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Riku braced himself against the incoming shockwave and opened the Fourth Gate—Wound Gate—forcing his way toward the heart of the battle.
Along the way, he'd already destroyed who knows how many storms caused by those two monsters fighting. If this had hit the human village, it would've been like weeds getting stomped out.
"You two sure know how to stir up trouble, huh? Dragonkin. Demon King." Dozens of kilometers away, Riku floated midair, calmly watching the two giant dragons—black and white—tear into each other.
Their bodies were weapons—clashing, ripping, blood flying in every direction. Energy bursts exploded from their mouths, colliding violently and turning the whole area into a raging storm of destruction.
Even with the Fourth Gate open, Riku was struggling under the weight of the pressure up close.
Dragonkin—ranked fourth among the races—were said to have limitless energy. To put it into perspective, if a Celestial Wing's energy was a 10, then every single scale on a Dragonkin's body held energy equal to 5.
Multiply that across their entire body, and yeah… it terrified other races.
As for the Demon King? No need to explain. A mutated form of the second-ranked Phantasmal Species—insanely violent, insanely dangerous.
,
When it comes to raw power, the Black Dragon Demon King is stronger, no doubt. But if we talk about endurance, the White Dragon has the edge.
Of course, the Dragon Essence race claims to have infinite energy, but that's not exactly true. Riku could faintly sense something was off. One Skywing-type couldn't beat a Dragon Essence-type, but ten Skywing-types could take one down — that energy comparison just didn't add up.
Other races had no clue about the secret behind the Dragon Essence, nor any way to figure it out. For example, the Black Dragon before them, though somewhat intelligent, was mostly driven by instinctive killing urges and couldn't possibly see through the Dragon Essence's secret.
From the ongoing fight, both dragons seemed pretty evenly matched — maybe the Black Dragon was slightly ahead — but that might change as time went on.
Because every time the White Dragon took a heavy hit, it would miraculously heal right after. It wasn't just healing wounds — it was a full, complete recovery, not even a hint of weakening in its aura. It was like time itself was rewinding.
"Roar—!" The White Dragon unleashed another fierce breath attack up close, blasting the Black Dragon directly.
In an instant, propelled by the powerful blast, the Black Dragon screamed as it plummeted from the sky, crashing violently onto the ground. The earth shook wildly under the impact.
But that wasn't all — the breath suddenly exploded into a massive blast, creating mushroom clouds shooting straight up into the sky, sweeping across a radius of hundreds of thousands of meters.
Humans evacuating tens of thousands of meters away could feel the shockwave and see the flash lighting up the night sky, trembling with terror.
This was a battle between high-tier species — even at that distance, they risked being caught in the fallout, sometimes dying from it.
"Riku is fine," Zhu Bi said quietly, hidden in the air as she scanned the explosion's direction. A flicker of data passed through her eyes.
On the other side, after the energy flood cleared, there was an irregular circular crater — thanks to Riku absorbing part of the aftershock.
In the sightline, everything within hundreds of thousands of meters had been wiped out, leaving behind scorched, deeply cratered land.
"Is the Black Dragon dead?" Riku asked, frowning as he scanned the wreckage and battlefield.
"Raaaaargh—!" Suddenly, a furious roar broke the silence. The Black Dragon, covered in wounds and with broken wings, shot up into the sky and hovered midair. Its blood-red eyes burned with murderous intent.
The heavy injuries had unleashed the Black Dragon's wild rage.
"Hmph, this guy's really hard to kill," the White Dragon said coldly, eyes fixed on the Black Dragon. His voice boomed like thunder across the sky.
But even now, the White Dragon wasn't careless — the next moments would be critical. One slip-up and even he could die here.
Riku also wore a serious expression, watching the Black Dragon in the distance, ready to retreat at any moment. He planned to use a "mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole watches behind" strategy — but getting hit and seriously injured by accident would be a disaster.
"Roar—!" As if echoing Riku and the White Dragon's thoughts, the Black Dragon truly went all out.
His aura rapidly swelled to a terrifying degree, his body visibly expanding. The murderous glare in his blood-red eyes nearly solidified into a physical force. Then he opened his massive maw, condensing wild blood-red energy inside.
The White Dragon's golden eyes narrowed sharply. He gathered all his strength and concentrated his energy too.
This wasn't about brute forcing a clash — it was because he'd been completely locked down. Trying to dodge or run meant being caught from behind; it was a trap.
"This is crazy," Riku murmured, raising an eyebrow at the impending collision. Without hesitation, he moved tens of thousands of meters away.
Two beings stronger than Jiphriel fighting without holding back would cause unimaginable destruction. Staying close would only bring trouble and no benefit.
"....."