Compared to her, Phei's powers might as well be a pond staring into an ocean. A candle raising its flame against the sun.
A child clenching tiny fists at the feet of a god.
Melissa remembered.
She remembered every word her sister had spoken in the aftermath—voice cracked and hollow, hands still trembling months later even when she tried to hide it.
It took two days to subdue her!
Two full days. Two endless, merciless days of the strongest Ryujin Tiamat of her generation unleashing everything she had—fire that scorched stone to glass from just it's heat before it even touched, wind that tore skies like paper, bloodline power poured out until the sky itself bled red—just to force that creature to take one step backward.
Not to defeat it. Not to wound it. Not to kill it.
To make it retreat.
