Our staring contest continued for what seemed like hours. I was honestly grateful for that, as our fight had taken its toll on my body. The pain of the spear lodged in my left claw was becoming unbearable. I could only imagine how she was still standing with half of her body missing. 

"For heaven's sake, why the fuck did you start this fight?" I cursed. The pain was clouding my senses as her mana constantly tried to invade my body. I had thought to drag her inside my soul space and finish her off. 

Still, I wasn't sure if I could overpower her. One wrong move and I risk everything, hence why It wasn't worth it. I strained my mind, as I also constantly used my mana to stop her from regenerating.   

However, It wasn't easy. This was the first time I was using mana in this way. I silently cursed myself for my lack of control over it. Perhaps had I spent more time refining it, I wouldn't have fallen to such a state. 

The goddess glanced at her missing side and frowned. "Stop acting so ignorant little dragon," She suddenly snapped. Her left hand extended towards her spear, causing it to shudder before it instantly flew back to her hand, spattering my blood on the ground. 

I hissed in pain and carefully glared at her. "Ignorant? What are you even on about?! I didn't do anything to you, hell I don't even know you! You crazy bitch suddenly attacked me out of nowhere!" 

Hearing that, her frown deepened as she slowly replied. "That's what it means to be at war, little dragon!" 

"War? What war!?" At my questioning gaze, the goddess finally seemed to realize something as she opened her mouth to speak, yet no words came out. 

"You, what year is it?" 

"How should I know?" I shrugged and brought my injured claw to my mouth, gently licking the wound. 

"Wait, do you mean the war between gods and dragons?" I raised my head as I recalled grandma saying something about it. 

A dangerous light flickered by her eyes as she once again pointed her spear at me. "So you do know! Here I come!" 

"No, no, no! Wait damn it! That war already ended before I was even born!" I hastily replied. 

"Ended? That's impossible!" Hearing that, her eyes lightly shook as she muttered to herself, "Just for how long was I stuck here?" 

"Yes, it ended. The gods are currently in their land. And us dragons are in ours," I continued while carefully studying the goddess's face as it kept changing to various emotions. 

Her previous emotionless facade was nowhere to be seen. 'I guess she already had a faint guess that she been here for far too long, otherwise I doubt I could have convinced her with just words,' I inwardly muttered. 

The blond-haired deity slowly lowered her spear, and used it as a cane to support her body, as she leaned on it. A blank expression was on her face as her azure eyes seemed to lose all hope. 

"Ugh," 

I subconsciously grumbled as I felt her mana's withdrawal from my body. Hesitantly, I willed my water mana towards my wounds and found myself able to heal them at last. Glancing back at her, I let out a long sigh and withdrew mine as well. 

Our bodies regenerated immediately, and soon after we were both back to peak conditions. Looking at the goddess's lost expression, I carefully asked. "What's your name?"

Hearing my question, her body shook slightly as she seemed to snap out of her daze. She stared at me with a complicated expression before letting out a deep sigh, after which, her spear turned into countless light particles that flowed inside her body. 

'Well damn, that was cool.' 

Shaking her head, the goddess turned around and started walking away from me. I first studied the destroyed surroundings, our previous fight was intense enough to uproot this entire side of the forest. Countless crevices and deep chasms could be seen on the ground. 

After a moment of contemplation, I slowly began to follow the strange goddess. 'It's not like I got anything better to do right? Plus I still don't know the area very well,' I convinced myself as I hastened my footsteps. 

The goddess didn't walk for long, as she made her way to the sky. The direction of her flight appeared to be southbound. For a while, I silently followed her as my eyes kept glancing at the scenery below. The colorful trees decreased before they disappeared completely, only to be replaced by a strangely familiar grey mountain range. 

'This seems like where those shade monsters were hiding.' I inwardly noted. 

My scales tingled as I felt countless gazes, coming from deep within the mountains, turn my way as we flew overhead. The goddess didn't seem to care though as she made her way towards a particular peak that stood as straight as a sword, piercing the clouds above, and overlooking all others below. 

I silently followed her there. The moment we landed on the peak, however, my eyes widened slightly in surprise. A field of white flowers unlike any I have ever seen before bloomed all over the plateau-shaped peak. Right in the middle of it all was a modest wooden cabin with two open windows. 

The Goddess gently landed next to the house, carefully plucked a flower, and brought her to her nose. A thin satisfied smile stretched across her face before she silently made her way inside the house. 

"She ignored me completely," I subconsciously muttered. My eyes glanced at the wide-open field full of celestial white flowers. 

"Well, this place will do I guess," I mumbled before curling on the ground a distance away from her cabin. I was mentally exhausted after arriving at this astral plane, and I was faced with one fight after another. Although my body was still alright, my mind wished for nothing more but for me to close my eyes and rest. 

Perhaps it was not a smart idea to sleep at the door of someone I was fighting go death with, moments ago. But for some reason, I was sure the goddess had had enough of our fight. Besides, although I closed my eyes to rest, my mana was constantly on guard, in case anything were to happen, I would instantly react. 

"Now I guess we wait,"