A few weeks before the war.

Amelia was training as usual, supervised by her mother, Henrietta.

"What are you going to work on today?"

Standing on the side, Henrietta asked out of curiosity.

"I'm thinking of trying my hand at void magic."

"Oh? Finally?"

With a simple nod, Amelia confirmed it.

"So, what made you suddenly want to try your hand at this new magic?"

(...sy.)

Henrietta tilted her head slightly.

"Could you repeat that? I did not hear you."

"Jealousy!"

Amelia clenched her hands into fists while gritting her teeth together.

"..."

A sympathetic look in her eyes, Henrietta smiled. After glancing at her mother, Amelia relaxed, and continued.

"It just feels wrong. Karteira can use the light element, even though she was unable to used magic before. And that, through constant training."

"Olivia is even worse! She was able to use dark magic the moment she obtained it from Orion!"

"If not jealousy, I don't know what I should feel anymore."

Staring in space, she nodded.

"That's why I'm going to use this feeling and do the same. I'll improve my efficiency with it, and move above those two."

"I'm number one, and that won't change!"

The rivalry between these three kept pushing them to greater heights.

That was how Amelia started her journey toward controlling void magic.

-

"While it's having fun breaking 'me' apart, let's prepare."

Monolavir growled slightly.

"What about Rumi? Are you asking me to ignore her after that attack?"

"..."

Amelia frowned.

"I'm sorry. For now, believe she is fine. Or else you won't have the chance to see her again."

Seeing the dark entity still swiping its claws in the air, Monolavir understood.

"Right. Even though it pains me to agree..."

He glanced toward the place Ruminona was sent flying at, before looking forward again. Suddenly, the shadow twitched, and its red eyes fell on Monolavir.

"Oops. The illusion is done."

With a strained smile, Amelia readied herself.

Monolavir flapped his wings in an effort to get away from Argoss. Angered by the illusion he was subjected to, Argoss arched his next and roared at Amelia with all its wrath.

Even as he distanced himself, they were both bound in place by the pure, unadulterated pressure of his wrath.

"..."

Seeing his brother in such a state hurt Monolavir deeply. Even though they hadn't shared the bond humanoid species share between each others, Argoss was still his little brother, tortured and tormented by Miasma to become this abomination.

Argoss' dragon flesh had been relinquished for a disturbing mass of darkness, which showed how far the transformation had changed him.

A roar with no meaning, or thought, placed behind it. That's how it sounded to Monolavir.

When Argoss' rage subsided, an intense glare fell on them, before two dark spheres formed at the tip of his horns.

"Hold on to me, Amelia!"

Feeling the intense magic energy aimed at him, he hurried Amelia to move quickly. She held on to his horn, and watched closely the other dragon's movements.

Monolavir moved erratically in the sky, in hope of breaking the aim of the attack.

Until two beams fired in his direction. His attempt to get away was unsuccessful.

One of the beams grazed his upper left wing, while the other grazed his right hind leg.

Barely avoiding the corrupted matter, he focused on the fight and placed the worries he had for his brother in a part of his mind.

Amelia, even though holding on, was thrown around violently each time Monolavir moved. Compared to Ruminona, he was a fast and rigorous dragon, used to fight fast-paced battles.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

'Kh! I'm just dead weight at this point...'

Realizing how useless she was, she cursed her situation. At that moment, Monolavir opened his mouth, and released a beam of water toward the mass.

The beam exploded on Argoss, but ultimately made no difference.

"My power won't be enough to vanquish him anymore. If only I hadn't used all of my strength like a fool..."

Regret began to fill him.

"..."

Amelia listened to his words, racking her brain to find an answer to their problem.

'Ruminona is out of battle, Monolavir has exhausted his power, and I'm unable to muster the strength to use the Elemental Masteries again...'

'We're in deep... and there's no way out of it.'

She knew that there was no way out of it. There was one way out of here, but she couldn't use it, fearing bringing the enemy back with her.

In a breast pocket inside her vest, a sparkling crystal waited to be used.

'I can't... Going back now...'

Her mind begged her to leave, to protect her life, but her ego kept her from cowardly fleeing.

'I can't disappoint Orion!'

Suddenly, her mind blanked out.

A white expanse developed in front of her, while a thumping heartbeat, well-known

to her, caught her attention.

Lifting her eyes, she noticed a green scale floating above her, releasing constant gusts of wind.

Then, she snapped back to reality.

"Agh..."

Her chest felt heavy. With her heart pounding wildly, her consciousness started fading.

'No... I'm used to it by now.'

Holding on her senses, she gritted her teeth. This time won't be the same as the others before.

"Amelia?!"

The grip around Monolavir's horns relaxed, before Amelia slipped from his head and fell toward the ground below.

Argoss took this chance, and prepared to fire another volley of dark matter, this time, toward Amelia.

Grabbing her chest tightly, Amelia's breathing became difficult to maintain.

'The more powerful the mastery... the tougher it is the first time!'

A hurricane formed around her at that very moment. It traveled upward, pulling the clouds around into its core.

"Amelia!"

A green dragon suddenly flew from below, and crashed into the windstorm.

"Rumi! No!"

Monolavir screamed at the thought of losing his partner, and tried to enter the storm too.

"Grrrr! Why can't I enter it?!"

Anxiety filled him, as he turned to his brother. With a terrible glare in his eyes, he fired at the wind to get rid of Amelia.

The beam traveled the distance instantly, and arrived at the whirlwind. But, to his disbelief, the beams curved around the hurricane, moved upward, and disappeared in the sky above, submerged into the dark skies created by the raging winds.

"Wha-"

Monolavir couldn't believe it. The situation was out of control, while Amelia and Ruminona were nowhere to be seen.

*Flap* *Flap*

Argoss and Monolavir turned their gaze toward the source of the flapping noise, which was exactly at the center of the storm.

Out of nowhere, a spiraling mass of wind, similar to a tornado, moved from the center of the storm, and came crashing unto Argoss.

Pushed by the recoil of the attack, Argoss opened his mouth before biting the air.

From the impact point, a silhouette flew out of the swirling mass, and glared at Argoss from a vantage point above him.

"A-Amelia."

A green-haired woman with a floating crown of wind magic observed her enemy with her deep green eyes.

Reptilian pupils formed as she focused her senses. With two green wings on her back, and a long tail swiping left and right behind her back, Amelia appeared quite different.

Two long horns similar to Ruminona's were on her head, while the air surrounded her exuded authority.

Wearing a mystique and captivating outfit, the air blew the forest green veil under the crown gently.

An asymmetrical deep green cape that draped gracefully over her right shoulder followed suit, and waved in the wind.

While half covered by a low green shirt that displayed her stomach to the world, but hid her cleavage perfectly all the way up to her shoulders. Wearing low-waist grass green shorts adorned with a belt, the whole outfit added a sense of freedom to her aura.

On her chest, where her heart was, a pink scale symbol was etched on the shirt. The last piece of her outfit was her knee-high black boots, with green accents barely noticeable at the end of the straps.

"Where's... Rumi?"

Monolavir looked around him, unable to find the green dragon anywhere. He slowly turned to Amelia, and noticed the shadow of his partner behind the woman.

"Wait a bit."

Amelia spoke in the dragon's language, as her eyes pierced the depth of his being with a quick glance.

She turned back, and nodded. Her hand slowly slid down her waist, into a small pocket back, holding a weapon tightly.

At the same time, Argoss was already preparing his next attack. Ready to fire another rock needle, he couldn't wait anymore.

Amelia pulled the karambit knife out of her pocket, placing a finger into the finger ring while spinning the knife with care.

The blade whirled faster around her finger, vibrating wildly after each rotation.

With the needle arriving in front of her, Amelia bent forward, grabbed the handle in a swift movement.

Its talon like hooked blade glowed a vibrant green, before Amelia effortlessly slashed from top to bottom at the needle.

A sharp blade of invisible wind instantly cut through the earthen needle, before Amelia spun the knife around her finger again, but even more violently than before.

To the dragons' stupefaction, this was part of Amelia's counter.

The two parts of the needle exploded into thousands of shards, which themselves split in bits, before a gust of wind flushed everything away.

"Hmf."

She scoffed at the attempt to injure her.

"Time to get this done."

Each time she opened her mouth, the dragon tongue pressured Argoss. Horror appeared on the face of the corrupted dragon, as it realized that his end was near.

"Behind you."

He heard the voice of the woman behind him, even though she was above him. It hurriedly turned around, before a black wing appeared in front of its face.

Dark matter gushed from its right side, as it finally understood that it was his massive wing that had been cut off.

Confused, it began to fall toward the ground, unable to keep its flying ability after being deprived of one wing.

It noticed two Amelia glaring at him, until one of them was swept away by the wind, in particles of magic.

The real Amelia pulled her wings behind her, and dived toward Argoss at high speed.

With her weapon in hand, she was prepared to finish the fight once and for all.

Argoss roared, and focused everything into his last attack while plummeting down.

The karambit knife spun, accumulating wind magic with each spin, glowing vibrantly ever stronger, while a dark sphere the size of his head formed between his jaws.

Amelia and the corrupted brown dragon finally clashed.

An earth-splitting beam of dark energy fired at Amelia engulfed her, and traveled into the sky while exploding constantly.

The air itself became stale from the lack of oxygen, while it cleared the dark clouds above them.

*Slash*

Suddenly, Argoss' vision became strange.

He felt the scenery move unnaturally, before dark liquid erupted in front of him. Its body crashed onto the ground in a loud rumble, destroying the ground itself and the frigid ground created by Monolavir.

When it noticed that its body at touched the ground without him feeling a thing, it finally understood.

His head, up onto the base of his neck, crashed too, further away from the rest of the body.

The light in his eyes began to disappear, as the red color changed to brown.

During his last instant, its eyes rummaged the sky, searching for someone.

"Bro...ther..."

His words, carried by the wind, entered Monolavir's ears. The two brothers looked at each other one last time, until one of them ceased to breathe.

Bathed by one last ray of light, Argoss' existence slowly disintegrated.

"Rest peacefully, Argoss."

The brown dragon, Argoss, was vanquished at last.