Cale could clearly hear the screams coming from the black clouds with the black thunderbolt.

Aaaaaaah.
Aaaaaaah-

It was similar to the shrieks from the black despair. However, others could only hear the, ‘oooooong,’ sound of the rumbling.

“…Huuuu.”

Cale let out a deep breath.

His entire body felt as if it was boiling.

He could feel the power roaring within his body. Fire and light were clashing in his body and traveling through his veins from his head to the tips of his toes.

– It’s coming.

The Super Rock chimed in at that moment. Cale lowered his head.

‘Tsk.’

The White Star who was looking at Cale clicked his tongue and kicked in the air, making his body shoot up.

“…We need to stop him!”

Rosalyn, who had been standing next to Eruhaben as if she was there to protect him, shouted out. Choi Han and Mary both started to move after hearing her shout.
Choi Han started to think in his mind.

‘This is not okay.
I can’t let the White Star approach Cale nor Raon.’

Choi Han and the black aura that was shining around his sword started to reveal its violent presence.
Choi Han recalled the moment he clashed with the White Star earlier. He had flown away from the impact last time.

‘…He is used to the sword.’

The White Star was very experienced with a sword.
The fire and the destructive forces of nature within that fire sword were not the problems.

The sword art that just slashed through Eruhaben’s gold wave. Choi Han was able to see unspeakable experience from that short slash.

– Choi Han, that person is experienced with magic as well.

He heard Rosalyn’s voice in his head.
It was said that a person could not be experienced in both ancient powers and magic, however, that person supposedly could use magic, sword, and ancient powers.

‘…He is strong.’

He was extremely strong.

Squeeze.

He tightly clamped down on his sword. Choi Han’s feet, as well as his entire body that was covered in flight magic, was tense.

Choi Han was rushing toward the White Star because they were facing an enemy who was so strong that all of them together could not do anything.

Mages and necromancers.
A swordsman fought in a different way than both of them.

It could be even called an advantage only a swordsman had.
That was the fact that they had weapons that could slash the enemies and stood at the vanguard.

Choi Han had many moments these days that made him think that he made the right choice to have a sword as his weapon.
It gave him the justification to stand in the vanguard.

– Go.

Choi Han charged toward the White Star as soon as he heard Rosalyn’s voice.
However, he was forced to stop.

“Raon!”

He heard the ancient Dragon’s voice coming from behind him.
Choi Han looked back and forth between the black clouds and the ancient Dragon indecisively before seeing the small Dragon quickly flying toward Eruhaben.

“Gramps!”

Raon was worried about Cale, but could not ignore Eruhaben calling for him.
Raon had seen how Cale had interlocked his fingers to hug him earlier, as well as Eruhaben’s scar-filled back in front of them.

“Are you okay?”

Raon’s round eyes focused on Eruhaben. The blood from earlier had dried around his mouth.
Eruhaben still had both hands in the air because of the white gold barrier.

“Little kid, are you looking down on me?”

The white gold barrier settled underneath the black clouds once it covered the capital.

“I am not looking down on you! Goldie gramps, if you get hurt, I am going to destroy this wor-”
“You’re being too loud, little kid.”
“I, AM, NOT, LOU-!”

Raon was responding to Eruhaben who cut him off before he was forced to stop talking after seeing the ancient Dragon’s actions.

A white gold colored thread started to appear from the ancient Dragon’s two hands that looked as if they were trying to support the sky.
The thread was touching the white gold barrier that was resisting against the black clouds.

The ancient Dragon grabbed that thread with both hands before removing one hand in order to grab Raon’s front paw.

“You do it.”

Raon’s small, chubby and black front paw. The ancient Dragon placed the white gold thread in Raon’s palm.

Raon could feel Eruhaben’s strength flowing into him the moment the white gold thread touched his paw.
The thread slowly melted away in Raon’s paw before surrounding Raon in a white gold light.

“You can do it. You are very good at magic.”

Eruhaben then grabbed Raon’s paw again and started to move it. He then made Raon reach up to the sky with his short paws just as he had done.

“…I-”

Raon looked at the white gold light surrounding him and asked.

“Why should I do this?
Gramps, what are you going to do if I’m doing this?”

Raon’s paws were shaking a bit. Eruhaben tightly clenched those front paws for a moment before letting go and responding back.

“I am someone who keeps my word.”

Eruhaben patted the little kid’s round head before turning around.

“Raon, that is what it means to be a Dragon.”

He then raised his voice.

“All of you, protect Raon!”

Rosalyn, Choi Han, Mary, and even Hannah came over. Eruhaben flew past them and shot up into the air.

He was flying toward Cale and the White Star.
Rosalyn, who had been blankly watching Eruhaben fly away, turned her head after feeling a chilling fluctuation of mana.

The black Dragon.
There was a large amount of black mana coming from the tiny Dragon.
Rosalyn could see the frowning Raon focusing not on Eruhaben nor even Cale, but only on the white gold barrier and the black clouds.

Raon’s front paws were shaking. She heard Raon’s voice as his front paws continued to shake.

“…I…am…great and mighty.”

Rosalyn almost teared up for some reason as she heard that. The sight in front of her together with the young Dragon’s voice was making her emotional.

The white gold thread.
A silver color started to dye the white gold light that Eruhaben had connected to Raon.
It was the color that came out when Raon used his shield, when Raon wanted to protect something.

The white gold barrier was slowly turning silver. The young Dragon Raon was working hard to do as much as he could with his current limits.
Rosalyn shouted out to the rest of the group who were still blankly staring once she saw that.

“Protect Raon-nim!”

She then started to give orders.

“Focus all long-distance attacks on the White Star! Support Eruhaben-nim!”

A fire arrow shot out from Rosalyn’s hand toward the White Star. She then moved to Raon’s right side.
Choi Han launched an aura attack toward the White Star before moving to Raon’s left side.
Hannah was in front of Raon while Mary moved behind him.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

The fire arrow and the shining black aura hit the White Star.

“…Really.”

The White Star who used his water wall to defend against both attacks could not hide his annoyance. His face showed fatigue and anger at the fact that he had not reached Cale yet.

“Cale, they really seem to want to protect you.”

Cale, who was outside the white gold barrier, responded back to the White Star with a stoic expression on his face.

“Up.”
“…Hmm? Up?”

The White Star’s expression soon stiffened as he looked up in confusion and swung the sword in his hand.

Baaaaang!

Eruhaben and the White Star clashed once more. Cale, who was watching this, shrugged his shoulders and smirked as he responded back.

“It’s actually down and not up, you fucking bastard.”

Eruhaben started to speak to the White Star who was on the other side of his white gold spear and the fire sword.

“You don’t have enough strength, right?”

The White Star had silently blocked the ancient Dragon’s attack with his water wall earlier on. However, that same person was being annoyed by Choi Han and Rosalyn’s attacks right now.

The meaning behind it was simple.

The White Star’s condition was not good.
There was still blood dripping out of the White Star’s mouth.

Of course, Eruhaben’s condition was not great either.
His face was pale and he had dried blood on his lips. The White Star responded back as if he was tired.

“…You really are persistent. You’re not like a Dragon.”

However, Eruhaben just raised his head and made eye contact with Cale.

Cale could see that Eruhaben’s gaze was calm. Furthermore, he could see the silver light fusing with the white gold barrier as Raon was maintaining it.
He could hear Eruhaben laughing and speaking to him as he was about to frown.

“Cale, you have to let me live a lot longer, right?”

The frown that was forming on Cale’s face quickly turned into a smile.
His former team leader’s voice echoed by Kim Rok Soo’s ears.

‘… Fuck! Hey, Rok Soo. Kim Rok Soo. You have to live a great life on my behalf as well.
Got it?’
‘Live a long time, you bastard. Make sure you can have that slacker life you like so much.’

His team leader’s voice and Eruhaben’s voice seemed to fuse into one.
The power of fire that was roaming through Cale’s body spoke up at that moment.

– I prepared it at full power.

The Fire of Destruction.

The full strength of that ancient power.

Cale had no way of knowing how much burden his body would face after using this strength. However, the Super Rock’s power was fortifying his body right now.
His body was also balanced by having all five elements and his plate was bigger now, albeit still being as weak as glass.

Cale closed his eyes.

Rose gold light started to come out of his hands that were in front of the black clouds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cale pulled out all of the fire inside of his body as he heard his heart beating.

The rose gold light came out of Cale’s hands and turned into a thin line as it cut in between the black clouds and the white gold barrier.

Cale heard something break at that moment. It was Eruhaben’s white gold spear that was broken.

However, Cale did not open his eyes. The White Star approached Eruhaben.

“You damn old Dragon bastard.”

The White Star’s fist that had broken Eruhaben’s spear was heading toward Eruhaben’s stomach.

“You are really…”

The punch landed on Eruhaben.

“Ugh!”
“Annoying me.”

Eruhaben groaned and the White Star was about to kick him away.

“Ha, haha.”

He laughed and grabbed onto the White Star’s fist.
The White Star could see the Dragon grab his other hand as well.

“You are mine.”

The ancient Dragon was someone who kept his word.
His hands that were covered in white gold light were grabbing onto the White Star’s hands.
Eruhaben was holding on as best as he could in order to prevent the White Star from approaching any closer to Cale.

“Cale, run wild.”

‘Do what you want to do how you want to do it.’

The White Star frowned and shouted out the moment he heard the ancient Dragon’s voice.

“Strike down!”

Strike down.
That order was directed at the sky and caused Eruhaben to let out another groan.

“Ugh!”

He felt a significant amount of power flowing out from the White Star.

Oooooooong-

The rumbling black clouds suddenly stopped.
Silence filled the area for a moment.

Screeeech-
Screeeech- screeeeeech-

A terrible shriek filled the area as the sky started to shake.
The black clouds were shrieking loudly. Even the air felt like it was shaking.

“Ugh!”

The White Star kicked Eruhaben, forcing him to let go of his hands and move back. He looked up at the sky as he sighed in pain.

Something black shot out from the black clouds.

It was a thunderbolt.

A black thunderbolt revealed itself from the black clouds that covered up the capital.
It was followed by an endless amount of other black thunderbolts.

Eruhaben started to smile at that moment.

It was the same moment that Cale opened his eyes.
He looked toward the black thunderbolts and gave the order.

“Purify them.”

The thin rose gold thread that was between the white gold barrier and the black clouds reacted to his order.

Fire started to shout out from the thread.

And from within the fire…

Rose gold thunderbolts that looked ready to gobble up the black thunderbolts, the black clouds, and even pierce through the skies shot out from the fire.

It was as if fire was coming from the ground and the black thunderbolt was falling from the sky and roaring at each other.

Screeeech-

The shrieking black thunderbolts and the rose gold thunderbolts crashed against each other.

Aaaaaaah-
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

The shrieks started to change.
It happened the moment the two thunderbolts crashed against each other. The shrieks turned into sobs and the black color started to be washed away, similar to when he had purified the black despair in the past.

The rose gold light was eating up the darkness within the black thunderbolts.

“Kaha, hahaha!”

However, the White Star was laughing.

The rose gold thunderbolts slowly turned into red ash and disappeared after battling against the black thunderbolts.
Although it could eat the darkness within the black thunderbolts, it was unable to eat the thunderbolts themselves.

The White Star’s sky was still there even without Bernard’s darkness.
That was why the White Star was laughing.

“Hahaha, I told you that you wouldn’t be able to win against my ancient power.”

The black thunderbolts that were now white after being cleansed by the rose gold light struck down toward the white gold barrier. It was at that moment.

“Ugh!”

The White Star groaned and took a deep breath.
Eruhaben had rushed over and had landed a punch on his face. The ancient Dragon who was breathing heavily looked tired. His hands were shaking as well.

It was because he had gone up against the fire sword that was a fortified version of the sword of Disasters, which was one of the Dragon Slayer’s powers.
However, Eruhaben was doing everything he could to draw out every ounce of strength in his body.

“You, get out.”
“What?”

Eruhaben barely managed to pull out some mana to launch toward the White Star who was just as tired.

“Are you still planning on attack-!”

The eyes of the White Star who was preparing for an attack turned wide.
It was not an attack.
It was a gust of wind.
A quick gust of wind enveloped him before shooting up.

It headed outside the white gold barrier.

The White Star was pushed back and Eruhaben reached his hand out at that moment.
He could see something falling from the sky.

“Huff, huff. Huff.”

Eruhaben caught the person who was falling.
He could hear that person’s rough breathing.

“Huff, huuuff.”

Cale was breathing heavily as if he did not have enough oxygen. His entire body was shaking.
He was not coughing up blood, however, he was unable to breathe properly as if he would suffocate to death soon.

Cale leaned into Eruhaben’s body and raised his head. His sight was blurry.

– I said don’t sacrifice yourself.

He could hear the Super Rock in his mind.
He could see the White Star smiling with a tired expression on his face from outside the white gold barrier.

– The black color is gone.

The Super Rock continued on.

– We did one of the things we are capable of doing.

Cale started to smile.
The white thunderbolts that were the result of the Fire of Destruction washing away the black despair.

“Ah.”

Saint Jack clasped his hands together on the ground.
Bernard’s darkness was gone and only the White Star’s powers were left in the thunderbolts now.

These thunderbolts were full of the natural power of nature.
They gave off the intense feeling of nature.

It was a calm and beautiful power.

‘…It almost feels holy as well.’

Saint Jack started to frown because of that power.
It could not be helped.
Jack’s face that seemed both relieved and crying at the same time started to speak.

“…Young master Cale.
Eruhaben-nim and Raon-nim.”

Jack’s face had both joy and sorrow as he called out their names.

The ancient Dragon Eruhaben activated his magic again. He was pulling up even the smallest grain of mana within his body.

“I can’t let it be destroyed.”

More white gold light started to fuse in with the white gold barrier.

“…I … am great and mighty!”

A bright silver light shot out of Raon’s front paws that were covered in black mana.
Cale reached his hand out as well.

– Are you going to do it in the end?

He could hear the Super Rock’s voice.
Cale looked at the white thunderbolts that looked ready to strike down at the Empire’s capital, the homes of the citizens, and responded back.

“Stop asking me the same thing.”

The Super Rock let out a sigh as he responded back.

– You won’t die, but it will be painful.

Cale let out a chuckle.

Someone’s home, someone’s life was…
Going to be destroyed.
Going to break down.
Going to turn to rubble.
Going to disappear.

Sometimes it was worse just watching all of that happen.

He wasn’t certain that they would be able to stop the White Star’s attack even though both Eruhaben and Raon were making their moves.
It was only right for him to support them with his strength no matter how weak it was.
In addition…

“I haven’t fainted yet.”

He had not fainted just yet.
That meant that his body was still capable of doing more.

Cale’s hands were reaching toward the sky. A silver light started to come out of his palms.

The white gold barrier.
The silver shield around it.
Now, there was another silver shield with two wings opened wide on top of that silver shield.

The white thunderbolts shot down on the silver shield.

It was a clash between things that were fighting to protect and things that were fighting to destroy.

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