"Lord Tian, are you alright?" From the audience seats, Tuareninya called out anxiously.
Tuareninya had originally been just an ordinary human. After suffering a misfortune and being on the brink of death, she was saved by Sebas, and afterward, she chose to stay in the Great Tomb of Nazarick of her own free will. As a regular person, she'd never seen such brutal combat before and couldn't help but feel worried.
Sebas's impeccably groomed silver hair now showed some disarray, his white shirt was torn in several places with strips of fabric hanging loose, and his polished black leather shoes and suit pants were covered in dust. He waved to Tuareninya, signaling that he was fine.
Over here, EeDechi was slowly breathing in and out, steadying her rhythm. From her nostrils, she exhaled two long streams of air, blowing the dust on the stone floor into a tumble.
Barrett ran to EeDechi's side to check on her condition. He was a bit frantic: "Captain, can you still fight? If not, surrendering isn't a big deal."
EeDechi turned her head and glanced at him, drawing a deep breath through her mouth. "Young man, no need to worry about me. This is just a warm-up. I haven't faced an opponent this tough in ages—fighting like this feels exhilarating. My head's buzzing with the tune from Megalobox."
"What?" Barrett blinked in confusion.
"Megalobox?" Sebas, not far away, overheard their conversation. "The supreme being who created me, Touch Me, was especially fond of that anime."
He looked up at Ainz in the audience seats. "Lord Ainz, may we use the arena's sound system to play a track from Megalobox?"
"Very well." Ainz nodded in agreement, summoning a green control panel screen in his hand and flipping the switch for the sound system. He knew Sebas was about to fight with everything he had.
"When this song ends, we'll conclude the match," Ainz commanded.
Since EeDechi had now shown combat strength on par with Sebas, he didn't aim to kill EeDechi this time. There would be plenty of time in the future; right now, preventing Sebas from getting injured was the most important.
The stirring drumbeat music started playing, echoing throughout the entire arena. Sebas's figure tensed, then suddenly expanded, his whole body muscles bulging, his height fully twice what it was before.
His arms swelled, muscles knotted, his white shirt tearing into strips of fabric, fluttering like white butterflies. Dragon-like scales covered his entire body, golden vertical pupils burning hot like the sun. A thick, scaled dragon tail swung out from behind him, the tail slamming the ground, bricks shattering, dust flying everywhere.
"Whoa!" EeDechi stepped back, surprised: "Horns on the head, tail behind. Old man, you can even turn into a little dragonkin!"
In his dragonkin form, Sebas charged straight at EeDechi like a fortress. He raised his palm high, his five fingers no longer slender joints, but the steel-sharp claws of a dragon. The claws slashed down at EeDechi.
SPATIAL SLASH!
Five clear blade shadows appeared breaking through the air, cutting through wind and dust.
EeDechi's pupils contracted, her feet stomped the ground, activating for the first time the Martial Art—Flow Acceleration!
Her body shrank into a narrow black shadow, flashing through the fierce blade lights. The place where she had just stood was cleaved with five deep trenches, even causing a section of the arena's audience seats to shatter into pieces and collapse with a boom.
"I really don't want to fight someone with a Justice Value of 300!" EeDechi steadied herself, smiling bitterly in helplessness.
However, in the blink of an eye, Sebas was already at her side, his dragon claw swinging through the air, slashing down again!
EeDechi dodged to the side, the blade edge flashing before her eyes, neatly cutting off a few strands of her floating hair from her forehead.
Unarmed, she didn't dare to take Sebas's attacks head-on, her feet suddenly stepping back hard, her figure once again turning into a streak of light and retreating, for the moment completely on the defensive.
She sprinted swiftly on the walls of the arena, as if running on ground. Sebas pursued relentlessly, his explosive hind legs launching him upward, stomping several craters into the earth, his dragon claws shattering chunks of the wall.
Dragon Breath!
Crimson flames roared out from Sebas's mouth, instantly engulfing EeDechi's surroundings, raising the temperature of the entire arena by six or seven degrees, the sand and stones on the walls melting into a glassy liquid under the extreme heat.
In the nick of time, EeDechi hit the ground and rolled like a tumbleweed eighteen times over, her body grinding the stone bricks beneath her into dust, barely dodging the scorching torrent of fire.
Using the dragon breath's fury as cover, Sebas leaped in a single bound right in front of her, his steel claws slashing sideways, ripping through the air. EeDechi dropped her waist low, crouching down just enough to narrowly evade the strike. Seeing his attack miss, Sebas twisted his body in an instant, his thick dragon tail whipping toward EeDechi like a steel lash.
The tail swung right at her face, covered in sharp, blade-like ink-black scales, but this was the only spot where EeDechi could get a grip. She squatted down on both legs, tilting her head back to dodge the tail, her hands moving like coiling serpents, using a trick of turning a feather's touch against a ton of force, barely wrapping around the tail.
Martial Art · Move Mountain!
EeDechi's legs exploded off the ground, she planted herself in a solid stance, twisted her waist, her feet spinning hard on the stone slab floor and kicking up wisps of white smoke. Her arms and core surged with power together, her hands clamping down on the dragon tail before flinging it loose—actually hurling Sebas through the air!
Sebas in his dragon form tumbled once mid-air but landed steadily, his twin claws digging firmly into the ground, carving a deep furrow across the marble floor to absorb the throw's impact.
The entire arena was now a total wreck, the ancient Roman-style buildings looking like they'd been carpet-bombed, with barely any patch of ground or wall left intact.
Smoke and dust billowed out, and beneath the hazy fog, EeDechi's face was as grim as stone. Sebas stood up too, shaking the rubble from his razor claws. His eyes were cold as steel, showing no joy or sorrow—just an endless hunger for battle.
EeDechi's eyes flashed with anger, a surge of rage shooting straight to her heart.
She couldn't figure it out; it was just a spar, and she'd clearly been holding back a ton. Why was he still hounding her like this? Don't push your luck—do you really think just because your Justice Value is 300, I won't put you flat on your back?
"COME ON!"
EeDechi roared and bellowed. Without any more words, the two turned into blurs once again, charging at each other!
EeDechi activated Martial Art—Indomitable Fortress!
She actually used this defensive Martial Art as an attack, her body wrapped in swirling gusts of air, slamming straight ahead like a cannonball! Sebas's sharp five fingers on his dragon claws, like five long blades, came hacking down right at her face.
The nimble dragonkin form and the black-clad, black-pants adventurer figure were about to clash in mid-air, but the music cut off abruptly—the song had hit its final note.
Claws and iron fist pulled back at the same time, the two brushing past each other in the air, a trail of sparks flickering between them. They landed together, the ground kicking up a layer of gray dust.
The fight was over, the first round of "sparring" done.
"Lord Tian!" A blonde maid figure dashed out from behind the stone rubble in the audience stands. The arena was riddled with pits; in her long maid dress, she stumbled along, running straight to Sebas. After making sure Sebas was unhurt, she threw herself into his arms, still in dragonkin form.
"It's such a relief you're okay!" Tuareninya choked out, tears streaming down her face. This was her first time seeing Sebas's dragonkin look, but she wasn't scared at all by his tough scales and razor-sharp dragon claws.
Sebas gazed gently at the girl in his arms, the fighting spirit in his golden slit pupils fading a lot. Right now, his whole body was like armor and weapons; he didn't dare budge an inch, afraid of scratching Tuareninya, just letting her lean against him.
Ainz, floating in mid-air with magic, breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the lone, proud black-clad adventurer figure in the arena and announced loudly:
"Since the first unarmed brawl is over, let's start the next one: weapons combat."