Dust rolled like fog across the ruined land.

At the center of the crater, something moved.

Stone cracked as Kael pushed himself upright, one clawed hand digging into shattered earth. Golden blood dripped steadily from his chest, splashing against rocks in slow, heavy drops.

His breath came uneven—ragged—but his eyes were clear.

He looked down.

The wound carved by the man's sword still burned like a nest of needles, hostile mana writhing inside it, rejecting every attempt at regeneration.

But lower—

Along his ribs.

Across his limbs.

He noticed something else.

The injuries from the fall—the crushed scales, fractured bone beneath—were healing.

Slowly. Naturally. Cleanly.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

'…So her damage heals,' he realized. 'Only his intent anchors.'

That alone was valuable.

Then—

He froze.

His gaze sharpened, focusing not on the wound but on his own body.

Tiny flashes of light flickered across his scales.

'Magic circles.'

Small. Intricate. Layered.

On a single scale, there were several of them—appearing, forming, and then fading into invisibility almost instantly.

They were so small, so perfectly integrated, that Kael had never been able to perceive them before.

But now, as broken scales regenerated—

He could see them.

"…What the hell," he muttered.

The realization hit him like lightning.

Above the settling dust, the two humans floated leisurely.

The woman crossed her arms, smirking. "So you know," she asked casually, "how many things we could do with a live dragon in our hold?"

The man hummed, rubbing his chin. "Breeding potential alone is absurd. Cross-species experimentation, mana catalysts, blood extraction—"

The woman laughed. "Imagine mating him with demi-humans. Or elves. We could manufacture dragons in a few generations."

"We could create our own dragon army, and with them, we could have the whole world for us humans," the man chuckled.

They spoke as if Kael weren't even there.

As if he were already livestock.

Kael ignored them completely.

His focus was inward.

'These circles…' his mind raced. 'They're everywhere. Reinforcement, conversion, amplification…'

That was why.

That was why his dragon form was so overwhelmingly strong.

His scales weren't just armor.

They were pre-cast magic circles, layered and self-sustaining, enhancing every aspect of his existence—strength, mana flow, resistance, and regeneration.

It was probably something every dragon had, as they were known for high defenses.

That was when another thought surfaced.

Slow. Dangerous.

'When I use dragon scales in my human form… they don't have these.'

His eyes widened slightly.

'So what if…'

The dust thinned.

The humans' attention sharpened.

Kael's massive form began to shrink, black scales folding inward as his body compressed. Bones reshaped. Wings dissolved into light.

When the dust fully cleared—

A humanoid figure stood at the crater's center.

Kael's human form.

But not entirely human.

Black scales slowly spread across his skin—arms, legs, torso, and even creeping up his neck and face.

Four golden horns, curved and regal like his dragon form's crown, rose from his head. His eyes burned molten gold.

The wound in his chest remained. Ugly. Unhealed.

The man in the sky saw this and tilted his head. "..."

For a while, there was only silence.

Then—

"…Are you serious?" the man asked flatly.

The woman frowned in mild confusion. "Did he just turn smaller?"

The man scoffed. "Do you think changing forms will help?" His gaze dropped to Kael's chest. "That wound won't heal no matter what shape you take."

Kael didn't answer.

He wasn't looking at them.

Magic flared.

Kael's thoughts moved faster than ever.

He was recalling the magic circles he had seen in his dragon and recreating them directly onto his scales—not drawn in the air, but infused into the material itself.

Hundreds. Thousands. They spread across his body like a living script, glowing faintly before sinking into invisibility.

His mana surged—not explosively, but densely.

By the time he stopped—

He felt it.

The weight.

The pressure.

The familiar fullness of power.

Not equal to his dragon form—

But close.

Very close.

The woman's brow furrowed. "Hm?"

Then—

WHOOSH.

The air screamed.

The man was suddenly in front of Kael, space folding brutally around his movement. His expression was no longer amused.

His palm rose.

"Are you ignoring us?" He demanded coldly. "Do you think we'll tolerate that?"

The punch came down.

Kael saw it.

Tracked it.

And understood instantly—

'I can't react in time.'

CRACK—!

The fist smashed into his face.

The world inverted.

Kael was launched backward, his body slamming into the ground with a thunderous impact, stone exploding outward as blood sprayed from his mouth.

Pain detonated through his skull.

His thoughts rang.

One line echoed clearly in his mind:

'…So even with this approach, I still can't match him.'

Kael lay still for a heartbeat.

Then another.

He stared at the sky, vision blurred.

'Is it impossible?' he wondered.

Then—

Faces surfaced in his mind.

The laughter of the children in the town, Evethra's worried eyes, unconscious Selene, Alenia, who was probably starting to get anxious as well, Lyra's limp ears, and everyone else.

The town.

The people.

'If I fall…' his jaw tightened. 'They won't stop with me.'

Humans were petty.

They erased witnesses.

They would definitely try to erase every witness who knew that a dragon was here before the demihumans arrived.

After all, by erasing every witness, they could claim that there was never any dragon here when they came.

So, for others' sake, he couldn't give up.

He definitely couldn't win, but he couldn't lose either.

Kael pushed himself up again.

Slowly.

Unsteadily.

Not to fight.

To stand.

'I'm close,' he realized suddenly. 'One kill. Just one of them… and I'll break through.'

Unlike SSS-rankers that he had killed, he was sure that if he killed even one EX-ranker, the part of the gauge inside him would fill up.

Then, he could become an SSS-ranker, and he was sure that fighting an EX-ranker would be way easier than it was now if he were to reach the SSS-rank.

But right now—

He needed time.

So, he decided to take a risky path—one that might very well lead him to his death.

But there was never a person who won without taking risks.

So, for now, his golden eyes dimmed.

His shoulders sagged.

His claws loosened.

The humans had been keeping an eye on his every movement, never stopping him from doing anything because they knew that the only thing they needed to be concerned about was his dragon breath.

So, they also noticed how his eyes dulled and his body loosened.

The woman smiled first. "Oh?"

The man's lips curved faintly. "He's broken."

Kael didn't counter when the next attack came.

Or the next.

Blows rained down—non-lethal, but brutal. Each punch shattered stone, sent shockwaves through his body, and painted the ground gold with his blood.

He didn't resist.

Didn't roar.

Didn't fight back.

At one point, his form destabilized—

And he reverted to his dragon body mid-impact.

The woman laughed openly. "Out of mana already?"

Wind howled.

Ropes formed—razor-thin strands of compressed air—wrapping around Kael's massive 150-meter-long body, biting into his scales, and shredding flesh wherever they touched.

He roared—but didn't strike back.

The man appeared before his head.

And punched.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Each blow shook the land.

Kael endured it all.

Because he wasn't fighting anymore.

He was waiting.

And when the moment came—

They would regret ever letting him live.

..................................

Five minutes later, the battlefield had gone quiet.

Kael lay sprawled at the center of the ruined plain, his massive body half-buried in fractured stone. Bones had been bent at impossible angles, wings torn and limp, and scales cracked and missing in places.

At first glance, he looked dead—nothing more than a colossal carcass left behind after a storm of violence.

But beneath the broken exterior, slow regeneration was at work.

Flesh knitted together. Bone crept back into place—torn muscle reattached strand by strand.

Because this time, none of the man's attacks carried intent.

High above, the woman exhaled in boredom, arms crossed loosely. "This is getting dull."

The man glanced up at Kael's unmoving form from the ground and clicked his tongue. "Dragons are more stubborn than I thought. Still… his will's clearly broken."

She tilted her head. "Do you think breaking a dragon like this would earn us favor with the higher-ups?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Even if not, at least we won't be scolded for losing the portal."

"True," she said with a lazy smile. "That alone makes this worth it."

Then—

The mana in the sky rippled.

Both of them turned sharply, senses flaring.

"…Backup?" the woman muttered.

They looked away from Kael.

And that was the mistake.

On the ground below, Kael's eyes snapped open, molten gold blazing with terrifying clarity. His body surged with power as regeneration accelerated violently—cracks sealing, bones resetting, and flesh restoring itself in an instant.

All except the wound on his chest.

His gaze locked onto the two humans.

'One chance,' he thought coldly. 'Only one.'

Space folded.

The man frowned as a massive shadow engulfed him. "—Huh?"

CRUNCH.

Kael appeared behind him, jaws snapping shut with thunderous force. Teeth the size of spears clamped down, intentless but monstrously strong.

"WHAT—?!" the woman shouted, spinning around.

She raised her hand to intervene—

—And a magic circle ignited beside Kael.

A pillar of blinding light erupted outward.

Her pupils shrank. "Barrier—!"

She threw up layered defenses just in time, the beam smashing into them with explosive force, forcing her to pour mana into defense—forgetting, for a split second, that only dragon breath was supposed to threaten them.

Meanwhile—

The man roared, bracing himself.

His arms shot up, hands gripping Kael's teeth, veins bulging as he stopped the jaws mid-close. One massive fang—longer than his forearm—pressed inches from his head.

Muscle screamed. Space warped.

Kael pushed harder.

The man pushed back.

Neither gave ground.

The battlefield trembled as the two forces locked together—dragon and EX-ranker frozen in a moment of raw, murderous tension.

And for the first time since the fight began—

No one knew who would break first.

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