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The winds carried a strange scent. Not the clean, vibrant winds of the ancient forest Yuki once called home, but something harsher—tinged with soot, blood, and rebellion.
Yuki floated lazily above the tree line, his silver-white scales gleaming beneath the pale sun as he yawned mid-flight.
> "Honestly, I thought stepping out of the forest would be more... peaceful," he mumbled. "But nooo, first thing I smell is someone's barbecue—and not the good kind."
A flicker of movement below caught his attention.
Smoke curled from a hillside village—half of it engulfed in flame, the other half swarming with armored soldiers. Peasants screamed as holy crusaders bearing white tabards and flaming halberds torched everything in sight.
Yuki's eyes narrowed.
> "A purge? Seriously?" he grumbled. "Was hoping for a snack run, not a war zone."
A moment later, a blur of silver and crimson leapt across the trees—**Lumi**, wind-sheathed and furious, cutting down two crusaders with her blade in a blink. She turned, yelling up at him.
> "Oi, lazy dragon! Are you just going to float up there or help?!"
He sighed dramatically, spiraling downward like a bored phoenix on holiday.
> "Fine, fine. Let's save the innocent, destroy the oppressors, yadda yadda..."
He landed with a thud that shook the hilltop, wings folding with regal precision. The soldiers paused, wide-eyed.
> "I-Is that... the Silver Flame?!"
> "The prophesied beast?!"
> "W-We were told he was just a legend!"
> "That *is* a dragon—*kill it before it speaks—*!"
Yuki opened his jaws.
> "Too late."
A gentle breath escaped—barely a puff by his standards. But the moment it hit the crusaders, it ignited into **silver soulfire**, unraveling armor, pride, and screams alike. In seconds, the hillside was silent.
Lumi sheathed her sword and whistled. "You really *are* getting better at controlling that temper."
> "I wasn't mad. That was the lazy version."
"Could've fooled me." She smirked. "Anyway, we were late—this village was already under purge. One of Irkalla's lieutenants managed to get a few survivors out before the church arrived. They're regrouping near the ridge."
> "Irkalla?" Yuki arched a brow. "The name sounds familiar."
"The third princess of the Calasthea Empire," Lumi muttered with a tone of frustration. "Declared war on the Holy Church a year ago. Brutal. Cold. Doesn't play well with others."
> "And we're going to meet her because…?"
A new voice interrupted, laced with elegant annoyance.
> "Because if you're going to crash into our war effort like a meteor, the least you can do is speak to the woman whose soldiers you keep saving."
Yuki turned.
A young woman in black and crimson armor stood at the edge of the scorched battlefield. Her long obsidian hair shimmered, and her crimson eyes glowed with eerie poise. A sigil of the fallen empire burned on her shoulder.
**Irkalla.**
> "Oh," Yuki said. "You must be fun at parties."
Irkalla blinked. "I am *not*."
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**To be continued...**