"Kid, just charge straight ahead! I'll clear the path for you!" Odin's voice boomed over the battlefield's chaos.
"Thank you, Senior!" Leon responded without hesitation.
With a commanding sweep of his arm, Odin unleashed a tremendous surge of lightning magic. The brilliant arc of energy vaporized the horde of corrupted creatures blocking Leon's advance, carving a clean, smoldering path directly toward the sealing site.
Leon shot forward at maximum speed, his grip tight on the Lightning Cloud Blade. With the mighty Thunder Dragon King watching his back, he had no fear of ambush from the flanks.
As he closed in on the pulsating core of the seal, Leon acted. He coated the length of his Lightning Cloud Blade with Dry Bird Oil, a rare alchemical substance that conducted and amplified electrical energy. The blade hummed, sheathed in a razor-sharp, pulsating layer of pure lightning that promised overwhelming destructive power. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he roared, "Fourth Gate: Godspeed!"
His form became a blur, moving so fast that even the sharpest-eyed dragons on the battlefield could only catch a glimpse of his trajectory.
At the center of the sealing site, Shadow remained unnervingly still. He didn't even flinch, his calm demeanor suggesting he had anticipated Leon's arrival all along.
Though his face was hidden deep within his dark hood, Leon could feel the sheer, unshakable confidence radiating from the man. Shadow, standing motionless as Leon closed the distance, truly believed himself to be untouchable.
But Leon did not hesitate. Even if his attack failed to land a telling blow, he had to disrupt the ritual and stop the unsealing of the Ultimate Fear.
His crackling blade, volatile with power, slashed directly toward Shadow's hooded face.
Recognizing the genuine danger, Shadow was finally forced to act. He instantly abandoned the intricate sealing magic, planting his right foot firmly to push off and leap backward, narrowly evading the lethal swing.
"Boom!"
The blade swept through empty air, but the sheer force of the missed attack gouged a deep trench into the ground and kicked up a thick, obscuring cloud of dust and debris.
Leon didn't give him a moment to recover. He charged through the dust cloud without breaking stride, his blade already raised for another relentless strike.
Seeing his opportunity, Odin joined the fray, maneuvering to approach from the opposite side. Together, the two masters of lightning launched a perfectly coordinated pincer attack. Their combined magic filled the air with deafening peals of thunder and blinding, intersecting flashes of light.
The pressure was immense, enough to give even Shadow pause. A single misstep would leave him vulnerable to the devastating aftermath of their unleashed power.
Odin channeled every ounce of his lightning magic into his fingertips, compressing it until it formed an impossibly sharp, concentrated blade of pure energy.
"S-class Lightning Magic: Thunder Piercer!"
This technique used the caster's own body as the conduit and catalyst, granting it unparalleled penetrative force that surpassed any man-made enchanted weapon. But such power came at a cost; even a Dragon King as mighty as Odin risked severe injury to his own channels by wielding it. Knowing the fate of the world was at stake, he held nothing back.
While Odin prepared his ultimate thrust, Leon continued his relentless assault, his movements augmented by the Godspeed gate. Each swing of his Lightning Cloud Blade was a masterpiece of precision, cutting through the air as he sought any crack, any fleeting weakness in Shadow's defenses.
Faced with their combined onslaught, Shadow finally spread his arms wide. The ground at his feet rippled like dark water, and massive, curved barriers of shimmering darkness erupted on either side of him, shielding him from both attacks.
"Chaos Magic: Shadow Barrier."
"Boom! Boom!"
Leon's enhanced blade and Odin's Thunder Piercer struck the dark walls simultaneously. The impact sent visible shockwaves rippling outwards, shaking the very foundations of Sky City.
Yet, despite the immense power behind the attacks, when the light faded, neither had left so much as a scratch on the opaque barriers.
"What kind of defense is this?" Odin muttered, a rare hint of frustration and disbelief in his voice. "My Thunder Piercer can punch through the legendary scales of the Ancient Earth Dragon, yet it didn't even mar the surface of this... this darkness."
Shadow's mocking voice, cool and condescending, echoed from behind the impenetrable walls. "Did you truly believe your mundane, elemental magic could compare to the primordial power of Chaos? You are nothing but insects, scuttling across the surface of a power you cannot possibly comprehend."
Odin's eyes narrowed, his pride stung but his focus unwavering. He refused to be baited by the taunts. Instead, he gritted his teeth and redoubled his efforts, pouring even more of his vast reserves into the attack.
"If it exists, it can be destroyed!" he roared.
The lightning concentrated at his fingertips grew blindingly intense, its brilliant white light illuminating the entire battlefield like a small sun.
Seeing Odin's determination, Leon smirked and called out to their hidden foe. "You're arrogant, Shadow. Did you think our entire strategy was just a simple two-pronged attack?"
From behind the barrier, Shadow's brow furrowed invisibly. "What...?"
Leon's grin widened. "You were so focused on us, you stopped paying attention to her."
Before Shadow could process the words, a small, white figure launched herself from the shadows directly behind him. She moved with a lethal, patient precision that revealed she had been waiting, watching for this exact moment all along.
Shadow spun around just in time to see her—a young girl with blazing white dragon pupils, her eyes glowing with the cold, ancient power of the Primordial Dragon King within her.
"Primordial Magic: Radiant Aurora Seal."
Noah extended her arms, and four brilliant orbs of white fire materialized from the air itself. They burned with a pure, searing intensity that seemed to cleanse the very space around them, swiftly surrounding Shadow from all four cardinal directions.
Shadow's expression, for the first time, visibly darkened with alarm.
"This magic...! It can't be!"
"It's the same magic that once sealed the Ultimate Fear away," Noah declared, her voice cold and utterly unyielding. "If you're so eager to unleash it upon the world, why don't you be the first to taste its punishment?"
As she spoke, Leon and Odin, with a final, simultaneous surge of power, shattered the Shadow Barriers. Their combined lightning attacks exploded forward, but it was Noah's sealing magic that activated in perfect tandem. The four white orbs converged on Shadow with impossible speed, intersecting to form a shrinking, impenetrable prison of pure light.
Trapped within the brilliant cage, Shadow's calm finally shattered. A flicker of genuine unease crossed his features as the primordial flames licked at the edges of his form.
"No... this isn't how it ends...!" he snarled.
The orbs detonated in a silent, overwhelming flash of light that consumed him completely.
"Seal complete," Noah stated, her voice steady despite the immense output of power she had just channeled.
For a breathtaking moment, the battlefield fell into a hushed silence. The brilliant light faded, leaving only the afterimage burned into the eyes of every onlooker.
Claudia, watching from a distance while maintaining her water prisons, felt her heart leap. "Now that Shadow is sealed, we can finally—"
Her words were cut off, strangled in her throat as a deep, bone-chilling roar that was not of this world shattered the silence.
A cataclysmic burst of violent violet flames erupted from the exact spot where Shadow had been sealed. It was accompanied by an oppressive, suffocating aura that weighed down on every soul present. The very air grew heavy with despair, and the tormented cries of a million ancient souls seemed to echo in their ears.
Leon, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists, spoke in a low, grim tone that carried over the sudden stillness.
"It looks like... we failed."
From within the raging violet inferno, a figure emerged, casually peeling away the tattered remains of his dark robe as if shedding a dead skin.
The face revealed was one known to every human and dragon on the battlefield. It was the face of the man who had once ruled the Human Empire.
Shadow smirked, his voice dripping with disdain and dark triumph.
"To unite and lead the Dragon Kings to this extent, you have earned my measured respect, Leon. But you should have stayed dead eight years ago."
Behind him, the colossal, amorphous form of the Ultimate Fear began to materialize fully. Its immense, blackened mass, a void of pure chaos, loomed over the battlefield, blotting out the sky like the harbinger of the world's end.
Shadow spread his arms wide, his voice resonating with absolute, dark authority.
"The game ends here. From this moment forward, this era shall be known as... the Age of Ultimate Fear."