~ Chapter 57: Duel ~

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 The last time I stepped on these training grounds was when I had my first duel with Sir Draejan. Back then, because of my immaturity and lack of skill, I found myself disgraced and humiliated despite my high Luck and outstanding stats. It didn’t really matter that I could summon a level 999 Phoenix or that I was friends with Kataryna Greorg. What mattered was my ability to fight using everything I had up to the last drop of strength I could muster.

Regarding this humiliation I suffered, I was in a way thankful towards Sir Draejan because it made me realize that just having power was meaningless if you were unable to use it properly. Kataryna also helped me a lot to understand and accept this fact.

True, I had a lot of stat points, but I never was able to exert them to their full potential. They sort of represented the maximum I could achieve, but even if I could theoretically lift one ton in one hand, I did not believe I could do this nor did I know how exactly I could exert that amount of force to begin with. While this was something easy, natural even, for the people of this world, Earth’s inhabitants could only see such things in movies and games. They never had the chance to experience that sensation of power that could be both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. That feeling and experience was probably what mattered most when it came to having one being able to exert the full extent of their abilities.

The Alkelios of the past who faced against Sir Draejan was someone who lacked both of those key factors as well as being riddled with countless mental blocks and fears that originated from his experience back on Earth. Then again, I was just a teenager in High School when I got swept into this madness and got tossed on this foreign and frightening world. Everything that I had experienced felt more or less as part of a big convoluted dream. Until I gained a grip on reality and accepted it as it is, exerting the full extent of my abilities was nothing but a pipe dream.

During my time in the Seculiar Forest, one of the biggest challenges I faced wasn’t reaching level 1000 or achieving my Half-Dragon form. No, the biggest challenge I had to face in there was to accept the fact that my body was indeed capable of exerting the amount of force and speed displayed in my Status Window.

This was the thing, the trick behind this unique ability of the Human Heroes. This was what was never explained to us by anyone, including the God-like.

Even if you suddenly gained a boost of 100 points in Strength, then on the first go, an earthling was most likely to use only a maximum of 16-20 points. When we ran, our average speed wasn’t 100 km/h as it was displayed there. No, it was a maximum of maybe 30-40 km/h. Maximum usage of stat points occurred when we were really putting in effort, when we struggled and tried to push ourselves to reach or surpass our limits.

That being said, it was impossible for the me back then to fight Sir Draejan who constantly trained and kept pushing his limits. When he was using 1000 points in Strength, I barely stumbled around 800. That was the truth of that past battle.

I had moments of instant bursts of both speed and strength, but I could neither control nor use them properly, thus I only appeared like a bumbling amateur who lacked both skill and coordination in the eyes of a trained warrior. Kataryna showed this to me quite clearly during our little scuffle.

However, I was different from the me back then. I could fully control my power, my stats, and every skill I had acquired throughout my days in the Seculiar Forest. More so, I had surpassed Draejan in everything. Of this fact, I was certain.

“Are you sure about this, Alkelios?” Kataryna asked me with a smirk.

“I still have something left to show you, so yes.” I nodded as I prepared myself to enter battle with the dragon in front of me.

“As King of Albeyater Kingdom and the one who approved of this duel, I request both duelist to step forward.” Feryumstark announced while standing straight on the podium reserved for him.

Both me and Draejan approached the center of the training ground.

“Both of you desire this duel, correct?” he asked.

“Yes.” we replied one at a time.

“Based on what rules do you wish to fight against each other?” he inquired.

“With our best weapons and armors.” declared Draejan with a confident smirk on his lips.

“I’m fine with that.” I replied with a shrug.

Even if he wanted us to do a mud wrestling competition in bikinis, I still would have approved of it, but more to see Kataryna and Seryanna drooling in lust or laughing, depending on the case, rather than seeing Draejan wearing that. The image of this dragon in THAT sort of outfit was rather... disturbing.

“Very well. You will be granted half an hour to equip yourselves. Return here after you have donned your best armors and equipped your best weapons!” the King declared in a commanding tone of voice.

As usual, his intimidating and imposing aura was as strong as ever no matter where he stood or what he said.

I nodded in confirmation, then I returned to my side of the field where my friends were waiting for me.

“Do you have an armor and weapon you can use?” Seryanna asked in a worried tone of voice.

“I do. I have acquired a blacksmithing skill called [Rock Hard!]. It’s at maximum level and advancements. I can quite literally make any type of armor and weapon.” I nodded.

“Hm, Dregarya will be quite interested in this.” Seryanna pointed out.

“Who?” I asked a bit confused.

“My blacksmith friend.” she showed me a smile.

“I see.” I nodded.

“Erm... You said you have a weapon and an armor, but are they in your [Purse] ring?” Kleo asked.

“No, they are in my storage skill. I’ll take them out now and equip them.” I told her and then began to take off my current armor.

“Out here? In public?” asked Kataryna.

“Besides you and Seryanna, who’s going to get excited over seeing me half naked?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow after taking off my chest armor.

I had a long sleeve shirt underneath enchanted to act as a softener between the armor’s part and my skin. One thing I noticed after wearing armor in this world was the fact that it ITCHED everywhere! It was a nightmare...

“Aw... You are still wearing clothes...” Kataryna said disappointed.

“You pervert.” I squinted my eyes at her.

“Me? What about her?” she pointed at Seryanna... who was drooling.

“Erm... Are you OK?” I asked her.

“Huh? Yeah... I’m fine... just thinking... about... stuff...” she replied and quickly wiped off her drool.

“You should be careful tonight. Lock the door.” whispered Kleo.

I only let out a sigh in reply.

Note to self: make a contraceptive wish for tonight... I thought while glancing at the embarrassed Seryanna.

With this armor unequipped, I activate my Storage Skill [Black Hole]. The name suited it because it literally created a black hole in the middle of the air in front of me. It didn’t suck in matter or anything like that, it was just a big black orb that popped out of nowhere.

When I first acquired it, I was really nervous about using it because I was thinking about the black holes found in space as a result of a star collapsing on itself. However, the mouse trap that laid hidden inside it wasn’t funny. It went ‘SNAP!’, and I went ‘YEOUCH!’ the moment I placed my hand in there. Of all the free items that God-like could have given me, why did it had to be an ARMED mouse trap in a storage skill?

Anyway, I activated the skill and stored the armor I unequipped, then I took out the one I planned to use in this training duel. What came out of the black orb was a sleek looking armor that covered my body from head to toe. It used composite armor technology, meaning that each plate was designed out of multiple different materials, all with the purpose of enhancing one attribute or another. The first one was a dampener of physical shock, the second one an absorbent of Magic Energy, the third one used Magic Energy Circulation to further enhance and improve the existing enchants found on each individual plate or scale as I called them, this one was the matrix of the material. The inner layers enhanced movement and reduced friction between certain elements, making the use of physical skills feel easier and more natural. There was a thermal layer as well that maintained the inner temperature to a fixed 24 degrees, which could be adjusted anytime I wanted. The outer thermal layer was found underneath the scales and could withstand an oven’s cooking temperatures. Enchants allowed me to further improve it’s abilities, but overall, it was a genuine Magic Enhanced Powered Armor, the type I often saw in Sci-Fi movies or games. It was awesome, and it could even change its shape and morph into a bigger version when I changed forms.

“That’s impressive.” said Brekkar, who was looking over my shoulder.

“Gya!” I jumped when I heard him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked a bit confused.

“You startled him, grandfather.” said Kleo trying to abstain from laughing.

“Yeah... Don’t sneak up on people like that, you old man! You’re going to cause someone a heart attack!” I retorted.

“Hey! That’s rude! I’m still considered a handsome dragon!” he snorted.

We all narrowed our eyes at him, a proof that we didn’t really believe him at all.

“Ahem! Anyway, what about your weapon?” he asked curiously, changing the subject.

“Oh, I’m going to use these two.” I said and then activated [Black Hole] again.

From within, I pulled out a pair of twin longswords. One was black as charcoal and the other was white as snow. The blades were sharp and gleamed in metal luster, showing off the quality of the material they were made out off. Small runes glowing in an emerald light were carved within their fullers, and a black crystal was placed within the pummel, encased in the same gleaming metal the sword was made out off. The hilt was covered in a layer of tough monster skin, which offered a good grip as well as a better Magic Energy flow from the user towards the sword itself.

Upon taking them out, a black aura appeared around the black blade, while a white one appeared around the white one. They hummed in a delighted tone at my touch, happy that I picked them up again.

“This one is Hell. It controls the Darkness Element.” I said lifting the black sword up. “And this one is Heaven. It controls the Light Element.” I lifted the white one up.

“Impressive... But two opposing elements? Won’t it be difficult to control?” asked Brekkar.

“Not at all.” I replied shaking my head.

“Who made them?” asked Kataryna with a curious gaze.

“I did.” I replied with a smile.

“If I’m not mistaken, these two are powerful enough to be called legendary weapons or even priceless artifacts... Isn’t it a bit too much to use in a duel against that fellow?” asked Kataryna, tossing a finger over her shoulder at the other camp.

“I’m just going to ask this once. You really don’t wish to see them in action?” I asked her.

After a moment of thinking about it, the silver-scaled dragoness replied “Please unleash their full might against that dragon.”

“I thought so.” I laughed.

“Will you be alright?” Seryanna asked a bit worried.

“If I’m careful and don’t let my guard down, I should be alright.” I replied with a nod.

“Are you going to rely on your Luck?” asked Kataryna raising an eyebrow.

“Not as much as I did before.” I said shaking my head “I learned my lesson. Luck is a terrifying weapon if used properly, but I shouldn’t become dependent on it.” I replied.

“That’s good.” she nodded.

After I properly equipped my armor and weapons, I stepped back into the circle marked with stones in the middle of the training ground, the arena meant to serve as our battle terrain for our duel.

The eyes of the spectators were focused on my equipment. The exceptional craftsmanship and the sleek look caught their attention, and they understood with one glance that no normal blacksmith could create something like this. If I were to give an exact level of skill required to make them, then a Beginner Godlike craftsman was the minimum recommended for making the individual components of the armor plates, and at least a Trusted Legendary for the enchantments. As for assembling it all, that was another matter.

The amount of time I needed to make them was no joke, that was why I had the confidence that even without activating it at full strength, I could still easily take any blow thrown at me by Draejan.

Meanwhile, my opponent’s armor was a typical knight’s heavy armor covered in metal plates and using chainmail underneath, but which lacked the luster of a decorative armor. The main colors painted on it were brown, black, and red. They were meant to better hide him among his soldiers but at the same time let them know that he was a general. The paint was matte, avoiding the reflective metallic luster commonly found on decorative gold and silver armors. Letting your opponent know where you were wasn’t always the best idea. In my case, however, I could hide it with a spell if needed be or drop a bucket of mud on top of me, but in general, I wanted the enemy to know my location. My plan was to act as a tank or a diversion for the powerful forces while the soldiers down bellow would take care of the rest. In other words, I was a vanguard. Taunting the enemy was a must for me.

When looking at his armor, I noticed that the level required to make it wasn’t all that great. I could make thousands of identical copies of it without a problem. There were no intricate parts or detailed accessories on it. It was simple, but by making it this way, the craftsmen didn’t augment it to its optimal potential. There were many things an enchanter could do if they had the skill. Sometimes, decorative designs hid an intricate layer of Magic Energy circuits which, when needed be, could unleash powerful spells.

As for his weapon, it looked like a simple longsword meant for a human warrior, but this dragon was holding it with one hand. To be honest, he looked better wielding that sword than I did Heaven and Hell. I sort of looked like one of those dwarfs with huge weapons from Dragon Hunt.

Well, I also had short blades as well for those tiny and cramped corridors inside a dungeon, but those were another story.

In terms of enchants and magic used on it, I got the itch of using [Identificus Processus Juridicus], but I found it to be unfair. Besides, the duel had not yet begun so no matter what spell I had cast, it would have been seen by the public as foul play.

“Are both of you ready?” asked the King as he glanced at each of us.

I looked in Draejan’s eyes and replied “I am.” and then I put on my helmet.

A click was heard as it was locked into place and the enchants activated.

“I am, your Majesty.” Draejan replied with a nod of his head and put on his helmet as well.

When it came to this part of the armor, Draejan’s was custom built to protect his horns as well, giving it a rather weird look. On the other hand, since I didn’t have any horns, It had the usual aspect of a sleek Sci-Fi full-cover helmet. Once I morphed into my half-beast form, it would change shape to allow the horns to pop out. Their protection was optional in my case, a single enchant activation would send thin plates out of my helmet to cover them up.

“Then, by the order of the King, I command both of you to have a fair match! May none die by the blade of the other! May one come out victorious either through knocking out their opponent or pushing them out of the ring! Thus, I, your King, command! Begin!” Feryumstark ordered in a loud and clear voice filled with the stern authority of one in his position.

Thus, the duel had begun! I thought.

The first to attack was Draejan. Unsheathing his sword, he stepped forward and dashed using a skill that I would have previously mistaken it for [Blink] because it felt like he teleported in that split second. Still, if I wasn’t as powerful as I was now, I wouldn’t have noticed the fact that he simply pushed himself forward with magic at an extreme speed rather than having teleported. A fast enough individual could have easily avoided any of his incoming attacks, but I didn’t.

I let the strike fall on my armor to test out my endurance.

A loud clang was heard when metal touched metal and then the blade recoiled as if tossed by a spring. Draejan quickly changed directions and retreated with a jump back. If he didn’t hold tight on the hilt of his sword, it might have flown right out of his grip. The recoil was that powerful.

This armor of mine was one meant for combat against Bosses that toyed around with dragons of Level 1000 or lower. Their strikes were nightmare-inducing blows that could crush stones enchanted with [Toughness] and send sturdy warriors flying in pieces.

This reminded me of the time when I was barely level 678 and came across such a beast for the first time. I wasn’t even paying attention when I received the first attack, which was a ranged one. It literally blew me back by several tens of meters and shredded a big portion of my chest armor. Only my sturdiness granted by passive skills and stats allowed me to survive, otherwise, I would have met my end there. Lucky was the right way to call my miraculous survival.

Then came the battle with the beast, a long neck Turtle Dragon who spat beams of light from its mouth and had an aura that froze and slowed down anyone around it. This sort of foe made you believe long range was the way to go, but it could create a wind barrier within the range of its ice and slow aura. This would make any adventurer believe that only through a sustained long-range barrage could they stand a chance to win against this monster.

Fortunately, I didn’t think about using long ranged attacks. If I did, I would have only wasted Magic Energy and the Turtle Dragon would have kept spitting out those beams of light, which were ridiculously accurate and precise. The reason for this was that very barrier of his. It was ridiculously powerful, but what an ordinary adventurer wouldn’t have accounted for was the fact that this beast had lower accuracy within the barrier, the beams also didn’t do as much damage.

So, what I did was rush towards it with my very first enchanted long sword and hoped to chop down its neck before it took a bite out of me. The slow, cold, and wind combo was seriously annoying, but the beast had trouble attacking me. It was like moving through a blinding freezing blizzard. Because of its own barrier, it also had trouble finding me. That was why most of its attacks missed, and those that were on target were dodged in the nick of time.

After the first few slashes, it became furious and turned off its barrier, especially since it didn’t detect any long-ranged attackers to be wary off. It was then when the accuracy of the Turtle Dragon increased, and I had to dodge by jumping around like a speeding bunny. Eventually, I got close enough to unleash a [Thousand Strikes] attack at the base of its neck. I was successful in landing a direct hit, and the inflicted wound led to its demise.

To be fair, I was extremely lucky in that battle. Later, when I encountered the monster’s siblings, I attempted to attack one of them with a long-ranged barrage. The battle was drawn out for almost two hours until its barrier finally vanished, and one shot landed right on its snout. The other monster I engage only in melee and ended the battle in five minutes.

After facing the attacks from the Turtle Dragon and having my armor shattered in one blow several times, I decided to change the type of enchant I placed on it. From a regular shield type, I switched to a disperse and absorption type. What it basically did was disperse the energy resulted from a physical or magic attack around the armor and then reabsorbed the pure Magic Energy and focused it in other enchants.

By the way, it took me a lot of time to figure out how to do this and even more time to remember that physical attacks had something called Kinetic Energy, and without it, the blows turned into harmless bumps. Remembering the name was also difficult... I was calling it at first: physicalish energy.

Well, all of my experiences in the Seculiar Forest led me to creating for myself an outrageous battle armor and a pair of swords just as ridiculous. I used them only when battling bosses or facing off entire nests of monsters. It wasn’t a problem with their durability but rather the fact that they were overkill against other foes.

Right now, Draejan wasn’t even someone I wished to fight with both Heaven and Hell in my hands, but it was necessary... This battle was a rematch, and he had to be aware of my prowess.

“What was that?” the dragon asked confused after he landed safely on the ground.

He looked down at his trembling arm. The recoil was quite something.

I showed him a smirk and told him “To think you can’t even properly land a strike on me... Did I perhaps overestimate you?” I asked.

Of course, I didn’t. I knew quite well at what level to place him. I understood his power from our first duel. Without something similar to [Dragon Tamer] it was impossible for him to make noticeable progress like all of my friends did. I mean, the previous Iolaus was nothing more than a shadow when compared to the current him.

“Ridiculous!” he shouted.

It was directed not at my words but at what he had experienced after striking my armor.

Truth be told, with this sort of pathetic attack it was impossible to lay a scratch on my armor no matter how many times he tried. Only a force capable of surpassing the recoil could also stand a chance to go beyond the armor’s energy dispersing ability and damage it.

Raising his hand, he chanted fast and then called out the name of his spell: [Thunder Spike]. It was an ice spike charged with enough electricity to turn it into plasma, but the magic forced the spike to appear like an icicle. Yet, this was only on the outside.

I lifted Heaven up and then slashed down. The spike was cut in half and out came the electrified water inside that splashed over me. The shock was released and if it would have been any other adversary, they would have been temporarily paralyzed or stunned. However, this was not the case with me. I just pretended to not be able to move.

Seeing this, Draejan rushed forward and tried to impale me with the tip of his sword.

Letting go of Hell, I grabbed onto his blade with my hand and stopped its advance. The armor covering my hands wasn’t even scratched by it, there was a significant difference in toughness between the two.

“I-Impossible!” he said.

Lifting my head up, I looked him in the eyes and smirked.

CRACK!

The blade of my foe shattered to pieces.

“Hm? Did I used too much force?” I wondered as I looked at one of the pieces that remained in my hand.

Rather than that, wasn’t the metal supposed to bend or mold not shatter like glass?

Maybe it was forged badly? I wondered.

Letting go of the pieces, they fell on the ground.

It was pathetic to look at him like this, so I summoned a sword from my [Purse] ring.

“Take this. It’s a loan.” I told him as I tossed it at his feet.

The sword was called [Mass-produced Sword Number 17]. Unlike the swords used by the majority of the soldiers around this place, this one had some more serious enchants. In general, the number also showed what sort of enemies they could handle from the weakest one, which was 1, to the strongest one, which was currently 35. The first being able to handle the usual level 100 mobs in the Seculiar Forest, while the latter was for the more dangerous Bosses that usually popped up here and there.

Now why did I give Draejan the number 17 and not the 35 one? Well, because the sword I destroyed was at most comparable with number 8 of the mass-produced series. In other words, I gave him a far better one.

“I don’t need your pity and spare swords! I have a better one!” he retorted and kicked my sword back.

He pulled out of his [Purse] ring another sword, but compared to mine, this one was barely a number 9. It was indeed better than the previous one, but not by much. Actually, the number 17 could easily cut this one in half with a single strike, unless, of course, it had some hidden enchants that I was not aware off at first glance.

“Suit yourself.” I shrugged and picked up the sword.

Looking to my left, I tossed it to Brekkar.

“Have some fun with it.” I told him.

The dragon grabbed it in midair, but the moment his eyes laid upon it, his gaze turned serious.

“I will.” he replied.

The dragon was old enough and smart enough to identify a good sword when he saw one. Even Seryanna, Kataryna, and the King were looking seriously at it. Iolaus was confused, but he realized it was an impressive item as well, while Kleo and princess Elleyzabelle didn’t understand what the big fuss was all about.

“Well then, shall we continue?” I asked and picked up Hell from the ground.

“You will fall here!” Draejan shouted when he saw me reaching for the blade.

I turned around and punched him in the face, sending him rolling on the ground all the way to the edge of the arena.

He coughed and groaned from the pain.

Shrugging as if I just swatted a fly away, I picked up my sword and then resumed my combat stance.

“The lad is merely playing with him.” remarked Brekkar in a whisper.

It wasn’t loud enough to reach Draejan’s ears, but I was closer than him, so I was able to catch wind of it.

“Indeed.” confirmed Feryumstark.

Elovius said something as well, but I couldn’t tell what. Meanwhile, the nobles were standing still and trying not to look too surprised as it would have been rude towards the noble fighting in the arena.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Ugh! I don’t need your concern!” Draejan roared back as he stumbled up on his feet.

He was breathing hard, and his legs were shaking.

Did I hit him too hard? I wondered.

While he recovered, I remained calm and simply watched him. So far, I had yet to make a serious move.

“I will win this!” he declared to himself after he regained his composure.

When he lifted his sword up, I narrowed my eyes at him and paid attention to the swirling flow of Magic Energy around him.

The dragon’s body began to change and grow in appearance. He was assuming his half-beast form, in which his strength and stats increased.

As long as they retained human form, dragons were pretty much similar in strength with a level equivalent human, a well trained one. However, the half-beast transformation was something that increased their power by a lot, to the point where they could easily overpower that said human and many others like him.

Draejan did exactly just that, and thanks to the [Morphing] enchant on his armor, which more or less was mandatory on draconic armor and clothes, he didn’t need to change. Dragon scales were tough and all, but the extra protection given by an enchanted plate of metal was well worth it.

As for how he looked like, he had an anthropomorphic head covered in pure white scales, with several golden ones on his chin. The tip of his long, spiky tail also had golden scales, while on his wings only two rows were visible and flowed down from the tips all the way towards his back. His horns mounted on each side of his head were long, white, and smooth like polished ivory. Because of their shape and size, the helmet wasn’t able to cover them in a sheath of armor, or maybe showing off was his real intent. The spike plates emerging from his spine were visible only on the back of his neck and his tail, where the armor didn’t cover them. They were small and looked more like bony bumps than actual spikes.

“Now, you shall feel my true might!” he gave a very cliché line in my opinion.

“Oh! Cool! Can I do that too?” I replied with a bright smile.

“Wha?” he blinked surprised.

 Murmurs and whispers spread out across the entire training ground, especially among the nobles and soldiers who saw me only as a human. My friends, however, merely looked in my direction and watched carefully. They held a serious gaze in their eyes, especially Feryumstark and Brekkar. For some reason, Seryanna was blushing and Kataryna was wagging her tail.

“Are you mad, human?” Draejan growled as he clenched the hilt of his sword now turned into a short sword if I were to compare it to his huge, nearly 4 meters tall body if he stood up straight.

“Mad? Nah, I’m just clinically insane!” I replied, but my words only brought confusion to his mind.

The joke was too modern to make sense to them.

Now, just like he did, I began to gather Magic Energy from the environment and poured it inside my body. There weren’t really any conditions as to when and how I could change from one shape to another. As long as I fit in that place and my clothes didn’t shred, I was pretty much set to go any time I wanted.

Thus, my change to my half-beast form began.

My body grew from its original size to a height of 3.6 meters, since I was standing straight. In a more relaxed position, I was averaging at around 3 meters tall because my legs were bent and my body was leaning forward. I had a wingspan of 9 meters, with two meters longer than Draejan’s. My whole body was covered in Red, Black, White, and Gold scales in streak patters, giving me a menacing look. The amount wasn’t just a scale or streak here and there, I was literally covered in them, and from all points of view, I looked like a battle-ready dragon whose sole purpose in life was to rush into the heart of the enemy’s army and then slash my way out of there with my claws and teeth. Speaking of which, I had a pair of razor-sharp teeth that allowed me to slash through meat with ease. I was a carnivore when looking at my denture.

The spikes on my body were all slick black and between 2 to 5 centimeters long, going down on my spine, all the way to the tip of my tail. Several of them were on my wings as well, the bony ends of it.

As for the horns, I had a pair on each side of my head. They were golden and had a white base. The top ones were the longest and slightly curved inward, while the bottom ones were short, about ten centimeters and straight.

My eyes were slit like a lizard’s and with a dark-red iris. Around my eyes I had red scales with a row of black ones starting from the middle of my snout and going over the top ridge of my sockets, ending at the base of the horns. More prominent on my head were the red and black scales, a sign of ferocity.

When I transformed to my half-beast form, my armor changed as well, growing in size and morphing the aspect of some of my protective plates from a round one to a pointy one. The mass didn’t change, it just got thinner, but the enchants were boosted by at least 25%, or so I presumed.

With my change over, I didn’t let them catch their breath, so I lifted both Hell and Heaven up, and chanted a short spell. Believing it was an attack, Draejan took a defensive stance, but what happened next surprised everyone.

The two swords merged into the most powerful weapon I currently held in my arsenal. It was called Chaos, a two-handed sword only a dragon my size could properly wield. It was a double-edged bastard sword with a long hilt and flat blade that had sharp shark teeth formation closer to the guard. Starting from the base of the guard and ending at the tip, one half of the blade was white and the other was black with the middle turning gray. The engravings on its fuller were runes designed by me with inlaid magic enchants, each holding a specific purpose. When I activated a certain rune, it glowed bright red from all the Magic Energy accumulated inside it and then launched the attack through the tip.

Building the Magic Channels for this thing wasn’t easy.

If I were to drain it of Magic Energy, it would still be quite a durable weapon, but not as durable as its individual components: Heaven and Hell. It was wiser that in a Magic Energy saturated area to use them separately rather than uniting them to form Chaos.

The blade itself was sharper than either Hell or Heaven, more durable if infused with magic, it had numerous annihilation-type spells engraved on it, it was light, and most importantly it looked absolutely BADASS! It was like some sort of ancient legendary artifact crafted by the gods for the simple reason of ruling over the battlefield with its ridiculous and awesome firepower.

Then, at the very end, I took a deep breath in, and activated the innate [Flaming Roar] skill with an [Intimidate] spell mixed in. The end result was me barfing a tower of fire towards the sky and letting out a terrifying roar that sent a shockwave around me.

“ROAAAR!!!”

When I was done, I clenched the hilt of my sword and lifted it up, then I let it rest over my shoulder. I glared at Draejan and released a puff of smoke from my nostrils.

The shocked expression on his face was priceless, but everyone else looked the same.

Maybe the [Intimidate] was a bit overkill? I wondered.

“Y-you... b-but you are... y-you are a human. HOW?!” Draejan asked dumbfounded.

“I wonder how?” I replied with a smirk.

“N-No! No! NO! NO! This has to be an illusion!” he growled and then charged at me.

I let him get close enough then I swung my sword at him, but with the flat side of the blade. I didn’t want to cut in half and go against the King’s order.

“Guha!” the dragon was hit right in the face and was sent flying back through the air.

“STRIIIKE ONE!” I said and then rushed at him.

Draejan was getting dangerously close to the edge of the field. If he left it, I would have won by default.

With a [Rapid Dash] I moved in front of him, standing on the very edge of the arena and then struck him with the flat side of my sword again.

“STRIIIKE TWO!” I shouted.

I moved again to the other side and just before he went out of the arena, I hit him again.

“STRIIIKE THREE! YOU’RE OUT!”

The aim this time was towards the sky, sending him flying upwards in an arch. With a flap of my wings and a strong jump, I caught up to him. With my fist clenched tightly, I punched him in the face and sent him flying towards the ground. Several of his teeth were broken in the process and the impact from his landing formed a crater around him.

I aimed my hand at him and intended to use a spell, but I stopped.

He’s not worth it. I thought.

I let myself land next to him, and I grabbed him by his tail. With a pull, I lifted him up in the air and then slammed him into the ground like I would have a lifeless puppet. I pulled and slammed him again in the opposite side, but this time, I released my grip and let him bounce on the ground as he spat blood.

Rushing to him, I punched him in the chest with the intent not to kill him but to shatter his armor. The enchants didn’t resist and the metal broke off into pieces. I moved on top of him, grabbed his head and then headbutted him so hard I made him lose whatever drops of consciousness he had left. A few of his scales even flew off.

With this... it was over.

“Did I win?” I asked as I dusted off of my armor.

What came in reply was a row of applause from everyone who witnessed the battle. There was no need for other words besides this. A clear reply that the outcome had been accepted by all those standing here.

Even in his half-beast form, Draejan proved to be a weakling against me.

“I declare this duel won by Alkelios Yatagai!” Feryumstark announced through the roar of loud applause.