I Only Tame Dragons

"Aeloria, stop!" Liora shouted, her voice breaking. "This isn't the answer! We can figure something else out!"

But Aeloria didn't listen. Her body trembled as the overwhelming mana coursed through her, tearing at her very being. Veins of light spread across her skin, glowing like molten gold, as if she were a vessel on the verge of shattering.

"I don't care what happens to me," Aeloria said, her voice eerily calm amidst the chaos. "Victory for the Kingdom of Stars is all that matters." If she lose here . . . if I fail . . . my brother and I will pay the price."

Her words sent a chill through the team. Trisha and the others exchanged frantic glances, their panic rising.

"Aeloria, please! Don't do this!" Trisha said.

"Victory at any cost," Aeloria whispered, her eyes glowing with an unearthly light. "That is the way of the Kingdom of Stars."

The ground beneath her began to crack and quake as the mana within her reached critical levels. The air became suffocating, heavy with the weight of her impending spell. It was a devastating force, one that promised to annihilate Von and his allies—and everything else in its wake.

Trisha lunged toward her, desperate to stop her, but a barrier of energy flared up around Aeloria, repelling her with a violent shock.

Theron clenched his fists, his voice trembling with fury and despair. "You're going to kill yourself, Aeloria! You don't have to do this!"

Aeloria glanced at him, a flicker of something almost human crossing her expression. "It's not about me," she said softly. "It never was."

And then she unleashed it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The mana burst exploded outward in a blinding wave of light and fire, tearing through the battlefield like a divine judgment. The sheer magnitude of the spell was overwhelming, its brilliance consuming everything in its path. The ground quaked violently, splitting apart as the energy ripped through the air, a force of annihilation that could not be contained.

In that moment, Aeloria's form was lost in the radiance. She was no longer a person but a vessel of destruction, her very existence sacrificed for the sake of victory.

Her final thought echoed in her mind as the light consumed her: The Kingdom of Stars . . . must not fall.

Aeloria stood in the center of the swirling storm of mana, her broken staff radiating with destructive power. The glow around her intensified, her golden aura a harbinger of the devastation to come. Her breath came in ragged gasps, but her expression was resolute. This was her choice, her sacrifice. She would destroy Von and his guild, even if it meant obliterating herself in the process.

But before the spell could reach its climax, a figure appeared before her, moving so fast it was almost as though he had materialized out of the shadows themselves.

Von.

His crimson eyes burned like embers, their intensity piercing through Aeloria's resolve. His fangs were bared, his growl low and guttural as he loomed over her, his presence commanding and fearsome. His voice cut through the crackling roar of magic like a blade.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

The shadows around him lashed out, tendrils of darkness coiling toward the mana storm. With a sharp motion of his mace, Von began siphoning the immense energy into himself, drawing the volatile magic away from Aeloria.

Aeloria staggered back, her golden aura flickering as Von's intervention disrupted her spell. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him absorb the raw, destructive force. "What are you doing? Stop! Leave me alone!"

Von laughed, a bitter, sardonic sound. "Are you really that hang up on winning that you would sacrifice yourself?! What good would this sacrifice do? Do you think your kingdom would care if you burned yourself alive for a flag?!"

The mana storm raged, tearing at Von's body as he continued to siphon it into the shadows that swirled around him. The strain was visible—his muscles quivered, veins bulging as the darkness within him grew stronger, more insistent. His voice was hoarse, yet it carried the weight of his conviction.

"Shut up! You understand nothing!"

"Listen to me, Aeloria!" he growled, his tone both commanding and desperate. "You think dying here will make you a hero? It won't. It'll just make you another name on a forgotten list of sacrifices. Your kingdom—your people—they don't need a martyr. They need a leader who fights to live, not one who throws their life away!"

Aeloria hesitated, the madness in her eyes faltering for the first time. "But . . . I can't fail. If I do, my brother—he'll—"

Von interrupted her, his voice softer now but no less intense. "Your brother needs you alive, not a corpse. Think about it! If you die here, what will become of him? Of you? Do you think the Kingdom of Stars will remember your sacrifice, or will they simply replace you with the next pawn in their game?"

The glow around Aeloria dimmed further as his words began to sink in. Tears welled in her eyes, the weight of her desperation and fear crashing over her like a tidal wave. "I can't . . . I can't let them see me fail. I'll lose everything."

Von took a step closer, his crimson gaze locking onto hers. "You haven't lost yet. Failure isn't the end—it's a chance to fight again, to learn, to grow stronger. But if you go through with this, there's no coming back. You'll lose everything for nothing."

The siphoning continued, and Von's body trembled as the darkness inside him surged. It clawed at his mind, its whispers urging him to let go, to embrace its power fully. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay in control.

"Look at me, Aeloria," he said, his voice breaking slightly. "Do you think I don't understand what it's like to feel powerless? To think the only way forward is to destroy yourself? I've been there. But I chose to live, to fight, even when the odds were against me. And so can you."

Tears streamed down Aeloria's face as she clutched the broken remnants of her staff. Her body trembled, the glow around her flickering like a dying flame. "I can't. I can't stop it anymore. It's too late."

Von reached out, his hand hovering over hers. "You can," he said firmly. "Strength isn't about never failing. It's about standing back up after you do. It's about choosing to live, no matter how hard it gets. If you trust me, if you let me help you, we can end this together. No one has to die today."

For a long moment, the two of them stood in the eye of the storm, the battlefield around them eerily silent. Then, slowly, Aeloria's grip on her broken staff loosened. The glow surrounding her faded entirely, and the crackling storm of mana dissipated into the air.

Von let out a shuddering breath, the shadows around him receding as he finally stopped siphoning the mana. His body sagged, his knees nearly buckling under the strain. But he remained standing, his gaze never leaving Aeloria.

"I don't understand you," Aeloria whispered, her voice trembling. "Why would you risk yourself to save me? I was trying to kill you." Stay updated via empire

Von managed a faint, weary smile. "Because no one deserves to die for something as meaningless as pride. And because . . . maybe I see a bit of myself in you."

Aeloria stared at him, her heart heavy with conflicting emotions. She had always been taught that victory was everything, that failure was unforgivable. But in this moment, standing before Von, she saw something different. Strength wasn't just about winning—it was about enduring, about protecting what mattered most.

"Thank you," she said quietly, her voice barely audible over the distant sounds of the aftermath of the battle.

Von nodded, his faint smile vanishing as his expression twisted in sudden pain. His body jerked, his chest heaving as though an invisible force had gripped him. Then, without warning, shadows erupted from him like a violent storm, spiraling outward and enveloping the air around them. The darkness pulsed, thick and suffocating, as if it were alive.

"Shit!" Von hissed through gritted teeth, his voice strained with effort. He clutched his head, his claws digging into his scalp as the darkness lashed out like a feral beast.

Aeloria stumbled back, her eyes wide with fear and realization. "What's going on?" she demanded, her voice trembling as she watched the shadows twist and writhe, their tendrils spreading across the ground like an ink spill. "Von, don't tell me . . ."

Von looked up at her, his crimson eyes now rimmed with an unnatural black. They burned with something foreign, something monstrous, as if the shadows had seeped into his very soul. His voice was guttural, laced with a darkness that wasn't entirely his own.

"Get out of here!" he roared, his command echoing like thunder.

The air grew heavier, charged with a sinister energy that made it hard to breathe. The shadows around Von thickened, forming an impenetrable cocoon that pulsed in sync with his ragged breaths. His body twitched violently, as if he were fighting something deep within himself.