The sun was directly overhead, beating down on the marble-paved training grounds with a relentless heat. I stood in the dead center of the arena. Around the perimeter, my "family" sat in shaded galleries, watching me with the same detached interest they'd show a bug about to be stepped on.
I looked down at my hand. I was gripping a sword. A real sword. The steel was polished to a mirror finish, so clear I could see my own wide, terrified eyes reflected in the blade. It was heavy, and my arm was already beginning to ache from the tension.
Then I looked at Aries.
He stood twenty paces away, looking relaxed—disgustingly so. He wasn't wearing armor. He wasn't holding a sword, a spear, or even a shield. His hands were empty, hanging loosely at his sides.
"Is he serious?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "Is he really going to fight me bare-handed?"
I scanned him frantically. No bow on his back. No daggers tucked into his belt. Nothing. My heart sank into my stomach as the realization hit me.
'If he has neither a bow nor a spear, then I assume he's a mage type?'
Shit!
Why did he have to be a mage of all things? In every novel I'd ever read, mages were the ultimate glass cannons—except in this world, dragons were basically armored tanks with nuclear reactors inside. A mage has long-range attacks, area-of-effect spells, and probably a dozen ways to cook me in my own boots before I can even get close enough to swing this heavy piece of metal.
Aries stepped forward, the jagged scar on his face twisting as he grinned.
"You look pale, Rio," he called out, his voice echoing across the silent grounds. "What's wrong? Is that sword too heavy for a pervert who usually only lifts skirts?"
A ripple of cruel laughter came from the sidelines. I looked at the King, but his face was a mask of stone. He didn't care about the insults. He only cared about the result.
Suddenly, a faint blue spark crackled between Aries's fingers. Then another. Within seconds, his entire right hand was engulfed in a swirling, condensed ball of sapphire-colored flames. The air around him began to distort from the sheer heat.
"I've spent every night this month dreaming of how I'd kill you," Aries said, "I decided a sword was too quick. I want to hear you scream while your skin turns to ash."
I tightened my grip on the hilt until my knuckles turned white. My "Ferrari" body felt completely unresponsive. I had no idea how to call upon my own dragon power, and I certainly didn't know any sword forms.
'Come on, system,' I pleaded internally. 'If I'm supposed to make this story "interesting," now would be a really good time for a cheat code!'
I waited. I stared at the empty air in front of me, begging for a status window, a skill shop, or even a tiny "Level Up" notification. But there was nothing.
The realization hit me like a bucket of ice water. The blue screen wasn't a "system." It wasn't here to help me grind levels or give me legendary loot. It was just a high-tech messenger pigeon for the author—a way for that sadistic writer to tell me how much they were enjoying my suffering. There was no "Dragon System." There was no "Dimensional Store."
I was on my own.
"Hey, Rio," Amidst I was lost in my thoughts, Aries's voice dropped. "Don't look so disappointed. You're about to become the brightest thing in this arena."
He raised one of his hands toward the sky. My breath hitched.
The air didn't just distort; it tore apart. In the span of a heartbeat, ten giant spheres of sapphire-blue flame materialized in the air above him. Each one was the size of a carriage, swirling with enough heat to make the marble beneath my feet begin to crack.
Ten of them.
Against one guy with a piece of sharpened metal he didn't know how to use.
The heat was already singeing my eyelashes. I looked at the shaded gallery, desperate. My "mothers" were watching with boredom. My sisters were whispering to each other, not even looking at the field. To them, this wasn't a fight. It was an extermination.
"Die!" Aries roared.
SHIT!
With a flick of his wrist, the first three fireballs hurtled toward me. They moved with a terrifying, unnatural speed, cutting through the air like meteors.
I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a skill. My body moved on pure survival instinct. I threw myself to the left to avoid the impending death that was coming for me.
BOOM!
The ground shook. A shockwave of heat slammed into my back, tossing me several feet. I scrambled to my feet and the heat made the drops of sweat fall from my face.
I looked up, and my heart stopped. Aries was laughing, his hands already guiding the next three spheres to follow my movement.
"Run all you want, little brother!" he yelled. "The arena is only so big!"
Oh, please, can't you just wait a bit?