"You catch on quickly," From the trees, a figure wearing a dark purple robe, shining blistering hue of gold lines approached Loterra calmly. "That's good. I guess you know why I'm here?"

Loterra grew quiet, its eyes staring at the robed figure. It took a step back, loudly flapping its wings. Dragons, compared to other races, were much more sensitive to powers.

Loterra felt power from the man that could threaten it. That was enough for it to be wary.

"Silent? Well, it's fine. Let's see..I'm gonna make this short," the figure muttered, his hand reaching out to his waist. "You broke an agreement. And an agreement with the King, at that. Because of that, the Council needed to act—now they sent me, The Combatant, to deal with you. Simple enough?"

"Silence, human. I have done no such thing, even then where is this K—"

Woosh—!

The air twisted—space itself stretched. From the trees, the robed figure sighed, his hand grabbing onto a saber from his waist. Before Loterra could react, its body was already pulverized.

Silence. Everything descended in silence. Rio stared at the shattered remains of the dragon, his eyes alternating between the red haired man and the remains. It was incomprehensible. There was no movement. No sign. No sense. No action. It was just...destruction.

In Rio's vision, it seemed as if reality shattered.

"What? That fast...? I knew you were an earthworm, but come on? Isn't this too much of a disappointment?" The Combatant scowled, his hand casually waving the saber.

Rumble—!

Suddenly, the land quaked. This time much stronger than before. The wind blew, more harsher than previously. As if an answer to man's question—the remains of the dragon slowly rebuilt itself.

As Loterra slowly rebuilt itself to life, the forest similarly entered a metamorphosis. The trees surrounding the dragon immediately regrew and revitalized. A few seconds later, the earthern dragon returned to its original form as the forest thrived of life.

The Combatant stared at the dragon. The dragon stared back. The corners of his lips curled. No wonder that Old Wizard sent him.

"..Human," Lottera scoffed, its wings flapping loudly; hovering above the air. "You have signed your de—"

Woosh—!

The air twisted once more. The Combatant attacked. However, this time, before it could hit Loterra's body—A long pillar of earth erupted from the ground, blocking the attack.

Rumble—! Boom—!

The pillar of earth exploded, crumbling into pieces as an invisible wave of attack assaulted it.

"Let me finish, human." Lottera growled.

"...I don't have the time to listen to an earthworm's pep talk," The Combatant grunted. "Let's just kill each other. Or alternatively, just die here and make my job easier."

Loterra frowned. Its opponent was right. There was no need to talk. It seems a couple of tame, peaceful milleniums had removed its instincts as a dragon. Dragons do not talk, they act.

Rumble—!

"Oh?" The Combatant muttered. Beneath him, a cage of earth sand erupted—imprisoning his body inside. He didn't move, letting the attack freely enrapture his body. His eyes darted around the cage, analyzing the attack. "..Interesting."

Inside the cage, the texture of the earth spiraled. The space around twisted, sucking everything. The Combatant's purple gold robe disintegrated, turning into properties of earth. He tried to move his body, but it proved to be naught—a heavy force was pushing him down.

"Interesting. This isn't just a simple Earth Prison, you actually made a dimension from earth. That's in the realms of Authority. Space, time and gravity...inside here, everything is in your complete control," The Combatant said, his eyes widening. The spiraling earth closed in to his skin. "But, alas...that really is nothing."

Inside him, magic energy flowed. However, his magical energy was different—in contrast to the usual colorless energy, the magical energy inside him was shining white. Blinding white. The white magical energy slowly converged. He nudged his hand slightly.

Boom—!

A loud explosion sounded. The cage exploded, blown apart as everything around the surroundings crumbled. Smoke erupted from the shattered remains, hiding The Combatant's silhouette.

From above, Loterra frowned. It seems its attack failed. But how? ...No matter, it just has to attack more. Loterra nudged its claws slightly.

Several long pillars of earth erupted from the ground, targeted at The Combatant's position.

Woosh—!

The smoke slowly drifted away, revealing The Combatant's appearance. It was a tall and muscular man, with sharp eyes resembling that of an apex predator—the man's pupils shone bright red, filled with fervor and desire for battle. Behind his back, his spiky red hair was tied into a ponytail.

The Combatant frowned, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Tsk. That was a new robe, y'know?"

From afar, Rio stared at the man's figure. Amidst the dark night, the moonlight shone—reflecting the man's intimidating figure. Perhaps it was just his eyes deluding him, but the air around the man completely stilled.historical

Inside him, he felt a scream. A shudder. Then it hit him. It was his body screaming of danger, urging him to escape quickly. It was not fear, per se. It was just a logical and calculated observation that no matter the infinite outcomes—his encounter with the man today would be his death.

The moment the man's eyes would lay on him, he was dead. That's what will happen. Finality. But even as he tried to move his body, he couldn't....The vines constrained his movements, forcing him to stay still and watch.

As he watched the two, impossible, overwhelming forces attack each other. Rio's head lowered, deep in thought.

Back to the fight, the several pillars of earth shot through the red haired man. The Combatant frowned, his hand reaching out to his waist—before the pillars of earth could slam onto his body, he grasped the saber.

Tngg—!

A sharp metallic sound echoed. The attack was instantaneous. In a blink of an eye, everything around him—the pillars of earth stopped moving as their texture was spliced into pieces. The Combatant chuckled, his hand raising the saber as he pointed it to the the dragon.

Loterra responded in kind. It stared menacingly beneath. It opened its large maw, breathing out sharp, earthern minerals. From above, an avalanche of rocks and minerals showered the forest—but the dragon was not yet done. Loterra flapped its wings repeatedly, forming miniature hurricanes above the air, targeted beneath.

The Combatant smiled, his eyes widening—almost appearing mad. His right hand held over the saber tightly. In that moment, he dashed above at Loterra.

The air shattered. Faster than sound, he appeared above the air. His eyes filled with fervor, stared unflinchingly at the approaching attacks. From the avalanche of rocks, and hurricanes. He could sense something unique within them. They were not just mere rocks and hurricanes. They were reinforced by something. He could feel a variation of magical energy emanating from the attacks.

The energy emanating from the attacks was at its core magical—but compared to normal magical energy; it was more purer, more powerful, and overall stronger. 'It's similar to The Wizard's magical energy..' The Combatant faintly thought.

Loterra grunted. The attacks released. The avalanche of large minerals fell, and the small miniature hurricanes blasted—all of them targeting the sole figure in the air.

Woosh—!

'Well, I should finish this quickly. I still have other duties to attend.'

The Combatant ruefully smiled, his hand pointing the saber over at the attacks while he manipulated the shining white magical energy inside his body. He muttered,

"Oblivion Art..."

The saber on his hand shone brightly. It was blinding white. Pointing at the attacks thrown at him, he released the stored magical power. He nudged the saber slightly.

"..Thousand Finale."

Tngg—! Woosh—!

..In that instant, the texture of the world erroded. Reality was replaced with a blank image of oblivion. Pure white, devoid of filth and disruption. Just stillness. It was beautiful in a way.

From above, Loterra's eyes froze—No, it's whole body itself stilled. Unmoving, as if time stopped. The avalanche of minerals and blasted miniature hurricanes, along with the entire forest beneath, simply disappeared. Everything was wiped out from the attack.

It was miraculous. Simply, by definition, height of magic. A complete change and erosion of normal laws of the world replaced by the user's intention.

Beneath, Rio's body was completely frozen. Yet even so, his eyes stared at his surroundings—feeling the experience of absolute finale and blank oblivion before his eventual demise. Even in frozen oblivion, he could feel the blank white of the surroundings.

Oddly enough, within him—he felt resonation. He didn't know why, but he felt a connection with the blank white oblivion. But at the same time, he was unsatisfied. Discontent. There was something about this scene, the oblivion that...he found unsatisfying.

Before his eyes would lose consciousness and his senses be deprived, his mind thought of a single thing. The white was too blinding. It was unnecessary... useless, and unsatisfactory.

Then Rio blanked out.

—

His body shuddered, feeling the intense cold of the air. He moved his hands, placing it beneath the ground. Like the wind, it was similarly cold. He..felt drowsy.

"Hey, wake up."

A loud and irate voice sounded through his ears, snapping him awake. Rio wearily opened his eyes. Through his eyes, he vaguely saw a familiar figure in front—waiting for him to wake up.

The figure was familiar. Perhaps it was a side effect of being unconscious for long, or because of what happened previously, but he couldn't recall on where he saw the figure.

"Took you long enough," The figure said, annoyed.

The moonlight shone, reflecting the figure's appearance—it was a man. A muscular man with sharp red eyes resembling that of a predator. Behind him, his spiky scarlet red hair shone, tied into a ponytail.

Then it clicked.

Rio's eyes went wide open. Whether if it was out of shock or horror. Maybe both, he didn't know. There was only one thing he knew right now, one of the worst possibilities happened—damn god of luck hated him.

"So, what's your name? I don't really have a reason to kill you, but you know this place is off limits, right?" The Combatant asked, the corner of his lips curling into a smirk. "There's only two reasons you're here; either you're an ally, or an enemy. Which are you?"