(Theme: "The Sun Sets on Gods")
Dawn.
Obsidian scales caught the sunrise like polished knives. The Supreme-Tier True Dragon roared across the ravine, a sound that shattered silence and boiled the mist. Kaito's gravity suit hummed beneath him — 30,000 kilograms crushing every muscle, every scar from the Crucible still burning raw.
"Dragons don't sleep," he muttered through cracked lips. "Neither do I."
Then came the fire.
A jet of volcanic breath carved through the terrain, slagging trees and stone alike. Kaito rolled beneath the blast, felt the heat peel against his back. Lava hissed into the soil behind him.
Lava glands. Throat. Cut those first.
He lunged upward. The dragonbone dagger slammed into the beast's jaw joint — a pop of synovial spray, amber and steaming. The dragon reeled.
"One joint down…" Kaito panted. "…Eighty-seven to go."
Noon.
The world ignited.
The dragon shrieked and summoned a hurricane of fire and lightning. The sky burned. The battlefield disintegrated into smoke and ash. Kaito's suit cracked — 40,000kg now — and his skin blistered in the blast radius.
His mind jolted.
Flash — Akari's crimson lightning, their first clash back in the badlands. Her voice, cold as ice.
"Weakness disgusts me."
Now his own voice, low and broken:
"Weakness… is just anatomy you ignore."
He moved through the storm. Let the lightning strike him — let it surge through his suit. The core flared, energy coursing into synthetic muscle. He vaulted upward, landing hard on the dragon's spine.
Suit Status: LOAD: 45,000kg. CORE ENERGY: 12%.
Dusk.
Bone met stone.
The dragon whipped Kaito into a cliffside. His ribs snapped like dry branches. Blood poured from his lips. His body screamed. The suit groaned — 50,000kg and rising.
Regeneration's gone. No time. Adapt. Adapt!
He clawed at the stone.
A shard of cliff, jagged and curved — dragonbone fossil. He carved a crude spear mid-cough, drove it into the dragon's eye with a grunt of defiance.
"Optic nerve. Twelve percent of sensory feed. You're blind now."
The dragon howled. Flesh erupted.
Far away — Phoenix Guild Stronghold.
Valen raised his frost-covered arms.
His Ice Arc surged. Glacial storms slammed into the Infernal Dragon's wings. They froze — if only for a heartbeat.
"For the Guild!" Valen roared.
The Infernal Dragon scoffed, black eyes smoldering.
"Your ice… bores me."
Midnight.
The Supreme-Tier dragon went berserk.
Geysers of magma exploded from the crust. Earth screamed. Gravity bent. Kaito staggered through the inferno, his muscles tearing one by one. Suit strain spiked — 55,000kg.
Tibialis anterior ruptured. Shift the weight. Load quadriceps. Move, move—
His vision blurred. He rolled, found a boulder, hurled it with all remaining force into the dragon's hind tendon.
CRACK!
The limb buckled. The dragon screamed.
"Tendons. Always the weak point," Kaito growled, breath ragged.
The beast loomed over him now. Obsidian jaws peeled open, molten threads dripping like hunger.
"HU-MANNNN—!"
Phoenix Guild Front.
Sera was airborne. Lightning crackled off her Storm Arc as the Infernal Dragon swatted her into rubble. She crashed, unmoving. The beast turned.
Rykon stepped forward. His shadow blades pulsed in his fists.
His voice? Cold.
"Your turn, lizard."
Dawn.
Kaito's spear gleamed with flame and blood.
He roared and plunged it deep into the dragon's clavicle — where elemental cores fused. The dragon's body twisted, then bloomed outward.
KABOOM—!
A pulse of molten shards tore through the sky. The beast imploded, screaming into oblivion.
Suit Status: 60,000kg. Emergency protocol: PRIMED.
Kaito dropped to one knee. Then another. The sun pierced the smoke — cold and golden.
Far across the plains, black banners rose. An army. Thousands strong.
The Blood Emperor's vanguard had arrived.
Kaito's eyes, bloodshot and trembling, found the sky.
"Mary…" he whispered. "…Was this enough?"
Phoenix Guild – Final Stand.
The Infernal Dragon pinned Rykon beneath molten claws. Its breath burned the very air.
"Shadows die in light," it hissed.
Rykon smiled through broken teeth. "Then… burn with me."
Final image.
Kaito's body collapsed — limbs twitching, suit cracked and flickering at 60,000kg. His face turned toward the rising sun.
The Infernal Dragon's jaws opened wide. Fire swallowed the horizon.
ORION'S FINAL COMMENT:
"When the sun rises… who remains?"
Next: 'OMEGA'S PRICE'