Tihkar’s long and spiky tail swung at Ithil. He shot up using his wings and used his dragon breath at full power to propel both him and his mother away from each other. He landed a bit clumsily but quickly corrected himself.

Looking up, he saw that his mother had been slightly stunned by his breath. Using it to his advantage, he shot forward using both wings and back legs. Keeping low to the ground, he slid under one of her massive wings. Standing up behind her, he jumped up in the air to avoid her tail.

Tihkar regained stability and turned towards Ithil, who was forced to use another dragon breath to get out of range.

‘This isn’t going anywhere… I can’t afford to get hit by her attacks.

She isn’t even using magic and I still can’t land a hit. All I can do is slightly stun her…

Time to use some of my tricks.’

Tihkar shot at Ithil with a huge force, the ground crumbling under her. Ithil, who was expecting it, morphed into his humanoid just before her claw hit him. The claw went by over him causing him to spin from the winds created by it.

Ithil stopped spinning using a few controlled movements. His head turned away from his mother as he used his breath. The massive force combined with his small mass shot him straight at Tihkar before she could react. Due to aiming at a slight angle, he quickly spun out of control. Using the spinning to his advantage, he morphed back to his dragon form and threw a massive tail swing at her.

Tihkar didn’t manage to block it and Ithil’s tail connected with her head. Even with her massive statue, she was sent flying. The shock wave spread up through Ithil’s body, causing some smaller bones to break from the pressure. He clenched his teeth at the pain.

‘I’m almost inflicting more damage to myself than her.’

Ithil landed on the ground, still spinning. He managed to stop himself, but not after sliding quite the distance. He looked towards his mother, who was still rising from the ground. She seemed to have gotten some kind of concussion, her eyes unfocused.

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Ithil didn’t have the power to throw another attack, which allowed his mother to continue.

“You certainly are creative,” she said, “I’m going to feel that for weeks.”

She shook her head, seemingly regaining her balance.

“Let’s see how well you dodge some high-level magic,” she said with a slight hint of malice in her eyes.

‘Seems like I’ve angered her, that’s not good. Even if she allows me to go, I might not be able to for a couple of years after this.’

Tihkar let out a massive roar as ice spikes started spreading out from her.

Ithil had to morph into his humanoid form in order to dodge the ice spikes, his dragon form was too large. Before he could reorient himself, his mother shot her dragon breath at him. Even larger ice spikes shot at him, forming huge clusters. Ithil barely managed to dodge to the side, but the ice-cold winds still stunned him.

He used his dragon breath to dodge further while shattering the ice clusters. He turned his head towards his mother again only to see her charging at him. The ground shook and she shot forward. Ithil ducked low to avoid her claws, but he couldn’t avoid her tail. In order to minimize the damage, he morphed back to his dragon form.

The massive tail sent him flying, just like he had done to his mother, only this time he flew much further than his mother had done. He even got buried in a mountain on the other side of the island.

The impact was much harder than under his training and everything turned black.

--------------------

Ithil woke up next to his brother in the sea of riches. His body ached as he slowly stood up. The riches around him moved out of the way as he sunk deeper.

‘Ugh…’

A sudden pain split his head, causing him to stumble for a moment. The world started spinning and he was forced to lie down again.

‘Just how hard did she hit me…?’

After some time, his mother showed up. She looked quite nervous and was avoiding eye contact. Ithil managed to shift his aching body to face her.

"I- I'm sorry... I got a bit angry when you actually managed to hit me. To be honest, I really didn't expect you to surprise me like that. And It did actually hurt quite a bit, you know," she said while looking at some point under Ithil.

"And you're saying getting smashed head-first into a mountain hurts less?" Ithil said, a bit bored with the conversation.

Tihkar froze for a moment. Her head lowered even more.

"Yeah, no... I shouldn't have done that. Can you forgive me?"

"Well, maybe if you let me go?"

"Sure," Tihkar said, "I'm sure you'll do fine based on your performance."

Ithil brightened at the words, and he tried to rise up again. But of course, the headache hit again. He fell down with a thud, groaning from the pain.

"Though I'm not sure you're ready for it with your injuries..."

"Ugh... How long have I been unconscious?"

"About a year."

Ithil froze in shock before flopping down completely. He laid his head on the piles of gold to rest.

'How am I not dead...?'