Master!

The Northern Glaciers, lair of the bronze dragon Draklon.

In his humanoid form, Draklon sat quietly in the corner of the empty room, calmly observing Ülgen. His years of experience told him that this young white dragon was surrounded by great mystery.

If he had sensed the malevolent aura typically emitted by chromatic dragons from Ülgen, he would have done everything in his power to destroy him, as he could not allow such a threat to exist in Azderos. However, he felt a completely neutral aura, understanding that Ülgen leaned neither towards good nor evil.

Draklon knew Ülgen's mother, Albiria, and his father, who had collaborated with her. Both were no different from average white dragons. There were no mutations in their lineage, which made the anomaly in Ülgen's lineage even more mysterious. He had the strength, defense, endurance, and many other attributes that allowed him to surpass even golden dragons of his age. Furthermore, there was no sign of impurity in his lineage, meaning there was no blood from another dragon or powerful creature present.

Aside from his physical attributes, his intelligence and magical abilities were extraordinary. He could perform polymorph, which dragons typically mastered at the age of 70-80, at the age of fifteen, and he could easily manipulate his appearance. His proficiency in mind-scanning magic was also impressive.

"It's obvious he possesses secrets beyond his years, but it's not my place to delve into them," Draklon muttered softly before closing his eyes. He did not know how to use mind-scanning magic, but he was aware that it took time.

However, just a few seconds after Draklon closed his eyes, intense vibrations caused all the runes in the room to light up. The bronze dragon stood up in shock and connected with the runes. He could sense tendrils of dark and ominous energy trying to penetrate the defenses from outside and enter the room.

"External interference! In my domain, what audacity!?" Draklon shouted angrily, channeling his energy to strengthen the rune.

The tendrils of energy, unable to overcome the runes, paused momentarily as they sensed the barrier had become even stronger. Then, they gathered together and began to merge.

As the bronze dragon increased the energy channeled into the rune, he could only watch. His instincts screamed that the tendrils of energy posed a danger even to him. It had been decades since he felt a real threat. "Little friend, what have you provoked?"

The merged tendrils transformed into a clawed hand and struck the barrier created by the runes. The clash between the rune and the claw sent a shockwave that shook the entire mountain!

The intensity of the shockwave was so strong that even Ülgen, protected by extra runes designed by Draklon, couldn't help but frown. This, of course, was a reflection of his reaction in the mental realm.

But the claw's attack wasn't finished. As the shockwaves continued to spread from the point of impact, the palm of the claw focused into a needle-like form and pierced through a weak spot in the runes' defense in an instant!

Seeing the needle-sized dark energy tendril advancing towards the black knight, Draklon tried to react quickly but had to stop when he saw the claw beginning to swell. "Good luck, little friend!" he muttered, gritting his teeth and directing the runes to encircle the swelling claw.

The runes, triggered by Draklon's energy, managed to encase the swelling dark claw before it could explode. However, the bronze dragon knew this wouldn't be enough. So, he leaped forward and directed the runes to pull the claw into the room. Then, he shifted from his human form to his dragonborn form, wrapped the claw with his hands, and concentrated all his energy around it.

The explosion of the claw resulted in an even more violent tremor shaking the entire mountain.

...

Meanwhile, the mental realm was not idle.

After the black knight shouted for his master, he was kicked hard and embedded into the wall of the mental realm.

"Shit," Ülgen muttered, feeling a strong sense of danger targeting him and lamenting his misfortune.

As he stood silently before the black knight, he frowned as he sensed the tremors from his main body. Whatever was happening outside, even the runes designed to maintain his focus couldn't prevent the tremors from reaching him. Fortunately, when preparing the runes, he hadn't relied solely on his ancestral memory but had also applied what he learned as a Fatih at the academy. Thus, he wasn't worried about the mind-scanning spell being disrupted.

The black knight, eager to taunt Ülgen with the joy of being saved by his master, was sharply warned by his instincts not to do so unless his master entered this mental realm. He was at the limit of his mental strength and did not want to put himself in further danger while his soul was gravely injured.

"!"

After a short while, both of them simultaneously turned their heads toward the edge of the mental realm. From there, a tendril of dark energy was seeping in, taking on a nebulous form. At this point, Ülgen's instincts began to scream.

"Killing my parasites usually doesn't bother me." The nebulous form slowly began to take on a humanoid silhouette and spoke in a somber voice. "But trying to read minds is neither ethical nor a pleasant action, is it?"

Ülgen, staring at the dark silhouette with bright gray eyes, concentrated his mental energy around him and replied, "Ethics and morality are not concepts that a dark mage like you can judge."

The dark silhouette couldn't help but laugh as it took steps toward Ülgen. The next moment, a pair of burning eyes with a dark green glow locked onto the young Fatih. "There is a fateful bond between you and the child I'm looking for. So that's why 452 fell into your hands."

"452? That sounds like a cheap name for a powerful black knight who has reached the 9th degree," Ülgen replied with a laugh. Of course, he didn't neglect to scrutinize every word coming out of the man's mouth. "If there are 451 others more valuable, why waste your energy to save this one?"

The dark silhouette, not stopping its walk, extended its hand toward Ülgen. "How about a small deal? I'll take 452's soul, and you get to live today."

Before Ülgen could respond to the threat resonating in his soul, he noticed the dark energy surrounding him from all sides. As a Fatih, his pride was too high to swallow the threat of an inferior being from a lower plane.

As his mental energy began to tear apart the dark energy surrounding him, he let out an angry laugh. "Instead, I'll shatter 452's soul, and you won't get out of here unscathed!"

The dark silhouette was momentarily taken aback to see the energy he used being torn apart by mental energy far more complex than that of an ordinary individual. This hesitation was enough time for Ülgen to destroy the dark energy encircling him in one go and reach the green humanoid form of the parasite.

"Ha, arrogance!" However, before his hand could reach the parasite's head, a mass of intense dark energy in the form of a fist struck him.

The mass of dark energy bypassed Ülgen's mental energy and struck his soul, starting to decay his right arm. The young Fatih responded by releasing his mental energy in waves, swiftly destroying the dark energy that had decayed half his arm.

As he adjusted his mental energy to counterattack, he saw three more dark energy fists approaching. He blocked them with his own mental energy fists, hearing the dark silhouette's voice in the process.

"You possess knowledge a white dragon shouldn't have, yet I cannot sense your destiny. How unusual." The dark silhouette suddenly appeared behind Ülgen and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you don't mind, I'll reverse the mind-reading spell you tried to use on my subordinate!"

In the outside world, the runes surrounding Ülgen and the black knight began to darken slowly. A profound sense of death engulfed Ülgen, and he could feel the ominous force attempting to invade his mind.

Accepting that he had no safe options in this life-and-death situation, Ülgen gritted his teeth in pain, his killing intent merging with his mental energy. "You'll regret forcing me into this!"

Realizing the change in the young Fatih, the dark silhouette tried to speed up the process of seizing control of the runes. However, he hadn't anticipated Ülgen's trump card to activate so swiftly. As his hand shattered, crimson shockwaves destabilized the mental realm and sent his body flying meters away.

Barely regaining his balance, the dark silhouette materialized beside 452 with an energy burst. "I better take you away early," he said, and an even more intense darkness began to envelop them both.

"THERE IS NOWHERE YOU CAN GO!" But when Ülgen's voice, filled with killing intent, echoed, they realized escaping wouldn't be so easy.