"Midnight wolf (Swashbuckler) (female), name: Sapphire, level 1, HP: 5957/5957, MP: 7106/7106, Stamina: 84/9185, Strength: 4516, Defense: 3700, Speed: 5903, Energy: 74% (5568696/7524627 units), Skill Points: 5000. List of skills: level 1, level 5, level 7, level 8, level 10, level 9, level 11, level 2, level 2, level 8, level 10, level 12, level 4, level 8, level 14, level 1, level 8, level 2, level 13, level 10, level 12, level 10, level 2, level 10, level 11, level 2, level 1, level 8, level 9, level 8, level 10, level 11, level 11, level 14, level 6, level 5, level 2, level 7, level 2, level 8, level 10, level 11, level 7, level 3, level 14, level 7, level 13, level 13, level 8, level 9, level 2, level 10, level 10, level 8, level 7, level 9, level 8, level 9, level 8, level 7, level 7, level 3, level 3, level 3, level 3, level 3, level 10, level 4, level 3, level 10, level 2, level 1, level 1, level 9, level 5, level 4, level 5, level 1, level 1, level 1, level 10, level 1, level 8, level 4, level 2, level 1, level 3, level 4, level 3.

Titles: , , , , , , , , ."

"Still not at the level of dragons," Sapphire sighed. "Not like I still can't defeat them." She shrugged getting up, nudging away Winter away, who slept right next to her.

"Morning, even though its midday." Winter waved sleepily. "You can eat all you want, I think I will sleep for a while longer." She mumbled, drifting back to sleep.

Leaving Winter where she lay on the grass, Sapphire got up and stretched before using Devouring Shadows to consume everything Winter gathered, leaving some for her for whenever she wakes up. The pile comprised of several prey animals like deers, cows, goats, and even several humans, seemingly ones which came looking for them from the city.

"Stamina: 9185/9185, Energy: 100% (7874273/7874273 units)."

I still haven't seen how strong she got after evolving. Sapphire reminded herself as she turned back to Winter.

"Winter wolf (Warrior) (female), name: Winter, level 34. HP: 5674/5674, MP: 6599/6500, Stamina: 153/6940, Strength: 3353, Defense: 3224, Speed: 2334, Hunger: 100%. List of skills: level 6, level 10, level 6, level 4, level 2, level 2, level 2, level 9, level 10, level 11, level 3, level 7, level 6, level 6, level 4, level 10, level 9, level 11, level 7, level 9, level 8, level 9, level 8, level 9, level 9, level 7, level 7, level 5, level 2, level 6, level 5, level 7, level 13, level 9, level 7, level 6, level 6, level 6, level 8, level 8, level 14, level 13, level 12, level 7, level 9, level 6, level 10, level 11, level 3, level 3, level 2, level 1, level 3.

Titles: None."

Why did her howl evolve into Warrior Howl and mine into Alpha Howl? Sapphire wondered, tapping her face.

"Skill Comparison: Warrior Howl and Alpha Howl: is a skill which only someone with the title or an offspring of the one who possesses the title can acquire. Other wolves are granted the skill, a lesser skill."

"I see." Sapphire mumbled as she walked to a small pond for water, to drink and to wash her face. As she washed her face she realised that her appearance also changed slightly from evolving.

Her clothes were more fluttery than before, and looked better than before according to Sapphire, seemingly with higher endurance too. Her shoes also seemed to be padded as there was no sound when she walked. Her movements seemed to be less restricted than before, mostly because of her lighter clothes. A blue colored gem glowed at the center of her chest, embedded into her shirt. The blue patch of hair on her forehead also disappeared, having been replaced by black hair. Now, the rest of her long hair showcased blue highlights, a look she did prefer comparatively more.

"Threat Alert: Right and above. Threat Info: Arrows and rocks."

Sapphire looked in the direction of the attack and sighed, knowing this would be easy. As the hail of arrows and rocks started to land Sapphire evaded them, while keeping her movement to a minimum. By tilting her body, sidestepping, and spinning on her feet, she dodged every single projectile without breaking a sweat, or moving more than three steps away from her position.

As she spun on her feet to dodge the last one she swung her hand in a horizontal arc towards the direction the attack came in, forming a Shadow Slash. The Shadow Slash sliced through many of the trees in front and every enemy that hid amongst them. Even after having unleashed the slash dark shadowy particles remained lingering on her hand, most likely an effect of the Shadow Slash levelling up. Sapphire wasn't certain but it felt as though the shadows strengthened her other attacks while they remained.

"Proficiency threshold reached, skill: has risen from level 7 to level 8."

"Really can't understand why they keep trying." Sapphire sighed, shaking her head at the goblins' foolishness.

A loud explosion in the distance caught her attention, startling her and making her jump. Flames rising into the sky were visible from even where she stood, which seemed to be very far from where the flames originated. As she looked towards the flames a strong gust of wind, most likely from the explosion, knocked her off her feet and into the pond, causing waves in the pond and uprooting some of the weaker trees nearby.

"You are not getting away with this." Sapphire growled getting out of the pond, her entire body drenched in water.

She made her way towards the explosion, drying herself with weak fire magic on the way. Her speed increased greatly when she evolved, and due to her acceleration reaching top speed in an instant was not a problem to her. She reached the site of the giant explosion fairly quickly, staring wide eyed at the area.

The explosion formed a giant crater in the ground, easily half as big as the city of Ellay, maybe more. The trees near the crater were burned and charred, all having been uprooted and tossed away. However, the crater wasn't the only thing there, the one who formed the crater also stood in the center of it, exerting its presence and power over any who remained nearby, a warning to those brave, or foolish, enough to investigate.

Sapphire walked ahead and got a better look at the creator of the crater, a fire dragon with dark red scales, black and orange scales adorning his body in patterns resembling lava. Giant claws rested on its limbs and two massive wings stretched into the sky as the dragon let out a loud roar in its victory. What it fought wasn't clear and never would be, mostly due to the fact that there were no remains of the dragon's opponent. The massive fire attack Sapphire saw from far away having burned away any remains.

"Ancient Fire Dragon, name: Magma, level 142, Status Appraisal Failed (Reason: Too high to appraise). Skill Appraisal Failed (Reason: Appraisal resistance).

Titles: , , ."

"What will be the stage of the crystal of this one?" Sapphire wondered, her body shaking, mostly from the dragon's overwhelming presence.

"Stage 5+."

"I need it." Sapphire mumbled, her body becoming steadier, her muscles tensing. "Even if it means killing that thing for it, which it certainly does."

"Chances of Victory: 0.0000000000000001932%."

"Shut up," Sapphire snarled, "I won't get a chance like this again." Sapphire breathed heavily, calming herself. "Ancient Dragons are rare, if I want to get stronger, I have to kill each one I encounter. The only way is up, and I am willing to take any risk to reach the top. It might not be needed for me to do so, I can return whenever I wish to, but this is more enjoyable than how I used to live, I can always escape with Shadow Movement."

Standing on the edge of the crater, Sapphire howled loudly, attracting the attention of the dragon.

"Activated Draconic Power, Deterrence, and Energy Concentration: 5% overall.

Midnight wolf (Swashbuckler) (female), name: Sapphire, level 1, HP: 11914/11914, MP: 51835/51835, Stamina: 55993/55993, Strength: 48913, Defense: 45763, Speed: 52381, Energy: 95% (7148396/7524627 units)."

"With these type of stats even you shouldn't be able to stand a chance against me," Sapphire smirked.

The dragon roared at her and charged a breath attack. Sapphire launched herself off the edge of the crater towards the dragon at a blinding speed. The dragon shot it's breath attack at her but she dodged it by using Dimensional Maneuvering and jumping to the side. She jumped from one platform to other, not moving in a straight line to make herself a harder target.

The dragon raised its wings into the air, its body emitting a red glow before it unleashed an area of effect attack, a blast of energy. The heat wave-like attack knocked Sapphire off the platform, breaking all platforms which were there at that time. Seizing the opportunity the dragon lashed its gigantic tail at her. Twisting her body mid-air, Sapphire barely managed to dodge the attack, the tail passing from right in front of her face, though the wind from it tossed her away into the air.

Using Dimensional Maneuvering Sapphire summoned a platform and used it to regain control of her movements. She launched herself off the platform straight towards the dragon. Spinning her body mid-air she sliced at the dragon's wing joint, but a magical barrier obstructed her attack. Failing to cause any actual damage Sapphire bounced off and landed on another platform, jumping off she landed on another platform as the dragon's rising wing smashed through the previous one. The dragon raised its head and brought it down towards her, aiming to eat her before she could move again.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

You can protect the outside with a magic barrier, but what about the inside? Sapphire smiled as she summoned several magic circles and unleashed a flood of venom attacks right into the fire dragon's mouth. As the venom entered the dragon's mouth it stumbled backwards, shaking its head violently due to the acidic properties of the venom, throwing out a large amount of it, but some of it still managed to reach inside. As the fire dragon was recovering from the venom Sapphire prepared to hit it with everything she has, aiming to weaken and damage it as much as possible in the short time she received.

"Shadow Magic: Spear Barrage, Shadow Cannon and Shadow Play." Sapphire called out as countless magic circles appeared around the dragon and rained a barrage of Shadow Spears and Shadow Blasts at it relentlessly. Thirteen Shadow Warriors emerged around Sapphire and stationed themselves around the dragon, some firing Shadow Pulses and others attacking it with Shadow Slashes. Sapphire used Shadow Pulse along with using Shadow Slashes, a blast of Shadow Pulse travelling with a pair of x-shaped Shadow Slashes, blasting through the magical barrier covering the dragon's body.

The dragon roared and swung its tail and wings around, breaking many of the magic circles and causing the Shadow Warriors to shuffle around, but it failed to cause any actual damage as broken magic circles could easily be summoned again. The dragon charged a breath attack and shot it at the nearest Shadow, but it managed to dodge by moving to the side, barely in time. The attack landed on the side of the crater behind the Shadow Warrior, blowing it towards the fire dragon. The dragon opened its jaws and crushed the Shadow between them, giving it no opportunity for escape.

Just go down already.

"Energy Transfer and Concentration: 10% to Shadow Magic, 5% to Shadow Pulse, and 5% to Shadow Slashes," Appraisal confirmed.

The damage from the attacks was visible as the spears started to pierce through not just the barrier but also the scales of the dragon. It roared in pain as more and more attacks started to damage it. Sapphire's Shadow Pulses and Slashes also did a great deal of damage to the ground as some of them bounced of the dragon when it focused it's protective barrier on certain parts of its body. Several cracks and craters formed in the ground, rocks flying everywhere.

Raising its head towards the sky the dragon opened its jaws, a bright red orb forming inside of its mouth, before being released up into the sky almost instantly. After reaching a fairly great height the orb exploded into a large number of smaller orbs, raining down like a meteor shower.

The Shadows moved around to dodge as the shower of one-hit kill orbs descended. Sapphire stood where she was focused entirely on damaging the dragon. She stepped to the side and removed the platform as an orb descended there, recreating a platform right below her as the orb passed from where she stood before, knowing even if the orb landed even near her the damage would be unimaginable, and very likely certain death.

Standing back on the platform she let loose another barrage of Shadow Slashes and Pulses. She glimpsed one of her Shadow Warriors being caught in the middle of three orbs. It charged all of its energy into a Shadow Slash and attacked the fire dragon with it just as the three orbs landed on its platform, destroying it and the shockwave cracking several other platforms and knocking another Shadow Warrior off its platform.

The fire dragon swung its claws, wings, and tail violently to hit any of the Shadows but failed to land a single hit, the Shadow Warriors speed aiding them in escaping the rampaging dragon. Even just ten percent of Sapphire's current speed was faster than most creatures, and this fire dragon was no exception, more so when it was wounded and tired from an earlier battle and surrounded.

All of a sudden all the magic circles stopped attacking, slowly disappeared one after the other, shattering like glass. The fire dragon raised its tail into the air and brought it down towards Sapphire. She tried to evade the attack but her legs gave away as she attempted to move, making her trip and fall on the platform, completely perplexed. A moment later the dragon's tail slammed into her, tossing her away to crash into the side of the crater.

The dragon charged its breath attack to finish her off but was interrupted as five Shadow Pulses landed straight into its jaws, causing the breath attack to explode in its mouth. The dragon shook its head and swung at the Shadow Warriors, missing, but it's attention having been diverted to them.

W-why can't I move? Sapphire grunted trying to get up, blood flowing down her face. She was badly wounded, from just that one attack. Her bones were broken, and she was bleeding heavily from her head and several cuts on her body, caused by the shattered ground with jutting rocks that sliced through her skin and flesh.

"HP: 81/11914, MP: 4/51835, Stamina: 21/55993, Energy: 47% (3535464/7524627 units)."

I am not done yet, I am not fine with letting it end like this. I can still keep going, this is not where I die, not yet, not now. Sapphire snarled, forcing herself to her feet, fighting against the pain. Her entire body screamed in pain but she still forced herself up, gritting her teeth and wincing as her bones cracked and the blood from her punctured organs spilled from her mouth. Life Exchange. She ordered as she coughed blood.

"Warning: condition critical, recommended alternative, sacrificing Energy in place of HP for enhanced penalty."

"Just do it." Sapphire groaned, standing up straight and looking towards the still distracted fire dragon.

"HP: 1051/11914, MP: 50715/51835, Stamina: 55372/55993."

I will kill you no matter what. Sapphire snarled as the penalty of Life Exchange kicked in. Blood burst out from her cuts as they widened, her entire body being drenched in blood. She threw up a large amount of blood as well before wiping her face and preparing to go back in to combat.

Charging up a Shadow Slash Sapphire targeted it right at the dragon's eye. Having expected her to be out for the count, the dragon failed to notice the slash before it was too late. Blood spurt out as its eye was completely destroyed by the Shadow Slash, a diagonal cut being visible across its face. Using Shadow Movement Sapphire teleported to right beside the dragon's jaw her right fist raised to strike as hard as possible.

Destruction Attack. Sapphire gritted her teeth from the pain as she attacked.

Sapphire struck the dragon's jaw, black smoke rising from it as the dragon roared in pain. Swinging its head violently and knocking Sapphire away, sending her flying through the air. She fell through the air but was caught by one of her Shadow Warriors as it carried her to a safe distance, placing her on a Dimensional Maneuvering platform before returning to continue attacking the dragon and keep it's attention away from Sapphire.

The dragon lowered its head to the ground and blasted its breath attack at the earth, causing a giant explosion, destroying two Shadow Warriors which failed to get away in time, and damaging everyone else, including Sapphire. The blast of energy destroyed all platforms and knocked everyone to the edges of the crater. Sapphire was blown away to the top of the crater where she landed on her back as some of the Shadow Warriors were slammed into the crater's walls.

Jumping back onto her feet she jumped over the edge at full speed, attacking with renewed vigor. Spinning through the air she charged a Shadow Slash, aiming for the dragon's head. The dragon turned towards her and blasted a breath attack directly at her, hoping to annihilate her then and there. She unleashed the Shadow Slash at the breath attack and was held in the air by the force of the two colliding, being locked in a stalemate for a few moments before being blown away by the breath attack. She landed back on a platform and reactivated all of her spells.

The dragon was instantly overwhelmed by a hail of Shadow Spears and Shadow Blasts as Sapphire prepared to attack again. Many red magic circles appeared as the dragon unleashed its own magic, a barrage of large fireballs being unleashed on Sapphire and the Shadow Warriors. While most of the spells collided and cancelled out each other, some of them made it through, attacking both sides. While most of the dragon's attacks were dodged, all of Sapphire's made contact, though not all managed to damage it was still progress.

You won't be able to keep this up for long, Sapphire panted.

The dragon unleashed another heat wave, a stronger one, knocking all of the Shadow Warriors and Sapphire away and breaking the magic circles. While they were able to keep themselves from falling to the ground, and highly likely to their death, they were too exhausted to be able to keep it up for long. All the Shadow Warriors were nearly dead, even Sapphire was barely holding on.

Sapphire let her head hang loosely for a moment, breathing heavily as she tried to figure out a way to kill the dragon as she recalled all her past experiences. "Flood this entire place." Sapphire ordered all the Shadow Warriors.

All the Shadow Warriors stopped their attacks and unleashed the Deadly Draconic Venom Breath along with some Deadly Draconic Venom Magic. The entire crater slowly started to fill up with venom, reaching a large amount and filling the bottom of the crater before the dragon could realise it. Sensing the danger the fire dragon stopped its barrage of fireballs, not wishing to light the spark to its own demise. It was evident it has fought poison dragons before, and has made the mistake of igniting the venom.

"Draconic venom is highly inflammable, but you already know that." Sapphire smiled with a chuckle. "Stopping your attacks isn't why I filled this place up with it though." She smirked as a fireball appeared in her right hand.

The dragon's intact eye widened as it stared at her, a look of hesitation on its face. Sapphire threw the fireball straight into the pool of venom that filled the crater till the dragon's stomach. The dragon tried to block the fireball with its wings but missed as the fireball descended at a high speed.

The moment the fireball came into contact with the venom it ignited into a giant explosion, one similar in scale to what brought Sapphire's attention to the Ancient Fire Dragon. The explosion sent a shockwave in a giant radius, obliterating what remained of the trees and sending waves through all water bodies. The explosion was visible from a long distance, catching the attention of many as a giant cloud of smoke rose into the sky.

Sapphire lay at a side of the crater, badly wounded, even worse than she was before. She bled from all over her body and one of her sleeves was entirely gone while other parts of her clothes were heavily damaged. She breathed heavily, glad that it was all over, her body regenerating painfully slow now.

"HP: 1051/11914, MP: 50715/51835, Stamina: 3210/55993. Energy: 7% (526723/7524627 units)."

I don't think I could have kept going for much longer, if any longer at all. Sapphire thought as she took in deep breaths.

A roar pierced through the silence as the smoke settled, Sapphire's eyes widening in horror as she raised her head. As Sapphire glimpsed the source of the roar her face turned pale. The fire dragon stood where it had before the blast, far from unscathed however. One of its wings was broken, the other one also shredded and torn. All of its legs were badly damaged and bleeding, the same with the rest of its body. It's tail was nearly detached from halfway down and its chest was blown apart to reveal its flesh, and two ribs poking out from it.

It couldn't have survived that. Sapphire panted, her breathing rapid as panic took over her.

"You have done well to damage me to this extent, now rest in the afterlife." The fire dragon congratulated as it opened its jaws, charging a final breath attack to end Sapphire.

Not happening. Sapphire grunted, pushing herself back up.

The fire dragon charged its breath attack, blue, purple, violet, red, orange and yellow lines travelling from the rest of its body towards its jaws. Blue lines shot through Sapphire's feet as she prepared to run, but a fireball from a magic circle she failed to notice blasted the ground below her, launching her into the air, directly above the dragon, a clear shot with no room to dodge the attack.

Energy Transfer and Concentration: all of it to Shadow Slash. Sapphire ordered in desperation as she grabbed the handle of her katana. Blue lines shot through Sapphire's hand into the Blade of Lost Shadows as she unsheathed it. Spinning in the air she brought the blade to her side as she fell downwards, prepared to swing with all her might as the dragon unleashed it's attack.

The dragon unleashed its breath attack, a beam of all the colors that had shot through its body a moment ago. Sapphire brought her blade arcing down from her side, unleashing the Shadow Slash. The breath attack parted as the Shadow Slash blocked it from directly contacting with Sapphire's body, shooting into the sky through the cloud of smoke, creating a beacon of bright lights.

A large amount of the breath attack gathered at the point of contact with the Shadow Slash before exploding, flames showering into the surroundings as Sapphire fell through them, right towards the dragon. The look of accepted defeat was evident in its eyes as it noticed Sapphire. She sliced the side of its neck with the remaining energy of the Shadow Slash, creating a deep wound and drawing a flood of blood.

The dragon slumped to the ground shortly after Sapphire crashed, cracking the ground from the impact. She lay there motionless, breathing heavily, barely alive. The dragon's head lay close to her, its eyes examining her in its final moments. She glanced at the dragon and tilted her ears with a gesture of 'what'.

"Looks like it is I who will be resting in the afterlife." The dragon laughed weakly.

"Certainly are." Sapphire panted, coughing blood from the impact with the ground.

"Was your only reason to kill me taking my crystal, or was there another?" The dragon questioned.

"No, just your crystal." Sapphire coughed.

"You should listen to your heart more closely," The dragon suggested.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You yourself are not aware of all the reasons behind fighting me, evident that you do not listen to yourself well enough. Or perhaps you simply do not wish to accept the truth, the similarity between you and them is that all of you are aware of the truth, but none wish to accept it."

"I am very much aware of what I do and why."

"Have it your way," The dragon sighed. "It is my pleasure to prove to be useful to 'The Shadow', though 'The Empress' would have been more worthy of powers such as mine, not that she needs any of these, she is far greater than all of us Primordials combined."

"H-how? How do you know those titles?" Sapphire panted. "By 'The Empress' do you mean Kessho?"

"I believe that is her name, though I will continue to refer to her as 'The Empress', and you as 'The Shadow'." The dragon smiled.

"Do you have appraisal to know those titles?"

"Appraisal is a skill not meant for someone such as me. Those who rely solely on their strength do not need a skill the likes of Appraisal. But, those who rely on strategies such as yourself can use skills like it to their maximum potential." The dragon explained. "Though 'The Creator' is still far more adept at it as compared to you, granted you have only used the basic version of it so far."

"Who is 'The Creator'? Sapphire questioned.

"You will find the answers to your questions when the right time comes. You need not worry, you are the one chosen for one of the greatest tasks in this journey. There are many who are counting on you to succeed when the time comes, and many more will be counting on you afterwards, a failure or two is simply for the sake of learning, you should cherish your failures in this journey as much as the success." The dragon chuckled weakly with a smile. "While they all expect great things from you, the one thing expected of you by 'The Creator' is for you to live life your own way. Unlike your sisters, you are not a caged bird bounded by fate or other mortals. Reach for the sky little one, and one day, when the time comes, surpass even gods."

Sapphire looked at the dragon as it closed its eyes after saying that. "What do you mean by all of that?" Sapphire sighed, knowing it won't say anything anymore. "I want answers, and I want them now."