Fern gritted his teeth and pushed against the ground with all four of his yellow legs. His body nearly doubled in size as he flexed his muscles, his scales bulging as his veins enlarged underneath his skin. Once he was standing under the immense pressure, he licked his lips. “A spell of this caliber isn’t bad, but it’s not good enough to stop me.”

Vur narrowed his eyes and observed the dragons and phoenixes pressed to the ground because of his ability. Only a tenth of them had the ability to move underneath the pressure, and they all seemed to be using external techniques to resist it. Their bodies were much larger and more muscular than their suppressed peers Instead of flying, they walked towards him, each step they took shaking the earth.

“Darn,” Stella said from inside Vur’s body. “I was hoping one move would knock all of them out. Amplify Kondra’s purifying beam, and show them who’s boss!”

“Does Vur mind when you command him to do things?” Mervin’s voice asked from within Vur’s body in the same region the fairy queen’s voice had appeared. “If not, tell him to use the extra pair of arms I granted him. Why’d he wish for them if he’s not going to use them?”

Vur ignored the voices coming from his body and squinted at the approaching beasts. With brute force alone, the buff beasts managed to deal with his spell. An imaginary lightbulb appeared over Vur’s head as his eyes lit up. Those beasts might’ve had innate abilities or special skills to increase their muscle mass, but didn’t he have one of those as well? Vur’s body rippled as he polymorphed himself once more, his body expanding even further, growing over twice the size of Fern, who was the largest dragon present.

“Wait a second,” Fern said, tilting his head and craning his neck to look up at Vur’s face. A bitter expression appeared on the yellow dragon’s face. “You’re not supposed to be bigger than me.”

Vur snorted and leapt forward, the ground shattering underneath his feet. Unobstructed by his own gravity spell, he appeared in front of Fern in an instant. Vur opened his mouth wide and bit down on the yellow dragon’s neck. Vur stood upright on his hindlegs and flexed his neck muscles, his jaws lifting Fern off the ground. Vur circled his head, swinging the yellow dragon like a ragdoll, and slammed Fern’s body onto an approaching phoenix. Crunching and snapping sounds echoed out, and Vur snorted while keeping his jaw locked, hot jets of air coming out of his nostrils, the heat warming Fern’s scales.

The yellow dragon coughed out a mouthful of blood. “You can’t maintain your transformation for long,” he said, glaring at Vur’s uncomfortably close face. The yellow dragon’s eyes narrowed, and lightning exploded out of him. The sudden shock … did nothing to Vur. The ocean-blue dragon blinked at Fern before whipping its head about again, causing Fern to cry out as he was lifted into the air and thrown onto the ground once more.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The dragons and phoenixes hesitated as Vur released his jaws and slammed his tail onto Fern’s exposed belly. Combined with the increased gravity, the force of the blow caused the ground to shatter and swallow Fern up. Vur blinked before looking down at the hole the yellow dragon had created; within the darkness, there was a series of tunnels down below. Vur nodded to himself upon seeing Fern’s miserable state; then, he shifted his gaze onto the other phoenixes and dragons. Like a panther, he pounced forward, bringing a phoenix down to the ground. Thanks to the size difference, one foot was all it took to suppress the buff bird.

“Being physically strong isn’t enough,” the phoenix said as its imprint glowed. It combusted into blood-red flames that spread throughout the area.

“Together!” a voice said, coming from within the flames.

The other phoenixes, even the ones who couldn’t move thanks to the gravity, activated their imprints, exploding into blood-red flames as well, filling the whole region with enormous amounts of heat. Vur snorted and swiped his paw to the side. There was a yelping sound as the buff phoenix was dragged out by the tips of Vur’s claws, the talons having sank deep within the bird’s torso. Vur balled up his paw, mangling the phoenix before tossing it to the side.

“He can access the realm of fire!” a voice said from within the flames.

“That’s impossible! He’s not a phoenix!”

“Tell that to Horrhey!” the first voice said near the mangled phoenix lying on the ground.

Vur’s eyes gleamed with a golden light, and his body burst into blood-red flames as well. His flames mingled with the phoenixes’, and shouts and bird cries filled the region. A battered phoenix was flung out of the flames, both of its wings bending at angles they shouldn’t. A phoenix materialized in the air and flew towards the sky, but a massive dragon’s claw appeared and grabbed it; the talons firmly wrapped around the bird’s whole body, and it let out a cry for help before it was pulling back into the flames.

The dragons exchanged glances with each other as they climbed off the ground. Whether Vur willingly disabled the increased gravity or simply couldn’t maintain it anymore after activating World of Fire, the dragons didn’t know, but they didn’t care either. Extinguisher weapons appeared in their paws or mouths depending on the individual dragon’s fighting style. One dragon slashed at the flames produced by the phoenixes’ combined World of Fire, and a phoenix cried out. A second later, a massive dragon’s head emerged from the flames and bit down on the aggressive dragon’s neck. “I said if you want to hurt a phoenix, you have to get past me first,” Vur said, mumbling his words around the blockage in his mouth. Then, he reared back, raising the dragon into the air in a perfect arc before smashing it into the ground.