Dragon

The situation turned completely around as soon as Bloed and the others arrived.

Number Eight was already pushing it when he faced two powerhouses at the level of Wave and Eve at the same time. Regina was just as strong as Wave and Eve, and Kallevang An was not much weaker than them.

Thus, with the four of them joining hands, Number Eight and his six men were quickly suppressed.

"How troublesome." Number Eight frowned. He tried to attack Regina and Eve with a spell, but Wave created a barrier to block it.

Then, Kallevang An released a sword wave that flew towards him.

"Tsk!" Number Eight forcibly blocked it, but Kallevang pressed on, appearing in front of him and swinging his sword towards his neck!

The sword cut Number Eight into two, but it was an illusion. Number Eight reappeared again several meters away.

Kallevang was not discouraged, though. Instead, he kicked the air and rushed towards Number Eight again.

In the meanwhile, Regina and Eve attacked Number Eight subordinates.

Although Number Eight's subordinates were demigods as well, they were much weaker than Regina and Eve. Both girls were among the strongest powerhouses in the world, so the six demigods were not their match.

Even though their cooperation was almost flawless, the six demigods quickly lost ground and were cornered by the two girls!

Eventually–

"Ugh!" One of them opened his eyes wide in fear.

Behind him, Eve had appeared suddenly, her golden hair swaying with the hair, and her fair hand pierced his heart.

When she pulled her hand out, the demigod died.

Strangely, there was no wound in the demigod's chest, but despite it, his eyes lost all signs of life.

"Roja!" Another one of the demigods cried out in rage, but in that instant, a flash appeared before his eyes!

*Swish!*

Before he could react, Regina's energy blade cut his body into two.

Two dead.

The other four demigods were stunned. In just an instant, two of their companions had died.

And at this rate, they would follow in their steps soon.

"… Boss." One of them looked towards Number Eight with a worried look.

Number Eight frowned. Each one of these subordinates was a demigod. Even if they were the weakest of demigods, they were still valuable pawns.

It was a waste to lose all of them here.

He swung his hand towards Kallevang, releasing a sharp blade of mana that forced Kallevang to move away. Then, he looked towards his subordinates.

"Leave. I will take care of the rest."

"Do you think they can leave easily?" Eve sneered coldly. Her figure blurred as a transparent aura clad her body. She then extended her hand and clenched her fist, releasing a barrier that covered the surroundings.

She had cut off their escape route!

"None of you will escape today." She said.

Number Eight stared at her calmly and shook his head.

"That is not for you to decide."

In the next instant, his aura rose drastically.

"Something is wrong!" Wave suddenly shouted. She tried to cast a spell against Number Eight, but it was too late.

In the next instant, his body expanded. It grew in size drastically as his shape changed to something non-human.

His clothes were torn apart completely, revealing a body covered on grey scales. Then, wings grew on his back, and a tail appeared behind him. His hands and feet turned into claws, and his head became lizard-like.

In seconds, he had turned into a giant and intimidating creature. A behemoth more than ten meters tall!

"… Dragon," Wave muttered in incredulity.

The strongest race in the world. Beings of immense power able to master magic as easily as breathing.

They were the overlords of the skies. All the monsters in the world pledged their allegiance to them, and every mortal feared and respected their figures.

Number Eight was a dragon.

"Impossible. How can he be a dragon…?" Wave's eyes shook. She looked at the dragon with disbelief and confusion in her gaze.

All this time, she had been holding hatred towards the people that targeted her city. She wished nothing more than to kill every one of them, only to learn that the mastermind behind everything was one of her kind. Someone of her same race.

"Do you recognize him?" Eve asked, sympathizing with the feelings of her friend.

Wave hesitated for a brief moment before shaking her head.

"I don't."

[It looks like the younglings do not remember me anymore.] The dragon's chuckled in a booming voice. [It doesn't matter, though. I left behind my race when I joined Returning Dusk.]

"You…! Where is your honor as a dragon!?" Wave was enraged, but the dragon did not care. Now that he revealed his true body, it meant that he was serious.

He took a deep breath and aimed towards the barrier before releasing a beam of fire from his mouth that created a hole in it.

[Dragonbreath]!

[Leave.] He said to his subordinates. [I'll take care of the rest.]

His subordinates nodded and flew away without any hesitation.

"Where do you think you are going!?" Eve snorted and attacked them. At the same time, Wave, Kallevang, and Regina tried to stop them as well.

But then, Number Eight swung his tail.

Just that tail strike was so strong that the wind rumbled fiercely. It forced the four of them to defend against that attack.

At the same time, several magic circles appeared around him, releasing several spells towards the group!

The continuous attacks forced the group to stop paying attention to the flying demigods and focus on the dragon.

"Strong." Kallevang furrowed his brows.

Dragons were publicly acknowledged as the strongest race in the world. They could easily become demigods after reaching adulthood, and their mastery of magic, enormous mana pool, and powerful body gave them a great advantage against people of the same level.

Generally, a dragon was comparable to several practitioners of the same level.

"But–" Kallevang sneered.

In an instant, his sword filled with mana slashed towards the dragon belly.

At the same time, Eve appeared on his back and pierced his scales with her hand, Regina created a giant energy blade that cut towards his neck, and Wave created several magic circles that sealed his movements.

*ROAAARRRRR!!!*

The dragon roared in pain. Even though he tried to defend against the attacks, he could not face four powerful demigods by himself.

Plus, his huge body made it hard for him to avoid their attacks.

There was a reason why many dragons liked to fight in their human forms instead of their dragon forms.

The dragon form was too big and cumbersome. It was too easy to hit.

Thus, even though dragons in their true form could harness more mana and had powerful scales to protect them from attacks, they seldomly used this form to fight against opponents of the same level unless they did not know how to polymorph, or they were cornered.

Such as now.

Facing four demigods at the same level as him, the dragon quickly became helpless.

"Give up." Wave stated coldly. "You can't defeat us."

[… You truly believe that?] The dragon smiled despite his bad situation. [Little girl, you underestimate me too much.]

Wave sneered. "You overestimate yourself. Just give up."

The dragon chuckled.

[Give up? No, this is a perfect opportunity to test it. I will show you the meaning of true power.]

Wave frowned, but all of sudden, she felt a terrible chill on her spine.

"Stop him!" Regina shouted suddenly and rushed towards the dragon. The others, realizing that something was wrong, attacked him as well.

But it was too late.

[Behold! True Power!]

With a crazy voice, the dragon laughed.

Then, a tentacle-like thing broke out of his chest.

It bloomed as though it was a flower while spreading root-like things all over the dragon's body.

When the flower bloomed completely, the dragon roared in excitement.

*ROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!!!*

With it as the signal, all the mana in Academy City rushed towards the dragon. It then turned into a vortex that swirled towards the flower on the dragon's chest, where it was completely devoured.

"It can't be…" Kallevang turned pale.

He recognized what was happening.

And he was not the only one.

"This crazy man... He fused himself with one of these things...!"

"The Blight again."

"Devourer."

Wave, Eve, and Regina put on solemn expressions.

The Blight had appeared again.

And this time, it was not as weak as before.