The dragon's composure finally cracked.
"You're telling me to get out of this golem?" it roared, its voice rolling across the shattered battlefield like thunder trapped in a storm. There was a sharp edge to its tone now, something closer to panic than anger, even if it tried to mask it with rage.
"That's never going to happen! My real body was absorbed into it. If I force myself out now, I won't come out whole… I'll come out broken!"
Ashan didn't react the way anyone expected. He didn't argue, didn't threaten, didn't even show irritation. He simply looked at the dragon as if it had said something completely irrelevant.
"So what?" he replied, his voice flat and unfeeling. "That's your problem."
For a second, the battlefield fell into a strange silence, as though even the wind had paused to listen.
Then the dragon laughed.
It wasn't the confident laughter it had shown earlier, but something harsher, almost desperate beneath the surface. Its massive head tilted back as the sound echoed outward, shaking the air while its eyes narrowed into slits filled with hostility.
"Do whatever you want," it growled, the laughter fading into a low, dangerous rumble.
"I'm not coming out. Do you think I'm a fool? No one can force out a soul that's already fused with a soul dragon. Not even you. You're bluffing… trying to scare me into making a mistake."
Ashan let out a slow breath, his shoulders lowering slightly as if the response had confirmed exactly what he expected.
"Is that so?" he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. Then his gaze sharpened, the calm in his eyes turning cold. "Then there's no helping it."
He turned his head toward Maren, his expression unchanged, yet the shift in his attention alone was enough to draw tension into the air.
"You should move back," he said. "I'm going to release it and drag the parasite out myself."
Maren's eyes widened instantly, disbelief flashing across her face.
"Release it? Why would you do that? We can keep it restrained.. this is our chance to capture it!"
Ashan turned toward her fully, and while his tone didn't rise, the weight behind his words became impossible to ignore.
"I won't repeat myself," he said. "Take your people and get to a safe distance. Whatever happens after that… I won't be responsible."
Eirena stepped forward, unable to stay silent any longer. There was clear concern in her expression, her brows drawn tight as she looked at him.
"But why take that risk? You already have it under control. There's no reason to let it go…"
Ashan moved closer before she could finish.
The faint glow of his Susanoo's ribcage loomed near her, casting a dim violet light over her face as he looked down at her with narrowed eyes.
"Eirena," he said, his voice dropping into something quieter, but far more dangerous. "Do not question my decisions."
The change was immediate.
It wasn't just his tone, it was the presence behind it. The air itself seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on everyone nearby as an invisible pressure spread outward. It wasn't something they could see or measure, but every instinct in Eirena's body screamed the same warning.
Danger.
Her throat tightened. The words she had been about to say vanished completely as a thin layer of sweat formed on her skin. Without realizing it, she took a step back, then another, her resistance gone.
Maren didn't hesitate after that.
"Students, fall back to the academy!" she shouted, turning sharply as she raised her hand.
"Move now!"
The formation broke at once, professors guiding students away with urgency as they retreated across the ruined field. Even those who didn't fully understand what was happening could feel the shift in the atmosphere, and none of them were willing to stay close to whatever was about to unfold.
Draven lifted his wand, his expression tightening as he reinforced a protective barrier around the retreating group, once again, its shimmering surface forming a wide shield between them and the battlefield.
Only after they had put enough distance between themselves and the fight did Ashan act.
The chains began to fall.
One after another, the thick sealing links dropped to the ground with heavy metallic crashes, each impact echoing across the field. The restraints that had bound the dragon weakened rapidly, until only two chains remained secured around its hind legs.
The effect was immediate.
The dragon's body responded as if it had been waiting for this moment. Wounds closed at a visible pace, torn flesh knitting back together while cracked scales reformed in seconds. Its wings spread outward, regaining their full strength as power surged through its massive frame once again.
With a thunderous roar, it slammed its forelimbs into the ground and launched itself into the air, the remaining chains pulling tight as they limited its movement. Even so, it rose high enough to look down at Ashan with renewed ferocity.
"That was your mistake," it roared, its voice filled with savage triumph. "Your arrogance in releasing me!"
It drew in a deep breath, its body expanding as energy gathered rapidly. The air around it warped from the intensity, while at the tip of its tail, a dense sphere of swirling water formed, growing larger with each passing second.
"I'll make you regret it!"
Ashan remained where he stood, watching without the slightest sign of concern. If anything, there was a faint hint of anticipation in the way his posture shifted, as though he had been waiting for the dragon to reach this point.
"This might be interesting," he murmured.
The dragon didn't hold back.
A massive wave of flames erupted from its mouth, not a simple blast but a surging inferno that spread outward like a burning tide. The heat alone distorted the air, turning the battlefield into a shimmering haze as the fire rushed forward, swallowing everything in its path.
Ashan disappeared within it.
From a distance, it looked absolute.
The flames didn't stop there. They continued forward, racing toward the academy and the barrier protecting the students.
Draven reacted instantly. Stepping out from the shield, he swung his wand in a clean horizontal arc, and in response, the ground beneath him burst open as a towering wall of water surged upward to meet the incoming flames.
The collision was explosive.
Fire and water crashed together, releasing a violent burst of steam that spread across the battlefield in thick, blinding clouds. Within seconds, visibility dropped to nothing, leaving only the sound of hissing energy and the faint rumble of clashing forces.
From behind the barrier, the students could only watch blindly.
"Did you see that?" one of them whispered, their voice filled with awe. "That wave…"
"That's S-rank power…" another muttered.
"But what about the masked man?" someone else said, their tone suddenly tense. "He was right in the middle of.."
The mist began to thin.
Shapes slowly emerged through the haze, outlines forming as the steam drifted away.
And then they saw him.
Ashan stood exactly where he had been, completely unmoved.
But the faint ribcage that had surrounded him before was gone.
In its place stood something far greater.
A towering skeletal figure loomed over him, its upper body fully formed and rising high into the air. The violet-red bones gave off a faint glow, its massive skull angled toward the sky where the dragon hovered. One enormous hand remained slightly curved around Ashan, positioned in a way that made it clear, it had shielded him entirely from the attack.
A quiet, suffocating fear spread through the battlefield.
The dragon felt it first.
Its wings faltered slightly as its instincts reacted before its mind could process what it was seeing. This wasn't something it recognized, not magic, not mana, not anything within its understanding.
'What… is that?' it thought, a trace of panic creeping in despite itself.
Below, Draven stared upward, his grip tightening on his wand. "That's not a spell.. A skill…" he muttered, disbelief clear in his voice.
Maren and the others remained silent, unable to tear their eyes away from the towering figure.
"That…" Morevan said slowly, his gaze sharpened with a mix of fascination and unease, "is called Susanoo."
High above, the dragon's hesitation turned into desperation.
Cold energy surged through its body as it gathered mana again, this time forming countless shards of ice that condensed rapidly in the air around it. With a roar, it unleashed them all at once, sending a storm of razor-sharp projectiles toward the giant figure below.
The result was immediate.
Every shard shattered on impact.
Not a single one left a mark.
Ashan let out a quiet breath, almost amused. "That won't work," he said calmly.
Before the dragon could react further, the Susanoo moved.
Its arm shot upward with terrifying speed, its massive hand closing around the chains still attached to the dragon's legs. The moment it tightened its grip, the balance of the fight shifted completely.
Then it pulled.
The dragon was dragged out of the sky and slammed into the ground with overwhelming force, the impact splitting the earth and sending shockwaves rippling outward. Before it could recover, the Susanoo lifted its arm again and brought it down once more, repeating the motion with relentless precision.
Each strike carved deeper into the battlefield, turning solid ground into fractured ruins as the dragon's body was thrown around like it weighed nothing. Its roars quickly broke into pained cries, its attempts to heal barely keeping pace with the continuous damage.
From a distance, the scene was almost unreal.
An S-rank dragon, reduced to something helpless under sheer overwhelming force.
Narasha stood frozen, unable to move as her mind struggled to accept what she was seeing. "…This is completely one-sided," she whispered.
The assault didn't last long.
As the dragon's resistance crumbled, the Susanoo began to change. Energy flowed across its skeletal frame, forming layers of armor and structure until it stood as a fully realized entity, far more complete and far more terrifying than before.
A shield manifested in one hand.
A blade formed in the other.
The dragon's thoughts spiraled into panic as it felt the difference immediately. This wasn't just power, it was something absolute.
'No… this can't…' it thought desperately. 'This thing… it can't be defeated…'
The Susanoo moved.
The blade pierced forward, driving straight through the dragon's open mouth and into its core.
For a brief moment, the dragon laughed, clinging to the last piece of confidence it had left. "Fool… physical attacks won't.."
Ashan's gaze turned cold.
The blade twisted.
And something screamed.
Not the dragon.
Something inside it.
A human figure was forcibly dragged out from within the golem, its body contorting as the bond that had protected it was torn apart.
"WAIT… PLEASE… !" the man screamed, his voice breaking in desperation.
Ashan didn't hesitate.
"I warned you," he said.
The blade pulled back, and the figure was drawn into the sealed jar within it, disappearing completely.
The dragon's body went still.
Then it collapsed.
Lifeless.
Empty.
The Susanoo remained for a few moments longer before slowly dissolving into fading light, leaving Ashan standing alone at the center of the ruined battlefield.
No one spoke.
They simply stared, their minds still struggling to catch up to what they had just witnessed.