Chapter 298: Wings of Iron, Approval

"This is somewhat beyond my expectations. You truly are desperate to prove yourself, but it is not enough. You still lack the capacity to involve yourself in matters concerning 'Him'."

The silver dragon Aerylion gazed at Zig, who was approaching from the distance, her tone remaining detached and confident. Though slightly surprised, she showed no intention of changing her mind, regardless of Zig’s words or the magical aura radiating from him.

"Brother, Sister, please don't fight!"

Noel reached out, her voice choked with tears. She could not comprehend why the brother and sister she had just met were coming to blows. Although the little one was already over a dozen times the age of Wang Yu and Avia, her psychological maturity remained that of a child due to the nature of her life cycle.

"Don't worry, your brother and sister are just playing around. Yes, just playing."

Stroking Noel’s crimson hair, Avia offered a gentle comfort before exchanging a glance with Wang Yu.

Wang Yu merely shrugged, remaining silent.

Nodding, Avia communed with the Seed of Eden and opened a spatial gateway. The moment it parted, a flurry of metallic components flew out, crackling with magical fluctuations and dancing violet arcs of electricity.

The components darted rapidly toward Zig. Aerylion glanced at them but made no move to intervene, allowing the parts to settle around him.

"Hum, hum, hum, crackle!"

The magitech circuits embedded within the parts quickly resonated with the arrays etched upon Zig’s dragon scales. Arcs of light swirled as the metal segments connected to his tattered dragon wings, filling the gaps in the skeletal frame.

"Click, clack, clang!"

Guided by the pull of gravity magic, the components locked into place, internal mechanisms shifting to secure them firmly together.

Where Zig’s wings had once been ragged, a pair of steel wings now stood, slightly smaller than those of a typical dragon.

"Sorry, Sis. I know how powerful you are, so I had to borrow some outside help."

Zig nodded toward Avia, who had opened the gateway to provide the pre-prepared parts, then turned his gaze to Aerylion, whose eyes flickered with a fresh hint of surprise. He spoke with calm resolve.

"Since you seek recognition, then come and try. As for using a few tricks, it matters not."

The indifferent reply came; Aerylion did not comment on the support Zig had received from the girl.

"Then here I come!"

Zig’s powerful claws tore into the earth, his massive frame surging forward as he rapidly built momentum, charging toward Aerylion.

The sheer weight of the dragon’s body shook the earth, sending rocks and dust tumbling in his wake.

Wang Yu and Avia had already retreated to a safer distance with Noel. While the two dragons called it "playing," the shockwaves of a battle between them were no laughing matter.

"The Undead Plane provides quite a decent arena for this sibling feud. Both their powers are suppressed, which is perfect—no need to worry about one actually crippling the other."

"Still, Zig really has the advantage here. Aerylion is more heavily suppressed by the plane, while Zig’s magitech circuits and steel wings are unaffected by the Undead Plane’s dampening..."

Wang Yu crouched on a small hill, analyzing the battle. All in all, Zig held the upper hand, but would he win?

"Unlikely..."

Wang Yu clicked his tongue and whispered.

He was promptly tapped on the head by Avia, who gestured with her eyes toward Noel, whom she was holding; the girl’s eyes were brimming with tears, fixed unblinkingly on the clash between her brother and sister.

Giving an "OK" sign, Wang Yu fell silent, focusing his attention on the family dispute.

"Rumble, swish, swish!"

The arrays on Zig’s body flared with his charge. Activated in advance, they drew in earth and fire elements simultaneously.

Several rocks, burning with scorching flames, hovered around Zig before being violently launched at Aerylion, who stood waiting with composed ease.

"Human array theory? It suits your style, but it is unwise to compete in spellcasting against dragon-tongue magic."

The cold words fell from the silver dragon’s lips. Interwoven with her speech, a dragon-tongue incantation manifested, and four cross-blades composed of silver light appeared at her side.

As the flaming meteors descended, two silver blades flew forth, soaring into the sky to cleave the fireballs in two, shattering their internal magical structures into nothingness.

The high-temperature fire elements lost their heat in mid-air, and the sturdy earth elements crumbled into dust. The remaining two silver blades were gripped by Aerylion’s nimble claws as she lunged toward Zig.

Finally in motion, the silver dragon Aerylion and Zig rushed toward one another, the two dragons shaking the earth as they closed the distance.

Just then, Zig opened his maw. A crimson light flared in his chest, and the power of red flame surged, swirling in his throat before erupting. Dragon breath, fired.

A beam of scorching, white-hot energy blasted toward Aerylion. The preemptive strike was merciless, unleashed with his greatest strength.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion erupted where the silver blades met the crimson breath. Fire soared into the sky, and a visible shockwave rippled outward, carving a massive crater into the ground.

Yet, as if entirely unaffected, the silver blades swept outward, tearing through the curtain of flame. Aerylion’s brilliant silver scales flashed as she beat her wings, bursting through the fire and accelerating into a dive toward Zig.

"Click, clack!"

Zig seemed to have anticipated that one of his strongest attacks would fail. He recoiled, claws digging into the earth, as the magitech circuits and the gravity arrays on his steel wings activated simultaneously. Violet arcs crackled around him, flashing with high-energy brilliance.

Targeting the diving dragon, Zig poured all his gravity magic into the strike. Infinite pressure, accompanied by the violet arcs, was applied to Aerylion’s body, dragging her violently toward the ground.

The sudden, immense force caught Aerylion off guard. Her high-speed dive was compounded by the doubled gravity, slamming her heavily into the earth with a deafening crash.

"Boom!"

The earth shook, sending debris flying as Aerylion’s body carved a massive depression into the ground.

Zig did not cease his gravity magic. His body, wreathed in violet arcs, possessed unimaginable weight, and cracks spiderwebbed across the surrounding terrain under the crushing pressure.

"Bang!"

Zig’s tail whipped up, his unique battle aura surging through his frame to empower the strike. It lashed down with a thunderous roar, shattering the ground.

"Rumble, rumble!"

Using his mental energy to control the magitech circuits, Zig focused the gravity magic, concentrating half the pressure on the silver dragon to maintain his hold.

The other half he applied to the fractured earth behind him, ripping a massive, hill-like boulder from the ground and hurling it down upon the pinned Aerylion.

The earth trembled as the boulder shattered into pieces. Beneath the rubble, the silver dragon remained still. Yet, Zig did not for a moment believe such tactics would suffice. He remained vigilant; he was, after all, one of the few who knew best just how powerful Aerylion truly was.

"Zing!"

Beside him, a spatial rift suddenly opened. The unharmed silver dragon lunged out. As she streaked past his back, the silver cross-blade in her claw carved through his scales and flesh, leaving a gruesome, gaping wound.

The silver dragon, a master of spatial magic. Zig’s crushing blow had missed its target entirely.

The violet arcs around Zig’s body flickered and died. Aerylion’s strike, too fast for him to react, had destroyed a large portion of the gravity arrays etched onto his scales. This was the greatest flaw of external magitech circuits: they were far too fragile compared to the innate spellcasting of the dragon race.

The silver dragon swept past his back, beating her wings to lower her altitude. Her claws dug into the ground, carving a jagged path as she decelerated, turned, and charged at Zig once more. Zig could no longer utilize his gravity magic.

Zig’s dragon eyes locked onto the approaching Aerylion. The cross-blades in her grasp were products of dragon-tongue magic, their power terrifying; even a dragon’s formidable body could not withstand them.

If Aerylion landed a second strike, Zig would undoubtedly suffer a total defeat. Thus, he had to resort to a few more tricks.

The distance between them vanished in an instant. Suddenly, a spatial rift appeared in front of the charging silver dragon. Aerylion dove straight into it, and the exit manifested synchronously beside Zig. A feint—the silver dragon’s cross-blade lunged out from the rift.

The blade, aimed at the magitech circuits on Zig’s flank, struck empty air. Zig, anticipating her use of spatial abilities, had been fully focused, successfully catching the prelude to her attack.

In the split second before the strike landed, Zig shifted his dragon form into a human shape, using his diminished size to narrowly evade the blow.

In his human form, Sieg clutched a magical ring—a short-range spatial displacement device, commonly known as a blink ring. His eyes locked onto the silver dragon, a creature far more massive than his own human frame. For a fleeting moment, man and dragon exchanged gazes; then, with a flash of brilliance, Sieg vanished, reappearing directly behind the silver dragon.

The human form and the dragon form were, in essence, one; since Sieg could not displace his colossal draconic body, he shifted his human vessel instead, only to reclaim his true form in an instant.

"Roar!"

With a thunderous cry, Sieg’s draconic body materialized behind the silver dragon, his claws lashing out to pin Arelian’s frame.

Surging with battle aura and unleashing the full extent of his physical might, Sieg gripped the silver dragon, who was noticeably more slender than himself, and exerted every ounce of strength to suppress her. He intended to leverage his greatest advantage—a raw, physical power that stood out even among the dragonkin—to carve out a path to victory.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The gravity arrays embedded in the steel wings upon Sieg’s back hummed to life, providing him with a ferocious upward thrust.

As the outer shells of the metallic components peeled away, they revealed a hidden array of nozzles. Alchemical fuel ignited in a violent burst, blooming into jets of flame that adorned the steel wings with plumes of crimson fire.

Only now, expanded by the roaring propulsion, did these wings reveal their true, formidable form.

Clinging tightly to Arelian, Sieg beat his flaming wings, and under the weight of that immense thrust, he surged toward the heavens, dragging the silver dragon with him.

Arelian struggled, but caught in such a position, she could find no leverage, and her raw strength proved insufficient to break Sieg’s iron-clad hold.

Leaving a trail of fire in their wake, Sieg hauled Arelian to a dizzying height before reversing the flow of his flames. The thrust shifted downward, combining with the pull of gravity to send them hurtling toward the earth, accelerating with every passing second.

"Sorry, sis, but this is the only way I could think of to try and win."

Sieg’s voice, tinged with helplessness, echoed through the air as they plummeted, locked in their desperate, accelerating descent.

Arelian offered no reply, remaining stoically silent.

The two draconic shadows, growing ever faster as they streaked toward the ground, struck the earth in a single, cataclysmic impact.

"Boom!"

A terrifying roar shattered the silence, sending shockwaves rippling violently through the terrain. At the epicenter, dust billowed into the sky, and countless fissures spiderwebbed across the landscape, uprooting the withered, decaying trees nearby. It was impossible to imagine what remained at the heart of the collision.

"That should be... manageable, I hope."

Wang Yu frowned as he watched the impact site. Given the suppression of the plane, it was difficult to say whether such a collision would leave Sieg with grievous wounds.

Sieg rarely acted recklessly, but to resort to such a mutually destructive maneuver meant he had truly pushed himself to the limit.

"They are unharmed. Sieg’s sister is truly stronger than I could have imagined."

Avia had already cast her detection spell, piercing through the haze of dust to glimpse the scene within, and what she saw left her in awe of Arelian’s power.

In the center of the massive crater, Sieg lay in his human form, his clothes shredded and his body coated in dust, looking utterly wretched.

Fragments of metallic components lay scattered about; the sheer force of the impact had not only forced Sieg out of his draconic form but had shattered his steel wings into ruin.

"If I hadn't cushioned your fall at the very last moment, you would have been far more severely injured."

Arelian, now in her human form, walked toward the prone Sieg. She was entirely unscathed, not a speck of dust marring her long, silver hair, as she spoke in a cool, detached tone.

"Cough, cough... Sis, you’ve grown even stronger..."

Sieg spoke with great difficulty, his voice heavy with resignation. His all-out assault had achieved nothing, and in the end, he had even required Arelian’s intervention to survive.

"Get up. You have succeeded in showing me your resolve, and I know you were not merely posturing. I suspect these things you wear are not yet perfected, are they?"

Arelian crouched down and extended a hand to her fallen brother.

"Yeah."

With that simple reply, Sieg grasped his sister’s hand and pulled himself to his feet.

Tapping her finger against her brother’s chest, Arelian bestowed her recognition upon him.

"Show me, then—just how high these borrowed wings can truly fly."