The Knight looked over his shoulder, behind his golden holy wings, to the owner of the hand that grabbed him. The dragon hand that stopped his fly.

It was the Dragonling.

'Impossible!' the Knight exclaimed in his heart. The Dragonling's heart should be charcoal after his fire burned it. Yet there he was, stopping his fly with more power than ever, though he was ... different.

The Dragonling's eyes burned brighter and most of his skin was covered with scales. Runes of ancient language appeared on his skin. Even the Knight who had lived for two thousand years wasn't sure what ancient language that was.

"Finally, you take it out from my chest." It was a deep voice coming from the Dragonling, a stark contrast to his small body. Though The Dragonling didn't open his mouth, the Knight was sure the voice came from him.

"First time I wake up in millennia, and instead of giving me women, golds, and drinks, he gives me an enemy, a Flame-Born Knight nonetheless. What a troublesome host." The Dragonling sighed, "Whatever. The knight is the enemy and the other three is not."

The Knight swung his halberd, and the Dragonling released his foot to dodge. Ed examined his own body with a confused and surprised look. "A child? What the hell?"

The Knight watched Ed in confusion. The body was the same, yet what inside was different. He was not the same Dragonling that he killed.

The burning blue eyes of Ed focused on the Knight once more. The stare alone was enough to strike fear in the heart of The Knight. The same Knight who never felt fear other than from his Lady.

Magical runes appeared around Ed's hand, hovering above his opened palm.

The ground rumbled and from beneath the Knight, the earth shot upward, sending the Knight high into the sky. It didn't damage him but it took him by surprise even with his inhuman reaction and reflexes.

Ed smiled and grew a pair of wings. But unlike the Knight's wing, it was not magical. A pair of Dragon wings literally grew from his back. He shot up to the sky chasing the knight.

The Knight created and threw a spear. Ed's azure blue scales protected him from getting stabbed too deep. Ed clawed the Knight. His nails, his claws tore through the Knight armor like a paper.

"Impossible!" His armor was made from the Sacred Flame and was forged in the heart of the Fire Realm. It was a sacred armor that bore the Flame of his Lady and his King. The strongest of fire armor. It was already damaged by the rodent, but for it to be torn apart by bare hands was too ridiculous to be true.

He punched the dragonling in the gut with all his might and blood poured out from his mouth. "Ouch! that hurt." Yet his face betrayed his words. The smile on Ed's face was so wide it touched both of his ears. "I'm not used to this new body."

The Knight threw another punch, but this time, Ed caught it.

Ed closed his grip. The Knight's gauntlet cracked under the force of his hand. And it shattered.

Preposterous. Impossible. Not even a Flame-Born Knight had enough strength to crush their gauntlet without using any weapon. With one hand.

The Knight, burned with anger, jabbed Ed's face. The punch was blinding quick, faster than any the Knight had ever launched. Even the Knight had a hard time seeing his own movement.

Yet Ed caught it all the same.

Ed spread The Knight's arms as far out as his small body allowed. The Knight twisted his body and pulled his arms, but only his armor rattled. He couldn't move.

"Tell me, Knight. Do you think your flame is hot?" Ed asked. "Your kind always prides yourself in your flame and your lava and your molten rocks."

The question dimmed the Knight's flame. Shivers ran down his body, traveling from his outer limbs towards his torso, not leaving out a single square of his skin.

"You pride yourself with your golden sacred flame and your great forge with its unparalleled heat ... but do you know what true heat is, Knight?"

The Knight was not stupid. He knew what question like that would entail. But that was impossible. There was nothing hotter than their flame. They were born from fire, forged in fire, and were made from fire. They were immune to fire and heat. Had the Dragonling gone mad?

But deep inside the Knight's heart, he doubted the common knowledge. Deep inside his heart, he feared the Dragonling's words. He feared the Dragonling.

He feared the Dragon Fire.

Ed positioned himself slightly below the Knight. "I show you what hot is."

Ed opened his mouth wide to the brim. A hiss rang out deep inside his throat, followed by a bright blue light that quickly flooded his mouth.

With a roar that deafened the earth and shook the sky, the Knight felt the heat for the first time in his long life. It was only a passing moment, like a distant dream that the Knight would forget once he woke up. But it wasn't a dream. And the Knight wouldn't forget it no matter how many times he died. No matter how many times he resurrected. He wouldn't forget that feeling of heat.

And it was over. The beam of pure destruction left not even the smallest trace of the Knight's existence in its wake.

The beam didn't stop. It split the night sky open and burned through anything unlucky to be in its path. Birds, flying monsters, and mountains tall enough to obstruct its path. It gave equal and indiscriminate destruction upon all. And the beam still went on, lighting half of the world night with its blue radiant like a falling star.

[Theo Gladium Level up to Lv.32]

Theo held his breath. He was too baffled by what he saw he couldn't care less of his increase in level. It all happened in a flash, too fast for his mind to truly grasp.

A refreshing wind blew past him, and the fire spear on his stomach vanished along with it. He lifted his body to sitting position, but his stomach was already burnt, the damage had been done. Blood coughed out from his throat. He ignored it. There was no telling how badly injured Vivi and Lyana were, he had to check them first.

He sighed in relief after making sure that Lyana and Vivi were not in critical condition. And after moving their body to a safer place, he turned his eyes to the Dragon that killed the Flame-Born Knight

Ed, or whoever was inside his body, descended back to the ground with his wings spread out like angel descending from heaven. There was a satisfied smile on his face.

Theo's eyes fell upon the blue-eyed Ed. "Ed, is that you?"

"Ed? So that is this boy name?" Ed opened his palm and observed his body.

His clothes were torn apart making him practically naked save for a few tattered fabric clinging to his body and stuck on his scale. He pulled those fabrics and threw it away, showing his scaled child body for all the world to see.

Scales returned to skin and the wings retracted back inside his back. The blue line of his veins died down, but his eyes retained its bright blue shine.

"Who are you?" Theo asked. His throat was burning and he felt like fainting, but he fought those urge.

"Ah yes, I forgot to introduce myself." Ed bowed. "I am Zarathustra, the right hand of our great God King Ahura Mazda!," He said with a big smile and prideful voice, though that smile quickly faded away. " Though my title means nothing now that my race is extinct."

Theo swore that he knew that name, Zarathustra and God King Ahura Mazda. He heard it somewhere, or read it, but he couldn't remember where or when. "Is ... Is Ed still inside that body?"

Zarathustra raised his brows and then smiled after hearing the worry in the question. "Oh yes, of course. His consciousness is sleeping inside and resting." He rubbed the burnt wound on his chest. "You're his friend right? Please tell Ed to take care of his body and try not to rely on me. Even a Class 5 mages like him is still a human. Using my power too often would destroy him from the inside ... And who are you human?"

"Theo, Theo Gladium."

"Then Theo Gladium. Let's hope we meet again in a less..... dangerous occasion."

The light from Ed's eyes died down and his body fell lost all of its power. Theo caught him before he hit the ground. He was unconscious but still breathing. "Fucking hell Ed. Don't you dare make me worry about another man again."

The sound of fighting woke Theo from the illusion that this battle was over. It was far from over. There were still two Knights, and although he was confident Val could take care of one Knight, he couldn't say the same for the Miracle.

Theo laid Ed next to Vivi and Lyana, and after covering them with a blanket, he stood up and approached the source of the sound.

The Miracle was still fighting the Flame-Born Knight. Vex had woken up and joined the fight again. They were all heavily injured, exhausted, and could collapse at any time.

Unlike Theo, however, they were winning the fight. Theo smiled and chuckled. They were a Dragon-ranked adventurer party for a reason. They knew each other's weaknesses and strengths perfectly. Even without Vex giving them a direct command, their coordination and teamwork were flawless.

Tina took the vanguard. She had abandoned offense and focused on tanking attack. She was battered, bloodied, and bruised. Her armor and her feathers were almost all burned down. She had the most injury compared to the rest of her team. It was amazing she hadn't succumbed to it.

Vex danced around Tina, acting as an off tank. She exploited any opening the Knight made, no matter how small. And She interrupted the Knight whenever he tried to cast a spell, locking him from using his more powerful skill and spell.

Bry stood in the middle, casting buff and healing spell back to back without ever stopping. She also cast barrier to stop some of the Knight's magical attack. On her feet were four bottles of High Mana Regeneration potion. She was the least injured, though she was the most exhausted.

Tomoe and Alina stood in the back. Tomoe launched a barrage of magical arrow since her physical arrows were all used. Her hand was bleeding from drawing her bow too much and too fast.

Alina jumped around, throwing distraction and whatever throwable she could get her hand on. Her attack had almost no effect on the Knight, but she timed her attack perfectly to interrupt any action the Knight was doing.

The knight was overwhelmed. His power and skill were far above any of his enemies, yet his enemies acted as one, multiplying their power instead of just adding it.

His armor broken, his helmet pierced, and his flame started to wane. With each passing second, the Knight inched closer to his end, until a powerful shot from Tomoe blew its head off.

The armor fell to the ground. Then vanished into thin air, leaving only a burning red stone.

Relief washed over them all. It was over, finally over.

Tina lost her consciousness the moment she relaxed her mind, but Vex caught her body. Vex opened a bottle and forced the liquid inside down Tina's throat.

All that left was Val. Theo looked at Val, up high above his head. The cloud swirled and raged like a storm was brewing. Red of fire and the blue of ice clashed inside the cloud, visible even from down below. Theo couldn't see it, but he was sure, Val and the Flame-born Knight was fighting inside that cloud.

------

Val flashed inside the cloud, flying faster and swifter than the wind with six lances of ice around her in an arc. Her enemy was nowhere to be seen.

Volcanic ashes and smoke blocked her vision. The rumbling gale and thunder blocked her hearing. The massive beam of blue light Val witnessed a few moments before was too far to clear up the ashes and smoke. Only the magic barrier she had set up before the fight provided her with any kind of information. While it might appear like she was at a disadvantage, her enemy had the exact same problem as her.

Her signature red cloak was still in perfect shape except for the dust and smoke dirtying it. Her dark brown skin was devoid of any wound. She was exhausted but was completely unharmed.

Her barrier screamed. The Knight entered her range.

The knight appeared behind her, with two wings of golden flame behind him and his blazing halberd mid-swing. There was no time to dodge, even with her wind boosted movement, the Knight was too fast for Val.

She pulled her arms near her chest. The air around her and all the particle inside it slowed down to a stop. A huge block of solid ice encased her body.

The ice vibrated and rang like a bell when the flaming halberd hit it. The halberd that could cut through most things bounced off the solid ice without leaving a scratch.

The Knight, realizing the danger, backed up with everything he had in store. But he was too late.

With another rang, the ice encasing Val shattered to million of pieces, creating a silvery transparent cloud of sharp microscopic ice.

When her hand moved, the cloud moved along with her command.

The cloud turned to a jet stream, drowning any sound with the noise it made. It flew with speed rivaling that of sound, nearly breaking that.

The Knight knew that trying to outrun the stream was a fool's errand. He expelled his aura and mana, turning every bit of energy inside his body to heat. The air boiled as every dust particles in the wind melted, along with any ice that came close to the Knight.

Anything, in fact, that got near it simply turned to vapor. It was one of the Knight's greatest defensive skill. But the Knight couldn't move while it was active, he couldn't even turn his head to see around. He maintained the zone as long as he could, he would be skewered by million of ice shrapnel if he deactivated the zone for even a second.

The jet stream slowly lose its intensity, until it stopped completely,

The Knight stopped the zone and turned to face Val, but he had miscalculated the power of his enemt]y. Val hadn't even used a quarter of the cloud she made. And all the ice that vaporized because of him simply crystallized again around her.

Val sent the cloud again. The Knight reactivated the zone, but he was too slow. The cloud hit him square in the chest and shred his armor by the time the zone effect kicked in. Yet, even the zone couldn't help him.

Val smiled. She knew that she could only finish the Knight using her big spells, but her big spells were slow and took a long time to cast. The Knight could easily evade or outrun her spell. She needed to make the knight stop moving. And he had stopped moving.

A massive spear of ice formed above Val. It was 4 meters in diameter and 50 meters long with the tip of the blade made as sharp as a Draken Steel. It was far too massive for the Knight to vaporize with his zone. And even if he was able to destroy it, it would cost him too much that he might as well die.

Val took her sweet time creating the spear, meticulously crafting the detail and carving the ornament of the massive spear. She was never the type to relish on the suffering of her enemy, yet there was a strange sense of fulfillment when she saw the Knight torn between his two options. Maintain the zone and wait until the massive spear split his body open, or deactivate the zone and let himself be torn apart by the stream of cloud.

With a wave of her arm, the spear moved.

The Knight held on to his skill until the last moment before the spear tore him. With all his might he flew away, but the stream of cloud took him below the waist. He ignored his lack of lower body and ran away.

Val was pleasantly surprised. Though the Knight's fate was already sealed. The massive spear shattered into the same cloud that took the Knight's leg.

Before long, the cloud surrounded the knight from all side. It entered every crevice of his armor and every opening in his body and tore him apart inside out. The sound of millions of microscopic crystals of ice grinding against each other drowned the scream and the sound of a body being ripped apart.

Val exhaled the air in her lung. Their power difference wasn't that great, but she was smarter than her opponent. It wasn't a hard fight for her, more like an exhausting endurance test. As long as she didn't lose her focus, the knight possessed no threat to her whatsoever. The knight was very resilient, however, and the environment was far from ideal for fighting. It was stressful.

And it was only the beginning of her stress.