.

Not worried in the slightest about losing, Nevan stared at the approaching red mass thinking of how best he wanted to do this. He had to make sure not to damage the flesh too much, it was likely going to be the greatest meal of his life, and there was so much of it that he could generously give some as a great gift for his wife and unborn kid, and maybe even earn back some good boy points with the misses after the last food fiasco.

He couldn't help grinning as a giant claw came for him.

Flexing his hand, all thoughts of preserving the meat went out the window as he struck out, claw against claw, intending to humiliate Elrik for his foolishness.

However, Nevan soon learned the size and strength behind that massive claw not something to scoff at as the two strikes met creating a powerful air eruption. Tearing up trees the surrounding trees and dilapidated buildings that existed in this abandoned remote area.

Nevan was pushed back quite the distance before he stabilized. Staring surprised at his red-scaled friend, who was far stronger than he remembered.

Elrik on the other hand couldn't believe Nevan wasn't turned into meat paste as he glanced down at his claw, seeing the pointing ends chipped off.

They both ended up underestimating one another, but only one could afford to, Nevan thought as the slightest damage received regenerated almost instantly, unlike his lizard compatriots who had minor regenerative properties at best while awake.

"I see you also got stronger, what a joke, you can just sleep the years away and somehow grow stronger and fatter," said Nevan.

"I'M NOT FAT!" Elrik roared charging over once again to squish this annoying dog.

Nevan smirked, putting all thoughts of an easy victory out of his head as he got ready to enjoy another great fight, hoping he wouldn't be entirely disappointed.

Speeding past Elriks following strike and around the flames. He slipped out of view, taking position above and behind the big red lizard as his long snakehead searched around for him.

Unable to help himself, Nevan laughed as he dive-bombed Elrik who turned his head around just in time to see an aura embued claw strike attempting to sever one of his wings.

Tucking his wings in, Elrik barrel rolls away avoiding most of the damage as it scrapes past him along with a chuckling Nevan.

"Bet you'd never have thought the day would come where you'd lose your air superiority, huh Elrik, it seems I'm the king of the skies now," said Nevan with a great big grin.

After righting himself Elrik glared back,- "Ridiculous, stay still and I swear I'll squash you like the little annoying bug you are Nevan."

Not one to think too much about things, choosing to always live in the moment, Nevan frowned as the reality of what's happening sets in.

Trying one last attempt to dissuade his old friend,- "Elrik it's not too late to stop this, wake up! Don't let the cultist fool you, there has never been any other dra..."

"ENOUGH! JUST DIE ALREADY!" Roared Elrik, sending another breath of flames towards a sighing Nevan.

"Alright Elrik, my wife and kid will be thankful for your stupidity," Nevan says, a bit saddened he'll never see another fat lizard in the skies again. The world will be that much more boring without him.

No longer caring, Nevan cloaks himself in his orange aura, protecting himself from the flames as he dives headfirst towards Elrik.

Having some connection to his flames, Elrik wasn't unaware of what Nevan attended. The weakest part of a dragon was their insides, if one got inside they could do untold damage if they weren't already dead.

With a quick reaction, he beat his wings to give him a rapid ascent, narrowly avoiding Nevan as he exited the fire and straight into a tail wack which he caught.

Mustering all the strength he could, Nevan tightened his unrelenting grip as Elrik tried to pull away only to feel a surprisingly strong tug.

"Impossible!" said Elrik, his eyes widening as he began to be pulled from the sky. His wings beating harder than ever to keep himself afloat. Fighting back against Nevan's ferocious tugging.

Feeling his wings tire, pride hurt, he does the only thing he can think of and breaths fire at him, forgetting how just earlier Nevan flew through it unharmed.

Ignoring the flames, Nevan feels Elrik's strength slip as he changes tactics and takes the chance to pull with all his might. Wrenching the dragon right out of the sky as he slams into the ground with a mighty loud boom, causing a miniature earthquake as the ground crumbled beneath the red behemoth.

Looking down, Nevan pats his hands clean on a job well done,- "Now the real fight can begin, unagile fat lizards have no business flying, things should be much more interesting now," He says lowering himself slowly as he waits for the dust to settle.

He pauses his descent upon spotting two large red slit eyes peering through the cloud of debris and a glowing mouth full of teeth from the inner flame patiently waiting to be spewed.

"Big Mistake Nevan! BIG MISTAKE!" Elrik Roars, moving faster than previously thought possible as a claw strike wacks Nevan out of the sky, sending him tumbling along the ground and through trees.

Nevan chuckled as he slowly got up, enjoying himself only to once again be stunned when Elrik was already upon him with another claw strike pounding him into the ground.

By the time Nevan got out of the ground, he looked up to see a red figure rapidly approaching, 'Well shit,' thought Nevan as he quickly increased his aura to defend, hoping for no shattered bones as the red mass impacted with another loud boom.

This time instead of coming out of the same spot, Nevan, his broken body already healing at a rate that if you blinked you'd miss it, tunneled through the ground coming out completely healed behind the rampaging lizard who was still striking at the spot he was previously.

Seeing the dragon's outstretched wings as it continued to stomp into the ground was just too good of an opportunity to miss.

An evil grin adorning his face while empowering his claws. Speeding over and flashing by, reappearing a distance away with arms crossed in front.

The wings fell moments later with a loud thud, severed right at the surprisingly weak connecting joints when compared to the rest of the body, minus the leathery wings themselves, with Elrik releasing an agonizing roar of anguish.

"What Did You Do?!!! My Wings! My Wings!" Elrik cried out.

Nevan turned around with a grin,- "I fixed you, now you're a real lizard just like you were always meant to be," he chuckled.

Elrik went full berserk,- "I'LL KILL YOU! AHARGHAH!!!" He raged bull-rushing over, destroying everything in his path.

Playing fair, Nevan kept low enough, even landing on the ground to make things interesting, dodging each strike and giving some of his own. Dashing in, out, and around, wounding the dragon little by little as he chipped away at the incredibly tough hard scales as the ground beneath exploded with each hit and step from Elrik's massive form.

Fire was practically leaking from Elriks mouth at this point as he lost complete control, the entire area becoming engulfed in flames. The intensity of heat melting the very ground as magma formed underneath him wherever he went.

Sweat even started to appear on Nevan's brow, despite putting more focus on his aura so his fur wouldn't catch on fire. Fighting the instinct to pant for the first time in frankly forever as he's almost never felt the need even as a wolf.

The unpleasant feeling was starting to get to him as he barely dodged the last strike, foot slipping in molten earth.

Rolling out of the way towards the dragon as Elrik went for a bite.

Spinning back around, slashing at the great wyrm's unprotected chin. Giving Elrik five new bloody marks as he pulled his head back up with an agonizing roar.

Nevan then dashed out avoiding the follow-up body slam that splashed magma everywhere.

Helicopters, planes, and sirens on distant roads could now be heard as they came to fight the blaze, unaware of the dangers ahead. Reports of dragons were largely ignored, though certain agencies, some new, were scrambling to make sense of everything that's been happening in this maddening world.

After a bit more fighting, The red dragon Elrik was finally starting to look like he had some real wear and tear. Dragons who had bodies designed to prevent getting wounds in the first place were not known for their healing factor, though sleeping changed things drastically. To say Elrik's healing factor was not nearly as robust as Nevan's was a bit of an understatement, it was clear to anyone with a sound mind that he was fighting a losing battle as Nevan's latest wound all but disappeared in a matter of seconds. Still fighting at his peak as if they haven't been going at it for over an hour now.

The few human flying machines that got close were instantly roasted by Elrik when spotted, happy to be able to destroy anything as his progress against Nevan goes nowhere fast.

When losing sight of his slippery foe, his eyes would wander over to the area where the humans were gathering. His annoyance for them growing as his struggles with Nevan persisted. Their loud sirens grating the back of his mind.

On the other hand, Nevan was casually moving around, not threatened in the slightest. Elrik was powerful, but incredibly slow compared to him, not to mention any slip-ups on his end wouldn't be all that harmful despite the dragon's great power thanks to his healing factor.

However, the heat was taking a bit of a toll, if not physically definitely mentally after being so uncomfortable for so long and having to concentrate on keeping his Aura at peak performance.

At first, he was thinking of giving Elrik a death by a thousand cuts, letting him bleed out and better preserve the meat, but as time goes on he's starting to think it wasn't worth the trouble.

As the fight waned and slowed Nevan took a look at his haggard friend and sighed once more before summoning his Phantom-Wolf manifestation. Bringing out his big black, orange-eyed Werewolf form as a phantom silhouette around himself. Increasing his power by several folds.

If he was going to put his friend down, he was going to honor him with his strongest form.

"Whelp, it's been nice knowing you Elrik," Nevan said looking at the charging mad Dragon one last time, disappearing right before the slow-motion jaws closed around him. Reappearing right above Elrik's head. Both him and his silhouette's right claw seem to blend together as an empowering surge of power engulfed it.

"Goodbye Elrik," Nevan says and chops down at the slow-moving dragon.

When time resumes back to normal, Elrik's last angry roar is cut short as his head is severed clean off, along with a rather long, hand-wide, unknowingly deep slash mark on the ground.