The ice dragon took a deep, ragged breath.
Thanks to the Thunderbird’s interference, it had narrowly escaped death.
Although he disliked the Thunderbird’s actions, at this moment, he couldn’t help but feel thankful.
The Black Death Palm the lizard had used.
He knew that if it had hit him, he would’ve lost his life.
“...How is it possible for such a lizard to possess such power?”
A sinister thought flashed through his mind.
Why had he thought of death just moments ago?
With Gomodo gone, and her descendants extinct,
It was rare for such high-level spirit beasts to face death.
Who would dare kill a top-tier dragon?
Yet, that emotion... what was it?
A trembling fear.
The unmistakable scent of death was on her.
“Could it really be... Could it really be Gomodo’s power?”
Had the Thunderbird not intervened, he would’ve lost.
And he would’ve become nourishment for true death.
Just thinking about it sent a shiver down his spine, but it didn’t matter now.
Because the Thunderbird had intervened.
The lizard’s fate had been sealed.
The reason why the ice dragon had been overpowered by the red dragon and the lizard was simple—
It was their coordination.
In terms of sheer power, the ice dragon alone was stronger.
The lizard had kept her occupied, blocking her big moves, while the red dragon supported from a distance, disrupting her with fire.
Now that the lizard had been separated by the Thunderbird, the result was already clear.
Had the Black Death Palm struck, would it have been different? No, the Thunderbird had stopped it just before impact.
Of course, the red dragon had the advantage of natural affinity, and the ice dragon’s condition wasn’t at its best, but the total difference in power was undeniable.
The gap between mid-tier dragons and top-tier dragons was like the difference between the Fire Realm and the Heavenly Realm.
“Yes... The poor child. You’ve returned to me.”
The ice dragon looked at the red dragon flying toward him.
It didn’t matter how these creatures struggled—fate never changed.
The fear of death had been brief.
Now, no one would lead her to death again.
The weakened lizard would be crushed by the Thunderbird, and the ice dragon would finish the uncompleted fate.
“...I will end you.”
FLARE!
The red dragon’s scales burned with heat.
CRACKLE!
Cold air surged from the red dragon’s blue and white scales.
“Well done. I knew you’d go after the lizard, but now you’ve come to me instead.”
“Why, were you planning to recover while I was dealing with the Thunderbird?”
A sharp comment.
From the ice dragon’s point of view, the best situation would have been for the red dragon to dive straight into the Thunderbird’s attack.
While the ice dragon was being overpowered, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the Thunderbird, still in good condition, could have handled them with ease.
But instead, the red dragon had chosen to finish the ice dragon off.
“Blinded by vengeance, I see. You’re repeating the same mistakes. Well, I suppose that’s fate.”
“You’re shaky, aren’t you? I didn’t know the ice dragon had such a long tongue!”
The ice dragon’s eyebrows twitched.
This child had the nerve to provoke him in this situation.
But the ice dragon, having lived for so long, wasn’t foolish enough to fall for a young dragon’s taunts.
Hiss...
The red dragon’s chest came into view.
That incredible expansion could only mean one thing.
“You...”
The dragon’s breath.
BOOM!
A blast of fire breath shot toward the ice dragon.
KRAAAAAK!
In response, the ice dragon expelled a blast of icy breath.
The clash of fire dragon and ice dragon.
CRACKLE!
The sky turned red with the red dragon’s fire.
SIZZLE!
The earth became blanketed in ice, covered by the ice dragon’s power.
The battle raged, shifting the very landscape.
It was a close fight, at first glance.
But the red dragon’s expression was far from pleased.
With each passing moment, it realized it was losing.
The struggle appeared evenly matched, but it was due to the ice dragon’s injuries and the natural affinity of the two dragons.
SIZZLE.
The red dragon’s movements began to slow.
Meanwhile, the ice dragon controlled the battlefield, commanding the weather and manipulating the terrain.
The power of a true dragon.
As the ice dragon’s cold energy consumed the surroundings, the red dragon’s strength began to weaken.
“Give up. You can’t defeat me.”
CRACKLE!
The red dragon ignored the ice dragon’s words, continuing to hurl fireballs.
“You’re still just a child. I know why you’re acting so hastily. You want to finish me off and save the lizard, don’t you?”
CRACKLE!
A massive ice wall rose from the earth.
The red dragon’s fireballs were easily extinguished, failing to penetrate the frost.
“The Thunderbird is my equal. With the state of the lizard’s body, how long do you think it can hold up?”
CRACK!
The red dragon gritted its teeth.
As the ice dragon had said, it needed to defeat her somehow.
But it wasn’t going to be easy.
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It had been wounded. How was it that she was still able to hold onto this fight?
Hiss...
BOOM!
Once again, the red dragon’s fire breath surged forth.
CRACK!
As time passed, the flame weakened, and the ice dragon easily countered the fire breath with its icy breath.
SHOOOOSH!
At the same time, icicles fell from the sky like barrages.
The red dragon swiftly dodged, trying to escape, but the ice dragon’s cold trapped her ankles.
THWACK!
A deep gash appeared on the red dragon’s right wing.
The sudden impact threw the red dragon off balance, and she plummeted to the ground.
KRAAAAANG!
“Do you now see the difference in power?”
The ice dragon slowly walked toward the fallen red dragon.
The red dragon’s hand trembled.
Memories of the past, long thought forgotten, resurfaced.
The Thunderbird who killed her parents.
The ice dragon who had devoured her sister.
The archenemy that she had sworn to kill.
Yet now—
Why couldn’t she do anything?
Why was she helpless?
CRACK.
Blood trickled from her lips.
The world is cruel.
After all that effort, is it still out of reach?
She slowly got back on her feet, her body staggering.
Why does the world freeze her heart once more?
The memories of the past and the present situation prevented her from bringing out her full potential.
The memories of those she had lost.
If she didn’t overpower the ice dragon, Hee would die, and that truth continued to tighten around her.
Having forgotten spring, she was an eternal winter.
The only being who had melted that winter—Hee.
If he left, spring would never return.
Flare!
The red dragon’s body ignited once more.
Her greatest enemy stood before her.
Another enemy was trying to kill her benefactor.
To save her benefactor and kill the enemy.
What could be more valuable than that?
Even if it meant burning her own life, it was something she had to do.
Flare!
The flames grew fiercer.
Even the ice dragon, who had been calm, couldn’t help but be taken aback.
She was preparing a strike that would not consider the aftermath, using all the Innate Energy she had.
“...You will die first.”
Rather than live in an endless winter, she wanted to close her eyes in the warmth of spring.
And just as she was about to strike, sacrificing her life—
DENG!
A great bell rang, resounding throughout the world.
The ice dragon’s face hardened, and the red dragon’s lips curled upward.
He knew what that sound was.
The sound of the great bell.
The “great” of the bell symbolized the universe, and its sound was one that erased afflictions.
The red dragon’s mind cleared completely.
“Our divine beast is truly kind.”
Hee had struck down the Thunderbird.
Not only that, but he was now attempting to help her.
He stopped her from drawing on all her Innate Energy.
And the spring that would melt this winter was coming.
But the red dragon shook her head.
She was a fire dragon.
A dragon who could not always depend on spring.
To help him, she had to defeat the enemy in front of her with her own strength.
Flare!
The sound of the great bell brought her clarity.
No, that sound wasn’t just the sound of the bell.
The bell was the truth of the world.
Hee was the one preaching that truth.
So who was she?
Was she just a being listening to the bell’s sound, trying to rid herself of her afflictions?
No.
No matter how strong Hee was, he couldn’t strike the bell alone.
The great bell was so huge that it couldn’t be struck by hand.
That was why the bell was hung from the ceiling, with the dragon-shaped hook connecting it. This hook was called the dragon handle.
The great bell was Gae Gak, and the bell striker was Hee.
No matter how strong Hee was, he couldn’t protect Gae Gak alone.
So, she vowed to become the dragon handle herself.
To become the strongest sword of the Gae Gak Sect, to relieve Hee’s burden.
To help Hee perform Gae Gak even better.
DENG!
She showed the reality beyond her actions.
When the divine beast of Gae Gak does that, how could the follower of Gae Gak remain still?
Flare!
Flames wrapped around her body.
With the fire she had now, she couldn’t burn the ice dragon.
Burning her own life wouldn’t be meaningful.
She intended to live on, to become Hee’s dragon handle.
Plum Blossoms from a Thousand Miles Away.
The scent of plum blossoms filled the air.
The ice dragon showed no signs of giving up and unleashed his power.
SIZZLE!
The ground froze, and massive chunks of ice—larger than the red dragon—fell randomly.
It was the declaration of winter, the ice dragon’s season.
An unbelievably cold wave of cold.
Absolute Cold Wave.
The red dragon looked at the approaching winter.
A bitter, freezing winter.
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An eternal winter was like an eternal punishment.
But not all winters in the world would be like the one she experienced.
She wished for it to be remembered differently by those she loved, especially Hee, and the followers of Gae Gak he loved.
Her massive body slowly began to change.
Plum Blossom in Snow.
Plum blossoms, enduring the cold winter and blooming, were all the more beautiful for it.
Flare!
The red flames turned blue.
The blue flames reignited, and finally turned to white flames.
For Rizamowun, winter was no longer a terrible memory but a harbinger of the future, the beginning of something new.
The fire, moving forward like the beauty of a plum blossom.
It was indeed the best evolution of plum blossoms.