Chapter 176: 176. “It’s commendable.”

Layla and Fafnir engaged in intense combat. In this place, Layla's power seemed to have reached another realm. She hadn’t lost her physical abilities at all and her scales and wings would also come back at some moments. Layla would use her draconic form for a single movement then dispel it.

Fafnir continued to use his 'Vault' and chose to attack more at close range. He had tried to transfer with his Manifestation but, as he expected, he had failed. But it wasn't because Layla looked into the future to predict his actions, it was because she could apparently detect his position at any given time in the world he was in at the moment.

But it wasn't all of it. Fafnir swung his sword downward and attempted to strike Layla as golden spears fell on her at the same time. But his sword was blown away and she easily escaped the spears.

"What are you doing?" Fafnir, who hadn’t talked since she activated her Manifestation, finally opened his mouth. And it was a question which he asked with a frowning expression.

Layla smiled and kicked the ground. Fafnir snarled and waved his hand. A veil of fire appeared and covered him and the area around. Layla became a beam of light and pierced through the fire with her rapier but when she got in, her eyes reacted again. Golden chains surrounded her and tried to chain her within the fire.

Meanwhile, Fafnir got out of the dome of fire he had just created before summoning his golden hammer again. He waved his hand and the weapon fell at high speed and struck the blazing dome.

The explosion produced a shockwave and cleared the paint on the ground but that was all. The 'canvas' wasn't even dented. And the paint would always come back to its original place.

As the hammer returned to his 'Vault', Fafnir stared at the woman who was calmly standing among the still-burning ground. His expression showed some irritation and he snorted before charging again.

"I feel like he has still many trump cards… Why does he not use them?" Karma was perplexed.

"He can't. Rather, he doesn't want to," Jorga retorted.

"What do you mean?"

"Layla's Manifestation. Its main ability seems to be quite special," Jorga said.

"What is it?" Karma tilted her head and Jorga snickered.

"Do you remember Pandora's effect? The one you told me about earlier."

Karma's eyes widened. "The drain?"

"Yes. It's fundamentally the same thing," Jorga nodded. "Right now, Layla is absorbing Fafnir's power for some reason. But she doesn't seem to get stronger or anything. Fafnir is also still the same as ever. The only thing drained is the released power of his magic and weapons, which means he can’t do damage over a large area. The only thing actually hindering his fighting ability right now is the power of the Goddess of Worldly Emotions."

Jorga squinted his eyes. "She is gathering it somewhere. I don't know what she is planning to do with it but that's why Fafnir is hesitating whether he should use more power or not."

"I see, but…" Karma had a strange expression. "This doesn't seem like it will last long," she stated and Jorga nodded slowly.

Fafnir continuously attacked but Layla never struck back. She focused on dodging and only parried when she only could do so. She appeared to be buying time more than anything else. Fafnir's belly swelled and he spat out a huge flame just after, right in front of Layla.

The temperature raised and the fire scorched the ground. The paint dissipated but started coming back just after.

"Hey," Fafnir raised his voice after he saw Layla casually walking out of the flames.

"Are you waiting for your friend to arrive? I don't know what that dragon is doing but if he's still not here, it's no use waiting," he said and Layla tilted her head.

"It's true that I'm waiting for Arima to arrive but I'm not trying to make you lose your time. I'm fighting at my fullest," she responded and the dragon frowned.

"Then what? You didn't actually become stronger with your Manifestation. The power of my attacks was reduced by just a small bit because of your ability to disturb my emotions which is why you’re now able to content against me. But that won't last eternally, I realized that this place is slowly collapsing along with your mana," he retorted and Layla just smiled.

Fafnir growled. "What could it be except buying time?"

"You're forgetting something," Layla laughed lightly. "My Manifestation isn’t over," she declared and Fafnir blanked for a second.

‘There's more than this draining function? Is it a bluff?’ He doubted but then shuddered. ‘Don't tell me she's really going to use it like that?’ He thought of something terrifying.

"You're right about one thing though," Layla suddenly jolted his mind. He looked at the beautiful girl in front of him and his eyes narrowed. The peaceful opponent he was facing until now had a wide grin on her face. "I can't sustain this longer. I should do it now before I lose control.”

The moment she made up her mind, the paint vanished and the world returned to its state of a simple, white canvas. Fafnir was frozen in place. If it really was what he thought, he was in deep shit. Even Arima would be sweating in his place.

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"Tell me, do you know what was absorbing your power?" Layla asked and Fafnir's expression darkened. Layla chuckled and took a step forward. When her foot touched the canvas, enchanting flowers were painted instantly. Fafnir immediately understood the moment she did that.

"My Manifestation doesn't make me stronger. It just embodies the power of my opponent, within this paint," Layla said and smirked again. "This is my Manifestation."

"[You are Winter. I am Spring. Today, I'll Take Over]."

Huge quantities of paint emerged out of nowhere and surrounded Fafnir. They formed separate spheres and started picturing something in mid-air. Fafnir looked wide-eyed at the dozens of sceneries being drawn. They were all representations of himself using different techniques against Layla.

"[Be Destroyed by Your Own Path]," Layla chanted and disappeared. Deva and the two on her back also vanished afterward.

Fafnir's expression changed greatly. He tried everything from transferring away to attacking the dimension itself but failed at everything. He could only watch the paintings being made.

When they were all completed, Layla's voice resounded once more. "[Bloom]."

The canvas brightened up and shined. The paintings turned into golden rays of light and spread across the entire canvas. When the glow and light around him became too much, Fafnir finally swallowed his pride and opened his mouth with a heavy mood.

"Come out," he ordered and a giant light, at least ten times bigger than him, came out of his 'Vault'. It changed shape among the bright light and turned into an awe-inspiring golden bell.

"[Ring the Bells of Mictlan]," he chanted and the bell tilted and rung. The sound made the entire dimension tremble and even seemed to bring some harm to Fafnir.

The light was still getting stronger but the sound of the bell was also becoming more piercing over time. It didn't take long before the entire dimension became filled with golden light. All of the energy that shrouded that place all came originally from Fafnir himself. It was just being extrapolated and augmented by Layla's magic.

Right now, Fafnir was having a challenge against himself. His roar was heard one last time before the entirety of the energy around him exploded.

***

"I'm tired," Arima complained as he was in the last step of the process. He had to fix the core, resume Time, and make the rotation of Fantasia match with the planet he took the core from.

"{It's almost finished,}" Night replied.

"{I know that!}" Arima snapped. "{The last is always the hardest, okay? It's the moment where you're the most strained,}" he uttered and looked at the frozen lava right in front of him. "{This reminds of when I forged Karma… Why am I doing this anyway? It's just some old dragon who asked a favor that I don't even need to follow anymore since he's dead,}" he complained again but he was nonetheless pouring his mana into the planet to move it.

"{Because you're the good guy, aren’t you?}" Night snickered and responded. "{That man also told you so, didn’t he?}"

Arima fell silent and his eyes suddenly retrieved a calm and concentrated look. "I know," he muttered and gave one last push to his magic. The planet quaked and the core finally recovered from its static state.

Arima immediately teleported to the surface and waited for a few minutes. When he confirmed that nothing was wrong, he sighed in relief.

"Let's go now," he looked up at the sky. "Layla used her Manifestation apparently," he said and teleported again.

***

Layla was back in the middle of space along with Deva, Jorga, and Karma. A giant golden bell was present too, with a golden dragon sitting on the top. Fafnir's scales were crushed at multiple places and blood flowed down from the gaps.

Layla, who had released all of her transformations, looked up and furrowed her eyebrows. The dragon looked back at her and snorted.

"You forced me to use this bell," he said. "It's commendable."

The bell returned inside the Vault and Fafnir transferred right in front of Layla. She couldn't stop him anymore. She had almost used up all of her mana and her magic circuits were used up already.

But despite that, she was smiling as her pupils contracted into a slit, like a dragon. "I did my part," she said. Jorga and Karma smiled together with her and Fafnir felt something was strange.

"Die," he didn't wait anymore and swung his sword at Layla. But he never managed to hit his target as a voice resounded in his head.

"{I dare you to say that again in front of me.}"

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