Chapter 28: Death Dragon Urzuz

The storm of arrows had finally ceased; silence pressed in after the relentless volleys.

My gaze shifted to the Death Dragon Urzuz, its massive legs still bound in ice, every breath rattling through its fanged maw like a furnace struggling against frost.

“Coin, Deca Toss,” I invoked sharply, the words leaving my lips the instant a vision flickered before my eyes: myself skewered from beneath.

I leapt without hesitation, vaulting onto the roof of a shattered building just as jagged earthen spikes erupted where I’d been standing.

My stomach tightened.

Don’t tell me…

Death Dragon Urzuz, can use magic?

The thought was madness, yet undeniable.

Just as Althea had been granted Dragon Magic through her pact, then surely, Death Dragon Urzuz too must have gained some corrupted counterpart.

“KRAAAHHHHSSSHHH!” The dragon’s roar tore the air apart, a sound laced with mockery, daring me closer.

Another vision, my body cleaved neatly in half.

I moved instinctively, darting sideways.

Urzuz’s claw ripped through the air, and the ground where I had stood was bisected as though carved by a colossal blade.

He’s catching on… My breathing quickened.

Thirty seconds, no more that was all that remained of my boosted state.

I had underestimated him gravely.

An Ancient Dragon… Why didn’t I consider the possibility that he has some knowledge of Divine Magic itself?

Urzuz coiled to strike again, yet suddenly its feet froze solid, bound by ice so dense the ground cracked beneath the pressure.

My eyes shot toward Rion.

Death Knight Althea was pinned, crucified within a towering pillar of ice, her body bound and wings… dragon wings, twisted by Dragon’s Magic, encased before she could’ve even used them.

Rion’s gaze was unyielding, his power absolute.

The realization struck me like a hammer to the chest.

It wasn’t Urzuz I had underestimated…

It was Guildmaster Rion.

Urzuz’s frozen limb cracked apart with a deafening snap, shards scattering like glass as the Death Dragon lunged toward Rion.

Yet before it could reach its master’s side, the Death Knight’s body fractured,splintering into a thousand icy fragments that crumbled into the wind.

“You did well, Raki,” Rion’s voice cut through the chaos, cold and unwavering, as his figure blurred and appeared beside me in an instant.

“SKRAAAAAAAAAAUGH!” Urzuz’s roar thundered across the battlefield, a sound thick with rage.

Its shattered limb regenerated in a flash of corrupted magic, whole once more, as though the frost had never bound it.

“Now comes the harder part,” Rion muttered, raising his hand.

“Fourth-rank magic: Wind Wall.”

The air shuddered, a translucent barrier spiraling up around us.

A breath later, Urzuz unleashed a torrent of slicing gales, wind blades sharp enough to cleave stone but they broke harmlessly against Rion’s wall, scattering like mere breezes.

His eyes narrowed.

“Father Damian can’t help us here. Urzuz is no longer just a dragon, he’s gained the essence of Elemental Magic through his pact with Althea.”

My chest tightened as Rion’s words sank in.

“As you know,” he continued, his tone steady as frost, “the only force that can truly cut down a Death Dragon is Holy Magic or better still, Divine Magic.

But seventh-rank Holy spells and higher require full incantations.

You can’t shorten them, or they lose their effect.”

His gaze flicked toward the writhing titan of scales and fire.

“And he won’t give us the time to finish one without someone holding him down.”

Then his eyes locked on me. “So I have a proposal, Raki. Can you use your Divine Magic… to end Urzuz?”

I swallowed. “With what I have now, I doubt I can defeat him. But… I’ll search for a suitable one.”

Rion gave a sharp nod.

“Then I’ll keep the Death Dragon at bay until you find it.” He extended a hand, his voice still like ice.

“If I may… let me borrow that greatsword you’re holding,” Rion stated.

I offered Cocytus without hesitation. “Of course.”

The instant the blade touched his hand, the temperature around us plummeted. Rion’s lips moved.

“Eighth-rank magic: Freezing Wave.”

With a single swing of Cocytus, he unleashed a sweeping arc of blue energy.

The slash tore across the battlefield, and in its wake, the earth itself froze solid, rows of jagged ice shards erupting skyward, locking the world into a frozen scar.

Death Dragon Urzuz stood encased in a coffin of ice, its monstrous form suspended mid-snarl. Frost crackled along its scales, but Rion’s voice cut through the frozen air.

“Raki, hurry. He can break my ice as many times as he wills.”

“Card,” I uttered.

“Flip,” I commanded.

The deck shimmered and shuffled, three fates rising from the spread:

The Chariot, The Empress, The Hierophant.

My gaze lingered for only a breath before I seized the Hierophant.

“Exoplizo,”I commanded.

At once, black fire burst across Urzuz’s body, devouring the ice ravenously.

The world wavered, and I was pulled again into that strange dimension, an endless sea of fractured words and shifting sigils.

Knowledge surged into me like a flood, drowning my mind in visions and letters too vast for mortal comprehension.

My skull threatened to split, but still I endured.

“Raki! Raki!” Rion’s voice broke through the haze.

I blinked back into reality, only to find the black flames consuming everything around us.

Only his ice held the inferno back, a fragile fortress against annihilation.

“Dice… Roll. Hexa.”

Six dice spun into the air and fell as one.

All six showed the mark of victory, sixes.

“Sacred Rule.”

The locked white tome Rion had entrusted to me flared into existence, its bindings undone by my invocation.

I spoke the words etched into eternity.

“Sacred Rule, First Verse: There is no greater power than God’s Divine Grace.”

“Divine Light!”

From within the frozen bastion, lances of pure brilliance erupted, piercing through the veil of black flame.

Every tendril of darkness shrieked and vanished as the radiance consumed it, smothering corruption with holy fire.

Divine Magic: The Hierophant’s Principles, a power that inscribes celestial law upon the world itself.

As long as my total status does not fall below half of my foe’s, the law holds, unbroken.

Urzuz writhed, its scales blistering beneath the sacred light.

Divine fire seared through flesh and bone, unraveling the ancient dragon’s corrupted form until its body sagged, trembling, on the brink of collapse.

“It’s time to end your suffering, Ancient Dragon Urzuz,” I whispered, voice steady as I faced the beast.

But Urzuz would not submit.

With a roar that split the heavens, the dragon hurled its massive body forward, fury blazing in its corrupted eyes.

“Raki, move!” Rion’s warning came too late.

He conjured three colossal walls of ice, jagged and unyielding, but the dragon’s claw tore through them as if they were parchment.

The strike pierced straight through me.

I felt the world lurch as its talon carved a gaping hole in my chest.

Blood surged out in a hot flood.

My vision blurred, the edges of the world trembling.

Yet, within a heartbeat, the wound knitted shut, flesh and bone reformed by divine grace after I removed the death dragon’s claw.

Still gripping the death dragon’s claw, I pulled it free with a grunt, crimson dripping to the frozen ground.

Urzuz froze.

For the first time, its eyes widened, not with rage, but with disbelief.

I opened the Sacred Rule, its pages shimmering with celestial light.

“Sacred Rule, Seventh Verse: The dead shall not walk among the living.”

“Divine Catharsis.”

Light erupted. A brilliance unlike any flame or star engulfed Flogas, so radiant it stripped the shadows bare.

Urzuz’s massive form shuddered, its scales peeling away into motes of radiance.

The Death Dragon crumbled, and from its dissolving husk emerged a vision, a mirage of a proud, ancient Red Dragon, uncorrupted and free.

The frozen remains of Death Knight Althea also shattered, unraveling into light.

What lingered was no longer the abomination of a knight, but the ethereal form of a woman, regal and serene.

The woman approached, her steps silent as dawn.

She bowed gracefully, then reached out, her hand brushing the claw of the dragon’s mirage.

At her touch, both forms dissolved into twin streams of light that spiraled upward, vanishing into the heavens.

All around, the same miracle unfolded.

The corpses of the undead melted away, their twisted shells replaced by fleeting images of who they once were, men, women, lizardman and even beasts.

One by one, they too turned into streaks of light, rising skyward like a thousand fireflies set free.

Flogas glowed, bathed in a sea of ascending stars.

“You didn’t just defeat them…” Rion’s voice was hushed, reverent.

His eyes followed the lights as they vanished into the firmament. “You saved them.”

Moments later, the pounding of paws shook the ground.

Janbo skidded to a halt, Reimei still astride his back, her face pale with worry.

“Raki, are you alright?” she demanded.

Her gaze fell to my chest, eyes widening at the gaping hole in my Azure Archmage Armor.

I forced a small smile and gestured toward the wound, already closed. “I’m fine. See?”

But when I glanced down at my armor, the hole still remained. I tapped the shattered edge of the breastplate and gave a faint laugh.

“Can this be repaired?” I asked.

“You should’ve thought of that before taking the hit head-on,” Rion said, his voice cutting like ice.

“Well, I assumed your ice walls could hold it,” I muttered defensively.

Rion narrowed his gaze, then shook his head. “Now I understand why Chaleon favored you, why he chose you.” With that, he turned and started walking away.

“Wait… are Lily and the others safe?” I asked, my voice strained.

“Yes,” Reimei answered quickly. “Lily, Zid, and Father Damian are unharmed.”

Relief washed over me, but my body was already giving way.

My legs trembled, strength seeping out like water from a cracked vessel.

I must have overexerted myself again… The thought echoed faintly as my vision dimmed.

“Raki! Raki!” Reimei’s panicked cry reached me, distant and fading.

“Calm down,” I heard Rion say, his tone steady as he caught my shoulder to keep me from collapsing.

“He’s only drained himself using too much Divine magic. He’ll be fine,he just needs to rest,” Rion added.

Those were the last words I caught before the darkness pulled me under.