282 The Dragon of Despair (I)

'That golden armor is a bit too overpowered—no, a damn cheat...'

Arkhan thought bitterly and shook his head helplessly.

Dealing with a Divine Construct that weakened all damage to just one-tenth, even with his A+ God-Slayer skill, was still troublesome. Naturally, this was considering he couldn't even break through Karna's defense.

It seemed that without using Noble Phantasm, he couldn't effectively damage Karna.

Of course, there was an option to drag the battle out.

Karna was notorious for his high magical energy consumption. Ordinary Masters couldn't sustain his magical energy needs.

Although Arkhan himself drained magical energy rapidly, with support from the Yggdmillennia's homunculi, he could outlast Karna.

Just as this thought crossed Arkhan's mind, he suddenly saw Karna materialize a pendant emitting an ancient aura and stick it to his chest. In the next moment, a tremendous surge of magical energy surged, restoring his magical energy to peak condition.

'What's that thing?' Arkhan blinks his eyes, perplexed. He had never heard of Karna having a way to replenish magical energy.

"This is purified magical energy extracted from ley lines by our Caster. It's five times more potent than regular magical energy." Karna casually explained, as if seeing through the question in Arkhan's mind.

Hearing that explanation, Arkhan squinted his eyes slightly.

Purifying magical energy was no ordinary feat for a mage. It seemed the Caster summoned by the Red Faction was quite an amazing mage.

"Come on, Rider, we still have some time before dawn. Let's settle this before then." Karna's eyes blazed with determination as he took a step forward.

In the next moment, a strong sense of impending danger gripped Arkhan's heart.

"O Brahma, Cover the Earth! Brahmastra!"

*Whoosh—!*

Intense flames converged into a laser beam shooting out from Karna's right eye, piercing the void like thunder, heading towards Arkhan.

Unable to form a magical barrier in time, Arkhan could only slap Sleipnir, soaring into the air, narrowly avoiding the scorching laser beam.

*BOOOOOOM—!!!*

However, Sleipnir wasn't as fortunate; the scorching laser beam instantly engulfed its body, turning it into countless light particles dissipating.

As Arkhan landed on the ground and gazed at the hundreds of meters of charred traces, a hint of seriousness appeared in his eyes.

Was this the true power of the son of the sun god without magical energy restrictions?

Arkhan's black eyes narrowed slightly as he contemplated whether to retreat or continue.

Originally, his purpose for coming here was merely to check out the Red Faction's situation. Now that his purpose was achieved, there was no need to linger any longer.

Continuing the fight would have been meaningless. After all, his arrival in this world wasn't for the Holy Grail War; clashing with Karna was merely out of curiosity. He had never intended to engage in a battle to the end.

As the thought of retreating formed in Arkhan's mind, a strong impulse suddenly surged from the depths of his heart, as if something wanted to break free from its constraints.

"Hmm..."

Arkhan's brows furrowed slightly, carefully sensing what happened. After a while, a peculiar expression suddenly appeared on his face.

"As I thought, it's really like this... Okay, I'll trust you."

A faintly resigned smile graced his face as Abyss Flower in his hand instantly vanished. Following this, a massive surge of magical energy suddenly surged from within his body.

"Is he... using his Noble Phantasm?"

Seeing the surge of magical energy from Arkhan, Jeanne's pupils suddenly contracted. She gripped her flag tightly, ready to intervene if needed.

"Finally using Noble Phantasm, huh..." Karna tensed his body, a clear seriousness filling his eyes.

Other Masters, observing the battlefield through their familiars, also felt the unusual surge of magical energy. They hastily ordered their familiars to retreat.

"Rider, what are you up to? Revealing your trump card so early, what if the enemy figures out a way to counter...?" Darnic's face displayed obvious anxiety. "What is Celenike doing? Why hasn't she called Rider back yet?"

"Why so frantic, Darnic?" Vlad casually sipped his red wine. "This is the clash of the world's top heroes, the intertwining of beliefs and existence. A rare spectacle that occurs once in a century. Just quietly bear witness to it; I trust Rider's judgment."

"..." Darnic opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing. He could only reluctantly nod and bow. "Yes, my King."

The Red Faction had no intention of recalling Karna either.

After all, no matter how powerful the attack, Karna's golden armor would weaken it to one-tenth of its original power. Unless a being on par with chief gods personally intervened, it was impossible to instantaneously kill him.

This was a golden opportunity to spy on Rider's Noble Phantasm and figure out his true name. They couldn't afford to miss it.

"The ruler of destruction, the twilight of gods, the harbinger of the ultimate end of the world. Descend, O Dragon of Despair!"

*WHOOOSH—!!!*

A majestic magical energy instantly surged and black light more profound than the night itself quickly filled the entire world.

Even Jeanne felt a momentary darkness. When her vision returned to normal, she saw 'it'.

Its body was covered in what seemed like molten iron black scales, with abyssal, indifferent black vertical pupils reminiscent of legendary abyssal hell. Wings that blocked out the sky and extended to the edge of vision, a massive and ancient body exuding an indescribable terror.

As if awed by this angelic yet grotesque gigantic beast, even Masters not present on the battlefield involuntarily took a step back, evident fear in their eyes.

"Th-That is..." Gordes trembled, his stuttered voice revealing obvious fear.

In times like these, he couldn't care less about the dignity of being a descendant of a mage noble family. Just resisting the urge to kneel down was already draining all his strength.

Under normal circumstances, Gordes wouldn't react like this. However, being in a Master-Servant contract with Siegfried, the latter's current state of mind was influencing him to a certain extent.

An intense sense of fear surged within Siegfried, a fear originating from the depths of his blood. It was the wail of the evil dragon's blood residing within him, trembling before a superior existence.

In the realm of dragons, there weren't many entities that could easily suppress Fafnir, but the massive black dragon before them was an exception.

Siegfried took a deep breath, deliberately muttering the forbidden name.

"The dragon of despair who devoured the world... Nidhogg..."