I felt a strong pat on my head and a quick hug. "Son! Father hugged me so tight. I thought I lost you!"

Father was hugging me so tightly. I felt his heart beating fast. He quickly scanned me for any major injuries. "Good, you're safe."

I was speechless. I actually thought I would die in there, or wherever I was, but now I was here, finally outside. I was so exhausted, but most importantly, I was free.

But I spoke too soon. Morgana and Zedd yelled out, "Everyone back now!"

The last shards of Bagu's collapsing domain rained down, dissolving before they touched the ground. The forest—returned in a violent flash of color and sound—and the sun was in the sky once more.

And then came the roar.

"RAHHHHHHHH!" For the first time, I felt pure, unbridled anger from Bagu. He had always been a cool, collected beast, but now his rage was palpable.

Commander Bratan stepped forward as he joined Morgana and Lord Zedd. Was he as strong as Lord Zedd?

"My lord, so this is what we have been after."

As Lord Zedd replied, "Careful. He is extremely strong."

Bratan said nothing, but stared at what was about to come.

And then he came.

The Dragon himself.

He stepped out of the last rip in space, wings folded tight, smoke rolling off every scale. His eyes burned a pale, corpse-like white. And yet… there was something new. A second light like blue aura behind the first—something he had consumed, something that wasn't his to wield.

Zuchin.

All I could seee was Morgana who wasnt not in a talking mood; she was clearly enraged by Zuchin being consumed. The heartbreak was so violent it shook the air around her.

Bagu scanned the battlefield slowly. Everyone froze. We all waited for what he would do next.

Then he spoke—his voice deep, dripping with an unfiltered rage that shook the leaves overhead.

"Which… one of you… did it?"

Bratan stiffened.

Morgana tightened her grip around her sword as she gritted her teeth. Lord Zedd spoke soft words I couldn't hear to her, restraining her from attacking yet.

Bagu's gaze swept across us—cold, dissecting, hunting.

"Which one of you broke… my domain?"

Zedd stood tall and replied, "What difference does it make? We are still going to kill you here, bastard!" Morgana added, pointing her sword at Bagu with an intense gaze, "Bring back Zuchin, or I will cut her out myself."

The fury radiating from Bagu was unlike the arrogance he'd displayed earlier. This was personal. Why was he so much more interested in who broke the domain than Lord Zedd or Morgana? Someone—someone here—had shattered it.

"Right! I just need to know which one of you is it," Bagu demanded, searching.

My father, whom I had assumed was laying low, better keep a low profile. But before I could even speak, he raised a lazy hand from behind me.

"Ah. That would be me," Father said, as if answering a question about firewood.

Bagu's colossal body twisted, his jaw snapping toward him so violently it whipped the air.

"You," Bagu growled. "You filth-born mortal. You have the knowledge to destroy something I had spent so long conditioning. YOU DARE— you know how long that took me to craft?!"

"Yeah, yeah," Father said, dusting his palms dismissively. "I would have consider that if only all the lives you've taken weren't the same."

Even I gasped.

Dad what would,. don't piss him off I have seen him the herrors..

As he winked to me giving me a calm sense of safty why was father so calm in this kind of situation

Bagu stopped breathing.

Then the rage hit.

The ground trembled as Bagu slammed one claw into the soil, fissures ripping outward like lightning.

"You will die first," Bagu promised my father. "I shall curse your entire bloodline for what you've done. That is your son—the mouse I intended to devour—but I don't need his Ikigai anymore."

The Dragon's gaze slid to Zedd. "Little Zedd… it's about time you witnessed what truly killed your grandfather."

A cold realization rippled through all of us.

" That killed High Magus Arolion Vintergaard?" Commander Bratan said, his voice cracking as he looked at Lord Zedd.

My heart lurched. Father instantly stepped in front of me, shielding me even as he trembled.

"Be grateful," Bagu hissed. "At least you will all die miserable deaths—yet still at the hands of a God."

Bagu's spider-tail began secreting a thick, milky silk, rapidly cocooning his entire body.

Morgana snapped everyone back to their senses. "Why are you letting him transform?! MOVE!"

She launched forward, faster than before, her sword blazing with intent. The others followed, desperate to stop Bagu from completing that monstrous metamorphosis.

Bratan moved first.

"Morgana, stay back!" Zedd barked, just as my father burst forward—wind spiraling violently around his fists.

Aromancers like my father could manifest objects through Creation magic, and I was about to witness a "Creation Fist" forged from raw elemental will. His aura raged like a white typhoon, every step detonating with pressure.

He reached Bagu just as the Dragon vanished beneath the silk.

"O WIND—CREATION—FIST!"

His punch crashed into the forming cocoon, and the entire forest bowed with the shockwave. For an instant—one heartbeat—the impact actually forced Bagu backward. The silk, however, remained entirely unscathed.

Morgana descended from above, Wood Steel slicing down hard. She didn't split Bagu open, but the hit drove him into the earth, carving a crater and shaking everything around us. Lord Zedd appeared beside the crater and unleashed a barrage of Air Bombs.

Now Bagu's body was entirely sealed—except for the tail, still oozing silk. Morgana hacked it off with a furious slash. But was it too late? What nightmare were we about to face?

Then we heard the heartbeats.

Not ours—his.

No… not even his. Multiple heartbeats, layered atop each other, clashing and echoing from the same source.

The cocoon.

The lower-ranked mages maintaining the barrier whispered in panic, asking whose hearts they were hearing. But we all knew the truth.

The milky cocoon throbbed with around fifteen glowing hearts visible just from where I stood. Each thump grew louder—Bagu's chant rising with them.

Morgana kept slashing, but her eyes were shifting—reddening with intensity. She shouted toward Lord Zedd, "Who can throw me as high as possible?!"

Zedd didn't hesitate. He teleported, grabbed her, and the two shot upward like a streak.

Why? What was she planning?

She rose so high the sun crowned her silhouette. Zedd left her suspended in the sky and ordered everyone below to fall back. A new barrier was erected—thick and reinforced. Something massive was coming.

As the mages completed it, we watched Morgana lift her long blade to her face. The Wood Steel began to glow—igniting, reshaping into a Fire Sword.

Was Wood Steel a magical tool? A crafting material? At that moment, I had no idea.

All I knew was that she was about to bring hell down on that cocoon.

She dived headfirst.

Even from the ground, she looked impossibly far from the cocoon—but what happened next shattered every expectation I had. She wasn't falling; she was descending like a celestial event, a blazing comet tearing through the sky toward Earth.

Lord Zedd had pushed her as high as his magic allowed—far beyond the reach of any ordinary dragon. The mere height she started from was an inhuman feat.

Then came her roar.

A war cry so powerful it felt like it split the sky in half. Flames wrapped around her entire body, growing brighter, hotter, thicker, until the comet she had become doubled… then tripled in size. A blazing projectile of raw fury and mana.

For a terrifying moment, we all questioned whether the wind barrier protecting us could withstand what was coming. Even the ground trembled beneath us.

The Earth Healer Mage reacted instantly—slamming his palms into the earth. A deep rumble rolled outward as the terrain beneath our feet sank, lowering us into a safer pocket to endure the blast.

But only for a moment.

Even then, I wondered if this would be enough. Whether any of us were going to live through this.

And then—

It hit.

Morgana's comet crashed down with the force of a divine punishment. Trees ignited before the impact even arrived, the heat alone burning them alive. When the explosion struck, a violent shockwave ripped across the forest, lifting people off their feet. Many scrambled, clinging to anything anchored deeply enough to avoid being hurled away.

"That's Morgana for you," Father breathed, impressed despite the chaos.

A roar—Bagu's roar—boomed from inside the smoke. A roar of pain.

When the dust finally cleared, the sight left us stunned.

A blood-streaked cocoon lay cracked and dented, and atop it stood Morgana. Her sword was buried so deeply into the hardened armor that the blade couldn't be seen—only the hilt protruded from the shimmering shell. She had not only pierced it… she had made Bagu bleed.

Inside, the cocoon shook violently, like something enormous and enraged struggling to break free—an egg cracking from the inside.

Morgana didn't wait. She pushed off and flew backward, creating distance just as the trembling intensified.

Lord Zedd landed beside her, panting lightly.

"You think that did the job?" he asked.

Morgana didn't take her eyes off the cocoon. When she spoke, her voice was sharp, steady, and unshaken.

"If dragons truly bled, this would be over. Prepare for battle.""