I hovered mid-air, golden light flickering around me like a living sun, and raised my hand calmly as Veldora continued his rampage of storm and lightning. He was powerful—but I had something up my sleeve now.
"Mimir," I whispered mentally, "time to deploy that angelic skill I copied from Zalario…"
[Affirmative, lad. Activating Angelic Skill: Israfil]
My body flared with a new kind of brilliance—not raw energy, but precise, calculated authority. The light dimmed for a moment, then space itself around me warped. The atmosphere shifted.
"Skill Activation—Israfil, Lord of Judgement."
Everything within a wide radius suddenly froze—not in time, but in movement. The lightning halted mid-arc. The winds slowed as if held in invisible threads. Even the wavelengths of heat and sound became distorted and calm.
Veldora blinked, confused as his storm clouds stopped reacting.
"What—?" he muttered.
I smirked, stepping forward casually through the suspended space.
"Israfil," I explained, "lets me control matter and wavelength, even Spiritrons. Basically, little bro, everything you throw at me? It doesn't move unless I let it."
Veldora growled, trying to surge forward—but his movement slowed to a crawl.
I reached up and flicked a black lightning bolt casually aside like dust. It dispersed harmlessly into sparkles in the air.
"You're powerful, no doubt," I said, appearing suddenly behind him, "but against someone like me you can't do anything."
From the sidelines, Ramiris. "Whoa…"
"That's one of the 14 angelic skills, but how? Besides Zalario, only Lord Veldanava possessed it."
Feldway Looked wide-eyed at what was happening.
Dino muttered, "Guess Lord Velsun is serious."
I finally floated back a few feet, deactivating the skill to let the world move again. The storm resumed—but Veldora stopped, panting.
"Hah… You—You cheated…" He wasn't angry anymore—just surprised. Maybe even impressed.
I crossed my arms and grinned. "Nah, I just used what I had. A true dragon learns from his family, right?"
Ramiris folded her arms, pouting with a small smile. "Show-off…" she mumbled.
But I caught it. And I wore that smile a little wider.
I stood there, hovering in front of Veldora at light speed, my fingers curled into a gun sign, the fingertip glowing with a tiny, condensed sun—a sphere so dense in magicules and solar energy that even I wasn't entirely sure what would happen if I let it fly.
The space around it rippled and groaned, the very air trembling in protest of the power condensed into such a small point.
Veldora's eyes widened. The playful cockiness in him gave way to something else—respect… and maybe a twinge of fear.
I tilted my head, smiling.
"So, little bro…" I said, aiming the "finger gun" at him. "Do you give up?"
He growled, lightning twitching around his shoulders, defiant to the end.
"NEVER!"
A moment of silence.
Then—BOOM.
The light that followed wasn't blinding—it was obliterating. The condensed sun at my fingertip fired not as a beam but as a detonated point of pure destruction. The explosion didn't ripple—it consumed. The mountains leveled, vaporized in an instant. Storm clouds were punched out of the sky, leaving a massive gaping hole in the atmosphere. Winds howled outward in retreat.
And when the dust settled…
There he was. Veldora, sprawled unconscious, lying in the center of a glowing crater so wide it could be seen from orbit. Steam rolled off his body. The primal aura of storms that once raged around him had quieted.
I descended calmly, not a scratch on me, golden light passively regenerating my reserves from the sun overhead. My footsteps didn't even disturb the cracked surface beneath me.
"Well…" I muttered, looking over him. "Guess that's the result."
To be fair, he had spirit. But…
"Lad," Mimir's voice echoed in my mind, "your reserves are higher, yes. But more than that—it's your efficiency. You don't waste a drop. And your body passively absorbs sunlight to refuel magicules... there are not many who could outlast you now."
I smirked.
"Poor little guy never had a chance…"
From a distance, I could hear Feldway chuckling.
Ramiris landed beside me, looking at the crater with curious eyes.
"You really went all out, huh…"
"Nah," I shrugged, "I held back. A lot."
She gave me a look.
I glanced sideways at her, a grin tugging at my lips.
"Can't hurt my baby brother too badly on his birthday, right?"
I stood there in the aftermath, the sky still split from the explosion, the land around us looking like a god had decided to press the reset button on the geography.
Then came the voice of Veldanava, deep and amused as always.
"That's correct, Velsun. Now, I shall take my leave back to my palace—along with my angels. And I think..." he glanced back with that serene smile, "I can leave our little brother in your care."
"Huh? What—wait—"
But before I could finish, a massive magic circle lit beneath their feet, and boom—they vanished in an instant, leaving nothing but a gentle breeze where they had stood.
I blinked. Looked down at the unconscious storm dragon. My eye twitched.
"Dammit, elder brother…" I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. "You named him and dipped. Classic."
Ramiris floated beside me, trying—and failing—not to laugh. "Looks like you're a babysitter now, Velsun~" she teased with a smirk.
"Shut up...."
Veldora snored loudly from the crater, a small lightning bolt escaping his mouth like he was dreaming about fighting again.
I sighed, looking up at the sky.
"Great. Just what I needed."
Ramiris giggled harder. "Hmph! Good luck, big bro~"
I didn't respond.
I walked over to the crater, where Veldora lay sprawled out like a ragdoll, faint wisps of smoke rising from his body. The once chaotic storm around us had calmed, now replaced by a quiet breeze. I knelt beside him, my expression softening just a little.
"Tch... stubborn idiot." I extended my hand and let a soft golden glow envelop it—pure sun magic, warm, radiant, and alive. I placed my hand gently on Veldora's massive form, the light pulsing through him like waves.
His burns faded, the cracks in his scales sealed, and his breathing steadied. The arrogant grin was still half-etched on his unconscious face. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You wanted to go all out, huh? Well… now you know what your big brother can do." The light flared briefly, then calmed, fully restoring him.
Behind me, Ramiris watched in silence, arms crossed, wings fluttering. She tilted her head slightly. "Do you think he will be ok?"
I glanced back, raising an eyebrow.
"He may be reckless, but he's still my little brother. So he should be fine."
Ramiris huffed, her expression unreadable. "Hmph. Sounds like you're taking this big brother role pretty seriously already..."
I shrugged, standing up as the healing completed and the glow faded.
"It's not like I have a choice." I looked down at Veldora. "Besides, someone has to keep this guy in check."
A moment of silence passed before Veldora groaned and slowly began to stir. "...Ugh… did I damn it?"
I smirked. "Welcome back, storm dragon. Want to spar once more?"
"NOO..." he snapped, sitting up in panic.
The massive dragon finally stood up, his form towering and radiating a raw, storm-like energy, still crackling faintly with leftover magicules. But instead of being dazed or sulking over the loss, Veldora let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed through the mountains.
"DAMN IT, ELDER BROTHER!!" He roared with uncontainable excitement, his wings stretching wide as thunder rumbled faintly in the distance. "YOU'RE SO STRONG—AHAHAHA!!" He stomped one foot down, shaking the very ground beneath us, and pointed a claw at me.
"WELL, IT'S EXPECTED, AFTER ALL—YOU'RE MY FAMILY! HAHAHAHA!"
I just stood there, arms crossed, giving him a smirk. His reaction wasn't unexpected. Veldora didn't take defeat as an insult—he took it as a challenge, as motivation. Classic dragon pride.
"Glad you're not sulking about it," I replied, chuckling. "That was just me holding back, you know."
"HOLDING BACK?!" he exclaimed, eyes wide. "TCH! NOW YOU'RE JUST TAUNTING ME! NEXT TIME I'LL WIN FOR SURE!"
"Yeah yeah, next time," I waved him off, amused.
I sighed with a half-smile.
"Yep. Definitely going to be a long few centuries…"
-----------------------
A/N: If you can, please support me on Patreon.
Link: www.Patreon.com/Gottle
(No spaces btw)
Can read up to 20 chapters ahead.