Light and darkness intertwined, screaming across the broken skies of Tildaroot. The blast between Dragonite Khael and Psycho Kero tore through the battlefield waves of energy flattening mountains, ripping through the very fabric of the world.

BOOOOMMM!

The explosion reached the heavens clouds ignited, and the earth below melted into rivers of molten light.

Every fighter across Tildaroot froze.

Ceyla's eyes widened, her voice trembling.

"K-Khael…"

Her breath caught in her throat as she watched the clash of Shinrei and madness above — one of stormfire and one of voidwind. The sheer force of their power made her knees tremble.

Juno stood beside her, his jaw clenched tight. His usual grin was gone, replaced by worry that flickered behind his eyes.

"Damn it… he's pushing too far…"

The sparks from their clash reflected in his eyes like miniature suns.

"Khael, you idiot… you'll tear your core apart…"

A few meters away, Bakuza stopped mid-swing, his hands dripping with dark energy. He turned, clicking his tongue.

"Tsk. Those two…"

He tilted his head upward, the flames from the sky lighting half his face.

"…they're not fighting like humans anymore."

The ground trembled as another shockwave erupted a crimson spiral of dragonfire colliding with a void storm.

Kaen and Rael brothers in arms stood back-to-back, surrounded by fallen Voidborn.

Kaen lowered his flaming gauntlet, his hair whipping from the wind of the explosion.

"Is that… really Khael's power?"

Rael nodded, eyes wide in disbelief.

"It's beyond what we saw back then … tsk his Shinrei's evolved again."

Farther off, Shigeo wiped blood from his face, his hands vibrating faintly from the sheer energy shaking the air.

"This level of power… it's not human."

Kenji, standing beside him, clenched his fists, his usual composure gone.

"If he loses control..."

Nearby, Kaya had just finished cutting down the last Voidborn. Her blade hummed faintly, her breathing uneven. She turned to look up at the fiery sky, her eyes reflecting the storm above.

"…Khael."

Her tone was soft somewhere between awe and fear.

And at the far edge of the battlefield amidst the ruins of stone and fire Lira stood still. Her long silver hair fluttered in the rising heat, her face unreadable.

The light from the sky burned her vision, but she didn't look away.

"He's… changing," she whispered.

The aura around Khael had become almost divine but in that beauty, there was danger.

"That's not just dragonfire anymore…"

Above them all Khael and Kero clashed again, neither giving an inch.

Kero's voice roared through the storm.

"Your fire can't burn the void!"

His body became a blur of shadow and light, each movement tearing open rifts in the air.

"I am the emptiness between stars, Dragon Knight!"

But Khael's reply came through the flames calm, resonant, and steady.

"Then I'll ignite the stars themselves."

His aura burst outward, blue flames curving into dragon sigils that filled the sky. His wings unfurled wider and for a second, the battlefield saw the silhouette of a true dragon behind him, its eyes burning with divine fury.

Ceyla gasped, clutching her chest.

"That's… his real form's shadow."

Juno muttered under his breath, "No… that's beyond…"

Khael's voice echoed across the battlefield

"Eclipse Art: CELESTIAL NOVA BREATH!"

He exhaled and a beam of condensed blue fire consumed everything ahead.

Kero screamed, his Voidwind gathering like a collapsing star.

"Eye of the Void—TOTAL ANNIHILATION!"

Two absolute forces collided creation and destruction, life and nothingness.

The entire world turned white.

When the light faded, the winds died down.

The battlefield was silent scorched earth stretching for miles, the sky fractured into cracks of purple and gold.

And through the haze… one figure stood.

Khael.

Breathing heavily, his wings flickering, one knee on the ground but still standing.

The remnants of Kero lay before him mask shattered, body scorched by both fire and void. His eyes flickered faintly, human again, for just a moment.

He smiled weakly.

Then a small laugh escaped him, strained and broken.

"Heh… maybe… I really was too old to understand your kind of fire."

Khael looked down, his chest heaving, his voice quiet but firm.

"You fought like a warrior till the end… Kero."

The wind whispered carrying away the last fragments of the Voidstorm.

Ceyla's eyes filled with tears.

"He did it…"

Juno let out a breath of relief.

"He's alive… somehow."

Lira's gaze softened, but her expression remained distant.

"But something's changing inside him… that power…"

The storm above Tildaroot finally broke

and the Dragon Knight's blue flames flickered softly,

lighting the silent ruins of the battlefield.

The world of Tildaroot had fallen silent.

Ash rained down like gray snow, and the once-fiery sky dimmed into dull gold and violet. The shockwaves of Dragonite Khael's final clash still rippled faintly through the air, bending light around them.

Khael stood in the center of the devastation, smoke curling from his armor, his wings cracked and fading into faint traces of blue particles.

His breath was heavy.

Each inhale came with a whisper of pain not from wounds, but from within.

His Shinrei Core trembled.

Inside him, the dragonfire refused to die down twisting, growing, howling to be set free. The once-harmonious aura of the Dragonite Form began to fracture, unstable runes crawling across his skin like living marks.

Ceyla and Juno ran toward him, but stopped when they felt the surge

that heat, that raw and unstable pulse.

Lira, still supporting her healing spell on Ceyla, looked up sharply.

Her eyes widened.

"No… his Shinrei is overloading."

The air around Khael flickered flames burning blue to crimson, then almost colorless. His aura screamed like a beast trapped inside his body.

Khael gritted his teeth, his voice cracking.

"Not… now…!"

He clenched his fist, slamming it against the ground.

The world shook.

Then suddenly a light burst from his chest, and a spectral dragon roared skyward, its outline transparent but immense, stretching across the ruined horizon.

Ceyla shielded her face, shouting,

"KHAEL!"

Lira extended her hand, her eyes glowing faint gold, weaving a stabilizing field around him.

"Hold on! You're burning too hot!"

The dragon's roar faded slowly, dispersing into shimmering dust and Khael collapsed to one knee, panting, his form reverting back to his humanoid self. The Dragonite markings dimmed, leaving faint scars along his arms and neck.

Ceyla ran to his side immediately, dropping to the ground beside him.

"You idiot…" she whispered, gripping his arm tightly.

"You almost burned yourself away."

Khael managed a weak smile.

"…Still standing though."

Juno exhaled in disbelief, shaking his head.

"You're unbelievable."

But before relief could settle, the ground cracked again.

A deep, rumbling laugh echoed through the ruins.

"You're still breathing? Good."

Everyone turned.

Through the haze of smoke and falling debris, Bakuza emerged his blade slung casually over his shoulder, his eyes burning with raw crimson madness. The dark aura around him was denser than ever, streaks of black lightning coursing through his veins.

Kaen clenched his fists, fire flaring along his arms.

Rael drew his weapon again, eyes narrowing.

They both stood, battered but ready.

Bakuza looked at them with that savage grin.

"Shall we start again?"

In an instant, he vanished. his speed ripping through the air.

A shockwave and he appeared right before Khael, he raised for the kill.

Ceyla's eyes widened too late to move.

Khael barely had time to lift his arm.

But before the blade could fall

"ECLIPSE ART: BARRIER THORN!!"

Lira's voice rang like a bell.

From her hand, a massive wall of dark-lilac light erupted, spiraling into thorns made of moonlight. The barrier exploded upward between Bakuza and Khael, catching the full force of his swing.

BOOOOOM!!!

The impact tore through the ground, scattering shards of energy. Bakuza's strike rebounded, forcing him back midair.

He landed gracefully, grinning wide.

"Hoh… the moon girl finally joins the dance."

Lira's silver hair glowed faintly in the broken light as she stood in front of Khael, her arm trembling from the backlash of her spell.

"You'll have to go through me first."

Bakuza laughed again deep, guttural, and full of thrill.

"Perfect. It's been too long since I crushed another Bloom Eclipse user."

Behind her, Khael pushed himself up again, his breath ragged but his eyes steady.

He whispered, almost to himself,

"…Price of power, huh?"

The battlefield darkened again

moonlight against crimson flame.

And in the distance, the dragon's shadow stirred once more, faint but alive.

To be continue