Apocalyptic Maiden

They both stared at each other while Atlas was just silent, trying to go unnoticed.

"Dragon or not, you have to fulfill the contract"

At the man's words, the dragon roared, forcing Atlas to painfully cover his ears while the man simply stood there smiling.

"A simple contract cannot force us to hide!"

The dragon's voice was hoarse, and not at all pleasant. Furthermore, he conveyed a sense of obedience. Atlas felt that no matter what the dragon said, his words were true.

But the man next to him seemed unfazed in the slightest, instead, his smile grew wider and wider.

"A simple contract… it's true, a simple contract cannot bind you to anything. A simple piece of paper, how stupid"

Incredibly, the man agreed with the dragon's words. But at the same time, his voice had a sarcastic tone.

Atlas had no idea what contract they were talking about, and he didn't even care. He just wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible, but being in the middle of the ocean he had no choice but to continue listening to the conversation between the dragon and the man.

The dragon also understood that the man was being sarcastic, so he did not hesitate to roar again showing his hostility.

"Human, don't you dare make fun of me!"

The man snorted and simply said: "So you won't back down no matter what I say?"

"I didn't wait hundreds of years for this moment for a mere human to stop me!"

The dragon rose dozens of meters, flapping its wings strongly, the wind collided with Atlas and the man next to him, moving both of their hair. Atlas looked in silence at the man who had ignored him since he had arrived, but to his surprise, he spoke.

"Wait a moment, we will have a conversation when I take care of the inconvenience"

Saying that, the man raised his hand and a golden balance scale in front of him. Immediately, the sky darkened.

It was still noon, but it seemed like midnight. Furthermore, ash began to rain as a large orb of mana formed in front of the dragon's jaws. This attack was different than the ash breath, it looked much more powerful.

But in front of the 15-meter dragon, a new crack appeared in the air. This time the crack was much bigger, even bigger than the dragon.

Atlas didn't know what the dragon was feeling as he saw the crack in the air in front of him, but to Atlas it felt like the end of the world.

"Maiden, grant me your power"

A fire was lit in the middle of the balance scale, then the world shook.

Atlas instinctively looked towards the crack, sensing that something was about to happen... and he was not wrong.

Long, sharp fingers emerged from the darkness of the crack, grasping the edges of it and pulling. Little by little the crack widened until it was larger than the dragon itself.

Then, Atlas saw something he could never forget.

A head peeked out from the crack; the head was even larger than the head of the stone statue that supported the church and it belonged to a woman… or at least a creature that resembled a woman.

The creature's hair was completely white as was its skin. It had thin lips and a defined jaw, but his eyes and the top of his head were covered by a helmet with sharp spikes and which was closed with a large padlock on the back of his head.

The maid opened her mouth slightly and then stopped.

"My price is the body and mana of an 800-year-old dragon"

The golden scale tilted to one side as if an invisible weight had been placed on it, and at the same time the maiden's mouth continued to open little by little, until it surpassed the humanly possible limit.

Her jaw stretched until her mouth was larger than the dragon itself.

The dragon at that same moment finished creating his attack, and without hesitation shot the maiden. A large gray beam covered in ash headed straight towards the crack, approaching the maiden in less than a second.

Two arms came out of the maiden's mouth, approaching the dragon's attack. The hands coming out of the maiden's mouth were placed right where the lightning was going to hit, placing one on top of the other with the fingers fully extended.

When the lightning struck the maiden's hands, it began to fade little by little, until it disappeared completely just like the ash breath from before.

Without delaying more than a moment, the maiden's hands separated and headed towards the dragon. Seeing this, the dragon did not dare to have a direct confrontation and flapping its wings began to move through the air while the maiden's hands pursued it insatiably.

A confrontation began in the air while the dragon escaped and attacked her hands at the same time, but they did not seem to suffer any damage and only focused on catching it.

The maiden's arms had already lengthened by tens of meters and seemed like whips that moved with their own will.

The dragon was fast, but his body was so big that it was difficult for him to escape forever from the maiden's hands. But the majestic creature did not surrender to a human and continued fighting.

But barely a minute passed, Atlas realized that it was useless.

One of the maiden's hands firmly grabbed one of the dragon's legs, stopping it in its tracks.

The dragon tried to free itself, but immediately the other controller clung to one of its wings. The dragon roared in pain and released a breath of ash onto the maiden's hand that held his paw.

It was clearly of no use and before either of them realized, the hands had dragged the dragon right in front of the maiden's wide mouth.

A loud roar echoed around and at the same time the dragon tried to plead in an attempt to survive.

The great pride that the dragon had faded as soon as he saw that he had no escape, but the man had already given him the opportunity to leave before... it was too late.

The dragon was absorbed by the complete darkness of the maiden's mouth, disappearing next to her hands. It was then that the maiden began to close her mouth while at the same time the scales began to balance, as if the corresponding price was being paid.

The fight had ended so quickly that Atlas had barely processed what he had just seen.

Meanwhile, the maiden hid her head in the depths of the crack, and when she disappeared, the hands that were holding the crack open began to close it.

In less than a minute, the rift had completely closed and the sky returned to normal.

It seemed as if nothing had happened, which left Atlas baffled.

He had just seen the confrontation between a dragon, a creature worthy of legends against a colossal and apocalyptic creature. And the victory of such a creature was completely unanimous.

The only sign left that a battle of such magnitude had happened was the man next to him.

Atlas watched him in complete silence.

'Will I have to reach such a level to return to my world?'