RRRRAAWWWW!
The lion-like beast could no longer contain itself. Its mane, which was made up of fire, blazed so hot the nearby trees shriveled and turned to ash. It lunged forward, a living trail of fire, its claws gouged trenches into the earth as it hurtled straight for the dragons.
One of the dragons sneered. "Finally."
He stepped ahead of his two companions, his boots shattering stone beneath him. His body rippled as scales erupted across his skin, they were emerald green at first, then darkening into a jade like color. His arms lengthened, talons sprouting as his back cracked open to unfurl massive wings. In moments, his humanoid form was gone, replaced by a colossal dragon, his sinuous body stood proudly against the charging lion monster as it roared.
RRRROOOOAAARRR!
The roar alone made the ground quake as he reared back, his wings spreading wide enough to cast a shadow across the battlefield.
"About time…" muttered one of the humans watching from the treeline, his voice trembling a bit. "Its a real dragon."
The fire-maned lion snarled, unafraid. It roared back, its jaws glowing as flames gushed from its throat. The very air around its mane exploded outwards due to the intense heat created by it.
The two titans collided.
BOOOOOOM!
The dragon whipped its wings forward with a thunderous crack, blades of compressed wind exploding outward. The sheer gale created due to the movement uprooted trees, sending debris flying in every direction. But the lion's mane flared even brighter, its body becoming a moving pyre. Fire met wind, exploding mid-air in a violent shockwave that flattened everything nearby.
Arthur, who was perched on the branch of a tall tree, narrowed his eyes. "The others are really cooked, who can contend against these monsters. The only chance the others have is to hide and accumulate strength."
The dragon's maw opened, spiraling winds condensing into a razor-sharp cyclone. It roared, and the cyclone shot forward, shredding through the battlefield like a grinder.
The lion roared back, spewing a torrent of fire, its attack consumed everything it passed. The torrent of fire clashed with the cyclone, and for a moment, wind and fire battled for dominance, twisting into a fiery tornado that spiraled skyward.
"Holy sh*t…" whispered a dwarf hiding behind a crumbled rock, his beard singed just from the heat at this distance. "… this is like a damn natural disaster."
Seeing the attacks not working, the dragon decided to use its domain.
The dragon's eyes flashed, and the air around it thickened. Pressured air crushed downward like the weight of a mountain, tornadoes started swirling violently around its body. Dust and rocks rose, suspended in the gale.
At the same time, the lion beast didn't back down and bellowed, its flames expanded outward in a ring covering both it and its opponent. The battlefield itself ignited, scorched earth and glowing molten rocks appeared beneath their feet.
"Two domains at once…" muttered an elf archer in the treeline, her knuckles white as she gripped her bow. "What an apocalyptic scene."
The clash escalated with the use of two domains.
The lion lunged first, its claws wreathed in searing fire as it slashed at the dragon's chest.
The dragon twisted, catching the strike with its talons, sparks erupting as claw scraped against claw. With a grunt-like roar, the dragon spun, its tail whipping sideways.
CRAAAACK!
The tail slammed into the lion's side with enough force to crater the ground. The lion skidded back, its fiery mane flaring wildly as it dug its claws into the dirt, molten cracks spiderwebbing outward beneath it.
The dragon didn't stop its attack. It beat its wings once, the gale force nearly blowing some of the weaker people observing the fight from the distance.
"Get back!" one shouted, dragging a trembling companion deeper into the treeline.
The wind gathered in the dragon's throat again, compressed into a deadly beam this time. When it released the blast, it shot towards the lion, the attack was sharp enough to slice mountains apart.
But the lion seems to anticipate the attack. Its mane flared to blinding brightness as it roared, expelling a beam of superheated concentrated fire.
The two forces collided mid-air.
KAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
The explosion that followed sent a pillar of fire and wind spiraling high into the heavens. The shockwave cracked stone, flattened trees, and sent onlookers sprawling. Even Arthur raised his arm slightly to shield himself from the blast, a grin tugging at his lips.
"Now that," he muttered under his breath, "is one hell of a fight."
The area in front of him had become a warzone, flames clashed against hurricane gales, ground split under each step of the titans. Neither the lion monster nor the dragon showed signs of backing down.
And seeing the battle the others started to move forward and join the fight.
…
The battlefield had become an inferno wrapped in a hurricane, but that was only the spark.
THOOOM.
The ground quaked again as two more titanic forms stepped into the battlefield. The second dragon cracked his neck, his lips curling into a cruel grin. His skin rippled as his form shifted, golden-brown scales sprouting across his arms, and body swelling as muscle stacked upon muscle. The ground itself seemed to tremble in resonance with his transformation.
The third, who was also the leader of the group, a leaner dragon with pale white hair and sharp silver eyes, did not appear to be as boisterous as the other two. Instead, his form shifted like glass, beams of radiant light bending off him as if his body itself rejected shadow. His transformation was smoother, and quieter, but no less terrifying. When he unfurled his wings, arcs of blinding brilliance stretched outward, appearing like a second sun in the battlefield.
"Wind, earth, and light," Arthur muttered, narrowing his eyes from his perch. "Quite the trio…"
Across the clearing, the demon finally moved. A wicked grin spread across his face as he lifted his gauntleted hand. Frost spiraled outward from his palm, thin lines of white crawling over blackened soil. His beastkin subordinates flinched as the sudden chill snaked into their bones.
The air seemed to freeze due to the ice.
The demon and the leader of the dragons looked at each other, and formed a tacit agreement between them, though no words were spoken, they decided to deal with the monsters first.
The first monster came forward to intercept the intruders, a tusked, four-armed gorilla beast that slammed its chest and bellowed loud enough to shake its surroundings. It thundered forward, its knuckles smashing into the ground, sending boulders rolling away from where he passed.
"He's mine," said the earth dragon.
He stomped forward, his massive body sinking into the soil. The battlefield changed instantly, as rocks jutted upward like spears. The gorilla beast leapt, smashing through them with raw power, but the dragon roared and thrust his claws into the dirt.
Walls of stone erupted around the gorilla like maws of a beast, crushing inward.
KRRRSHHHHH!
The gorilla beast howled, breaking through with a swing of its massive arms, only for the dragon to slam his tail down. The ground split open, swallowing the beast into a gaping fissure.
From the distance, a human whispered, his voice hushed with awe, "Holy cow. How deep is that fissure?"
Not far away, the light dragon faced off against a serpent that floated and coiled high above the battlefield. Its scales shimmered like obsidian, and its eyes were like a pool of molten red magma. It lunged, its body moving like a whip made of darkness.
The dragon simply raised a claw.
SCHIIIING!
A blade of pure light cleaved through the serpent's strike, slicing off chunks of its scales that sizzled as if dissolved. The serpent shrieked, but the light dragon's body glowed brighter. Beams shot from his wings like spears, piercing through the serpent's coils.
"Blinding bastard…" the demon muttered from afar, shielding his eyes briefly. But his grin didn't fade.
He had his own prey.
A towering beast with horns like a deer and a hide thick as the bark of an ancient oak tree, it lumbered towards him, steam hissing as monsters made out of fire appeared around it.
The demon extended his hand.
KRRRHHHHHH!
A wall of ice erupted, frost crawling over the ground faster than flames could melt it. The beast roared, smashing through the first barrier shattering the ice, but the demon's expression didn't waver. With a flick of his wrist, the shards reformed into a dozen spears behind the monster.
FWOOOSH!
The ice spears streaked forward, impaling the creature's joints, freezing them instantly. It screamed as it stumbled, the demon walked forward leisurely, his boots crunching against frozen soil. He didn't even use his domain to take down a beast that could take hours for an Archmage to take down.
"Pathetic," he drawled, his breath visible in the sudden cold. "I didn't expect the monsters of this realm to be so weak."
He clenched his fist.
KRRRSHHH!
The monster's body crystallized into ice, and in the next moment, shattered into a thousand glittering shards.
Arthur exhaled softly as he observed the battlefield. As far as he can tell the Light dragon and the demon are on par with each other, maybe the demon was a bit stronger than the dragon leader. But the others also didn't lag behind in strength.
Meanwhile, the clash between the fire-maned lion and the wind dragon still shook the center of the battlefield. Their domains clashed against each other creating a terrifying scene. The others also started to engage with the remaining monsters.
The monsters were falling one by one, but it wasn't a clean sweep. Every death of a beast only made the survivors more frenzied and attacked with more fervor.
From the shadows, one of the elves whispered to her companion, her eyes wide with fear. "We shouldn't be here, this isn't a battle we can interfere."
Her companion swallowed hard, clutching his bow tighter as he nodded. "We should leave this place when we still can."
And just as they were about to leave this place, they noticed something that made them question whether what they were seeing was real or not.
***
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