Chapter 34: The Wrath of the Awakened Dragon

  The battlefield was chaos inate. The midday sun burned high, casting long shadows across the sky as titanic forces cshed. Sorion-Lupus Revise and Direhound-and weaved through the air, relentless in their assault against Soldraknirr.

  Lyrius moved like a specter, his rea time so precise it was almost prophetic. Every strike Leona attempted was dodged at the st possible moment. Every arc of Garett’s psma bde arried effortlessly by Soldraknirr’s razor-sharp cws.

  Leona growled, frustration creeping into her voice. “Hold still, you slippery bastard!” She swung her greatsword in a downward arc, aiming to cleave through Soldraknirr’s chest pting.

  Lyrius twisted his mech’s body mid-air, evading by inches, and with a violent terattack, Soldraknirr lunged forward.

  A siing CH echoed through the battlefield.

  In an instant, Direhound-and’s legs were torn asunder by Soldraknirr’s mighty maw. The metallic limbs fell away, crashing into the battlefield below. Leona barely had time tister the sudden ck of support before her mech plummeted toward the ground.

  “Shit!” she hissed, deploying her emergency thrusters just in time to slow her dest. She nded hard, digging Direhound-and’s sword into the ground to stabilize herself.

  Above, Garett wasn’t faring much better. His Mithrititanium pting, the only thing keeping his mech from crumbling under Soldraknirr’s onsught, was beginning to crack. Fine lines of weakness spiderwebbed across Sorion-Lupus Revise’s once-imperable frame. Another direct hit, and it would all be over.

  Lyrius smirked, raising a hand. “Ventus Fornori!”

  The air vanished in an instant. A vacuum of silence swallowed the battlefield as Ventus Fornori took effect, amplified by Soldraknirr’s SES. The very breath was stolen from the lungs of those caught in its radius. The deck of The Steadfast groaned as pressure ed its metal pting, threatening to colpse inward.

  But before it could reach her, Lyra’s eyes glowed with power. With a flick of her wrist, the storm unraveled. The winds, once raging with destructive i, were silenced in an instant, as if they had never been called at all.

  Lyrius' smug expression faltered. He narrowed his eyes at Lyra, clearly irritated. “Tch. That’s being annoying.”

  A sharp beep echoed in Garett’s cockpit—his Azeroth Drive rimed. He wasted no time. No ts. N.

  “Ymiris Aeternum!”

  The world froze.

  The god-tier frost spell erupted, an expanding dome of absolute zero rag outward. Ice crawled up Soldraknirr’s wings, biting deep into its golden pting. The very air crackled as Lyrius' mech locked up, momentarily frozen in time.

  Lyrius’ mind barely registered the attao intation? No preparation? Impossible!

  Leona took the opening.

  With a roar, she uhed her greatsword from her shield-scabbard, igniting her battle aura to reinforce her bde. With a single, devastating swing, Direhound-and’s bde cleaved through Soldraknirr’s wings.

  The sound of metal rending filled the air.

  Lyrius barely had time to process it befravity took hold.

  He was falling.

  His mind screamed ands, trying to slow his dest. He pushed his magic to the limit, summoning gale-force winds to cushion his impact, but the force was too great.

  Soldraknirr crashed into the earth, the impact creating a crater of dust and debris. Lyrius’ vision swam, his body numb from the shock. He tried to move, but for a moment, he could only y still.

  Then—

  A memory surfaced. A distant voice, eg through time.

  Years Ago – House Drais Estate

  The halls of House Drais were vast, lined with t banners of obsidian and gold. A young Drakon Vaelinor, barely in his pre-teens, stood in the grand courtyard, wooden training sword in hand. Lyrius, much smaller, watched him from the edges, hesitant.

  “e here, Lyrius,” Drakon called, his tone warm.

  Lyrius shifted unfortably. “Are you sure we should be pying together? Mother said… since my blood isn’t pure—”

  Drakon ughed, shaking his head. “You’re my brother. That’s all that matters.”

  Lyrius hesitated before stepping forward. “Drakon… is it true? The legend of Aldric, the first dragon rider?”

  Drakon’s eyes gleamed. “Of course. Aldric tamed the great dragons of Drakonheimr Omega and quered the ti. He rode upon their backs, fought alongside them, and in the end, they accepted him as one of their own.”

  Lyrius fidgeted. “They say… he became a dragon himself.”

  Drakon chuckled, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Some say that, yes. Perhaps it’s just a story. Or maybe there’s a truth buried in legend.”

  Lyrius looked up at him with wide eyes. “Do you think… someone like me could ever do something like that?”

  Drakon’s smile softened. “You’re a Drais, Lyrius. There’s nothing you ’t do.”

  The memory faded.

  Lyrius’ fingers dug into the earth. A tremor ran through his body, his breath ing in ragged gasps.

  Something deep within him stirred.

  A power—a, buried within his bloodline—awoke.

  His heart pounded like a war drum. His veins burned with the force of something primeval, something fotten by time itself.

  His lips curled into a slow, knowing grin.

  And then, Soldraknirr moved.

  Faster than thought, faster than their senses could register, Soldraknirr surged forward. A golden blur of destru, it smmed into Sorion-Lupus Revise with a force that sent the mech careening backwards, tearing through the battlefield like a et. The impaearly shattered Garett’s restraints, his vision bing at the edges from the sheer G-force.

  Before he could recover, Lyrius on him.

  A cwed hand, wreathed in draiergy, gripped Sorion-Lupus Revise’s arm and ripped it free with a grotesque SNAP. Sparks and hydraulic fluid sprayed from the torn limb, the once-mighty pting crumbling in Lyrius’ grasp like brittle part.

  Garett barely had time to react before Soldraknirr spun and uhe severed arm like a missile—straight into Direhound-and.

  The impact caved in Leona’s cockpit shielding, sending a deafening screeetal through her s. Arms bred inside her HUD as her mech tumbled backward, barely able to maintain bah its already severed legs.

  Lyrius’ ughter echoed through the battlefield, dark aant.

  “You thought you had won?” His voice was yered, distorted—irely human.

  Garett’s trols screamed at him. His mech was barely responding. He forced it to stand, but it was too slow—

  Soldraknirr was already behind him.

  The golden mech’s tail whipped around like a battering ram, smming into Sorion-Lupus Revise’s torso. The pting shattered. The reinforced mithrititanium frame buckled, cracks webbing out from the point of impact as the mech was sent flying once more.

  Garett’s body smmed against his harness. A coppery taste filled his mouth—blood. His mech’s HUD was flickering, systems failing.

  Leona roared in defiance, f Direhound-and forward, her greatsword bzing with golden energy. She swung, aiming for Soldraknirr’s exposed fnk—

  —but Lyrius was too fast.

  He twisted mid-air, catg her sword between his teeth—Soldraknirr’s maw cmped down like an apex predator log onto prey. With a siing ch, he bit down, snapping the bde in half.

  Leona’s heart nearly stopped. “No—!”

  Before she could react, Soldraknirr’s fist smashed into Direhound-and’s torso. The force crumpled armor pting, crushing internal meisms. Warning runes fred violently across her cockpit.

  She was losing power.

  And she knew—if he struck again, it would be the end.

  Garett fought tain trol. His mech wasn’t do.

  With a desperate surge, he activated his elemental cycle. His psma bde flickered—Bze, Ice, Gale—switg between forms as he charged. He brought the sword down, aiming to cleave through Soldraknirr’s exposed backside—

  —but Lyrius tur the st sed.

  His golden hand caught the bde mid-swing.

  The energy flickered against his palm—but did not cut through.

  Garett’s breath hitched. What…?

  Lyrius grinned. And then—

  CRACK.

  With a single crushing motion, he shattered Garett’s sword in half.

  Silence. Garett barely registered the pieolten steel falling from his grip.

  Lyrius exhaled, golden mist curling from Soldraknirr’s vents. His voice was almost bored.

  “Pathetic.”

  Sorion-Lupus Revise staggered, its power reserves dangerously low. Direhound-and was barely standing, leaking fuel, its core systems failing.

  Lyrius raised a cwed hand, preparing to deliver the final blow.

  Not by meical fun, not by piloting expertise—

  —but by something far older.