The ant pressed harder, its mandibles inches from his throat. Stone cracked under the pressure as Alexander strained against it, his arms trembling, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
It's too strong head-on. Its armor is thick everywhere except...
His eyes scanned the beast's battered body: the cracked joint, the ruined eye, the scorched carapace on its back. Weak points carved by his own hands. The fight had already given him the answer.
I just need one opening.
With a sudden roar, Alexander stopped resisting. He twisted his body sideways instead of pushing back. The ant's weight slammed forward into the wall, mandibles burying deep into stone where his head had been.
In that instant of overextension, Alexander exploded with movement.
He dropped low, bursting with mana, then launched himself under its body. Scales scraped against obsidian armor as he surged upward, fist blazing with compressed flame.
"Break!"
His punch hammered into the cracked underplate. Fire erupted point-blank. The shockwave tore a chunk of armor free, the blood of the beast spilling like molten tar. The monster reeled in agony.
It lashed back wildly, smashing him with a limb. The blow hurled him across the chamber, bouncing hard against the ground. His vision spun, ribs screaming. He rolled to a stop, coughing blood. His scales were fading fast.
But he was smiling again.
Because now the beast was limping, weakened, its movements impaired because of the pain.
Almost there. One more strike.
The ant shrieked, enraged. Mana gathered in its torso, glowing like molten magma. Its mandibles opened wide, and a torrent of corrosive venom fired straight at him.
Alexander's body moved before thought. He planted his feet and thrusted his arms forward. Flame roared out to meet the venom, the cavern filling with steam and smoke as the two forces collided.
The pressure tore at him, skin blistering, scales peeling. His dragon form howled with instability, hair flashing between red and black.
It's burning me alive…
But behind the pain, a clarity burned. A strategy.
He cut off his flames, letting the venom scream past him, scorching the stones behind. The ant's attack carved a trench into the wall. But for a moment, it left itself wide open.
Alexander charged.
His mana erupted into a blinding flare, his entire body surging beyond its limits. Each step cracked the floor, leaving behind glowing craters of molten stone.
The ant swung, desperate. He ducked under the blow, slid across the stone, and planted one clawed hand into the creature's wounded joint. His other arm drew back, scales flaring crimson.
"Fall!"
He drove his fist straight into its chest.
The chamber split with the impact.
The beast's entire upper body shattered like glass under a hammer, blood and fragments spraying across the chamber. The shockwave shook the giant room to its roots, stone splitting, dust engulfing everything.
The ant convulsed with body parts it's left with and left a one final time screech before collapsing.
Alexander stepped back, chest heaving. His life clinging onto him weakly and the last mark of dragon form crumbling away. His hair shortened back to black, scales fading to bare skin. Every muscle screamed with exhaustion.
He stared at the fallen monster, his own blood mixing with its nasty pool of body fluid.
"…I… won."
His knees buckled. He fell to one knee, clutching his chest, laughing hoarsely through the pain.
Not because of the victory alone, no.
But because for the first time, he had faced down what once made him run. And he had stood his ground.
The chamber rumbled. The oppressive weight of the trial lifted.
From the shadows, the dragon's voice was heard one more time:
"You are tempered by fire, yet still unshaped. Remember this pain, Alexander. It is the hammer that forges you."
The voice faded, leaving him alone in silence.
The trials… are over.
With that last thought, he once again collapsed on the ground.