He stumbled around, almost like a newborn baby. Then, threw away his brown cloak that I've been tarnishing and beating around for a moment. There, his skin was pale, too pale. Cracks more into his chest, lower abdomen.
Breaking apart in real time is not the move, or the best move to make here. Not against me, not against anyone else. But since he's Ascendant, low to mid, that makes things far more interesting than I would like to admit.
A solid fight. I haven't felt like this since…or…maybe ages? It takes me back to my PvP days, or maybe PvE. He's not really crazy, he hasn't been able to land anything on me for the longest.
I stretch out the fingers on my right hand. Coating my fist in straight [Infernal] magic seemed to do the trick. Still, slightly held back just a bit more than I would like to admit. I should've ended him right then and there on that punch…
…but blame me. I still didn't feel safe going through with it all the way. I looked back, we were still far off the city's shore. I was afraid that had I gone just slightly more on it, not even entirely full-powered, it might've reached Royalia.
That's what happened with [Blackfire]. Misjudged my own strength, and here, I dialed it back to be safe and sure. Last thing I need to do is punch so hard I shift the tectonic plates and cause another earthquake over Aurea Islands.
I jump and fold my legs, beginning to float. Resting my hand on my chin. My tail sweeps the sand below.
I don't think I could do that…but lately my strength, power, has been shocking me in more ways than one.
Anyways, I stared, waited for him. He mumbled, then spoke for what seemed to be the longest.
"You…you…! What are you…?!" Sounding completely devastated. I'm sorry I had to be the one to show him levels in this. Not that I wanted to…maybe Jonah could? Nah, couldn't put a dent in this man even if he wanted to.
On par with trying to break a building, I think. I've never punched a building before so don't take my word as final.
"Me?" I ask even myself.
I turn upside down, my hair falling straight down. Everything looks upside down, could even feel the blood rushing back where it's not supposed to.
"Hah, you wouldn't believe if I told you." I resort. The truth about my identity is not one the world is prepared for yet. Wouldn't be that stupid to release that type of information unless there's a situation that calls for it.
Then again…I did tell Vaniti I was a dragon. Maybe she was able to connect the dots faster than I thought she would. However, she did it while I was unaware, unknowingly that I had some…ah-hem, questionable reputation.
"Why…why…?! I'm supposed to be powerful! I can feel it…my magic. It's fading…!" He retorts. The glowing, pulsing veins flicker. It's not going right away, but it is soon.
"Ah. Don't tell me you thought you could keep up with that Supercharged state all day now, huh? It was only a matter of time. You have nothing to blame but your over-consumption on that Silk potion." I tell him.
"I'll tell you this right now. Be lucky you are even breathing. I wouldn't be surprised if your body caked over already."
He furrows a brow, looking shocked. Scared. "Wh-what do you mean…?!"
I hold out my finger, upside down.
"You've abused potions, man. You cooked your mana pathways unbearably. Your body forced yourself to be an Ascendant-level knowing that you never trained for it a day in your life. Your skin is even cracking, as it stands right now,"
"Your own body is breaking from the dangerous side effects of mana. Mana poisoning. You'd be lucky when this is all said and done to even be able to move. The moment that Supercharged form of yours runs down its time limit. There's no telling what type of insufferable pain you would be in."
His hands go for his head, mouth snaps wide open, and saliva starts leaking from it. All symptoms.
"N-no! I was supposed to lead Aurea Islands into an new era! I was supposed to show them the power of Gaia's nature!" He stumbles around, unbalanced, uncomfortable.
Then, his head snaps to me. He looks angrier, wilder, and just overall more savage.
"I won't have it! I won't have any of it!"
He yells afterwards, maybe in excitement, or pain, or the thrill. His mana surges crazily, causing wind gusts and even pushing me back slightly. I stabilized myself in the air before seeing the silver-blue aura coat himself around him.
Wow, he's really going to die here trying, huh? Then so be it.
He takes a quick first step, and appeared behind me. I dodged below, my feet touching the sand for once. With momentum, and sudden swiftness, I perform a low sleep that gets him off his feet. His balance is destroyed.
Then, in mid-air, I grab onto his ankle with both hands and begin spinning him around violently before letting go. He crashes into multiple coral reefs. Pure, unconcentrated mana blasting and surging from him.
Damn, even his body is leaking it. The cracks weren't just for show, no. He's like a cracked porcelain doll. He gets up, and tries casting a spell, but to no use, it doesn't work.
I take a few steps towards him, he looks frightened.
"Am I feeling pity? You really can't understand the difference between us. If anyone could for that fact, I think insects as small as ants would dodge us, right?" I ask him. But it came off as rhetorical.
I would be lying if I said I didn't feel bad. Guy gets trampled over by me, and thought he was the strongest there ever was. Artificial strength, which reminds me of…the players that used to larp as those. Crazy, wasn't it?
Larp, as in…trying to look and sound strong, but come to find out you have no idea what you were doing. You would find a lot of those more in PvE, though. Raids, dungeons, challenges and trials to beat.
Could've sworn they "knew everything" and when the first encounter arrived, they would immediately play a video and act like they knew it.
I could only laugh, ah, funny.
A few more steps closer, and he backs up on his butt. I look down at him, but then, his hand clenches on the sand, what is he going to do? Tilting my head, I didn't think much.
Then, the obvious happened.
"AGRAHHH!!"
It happened so fast that it was unexpected. Sand caught in my eyes as I jumped back, my hands trying to wipe my eyes, but it just makes it worse. I can't see, and when I do, there's more pain and everything's blurry.
[Dragon's Authority] works as normal, however. There's danger, ahead of me. Horns pick it up faster than I could sense. The feeling is there, and then it's gone, like I'm kept in the dark.
Then, I sense his mana. He's coming, on his way. It spikes, he's preparing something, an attack.
"HYA!" My head shakes very violently, but I can't see. He could land a great attack that changed the entirety of the battle.
I tried to be civil, I tried to send him off with respect.
I don't give a fuck anymore.
Baiting him just for a second, I take one step back, my eyes watering, but I still can't see anything. Then and there, I heard him take a footstep closer to me.
And then, my right hand clenched.
I threw it as fast, and as hard as I ever done before in my current life. So fast, I don't even think my body processed it. I heard groaning, ghastly groaning, and the sound of mana and magic sizzling out.
When I finally re-opened my eyes yet again, my vision cleared up, still in pain, but it was done.
I realized sooner why my arm had a lot of weight on it. It was because his entire body was leaning on it.
I impaled him right in the chest.
Blood didn't ooze out, no. His entire body was powered by mana, if anything, his body was already long away and dead. What replaced every function then and there was magic. Without magic…he's dead.
His body slowly slides off of my arm, and he falls back on the ocean floor. Noticing the waves about to crash in the next minute, I wiped my eyes a few more times, then was about to fly away…until I sensed another mana surge again.
From his corpse, right there.
Is he…
"Wow, you have to be kidding me."
His skin began to glow with an absurd aura. Silver, blue, red, orange, mana colors. That wasn't a spell post-death, no.
That was his failsafe. This was the repercussion if the supercharged state ended.
And maybe, just maybe, I would survive this.