Above the massive mountain as well as over a third of all Dragon Ridge, a magical circle shone brightly. Its light tried to hide the thick fog, but a few rays still managed to pass through it, reaching Ceozi's cave.
"Damn, looks like I need to hurry." Ceozi muttered looking at the light from the magic circle, "They're finishing up already. I wonder if I'll be able to make a decent weapon out of dragon bone? Well, I should try to make the best I can anyway!"
Ceozi clenched her fists as fire lit up in her eyes and her heart began to beat faster. This may not have been unusual for others, but for Ceozi it was a significant event, especially since she didn't yet know that Wain was going to bring her a dragon fang and not a bone.
...
"Well, my work is done here. This barrier completely prevents any energy flows from entering, so only after it disappears will the dragons notice what happened." Blind Sorcerer said before disappearing, returning control of the body to Wain.
"Fine, now the last thing left to do..." Wain muttered, turning to Nicole, who was absorbing the last soul and waved his hand.
Whooooooooooooosh.
A torrent of darkness appeared next to Nicole, which grabbed her and brought her to Wain, straight to the dragon's skull.
"Hey! Why did you do that?! I haven't had time to devour the last soul yet!" Nicole exclaimed with a frown as she puffed up her cheeks.
"Forget it, you're already fully healed, there's no need for that. No matter how much energy you absorb, it makes almost no difference to your Stage anymore anyway." Wain said calmly as he turned to fang, "Go ahead, do it."
"What...? I thought you were going to break the fang off, weren't you?" Nicole tilted her head in confusion as she touched her lips.
Wain smirked, "Did you really chicken out? That fang is your future weapon, so it would make sense if you were the one to do it, right?"
Nicole's eyes went wide as she grimaced with a deadly look, "Don't you dare say that! Fine, I'll do it! It's not hard at all!"
Crackle.
Nicole grabbed the massive fang with her hands, which was more than a meter long, and gripped it tightly at its base, trying to break it off. However, no matter how hard she tried, it seemed impossible to break.
"Hahaha, looks like you only defeated that Golem by sheer luck. Are you really that weak that you can't do something that simple?" Wain laughed with a sneering smirk.
Nicole's veins swelled as she clenched her teeth, "Shut up! I just didn't expect it to be this strong!"
"Well, you've made the same mistake for the second time in one day, that's a pretty bad tendency, you know?" Wain shook his head.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
Nicole released a large amount of energy outward as her hands were covered in a dense layer of darkness. Gradually her strength increased as Nicole was going to use as much energy as was necessary to break the dragon's fang, even if she used everything she had for it.
"Shit! Come on! It shouldn't be that hard!" Nicole exclaimed as she took a step back, pulling on the fang with all her might.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
A few cracks appeared in the fang and seconds later it was in Nicole's hands. At the same moment, a large amount of white energy emerged from the damaged area, perfectly pure and without blemish.
Nicole fell to the ground with a satisfied smile on her face, clutching the dragon's fang tightly with both hands.
"Good job. I don't know if you'll remember my words, but you should learn from your mistakes so you don't make them again in the future." Wain said calmly looking at Nicole.
"I don't care... Even if I made the same mistake again, I still pulled it off, didn't I? That fang is mine now!" Nicole exclaimed cheerfully as the white streams of energy reached the magic circle.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The magic circle shuddered violently as if a bomb had exploded in its center, but after a while, the ripples passed and the magic circle returned to its previous state.
"Hmm? What is this? It wasn't here before..." Nicole muttered with a confused expression as she pointed up.
"Well, this is what will give Ceozi some time to forge a scythe for you. Get ready, in a few hours, the Dragons will be here. I don't know how many, it doesn't really matter, but one of them will be you to fight." Wain said calmly while the cold wind fluttered his black coat.
Nicole gulped with a nod before slowly rising.
"Let's get back, I think Ceozi's ready." Wain muttered looking at the forge in the distance from which a stream of dark smoke emanated.
"Ughum!"
...
A few minutes later two shadows ran toward Ceozi's cave as Wain and Nicole found themselves in her forge. The furnace was already burning a bright red flame that seemed capable of melting any metal, however, it had no effect on Ceozi, who was standing a meter away from the fire.
"Damn... you really got it..." Ceozi muttered with a dazed look as she stared at Nicole, "Wait... It's not just a bone, you took a fang!"
"Yeah. I thought it would be much better than a huge rib." Wain nodded as he put his hand on Nicole's shoulder, "Is that really a problem for you?"
Ceozi was silent for a while just staring at Fang in disbelief before coming to her senses and nodding, "No, you made the right decision. I can make a real masterpiece out of the fang."
Nicole handed the dragon fang to Ceozi and she began the process of forging the weapon. First, she had to heat it to red before she could start shaping the fang in any way, so she had to raise the temperature of the furnace to the maximum possible.
"Wow... How can she take that kind of heat... I'm standing a few feet away, but I feel like if I take a few more steps I could burn!" Nicole muttered with a dazed expression.
"Hah, she's a demon, for most of them fire is their main ally." Wain smirked as he watched the dragon fang melt.