish I knew magic."
Dimension Ascension Wahala surged. He grabbed the ground beneath him and pulled. The terrain warped and stretched, turning soft and elastic as he ripped it free, shaping it into a massive shield. Clouds wrapped around it, reinforcing it with his essence as fireballs slammed into its surface and detonated harmlessly.
Then Kabuka grew.
His body expanded rapidly, becoming a towering kaiju, clouds pouring from every seam of his form. He seized the ground again, warping it further, fusing it with clouds and distorted space, forging a massive improvised weapon. He swung it wildly and stomped forward, each step shaking the battlefield.
Below, the Tlamacazqui healed their warriors even as they fought, crushing the ground with magic. The earth transformed into glowing lava, burning Feather students, soldiers, and generals alike.
Kabuka yelped as molten ground scorched his feet.
"OW! Okay yeah that hurts!"
Energy blasts slammed into him, massive and controlled, mountains collapsing in the distance as the ground and even the universe itself trembled under attacks shaped by their version of Gentle Fist. His makeshift weapon shattered under the assault. Kabuka took the hits, damage tearing into his cloud-wrapped body.
More clouds erupted from him, cocooning his form into a dense defensive shell.
Then the clouds surged inward.
Kabuka dragged the clouds screaming into his fist, laughing as he shouted,
"Wahala… Kumo ga Odoru Ken!"
Wahala — The Dancing Cloud Fist!
He punched upward.
The blow sent multiple soldiers flying high into the sky. Still towering, Kabuka grabbed the oversized cloud hat perched on his head and slammed it down over a group of enemies, trapping them inside.
He laughed.
"Good luck getting outta that!"
Then he turned.
Hovering ahead of him were multiple Xiuhcan Flame Lords.
All four charged at once.
Kabuka kept rushing forward, still massive in size, roaring as he swung wildly,
"Wahala… Kumo ga Odoru Ken!"
Wahala — The Dancing Cloud Fist!
Each strike stretched and warped through the air, cloud and distortion crashing forward in chaotic waves. The Flame Lords answered by drawing their weapons, each blade screaming as it transformed, summoning kaiju beasts born from ritual fire and authority.
One sword became a ghostly bird, its body phasing, untouchable by normal means as it dove straight for Kabuka.
Kabuka grinned.
Dimension Ascension Wahala twisted outward. Reality bent just enough.
The spirit bird became goofy and tangible.
Kabuka grabbed it mid-phase, slammed it into the ground, and followed with a The Dancing Cloud Fist, knocking out the Flame Lord who had summoned it in a single blow.
Another Flame Lord advanced. His blade erupted into a massive deer, antlers and hooves burning with ritual fire. The creature collided with Kabuka, flames scorching his skin. Kabuka grunted, then uppercut the beast so hard it spun end over end, launching it out of the atmosphere of the battlefield.
Kabuka vanished upward in a blur.
"Dancing Cloud KICK!"
The kick smashed the summoner straight back to the ground. Kabuka stomped down again and again, each impact creating earthquakes that rippled through the universes contained within the island, shaking reality itself.
Then the last Flame Lord stepped forward.
In his right hand, he raised a Chimalli, a war shield. He hurled it.
Mid-flight, it transformed into a massive kaiju turtle, its shell forged from a strange, glass-like material that shimmered unnaturally. Kabuka swung another Dancing Cloud Fist at it
The turtle turned.
Its shell sealed shut.
A mirror-like technique activated.
Kabuka's own punch reflected back at him from the shell, slamming into his face with devastating force. He crashed downward, blood spilling from his mouth.
He barely looked up in time to see the turtle's shell fracture outward, launching razor-sharp mirror blades toward him.
Before they could strike
Blue light flashed.
Ryujin appeared.
His swords moved faster than sight, blocking every mirror blade in a storm of sparks. When the assault stopped, Ryujin reached down and hauled Kabuka back to his feet.
They stood together.
Surrounded.
More Xiuhcan Flame Lords descended, encircling them from every direction.
Kabuka laughed weakly. "You always show up at the right time."
Ryujin smirked. "Of course. I'm not letting you do this alone."
He looked around at the overwhelming numbers. "I think we're out of options."
Kabuka groaned. "Really? You hate doing that technique."
Ryujin exhaled. "Looks like we don't have a choice."
His body began to change.
Ryujin began to expand, his body unraveling into motion as power surged outward. As his form shifted, he roared the words into the storm of battle
"Shinryū no Ki… Ryūka Fūshiki!"
Shinryū no Ki — Dragon Transformation, Wind Style!
His wings vanished as his body elongated, scales forming into a massive, serpentine dragon. Blue Dragon Aura streamed along his length like rushing wind, wrapping his form in flowing, cutting pressure. Within his jaws, a colossal Ōdachi (Nodachi) manifested, the long blade humming violently with Shinryū no Ki as forged from wind and dragon will itself.
The dragon coiled forward and wrapped around Kabuka's arm.
Kabuka grabbed hold.
Dimension Ascension Wahala surged again. Ryujin's draconic form twisted and softened, becoming goofy, reshaping into a massive living blade. Kabuka's body shifted as well, scales forming across his skin as dragon energy fused with cloud and distortion.
Swordsmanship flooded into him.
They fused completely.
Together, they moved as one.
They slashed the air, attacks ripping outward, carving through soldiers and Flame Lords alike as reality split and bent under their combined power.
From afar, Ava watched it all unfold.
Then he turned his head.
Another battle demanded his attention.
Standing beside Demeter was a stranger someone he didn't recognize, from another team entirely.