Retreat

"Has this dragon lost her mind? She transformed in the heart of a human kingdom. Isn't she afraid of being surrounded by human powerhouses? If her hidden identity is exposed, will her father let her get away with it?"

Liam was ranting inwardly. Onyxia's mental fortitude was truly pathetic. He'd only shot her once; was there really any need to act as if she were ready to fight to the death?

What he didn't know was that Onyxia really had been driven half-mad with rage.

All she wanted now was to tear the man to pieces! As for the mess that came afterward, she'd leave it to her father to clean up. Onyxia was so humiliated and enraged that she was ready to expose her true form just to kill the annoying brat in front of her. She could feel the pressure coming from the Phoenix before her. Even a pure-blooded dragon like her couldn't claim certain victory without transforming.

So she wanted to reveal her true form right away, crush the tiny "ant" that was Liam and his not-yet-grown "Phoenix," then leave as quickly as possible before the other powerhouses arrived. As for the plan to annex Alterac... they could discuss that later.

Onyxia's transformation startled Liam, but he reacted immediately. He turned and leaped through the window Coral had smashed open behind him. As he sprang out, a grappling hook attached to a rope suddenly appeared in his hand. Its three-pronged hook caught the windowsill precisely, and Liam slid down the rope with ease to the ground.

Liam ran without looking back, while Coral flapped both wings and charged at Onyxia. The man and bird worked together with perfect coordination.

During his earlier travels, Liam had often encountered opponents he couldn't handle alone. Whenever that happened, it was time to "release Coral." Over time, Coral had become better and better at understanding what Liam wanted.

As soon as its shameless master turned and ran, Coral would charge forward and offer itself up to die. It was a remarkably effective tactic, and so far, no one had managed to beat "666 Pyros" after its first sacrificial death.

Unfortunately, its past record wasn't much of a guide. Today, they might finally get to see what "101010 Pyros" was like.

Phoenixes normally had all kinds of innate abilities. Unfortunately, Coral seemed to have been born lacking in intelligence. Even after being reborn and gaining greater power, it still only knew how to fight up close. The various fire spells that came naturally to Phoenixes were completely beyond this dumb bird.

So despite possessing strength close to the Hero tier, Coral couldn't bring out even half of its power. It usually relied on overwhelming its enemies with sheer strength. Against Onyxia, it was bound to suffer a major defeat.

Coral charged straight at Onyxia's enormous head, targeting her huge eyes. It had learned this trick from Liam: go for the eyes, choke the throat, kick the groin, and stomp the knees. Liam accepted any street-fighting trick he'd brought over from his other memories, as long as it worked. He was nothing like the refined prince he'd once been—he was just a street thug.

If the people of Gilneas saw him fighting like that, their eyes would pop out of their heads.

But Coral didn't care about any of that. It did what its master did. So what if it pecked her in the eye? It wasn't going to lose a feather over it.

Unfortunately, Coral wasn't facing bandits or the guards who hunted them this time. It was up against a dragon with an ancient bloodline.

Onyxia had never seen a Phoenix fight so dirty, but the sharp horns on her head were no decoration. She swung her massive head to the side, sending Coral hurtling away. Then she spat a stream of dragonfire at it and rushed after the Phoenix as it hit the ground.

In a single exchange, Coral suffered the worst beating of its life. The difference between the Hero tier and the near-Hero tier was plain to see. The blow wasn't fatal, but it was enough to leave Coral lying there for a while.

The dragonfire that followed did far less damage than the first blow. After all, even if Coral was "weak," it was still a Phoenix. Onyxia had to be furious to think that breathing fire at it would do any good. The blast hit Coral, but it stayed right where it was, sprawled on the ground.

The raging dragonfire didn't kill Coral, but it burned down most of the castle behind it. Many of the buildings outside the castle also caught fire, and soon the flames had spread into one vast blaze. The destruction was even worse than the damage Coral had caused by painstakingly setting fires everywhere earlier!

After being killed in a single blow and getting off to a terrible start, Coral simply decided to play dead. It waited for Onyxia to bring her claws down so it could hurry off to be reborn in an even more powerful body and come back to fight the dragoness.

Unfortunately, its wishful thinking was interrupted by the magical fluctuation of a portal opening.

"Dalaran vermin! They got here so fast!"

Onyxia muttered under her breath. She lowered her enormous claw, and flames surged up from beneath the ground, forming a seal around the swirling portal. Under the pressure of the powerful fire elemental energy, the portal began to form more slowly.

"You're lucky. You're on the Black Dragonflight's blacklist now. Run for your life and see how long you can survive our pursuit!"

The black dragon took to the air. Her enormous eyes glared at Liam, who was hiding off to one side, before she tossed out a threat and vanished into the night sky, flying south.

"Sorry, but the Black Dragonflight's been on my blacklist for ages. I happen to need a good hide for some leather armor. Why don't you stay and save me the cost of buying the leather?"

Liam never let anyone get the last word. He shouted at Onyxia as she took flight. His words enraged the dragoness so much that she stumbled in midair, her wingbeats thrown off rhythm. She nearly turned back to incinerate Liam with a single "deep breath."

"This won't do. I'd better get out of here too. If those meddlesome old geezers from Dalaran find me, things will get messy." Liam had caused such a huge mess that he wasn't stupid enough to stick around and "clean up." He whistled, and Coral swooped down.

Liam leaped onto the Phoenix's back and lay across the molten rock that had formed there. Yet the flames that could melt anything felt only warm to him.

Once Coral felt Liam climb onto its back, it flapped its wings and streaked east toward the Hinterlands. It had learned this from Liam: after causing trouble, never go straight home. At the very least, spend the night somewhere else.

The black dragon and the Phoenix vanished into the night in the blink of an eye. The seal Onyxia had formed without using her full strength was torn to shreds by the power of space, scattering into sparks that drifted through the air.

As the portal took shape, a figure in a bright red robe stepped through it and appeared among the ruins of Alterac, which had just been devastated all over again by a fierce battle.