Chapter 1349: Thunder Above, Silence Below

Andona looked up.

A bolt of lightning was already descending from the clouds.

Boom!

The pillar of lightning tore through the sky and struck Vaelor head-on. The golden light around him twisted violently, while the frozen surface turned stark white beneath the glare.

Vaelor slowly rose within the lightning.

Cracks spread across the snow-white longsword in his hand. A moment later, it shattered into countless motes of light that drifted away with the current. Dragon scales spread from his arms to cover his entire body. His limbs changed shape, and a pair of wings extended from his back.

As the lightning began to fade, a dragon patterned in red and blue appeared before them.

Vaelor’s eyes were calm again. He hovered amid the remaining lightning, much larger than before, but still tiny compared to Seraphina.

The Sanctified Judgment Array covering the ice had also collapsed under the lightning strike.

Its patterns broke apart one after another. Lightning shredded the golden radiance, and the array’s remaining power dispersed through the ice.

Vaelor opened his jaws and unleashed a stream of water. At the same time, several waterspouts rose from the nearby sea and spiraled around him.

Lightning spread rapidly through the water.

The waterspouts were soon filled with dancing electrical light. Thin arcs crawled from the sea onto the ice, following the cracks toward everyone’s feet.

Their legs immediately went numb.

Someone tried to step away, only for another current to race after them across the ice. Fortunately, the lightning in the clouds didn’t last long. Once the final flashes faded, the sky cleared again, and the numbness in their legs gradually subsided.

Seraphina was already charging again.

She reached out with one massive claw and swung straight at Vaelor. At the same moment, the waterspouts around him changed direction and closed in from all sides.

Vaelor watched the approaching dragon with cold indifference.

He raised a foreclaw. Between the horns on his forehead, a blood-red sphere of energy began to form. It started as a tiny point, then compressed further and further as dense red patterns flowed across its surface.

Seraphina’s claw bore down from above.

The air around Vaelor buckled under the pressure, forcing him several feet lower. But when the claw reached him, he thrust out both foreclaws and caught it.

Two dragon claws of vastly different sizes slammed together.

Vaelor sank again, his wings blown backward by the impact, but Seraphina failed to swat him out of the sky.

The blood-red sphere between his horns shot forward.

It skimmed along Seraphina’s claw as it flew upward, drawing in the surrounding waterspouts. Massive streams of water broke from their original paths and spiraled around the sphere. With every foot it traveled, more energy accumulated inside.

Feeling the pressure coming straight at her, Seraphina grew even angrier. Two thin jets of flame burst from her nostrils as she raised her head and opened her jaws wide.

Dragon breath poured down.

Scorching flames surged from her mouth and collided head-on with the energy sphere, which had already absorbed the waterspouts. Heat swept across the battlefield. The remaining waterspouts lost their shape and collapsed into seawater, raining down onto the ice.

Vaelor stared grimly into the dragonfire.

Instead of retreating, he struck at the massive claw pressing down on him. Despite the vast difference in their size, he didn’t try to overpower Seraphina. He shifted with the force of her attack and redirected it at an angle.

Seraphina’s claw slid slightly off course.

That tiny deviation was enough for Vaelor to slip out from beneath it.

Above them, the fireball and water sphere collided. The flames continuously evaporated the water, while the water steadily weakened the heat. White steam quickly filled the space between them.

Only now did the battle between the two dragons truly begin.

Seraphina beat her wings, blasting Vaelor with a powerful gust. Using the wind to add even more force to her claw, she left him no chance to redirect it again.

Vaelor’s foreclaws finally gave out.

Seraphina drove him downward and slammed him into the ice once more.

As the ice caved in, Vaelor slipped out from beneath the edge of her claw. He sped away just above the surface, energy gathering between his horns again.

If strength wasn’t enough, he would make up the difference with energy!

Seraphina stomped down.

Vaelor escaped in time, leaving her claw to strike nothing but ice. The tremendous impact made the entire frozen surface sink, and dense cracks spread from beneath her foot, nearly crossing the whole area where the others stood.

In the distance, Elowen and Namyanna raised their hands at the same time.

Ice energy spread through the cracks, repairing the surface before it could break apart. But every step Seraphina took caused more damage. The moment they sealed one section, her claws tore open an even wider fracture somewhere else.

"Is she fighting Vaelor or trying to demolish the ice?" Namyanna muttered.

Elowen didn’t answer. She simply continued reinforcing the surface beneath them.

Seraphina stomped again.

A crack raced across the ice toward Vaelor. The surface buckled beneath him, forcing him back into the sky.

Boom!

Seraphina immediately spread her wings and launched herself from the shattered ice, diving toward Vaelor in the distance.

Energy was gathering around both of Vaelor’s horns.

Seawater broke through the ice again, and several waterspouts rose around him. The spinning walls of water sealed off the surrounding space, trying to disrupt Seraphina’s charge.

Seraphina ignored the flashy tricks.

Her enormous claw punched through the outer currents and swung directly at Vaelor. But the waterspouts kept pushing against her wrist, eventually forcing the attack off target.

Vaelor slipped past the tips of her claws.

Seraphina’s claw smashed into the ice, splitting the smooth surface yet again. Vaelor stopped right beside it, the energy between his horns reaching its limit.

Two energy spheres fired at once.

Seraphina lowered her head and continued the pursuit, while Vaelor used the recoil from his attack to propel himself backward. The two dragons crashed through the ice together and plunged into the sea below.

With their target gone, Vaelor’s energy blasts streaked diagonally across the surface and raised two towering columns of water in the distance.

The others stared at the enormous hole in the ice, their expressions slowly going blank.

What were they even watching?

Two dragons playing around?

Underwater, however, it was a very different fight.

The sea absorbed Seraphina’s overwhelming force layer by layer, and every swipe of her claws met resistance from the surrounding water. She could no longer spread her wings as she had in the air, and her speed dropped noticeably.

Vaelor, on the other hand, grew more comfortable by the second.

He circled around Seraphina’s side, using the currents to change direction. After evading several swipes of her claws, the delight in his eyes became increasingly obvious.

But just as Vaelor prepared to gather energy again, his body suddenly went still.

His wings stopped moving.

The light vanished from his eyes.

Vaelor hung motionless in the water, staring blankly ahead. He didn’t react at all as Seraphina closed in.