Chapter 56: Arc 3 – Chapter 19: Where Even Death Fears to Tread

In the opposite end of the temple, another battle raged on. Both sides gave no quarter and fought at a standstill despite the odds being two to one. But this battle… was soon coming to an abrupt end.

Vulkratos sensed it. The awakening of something much more menacing than the glowing titan of a man before them.

“Huh? Vulkratos, what are you doing!?” screamed Bishop Kurst as Vulkratos suddenly turned back and made an abrupt escape.

“Sorry, your Excellency, I have a more important job to do. It seems one of our own is about to take a hard beating. I’m afraid you’ll have to take care of this yourself…” yelled Vulkratos while his voiced slowly dulled as he disappeared across the hall.

With abject disbelief and horror stuck to his face, Kurst slowly turned as he came unto a realization.

“*snort* Looks like… I get to do more than twist your twiggy little limbs after all… Kurst.” said Harkwall as he towered behind Bishop Kurst, a looming shadow heralding the glorious raw violence he would unleash upon him.

“Now, n-now Gaspard. Let’s be civi-*squish*”

Before Kurst could finish, Harkwall grabbed his entire lower jaw and neck then lifted him towards his seething glare.

“May the Lord of Dominion forgive me… for I will enjoy this.”

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*CLANG* *BANG*

The sound of steel clashing steel sounded around me as I parried the oncoming spear-like blows coming from odd directions. The moment I saw that needle-like weapon of his coil around his arm, I knew it could attack like a… scorpion’s stinger? Hmm… an elephant’s trunk with a blade at the end? Nah, it’s faster than that.

I’d like to think a whip-sword but I don’t even know if physics would allow it to be used the way it’s done in games. Then again… I should’ve been in situations where physics have been thrown out the window.

*clang* “Should you really distract yourself in our fight, lizard? Or perhaps you believe I’m playing around?”

An all-too swift strike aimed at me from below as soon as I guarded too high, but simply letting go of my sword was enough to block it. If he thinks I’m that naïve, then he has another thing coming.

As soon as World Breaker sunk a few feet pinning his blade to the ground, I charged at him while summoning Roaring Calamity onto my fists as I threw a punch. Since I struck in a flash, he did the one action I was hoping for – blocking my attack with the remaining blade of his sword.

*SMASH* “Gaaaaah!!”

As soon as my punch connected, his sword arm caved into his chest as he got launched like a missile smashing through a pillar and sinking into the wall. I charged at him again to deliver one more punch, but just as my fist was about to connect once more… a hooded giant caught it with its hand.

“… Nazef isn’t going to be happy his favorite got mangled like this. Not bad, dragon. Looks like you’re going to be an interesting fight.”

Ignoring the fact he caught my fist and took it like it’s nothing, I’m getting really bad vibes from this guy. He’s a full head taller than me, and he’s as massive as my maximum form. He turned to look at me and I saw his pupils… were hourglass shaped number eights?

“V-Vulkratos… the Deathless…”

I heard Vai say his name. So, this is the guy who I wasn’t supposed to mess with. Too late now though.

I activated Roaring Calamity’s ability that emits energy waves on its surface, and as soon as I did, I saw his hand exploding into a fine blood mist.

Taken by surprise, he didn’t react immediately, so I did a turn with a low sweep of my tail grabbing his ankle to yank him towards me. I threw a left hook socking him on the head with all the force I could muster tearing it straight off.

Holy, I didn’t underestimate the guy, but I didn’t think he’d go down this fast. His head flew halfway across the room then landed on a corner in the hall with a sickening thud.

“Uh… Vai, are you sure this guy is really that monster you mentioned that couldn’t die? He looks… dead to me.”

“Master, watch out!”

As soon as I heard Vai cry out, I leapt to avoid what was coming… but I wasn’t fast enough.

I felt something grabbed my tail and my world started to turn. I felt a force pull me then threw me onto the floor with crushing force. Before I could catch my breath, it pulled me again and threw me down once more. It kept doing it again and again, until at some point it stopped just as I was getting a little dizzy.

I slowly stood up and saw it was that bastard’s headless body that threw me around like a toy. Holy shit, this guy was still alive!

While I was still in shock, that thing walked to its head and picked it up before placing it on its spot. Just how far does this guy’s un-kill-ability go?

“That was a surprise. Though as you can see, I’m not so easy to kill, but I’m also not so easy to hurt. I’m truly impressed, dragon. It’s been 265 years since I was last seriously injured.”

…seemed pretty easy to me. But then again, I have no idea how strong I really am. I mean, so far, the only thing I’ve ever perceived as a real threat was that Avatar. It gave us so much trouble and, in the end, managed to tear out my wings, but then it was a being that was supposedly on the level of a god. But then, how strong is a god of this world? Philosophy aside, I feel like I haven’t actually performed any of what I think are ‘superhero’ level feats of strength like lifting a mountain or taking a nuke to the face.

“Are you finished with your thoughts?”

I must’ve gone quiet again while thinking too much if he decided to call me out. Obviously, I don’t have super speed thinking or whatever it’s called. I’m also not surprised with how long he claims to have lived with his ability. Either way, I think this guy can finally show me how strong I really am.

“Oho… looks like you’re excited for a fight as well. In that case…”

He pulled off the cloak covering his head and body to finally reveal what he looks like.

And he looks… really impressive.

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Like, holy shit! He has spiky ash-grey hair with a small ponytail and his body looks like it was made of living steel. It’s rusty tan in color and has these vein-like patterns that you see in some mecha-fantasy cyborgs. At first glance, I thought he was wearing arm-length gauntlets, but it turns out those spiky-ass metal gauntlets ARE his arms! He ends the whole deal wearing black torn trousers that fighting monks would wear, which has flame patterns and a torn golden waist sash hanging on it to boot.

Coupled with his eerie white eyes with the glowing golden hourglass eights as pupils, he’s… I’m not sure what he is, but he definitely reminds of that video game god whose power was fueled by rage and managed to literally punch a planet-sized man to death. This can’t be good!

“Don’t disappoint me, dragon. Not after I’ve revealed myself as one of the Aruna[Children of Dawn].”

Hm? That’s new. When he said ‘Aruna’, some subtitle-like words appeared under him in my line of view. Is this a new way Origin of Words is translating for me? Or maybe since the direct translation is more of a phrase than an actual word that exists in my previous language? Either way, that’s impressive.

As soon as he finished talking, he entered into a bare-handed fighting pose that shows he knows some martial arts. It doesn’t look like anything my dad taught me or what I recognize, so I’ll have to prod it a bit. I mirrored him with my own stance as we prepared for battle.

With an imaginary announcer in my head that said “FIGHT” as the cue, we somehow synced and leapt at each other.

His attacks were… a mad frenzy. Like, literally.

His punches hit so fast and so hard; I can feel my very bones shaking with each strike. On the other hand, it’s so destructive that he sometimes breaks apart his own limbs.

The longer we fought, the more I realized. His style has no form of defense. He’s basically a raging wave of punches and kicks that seemed endlessly being thrown with no regards to his well-being. And his regeneration is… simply absurd.

It’s on an entirely new level. Not even that super metal-boned mutant with claws or that red merc with a mouth has regenerative ability this fast! The moment his fist breaks apart, it gets grown back anew by the time he throws his next fist. He even punches so fast that sometimes what strikes me is the bone before his whole hand gets formed! This regeneration is more on the level of that lazy-looking spiky-haired knight representing greed of the deadly sins where his limbs regrow instantaneously.

Seeing this, I tried a different approach and when the opportunity came, I blasted him with Dragonfire at full force.

The result was… me eating a knuckle sandwich via uppercut.

“Hehe nice try. If you know I knew I was fighting a dragon and still went at it without wearing any obvious protection, don’t you think this wouldn’t have worked?”

He chuckled as his body was still on fire. He soon shook it off like he was shedding the burning skin.

This guy… I know he’s also really strong, but how strong is the question. If I had mastery of my magic, I could encase him in ice or rock and see if I could suffocate him to death or at least restrain him.

My durability is nigh invincible, but even that means I’m not completely invulnerable. This guy can literally wear me down in a battle of attrition if we decided to keep fighting, so my best option is to restrain him somehow, but the question is… how?

“Thought of a way to restrain me yet? If not, then we can keep playing for longer.”

Grr, this guy knows it and is making fun of me for it. Very well, if brute force is how you wanna roll, then let me show you my version of ‘brute force’.

I summoned Roaring Calamity back into the ring and walked towards World Breaker taking hold of the grip.

“Oh? Looks like this is going to be more fun.”

He gave me a look where he’s enjoying the situation. Laugh while you can now.

Using magic like a mage may not be my strong suit, but it’s a different story if I manipulate mana directly and use it to fight.

Reshaping myself to my most optimal battle form, I stood a good 3 inches taller with my muscles more evenly distributed to balance my increased power output. Making my mass denser was good for long fights where durability is key, but not for lasting fights where the enemy is better at it than me. In that case, I’m prioritizing speed and power now, transferring more of my wing mass and scale density into my muscles and bones. While doing this, I’m also circulating the mana within my body to enhance my senses even further, like a buff spell in games.

This gives me an increased size with a more bulked up and lean form. Now, while holding World Breaker in this form, the speed of my sword swings?

*shwing* “!! Wha –“

Means that I can even slice projectiles with speeds as fast as bullets. How I know? When I optimized my mana circulation before, I could see the bullet I fired from my gun as if it was going through really thick sludge. I could also move normally and fast while in that slowed-perception of time state.

“Urgh… you…”

Before I gave him time to talk any further, I moved again and bisected him several more times. Now, with a normal sword, it would normally end with a very fine slice if I were to cut something at that speed. In this case, however, World Breaker is massive, so what kind of damage could it do in that state?

*BOOM*

The answer is; whatever I hit explodes into a fine mist.

With that done, I’d like to see him try and regenerate out of tha – damn it.

“Hehehe… HAHAHAHA! THIS IS GREAT! I’VE NEVER BEEN DAMAGED THIS MUCH BEFORE! SHOW ME MORE, DRAGON! SHOW ME THE DEPTHS OF YOUR POWER!”

He reformed from the goop splattered all over before I could even finish my thought. This guy… I wouldn’t be surprised if death was afraid of him… otherwise, why else wouldn’t he die.

 

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