"Am I allowed to know what the element of Urgerross is, Supreme Therion?" Yoichi asked in a whisper, fearing that he was not allowed to ask such a question.

"Urgerross is the undisputed ruler of thunder. It can draw the electrical power of the heavens to itself and hurl it at its enemies, reducing them to ashes. The Sanctum of Infinity is its liar and the only place where it can unleash its powers undisturbed," Therion replied, cutting through the air with its massive black horns.

"An electric type dragon demon? Phew... I've never faced one," Yoichi thought aloud, speaking in the opposite direction of the wind, aware that the air currents would carry the sound of his words away from the Dragon King's ears.

"Urgerross has a somewhat sour and unaccommodating nature. I have decided that it will be your first opponent only because I am certain that it will not hold back its power. Besides, the thunder lord despises you, humans, even though it loves the taste of your flesh," Therion continued, telling Yoichi the truth as if to make him regret the decision he had made.

"It feeds on us, human beings?" the young warrior stammered. "Nice. So I'm about to face one of Lumya's strongest dragons, who uses a power unknown to me and loves to devour humans. It couldn't have gone any better!" he huffed, taking short, intense breaths and trying to figure out a tactic for dealing with Urgerross.

The rift valley beneath the two sky travelers continued to carve through the rocks of several biomes, tearing apart hills and plains and allowing lava flowing underground to interact with the atmosphere.

Therion's flight speed was impressive, and the forests, mountains, and rivers looked like a combination of dots and lines similar to the symbols drawn on Ryutaro's map.

Yoichi recalled that time within the Tear's vision flowed differently and that even if they had to travel from one side of Tentochu to the other, the hours it took to cross would only be a few minutes in the real world.

In the Boneside Swamp, dawn had defeated the darkness of night, and Kenji, who had been left alone to guard the entrance to the cave, only had to stay there for a few minutes, waiting for its tamer to wake up.

Almost two hours after his awakening at the edge of the cliff, Yoichi began to see the end of the Molten Scar on the horizon. Although Therion's description of the Sanctum of Infinity was definitely rendered more like a legend than an objective description, a dense column of greyish smoke rose from the depths of the earth until it touched the clouds.

As recounted by Therion, the white rocks that surfaced in the deeper areas of the rift came into contact with the magma and were dissolved, giving off that strange smoke and swirling upward.

Around that area, on the surface, the biome was dry and arid, with no forests or waterways. The area around the column of smoke looked like a steppe with no food sources, where animals and demons did not dare to set foot.

Therion took a long breath and, as if it had prepared itself for a physical effort, it moved its neck upwards, increasing the amplitude of its wingbeat and rising in altitude.

The wind hit Yoichi's face, and for a moment, he felt as if he were falling. He crouched down between the dragon's scales, trying to resist the force of gravity and clasping his hands on their handles tightly.

The climb lasted a few minutes as the two travelers stepped inside the blanket of gray smoke. "Hold your breath, boy. Prolonged inhalation of these gases is highly harmful," Therion spoke.

Yoichi obeyed and held his breath, trying to stay still for more resistance. Finally, after Therion's wings displaced yet another cloud of smoke into the air, the sky turned blue, and the sun began to caress their heads again.

Beyond the clouds, the pointed peaks of an ancient building rose imposingly in the sky: tall white columns similar to those of a Greek temple ran along the perimeter of a gigantic tiled arena.

Yoichi's eyes searched impatiently for the geographical point where the mountaintop supported the lightning dragon's dwelling, but he could not find it. Much to his surprise, the young tamer discovered that, beyond the clouds, the Sanctum of Infinity was suspended in the air!

A heavy clod of earth floated in the skies, maintaining the shape of an upside-down cone. Rock fragments were scattered around the floating temple as if a mysterious arcane force surrounded the entire area.

"That temple is floating in the air! I've never seen anything like it!" Yoichi gasped, gazing open-mouthed at the marvel and unable to believe that an entire rocky island could ignore the laws of gravity.

The columns of the flying arena were broken at the highest points and were damaged in some spots as if they were part of ancient ruins. It didn't take an expert to figure out that that structure held an arched roof in even more ancient times.

The circular shape of the arena made the sanctuary an ideal place to fight. Therion, flapping its wings in the opposite direction of flight, began the landing manoeuvre, slowing its advance in mid-air.

As a modern airplane pulls out its wheels before landing, so the Dragon King pointed its muscular legs downwards, spreading the clawed fingers of his feet.

*boom* - the impact between Therion's feet and the floating temple jolted Yoichi, who was forced to wedge a foot under the dragon's scales to keep from being thrown off.

The Sanctum Island moved under Therion's weight, swinging like a pendulum and gradually returning to stability, exhausting the kinetic energy from the impact.

As Yoichi stepped off the back of his winged mentor, his head continued to spin, and a strong feeling of nausea trapped his stomach. He closed his eyes and tried to resist the feeling, knowing that such a display of weakness was not appropriate at such a crucial moment.

When he looked up at Therion, the Dragon King's sharp muzzle was pointed forward, and its red eyes were fixed on a specific target. A shudder brought Yoichi back to reality, and his nausea suddenly disappeared as his face slowly turned toward the center of the arena.