- Blood of the Dragon

Shock, rage, guilt, regret, hatred… All these feelings assaulted Drago's psyche at the situation he brought to his people.

However, the strongest feeling that echoed deep within his heart right now… was FEAR.

No.

It was not fear for himself.

It was fear for the future where this demon would decide to invade Grimley.

Memories and faces of the people who were in the kingdom trusting in his protection; those smiles that gave him reason to push forward and face anyone or anything that would threaten them; the memories of his father who died defending the kingdom and his mother who died protecting his home; the countless warriors who died beside him, and those who died for him, these were tugging at his heart and burning the fire of resolve to kill this threat right in front of him... no matter what the cost.

He struggled to stand up, his strength was failing him and his breaths were heavy. He was not sure how many bones were broken inside his body or how many organs had ceased to function… But somehow his heart was intact… pumping blood faster than ever before.

System: Connection Lost. Skill Learning Cancelled.

The prompt of the system surprised Zex as he was digesting all the skills he just learned from Arissef.

The reason why he did not finish them off too fast was that he wanted to learn their skills.

This was the second time the connection with Drago was lost. When he attacked Falna and Drago at the beginning, he infused black flames within them but Arissef's barriers broke off his connection and purged the black flames. When he pierced Arissef's heart earlier in the battle, he thought it would kill the archmage, so he poured a lot of his black flames to quickly scavenge some skills before he completely died.

He already failed in his attempts to learn the skills and classes of Brius and Falna because the former died too quickly, and the latter did not have enough black flames to complete the process. He discovered previously that he needed to learn a sufficient number and degree of skills to obtain the classes they were exclusive to. This means that learning skills that were both from the [Assassin] and [Thief] Class would not give progress into learning either class while learning skills like basic gathering or hunting skills did not automatically grant him the [Gatherer] or [Hunter] classes. Trusting that Arissef and Drago have skills and classes on par or better than what Edge had, he did not wish to fail in obtaining them.

To his surprise, Arissef survived the fatal blow and the learning process continued. He was glad the archmage's focus was on him and the recovery of his mana, or else his black flames would have been discovered and purged out. Also because he was not able to attack Arissef after his "revival", the archmage did not bother to place a barrier on himself.

However, the skill learning process was interrupted while Arissef was used [Isolation] and only resumed when the spell expired.

The problem was that Arissef, being an Archmage, had too many skills. So it took a lot of time and would have taken longer if he did not use [True Name Liberation] which strengthened his black flames and his control over them.

When he struck Drago's head and launched him far away, he injected black flames as well, starting the learning process. He believed that the battle would be over soon.

However, when he looked at the man, who was limping over, blood dripping from his hands, nose, and head, he could not understand how his black flames were dissipated.

He wanted to figure it out.

Before he could move to intercept Drago, he heard a huge rumbling quite a distance away followed by screams. He turned to look at where the sounds came from and saw the 15,000 soldiers charging towards him.

Drago could also hear them. He knew what they were thinking. If he fell, they would die too. He was sure some also had genuinely heroic reasons than that but the truth did not matter. All he could do was move forward as his heart was beating faster and heavier by the second while the pain in his body was beginning to slowly disappear.

He was moving towards his shield and sword, no longer limping but walking faster and faster.

Zex, who saw all this, had mixed feelings in his heart. Unfortunately, they were enemies. He reminded himself that he would never be a hero in the story he was in.

"I do not have a grudge on you or your people." Zex, still staring at the approaching army, declared softly, at the least making sure Drago could hear his words. "However, I must protect my lord."

Zex raised his hand diagonally to the sky.

A gigantic magic circle appeared diagonally, facing the approaching army. From it, a meteor with close to the same diameter of the circle came out.

It was the same spell Arissef used while Zex was peeking at the army days ago.

Seeing this, many soldiers stopped their charge and dropped their weapons and shields, while some stumbled and some were already trying to run away, some were even injured in the stampede brought about by the panic.

Days ago, they were mocking the target whom Arissef's [Meteor] locked on. Now, the tables were turned.

"BASTARD!!!" Drago screamed as his heart pumped loudly once that even Zex could hear it. With a rush of adrenaline, he dashed towards his shield and when he grabbed it, he turned to run towards the soldiers.

Zex was observing Drago's movements and his body's condition. He even had the feeling of danger despite being in his true form. Something was changing inside the hero.

The armor on Drago's body was somewhat dilapidated, scorched, and even had some nicks and cracks here and there. Some stains from his blood could even be seen. Despite all this, Zex saw the wounds on Drago's arms, neck, and face, starting to heal at a rapid pace.

Finally, as the meteor was about to reach around 10 meters before impact, Drago arrived at where the Meteor would land and then jumped with all his power to meet the meteor head-on with his shield.

Drago's heart was pumping heavily that they produced sonic booms as they exploded outward.

When the Shield finally collided with the meteor, visible cracks on both surfaces appeared.

The magic warding properties of the shield were dissipating the magic from the meteor slowly while the pulsating heartbeat started becoming more frequent with each wave.

Watching all of this, Zex saw that the waves coming from Drago were repelling mana, breaking off the cohesion of the spell, lowering its power.

"Unfortunately, you can't block all of it." Zex said solemnly. He was impressed and moved by Drago's actions. He was moved by all of the heroes he encountered so far, even Brius and Falna. To stand on the same ground as these monsters. He felt shame taking their lives too fast.

Just as he said this, Drago's shield, the shield that survived countless wars and protected his predecessors, finally crumbled to dust.

Drago was screaming the whole time but the sound of the meteor falling drowned it all out.

The Meteor was finally unimpeded and crashed on the ground, causing an explosion crushing those below it, burning those who were on the edge, and impaling those who were away from it with shrapnel.

Many still survived because Drago was able to delay its crash.

Of course, Drago also survived it all, half-naked while his injuries were still healing at a rapid pace, despite him breathing heavier and heavier each second.

However, the dust cloud that covered him was suddenly blown away as three meteors were already crashing down once more.

This was due to Zex's passive: [Echoes of the Damned]. These were meteors that were recast from those different deaths that occurred in short intervals. Although each of them had 44% the power of the original meteor, this time Drago had no way of blocking them.

Looking around him, those who survived were divided into different states. Some were still running, some were disabled from the first meteor, some just gave up and stood or knelt in place. None of them were making it out of this alive.

Drago then turned his attention to Zex. With eyes calm but full of resentment and rage, he stood up and ran towards the demon, picking up the first sword he saw that was still in somewhat good shape along the way. He decided that he would spend the rest of his strength killing his opponent, even at the cost of his own.

With all the blood Drago lost, his heart was pumping faster and faster, closing off wounds, preventing any more loss, and in the process, jumpstarting the dragon blood within him, causing him to exert more power than he normally did.

When he arrived in front of Zex, he was already on a different level. Zex, on the other hand, was on guard. He was not arrogant to think that the battle was over as he did earlier. He did not wish for it to be over.

At Drago's strike, Zex casually used his left claw to block the blade which broke like glass. Drago used his forward momentum to roll forward and run to where Avegar was.

Just as the meteors crashed and wiped out the remaining soldiers, Drago grasped Avegar with both hands, carrying the burden of vengeance for those who have fallen today.

With all these emotions within him reaching the peak, his dragon blood finally took the final step in evolution.

Dragon scales were appearing on his skin as his bones were strengthened and his senses elevated. His eyes turned to look similar to a snake's and horns propped up on his forehead. A film of energy also permeated all over his body like Edge's [Blade Aura] but with color as crimson as blood. This energy also enveloped Avegar which gave off a rather menacing aura itself. Zex could even feel a suppressive atmosphere coming from Drago overriding his natural domain.

Zex was surprised at the familiar sight. 'Isn't this Dragon Force?'[1]

[1] Dragon Force is a form used by Dragon Slayers in the Manga/Anime, Fairy Tail, where their magic and strength are enhanced to another level.