Chapter 95: Goodbye for now
Both figures locked eyes in the air. No one moved, no one attacked. It was the kind of tension you could almost touch, the kind that you knew would snap at any moment.
Ren watched her every motion, waiting to attack the very moment she made a move.
"Waiting for me to take the initiative?" she asked, her tone almost playful. She smiled. "Fine."
The moment she muttered that, her tornado lunged forward with her at the center, while ice lances the size of full-grown humans formed beside her. Over twenty of them were fired in an instant.
The wind spun around them as they cut through the air like bullets.
Ren looked at them, counting very fast in his mind. He ensured he knew the location of every one of them to ensure he did not miss a single one, and then he shot forward. His mind had already made a path right through them.
The first one came directly at him. He banked hard left and watched as it flew right by his underbelly, his peripheral vision already locked onto the two that were incoming, one high and in front and the other lower and behind. There was no time to move right and evade, so he dove down while spinning.
He evaded the first one while unleashing his dragon breath on the second and melting it. He pulled up in time to very quickly dodge the last one in the line by pulling up hard and fast, pushing himself high into the air. He bent his neck and looked down at Sereth. Wasting no time, he delivered a clean Rendering Claw attack.
She reacted fast, and her dragon wings extended, covering her entirely as the attack hit. Ice was scattered in every direction, but she was not hurt. The wings opened back up, but rather than return to their original state, they lunged at Ren, extending in length very fast.
’Fast.’
Ren thought as he pulled left and dodged the first wing, then spun to slam the second with his tail, shattering the top of it, only for the ice to regenerate in seconds.
’I need some space.’
He flew down fast, and the wings followed in a curve, moving fast and extending faster to reach him. He could already feel their cold as he moved.
He looked at Sereth, and an idea came to his mind, so he flew toward her fast while her wings chased. She saw him coming and prepared multiple lances to attack him, but the moment she fired, he pulled up hard, clearing the space in an instant.
The ice lances slammed into the wings in a massive collision that shattered both and created a large cloud of ice and fog. He used that opportunity, making a curve in the air to face her and then letting out a thundering dragon roar. The sonic sound tore through the air, and before she could do anything, it slammed into her chest and hurled her back.
She was thrown out of the tornado, her ice armor shattered, and she was falling fast. She hit the ground with a loud thud and did her best to recover quickly. She created another ice armor and immediately created the dark energy spheres.
She made over twenty of them and then very quickly combined them into one massive sphere before hurling it at Ren, who was diving toward her.
’Shit, there is no way I dodge fast enough to avoid this entirely. Is there a way through? There has to be a way.’
Ren opened his mouth and unleashed dragon breath. The flame slammed into the ball, and the ball started swallowing it up fast.
Panic set in for Ren. He was committed, and there was no way to do anything else, but even then, he pressed through and kept pouring the flames until the ball was close and had taken enough, dissipating into an explosion while he flew right through.
She saw this and flew into a rage, creating a large ice lance and hurling it at him, only for Ren to transform back to his humanoid form at the last moment, causing the attack to miss and slam into the mountain.
He landed on the ground and charged at her, too fast to react as his punch connected right with her face, this time the real her. She was hurled back so hard and fast that she slammed into a large rock and broke through it.
He chased after her and proceeded to use Rendering Claw. The claw attack cleaved deep into her chest as she slammed against a final rock, bleeding from her chest, an injury she would not survive.
Ren walked close. He stood right in front of her. Her ice helmet faded away and revealed her face. It was beautiful, far more than he had expected it to be. Stunning was an understatement.
Her blue eyes were like the ocean, with blonde hair and pale white skin.
She looked at him softly and smiled.
"You managed to defeat me," she said, sounding both happy and disappointed.
"Remember our promise, right?" she asked.
"Yes, I do. I’ll find you," Ren responded.
"Thank you, and when you do, take me out to eat steak. That’s my favorite. I like the way the dwarves make it especially. They are much better cooks than you would think, those dwarves.
Also, a little bit of advice. If you come across the word Ancients, stay away from it. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. And one last thing, there is one dragon left before the top, but he does not fight. He shows you your worst nightmares and watches as they eat you from the inside.
You must face the thing that scares you the most and come out on top to defeat him. Only then will you deserve what is on top.
Goodbye for now, young dragon. Tell me your name when next we meet."
Her eyes closed, and her body went still. Ren stood there for a few seconds, and then he bowed a full ninety degrees before turning to leave.