Tafel stared at the display with a furrow on her brow. One second, the tentacle belonging to the Wisty was there, but the next second, it was gone as if it had teleported away. Lindyss had said the Wisty would travel to a different realm, one where only people with strong souls and contracts could survive in. Although Tafel might’ve been imprinted by a phoenix, her soul wasn’t strong enough according to the cursed elf.

“The tentacle is gone,” Mary said.

“Yeah.” Tafel nodded and clasped her hands around the stone she was holding in her right hand. She closed her eyes and focused, trying to sense the sister stone she had left with Vur, one that’d allow her to figure out his location to open a portal to. After a minute of anxiety-inducing searching, Tafel exhaled upon locating the sister stone. It was still rushing away, but the pair of connecting stones did as advertised. “They’re in a different realm now.”

“Doesn’t that mean we can open the portal to Erde?” Mary asked. “If the tentacle was blocking it, now that it’s gone, what’s stopping the tower?”

“The Wisty might notice and come back,” Tafel said. “If that happens, Vur will fail his mission.” A furrow appeared on the demon’s brow. “Just wondering, but … when did you get here?”

Mary pouted before turning her head to the side. “I followed you guys,” she said. “It looked like you were going somewhere fun without me again.”

Tafel blinked and looked over at Mary. Behind the armored woman, Malvina, no longer polymorphed into an elf because Vur had left, and a large armored dragon shifted their gazes to the side, pretending to not exist. “Well,” Tafel said and cleared her throat. “As you can see, it’s pretty boring.” She nodded. “But since you’re here, we can do something fun.”

“Like sparring against this dragon?” Mary asked, gesturing towards Volearden with her eyes. They were round, bright, and eager.

Volearden’s helmet swirled with a mixture of light purple and orange. He pointed at himself. “You want to spar me?” he asked. “There’s plenty of other dragons who like fighting. How about you defeat them first?” He cleared his throat and cupped his claw around where his mouth would be on his helmet as he whispered to Tafel, “How is this woman related to me?”

“She’s Mary, my and Vur’s friend,” Tafel said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

In other words, she was a stranger requesting a spar with him. Then again, she was Vur’s friend. Volearden didn’t want to embarrass his family, so he nodded his head. “Alright,” the armored dragon said and climbed to his feet. “Since you appreciate armor as well, I’ll humor you.” His neck cracked as he tilted his head from side to side. “How do you want to do this?” he asked. “Light contact? Full contact?”

“Full contact,” Mary said, drawing her sword.

“Are you sure you don’t want to pick light contact first?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow as she took a step backwards.

“The more realistic, the better,” Mary said and stabbed her arm with her sword, sliding the blade between the gaps in her armor. She narrowed her eyes at Volearden as she pulled her weapon out of her arm, letting her blood coat the metal edge. A helmet appeared in her free, gauntleted hand as her root bracelet flashed, and she donned it, covering every inch of her skin with the black metal.

“Confident, aren’t you?” Volearden asked as Mary took a step forward and disappeared. Volearden swiped his paw as if he were swatting a fly, and a metal clanging sound echoed through the observatory. Mary’s body tumbled along the ground before crashing into the wall. Although the elevator had a hard time accommodating a dragon and a phoenix, the void observation post was spacious but not spacious enough for a dragon to fly. It also wasn’t spacious enough for Mary to distance herself from Volearden’s attacking range.

Mary reoriented herself just in time to see Volearden’s armored claw engulf her vision, rapidly widening until all she could see were the lines within the dragon’s greaves that allowed him to bend his toes as he pleased. Mary raised her sword in front of herself and slashed, pushing her weapon against the approaching limb. It crushed her, pressing her sword against her armor, pinning her arms against her sides.

Volearden raised Mary up to his helmet. “I think you fight the same way as me,” he said. Then, he nodded. “But I’m bigger, stronger, and my armor is better, so it’s only natural you’ll lose.”

“Because those are the only things that matter in a fight,” Malvina said and snorted.

“It’s not like you’ve ever beaten me,” Volearden said to Malvina as he lowered Mary to the ground. He released her and patted her head with one claw as if she were a wild bear cub. “I think those are the only things that matter.”

“If that’s the case, how come you haven’t beaten me yet?” Malvina asked, puffing her chest out.

Volearden shrugged. “You’re good at running, and I’m too lazy to chase.”

“You mean too heavy,” Malvina said, sneering at the dragon’s armor.

“That’s right,” Volearden said, nodding his head. “The moment I sit on you is the moment the fight ends. If I ever catch you, it’s over.” His helmet swirled with green colors, a temporary smile forming before disappearing. “Better watch out.”

Mary sat on the ground with her legs crumpled underneath her. She stared up at Volearden without moving. If she couldn’t even put a scratch on this dragon, how was she supposed to defeat Grimmoldesser and save Mary Jr.’s soul?