Kaelen's dragonic eyes narrowed. The city of Virelia stretched below them, glass and stone trembling under the sheer aura of power they radiated. The lich hovered, surrounded by a shimmering layer of magical amplification, as if reality itself bent around him.
"I find humans interesting," the lich said casually, a sinister smirk crawling across its skeletal face. "But you… you've drawn me out. Very well, I will fight seriously."
Kaelen flexed his wings, letting the gravity around him settle and swirl. A faint distortion in the air marked the edges of his dragonic power.
"I've been waiting on that," he replied, voice calm but resonant, vibrating with two energies—the True Dragon's Heart and his circuits fused in perfect harmony.
Before a single attack could be made, the air between them crackled, energy scattering in micro-explosions. Both moved faster than thought itself—the speed of light barely enough to track their movements.
Buildings quaked, windows shattered, and civilians screamed, ducking for cover. Many drew out their devices to record the battle, though no one could tell who the white-scaled dragon was—it moved like a blur of divine light and shadow.
Kaelen's tail lashed. The lich responded by augmenting his own speed with layers of spellbound energy, and they clashed midair. Fist met claw. Sword met spell. Time bent, gravity twisted, mana and circuit energy danced violently, and yet Kaelen's adaptive combat allowed him to analyze each of the lich's layered spells as they collided.
The lich attempted to attack the citizens to distract Kaelen, but the young dragon anticipated it. With a flick of his claws, he warped gravity in micro-surges to redirect debris and spells harmlessly skyward, keeping the humans safe. Kaelen's dragonic form moved with supreme pragmatism and charisma, every strike purposeful, every movement deliberate.
By now, the fight had escalated outside Virelia. The streets below were flattened, magical energy scorch-marked across skyscrapers, but Kaelen refused to allow the lich to terrorize innocents.
"No, you don't." Kaelen growled, speeding after the lich, and with a gravity-assisted thrust, he pushed them both upward and outward, away from the city's core. Still, some witnesses caught glimpses of the blinding clash of forces, and the adventurers' guild, news agencies, and hunters' associations took notice. The battle was cataclysmic, yet the dragon's identity remained hidden.
The lich smirked, circling Kaelen, and whispered through a voice that could shatter mountains, "Humans are interesting, but I will show you what a Grand Arch Mage can do. You cannot adapt fast enough."
Kaelen's wings beat. He hovered a few meters above the broken terrain, observing. "Okay. Let's see what you've got."
The lich's bones rattled as it raised both hands, summoning a layered, massive spell circle in the sky. Runes and sigils spun faster than the eye could track, light bending unnaturally.
"Devastation!" the lich shouted.
A fire pillar erupted from the circle—a nova in sound, in light, in heat. It descended like a descending star, and Kaelen could feel its annihilative force pressing against his senses. He didn't hesitate.
"So this is your final struggle, huh?" Kaelen said aloud, letting gravity pulse subtly in response, preparing for what could destroy even him. "Good timing… at least I know where I stand. My body is reaching its limits too. I'll use everything in this one attack."
He adjusted his grip on Axiomfall, the blade humming with stored chronal and gravitational energy. This wasn't a simple time slash. The lich's spell was layered with annihilation magic, able to erase matter and energy alike. Normal techniques wouldn't suffice.
Kaelen inhaled deeply, centering his body in One Breath. Every fiber of his being tensed and released. His senses sharpened, every heartbeat, every cell, every pulse of the circuits in his body syncing with the gravity of the battlefield.
The air around him bent. Dust and debris twisted into micro-whirlpools. Time itself seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second, and Kaelen raised his sword.
"One Breath…" he whispered.
"…Gravitational Sever!"
The blade shimmered, coated in gravity condensed into a singular, edge-sharp field. The very air screamed as it warped, pulling the descending pillar of fire into an invisible torrent. The nova's heat and annihilation began to compress unnaturally, crushing the magical pillar in midair, slicing it apart at the atomic level before it could reach the city.
Kaelen's eyes glowed deep sky blue, his white scales reflecting the brilliance of the gravitational manipulation. Around him, the city's perimeter remained intact—save for the tremors that shook foundations—but the human lives below were safe.
The lich stared, momentarily frozen, its layered spells unable to penetrate the force Kaelen wielded. The skeletal fingers trembled, and the grin faltered.
Kaelen planted Axiomfall in the ground lightly, the tip burning from residual gravity heat, and his tail lashed to stabilize his position. "You may have power," he said slowly, "but raw power isn't enough. Adaptation, precision, and resolve—that's the difference between the living and the dead."
The lich's bones rattled as mana surged around it. "Interesting…" it hissed. "You… truly are the designated hero. But the game is far from over."
Kaelen smiled faintly, claws tapping the ground. "Then let's finish it. Show me everything you've got."
The city of Virelia trembled, but above the ruins, the dragon of legend hovered, prepared to face the final challenge, Axiomfall in hand, every nerve and circuit honed, the True Dragon's Heart blazing, ready to cut through destiny itself.
The stage was set.