Demonic Dragon

A terrifying dragon emerged on the horizon once again. Its golden, reptilian eyes shimmered with both ancient malice and unfathomable wisdom. Blackish-crimson scales gleamed beneath the moonlight, while its mane billowed like a curtain of living flame.

Klaus stared at the creature, captivated. It was beautiful. In fact, he had never seen anything more breathtaking. Even Sevras, in all his glory, seemed ordinary in comparison.

Loki had been right, it resembled the mythological dragons of the East. It had no wings and slithered through the sky like a celestial serpent, sleek and powerful. At least a hundred meters long, its sheer size radiated an overwhelming, primal presence. Branching, antler-like horns adorned its head, lending it an air of regality and mysticism.

Loki and Klaus exchanged a glance, both closing their eyes and leaning back in resignation.

"We're fucked."

"Stop reminding me of that, fuckbird."

Loki shot a resentful look at his obnoxious lord, but it wasn't the time for their usual banter. As much as the two enjoyed insulting each other, when it truly mattered, they fought side by side.

Lich was busy controlling the array through runes. Klaus had ensured it was possible by adding a secondary enhancement layer to the formation. There had been a real risk of failure from fusing two completely different branches of sorcery, but miraculously, it held.

Maybe Isaac was helping from the shadows. That would explain the sudden stability. Yeah, that had to be it. With a broken innate Ability like bending probabilities, it wouldn't be so strange. Maybe he increased the chances of array working or just boosted their luck, who really knows?

Klaus stood up with a yawn and stretched, tossing his cigarette from the rooftop.

"Alright. Our mission isn't to fight. We just need to lure that thing to the designated location. Loki, if the dragon gets even slightly suspicious, steal that thought from its mind."

Loki snorted, spreading his obsidian wings. He let out a sharp screech aimed at the indifferent dragon, who turned its head away, its golden eyes filled with ancient malice and quiet disdain.

"I know... I'm going to kill that bastard," Loki growled.

Klaus's smile turned a little strained as he stared at him.

Was the bird seriously ragebaited by a dragon? What kind of situation is this?

He shook his head, utterly dumbfounded. Ans then both Klaus and Loki vanished from the rooftop.

The dragon lifted its head, its golden, slitted eyes locking onto the obsidian-winged bird circling above. Recognition flickered. Then came contempt. With a slow, deliberate motion, its jagged maw began to open.

Klaus and Loki had been moments from launching their assault, but as the air changed, they froze in place. Suspended in the sky, paralyzed not by any ability, but by something far older.

Dread curled around their hearts like a vice.

Not fear born of reason. Not even fear of death.

It was instinctual.

The kind of terror prey feels when the perfect predator comes to feed.

And today, they were the prey.

Klaus's vision warped as his perception of time slowed to a crawl. Cassie's prophecy echoed through his mind like a scream buried in silence.

"But it wasn't normal fire. It felt like it was devouring light. Then it breathed it back out, and everything it touched began to die."

The world dimmed.

Colors faded as if being drained, bleeding into the growing void inside the dragon's throat. Even the moonlight recoiled. Snowflakes dissolved mid-air. The sky itself began to wither.

Light wasn't being pushed away, it was being devoured.

Only the flames within the dragon's gaping maw were visible now. Slowly, it closed its mouth, rows of jagged fangs sliding together, but between each tooth, a piercing white light began to spill forth.

Then, with a roar that shook the very air, the dark sky above was illuminated once more as the dragon unleashed its harrowing breath of annihilation.

The sheer power of the attack made the air pulse and vibrate violently. Klaus barely managed to teleport out of the attack's deadly range, Loki right beside him.

They both looked up, eyes wide, as a towering cylinder of white flames shot upward into the sky. Upon reaching its peak, it erupted into a series of horrific explosions, lighting the night like an apocalypse.

Loki muttered a curse of irritation, having seen this devastating attack before, the very same one the dragon had used to obliterate an entire sector.

But Klaus was frozen in awe and terror. This was his first time witnessing such raw, catastrophic power.

"The sky is… burning," he whispered.

Above them, the night sky was engulfed in majestic white flames that seemed to devour the heavens themselves.

But that wasn't all.

Because as flames disappeared, the sky turned crimson.

Klaus knew it wasn't some ability or dragon's breath. No, this was something far worse. The radiation and pollution levels were rising at an unnatural rate.

He began analyzing it, even as his stomach twisted.

Dust, smoke, toxic particles, and aerosols... all of them were saturating the air, scattering the shorter wavelengths of light. The blue and green were stripped from the moonlight, leaving only the longest wavelengths which was red to bleed across the heavens.

The sky wasn't just red. it was dying.

Suddenly, both Klaus and Loki began to cough violently.

Loki shot Klaus a sharp look, his golden eyes narrowing in irritation and concern.

"W-what... Krhh... now?"

Klaus spat in disgust, barely holding back the urge to vomit.

"It's the pollution... Goddamn it! Our DNA is breaking down. It's being modified. We're starting to die, I fucking feel it. Some of my organs are already failing. At this rate... we've got hour at most. Oh? And we're mutating too."

Loki let out a sharp, angry screech. The obsidian bird clearly wasn't pleased. Ordinary radiation wouldn't be enough to even disturb them. But the kind twisted by a corrupted devil?

That was something else.

They both looked down.

The land was already dead.

The trees had turned to ash. The grass had blackened and cracked like scorched paper. The animals, those that hadn't already perished, were mutating.

They twitched and convulsed. Their bodies warped and reshaped in grotesque ways. Some grew to monstrous sizes. Others lost skin or fur. Eyes multiplied across their heads, jaws unhinged, limbs split and reformed. Some creatures lost their fangs while others grew rows of them. A few sprouted extra legs. Others simply melted into twitching heaps of muscle and bone.

Then came the frenzy.

They turned on each other. Screeching, howling and devouring one another with mindless fury. The strong ate the weak. The mad ripped through the dying. It was chaos. The pure, unfiltered, and primal chaos.

The dragon's eyes widened slightly as it spotted two small dots in the sky. A low growl rumbled from its throat, thick smoke billowing from its nostrils. With a serpentine grace, it twisted through the air and dove toward them like it was in water.

Klaus grimaced, rolling his eyes in frustration.

Of course it noticed us.

If he was being honest with himself… he was afraid. Truly afraid. For the first time in years, that old, cold fear had returned. That gut-wrenching certainty that nothing he did would be enough.

Despite his shameful loss to Amelia, he'd still had backup plans. Layers of contingencies. Ways to crawl out, even if just barely.

But this time?

There was nothing.

This wasn't a person he could talk to or trick. You can't have conversation and negotiate with dragon. It was mad, corrupted abomination and all he could do was to fight.

"Loki..." Klaus spoke calmly despite the tremble clawing at his chest. "I'm going to fight it. I think I can last a few minutes... long enough to draw it to our destination."

He glanced at his companion, his tone shifting to a quiet urgency. "You stay at a distance. Focus on stealing any thoughts it has about suspicion, caution, or anything that might expose our plan. I know how hard it would be to steal it's thoughts but don't waste the opportunity I'm giving you. Just... focus on the theft."

Loki hesitated for a moment, staring at Klaus. Then, reluctantly, he nodded and backed away from the fight.

Klaus let out a long sigh, exhaling and then inhaling to calm himself, only to gag a moment later.

"Bleh... T-take deep breaths, my ass…"

Shaking his head in disappointment at his own stupidity, he forced himself to refocus on the approaching dragon. Slowly, his expression hardened, and the wide-eyed tension faded from his gaze, as if someone had flipped a switch.

Right now, Klaus didn't care about anything else. Not fear. Not pain. Not plan.

He was going to kill this dragon.

He was going to annihilate it.

"Let's start, bastard. I'm going to enjoy turning you into stew. Wonder if you've got the same medicinal properties-"

He slapped his cheeks, irritated.

"Radiation's messing with me…"

Thankfully, Cold-Blooded finally took effect, numbing the panic. And with the Wisdom of Uriel, his focus crystallized into deadly clarity.

He was ready...