?Stone Solid sat hunched over a small table at a café patio in the desert settlement, his massive arms crossed tightly over his chest. His gaze was fixed on the shifting sand, his jaw tight. Across from him, the two newer Incarnates sat stiffly, clearly uncomfortable with the veteran’s mood but eager to learn.

  ?Stone Solid mumbled, barely looking up. "How could I have been bested by a single Stage Two creature?"

  ?One of the younger Incarnates leaned forward, sensing an opening. "We thought that Stage Two obsidian demon was just playing around, we didn't realize the power it held. You seem to know a lot about these beasts. Could you explain why you're so upset?"

  ?Nursing his battered pride, Stone Solid saw the opportunity to teach the two newer Incarnates. He inhaled slowly, adopting the heavy, lecturing tone of the experienced veteran. "You know the basics of a life cycle. As something matures, it typically gets a power boost." He dismissed the topic with a wave of his hand. "What matters, and what you clearly don't understand, is the Stages of Power within this life cycle for beasts. That demon was a warrior, yes, but it was far from a normal Stage Two creature."

  ?One of the rookie Incarnates began to ask. "If it wasn't even fully grown, how..."

  ?He slammed his meaty fist lightly on the stone table—not enough to break the weathered surface, but the sound was sharp enough to silence any further interruptions. "Every creature goes through life stages, like us.

  ?Stage One is called a Thrall. This is the newborn or child phase. It's the weakest that creature comes.

  ?Stage Two we refer to as a Warrior or Mage. This would be the adolescent phase. This is where they choose their combat style. The ones we call Warriors focus on close-range combat. On the other side, Mages rely on innate abilities or ranged attacks."

  ?Stone Solid paused, his heavy eyes sweeping over the two Incarnates to ensure they were absorbing the information. A small trickle of sweat ran down the neck of the nearest rookie, the intensity of Stone Solid's gaze enough to make the theoretical danger feel immediate and real.

  ?"Stage Three is the young adult phase. They master their chosen combat style and get a new title. A Warrior becomes a Vanguard Commander, and a Mage becomes an Arcane Commander. These are your full grown powerful Commanders."

  ?He leaned closer, his voice dropping slightly in intensity. "Now, this is where age stops mattering and sheer power takes over.

  ?When a Vanguard or Arcane rounds out their skills, they become an Overlord. They typically rule smaller territories and manage a family or large group of lower-stage creatures serving them.

  ?Once an Overlord cultivates enough power, it condenses, and they go through a massive, species-specific change. They become a Sovereign class. This happens when the creature doubles its strength since becoming an Overlord, gaining incredible durability from the condensed power."

  ?A shadow crossed his face, a flicker of genuine fear replacing his anger. He swallowed hard, the memory of some past terror clearly resurfacing. "Most creatures never pass Overlord. Few reach Sovereign. And almost none—" He shook his head grimly. "—reach the final stage: Zenith. Very little is known about the Zenith stage. They are the absolute peak of power. Just pray to whoever that you don't see one of them anytime soon."

  ?He stared pointedly at the spot where the interrupting Incarnate sat. "Now you know why I was frustrated. That Agent X’s creature was an extremely rare variant, an Obsidian Warrior from a lineage designed as a weapon. To face even a Stage Two variant of that specific species is insanely lucky, and it requires more than me to handle it." Stone Solid's face became grim as if remembering horror stories from his childhood. "The obsidian realm." Stone Solid shakes his head before continuing. "I haven't seen a trace of that world in ages." The two Incarnates would look at each other confused. Stone Solid already seeing the questions coming raises a hand to stop the two before they start asking. "It makes sense you wouldn't know about that realm. Any Incarnate sent to that realm was killed pretty quickly. Rumor has it some Incarnates toward the end had their soul absorbed and was never able to return to their original realm. The entire planet was terraformed with obsidian, and power was held as the only important thing. I'm not sure what changed later on, but I do know the cosmic operating system had to intervene personally."

  ?He sighed, the pride finally giving way to weary acceptance of defeat.

  ?Stone Solid pushed his chair back and stood, the scrape of stone on stone echoing the finality of his mood. "That's enough talk. Agent X won the right to lead, and he gave us our orders. Let’s find this settlement's administrative building and start fixing these minor issues."

  ?The academic silence of the café was immediately broken by the brutal reality of the fight, where the immense power Stone Solid had just described was being unleashed.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  ?The two charging crimson red dragons were closing in on Agent X. They were too close for the swords to intercept them in time. The dragons’ massive jaws, set to close around Agent X, were now less than a second away from meeting the obsidian that was Agent X. Agent X, realizing the swords were not moving fast enough, quit instructing the blades and caught the bottom jaw of each dragon with one hand. A struggle of titanic power could be seen for a blinding moment before a sickening crunch echoed through the crater. The swords, fueled by Xander's dark royal fire and redirected with precise kinetic force, ripped through the dragons from the back, completely bypassing their thick crimson scales. The force of the swords made the dragons' necks tear in a brutal tug of war between Agent X and the swords. The momentum of the raging swords carried their headless bodies forward, slamming and pinning their lifeless forms to the side of the crater wall.

  ?The whole encounter—from the moment the blades missed to their fatal return path—had lasted less than a couple of seconds. Agent X casually tossed the detached heads off to the side, now useless without their bodies.

  ?A dark, exhilarated laugh escaped Agent X as he formed two new swords, keeping his arms down at his side. He had dispatched four threats in the time it takes someone to take a deep breath, and he barely felt warmed up. Now, he looked up, his eyes locking onto the two Sovereign dragons—the real challenge, the real fun to be had. But first, he needed to clear the stage.

  ?The last two dragons, frozen by the instantaneous, shocking destruction of their pack, hesitated. Their hesitation was fatal.

  ?Agent X didn't move. He simply focused his power. The air around the two dragons frozen in fear began to vibrate violently, the pressure intensifying a thousandfold. With twin pops of pulverized pressure, the two beasts were instantly replaced by jagged spikes of obsidian that erupted from the ground beneath them. Their bodies exploded outward into sprays of crimson blood and bone fragments, leaving behind nothing more than a deep red mist and obsidian spikes that jolted out from the crater floor.

  ?With the distractions cleared, Agent X straightened his posture, letting the remaining Obsidian Greatswords relax in his hands. The silence in the crater was broken only by the hiss of fire consuming the dragon corpses.

  ?The two Crimson Dragon Sovereigns finally moved. They rose slowly to their full, immense height, their massive, lava-crowned heads slowly turning to regard the tiny demonoid standing casually among the pulverized remains of their children.

  ?One of the Sovereigns let out a deafening, bass-heavy roar, not of pain, but of pure, ancient territorial fury. The sound shook the crater's floor, sending hairline cracks in the ground radiating from where the Sovereign stood. Its massive wings raised and spread out, partially blocking out the sun and casting a shadow of profound menace. The air grew heavy and hot, thick with the scent of ozone and the deep, molten heat radiating from the dragon’s throat. "That's better," Agent X murmured, a genuine, bloodthirsty grin finally spreading across his face.

  ?"Come on you two," Agent X whispered, his voice resonating with power as he cracked the stones of his neck. "Let's see if you can manage to make this interesting."

  ?The two Sovereigns, sensing the bloodlust in their opponent's power, lowered their massive heads, their throats glowing an intense, volatile orange. They inhaled, preparing to unleash their catastrophic, sovereign-level flames simultaneously.

  ?Agent X didn't wait. He launched himself forward, a streak of midnight black against the crimson backdrop, charging directly toward the source of the threats. The distance closed quickly between Agent X and the Sovereign pair. As the pair released their flames, Agent X jumped far above the crater. He saw the crater fill with the devastating flames from the dragons' simultaneous breath attack.

  ?Agent X slung his arms one after another, launching his swords down at the pair. An instant after they left his hands, he folded his fingers and dark royal fire erupted from the blades. Their speed instantly tripled by the fire, they plummeted at impossible velocity toward their targets. The dragons, finished with their breath, looked up just in time to crush the incoming swords with their massive front claws. They wouldn't be taken down so easily.

  ?Agent X, now hovering in place above the crater, was laughing like a maniac. He was loving every bit of this; it would be a disappointment if they died too quickly. Agent X threw his hands out to his sides, his sight refocusing on the dragons below. "Let's see how you handle this!" he yelled his taunt to them as hundreds of Obsidian Greatswords began to form all over the surrounding sky. Each sword massive in size pointed straight at the two Sovereigns below. Agent X whispered, "Sky Fall," then thrust his open hands toward the dragons. Every sword, receiving the same command, became engulfed in an even deeper purple fire than his normal flames and began to streak down toward their target, leaving the Sovereigns no place to escape. One of the Sovereign dragons, with haste, spewed fire out into the shape of a massive magic circle above their heads.

  ?As the sky full of swords crashed down onto the magic circle and the surrounding area, the sound was deafening for miles around. Nothing could be seen except thick smoke and dark purple fire. Agent X, with a giant cracked smile, looked at the mayhem he'd caused and began to taunt again. "Oh, Sovereigns, that wasn't all you had, was it?"

  ?As Agent X finished his taunt, the second Sovereign dragon came rushing out of the smoke into the sky. Around its talons, pure, raging red fire roared to life, forming into immense, claw-like extensions. They looked like meteors of crimson plasma, each one holding the destructive potential of a mountain-toppling tremor. A thought of understanding came into Agent X's head: So you used to be a Vanguard Commander, and your mate used to be an Arcane Commander. The Sovereign, closing the distance, swung its monstrous claw. It was too late. Agent X only had time to brace for impact. With a force most would never know, Agent X was slammed back into the crater, throwing up enough dirt and smoke. Temporarily clearing the area before instantly making the area noticeably darker than before.

  ?The dark cloud could be seen rising into the sky from miles away at the settlement where the other Incarnates were doing simple tasks. Stone Solid looked up toward the unnatural cloud, wondering just what kind of cataclysm was happening during that fight. He begins to wonder what kind of monster walks into a pack of Crimson Red variants and expects to win. Stone Solid shakes his head waiting for Cosmo to say Agent X is dead.