The lich smiled.
Not rushed.
Not threatened.
Amused.
Its fingers lifted slowly, necrotic mana spiraling outward like a sick halo.
"Arise."
The dungeon answered.
Bones tore themselves from the ground. Ancient remains buried since forgotten eras clawed upward, assembling mid‑air into hundreds… then thousands of skeletal soldiers. Rusted armor knitted itself together with mana. Eye sockets ignited with corpse‑light.
Behind them, death knights emerged—lesser than the sovereigns, but still monsters that could erase armies.
Kaelen didn't hesitate.
He vanished.
A shockwave detonated where he stood as he speed‑blitzed the entire army.
Skeletons exploded into fragments before they could raise weapons. Knights were bisected, crushed, torn apart by gravity pulses layered with dragonic force. Kaelen moved like a white streak through the dungeon—appearing, disappearing, reappearing—his wings folding and unfolding between strikes.
No wasted movement.
No flourish.
Pure execution.
Heads shattered. Spines disintegrated. Entire formations ceased to exist in seconds.
The lich watched.
It did not lift a finger.
It waited.
Kaelen felt it—the mana density rising unnaturally. The air grew heavy, thick enough to press against his scales. Ancient runes embedded in the dungeon walls began to glow… then fracture.
Cracks spread like spiderwebs through the dungeon core.
The lich's smile widened.
"Oh?" it murmured.
"So you feel it too."
The core cracked.
Then—
It shattered.
A roar like a dying world erupted as layered magic unfolded at once—teleportation, spatial severance, dimensional rupture. The dungeon screamed as its laws collapsed inward.
Reality tore open.
Light swallowed everything.
The sky split.
A vast necromantic surge erupted above the Canyan continent, clouds spiraling outward as a skeletal figure floated freely in open air—no dungeon walls, no constraints.
The lich laughed.
Loud.
Unrestrained.
Menacing.
"I'm free…"
"FREE!"
Its laughter rolled across the continent like a curse.
Below, forests trembled. Mountains groaned. Cities miles away felt the pressure and went silent.
Smoke billowed upward from the shattered ground.
Then—
Thump.
A heavy impact cracked the earth.
From the smoke walked Kaelen.
His white tail struck the ground once.
The land shattered, fissures racing outward for kilometers.
The lich turned slowly.
"Oh right," it said casually.
"I nearly forgot about you."
It hovered higher, skeletal robes fluttering in corrupted wind.
"I should thank you, really. You created the opportunity I needed."
Its eyes burned brighter.
"My escape."
It spread its arms wide, drinking in the open sky.
"I wonder what the humans will feel when I begin slaughtering them."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed.
"Enough," he said, voice layered with dragon resonance.
"You pile of bones."
He took a step forward.
"You will regret escaping your cage."
The world bent.
Kaelen released the full energy of the True Dragon's Heart.
Ancient mana erupted from him like a second sun, compressing the air into visible pressure waves. The sky distorted around his body as he vanished—
—moving at light speed.
The lich barely had time to register impact.
CRACK.
Kaelen's fist smashed into the lich's jaw.
The sound echoed like a planetary collision.
The lich was launched across the continent, carving a trench through the sky before slamming into a distant mountain.
The peak exploded.
Stone vaporized.
The lich emerged from the rubble, its skull fractured, mana seeping through the cracks.
It laughed.
"Yes!" it roared.
"This—this is a true fight!"
It raised both hands.
"Show me more!"
A colossal magic circle manifested above the continent—layered, complex, ancient. Runes spun within runes, each one capable of annihilating nations.
The Lich Held his right hand down towards Jalen and said "Sword Eclipse."
From its center descended a gigantic sword, forged entirely of necromantic magic, eclipsing the sun as it plunged downward toward Kaelen.
The pressure alone flattened forests.
Kaelen looked up calmly.
Axiomfall materialized in his hand.
He inhaled.
One Breath.
"Extreme Time Slash."
He swung once.
Then again.
Then again.
Each slash cut through time itself, striking the descending sword at multiple moments across its existence—past, present, and near‑future.
The massive blade began to fracture before it reached him.
By the time it struck the ground—
—it dissolved.
Gone.
Erased.
Kaelen stood amidst the shattered land, resting Axiomfall on his shoulder, wings folded, dragon eyes locked on the lich.
"You may be strong," he said evenly.
"But I know a few people who would kill you in an instant."
His grip tightened.
"You're nothing but bones with brains."
The lich hovered silently, cracks sealing, mana rebuilding—its grin never fading.
Above them, the sky trembled.
The continent held its breath.