Bradley stood within the large crater that was once the proud city of Magneis. A few chunks of the city wall were still standing, but that was all. Every weapon he had paled in regard to that girls destructive potential.

He had thought that Yukikos power had been the pinnacle of warfare, and then he had seen the potentials of the others … but that … one had to fear that she was able to destroy the planet. He shuddered again. Rubenheim had saved his life by explaining what each of the tears could do and how he could use them after they were fused. He didn’t know where he got all that knowledge from, but at the moment he didn’t care.

He just wondered how that girl had been able to free herself from his control. But Rubenheim was nowhere to be found. He could have been destroyed with the city, but he was almost sure that he hadn’t been in there as everything happened. This meant that the only man, who would have been able to answer his questions, had vanished. What should he do now? Bradley was cursing under his breath. He had been careless. He had come to depend on that despicable man.

He needed to know that the others, especially Yukiko, would stay within his control. Another one of them turning suddenly, ignoring his orders and attacking him would ruin everything.

For now he could only hope that Rubenheim claim of this plan being failsafe was at least in part right. At least until he found that mad scientist or someone else that could explain to him what went wrong.

A sudden shadow interrupted his thoughts. Bradley looked into the sky, only to see dozens of back creatures arriving all around him. He had seen one of those creatures before but only about half their size. Most of them landed on the fields and the chunks of stone still standing, one landed directly in front of him.

Bradley touched the black diamond hidden underneath his clothing, calling for his four remaining generals, hoping that they won’t go berserk on him. It took them only a second to appear.

The dragon lowered his head towards Bradley, looking at him with orange-red eyes. The eye blinked once, just before the dragon began to transform into something very human, complete with a leathery coat.

The human hadn’t had any hair on him and still orange-red eyes but other than that he could have passed as a normal human any time.

“Are you responsible for this?” The dragon came a few steps closer to Bradley.

“What if?” Bradley had to grin.

The dragon looked once more on Bradley, staring at him. “No, you are not.” He didn’t answer Bradleys question but turned and went away, ignoring him completely. No. This time he was prepared to fight these despicable creatures. They wouldn’t dare to ignore him again. He pulled energy out of the black diamond, lifting his right hand. A small explosion in front of the dragon cut through the earth, stopping him.

“You dare to …” The dragon turned slowly. “You challenge me? Do you really think you can defeat me?” He breathed in air, fighting to keep calm. “You are not a dragon. Not even half. You. Are nothing!”

Bradley didn’t need to be careful, he didn’t want to be. Using the powers of the black diamond directly should allow him to win. And even if he should be pressed down, he could easily flee. He couldn’t lose anything here. He could only win.

“Give up!” The dragon turned once again, most of his emotions in check once again.

Bradley stopped him with another explosion. “I am serious.” His face was hard, telling the dragon that he was indeed challenging him.

“The challenge has been accepted!” A woman stepped inbetween both, her red eyes and bald head telling him that she was a dragon as well. Not that there was any other human then him and his generals around. Her curves weren’t even half bad.

“Yamira! You can’t seriously consider this! This is preposterous!” The male dragon shouted almost hysterically.

“You know the rules: The strongest one is the ruler of our clan and everyone is entitled to challenge him at any time, in order to take over!” She smiled.

“That’s valid only for dragons! For members of the clan!”

“Are you afraid to lose?”

“As you wish! I shall fulfill this human’s death wish!”

Bradley had to smile. This got better every second. That female was playing into his hands. He might even get a small army of dragons. With his generals and all of them he could stand a chance against that girl!

“The rules are simple: Either kill your enemy or make him surrender”, Yamira explained. “Help from outside or taking prisoners is not allowed.” She looked to Bradley and his generals, then towards all the other dragons.

Bradley thought an order to Yukiko and the others. They retreated obediently.

The woman waited a bit longer, observing both sides, then she retreated herself, stepping backwards and shouting a single word: “Begin!”

His enemy changed into the form of a dragon once again. Bradley surrounded himself with a magic armor. He knew of the dragons flaming breath already, he could also imagine that they were incredibly powerful. These despicable creatures could even fly. But apart from that they were living beings and living beings had always two weak spots: Heart and Brain. Granted, his were heavily armored, but then again, he had very powerful magic.

The dragon attacked with his maw, his teeth digging into his magic armor, never reaching him. Bradley reacted, shoving a spear of ice upwards, just slightly angled, to where he thought the dragons brain had to be.

The creature roared, retreating. He had missed slightly. He used more of the icy powers, freezing his enemy to the ground. He ran forwards, arriving below the dragon’s body within a few blinks of an eye. His heart had to be somewhere there. Gesturing broadly he commanded a spear of ice that shot up against the dragon’s body. It couldn’t penetrate his scales. He didn’t give up that easily. He changed the spear into the form of a drill, heating the stones until they glowed.

The improvised weapon started spinning wildly, drilling through the creatures scales. The dragon roared again, flailing his tail, beating his wings. He couldn’t escape the ice, he couldn’t touch Bradley below him, he roared louder, feeling the pain.

Bradley just realized that he had full control over the girls powers even though she wasn’t in his control anymore. He felt invincible at the moment the drill penetrated the scales, hitting the sensitive flesh below, searing and severing it. Suddenly the dragon’s roar died. Bradley jumped aside, blinked out of existence and reappeared back where he started. He had won!

Everything around him was silent as the creature collapsed onto the ground. Then Yamira approached him. A few feet away from him she kneeled and bowed slightly.

“We would like to know the name of our new chief.”

Bradley allowed himself to smile. “Edward L. Bradley!”