"We need to work together! We have to stop the transformation!"
Having recovered from his initial shock, William finally figured out what was happening. He swiftly flung the net of concussed supercats away. Then, he tossed the meteorite fragment even further.
It was too late.
The fragment had already fueled the last stage of Cat Sage"s evolution. Nothing could stop the dragon"s metamorphosis. Its colossal body grew larger still and was soon adorned with a glistening coat of golden scales.
William was undeterred. He raised both fists and began pummeling mercilessly against its back like a pile-driver.
Nekomata joined in as well. He used his telekinetic powers to pry open the wounds that had been freshly mended together.
Fish Ball climbed onto his feet as well. He released a beam of bright light that tunneled right into the dragon"s eyes.
Rice Cake and Noodle did not join the fight. They were both sprawled out on the floor, albeit for different reasons. Rice Cake was still wallowing in self-pity and could not care less about what was going on around her. Noodle could not move because he had sprained his hip after William threw him to the ground.
Amid the explosions and screeches, the dragon continued to rapidly expand in size. Soon, it rivaled the length of a commercial airplane.
This was not the only change that the evolution ushered. The two mounds of flesh that were perched next on its shoulders had burst open, revealing dragon heads that were drenched in the same gold color as its scales. The three heads tilted upwards in unison and let out a thunderous roar. The battle cry created a visible distortion in the air. It produced a ball of energy that was as powerful as a vacuum bomb, sending an explosion of pressure waves charging in all directions.
William, Fish Ball, Noodle, and Rice Cake were instantly knocked off the ground and flew through the air. If Zhao Yao had not protected them with the deflective field, the impact would probably have killed them instead. Nekomata had slipped into spirit mode quickly enough to avoid getting hit.
The earth-shaking explosion woke the band of unconscious supercats from their slumber. They gaped at the three-headed dragon before them.
Cheese was the first to wrap his head around what they were seeing.
"The sage has succeeded!" he exclaimed in delight, "His superpower has evolved!"
The dragon"s physical form was still transforming at this point. The layer of golden, armor-like scales was still making its way across its gargantuan body. The aura it radiated grew more and more lethal.
William had no wish to witness what the dragon would be like at the end of the evolution. Its deadly aura was too much for him to bear. He turned and tried to make a run for it.
Unfortunately, this did not escape the dragon"s eye. William had barely dashed a hundred meters when a monstrous claw fell from above and tried to pin him to the ground. He let out a cry of protest and pushed back, but he could only fight it off for a second. He screamed in agony and used every ounce of strength to shove the claw away, but it would not budge.
The dragon had not only grown stronger, but also more ma.s.sive than ever before. He could defeat a tiny, little human like William with just his hefty weight alone. All it had to do was to close his claws around him to hold him securely in place. There was a flash of fear in William"s eyes when he realized that there was no way out of its iron grip.
The monster raised all three of its heads towards the sky again and let out another roar. This time, they did not work together to create a detonation. Instead, each head opened its mouth to spew something different into the air, which was soon filled with vortexes of flames, ice blasts, and poison.
Noodle and Fish Ball watched this with their jaws dropped. They were terrified.
Cheese and friends, on the other hand, were ecstatic. The more monstrous the three-headed dragon was, the safer their island would be.
Cat Sage was extremely pleased as well. He knew that an evolution would come, but this exceeded his expectations. This iteration of the dragon would be at least 10 times more powerful than the previous one.
For starters, its 60-meter long body would be enough for it to destroy entire cities by casually trampling through them. The sheath of golden scales was a lot st.u.r.dier than the one he had before. Anything short of a missile would fail to inflict any damage on him. Then, there were the two new heads, which equipped him with the ability to freeze and poison legions of opponents at once.
As the dragon, he was practically unbeatable.
This thought had barely crossed his mind when Zhao Yao appeared before him at last.
Three pairs of amber eyes squinted at the intruder. Then, one of the heads lunged forward, its jaw wide open.
"I don"t care who you are. I"ll capture you first and deal with you later," he thought.
Unfortunately, the head never reached him. A red glimmer reflected in Zhao Yao"s eyes and Cat Sage felt himself losing control of the dragon"s body in seconds. Soon, he was paralyzed and completely unable to move.
Zhao Yao grinned. "What a handsome, golden three-headed dragon. You"ll make a great steed for me."
There was a sinister glint in the dragon"s eyes. Cat Sage wanted to fight back, but he could not free himself from the man"s control.
"Aww? You"re not happy that you"ve lost?" Zhao Yao chuckled.
He tapped two fingers against the head that had charged for him.
The next moment, the dragon was sent ricocheting through the woods, knocking down dozens of towering trees that it flew into. It kicked up a storm of dust and dirt as it rolled hundreds of meters like a high-speed bowling ball. It went on for so long because Zhao Yao had used Elizabeth"s mind-control to compel the dragon to keep rolling forward. However, to an onlooker, it would seem as if that tap on the head was tremendously powerful.
When the spinning finally came to a halt, Cat Sage felt that he had regained control of his body again. He scrambled onto his feet immediately and growled with rage, ready to get his revenge.
Zhao Yao zipped to him again and stopped right before the head in the middle. The eerie red glint was back in his eyes.
"Sit down."
With that, he leaped into the air and brought one foot down on the top of its head.
The dragon crumpled to the ground helplessly. To Cheese, William, Fish Ball, and the other onlookers, it looked like an invisible mountain had been placed onto its body, holding it to the floor.
The three heads were bellowing again. Each of them was straining to get off the ground. This prompted another red flash in Zhao Yao"s eyes. The three heads shot right up, but were swiftly bludgeoned to the ground by an unseen force. The dragon"s fierce roars were reduced to soft whimpers.
"Are you going to admit defeat now?"
William was transfixed. He remained flat on the ground as he watched one man swat the dragon around as if it was a fly, not a legendary monster. He felt like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
When he finally made out Zhao Yao"s appearance, he broke out in cold sweat.
"That guy… Wasn"t he the rich kid I saw on the beach? Has he been watching us all this time? Did he only step in because he knew we can"t beat the dragon?"
Speaking of the dragon, it was unable to fight back or escape Zhao Yao"s grasp, but defiance was still spelled clearly in its eyes. Zhao Yao had a suspicion that once he let go, it would attack.
The corners of his lips lifted into a smile that did not reach his eyes.
He chuckled coldly, "I think someone"s in need of some serious reformation."
As the man spoke, Cat Sage felt his back tense up.
He had a very, very bad feeling about what was going to happen next.