"Natural?" Erenyx asked.
Zephyr nodded. "Yeah. There are unnatural dragons all over the world, but very few come close to this strong— or even humanoid."
A chill crawled up Loretta's spine. "...What kind of dragon?" His voice trembled.
"I'm surprised you didn't notice," Zephyr said. "He carries the blood of an Elder Dragon."
Erenyx and Loretta felt their blood turn to ice.
"You're serious?" Erenyx asked, barely above a whisper.
"One hundred percent," Yagura replied.
"What's an Elder Dragon?" Rui asked.
Zephyr leaned forward slightly. "An ancient race of protectors. They vanished from our world long ago, but when they existed, they were a force of nature."
Heartz and Rui exchanged looks of awe. "If they're extinct... then how old is he?" Heartz asked.
"He's as old — or older— than Master Zephyr," Yagura said. "But in Elder Dragon years? About the same age as you four."
Loretta blinked, thrown for a moment. "Uncle... are you older than my dad?"
Zephyr barked a laugh. "Hell no. Your dad's a monster. I'm only a hundred and twenty-seven."
All four Visionaries' jaws dropped.
"SERIOUSLY!?" Erenyx shouted.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE LIKE SIXTY!" Rui added.
Zephyr and Yagura just laughed.
"Wait," Erenyx said, "if he's that old, then how old are you, Yagura?"
"I'm thirty," he replied calmly. "I know I don't look it."
Before the conversation could continue, the stadium drew their attention— Tobii had disarmed Asura with a spell.
"Heh, I'll be taking this," Tobii said as the spear floated toward him. It was nearly two meters long. The moment his fingers touched the pole, lightning-like agony ripped through his body. Purple veins bulged across his arm as he coughed up blood.
Tobii gasped and instantly severed his own arm before the poison spread, then conjured a fresh one with a spell. "DIE!" he roared, launching two spinning magic disks at Asura.
Asura weaved between them — but they followed.
Realizing they were tracking him, Asura stopped abruptly, snatched one disk, and hurled it into the other, detonating both. He barely turned before a massive fireball swallowed him whole.
"RAAAAGHHH!" Asura roared, bursting through the flames that engulfed him. His body was scorched, his shirt burned away — glowing runes pulsed across his torso like living script. He bared his fangs, smoke curling from his nostrils.
With a sharp kick, Asura sent his spear flying upward, then lunged in. A left hook. A right. An uppercut. A brutal slam that drove Tobii back into the ground.
"GRAVITY WELL!" Asura commanded. A dense pillar of crushing force dropped over Tobii, pinning him deep into the arena floor.
But Asura didn't see the magic trap humming behind him.
A bolt of lightning crashed down on his back. His chi flickered out, and he collapsed to one knee, muscles spasming from the shock.
Tobii staggered up, rushing in for the finisher—
—but Asura's spear dropped from the sky like judgment, impaling Tobii's foot.
"DAMMIT!" Tobii screamed. He sliced the foot off instantly before the poison spread, conjuring a new limb with a frantic spell. Sweat poured down his face as he landed, panting.
Asura rose again, steam rolling off his skin. His slit pupils glowed as he gripped his spear, exhaling smoke from the corners of his mouth.
He charged.
Each strike cracked against a barrier Tobii hastily conjured. But every shield shattered faster than the last. The moment Tobii hesitated — just a fraction — Asura smashed through one, his spear tip slamming into the ground inches from Tobii's face.
A kick to Tobii's chest launched him across the arena. In mid-air, Tobii hurled spheres of lightning back at Asura — only for Asura to weave through them, slashing others apart effortlessly.
Asura shot upward, spear drawn back.
"GAE BOLG!"
Chi surged through the weapon, doubling its size in an instant. He hurled it.
The impact bloomed into a colossal column of chi that shook the entire stadium, a shockwave rippling through the arena as dust, wind, and light exploded outward.
Asura landed, chest heaving, his spear materializing back into his grasp.
SHING.
He froze, eyes darting around the ruined arena.
SHING.
His breathing quickened. "Where the hell...?"
Then he finally looked up.
SHING.
A third magic circle blossomed above him—this one far larger, its runic lines shifting and folding in on themselves.
A 7th-tier spell.
Explosion.
There was no sound at first. Only light— white, searing, devouring.
Half the arena vanished in an instant, erased in a flash so bright that the afterimage burned itself into the eyes of every spectator. Then, as their minds caught up, came the roar — followed by the shockwave that slammed into the barrier, shattering it like glass. People were thrown from their seats, tumbling over each other as the entire coliseum shook.
From within the smoke, Tobii staggered forward, his robe completely destroyed, only his tattered pants remaining. His tome fell shut, its pages blackened—he had nothing left.
Tobii threw his arms out and howled, "I WON! I WONNNN!" His laugh cracked into hysteria as he looked upon the devastation.
But then he stopped.
He smelled something — burnt ozone, hot iron, death.
Slowly... painfully... he turned.
Asura stood behind him.
Steam rolled off his skin. His runes blazed like molten metal.
And his spear... it glowed brighter than it had at any moment in the entire match.
"You bastard... you've only been getting stronger this whole time..." Tobii whispered.
Asura raised his weapon. His voice was calm— absolute.
"Piercer of the Heavens... Sing, Vergil."
The spear carved upward. Reality tore open.
Everything in front of Asura was erased — arena, stone, stands, sky. The blast punched a crater into the world itself. Tobii never even had time to scream; he was annihilated utterly, not a trace left behind.
Asura collapsed at the bottom of the crater, unconscious, victorious.
Tobii's ruined tome slid down the rubble, coming to rest where he last stood.