Wrath

At the sight, Cassius beat his wings, churning up a scorching hurricane laden with ash as he vaulted into the air to confront the efreeti pasha from across the sky. Behind him, billows of steam roiled while piercing lightning slithered through the vapor, raining sparks and embers down like a storm of fire. His draconic aura spread outward, tangible and suffocating, rolling across a radius of nearly a thousand meters. It weighed upon every living creature in that domain, driving them to fall to their knees in absolute subservience. An efreeti and a red dragon. The two stood locked in a standoff across the heavens, a spectacle of immense grandeur. Cassius narrowed his pale gold eyes, scrutinizing the distant efreeti. *So this is a pasha...* *One of the mightiest beings in the efreet realm, second only to the Sultan.* The figure stood nearly ten meters tall, boasting a colossal, muscular physique. His raw strength was undeniably formidable—yet before Cassius, it was hardly enough to impress. As a direct servant of the Grand Sultan and one standing at the apex of efreet society, the pasha was naturally draped in resplendent gold and outfitted in extraordinarily lavish regalia. Even the bracers on his wrists verged on legendary quality, while the brass scimitar serving as his primary weapon was an exquisite treasure at the pinnacle of legendary craft. What drew Cassius's eye the most, however, were the concentric rings of adamantine stacked around the efreeti's neck, engraved with mysterious, ancient flame patterns. From them, he could even sense ripples akin to divinity! "To think a mere servant could possess such wealth. Truly enviable. A realm enduring for thousands of years certainly has unfathomable depth," Cassius couldn't help musing. Yet deep within his pale gold pupils gleamed an undisguised greed. Ismail Enver glared up at the distant dragon, his rugged, crimson face twisted in fury. Still, behind the fire burning in his eyes flickered a trace of wariness. *A great wyrm red dragon...* *Curse it! How did that fool Hamid ever provoke such a troublesome monster?!* Preoccupied with repelling the assault of the Prince of Sacred Fire, the Grand Sultan had paid little heed to the so-called "Genie-Devouring Dragon." Yet to ensure stability in the rear, he had dispatched Ismail to deal with the matter, and as the Sultan's direct servant, the pasha had gladly accepted the command. Never in his wildest thoughts had Ismail imagined that what awaited him in the City of Black Iron would be an entity at the level of a great wyrm! Even he had no certainty of victory against a great wyrm. Much less a red dragon! Right then, the red dragon high in the sky spoke. "Heh, Pasha..." "Your Grand Sultan is rather ill-mannered, isn't he? To send a lowly servant like you to receive me?" "I had thought he would come in person to offer his apologies." Cassius pulled back his lips into a grin, his tone dripping with blatant contempt. The efreeti pasha's face instantly contorted, flames blazing in his eyes. "Red dragon!" "You go too far!" He unleashed a roar that shook the heavens and the earth. As one of the six pashas who stood atop the efreet dominion, his status as a direct servant of the Grand Sultan had been his proudest honor for thousands of years. Yet this dragon dared insult the Grand Sultan right to his face and demean his status as a pasha! Ismail raised his scimitar, leveling the blade straight toward the red dragon aloft. "Red dragon, are you provoking the Grand Sultan and declaring war upon the Efreet Empire?!" "Declaring war?" Cassius feigned surprise. "Was it not your efreet officials who insulted and provoked me first? I merely launched a resolute counterattack to uphold the dignity of my empire." "Besides..." Cassius paused, letting out a cold sneer. "Your Grand Sultan was just stabbed by the Prince of Sacred Fire. He's probably lying flat in the City of Brass right now. Does he even have the leisure to fight me?" "You—!" Ismail was momentarily at a loss for words, flustered and exasperated. He moved to snap back, but the red dragon beat his wings, churning up a scorching storm as he ripped through the heavens. Cassius had no desire to waste further breath; he only wanted to taste what this so-called "pasha" was made of. A sound like ripping silk tore through the air, followed immediately by an ear-splitting shriek. *Whoosh—* In merely a few breaths, the red dragon cleared hundreds of meters, swooping over the efreeti's head. Roiling storm clouds pursued him closely, unleashing brilliant flashes of lightning. *Rumble! Boom! Boom! Boom!* Thunder crashed deafeningly. Bolts of lightning as thick as bowls plummeted from the sky, illuminating the surroundings as they struck straight for the crown of the efreeti's head. "Lightning?!" "How can this be? He's clearly a red dragon..." Ismail's brow furrowed tightly. Glaring skyward as though facing a mortal foe, he hoisted the studded leather shield in his left hand. This was the Shield of the Ancient Beast, crafted from the thick hide of an ancient drake—likewise a legendary piece of gear endowed with tremendous magical resistance. The arcane sigils across the efreeti's body flared, and a fiery shield manifested over his head, expanding into a massive hemisphere to deflect the terrifying bombardment of lightning. *Sizzle—Crack-boom!* Arcs of electricity danced, the fiery shield flickered, and energy clashed violently again and again until it erupted into fierce explosions. A stray bolt pierced the barrier, searing scorched marks across the shield. Yet the efreeti remained unscathed, retaining enough breath to roar toward the heavens. "A feeble, flaccid strike!" "Red dragon! You cannot defeat a warrior of the great Sultan!" Ismail slammed the hilt of his scimitar against his shield, letting out a battle roar as the fiery patterns across his flesh blazed with blinding light. "We efreet are the natural masters of the Elemental Plane of Fire!" "Now and forever!" Blinding glare shot from the efreeti pasha's eyes. It was the innate spell of efreet nobility—Pyrotechnic Storm! Wherever his gaze fell, violent winds swept through the space Cassius occupied, swiftly spiraling into a monstrous cyclone. Flames, ash, and choking smoke churned within the gale like a ravenous beast, threatening to reduce everything trapped inside to cinders. Such magic rivaled natural disasters, easily capable of obliterating a human village or reducing a mortal city to ruins. Yet Cassius stood utterly unmoved within the terrifying tempest. He flapped his wings with ease, almost amused. "Foolish efreeti..." "You dare use such magic against an exalted red dragon?" "What wishful thinking!" The red dragon let out a low hiss and parted his jaws slightly. The violent, swirling flames around him were instantly sucked into his maw, forming a vortex of fire and smoke high in the sky. As he greedily inhaled it, the dragon crystal at his chest grew increasingly radiant, and the fissures along his neck began to glow with fiery brilliance. "Th-this is..." Ismail looked up, his expression hardening. He had momentarily lost his wits in rage—he had forgotten that his foe was a red dragon! A red dragon whose fire resistance was in no way inferior to that of an efreeti! *Slurp.* The last wisp of fire was sucked into the dragon's maw. Cassius beat his wings, looking down at the efreeti pasha below with pale gold eyes, a savage grin spreading across his face. The dragon crystal on his chest blazed like a sun, while the vents across his scales vented radiant flares and boiling steam. His draconic form seemed charged with enough power to lay waste to all creation. "He..." "He absorbed my spell!" Ismail stared up at the red dragon aloft, his hand clutching the shield trembling ever so slightly, the flames and smoke atop his head flickering erratically. A profound premonition of dread suddenly gripped his heart. It was the scent of mortal danger! The red dragon parted his colossal maw once more, an infinite radiance spilling out from between his fangs. *BOOM—*