The monstrous form fully materialized — a colossal dragon, black scales glinting like obsidian, massive wings stretching wide enough to eclipse the battlefield. It unleashed a deafening roar, shaking the very dungeon walls.

  Even Kairyuuha paused, stunned by the creature’s sheer majesty and power.

  A smirk tugged at his lips.

  "This should be fun," he muttered.

  Without hesitation, he leapt high, soaring far above even the dragon’s towering head. Twisting mid-air, he crossed his twin daggers in an X-shape, channeling swirling shadows between them.

  “Blade Technique: Dance of Darkness!” he cried.

  A barrage of dark slashes rained down like a storm of blades, hammering against the dragon’s iron-like scales. Each strike sent shockwaves rippling outward, but the beast endured, roaring in defiance. The force of its cry pushed Kairyuuha back mid-air, forcing him to flip and land lightly on his feet.

  The dragon inhaled sharply, the air itself distorting around its jaws.

  A second later — BOOM — a massive fire blast burst from its mouth, scorching the earth as it raced straight for Kairyuuha.

  He dodged, his body weaving like a flickering shadow, but the fire blast was relentless, chasing him with terrifying speed.

  Kairyuuha narrowed his eyes and abruptly stopped running, planting his feet firmly into the ground. His voice deepened into a distorted, almost inhuman growl.

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  “Blade Technique: Core of Darkness.”

  Darkness exploded from him like a nova, his entire body swallowed by swirling black and purple energy. With a thunderous roar of his own, he charged head-on into the fire blast, becoming a dark beam, electricity crackling violently around him.

  The two forces clashed — fire against void — the ground beneath them cratering from the sheer pressure.

  Kairyuuha gritted his teeth and pushed harder, his aura distorting the very air around him. Finally, with a feral shout, his dark beam pierced straight through the fire, cutting a blazing path until it slammed directly into the dragon’s snout, puncturing deep into its skull.

  Kairyuuha landed in a low crouch, his daggers humming with residual energy.

  Dust and smoke filled the battlefield.

  As it cleared, the dragon still stood, towering and bloodied — but alive. A deep voice echoed through the silence.

  > "…You are not the professor's creation... Are you?"

  Kairyuuha straightened, casually pointing his dagger toward Deyrith’s dismembered corpse still lying in the distance.

  > "That thing?" Kairyuuha said, his voice cold. "I’m the murderer who ended that psycho’s bloody experiments."

  He wiped his blade clean against his sleeve.

  > "If you want vengeance," Kairyuuha said, raising his arms open wide, "then come."

  The dragon remained still.

  Instead, a soft glow radiated from her chest. Slowly, carefully, she extended a large, cracked claw. In it, she held a single egg, shining faintly like a dying star.

  The dragon’s voice, once fierce, now softened, almost motherly.

  > "I have no vengeance to give," she said. "I was bound to him by cursed chains. Freed by your hand… I entrust this to you."

  Kairyuuha approached slowly, his usual cocky demeanor replaced by a rare, serious expression. He gently took the warm egg from her claw, cradling it carefully.

  The dragon’s body was already beginning to break apart — scales turning to mist, wings disintegrating into the air.

  > "What… are your final words?" Kairyuuha asked quietly.

  "And what… would you like your child to be named?"

  The dragon’s fading voice answered with surprising tenderness:

  > "Name her... Lumina.

  Tell her... her mother fought for her freedom… and found peace at last."

  With that, the great dragon gave one final sigh — a sound almost like a whispering lullaby — before vanishing into glowing motes of light that rose and disappeared into the ceiling of the dungeon.

  Kairyuuha stood there for a long moment, clutching the egg to his chest.

  He closed his eyes.

  > "Lumina, huh?" he murmured.

  "Don’t worry… I’ll protect you."

  Behind him, Kazuki and the others approached, their faces full of wonder and awe. A new bond had been forged — and a new life entrusted to their care.

  But deep beneath the dungeon, in the abyssal dark, other forces had already begun to stir.

  The true war was just beginning.