The two faced off on the icy stage, with the temperature rapidly dropping bit by bit as time passed.
Drayken felt the change in the air and remained calm and collected:
'Hmm, the longer this temperature lasts, the more trouble it will be.'
He thought in his heart and quickly came up with a solution.
The lightning stored in his body moved.
Electric arcs swirled around his body; the static energy caused his long red hair to stand up, and the temperature around his surroundings started to gradually return to normal.
Drayken smirked:
'This feels so cool.'
He had absorbed a lot of lightning when he took the attack of the Dragon King head-on, and it hadn't been fully used to strengthen his physique, so he could use this to his advantage.
Ceciline looked at him and shook her head:
"You will never understand the power of a Rank-4 Dragon until you experience it yourself."
She lightly pushed against the ground and used its momentum to jump into the sky, then she pointed with her slender finger at him:
"Ice Magic: Ice Rolling Balls."
The surrounding mana violently gathered on her fingertips, and Drayken felt a chill down his spine.
His pupils widened with horror as a shadow covered the entire platform.
A giant snowball, roughly the size of the entire stadium, was descending upon him like a meteorite!
'How is this a snowball?'
Drayken felt his life flashing before his eyes. His bloodline seemed to have become dry, even it seemed to have lost its fighting spirit before the giant ball.
Before it could even land, Ceciline pointed at it again and muttered:
"Ice Magic: Separation through impact. Union through devastation."
Mana surged in the surroundings again, and some small fragments from the ice meteorite separated, leaving a blazing trail as they honed in on Drayken like homing missiles.
"Hahaha… haha." Drayken should have been afraid of these ice fragments, but…
His entire body was trembling violently, and there was a pure gleam of excitement in his eyes. He felt excited again—this wasn't the influence of his bloodline, but instead merely his own choice.
Drayken crouched low to the ground, lightning swirling around him. His eyes locked onto the incoming meteorite—and in the next instant, the ground beneath him was obliterated.
In a flash, he launched into the sky, fists aimed at the oncoming fragments.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, the shards began to shatter, one by one. Drayken surged forward, now enveloped by the speeding snow meteorite. Death loomed closer than ever, and he swallowed hard.
Starlight shimmered in his palms. Aura flared around his body. Lightning surged through every muscle and tissue in his right hand, amplifying his strength.
He was like a black dot streaking through the sky, flickering with lightning, dwarfed beneath the might of the descending snowball.
Then—impact.
Drayken felt as though he'd struck searing-hot iron.
"Raaaah!"
His right arm was shredded—bloody, torn, tissues ruptured. Blood sprayed through the air.
The snow meteorite halted mid-air, its momentum stalling. Thin cracks began to spread across its icy surface.
Crunch!
Drayken's bones snapped. His muscles tore apart, completely mangled.
Ahhh—
A cry of agony rang out, only to be cut short as the meteorite crashed into him, driving through without mercy.
The snowball plummeted into the stadium, obliterating it. A wave of frost surged out, freezing everything in its path.
Ceciline landed softly on the ice-covered ground.
"Fool," she said, her voice like the cold itself.
Drayken lay motionless, eyes wide open, staring blankly at the sky.
His heartbeat slowed. One by one, his bodily functions began to shut down. Encased in ice, he remained frozen—silent, still.
Is this the end?
The bloodline within him had been utterly suppressed—so much so that it didn't even dare to roar. Its former vigor was gone, extinguished.
"Sigh."
Sebastian appeared, gazing down at Drayken with a face full of disappointment.
"A true dragon never loses. Once you lose, no matter how unfair the battle, you forfeit the right to inherit. Unfortunately… you were not the one."
He raised his hand, ready to speak the final words.
But then, the sky darkened in an instant. The once-clear sky vanished, swallowed by a suffocating gloom.
A thunderous roar split the air. Then another. And another—until the sound of a thousand roars rumbled through the clouds.
Bolts of lightning converged, swirling, crackling, gathering together into a colossal spear of light: A single, giant bolt of lightning, trembling with divine wrath, ready to strike.
"What's happening?" Ceciline was momentarily stunned. Then she snapped toward Sebastian, urgency creeping into her voice.
"Can you just announce it already?!"
She didn't know why, but a chill had settled deep in her chest—a premonition she couldn't shake, growing stronger with every heartbeat.
"This… this…"
Sebastian slowly raised his hand, pointing behind her. "Look behind you."
Thump. Thump.
The deep, echoing heartbeat of a giant beast rumbled through the air, like something ancient stirring from a long slumber.
Then—
CRACK!
The lightning descended, striking Drayken dead center—piercing through snow and flesh alike.
For a moment, nothing could be seen.
Only blinding light.
Only thunder.
Only a terrible, suffocating presence, looming across the sky like a god reborn.
The ice shattered.
From within the frozen prison, Drayken's battered body began to rise, slowly and steadily into the sky.
But the lightning hadn't harmed him. No. It had been absorbed.
Crackling energy surged through his veins, and in the blink of an eye, his injuries vanished, flesh knitted, bones restored. Then came the sound: A deep, primal roar as his bloodline awakened with fury.
In an instant, he broke through Rank-2 and ascended to Rank-3 Dragon. But it didn't stop there. The lightning continued merging with his bloodline, triggering strange and powerful changes.
Visibly, his crimson hair turned stark white, flaring upward into sharp, spiky strands. His frame expanded, his muscles bulged, and his height surged—towering past 3.2 meters.
[Your bloodline has absorbed the Sacred Lightning and evolved: Lesser Dragon → Lightning Saint Dragon.]
[You have surpassed the limits of your mortal body countless times. Title gained: True Man Of Wonder.]
[You have stolen the opportunity meant for a destined being. Fate Points +1,000,000.]
Numerous prompts appeared in front of Drayken, but he was unconscious to see them.
But the dark clouds didn't stop swirling, and the whole world froze. At that moment, a giant eyeball popped out from the sky and looked at the floating figure of Drayken.
"You… You are not him!"