CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 361 - THE ROAST.

The black dragon’s molten black eyes locked with Raven’s for a long, chilling heartbeat.

Then—with a slow, thunderous beat of its colossal wings—it began to rise.

The skies split open as it soared higher, past the drifting ashes and the fractured clouds.

Raven’s gaze followed it, his expression calm but sharp. The winds hissed around him, scattering shards of ash like broken glass. Then, he turned to his group below.

"Remember," he said through Omni, the sword’s voice carrying across the battlefield in its familiar, gangster drawl. "Boss says—don’t enrage it. Just annoy it. You poke the bear, don’t slap the bear."

Siris, still hanging upside down from a half-frozen dragon rib, giggled. "Poking noted~"

Jessy grinned, hefting her hammer onto her shoulder. "Annoying’s my middle name."

Alex pumped his fists. "And I’m the goddamn king of it."

"Then," Clara said dryly, brushing frost from her sleeve, "perhaps we’re overqualified for this job."

Raven exhaled—half sigh, half growl—and then spread his wings.

However, he paused, his eyes turning toward Jake, who was still in the shadows.

Omni’s voice echoed the next instant. "Boss says—Jake will stay out of this."

Not waiting to hear any protest, Raven then spread his wings wider.

In a blur of black and crimson, he shot upward, vanishing into the storm clouds.

It was only when he was gone that a thought flashed past Jessy’s mind.

"Wait..." she muttered. "Why did he talk through Omni when the dragon was already gone?"

Everyone exchanged a glance, wondering why, but they couldn’t find an answer to that.

In the end, they concluded that Raven must’ve felt better talking through Omni, or maybe he wanted to maintain the mysterious vibe.

........................

Meanwhile, Raven, oblivious to whatever was going on below, kept streaking through the air.

The air above was dense—thick with ash and the lingering scent of death magic.

Lightning flickered in violet arcs, illuminating the black dragon’s enormous silhouette.

"Still running, huh?" Raven muttered, his voice low as molten embers danced in his throat.

But before he could move, the dragon turned—and exhaled.

BOOOOOOOOM!

A beam of death light tore through the clouds, exploding where Raven had been. He swerved sharply upward, the blast grazing past him and detonating miles behind.

When the shockwave cleared, Raven was hovering above the smoke, tail flicking lazily.

"Predictable," he muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Now, what’s your plan now, hmm? We both know this isn’t ending like that."

The black dragon’s eyes gleamed with grim amusement.

"My plan? Simple." Its voice rumbled like the end of the world. "To wait. I can already see it—your body’s giving out, isn’t it?"

Raven’s smirk faltered. His claws flexed slightly, molten cracks crawling higher up his arms because the dragon was right.

Every breath he took right now burned. Every heartbeat was a war. If not for his soul power cocooning his heart, he would’ve been gone minutes ago.

"You can’t hide that pain from me, human," the dragon continued, almost mockingly. "All I must do is stall. You’ll collapse on your own."

Raven didn’t answer.

But he didn’t rush in either.

He merely hovered there, wings spread wide, molten fire streaming from his back like black comets. Omni hummed softly in his grasp, ready—but still sheathed.

The dragon frowned, its massive horns twitching. "What are you planning, little human?"

Before Raven could respond, a loud, obnoxiously casual voice echoed from behind the dragon.

"HEY, UGLY DRAGON!"

The black dragon froze mid-wingbeat and turned its enormous head with a snarl—only to see Jessy casually standing on her silver surfboard, hammer resting on her shoulder like she was sunbathing.

She tilted her head, smiling sweetly. "What? Don’t tell me you thought I was talking to someone else."

Before the dragon could respond, another voice called from its left—loud, smug, and annoyingly proud.

"Yo, Jessy! You really got it good there! Look, it actually turned around! Guess deep down, it knows it’s ugly!"

The dragon’s eye twitched.

Alex was the culprit, lounging on top of one of Selena’s flying devourer beasts like a pirate captain. He gave a casual salute, grinning.

"Man, this thing’s so sensitive! Somebody call a therapist!"

A ripple of laughter followed as the rest of the group emerged one by one—Selena, Clara, Siris, Jake, and even Nibbles perched dramatically on Alex’s head with a tiny sign that read:

"UGLY AND MAD = EASIER TARGET."

The dragon’s tail lashed, the air crackling with fury. "You DARE mock me, insects—"

"Oh no," Siris interrupted cheerfully, twirling her dagger. "We don’t dare. We enjoy it."

"Yeah," Jessy added, grinning widely. "It’s called team bonding!"

Clara smirked faintly, her voice calm but cutting. "You really shouldn’t react, you know. It makes you look insecure."

Selena’s eyes gleamed crimson. "Imagine being a legendary dragon, losing composure because a chicken’s cousin with a hammer called you ugly."

Even Raven, watching from above, couldn’t help the faint snort that escaped him.

Omni’s laughter echoed in his head. "Boss, I think they just turned this fight into a roast battle."

"...Yeah," Raven muttered, molten eyes glinting as the dragon’s growl deepened, shaking the sky. "Let’s just hope they don’t turn it into their funeral."

The laughter had barely died down when it happened.

Alex, drunk on adrenaline and overconfidence, leaned forward with a wild grin and yelled,

"HEY, YOU OVERSIZED GECKO! For all that roaring, your breath still smells like someone cremated your ego!"

The battlefield froze.

Even the wind stopped. Even the drifting ashes seemed to hang midair in silent horror.

Jessy’s jaw dropped. "...He didn’t."

Selena pinched the bridge of her nose. "He did."

The black dragon’s molten pupils constricted to pinpricks.

For a single heartbeat, it just... stared. The entire world went deathly still.

Then, slowly, that deep rumble began—low, guttural, shaking the air.

"You," it hissed, voice crawling across the sky like thunder made of venom, "dare mock my kindred fire? My bloodline’s breath?"

Even Nibbles, perched on Alex’s head, slowly flipped his sign to the other side. It now read, "BAD IDEA."

The dragon’s chest expanded, scales flaring as a deep, terrible light began to gather in its throat.

The pressure hit first—a crushing, choking force that made the air tremble. Alex’s breath hitched as invisible weight pinned him down.

Clara’s eyes widened. "Alex, MOVE!"

"I... I can’t!" he gasped. "It’s like gravity times ten!"

The dragon’s wings unfurled, blotting out the sun, and that same rumbling glow intensified—black, crimson, and violet light swirling into a singularity of death between its fangs.

Up above, Raven’s molten eyes sharpened.

’Now.’

His wings ignited.

The air exploded behind him as he rocketed forward, Omni roaring in his grip, molten trails slicing through the mist like comet tails.

"Omni," he growled, his voice vibrating with power. "We’re ending this!"

"Hell yeah, Boss!" the sword snarled. "Let’s cut that overgrown furnace down to scrap!"

His breath attack began to charge—red-black destruction flames spiraling at the back of his throat, his soul energy coiling tight like a drawn bowstring.

The plan was simple: the dragon was distracted, enraged, and focused on Alex. He’d strike at its heart before it unleashed its beam.

It was perfect—until it wasn’t.

Just as Raven closed in—mere meters away—the dragon’s glowing eyes snapped toward him.

Raven’s molten pupils widened. "...What?"

The beast’s grin curled, jagged, and knowing.

"Did you truly think I’d fall for that?"

Before Raven could react, the dragon’s head turned mid-charge, and the beam erupted.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The blast tore through the sky, swallowing everything in black and crimson light.

Raven barely had time to raise his arm before the explosion hit him full-force.

The impact shattered the air itself—sound imploding into silence before the shockwave screamed back with godlike fury.

The world inverted.

Raven’s vision blurred, then white-hot pain consumed everything.

His wings shredded under the pressure, his scaled skin cracking open as he was hurled downward, trailing smoke and burning blood like a falling star.

The dragon’s laughter followed, deep and resonant, echoing through the storm.

"Now," it rumbled, turning toward the rest of the group, its grin twisting into something cruel and hideously amused, "it’s your turn."

The others froze, staring up at the colossal maw glowing once again.

Far below them, Raven’s eyes fluttered open mid-fall, the world spinning around him in smears of red and black. He saw the dragon charging its next blast—aimed not at him, but at them.

"No—!" He roared, his voice breaking through the wind.

But his body didn’t move.

He couldn’t. His power was dissipating. His soul energy was in shambles. All he could do was watch.

And that—

That helplessness—

That familiar, choking helplessness stabbed through his chest like a blade.

Then—

A voice echoed inside him.

Soft. Calm. Twisted.

"You hate this, don’t you?"

"Then let me take over."

Raven’s body trembled mid-air. His claws clenched. His heartbeat thundered in his ears like war drums.

He knew that voice.

He’d heard it before.

That other him—the feral one—the one who didn’t hold back.

It was the personality of the Kaiju form that Raven kept suppressed. Until Raven became a true dragon, this personality always lived within him.

Now, it was asking him to let it go.

He grit his teeth. The pain was unbearable. His vision darkened, his body convulsing as molten cracks spread across his face.

"...Fine," he whispered, lips curling into something that wasn’t quite a smile. "Do it."

And then, everything snapped.

A blast of black fire erupted around him, vaporizing the air. His wings regrew, but jagged and wild, pulsing with twisted power. His scales darkened into obsidian streaked with crimson veins.

His red eyes flickered once—then turned feral, burning with madness and hate.

A grin—sharp, monstrous—split his dragon face.

Raven was gone.

In his place was a monster that didn’t care about anything but its enemy’s death.