79 Battle of Kinship (3)

Boom~!

Ayla gritted her teeth as intense pain surged through her body. From the depths of the Black Dragon's stomach, a thin beam of light shot out, piercing through the side of her abdomen with perfect precision. Yet, the assault didn't end there, for another beam of light also found its mark, piercing a hole into her shoulders.

"Eurgh!" Blood gushed out of her wound as a thin stream of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. The dragon breath had been strong when compared to the ones prior, but its increase in strength came with a drawback. Its attack range was drastically decreased by the breath's compression.

Rip~

Something tore directly through the Black Dragon's stomach. It was a pair of hands, ones that looked to be humans' rather than dragons.

"I thought this would've been the same as it's always been."

The black scales that covered his dragon body started to peel off, being pulled toward the hands protruding from his stomach as they covered the hands.

"Humans are weak insects. It's been that way since the beginning of this world. Insects that possess small and convenient bodies... I don't hate it. Since it was merely a game, just because my appearance is that of an insect doesn't make me one."

The scale-covered hands tore open the dragon's stomach completely. "But when it isn't just a game, I can't be morphed. I'm a dragon, a superior being. How could I take the form of a human during a battle? How humiliating would that be?"

Appearing from the stomach of the Black Dragon was the lean human figure of a man with long, flowing black hair, which contrasted perfectly with his glowing crimson eyes. Ayla recognized the few similarities she shared with him, but she didn't bear an exact resemblance. It was the form the Black Dragon would take when polymorphing into a human. In essence, her natural form.

"You! How dare you push me this far? To humiliate me to this extent!"

The Black Dragon stumbled to his feet as he walked out of the dragon's corpse. With his every step, more of the dragon scales that covered the dragon's body transferred to him. The black blood also flowed into his human form. Eventually, the dragon's corpse shrank smaller and smaller until there was nothing left.

"You... caused me to abandon my dignity and pride! To take the form of a measly insect... So that I could live! You pushed me this far, so don't even think you'll be given an easy death."

Death had nearly taken him away. If he had insisted on remaining in his dragon form, Ayla's blades would've ended his life. He only managed to survive because he gave up his dragon body. He conjured Polymorph and created a human body inside him, then transported his Dragon Heart into the human body, narrowly saving his life.

It had been a life-saving decision, but to him, it had also been a great humiliation, more so than death. A great dragon was forced to take on human form in order to survive an attack by a mere insect.

"For daring to humiliate me, I'll bestow you more pain and despair than a hundred deaths." He snarled, his voice laced with immense killing intent and anger. With a swift motion, he raised his arm, displaying a form that, despite having the body of a human, did not entirely resemble a human.

His bare physique, though in the shape of a human, was still adorned with the ominous black scales of his dragon form while radiating the might of a Dragon Heart's eldritch energy through his being.

"You'll soon understand what it means to humiliate those superior to you."

His arm transformed the instant that he swung. His arm had changed into a dragon tail by partially transforming himself. The tail, as if it were a whip, cracked as it approached Ayla.

"Shit." She realized something. 'It'd been too easy.'

It wasn't just that. She had considered him an easy opponent and didn't take into account whether he had any hidden cards up his sleeve. She had a strong defense, but she took it for granted with no one she'd ever fought before piercing through it. Because she thought it would be safer to hide her skills and strength from the eyes of the examiner, she had only used her physical prowess and draconic weapons. All because it was more convenient.

Due to wanting to complete the mission as soon as possible, she'd do things in a way that would be more convenient and less trouble for her. And now she was reaping what she sowed. Why hide your skills? If she was exposed, she could simply kill all who found out.

Ayla raised her arms with hollow laughter. There was a half-circle-like wound on the right side of her stomach, and her shoulders had also been pierced cleanly through as well. The dragon had said that she would not be given a painless death and would be subjected to despair and pain greater than a hundred deaths.

Perhaps this was what she needed from the start—a wake-up call that she wasn't invincible. To her relief, the wound on her stomach wasn't fatal, nor were her arms broken. They weren't at the same level as her peak condition, but they were still functional. She could still fight. Ayla blocked the tail just in time by moving her daggers.

Boom~!

Ayla was hurled across the mountain range, crashing into a distant mountain. Pain surged throughout her entire body, but strangely enough, her expression was a smile, not twisted by the pain she felt. 'Oh, fuck. Is this masochism taking effect?'

From the crater that was created from her crash, Ayla pulled herself to her feet, stumbling slightly. Her gaze immediately fell on the black dragon. She could see him striding toward her from a distance.

'It doesn't matter. Well, at least for now. I won't be going easy on him this time around.' Ayla glared at the Black Dragon as she released the seal she had placed on some of her skills. Once they were released, she felt a sense of ecstasy and empowerment.

The darkness was her ally. An ally that remained by her side at all times. It was the foundation of her very existence, giving her strength. In the darkness, that's where her true strength really lies. But unlike Ayla, the Black Dragon's strength didn't come from the darkness but from his poison.

In the darkness, her wounds were healing rather fast.

The wound at her side closed up faster than the wounds she had dealt to the Black Dragon did. The holes that were in her shoulders melded back together, bringing back all the functions in her arms that she'd lost before. Within a few seconds, her wounds were gone, and her condition had reverted back to its peak.

The Black Dragon, who had been striding with malevolent killing intent toward Ayla, subconsciously froze in his tracks.

'…Huh?'

The Black Dragon felt a shift in Ayla.

The human's aura changed too suddenly. Her wounds, which weren't easy to heal, even for a saintess, were regenerated in a blink of an eye. This worsened the feeling he had inside himself. Her eyes were as calm as still water, but they weren't the same, like those of a beast eyeing its prey.

'What changed?' The Black Dragon wondered. He didn't grasp the change in her aura. It felt dark—inconsiderably dark in comparison to before.

A frown printed itself on the figure of the arrogant being as he tried to discern the reason behind his abrupt halt. A dreadful emotion, an alien sensation. A feeling that coursed throughout his being, an emotion he relentlessly denied, no matter how many times he felt it.

It was the emotion that he hated to his very core: fear.

"Impossible!" The Black Dragon roared as he let out a condensed dragon breath in protest.

Once again, his dragon breath cleaved through the air towards Ayla as he suppressed the rising emotion in his heart. Ayla had long since risen to her feet when the darkness in front of her momentarily solidified, blocking the dragon breath.

"That's more like it." Ayla muttered, a light smile forming on her face.

Then, from above the Black Dragon, dozens of blue spheres of light emerged, almost like miniature suns, and poured down on him. The Black Dragon, who just released his dragon breath, wasn't given the time to react.

Boom~!

In the center of the barrage, the Black Dragon bellowed as the explosions tore apart his entire body. The sunspots were hot, so hot that his scales could hardly defend against the flames. However, even so, the attack only cost him his left arm and all the scales covering his body.

"Hellfire?" As he roared, he drew out his eldritch energy from his Dragon Heart. Dark eldritch energy wrapped around his entire body. "How can a human have that?"

The Black Dragon was strong. He was one of the strongest beings to live in this world, with only a few rivaling him in strength. But even he didn't have hellfire, the strongest demonic flame. If it weren't for him being a black dragon, his flame would've been ordinary without any special attributes.

That was why it didn't make sense for Ayla to have it. Maybe it was just pure jealousy that she had something he did not, or his superiority complex acting up. Either way, he realized that Ayla wasn't someone to be taken lightly, so from this point on, it would be different. His severed arm and destroyed scales could simply be fixed by his regeneration.

This meant that he could win. In the end, no matter whether she was strong and possessed hellfire, she was still human. No matter how strong they were, they would still die from wounds to the heart or the decapitation of their heads. He just needed to make contact.

Feeling hopeful, the black dragon lunged at Ayla, his figure appearing before her in an instant, swinging his arm as he partially morphed his hand into a dragon claw. Ayla attacked as well, responding in kind with her own fist. As their attacks were about to collide, Ayla slowly opened her fist.

The Black Dragon saw a dark blue light blooming from Ayla's hand. The glowing flames of light stuck to one another, and within the flames, black spots appeared.

"Farewell." Ayla's faint, unsettling whisper dug into the Black Dragon's ears.

As Ayla threw the miniature sun toward him, it turned pitch black.

Boom~!!!

The moment that it exploded, the Black Dragon finally entertained the thought of fear. He wanted to run as far away as he could, but by then, it was already too late. The dark explosion pierced through his scales instantly, incinerating them on contact, while the rest of his body went through a similar experience. His life ended just like that, before he could realize it.

By the time that the dust settled, what remained of his body was only his Dragon Heart, completely intact, as if the flames inside the explosion had intently left it that way. Ayla didn't think anymore than necessary about it and stored the Dragon's Heart inside her shadow storage.

After all, in the first place, the dragon's corpse wasn't the reason she'd chosen this quest. With a grin, Ayla began her descent back to the carriage, leaving the mountain range and its darkness.