Erend made his decision. He would no longer just using his Fire power.
The fire still burned in his veins but now he called on something else. Something sharper, faster, and far more volatile. He reached into the storm that lived inside him and in an instant activating the Lightning Dragon form.
There was no delay this time. The transformation snapped into place so fast it barely registered as a shift. One moment he was still in Fire Dragon form, the next was Lightning.
Lightning sparked across his scales, arcs of pure blue-white energy racing down his body like rivers of thunder. His wings expanded and became thinner now, built more for speed than force.
His claws crackled with violent lightning power. His horns curved backward like jagged bolts of blue and white frozen in time. His eyes gleamed with pure electricity.
Erend didn't know how it happened so fast. Maybe because it wasn't from human to Dragon, but Dragon form to another Dragon form. A shift of elemental nature, not form.
But that didn't matter right now.
"Time to bring out the big weapon, huh?" Eccar said with a grin audible even in their shared bond.
"Yeah. You've noticed this one's faster and stronger than anything we've fought before, right?" Erend replied.
"Right. So you go first."
Without another word, Erend shot forward. This time he was faster than before. The sky howled in response as he became a streak of blue and white lightning cutting through the ash and smoke.
Thar'Zul-Vekar sensed it but it was too late.
The god turned their eyes toward the incoming light and still expecting fire but what they saw was another Dragon entirely.
Erend slammed into them with a roar. His claws surging with electric current that exploded on contact.
Little parts of the vines leapt to intercept him but they burned away in an instant and turned brittle and black from the lightning.
The god reeled back, stunned. More by the change than the power that had hit them.
This wasn't the Dragon they remembered. This wasn't the fire they hated. The target of their rage had vanished, replaced by something else that less familiar.
Their thoughts wavered. "Where is the betrayer?"
That split second of confusion was all Erend needed.
He shoot through the air and struck again, moving in blinding bursts. His claws carved arcs of lightning and hit the god. Every hit exploding with sound and static. Thunder boomed with every strike.
He wasn't just attacking but now Erend was overwhelming the god.
Thar'Zul-Vekar growled and tried to retaliate and flinging their vines outward but they couldn't keep up. The vines moved like whips but Erend now moved faster that that.
He dodged each strike by milliseconds and using his power to weave through the gaps and firing bursts of lightning from his maw.
The blasts that hit make cracking sounds, blowing open craters in the god's defenses and searing bark and vine and his wavering his Magical shield.
The sky around them now burned with white light and ionized air. Static danced through the battlefield.
Even Eccar below could feel the charge washing over his scales.
Thar'Zul-Vekar roared in frustration, the sound splitting the air with fury. Their ancient forest Magic flared again, vines reinforcing and growing more twisted.
But Erend didn't stop. He slammed down on them again with bolt of lightning and for the first time in this entire battle the god staggered backward, off balance.
Confusion still burned in their gaze. This wasn't the Dragon they remembered and the confusion corrupting their psychic even further.
Thar'Zul-Vekar suddenly froze.
They stopped moving entirely and just hovering in the air with their limbs rigid, their eyes wide and wild. Then, with a sound that ripped the sky in half they clutched their head and screamed.
It was not the roar of fury they'd released before. It was pain and a howl so raw and full of torment that the very clouds above quivered.
A wave of force rolled from their body, not like an attack but like something shattering inside them.
Their vines whipped violently in all directions, flailing like serpents caught in fire. Their Magic flared out wildly. No longer focused or shaped but just pure chaotic energy bleeding into the sky.
Erend stopped mid-flight, his wings catching the wind as he hovered a distance away.
The Lightning still danced across his scales but he didn't move forward. Something felt wrong. This wasn't retreat or defense. This was something far more unstable.
Eccar, who had stayed behind and wait for the right moment, now flew closer and watched from a safe distance.
"What the hell's happening to them?" Eccar asked through the bond, his voice taut with confusion.
"How the hell would I know?" Erend said back. "It's not my attack. They were already taking damage but… this is different. It's like they're… struggling with something inside their head."
Both of them watched in grim silence.
Thar'Zul-Vekar twitched again. Their head jerked unnaturally. Their vines writhed like they were being controlled by conflicting forces.
The air around them began to warp and flicker even more chaotically. Bursts of Magic erupted from their body. Green and black, light and dark, colliding with each other.
It was as if this ancient god were unraveling.
"I don't , Erend," Eccar said. "They're going insane. And if a god goes mad, we don't know what they'll become."
Erend gritted his teeth.
He didn't want to make a move out of panic but doing nothing was worse. The pressure in the air felt like something was about to be born, or break.
"Let's hit them together now," Erend said. "Maybe if we attack hard enough and fast enough we can knock them out before… whatever this is gets worse."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Not really," Erend admitted. "But do we have any other choice?"
Eccar was silent for a beat.
In unison, they surged forward. The Earth Dragon and the Lightning Dragon. Twin streaks of raw power carving through the broken sky.
Erend charged ahead with thunder bursting from his wings, his body crackling with arcs of jagged light.
Eccar followed beside him, his body gleaming with stronger Magic energy now.
And ahead of them were Thar'Zul-Vekar who hovered in the storm, surrounded by a cyclone of uncontrolled Magic and their own madness.