“Stop, Walker,” a voice said.

Aisha looked up and saw a dragon with black and green scales descending on to them. “You will destroy the Elephantine Seas and the nearby island if this continues!”

“Lady Dalia?” Aisha asked.

The dragon looked at her. “What are you doing, Miss Aisha Brayleigh? What are you doing?”

“You can see for yourself!” She pointed out. “He has a corrupted power!”

The dragon looked back and forth from her to him. “I assure you that he is not.”

“I’ve long enough to know what is! I’ve seen many who have been corrupted by that same dread!”

The dragon landed with her four limbs. “If that is true then you wouldn’t be able to stand. You won’t be standing if this man was ever corrupted. Do not mistake similarities to the true thing. If you continue on this path then I assure you that you will not leave here alive.”

“Are you threatening me, Lady Dalia?” She said firmly.

“No, I am saving you!”

At the corner of her eyes, Aisha saw a mask resembling a black skull staring at her. In the mask, there were burning red eyes that seem to seep into her soul and burn it. She heard millions of souls screamed at her. She felt every blasted flesh on her body freeze at that sight. What was standing to her was a man covered in a plate of armor made of obsidian flesh. This armor was riddled with runic tattoos and lines that emitted enormous power. In that man’s hand was a blade covered in the same material, but this time it had rune linens that made her tremble.

“Cease, Walker,” Lady Dalia said, with a gentle tone. “You’ve not come here to fight any longer. You’ve lost some of your focus, but now that you have broken through my scales and drew blood. I am sure that you’ve woken up.”

Aisha saw the rock-like flesh withdraw from his body. Underneath that armor of stone-like flesh was him who showed no signs of wounds, just holes on his body. The obsidian-like flesh on his sword melted back to his body, seeping inside his pore.

He took a breath that almost emptied the energy of thin air. “Forgive me, for wounding you, Dalia.”

“Heed it no mind, Walker. As for you, Ashia Brayleigh, I have heard that you have become wise. But to think that you would mistake this power!”

“I sense dread, dragon,” she said. “I have seen that power corrupts even those who have been walking the light! Bright One! Earl! Sinclair! All of them had been turned when that said power came to them! And you think that this man is an exception! They had the will of steel! Not even that was enough to stop them from being corrupted!”

“Then you know nothing,” Dalia said. “None of them can compare to the hardship that this Walker had. And do I hear firmness on your voice, Ashia? When did you become so strong that you would blatantly not show any respect!”

There was a boom in her voice that made Ashia knee. Ashia moved her head and saw the man called Nolan stood without care at the boom of her voice. Even with the space shaking he found no worries and kept that calm face. Even among the dragons, there was only one who ruled space and time. The ruler of the Elephantine Sea, Dalia.

“Forgive me, Mistress.”

“Nolan. I’ve heard that you have cleaned the island. But I do not want this to ever happen again. Your power will draw those who seek such power.”

“I understand.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I am fine, Lady Dalia. I want to know if she’s hurt.”

Ashia glared. Lady Dalia stared at her.

“She’ll be fine. She may look sweet and lovely, but she’s a warrior Alf that has been roaming this land saving people. This is nothing compared to what you were going to do to her. I am glad that you have stopped.”

“I wounded you.”

“Pay it no mind,” she shook her wing and the flesh was healed. “For now, I will send you back to the shrine. It seems like we have need to discuss these powers of yours.”

“What about, Bach?”

“He would know. For now, I beg of you to leave.”

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

She opened her dragon’s mouth and sang a song that Ashia did not understand. It was sung in the voice of the dragons that Ashia couldn't sing unless she had the vocal cords of one. Nolan turned into a bullet of light and disappeared from the scene.

“As for you,” Dalia stared. “I’ve thought that you had grown weary of fighting.”

“Why stop me? Why lie?”

“I did not lie. It is the truth. You just faced one of the deadliest men to have ever walked the bleak path, and you’re lucky that I was here to stop you.”

“You underestimate me!” Aisha roared.

“I know what you can do. But you are facing a man who fought gods and demons and never ran from them once. I wouldn’t call that wise.”

“I was doing fine!”

“Yes, you did. But he could have killed you if he particularly cared about doing so. You fought a man who could not be bothered fighting. There are only a few who could control a dreaded power and that power of his was not taken, but given to him with the heart of a demoness with nurturing it. You will find no corruption. Taking that power we’ll be the same as killing him. I will not allow that. He’s under my protection. Not like he’d need it in this world that your students. You will travel on the boat he took. Take a good long thought about this. I will not repeat myself, he is under my protection.”

The dragon flew and left the island. Aisha stared at her palms and cursed. “Damn Witch of Nether…how can she say that? Is it true? What do I do?”

Aisha’s sword of light dispersed. She could still feel her body stiff.