-Wolf territory. Midday. 3RD POV-

On the Third morning Quarter and 2 Kilometers above in the vicinity of the Marshlands in wolf territory, a purple-blue Dragon carrying little girl hovered in cloudy skies brightly illuminated as thousands of insects fly all around them while keeping a distance. An 8-meter long insect resembling a giant mosquito hovered behind the thickest part of the swarm as she prepared for the cornered scaly Beast that seemed getting ready to strike back. With her magic reserves far from being depleted and most of the swarm blocking escape routes, she just needed to sacrifice a few more Drones with sleeping gases to avoid a direct clash.

By the time the two magicians finish mending their injuries and prepare their Magic arts, thousands of light-brown insects had formed a hundred-meter wide sphere around them. Their Queen was ready and gave the order to attack. "Kweeroo!" *Swiss~ Swiss~ Swiss~!!!* The insects sped up to converge at the purple-blue beast in the center as the Wind magical Beast assisted the ones from below up to the reach of her magic.

The white-haired girl, sitting on top of the slippery hair fibers, saw the encirclement around them closing and released a mass of Magic from her right palm into the air before fixing its coordinates above her. She then brought the right hand to the Collar, and slowly closed her palm around the cold metallic handle. "Gnnn!" Shaila moaned painfully as her reddened face contorted on the verge of tears and the right arm trembled uncontrollably. Even using Light Magic to mitigate the pain, an inflamated hole that could fit a pencil on her arm felt like a hot iron rod burning through. But she had to grip firmly this time. Uurggh... Nefi needs a Saddle...

Having gripped with both hands, the Light User commanded the Elementals to produce visible wavelengths again. *FwuUASHH!* A dazzling white ball the size of a fist shone in all directions, drowning thousands of insects in its radiance while leaving a blurry shadow from the Dragon towards the ground. From afar, even a faint rainbow could be seen around the mini-Sun illuminating the clouds above and extra shadows on the ground below. Although this Lightburst was weaker than the previous one, as it was produced far from the Magician's body, it continued to shine brightly while draining the girl's Mana continuously.

""Shriiii!!"" The Drones shrieked in discomfort and report losing visual of their target. Some became disoriented enough to crash onto fellow Drones while others simply slowed down and remained vigilant on standby. However, the swarm was blocking most of the light and the Queen was unaffected. She immediately became weary and probed around while listening to the wind carefully. But there was no indication that the target moved, and pressed on the attacks.

The Dragon, waiting for his cue, unsealed the throat of the icy rocket carefully and felt a strong push on his back. *Fweeee~whoooOSSHH!* The super-heated vapor beamed out of the meter-wide nozzle while expanding into a dozen-meter long pure white jet making a flickering shadow in the sky.

Shaila cringed, wanting to shut her ears but could only complain. "Uahk! So noisy!"

The thrust took a moment to accelerate the large Dragon body past his regular speed, but beyond inertia, it was only hindered by aerodynamics and wind friction. *FwoooOOOSSHHH!!* The large purple-Beast flapped with his body reoriented and quickly reached an explosive acceleration that yanked the girl's body and made their hairs flutter behind as the air whistled past their bodies. *Whiiiiisshh!* "WooAAAHH!!" Nefiru admired the incredible speed with a grin on his scaly muzzle and proceeded to refill the water vapor spent. "HyaAAAA--!" Shaila shrilled before the wind gusts forced her to close her mouth. Her strength and pain tolerance were once again put to the test as she held with her aching body and legs trembled as she clutched the thick scaly neck. But before long, her pains would be drowned in adrenaline.

In but a second, the Dragon reached the closing insect perimeter and crashed onto the confused Drones at high-speed. *Bram! Bram! Krang! Throng!* "Ow..." The scaly beast groaned from the mildly painful impacts that crushed or sent them plummeting to the ground while he barely lost speed. ""Shriii..."" The survivors alerted the Queen, but she already sensed a Low-Rank 6 Mass of Magic approaching at a speed rivaling a Wind User and noticed the angles of shadows changing as if the light source was arriving at the other side of the swarm. "Kwee?" The insect Queen squeaked in shock and confusion as she didn't feel wind manipulation. But it had to be the prey. "Kriiiryoo!" She called the swarm to condense in front of her and prepared to confront the Beast, still confident in her capabilities.

The Dragon, squinting his eyes, saw black dots within the dazzling white light zoom in while confirming with the purple vision. He had arrived at the outer part of the main swarm without much steering or extra protection, and there was no stopping his momentum. Fuck! Nefiru realized his blunder and hoped that at least the girl had prepared better than him. Oh, shit--! The Dragon scrunched his muzzle, shut his eyes, and closed the wings before impact. *BRARAM!!!* "GRUAH--!" He groaned, diving into the wall of insects. "Shiiriii--!!!"

Although Shaila couldn't see much, she felt the previous crashes were a sign to prepared and enveloped her body with Magic before canceling the Flare and recalled the leftover Magic, then commanded the Elementals to change the properties of Light. *Shuiiing!* A smooth white centimeter-thick layer solidified an inch from her body with a transparent visor. Success! But...I can't move! "Huff! Huff!" But I will lose Elementals if I do... She determined, fully prepared to deal with the capabilities of Wind Users.

*KRRRARAAMM...!!* "GRRRNN...!" The scaly Beast grunted as he continued through the 20-meter thick cluster hiding the Queen. "Gu-unnn...!" The girl endured as the Light armor chipped away and reformed at the expense of her Mana. ""ShrriiiiShriiii...!!"" The Drones shrieked, getting smashed to death, alarmed after recovering their sight or getting launched away by the water vapor jet but slowing him down. *BRRUASHH!! WHOSH!* The scaly Beast busted out on the other side of the cluster, dragging insects with his body, pushing others aside and blowing them away with the white jet. "Surprise!" Nefiru blurted, throwing an icy glare at the larger creature before beating his wings again to fly at her.

"Kwee?!!" The insect Queen sounded stunned. Water Users can do that with Mist??! She affirmed, analyzing the approaching Beast as if it was in slow motion and decided to retreat before it got too close. *Zruururu~!* She beat her semi-transparent wings, flying backwards and thinking how to deal with the scaly Beast. Although capturing the prey alive meant going hungry again, Nesting Beasts could be used as Mana collectors until they expire. It's worth the risk... She decided and started releasing sleeping gases in front of the Dragon while keeping a fixed distance on purpose. In the worst case, she would evade until the Beast ran out of Mana.

However, the sleeping gases weren't having any effect on the Dragon who gained resistance from being exposed to it previously, and he continued to accelerate without obstacles. The Mokua realized the miscalculation and manipulated the air to push her body at the front and pull from behind. *WhooOSH!* In the blink of an eye she created a gap of a dozen meters between them and matched his acceleration. She felt safe, confident in her speed, but prepared a defensive wind barrier for any tricks they may have.

The White-haired girl noticed that they were falling behind and formed a compact mass of Magic on the Dragon's snout before targetting the large insect's wings. Once ready, she immediately fired a finger-thick laser as a test. *Ziiumm!* The expanding beam of blue light entered several layers of compressed warm air and curved downwards. NO! She lamented having missed and fired again at another spot to compensate for refraction. *Ziiumm!* The finger-thick laser penetrated the shifting wind barrier and bent upwards this time before scattering. Uwaa... I can't keep missing those... Shaila determined with her resources below half and thinned the Light armor in same places to save Mana as she waited.

The elusive Beast didn't even notice the lasers, but the Dragon did. Shit! Mother-fucking Wind users... Nefiru cursed with an ugly expression, then hurried to gather Magic within the right foreleg below his belly. He had to go all out now before wasting all of his Mana chasing her. *Shrrruigh!* He expanded the icy throat and unleashed the water vapor faster than he could refill. *FWOOSSHH!!* His body was pushed forward with a stronger jolt of acceleration that surpassed the Wind User's current speed and closed the twelve-meter distance faster than she could react. Just a couple of meters away, Nefiru flipped his right foreleg while commanding the Water Elementals and magnetism to add force. "GRRAA!" He roared, twisting his body which caused the ice to crack on his back, and swung at the large insect's head with his paw opened, dark purple claws glinting menacingly with their sharpness. *SwooiiSHH!!*

"Kwee!" The Mokua became frantic at the imminent crash. The Mad Beast was on a collision course and aiming for her head! In that split second, she could only reinforce the wind barrier in front of her head up to two feet thick. *Shhuash!* The near-palm length claws pierced through the air cushion while losing force and punctured the shell between the two compounded eyes. *TWUACKK!!!* The three claws penetrated nearly an inch deep and made several cracks in the carapace before stopping. "KWEE--!" The Mokua shrilled at the painful impact and became dazed when the Dragon's momentum transmitted to her head, then the rest of her body. "GWU--!" Nefiru groaned as shockwaves rippled through his body, decelerating him before feeling forearm throbbing. So hard! He thought, surprised to have failed to kill what he considered a mosquito. "Kyahh--!" Shaila shrieked, sliding over the scaly neck and getting pinched by hair fibers through a weakened spot in the armor before slamming against the collar. "Gack!" Ouch! M-my crotch... She whined, unable to move in the awkward and uncomfortable position.

The Dragon mobilized Lightning Magic to electrocute the Mokua, but her Magic forming the wind barrier blocked his and insulated her. He desisted from fighting his way in and slipped his magic threads into the forearm to attack from the paw. But the insect Queen recovered first and began gathering all the compressed air. *Shiooohh!* I...I'll kill you! She thought, enraged, and tried to dislodge her head by pulling to the sides. Oh, shit... The Dragon saw the darkened air and yanked his right paw towards the left while closing his paw, trying to secure his grip or rip open the carapace. *KRRR--!* The purple claws carved the green shell and grazed the compound eye. *Srash!!!* "KREEEE!!" The Mokua screeched in agony and shook her head as shreds of her eyes fly into the air. The Dragon reached out to grab her proboscis before they separated, but a mass of highly compressed air approaching liquid state was released towards his paw. *FweEEUASHH!!* The surge merely cooled off the Dragon's claws, but it gashed open the hide under the three toes and gauged the flesh up to his bones. "GRAAA!" Nefiru roared in agony and retracted the forearm, but trying to close the paw caused him a sharp pain of severed muscles and tendons from the gaping wound that gushed red blood spraying into the air. "GUAAH!" Fuuuuuck! He cursed with no choice but to freeze the toes with the wounds shut

"Kweee!" The Mokua squealed, gaining distance while preparing Magic again. Though with the vapor jet still providing thrust, the Dragon wasn't far behind trying not to lose her.

"NEFI!" Shaila yelled out anxiously from inside her enclosure and when her probe detected his wound, became infuriated. "You!" She barked the fleeing Beast and retaliated. *Pshiumm!* The Light user fired a continuous laser above the insect's left-wing and moved it straight down in a chopping motion. Her aim wasn't good with all the rocking of the two Beasts, but she caught the wing's tip in the path. *PrssSHHH!!* The finger-thick blue beam cut through the transparent material like paper. *Krack!* A meter-long wing piece broke with the rapid beatings and flew away. "!!? KreeEEK!" The Mokua screeched more in anger than pain and at the same time, called the swarm that was following just behind them, albeit slowly as they were flying against the wind currents without her assistance.

Good job! Nefiru praised in his mind as he flew closer to the Queen, but before he could strike her down, she gathered more air and detonated a wind bomb between them. *BWUOOSHH!* "WURGH!" He groaned as a powerful wind gust blasted his body near a stop while she took some distance. However, her speed dropped with the wing damaged and she didn't want to turn around. Thanks to that quick clash, she discovered Mana waves coming the Dragon's neck. Most likely, the reason they were using Magic arts without restraint--Mana crystals! Greed immediately made her more vicious than before. This position was already cornering the prey, so she needed to slow him down now.

The Dragon stabilized his body and resumed pursuit. He moved Lightning Magic to the Collar, but the Mokua got out of range just before he activated Magnetism. SHIT! I should've used the wires before... Nefiru lamented his choices and shouted with a thundering voice. "EYESS!" He commanded before confirming his reserves. His Mana below half and a third of Water Elementals, but luckily, Lighting Elementals were at 80%.

Huh?? The girl nearly guessed his intentions and took aim at the retreating magical beast with a red laser. *Ziiuuumm!* She released a continous inch-thick beam towards the intact compound left eye. *FssSHHH!!* "KREEEE!!" The Mokua screeched loudly as a large portion of her left eye vaporized in under a second and used the accumulated Magic to retreat further away while leaving a smoke trail. "KweeEeeEE...!" And while the large insect agonized flying erratically. The girl rejoiced with a smile. Yes! Suffer more...

Although that didn't slow the Queen, so Nefiru panicked. Shit! Shit! What now? A Coil Gun? But she's tough--No, wait...crippling her flight is better... He deduced in fractions of a second and refilled the water vapor again. "DUCK!" Nefiru yelled over the noise and lowered his neck while calculating the trajectory for a projectile and analyzing the target's movement pattern.

What is it now??! Shaila wondered, racking her brain trying to understand him when cracks rippled from behind. *Krukk! Trrakk!* The Water User was detaching the ice cylinder from the base bound to his back. She felt something was amiss and bent light from behind. She saw the icy tank becoming loose and was taken aback. "Heep!" She shrieked, exhaling into her white armor, and stopped controlling Elementals in certain areas before bending forward. *FWOOSSHH!!* An instance later, the Ice Rocket flew just over the girl's back in a straight line towards the queen with a Magic rope attached. "Huaaf!" She took a deep breath and grumbled. There goes another portion of my Elementals... And he almost hit me!

"!! Kwee?" The Mokua saw the incoming ice projectile through her fuzzy vision and calmly dodged to her left, avoiding its path. *Swish!* The rocket lost the propulsion and began losing speed while falling down, but the Dragon grinned. He wasn't aiming for her body anyway. He had closed the rocket's nozzle and refilled it with pressurized vapor one last time. Then, just as the icy rocket was passing harmlessly below the translucent right wing, he retracted his Magic and continued flying towards the Queen. Cracks immediately appeared on the ice and shattered. *KraRAK--BWROOOMM!!* The explosion sent out a powerful shockwave echoing through the sky and launching ice shards of different sizes in all directions leaving misty trails. "KWEE--!!" The Mokua shrieked again before blacking out. *Shrak! Shrak!* A few of these ice shards pierced through her right wing and the tip of the left then continued flying upwards while paraboles in the sky. *Fuaashh...* A vapor cloud expanded beyond 20 meters wide before it began dispersing and sparkling ice chunks fell along with the large insect from within.

The Dragon flapped vigorously through the cloud, but just as he was within ten meters from the falling insect, she recovered again. "Kwee..." Her probe detected the incoming beast and activated a mass of magic between them. *BWUASH!* "GWU!" Fuuuuuk! "KWEE!" A strong gust of wind blew the two Beasts apart and yanked the girl back into a sitting position. *Shuu~ Shuu~* Ice pieces whistled all around them as they descend in arcs, shifted by wind currents. *Fwo-whosh! Fwo-whosh!* The Dragon reoriented his body and rushed at the insect Queen right away. "GrrrRAA!" *Zrruu~Zruu~! Fweeooshhh!* The Mokua stabilized her body with wind magic and gathered the air from all around into balls around the tips of each leg where the control was high and efficient. "KREEERYA!" She shrilled a warcry and flung two compressed air ball with magic attached. *Swish!* The air bubbles transformed into large crescent blades reaching 3-meters long, aiming for the leatherly wings.

The Dragon saw the air disturbances approaching him and attuned his Lightning vision. *SWUOoossh!* He turned right 90 degrees to allow the girl to hang on with her uninjured hand. *Whoosh!* He passed between the two purple blades and turned his body back horizontally. Seeing her attack miss, the Mokua detonated the two wind blades before they went too far. *BWOOM!!* "GUH!" "Gyah!" The explosion shook the two magicians painfully and disturbed the Dragon's flight. And opportunity which the Wind User didn't waste. *Swish~! Swish~!* She sent out two more air balls, only they didn't turn into blades this time and just detonated in front of the scaly Beast. *BWOOM! BWOOM!* "GRR!" "Gnn!" The two endured the blast and recovered faster this time, but they slowed down enough for the swarm to get closer. The insect Queen, on the other hand, couldn't fly very fast, except for short speed bursts with Magic, but she was gaining time.

Nefiru detected the swarm approaching his tail and resumed chase desperately while gathering all the water from the air in his front left paw. *Shhhiuu~* The ice on his back turned liquid and rushed around his body in a few streams, then turned into a spiky ice ball on the left paw. *BWOOM!!* He dodged yet another two explosions that shook their bodies and shifted his frame while pulling back the left forearm in a throwing position. He held the fist-size ice ball in his clawed grip and used the Lightning in his paw to repel the water molecules while Water elementals to provide force, then swung at the opponent. *SwooiiSHH!!* The scaly Beast hurdled the spiked ice ball at the insect's wings a dozen meters away while accelerating them with Elementals and immediately produced more. *WHOoOSH!* The Mokua dodged sideways nimbly and retaliated with more explosive air balls which the Dragon found more difficult to dodge as he closed the distance, but the same was true for her.

The two Magical Beasts continued exchanging elemental attacks while changing direction and turning several times in the sky or doing abrupt flight maneuvers. Their growls and screeches preceded clashes that resounded the sky and changed the shape of the hazy clouds slightly. The girl could only hold on and endure the blasts that affected her despite her partner's efforts. But she didn't waste time either and replenished her Mana while keeping high vigilance.

As the Dragon got closer to the insect larger than him, the explosions drew more intense, and despite being covered in metallic scales, his flesh was wounded and began bleeding in more places than he could keep track of. The Mokua managed to dodge more than the Dragon and parried most of his ice projectiles with the wind, but he was relentless in his pursuit and had more tricks than her. She began taking serious damage when the Water User started throwing multiple ice balls and altered their trajectories with Elementals while aiming at the possible locations where she would move. The ice balls were too weak to piece her shell, and shattered on impact, but they were powerful enough to cause internal injuries and pierce the translucent wings.

They maintained a general direction towards the East as the Dragon made sure to keep the fight ahead of the swarm and waited for the right moment to use Lightning Magic to deliver a sure-kill. But that was easier said than done in a high-speed fight where the target never stopped moving. Still, the large insect didn't notice what he was doing...

Ten minutes later, the scaly Beast drained most of his Water Elementals intended for combat and stopped attacking, then started replenishing his Mana. "HUFF! HUFF!" Nefiru panted puffed of hot airs into the incoming wind as blood trickles from his mouth and nostrils while flapping erratically. His wings had a few tears, some reaching up to half a meter in length which hindered his flight tremendously. He couldn't catch the enemy in this condition as long as the Wind User had Mana left, and was starting to consider diving towards the Marshland that was still fairly close, but he still had things to try.

The girl had lost most of her Light armor but didn't remake it as she decided to save her little Mana reserves for emergencies. "Huaff! Huaff!" Shaila hyperventilated, covered in sweat and blood from both of them. Her ears were ringing, her limbs trembled and she was mildly dizzy from exerting at this altitude even though they descended a little.

"Kwee?" The insect Queen noticed that the Dragon ceased his fierce attacks and stopped preparing more of hers. Did it finally run out of Elementals? Is it preparing more tricks? She couldn't tell, but it was a relief, for her body was battered enough that it creaked. Her long wings were mostly shattered with dangling pieces, her carapace was cracked in several places and bleeding green-ish blood. She was controlling the air around her body just enough to stay out of range, but she would be completely drained soon. Her only hope was reuniting with the swarm before that happened, but the accursed Water Beast was blocking her attempts! He would rather take damage than letting her fly behind him, and she suspected the creature on his neck of the non-water attacks that destroyed her left eye pack. She had to be cautious or her life would end in an instant. Still, how pathetic to be cornered like this. Her pride was but demolished by now.

Just as the injured Mokua analyzed the ways out of her precarious situation, she something peculiar behind her swarm. A fellow Queen seems to have used the clash to sneak up on them with her swarm and flew above using her own swarm as a cover, but she seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to reap the spoils. "Kwee..." The injured insect chittered unhappily and feeling frustrated. How humiliating... But at least, she could take consolation in the fact that the scaly Beast would die today.

A few minutes more passed and the exhausted magicians recovered a little, but not enough to fly faster than the swarm. Although the young Drones behind were getting low on stamina from flying constantly against the wind currents without assistance of magic, the oldest ones had managed to catch up. "Kweeee~" The wounded Mokua squealed in delight. "Tch!" The Dragon clicked his tongue annoyed. "..." The girl just kept quiet, preserving her energies.

Amateur... The Mokua in the sky derided as she approached from above, hiding from the prey with the right angle. She was more experienced and older than her fellow monarch below, but less talented.

The Dragon perked his ears hearing the buzz becoming louder behind him and shouted. "STEALTH!"

Shaila's body flinched, hearing him more clearly, and enveloped their bodies with her Magic in under a second before commanding the Elementals to bend the visible light from the front and back. *Shuing~!* Their figures gradually disappeared in the sky as the swarm reached their position in the form of a cone pointing downwards at a 30-degree angle. But just before the vanguards hit the Dragon, he turned his body and peeled right. *Swiss~ Shuu! Shuu! Shuu!* The small insects swoop by and continued in a straight line towards their Queen below. She also started moving towards them with her Probe extended and looking everywhere for incoming attacks. But her fellow Queen was still keeping track of the cloaked magicians.

Nefiru stopped not far away and stabilized his body, opened his mouth and started forming Magic rings with Lightning Elementals. He was preparing a Coil Gun while taking aim at the fleeing insect. However, just as he was loading a projectile from his Collar, the Mokua hiding above the swarm controlled the air around her and accelerated towards the smaller Beast 30 meters below while making a wide arc. *WhooOOOSHH!* The green insect descended on his back at a 60-degree angle and slammed the spot between the wings with all her legs. *TWUAMMP!* The impact was soft but powerful as it carried the kinetic energy of a fast-moving insect that weighted over a Ton and rippled through the Dragon visibly while shaking his insides like a blender. "GAAAA--!" Nefiru expelled the air in his lungs and even the contents of his stomach were forced up his throat. His body then bent into a V-shape like a paper, being pushed towards the ground. *SwooiiSHH!!* "!!? Kyaah!" The girl shrieked, getting pulled from the scaly neck and the Collar handles abruptly. She lost the grip with the right hand, and her legs were barely touching the Dragon, but she managed to hold on with the Right.

However, the insect Queen didn't give them any time to react and moved her front legs forward to wrap them around the Dragon's wings that fluttered on her sides. Unfortunately, the white-haired girl was on the way of the left leg and she was barely hanging when it connected with her right arm and waist. *BAM!* "Yaagh--!" Shaila uttered before her body curved around the hard leg as thick as logs, was yanked out of the handles and thrown away like a ragdoll.

By the time the situation registered in Nefiru's mind, the girl was 8-meters to his left and getting further away as her body rotated. He didn't want to believe it. "GyaaaAAAHHH!" But her scream jolted his consciousness back to clarity. His eyes opened wide taking a glimpse at her look of despair, and panic flooded his mind. Nononono... Nefiru sent his magic to the collar in a hurry to control the cables, but just as he was unfurling them, the Mokua pulled her front legs. *KruRUUK!* The second biggest bone in the Dragon's left wing snapped, effectively sentencing him to death, but continued holding him to attack his head. "!!...GWUAAH!" The scaly beast let out a deafening roar carrying several emotions and struggled to break free without much success. He readied Lightning Magic to retaliate when the insect beak descended on his head. *BAM! BAM!* "GUAK!" The Dragon grunted as his vision blurred, his consciousness faltered, and reached out a paw towards the girl making an arc as the fell towards the west. "No...No...NOOOO!"