Chapter 50: Dragonkind; Final Round
Lydia stood before Draken, bruised and sprawled on the ground, a slow smile spreading across her face as though she were already relishing what came next. Draken’s voice cut through the moment.
"Run. She’s strong." He coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
Lydia glanced back at him, her expression sharpening into fury. "Shut it, or I’ll flatten both of you."
She turned back to Ursula, who seemed delighted by her arrival. "My brother’s taken a wife. How quaint."
Lydia’s face flushed red with anger. "Say that again, I dare you."
Ursula smiled wider. "As much as I’d love to savor this little reunion, you’ve both seen my face now — which means neither of you leaves alive, so—"
Before she could finish, something yanked her straight into Lydia’s fist, and the impact sent her flying several feet back. She rose, still smiling, until she felt something cold trickle down her nose. Her fingers found it, pulled back, and her eyes widened.
Blood. Her own.
"How?" she muttered, glancing up as Lydia was already closing the distance. She blinked once, and Lydia stood in front of her, fist already swinging.
Draken, watching from a distance, sat frozen with disbelief. Whatever impression he’d formed of Lydia shattered instantly. She was terrifyingly strong.
Ursula rose again, her confidence unshaken — no human had ever cracked it before. She wasn’t the strongest being alive, but strong enough to stand among the White Order without shame.
She caught sight of Lydia bearing down and charged to meet her. They collided, trading punches and kicks in a blur, and with every exchange Lydia’s hands moved faster, landing more than Ursula could counter.
Ursula finally broke away, putting distance between them — only for Lydia’s Attraction to yank her straight back in, and this time Lydia caught her square in the gut with Repulsion, the force sending her crashing through a line of trees before she slammed into a massive oak.
Ursula stared down at her left arm, bent at an impossible angle, and spat blood onto the ground. She reached for the ruined limb and tore it off herself; a fresh one grew in its place instantly.
"Now I’ll actually take you seriously. You’re clearly not as weak as I assumed." Ursula reached for her gown and ripped it away, revealing a fitted jumpsuit beneath. "I expected a challenge eventually, but not from a human. Especially not one without an authority."
Lydia stopped a few feet off, hand resting on her hip. "So you can sense that much. I wonder what skill gives you that — something like my Supreme Gaze, maybe?"
"Supreme Gaze? What’s that?" Ursula asked.
"I can read someone’s mana level and the skill type they’re using with a single glance. Useful for judging whether I can beat an opponent outright or need to be careful — though it’s never once stopped me from picking a fight I might lose."
Ursula’s smile widened. "That does sound close to mine — True Gaze. Mine shows every authority, unique skill, and ability someone carries. I can’t always tell how mastered they are, but I’ll know if I have a counter."
Lydia’s smile turned knowing as she started walking toward her. "So you’re confident you have a counter for everything I’ve got?"
Ursula matched her pace, closing the gap. "Absolutely. And I’ll prove it — with the strongest thing I have."
She stopped, and a long tail split open at the tip behind her, three massive eggs pushing free from it. Before anyone could process what was happening, the shells cracked open, revealing three dragonoids — red and black wings, humanoid bodies, scaled arms and legs, twin horns crowning their heads.
"My children," she said, then pointed at Lydia. "Kill her for me."
They launched forward as one, only to freeze mid-stride a foot from Lydia, locked in place.
"That’s it? I’m almost disappointed, if this is the best you can produce." Lydia raised her left hand toward the frozen dragonoids, shaking her head.
Ursula’s face twisted with a flash of rage — gone almost as fast as it appeared, replaced by a slow smile. "Got you."
She snapped her fingers, and all three dragonoids detonated at once. The blast tore through Lydia’s hold and slammed into her point-blank.
Ursula erupted into laughter. "You really do think too highly of yourself. That’s going to be what breaks you."
The smoke cleared to reveal Lydia still standing, burned nearly beyond recognition, breathing hard, her entire left arm gone.
Ursula’s laughter climbed higher — until Lydia’s voice cut through it.
"I’ll admit, that was clever. Didn’t expect a mother willing to sacrifice her own children just to win a fight. But—" She straightened, her charred face curling into a smile. "This isn’t the kind of win you think it is."
Her body knit itself back together instantly. She lifted her restored left hand, flexing the fingers, testing the grip. "Not bad."
Ursula stared, utterly thrown. She knew about healing abilities, but nothing that fast. True Gaze told her what a person carried — not how deep it ran or how fast it worked. She’d known about Divine Healing. She hadn’t expected it to undo total devastation in an instant.
Lydia’s smile faded into something colder. "I’ve had my fun. Let’s actually fight. Round two."
Before the sentence finished, she was already on Ursula, fist connecting and before the impact could fully land, Lydia caught her tail mid-swing and slammed her into the ground beside them — left, right, left again — then hurled her skyward and leapt after her, landing a spinning kick square into her gut that sent her crashing back down.
Before Ursula hit the ground, Lydia’s Attraction yanked her straight back into another fist, Repulsion amplifying the blow, driving her down hard enough to crater the earth beneath her.
---
Draken watched from a distance, stunned. This was nothing close to an even fight. He’d badly misjudged Lydia — had assumed Ursula posed the greater threat between them, when clearly the opposite was true.
His mind drifted back to their first meeting — how easily she’d dodged every blast he’d thrown at her, how casually she’d pinned him in place while chatting with Niel like it cost her nothing. The signs had been there the whole time. If she’d wanted him dead, she could have finished it in the first few minutes.
Still, he knew better than to relax. He could feel it — Ursula wasn’t finished, not by a long shot, and there was clearly more beneath the surface than she’d shown. Whatever came next might be the real fight, the kind neither of them walked away from lightly. Instinct took over, and he began dragging himself further from the clearing. Better to survive at a distance than die watching from too close.
---
Ursula rose slowly from the rubble, a red, roiling aura building around her. She tore off her tail entirely, and a new one grew instantly — longer, ending in a jagged, pointed maw. Two massive wings tore free from her back, black shot through with a crimson mainsail. Twin horns curled from her skull, her claws lengthening past her fingers.
She lifted her gaze to Lydia, still hovering in the air.
"Round three."
The words hadn’t fully left her mouth before she was already in front of Lydia, barely an inch of space between them. Both threw a punch on instinct, the collision sending a shockwave rippling outward, and they followed it with a rapid exchange of blows, neither gaining ground.
Ursula exhaled a stream of fire straight into Lydia’s face, but Lydia’s arm cut straight through the flames and caught her by the throat, slamming her into the earth.
Lydia’s face, scorched black, healed itself again within seconds.
"You keep pulling the same cheap tricks. Is that really all you’ve got?"
Ursula rose without a word, pointing two fingers toward Draken, still dragging himself away from the fight. A small, dense ball of flame gathered at her fingertip for a heartbeat before she fired it at him.
Lydia intercepted it before she’d even fully decided to, throwing herself into its path and expanding her Infinity Barrier to swallow the entire space around them, sealing herself and Draken inside.
The flame struck and detonated with a deafening roar, scorching a wide swath of forest to ash — everywhere except the ground her barrier had claimed.
Draken stared at her from inside the barrier, visibly stunned that she’d bothered to save him at all. She gave him a flat, unreadable look, then turned away, letting the barrier drop. Using Infinity Barrier this casually always cost more mana than it should — more effective than any ordinary shield, but among the most draining skills she owned, second only to one other. Still, it was as close to a perfect defense as existed: everything inside kept its freedom to move, while nothing outside could break through.
Then she noticed — Ursula was gone.
Before she could scan the area, a voice rang out from high above.
"Since you’ve proven yourself worth the effort, I’ll stop holding back. This time, I’m giving you everything I have. Let’s see if your defense can actually take it." Ursula’s voice carried down from the sky, both hands pointed at the ground below. "Behold. My Supernova."
The night sky curdled overhead. A pinpoint of absolute, light-devouring black sparked beneath her fingertips — and then the compression broke.
A blinding needle of magnesium-white light tore through the darkness, and a perfect, expanding sphere of violet and cyan fire erupted outward, cascading down like a collapsing galaxy.
Draken’s eyes went wide with horror, but Lydia only looked up, a wide, delighted smile spreading across her face. For the first time, longer than she could remember, something close to genuine excitement flooded through her — something she couldn’t quite name.
She raised both hands toward the sky. "Since you’re giving it everything — I’ll match you." A soft laugh escaped her before the words followed.
"HOLLOW BLACK."