"Aah! It—it's running away!"
I jumped up, pointing frantically in the direction the creature had fled.
"Stubborn, wretched beast! Does it really think a mere illusion can deceive me?!"
But despite the enemy slipping away right before his eyes—the very foe he had sworn to capture—he remained utterly unfazed. Not a hint of urgency, not even the slightest movement to give chase.
"You're not going after it?" I stared at him in shock.
“Of course, I'm going after it.” He shot me a look of absolute certainty—there was no way it would escape.
The moment those words left his lips, he extended his left hand, palm facing upward.
Before I could make sense of what was happening, a soft, pale blue glow rose from his hand. Within that light, something small and crystalline emerged, shifting and expanding, its form constantly changing.
In the blink of an eye, the glow dissipated, revealing a shimmering, translucent bow, rippling like liquid light, now firmly in his grasp.
With a flick of his right hand, he conjured an arrow of the same ethereal material, seamlessly pcing it onto the bowstring.
A sidelong gnce.
A swift draw.
A precise aim.
All in one fluid motion.
With a sharp whoosh, the arrow shot forth, streaking through the night like a sliver of starlight. A faint, glowing trail lingered in its wake, breathtakingly beautiful. But hidden within that elegant dispy was an invisible force—a razor-sharp current that could slice through anything standing in its way.
I recalled a conversation we once had, during which he had expined the nature of weapons—bdes, spears, swords, and halberds. He had told me then that he always kept his distance from such things.
Weapons carried too much killing intent, he had said. They were never meant for him. Or for me.
Yet today, he wielded one.
And he handled it with fwless ease.
"You…" I stared at the radiant bow in his hand, unsure of what to say.
"It was necessary."
With a slight twist of his fingers, the rge, shimmering bow dissolved into a single droplet of water—vanishing into thin air the moment it touched his palm.
At that very instant, a thunderous howl tore through the vast, empty sky. No—more accurately, a scream.
A few feeble streaks of lightning crackled, and the dense bck clouds that had stubbornly lingered before were suddenly scattered like paper caught in a storm. From within the dissipating darkness, a massive, dark-purple figure tumbled out.
It was the wicked dragon—the hideous creature that had tried to flee.
Upon closer inspection, the shimmering arrow was lodged squarely in its back.
Around the arrowhead, several dragon scales had been forcibly stripped away, exposing raw, torn flesh. Thick, crimson blood gushed from the gaping wound, soaking its body in a deep, ominous red.
That single arrow… its power was terrifying.
The monstrous creature twisted and writhed in midair, its body convulsing in pain. Low, guttural whimpers escaped its throat as it finally colpsed onto a fragment of lingering bck cloud. Motionless, it panted heavily, its bulging eyes bloodshot and filled with exhaustion as it stared weakly in our direction.
"Hmph, you brought this on yourself."
Seeing it writhing in agony, the anger in my heart dissolved in an instant.
"Let's go take a look."
With a sigh, he took my hand and flew us closer to the fallen beast.
Now, standing before the same enemy that had once been so arrogant and untamed—now gasping, barely clinging to consciousness—he regarded it with a cold stare.
"You think I didn't know you were already exhausted from battling the Water Dragon?" His voice was calm but edged with a quiet authority. "Even so, you still dared to burn up the st of your strength, using Cloud Concealment to fake your escape. Stubborn, arrogant… but I'll give you this—you're not entirely witless."
The dragon panted heavily, unable to speak, its massive chest rising and falling with each ragged breath. It could only gre at him with defiant, unwilling eyes.
"Even now, you refuse to yield?" He met its gaze without wavering. "If you surrender and come with me to the Celestial Realm, I will heal your wound immediately and spare you the pain."
"No way!" Before the dragon could respond, I shouted in panic. "If you heal it, what if it goes back on its word? It's not a good creature—it can't be trusted! Once it recovers,'ll attack us again, and you—"
"It won't," he interrupted gently, pcing a reassuring hand on my shoulder to calm my frantic outburst. "You're overthinking it."
Just as we were speaking, the wicked dragon suddenly growled through gritted teeth,
"Hmph… even if I die, I won't let you take me back to cim your glory…"
What?!
Both of us were startled.
Though it had been on the brink of death just moments ago, the dragon had somehow summoned the strength to force its jaws open. From within, it spat out a perfectly round, purple-red orb. The sphere radiated an almost blinding light, flickering violently between shades of crimson and violet as it shot into the air above us, circling faster and faster. Just watching it made my head spin.
"Not good," he muttered under his breath. Without hesitation, he grabbed my hand and pulled me backward, flying away as fast as possible.
We had barely left our original position when a deafening explosion erupted behind us—like thunder crashing, like a mountain colpsing.
"Don't look back! Close your eyes!"
His urgent warning rang in my ears.
Before I could react, he pulled me into his embrace, shielding me completely with his body. A violent shockwave ripped through the air, tearing through everything in its path, but he held firm, his arms wrapped tightly around me.
He had given me an order—I dared not disobey. I squeezed my eyes shut, burying myself in his chest, my heart pounding in chaos and fear.
I had no idea how much time had passed. My eyes were shut so tightly that they ached, yet I still didn't dare to open them. All I could hear was the rushing sound of air growing weaker and weaker beside my ears.
“It’s fine now. You can open your eyes.”
He let go of me and exhaled in relief.
Were we safe?
