Red and White

"What powerful dragon fear..." Watching the red dragon in the distance and sensing an aura so akin to her own, Tinia's heart sank, tense anticipation taking hold. The presence emanating from her opponent felt all too familiar. A progenitor dragon's aura. Among the true dragons dwelling across the Feanso Continent, atavistic dragons were rare, yet by no means entirely extinct—and the uninvited guest before her was one of them. What was more, she was a red dragon—a favored darling of Tiamat, the incarnation of flame, and the strongest, highest-ranking among all chromatic dragons. Gazing at that well-muscled, agile crimson form, Tinia even felt an inexplicable swell of jealousy and resentment. If only she were a red dragon herself... At the thought, Tinia wore a hostile expression and demanded coldly, "Who are you?" "Dracarys." Glaring ahead with haughty disdain, the red dragon offered only her name, devoid of any grand titles or flourishes. An indescribable arrogance radiated from Dracarys's eyes. She did not care in the least what the assembly of dragons thought, treating them as nothing more than thin air. Tinia pressed on, "Why have you come?" "I seek an audience with the Cinder Emperor, His Majesty Cassius," Dracarys replied. Only upon speaking the name "Cassius" did a tremor ripple through her tone, tinged with admiration and reverence. Dracarys fixed a searing gaze upon the teleportation scroll at the white dragon's chest. Fire swirled within her gilded, slit pupils, burning with an unyielding ambition. "As expected of the Frenzied Calamity!" "Do you see that, white dragon? Lady Dracarys holds the favor of Her Majesty the Dragon Queen herself!" "Now that even she has arrived, this white dragon is bound to lose! Her Majesty Tiamat's oracle will surely be fulfilled!" "Lady Dracarys, take us to see Lord Cassius!" Seeing that they had no hope of defeating the white dragon themselves, the chromatic dragons pinned their last hopes on the red dragon. They heaped cold sneers and mockery upon Tinia, doing everything in their power to curry favor with Dracarys. One black dragon even flew up beside the red dragon and snarled aggressively at Tinia, "White dragon, if you know what's good for you, surrender now! Lady Dracarys is not someone you can defeat! She is the inextinguishable calamity fire that destroys cities, the Queen of Katla Volcano—" The black dragon babbled on with extravagant flattery, entirely oblivious to the frown creasing Dracarys's brow, the impatience tightening her features, and the spark of wrath igniting in her eyes. The next instant, Dracarys reached out an arm and clamped her talons straight around the black dragon's neck. Set against the red dragon's thick, heavily muscled arm, the black dragon's neck appeared strikingly slender and fragile. The black dragon writhed and flapped her wings in frantic struggle. Her eyes bulged as a hoarse whimper slipped past her teeth: "Lady... Dracarys... Why... I'm here to help you..." Yet Dracarys only looked down at her from the corner of her eye, asking in a chilling tone, "Inferior drake, who permitted you to join our conversation?" "And... help me?" The red dragon bared her fangs in a sneer, veins bulging along her forearm as the black dragon's eyes rolled white, teetering on suffocation. "Do you truly think you are worthy to utter those words?" Before the astonished, terrified gazes of the gathered dragons, the black dragon blacked out. Dracarys cast her aside like a tattered rag. She slammed into the ground, gouging a massive crater, clinging to a thread of life with her fate unknown. "Th-this..." The chromatic dragons gasped collectively. They had heard of Dracarys's reputation for "madness," but they had never imagined she was deranged to such a degree. She was even more ruthless toward her allies than toward her enemies! Such was Dracarys's unyielding pride. In truth, in her eyes, Tinia barely qualified as an "enemy"—and only suffered from the lowly status of being a white dragon. As for the chromatic dragons with diluted bloodlines, they were nothing more than filthy, feeble worms, unworthy of being counted as the same species, let alone "allies." Dracarys did not spare another glance at the battered black dragon. Instead, she surveyed the surroundings, sweeping a frigid gaze across the crowd of chromatic dragons. "And the rest of you. With such pitiful strength and lowly blood, you dare think yourselves worthy of bearing Lord Cassius's offspring? What delusional folly!" "Get lost, all of you, or... your end will be the same as that black dragon's." A vicious glint flared in the red dragon's eyes as an overwhelming dragon fear surged across the sky, suffocating the chromatic dragons. Warned by the black dragon's grim fate, the chromatic dragons could only flee in panic, not daring to let out so much as a whimper for fear of drawing the mad red dragon's ire. Even Tinia was left dumbfounded, rooted to the spot in astonishment. You could do that? Yet she quickly looked back toward the red dragon, rallying her composure. "I am a retainer of His Majesty Cassius, Duchess Tinia of the Empire. Come! Only by defeating me will you earn the chance to see His Majesty." "You are not half bad, white dragon—far superior to those pathetic worms. I hope... you will not bore me too much," Dracarys said indifferently, her scrutinizing eyes fixed on Tinia. Tinia sneered. "You had better worry about yourself. Being frozen into an ice cube is hardly pleasant." "In that case..." The corners of Dracarys's maw curled into a savage grin, a crazed battle lust igniting in her eyes. "Show me where you get such confidence!" The next instant, she struck. A stifling dragon aura mingled with dense sulfurous smoke, rolling across the sky in a tidal wave. Dracarys snapped her wings and plummeted toward Tinia in a massive crimson dive. With less than two hundred meters between them, Dracarys opened her gaping maw, and a crimson torrent of dragonfire surged from the depths of her gullet. Boom! Accompanied by the crisp snap of exploding air and the roaring rush of flame, the terrifying dragonfire expanded rapidly, forging a cone of raging fire across the sky. Though this breath fell far short of the Cinder Emperor's, it was more than enough to make mortals wail in despair and reduce whole cities to ash. A mere stray wisp could reduce a fully armored knight to charred cinders, melting plate steel into boiling slag. Sensing the scorching heat radiating from the dragonfire, Tinia dared not show the slightest carelessness. Roaring to the heavens, she unleashed a torrent of freezing cold that surged upward like an inverted cataract, rocketing straight toward the sky. Frost and fire collided. The opposing elements clashed with shrill hisses, churning up clouds of billowing steam hundreds of meters wide that nearly blotted out the sky. Yet Tinia remained on high alert. She knew the red dragon's power extended far beyond this. This was merely an opening probe. And indeed it was. The next moment, accompanied by a roar mighty enough to shatter the clouds, a colossal dark shape burst through the steam, crashing toward Tinia—it was Dracarys. "Die!" Tinia pushed the power of Matalotok within her to the limit. Extending her talons and beating her wings, she conjured a furious tempest riddled with hail, engulfing the red dragon. Ice Storm! Fierce air pressure made the sky tremble as hurricanes wailed, sweeping up vegetation, soil, and boulders into the firmament, grinding them into frozen debris. Were a mortal swallowed by this maelstrom, they would freeze solid in less than three seconds, only to be torn apart by the tempest and reduced to fine ice dust in the wind. Roar! Dracarys let out a magnificent, booming roar that drowned out the shrieking winds, sending a tremor through Tinia's heart. Torrents of flame coiled around the red dragon's wings. With a furious beat, the howling gusts around her were answered by a roar of heat; the hailstones and snowflakes melted away in an instant, leaving only scorching air in the tempest's heart. Then, buoyed by the updraft, Dracarys soared higher, gathered all her strength, and whipped her thick tail across the air. Intense friction with the air ignited blistering fire at its tip. Riiip! Even the storm was sheared apart, cleaved into an unmistakable fault line. The tail sweep swung down from above, packing terrifying force aimed straight at the white dragon's skull, while an expression of sheer ecstasy spread across the red dragon's face. What a ferocious blow! Tinia's expression darkened. This was a lethal strike! If taken directly, even with Tinia's physical toughness, her skull would shatter, her brains would splatter, and she would be sent straight to meet Tiamat. In a split second, Tinia reacted. She adjusted her posture to dodge while raising her talons high above her head. Divine frost power surged through her forelimbs toward her palms. Moisture in the air rapidly condensed into ice crystals, coalescing into a thick, smooth shield of crystalline ice over her head. Empowered by divine magic, the ice crystals Tinia forged were extraordinarily hard and radiated a bone-chilling frost capable of instantly freezing any mortal matter that touched them. Because Tinia shifted her position, Dracarys had to adjust the tail whip's trajectory mid-swing, blunting much of its force. Boom! The massive tail came crashing down. Ice splinters erupted instantly, and web-like fractures spread across the crystalline shield until, with a sharp crack, it shattered entirely. Yet the biting cold clung to the red dragon's tail. Her tail tip stiffened, coated in a fine layer of pale frost. Before long, visible fire coursed through the red dragon's body and flooded to the tip of her tail. Before the frost could spread, the flames burned it to liquid and boiled it away. "This is..." Dracarys raised an eyebrow, speaking with intrigued amusement. "Divine frost power? How interesting. To think a white dragon could command such strength. Truly worthy of being His Majesty Cassius's pet." Lies did not wound; the truth was the sharpest blade. "I am his most trusted and favored retainer!" Flushed with shame and anger, Tinia slashed her claws, sending three blades of ice whistling through the air toward the red dragon's throat. "You should consider it an honor." Dracarys reached out a talon with unhurried poise, conjuring a dense wall of fire that melted the ice blades into wisps of faint smoke. "Know your place, white dragon. Becoming His Majesty Cassius's pet is already a dream beyond reach for countless dragons. And only a red dragon of noble lineage like myself... is even marginally worthy of winning His Majesty's favor." Even as she spoke, Dracarys lunged once more, swinging a flaming talon viciously at Tinia's head. Meeting her was Tinia's frost-radiating claw, tearing through the air with equal, thunderous fury. Boom! With a resounding blast, the two forces collided. Fire splashed and freezing air billowed as a violent shockwave erupted in the sky, rippling outward in an expanding ring. Such sheer power! Tinia's heart skipped a beat, and immediately she lost control of her momentum. Dracarys was a size larger than Tinia. Furthermore, as a red dragon, she possessed far greater muscle density and a sturdier build; her absolute strength was more than a cut above Tinia's. Under the crushing weight of the blow, Tinia's wrist twisted at an unnatural angle. With a sickening crunch, the bone of her forearm snapped. Riding the momentum, the red dragon rammed forward, her massive, muscular bulk bearing down like a mountain. Crash! The immense force rippled through her entire frame, hurling Tinia backward through the air. She smashed violently into a peak beside the lake, leaving her reeling and disoriented. The mountain flank caved in, boulders fractured, gravel rained down, and thick dust billowed. Up in the sky, Dracarys wore a grim expression. That icy-blue light clung to her massive talons like maggots to bone. What terrifying frost power! Dracarys could not help marveling inwardly. This power could actually suppress her scalding dragon blood and even snuff out her dragonfire. And the white dragon's physical strength was far greater than she had anticipated, managing to contest her in close quarters, if only for a moment. One had to realize that among dragons below the rank of ancient dragon, Dracarys had never met an opponent who could match her in melee combat. Once she closed the distance, her prey was either crippled or dead. Had it been an ordinary white dragon subjected to such an impact, their bones would have shattered, their flesh would be shredded, and their life would likely be forfeit. She could not afford to be careless any longer. Without a moment's hesitation, Dracarys pressed her advantage, diving toward the spot where Tinia had crashed. Her visage was ferocious, her glare murderous, and she was wreathed in roaring flames, clearly intent on ending the fight in a single stroke. Yet right at that moment, the earth shuddered violently. A colossal dark silhouette rose from within the dust and smoke—a mountain of ice as sharp as a razor's edge! Danger! Dracarys's pupils constricted violently. Her expression shifted drastically, and a flicker of panic finally crossed her eyes. If she rammed into that mountain of ice at this velocity, she would be impaled straight through! Yet relying on her dense musculature and exquisite bodily control, she beat her wings violently and twisted midair, skimming past the peak of ice. However, more icicles erupted from the earth, thrusting frantically upward and stabbing toward the red dragon with horrific cold. This time, even Dracarys could not dodge in time. A sharp ice spire punched clean through her left shoulder, while another scraped past her skull, opening a bloody furrow along her cheek. Aaargh! A wail of pain tore through the sky. Before the dragon blood could gush out, it froze in the bitter chill. Worse, the frost was spreading rapidly, turning half of the red dragon's body sluggish. A feral light flared in Dracarys's eyes. Gritting her fangs, she tore the ice spire from her flesh. Using the upward thrust of the ice, she launched herself back into the sky. Flames coiled around the red dragon once more. Scalding progenitor dragon blood coursed through her fundus vessels, mending the wound and dispelling the biting frost. Still, it was obvious that Dracarys's left wing beat noticeably slower, hindered by the injury. On the ground, the dust gradually cleared. Tinia lifted her head and sneered up at the red dragon. "I told you, it doesn't feel very good." Hovering on outspread wings, Dracarys looked down at the white dragon. The contempt in her golden eyes had vanished, replaced entirely by burning battle lust. "Heh, well fought." Licking the blood from her cheek, the excitement and madness distinctive to red dragons flared in her pupils. "Now then..." "Come!" The progenitor-blooded red dragon and white dragon roared in unison, lunging at each other almost at the exact same instant.