The moment the massive Rasengan was driven into the dragon's mouth, everything seemed to stall for a single, dreadful heartbeat, as if even the world itself hesitated to witness what would happen next.
The dragon's pupils shrank violently.
"No.. WAIT..!"
Too late.
The Rasengan detonated.
Not outward, but inward.
For a split second, nothing escaped.
Instead, a brutal implosion tore through the inside of its skull and throat, chakra spiraling like a grinding storm, crushing flesh, splintering bone, and shredding mana pathways from within.
The sound that followed wasn't a roar, but a sickening, dry crunch, layered with a shrill, broken screech that cut off mid-note.
The dragon's upper body jerked violently.
The adamantine chains rattled under the sudden surge of force, vibrating sharply, yet instead of loosening, they constricted even tighter, feeding off the resistance and locking the creature down even further.
Then,
BOOOOM…!
A delayed shockwave erupted upward, blasting shattered scales and fragments of blackened bone into the sky like a violent storm of debris. The ground beneath the dragon's head fractured in a wide circle, cracks racing outward in jagged patterns.
Wind howled across the battlefield.
Dust swallowed everything.
Students staggered, some thrown off their feet while others barely held their ground. Even the S-rankers braced themselves, boots digging deep as their eyes widened at the sheer force unleashed.
And then,
Silence.
When the dust finally settled, the dragon lay motionless.
Its entire mouth, gone.
The lower half of its face had been erased, leaving only its upper skull and eyes intact. The remaining jaw hung twisted at an unnatural angle, flesh mangled, horns cracked, smoke curling slowly from the ruined edges.
For a brief moment, even the chains loosened slightly.
The regeneration began again.
But this time, something had changed.
The dragon's eyes, once filled with rage and arrogance, now held something else entirely.
Fear.
Raw, unmistakable fear.
It had felt it, every second of being destroyed from the inside, unable to move, unable to resist.
Helpless.
As its mouth slowly reformed, Ashan's voice cut through the silence, calm, but laced with mockery.
"Looks like you finally get it," he said, tilting his head slightly. "Chakra… and what it can really do."
Behind him, the formation began to regroup, murmurs spreading quickly.
"What the hell was that…?"
"That wasn't an attack, that was torture…"
"He just… stuffed it inside its mouth and blew it up…"
Zevi's eyes were practically glowing as he stared at the scene.
"That was insane!" he said, grabbing Ashan's clone's shoulder.
"Did you see that? That thing exploded like a damn mini nuke!"
The clone nodded, watching intently. "Yeah… that wasn't normal. The way it compressed and released, there's something fundamentally different about that energy."
Even Lunara, usually composed, looked shaken.
"…It was concentrated into a single point," she murmured. "Compressed energy forming a stable core… then destabilizing instantly. It's almost like… an artificial collapse."
Meanwhile, the dragon finally spoke again, its voice rough, uneven.
"You… you're worse than a monster…" it rasped. "Go to hell…"
Ashan chuckled softly.
"That's rich," he replied. "Coming from you."
Then his expression shifted.
The humor vanished.
"Alright," he continued, voice flattening. "Enough nonsense. I heard bits and pieces earlier, but I want it straight from you."
His gaze sharpened.
"Who are you… and why are you here?"
The dragon bared its teeth, voice trembling with suppressed rage, and something deeper.
"…Why?" it growled. "I came to kill Eirena Greaves. To avenge my brother."
Ashan glanced briefly at Eirena, then back at the dragon.
"Kill her?" he said calmly. "From what I heard, your 'brother' was the one dealing in those enhancement pills." His tone turned colder. "And I'm the one who killed him, not her."
The dragon's eyes flicked toward Eirena.
Eirena met the gaze without flinching, her expression hard.
"I know," the dragon said.
A pause.
"But I still have my reasons."
Ashan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Reasons, huh…" he muttered. "Let's hear them."
Instead of answering, the dragon started laughing.
Low at first.
Then louder.
Mocking. Twisted.
Eirena's expression darkened instantly. Ashan's patience thinned.
"Funny?" he asked quietly. "Because I'm not seeing the joke."
The laughter only grew.
Around them, the tension spiked. Draven shifted slightly, unease creeping into his expression, while others tightened their guard instinctively.
Ashan exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah. I get it," he said, crossing his arms. "That hit earlier must've scrambled your brain."
Then,
Chakra surged.
A deep, violent pressure rolled outward as violet-red energy gathered around him, thick enough to distort the air itself. Instantly, everyone nearby reacted, instincts screaming as they stepped back.
"But that's fine," Ashan continued, voice calm again. "I've got a way to fix that."
The chakra condensed.
Hardened.
Formed.
In an instant, a massive skeletal ribcage materialized around him, towering and solid, its structure pulsing with raw power. From his right side, a gigantic skeletal arm extended outward, fingers curling into a crushing fist.
The reaction was immediate.
"What the hell is that…?!"
"A skeleton… no, some kind of construct…!"
"That pressure… it's insane!"
Ashan tilted his head slightly, a faint smile returning.
"Let me show you something funny."
The dragon's laughter died instantly as the massive skeletal hand rose above its head.
"…Wait,"
SLAM…!
The fist came down like a falling mountain.
The impact cracked its skull instantly.
Before it could even react,
Another blow followed.
Then another.
And another.
Each strike heavier than the last.
The ground shook with every impact, the sound echoing like distant thunder as the skeletal hand pummeled the dragon relentlessly, not giving it even a fraction of a second to recover.
Its regeneration struggled to keep up.
And failed.
Inside the academy, chaos erupted.
"What is happening…?!"
"He's crushing it like it's nothing…!"
Narasha's eyes widened as she watched, her usual composure cracking for a moment.
'A skeletal construct…? So he can do this too?'
Her gaze sharpened.
'It's not as absurd as that adaptation ability, that wheel… but still…'
The way the blows landed, the sheer dominance in every movement,
'He's overwhelming it completely.'
Back on the battlefield, the dragon's roars turned into screams.
This wasn't a fight anymore.
It was a beating.
Everything it had planned, everything it thought it would accomplish, collapsed under sheer, overwhelming force.
If things had gone normally, it could have caused destruction, maybe even escaped.
Instead, it had run into the worst possible opponent.
Ashan.
A being who didn't follow the rules.
Eirena swallowed dryly, her throat tightening.
"…This is insane…"
Around her, even the S-rankers stood silent, watching in disbelief.
After nearly thirty crushing blows, the skeletal hand finally stopped.
The field fell quiet again.
Ashan's voice rang out, calm, almost amused.
"…Now that's funny."