Valeria reacted before the blade reached her neck. She crossed both short spears above her shoulder, allowing Max’s enormous weapon to crash against them with enough force to split the ground beneath her feet.
Golden and purple flames erupted against the fire surrounding her spears. Valeria’s boots sank into the stone, and her arms trembled beneath the weight, yet she twisted one spear against the flat of Max’s blade and redirected it past her shoulder.
Several strands of auburn hair burned away while purple ice spread across one side of her armor.
Max opened his black wings and twisted with the momentum, but Cassian was already moving.
"Left!"
Cassian’s leaf-shaped spear pierced through the darkness, its golden point aimed at Max’s ribs. Max pulled away, but the weapon still cut through several scales and left a line of blood along his side.
Lucius charged from the opposite direction and drove the center of his rectangular shield into Max’s shoulder. The golden eagle engraved upon its surface released a burst of power, knocking Max away from Valeria.
His claws carved lines through the stone as he stopped himself.
A bowstring sounded behind him.
Nogai released three dark arrows infused with crimson mana. Max raised his blade and shattered the first against its crystal surface, but the second changed direction and struck his thigh. The third passed beside his head before curving back and cutting across one of his black horns.
Urus was already waiting behind him.
The burly warrior swung his chained mace from the side. Max sensed the danger and raised his combined blade in time.
A deafening explosion shook the battlefield. Crimson force erupted between the two weapons, fracturing the crystal surrounding Max’s blade as the chain continued forward and wrapped around its upper half.
Urus planted his feet and pulled, dragging Max toward him before raising one armored knee.
Max’s tail struck first.
It knocked Urus’s knee aside before smashing into his ribs. Crimson runes flashed across the warrior’s armor as his massive body was hurled several meters away.
Max pulled against the chain and dragged him back, raising his blade to strike. Before he could finish the attack, silver bells rang beside him.
Ulaghchi appeared between them.
One curved blade knocked Max’s claw away from the chain while the other cut across his chest. The bells rang again, causing Ulaghchi’s body to split into several overlapping figures.
Max closed his eyes and swung one wing blindly.
The hardened edge struck Ulaghchi’s real body and sent him crashing across the ground. Blood left the young warrior’s lips, while one side of his armor folded beneath the impact.
"Do not approach him alone!" Cassian commanded.
Urus recovered and pulled the chain again. Distracted by Ulaghchi, Max lost his grip. The combined blade was torn from his claws and dragged across the ground, leaving golden fire and purple ice behind it.
Max reached toward the crystal surrounding the weapon, attempting to call it back, but Valeria drove one spear through its handle and pinned it to the stone. Keeping the blade trapped, she allowed Urus to pull his chain free.
The six gave Max no time to recover.
He opened his wings fully and released another wave of darkness. The black mist tightened around them and began pulling at the mana stored inside their bodies, weapons, and armor.
Valeria’s flames weakened. The runes covering Urus’s armor flickered, and crimson energy leaked from Nogai’s next arrow.
Still, none of them stopped.
Their internal reserves were enormous, and Max needed more time to drain them.
"Advance!" Cassian ordered.
He thrust his spear toward Max’s chest. Max caught the shaft between his claws and turned it aside, but Lucius rushed forward behind his shield.
Max’s tail struck the golden eagle and cracked the metal. Lucius grunted beneath the force, yet he continued forward and slammed the reinforced edge across Max’s jaw.
His head snapped aside.
Valeria entered the opening and drove one of her spears into his abdomen.
The point broke through Max’s scales before golden flames erupted inside the wound. He roared and snapped his wings forward, releasing a violent gust that forced Valeria and Lucius away.
Still holding Cassian’s spear, Max swung him toward the two Imperial warriors. Cassian released his weapon before their bodies collided.
Max spun and hurled the stolen spear toward Nogai.
The older warrior threw himself aside, but the weapon tore through his shoulder and buried itself in the mountainside behind him.
Max tried to follow, but the wound in his abdomen slowed him.
"Now!" Cassian shouted.
Valeria tore her spear from Max’s flesh and moved away.
Nogai fired despite the blood pouring from his shoulder. His arrow struck Max beneath the collarbone and exploded, covering his upper body with crimson fire.
Max ripped the shaft free, but Ulaghchi rushed through the flames and slashed the back of his knee. The curved blade slipped between his scales, and his leg buckled beneath him.
Urus’s mace descended before Max could rise.
Max crossed both arms above his head and folded his wings around his body.
The spiked weapon crashed against him.
The explosion threw Max face-first into the ground. Stone shattered beneath his body, while the blast tore several holes through one of his wings.
The invading armies roared as they watched the dragon king fall. Frankindia’s defenders remained silent, gripping the battlements as the six warriors surrounded him again.
Blood ran from Max’s chest, thigh, shoulder, and abdomen. One arm had already begun swelling, while the golden flames inside his wound continued resisting his darkness.
He planted one claw against the ground and forced himself onto one knee. His wounded wing trembled behind him, and his tail struck the stone as he struggled to rise.
Ulaghchi was breathing unevenly, Nogai’s shoulder bled heavily, and a large fracture crossed Lucius’s shield. Max’s darkness was steadily weakening all six of them, but maintaining it across the battlefield and protecting Frankindia divided his power.
Cassian recalled his spear and caught it as he returned to the formation.
"You are dividing your strength between us and the city," he observed, lowering the golden point toward Max’s head. "A noble decision, perhaps, but a foolish one."
Lucius raised his damaged shield and smiled.
"You wanted to dance, Your Majesty. Surely you are not tired already."
Valeria kept Max’s weapon pinned to the ground. Urus raised his chained mace, while Nogai placed another arrow against his bowstring.
All six showed signs of damage and exhaustion.
However, they were still standing.
Max was barely holding himself upright.
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