Just as Cassius prepared to clash with his foe in melee once more, fine motes of magical light shimmered across the silver dragon. His massive form blurred into translucency, then reappeared atop the clouds several li away.
Gazing up at him from afar, Cassius taunted, "What's the matter, old timer? Scared?"
"Teleporting away at such distance violates the sacred dueling traditions dragons have kept since antiquity. Are you conceding to me?"
"Why should I adhere to rules when dealing with an evil dragon like you?"
Oszedro let out a shrill roar. The metal disc on his chest slowly turned, its delicate needle pointing toward a sapphire-blue gemstone.
"Ye gods..."
"What on earth is that? The heavens?"
"How could such a magnificent structure appear out of thin air?"
The people below stared up into the sky, gasping in endless awe.
For an even more staggering sight unfolded: a bitter, frigid north wind howled across the heavens, converging around the silver dragon. Fine frost and snow solidified and gathered, erecting a silver-glowing fortress hundreds of meters tall atop the clouds, completely enclosing him within.
Whether space, energy, or matter, all were sealed off by this sacred fortress of absolute order.
Platinum Fortress of Bahamut.
The red dragon's speed was far beyond what he had imagined, and the sheer power of his breath weapon was enough to punch through his defenses. Facing such an enemy, the slightest misstep could prove fatal, and engaging in melee was no path for a wizard like himself.
He had to adopt the safest, most conservative approach.
Oszedro intended to gradually wear down his opponent's stamina from within this indestructible fortress, ultimately clinching victory through his mastery of magic.
When that time came, he could seal the red dragon away, guiding this beast with the potential of a progenitor dragon back to the righteous path, while bringing an end to the endless war and misery plaguing this land.
"Damn turtle shell..."
Staring at the silver fortress sealing off space, Cassius gritted his teeth, a jet of fire snorting from the corner of his jaws.
He truly lived up to his standing as a legendary wizard. The spellcasting prowess of this wyrm spellhoarder silver dragon, who had lived for over a thousand years, was far beyond anything Cassius could match. Moreover, the metal disc embedded in his chest was likely an artifact imbued with quasi-divine attributes.
If he were allowed to cast unhindered from behind layers upon layers of defense, Cassius would be at an absolute disadvantage—driven to sheer exhaustion just trying to keep up.
*Perhaps I need to provoke this old bastard into making the first move.*
*Or even... make him fight me with reckless abandon.*
At this thought, Cassius drew his lips back into a thoroughly sinister grin, his voice laced with mocking humor.
"Oszedro, care to know where your darling granddaughter is?"
"Evil dragon! What have you done to her?!"
*ROAR—*
The wyrm silver dragon roared in fury, summoning over a thousand razor-sharp icicles that rained down from above toward the red dragon on the ground, falling as dense as a downpour.
The red dragon made no attempt to dodge. Spreading his wings, he merely willed the flames swirling around him into a wall of fire, melting every incoming icicle into nothingness.
"Old timer, have you ever heard of the Song of Cinders?" Cassius asked pointedly.
"What?"
Oszedro's heart sank like a stone as a horrifying thought flashed through his mind.
As a wizard, the silver dragon had of course studied his opponent in advance, but he had dismissed the so-called Song of Cinders as the wild delusions of ignorant mortals. After all, red dragons merely devoured humans; surely he hadn't degenerated into something so perverse.
Cassius deliberately licked his chops and grinned savagely. "That young silver dragon tasted quite exquisite, in every sense of the word."
To the silver dragon, that grin was bone-chilling.
"No, impossible!"
Oszedro looked as if struck by lightning, his expression turning to sheer despair.
The red dragon's Charisma was overwhelmingly high, potent enough to distort reality itself. Even with spells, Oszedro could hardly discern truth from falsehood in his words.
Though red and silver dragons were bitter enemies, they were ultimately children of Io, fellow noble true dragons. Cannibalism among their kind was as unforgivable as anthropophagy in human society.
Even among the most chaotic evil of red dragons, cases of consuming other dragons were exceedingly rare. Every dragon with such a record was a villain notorious throughout the multiverse—some so abhorrent that not even Tiamat would acknowledge them.
*ROAR—*
The wyrm silver dragon threw back his head and howled into the sky, venting a fury that shook heaven and earth. A violent hurricane choked with ice and snow swept across the entire waste.
The silver fortress dissolved into the wind.
Beating his broad silver wings, Oszedro slowly ascended into the sky. His massive silver frame shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight, dazzling the onlookers below until they could barely keep their eyes open.
The wyrm silver dragon glared down, endless wrath pouring from his mercury-like pupils.
"Cassius, I made a grave mistake..."
"Toward an irredeemable, sin-drenched monster like you, I should never have harbored any hope, nor entertained any notion of guiding you back to righteousness!"
"A single shred of leniency granted to you out of kinship is an insult to every noble soul who has perished at your hands, and an affront to the order of this world!"
"You are unworthy of the name 'true dragon'! You are a shameful, pitiful abomination—an error that must be purged!"
Oszedro looked down coldly upon the earth. The metal disc on his chest turned slightly, intricate magical runes lighting up as faint light seeped through the crevices.
At last, the needle settled on a silver-white gemstone.
This was a sacred relic bestowed by Bahamut himself, an artifact Oszedro had received upon departing Mount Celestia. Back then, he had sworn an oath that he would only employ the silver-white "Wind of Bahamut" when purging the foulest, most irredeemable evil.
"Cassius, the living beings of this land have suffered far too much."
"Therefore, I shall bring this to a definitive end."
The silver dragon parted his jaws slightly, a milky-white luminescence igniting deep within his throat.
Breath of Bahamut.
Instantly, a surge of sacred radiance burst forth. The north wind swept over the sky, and holy hymns seemed to echo among the clouds. The overwhelming majestic aura made everyone present fall to their knees in worship.
"Is that... the Breath of Bahamut?!"
"No! Grandfather intends to kill him! Cassius won't survive it!"
Watching anxiously from afar, Olivia's expression changed drastically. Letting out a shrill cry, she threw caution to the wind, transforming into her silver dragon form and soaring into the sky, desperate to halt this duel to the death.
"No—stop, Grandfather!"
Olivia's voice was frantic and desperate, on the verge of tears.
The blue dragon Christina roared, beating her wings in pursuit. "Curse you, metallic dragon! Don't you dare interfere with His Highness's battle!"
Yet in this climactic clash, their presence mattered little. The two young dragons, each barely over ten meters long, seemed like newborn hatchlings compared to the titans above.
And now, the two colossal dragons had eyes only for each other. Any distraction could spell irreversible catastrophe.
"The power of Bahamut! Bring it on, old timer!"
"Now *that* is worthy of the name 'Silver Wings'!"
Cassius threw back his head and laughed with manic exhilaration, opening his cavernous jaws in kind.
Fiery light surged through the fundus vessels across the red dragon's body, radiating outward to form root-like patterns on the surface of his scales.
Endless energy was funneled into his dragon crystal, while vents along his neck and tail spewed dazzling tails of scorching white flame.
Accompanied by terrifying fluctuations, a violent magical fission reaction took place within the dragon crystal. Points of light and chaotic arcs flared inside it, sparks bouncing erratically against his chest. The crystal grew blindingly incandescent, turning him into a miniature sun upon the earth.
Fierce thermal winds radiated outward from the red dragon, reducing everything within a hundred-meter diameter to ash—whether mortal, rock, or tree.
*BOOM!*
A deafening detonation shattered the air.
Primordial Breath.
In the next instant, blue-white flame erupted from the red dragon's mouth, the extreme temperature instantly vaporizing the surrounding air.
At the exact same moment, a pure-white deluge imbued with sacred radiance cascaded down from the wyrm silver dragon's jaws, radiating an absolute chill potent enough to freeze space itself.
Chapter 330