Chapter 63: Ignis’ Dragon Form
Ignis lifted her chin just slightly with an indifferent expression.
Then she stepped forward.
Bones shifted, fire rolled beneath flesh, and a pulse of draconic mana erupted like a dormant sun awakening. Her form expanded as scales burst outward. Wings unfolded with a thunderous drag of displaced air, each membrane burning with solar fire, casting long and twisting shadows across the molten terrain.
When the transformation settled, Ignis’ dragon body towered above the battlefield—ten meters tall, thirty meters long, wings stretching nearly fifty meters wide. Her body radiated heat not like fire, but like the heart of a living star.
Her scales gleamed with red-orange luster, each one shaped like a refined weapon and then...
She activated the true skill of the (Sunblood Armor) skill.
The scales ignited.
The fiery glow condensed, weaving into seamless layered plates thicker and more radiant than any forged metal, turning her into a living war engine of solar flame and ancient draconic might.
Watching from a distance, Elara tagged at James’ coat excitedly. "Brother! Look! Sister Ignis became a huge dragon!"
James chuckled and patted her head. "I know."
The earth trembled from Ignis’ first step.
Lilith’s tails flared in response.
And then they disappeared at the same time.
The clash wasn’t heard at first, it was felt instead. Pressure rippled before the sound arrived, like thunder arriving after lightning.
Lilith’s whip materialized mid-strike. It was a long, coiling serpent of concentrated flame with sharp fractal edges, crackling with spatial tearing distortion.
At her sides, four clones flickered into existence with each one mirroring a different intensity of flame and aura: 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% of her power. They moved independently, instincts perfectly synchronized, forming a shifting encirclement around Ignis.
Ignis responded without hesitation. She swept her wing outward in a brutal arc, not meant to dodge but to punish those in the surroundings as she used her (Hellstorm Wingbeat) skill.
The air didn’t simply move... it was combusted.
Shockwaves layered with fire struck outward in a spiraling dome, and the clones reacted instantly.
The weakest vanished first, disintegrating in a howl of scattered flame. The second was flung backward, tumbling across the fractured ground. The third and fourth tensed, anchoring themselves with claw and flame.
Lilith herself didn’t retreat, she advanced instead, using her clones as momentum and slashing forward in a cross pattern strike aimed at Ignis’ throat and joint junctions as they were the weak points of large-bodied beasts.
Ignis’ head lowered, eyes glowing with molten focus. She didn’t block as she decided to counter instead.
Fire surged to her chest, condensed, and then erupted forward in a spear of destruction as she used her (Vermillion Lance) skill.
A crimson-orange beam tore across the battlefield like a falling comet, vaporizing stone and melting terrain into rivers of glass.
Lilith whipped her flame weapon around her body and moved as fluid as water. She redirected the brunt of the lance, but not fully as the shockwave still sent her sliding backward with her claws digging the ground to stabilize her stance.
The battlefield shook. Heat and demonic flame collided in sparks and rupturing bursts.
Lilith lunged again, this time moving faster as her tails weaving like predicting the fight in real time. The clones surged from side angles with one going high, one cutting low, one aiming for a gap beneath Ignis’ armor plating.
Ignis twisted sharply, an impossible motion for a creature her size, and yet dragons were not beasts bound by human biomechanics.
She countered with a movement born from purely her instinct. Her massive claw slammed down, the force alone shattered one clone, scattering magenta flame across the molten earth.
Lilith closed distance again.
Ignis’ teeth glowed with searing flame as her throat expanded with brewing power while she was using her (Cataclysmic Inferno Breath) skill.
Lilith recognized it instantly, that wasn’t a normal flame breath. It was annihilation condensed into a single exhale.
She vanished backward as Ignis’ chest expanded... And the roar came first. A thunderous vibration that rattled the battlefield.
Then, a torrent of flame exploded outward in a colossal cascade, washing across the landscape like the horizon itself had caught fire.
One clone attempted to block, layering flame into a barrier, but the beam obliterated it instantly.
Lilith herself narrowly escaped, her fur and armor singing at the edges. Breathing heavily but exhilarated, she licked blood from her lip, eyes burning with a predator’s thrill.
"This... this is what I wanted."
Ignis stared down at her, fire simmering beneath every scale.
"You cannot win, I’ve told you."
Before Lilith could respond, Ignis continued. "Not even with her joining hands with you."
Yvonne raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Are you sure?"
"Of course." Ignis chuckled.
"You do realize that I’m stronger than her, right?" Yvonne smiled faintly at Ignis.
Ignis’ dragon face smiled. "Naturally."
"Interesting." Yvonne grinned widely.
The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped drastically.
Frost bloomed across the scorched battlefield, spreading in branching fractal veins through molten stone and still-steaming trenches, freezing fire dust mid-air.
The clash of clashing elements between Ignis’ solar inferno and Yvonne’s ancient frost warped space with violent thermal distortion, the air flickering between heat shimmer and crystalline fog.
Ignis’ massive draconic head turned slowly, one molten eye shifting toward Yvonne with measured acknowledgment.
Before the next heartbeat, she lifted a wing and gestured at Lilith. Ignis’ deep voice rumbled through the ground like an awakening volcano. "Go recover yourself first."
Lilith clenched her jaw but didn’t argue. She reached into her storage ring, retrieving a small obsidian pill etched with runes of demonic life force. The moment she swallowed, magenta veins lit beneath her skin and her aura surged back to its peak as all of her wounds closed, flame refocusing into a denser, sharper form.
Less than a minute passed.
Then Lilith made the first move.
Yvonne watched silently, frost-laden wind swirling around her ankles. There was no hostility in her gaze, only anticipation as if she had already accepted this next phase as inevitable.