Chapter 15: Legacy (2)
PRESENT
Claws of ice and scythes of fire clashed, echoing through the throne room like the roar of a hundred battles. Each strike was a dance of power, a silent conversation of wills. Adrei glanced at the wolf, her eyes gleaming with the light of the flaming weapons. Leona, on the other hand, watched Adrei with a mix of anger and admiration, her teeth bared in a snarl that never quite reached her eyes.
The vestige of that tyrant reflected in the gleaming frost of her fur, the flushing hatred of that fateful day still raw and potent. She will reclaim her vengeance, her dignity, her pride.
The dragon queen grinned as she swung her right scythe of fire in a wide arc, but the wolf dodged, a blur as she countered with a swipe of her own icy claws. The flames sizzled upon contact with the frost, creating a steamy barrier that obscured the pair from sight for a brief moment.
In an instant, icy runes bound by magic circles hovered over the wolf, icicles shooting towards Adrei point-blank, but the dragon queen flapped her arms, a gust of fiery winds that melted the icicles into mist before they could even graze her scales. The wolf didn't relent as her claws stabbed forward, aiming straight for the dragon's heart, the scythe's weakness as a pole weapon fully exploited, as the close range of the claw would surely pierce through Adrei's defenses.
Despite the wolf's calculated attack, Adrei was ready. Her scales shimmered with an orange glow as jer mouth conjured a small sun, the intense heat radiating from her steaming the wolf's fur and melting the ice around them. Death, the wolf felt in that firery breath, as she retracted her claw and bounced sideway, the small sun narrowly missing her by a tail's whip, as it smashed into the ground, leaving a fiery crater.
Growling, the wolf bounced back, the heat not even touching her, the fur on her back rising like the hackles of a cornered beast. Her eyes narrowed into slits, and she lunged again, her movements swift and precise. But Adrei was ready, her left scythe slashing through the icy ground, pebbles of melting ice, each containing a rune from the dragon's mana, flying in every direction as they met the wolf's charge, with the wolf's countering with her icicles, each collision caused a steamy explosion that filled the room with a misty haze.
Adrei frowned in the smoke, her eyes darting around, searching. Then her shoulders relaxed, as she sensed the presence of not one, not two, but three. Illusion Magic, one of the oldest of the arcane arts, and one she heard in coincidence as the first magic taught to the wolf by her master.
The dragon's tail swung in a graceful arc, knocking aside two illusions of Leona that charged at her from the smoke. The real wolf emerged from the mist, as the dragon's eyes were distracted, and she took the opportunity to latch onto Adrei's side, her teeth sinking into the scales with a vicious crunch. But the dragon anticipated the move and had coated her scales in a protective layer of heat, causing the wolf's teeth to shatter as she bit down her shoulder, the pain making her snarl in fury.