Chapter 40: Proof of A Hero

Inside of Mordred's soul, he went face to face with a black eastern dragon with jewels on his body.

"So you have come, Mordred Pendragon." Apophis' baritone voice sounds as if he expected him to be there.

"I have, but let me ask something. Why haven't you made any moves?" Mordred was curious and Apophis looked thoughtful.

"A dragon's whims. Back then, my pride was struck by Yahweh. I was sealed inside a little brat that just got weaned off his mother's teat. Which is still bizarre for Tiamat to do that by the way." Apophis snorted.

"What changed?" Mordred thought he was being really amiable, so he checked the shadows and the surroundings if Apophis was setting up a trap.

"I, the primal eclipse dragon; Apophis. Am an evil dragon, true. But I have the pride of one, I love battles just like the other six. But it is my wish to fight someone honorable that would give me the best battle in my life before I am slain." Apophis looked thoughtful.

"So I observed, I did not know much about you when you met that dishonorable wizard. But I have seen what you are striving for. I was even convinced that it was foolish. Humans will and always will be a weak race." He truly believed that.

"But now I know, why humans are so obsessed with stories and epics. You have proof of a hero, Mordred Pendragon, a human turned dragon. Wishes to become a pillar of strength for humanity that in all accounts, does not even know that you imprison the feared and legendary evil dragons." Apophis started to pull on his chains.

"I, the Primal Eclipse Dragon; Apophis, declare you as an unsung hero. I might have fought the bible's God. But it didn't feel enough, we battled against heaven." A chain broke and Mordred started to transform.

Jet black scales appeared on his body and this time, he didn't have wings. Jewels also appeared on his body and he could feel his control of the shadows grow stronger.

Creating strings of shadows on his offhand, he prepared to manipulate them to their maximum potential. Mordred then formed a sword that looked like it was absorbing light.

"As dragons, this is the best battle. Just like Albion and Ddraig's fights for dominance. Two individuals, without outside interference. And we try to tear each other apart. Just you and me, a fight that will decide the fate of millions. Isn't it exciting?" Apophis roared and all the chains on his body broke off.

In the real world, Mordred began to create tons of primordial water and Scathach took away Valerie from there; her job was done.

"I will take it from here. Mordred with the full powers of the primal eclipse dragon... How delightful~" Scathach licked her lips as she looked at Mordred whose clothes melted off.

'You have grown splendidly, my student. What a specimen of a man.' Scathach grinned as her bloodlust soared through the roof. Agitating the souls of the land of shadows.

"Fighting a legendary dragon huh?" She fidgeted around as she felt herself become aroused at the exciting turn of events.

Mordred then looked at her with his slitted eyes. They turned a brilliant silver and the pupils on them zeroed in on her as they became as thin as a line.

He roared and a tsunami of primordial water flooded the battlefield.

"Come! Dragon! A sun god's nemesis, I will enjoy this battle plenty!" Scathach stomped on the ground and her mana exploded. Her divine aura that she doesn't use pushed back the torrent of black water.

Runes came to life and she turned the area around them into her domain. Scathach then wielded two gae bolgs, the spears glowing a brilliant crimson. The same with her blood red eyes.

Mordred flew right at her and his fists got covered by shadows. He cocked it, his back and arm muscles looking like steel wires that were ready to release tons of energy.

Scathach grinned as his fist stopped right in front of her face. Her strongest defense rune defending her, but not for long.

Shadows and the corrosive black water were eating away at her mana and magic.

"Let us begin!" Scathach stabbed him and she licked her lips. A hand made of jet black shadows gripped onto the spear's shaft and the crimson glow of her weapon was dying down.

"Good! Good! Try and kill me with everything you've got!" Scathach swung down her other spear and an earth shattering shockwave exploded as his sword blocked it.

Meanwhile, Mordred squinted his eyes as he looked towards Apophis' form that was slowly emitting an encroaching aura of darkness.

'His body is of an eastern dragon. Apophis must be the type that uses his powers to fight. I should get in range.' Mordred formed a plan and he flew towards Apophis with breakneck speeds as the ground below him sundered.

Mordred scanned the surroundings, checking if the dragon was doing something. But he didn't expect a tendril of darkness coming from his own shadow that gripped him.

"I am not as easy to fight as Grendel, Pendragon." Apophis reminded him and he was thrown to the ground.

"Gah!" Mordred could feel the air from his lungs escape, his body creating a crater on the ground as he impacted the earth.

Mordred immediately flew to the skies and he squinted his eyes. Thinking that he won't be able to match Apophis in the use of his own powers.

Unlike Grendel who was a meathead that just charged in. Apophis is a technical fighter that uses the maximum potential of his special powers.

"I am waiting, a hero should charge in even against incredible odds, no?" Apophis chuckled and Mordred moved his fingers dexterously.

Apophis grinned in amusement at Mordred's way of using his shadows. It was novel and refreshing for him.

The dragon then overpowered them with a wall of shadows to make him more desperate. He wanted Mordred to fight with overwhelming power just like how dragons do it.

"If you won't come to me, I will go to you." Apophis' long body started moving and he left tracks of destruction as his shadows and primordial water corroded everything in its way.

Mordred waited patiently and he focused, attaching an imperceptibly thin shadow right on Apophis' chest.

The dragon who started his ascent, covering the whole battlefield with darkness; began to move them to his will.

Shadow needles formed and they got ejected from their reservoir like needlers.

Mordred could feel his breath hitch at the dangerous attack and he melted in the shadows.

"You cannot hide forever." Apophis sneered and Mordred suddenly appeared in front of his chest, surprising him greatly.

Mordred stabbed with his sword of darkness right at the dragon's chest. "Hnn, you are not simple." He could only frown. Apophis' jewel on his chest released a spike and blocked his sword.

"I have been fighting for millennia brat." Apophis snorted and his tail snaked around like a whip. The tip was coated by his primordial water and it homed at Mordred, intending to skewer him with it.

'Damn, this is ridiculous.' Mordred did a barrel roll and dodged by a hair's breadth.

Mordred breathed in and he released a pressurized jet of black water. Apophis ducked out of the way and the ground behind him was sliced cleanly.

"That was dangerous, how about we step it up a notch?" Apophis' mana core whirred to life and blades made of shadows appeared all over his body.

Mordred frowned. 'It got even harder to approach him. He wasn't the nemesis of Ra for nothing.' He prepared himself.

"Spiral swords." Mordred copied him and summoned swords appeared all over his body. Orbiting him, moving according to his will.

"Interesting, let's test how you'll do then?" After Apophis stopped talking, the countless amounts of swords around him pointed at Mordred.

"My master's stabs are more numerous than that, try harder, Apophis." Mordred taunted and the dragon waved his hand.

Like droplets from a raging storm, the shadow constructs rained on him without mercy.

Mordred tensed and his mind went into overdrive. His summoned swords moved like they had a mind of their own. His swordarm blurred and Mordred deflected Apophis' onslaught.

His sword was the extension of his arm. The endless rain of swords on him were deflected and a small circle around Mordred was completely unharmed.

After they got exhausted, the area around him had tons of jet black swords embedded on the earth and Mordred's silver eyes glowed.

"My turn, rain of swords!" He willed them to form above Apophis and they dropped with immense speed.

Apophis scoffed and they bounced around him. "I am not called the eclipse dragon for show Mordred, foolishness."

"Is that so?" Mordred used the embedded swords in the ground to form strings of mana that acted as anchors. Trapping Apophis for a split second.

"Blistering swords." A row of jet black blades appeared on Mordred's sides and they launched themselves towards Apophis.

The dragon went wide eyed and he blocked them by willing the encroaching darkness in front of him to intercept them. Spikes made of shadows erupted like geysers and Mordred's attacks bounced off, unable to pierce it.

"Not enou-" Apophis suddenly felt something stab his chest as Mordred melted into the shadows and appeared right back at his chest.

"You were saying? While you were watching, making your decision. I have been training, sharpening my sword. Honing my swordarm to be at the apex." Mordred was about to pour in his dragonslaying blood onto his wound, but the shadows suddenly exploded.

"Hehe~ Guhahaha! Amazing, you wounded me! Let us see what will prevail, your sword. Or my shadows?" Apophis' mana made the surroundings tremble.

Mordred suddenly went blind as the world turned pitch black. "Kah!" He suddenly felt a burning sensation.

'Needles made out of primordial water!' He could feel his torso burn from Apophis' magic that can even melt gods.

'I have to find a way out of here!' In a split second, he could feel more and more of them stab through his scales like they were made of butter.

Worthy of his name that can even match the sun god; Ra. The light around them was eclipsed by the shadows and Mordred was blind.

'I cannot feel where they'll come from. The shadows are interfering with my senses.' Mordred hissed as he tried to predict where the next batch of attacks would come.

He tried to zip around and escape from the area effected. But Apophis chortled.

"How amusing, you are flying around in circles." Apophis grinned as he controlled Mordred's sense of direction and he was just flying around in his domain in circles.

Mordred then went quiet for a second and Apophis thought he was gravely wounded.

"What a disappointment, I thought you would be like the heroes in the epics. That you will overcome the odds." Apophis shook his head wistfully.

He then heard a chuckle from Mordred, making him raise a brow.

"You forget one thing Apophis. I am not a being of the shadows. I am the light that will lead humanity against the tyranny of the supernatural. Something that no hero has ever done." Mordred started concentrating on his mana.

"Hmph, strong words. But you are not in a good shape." Apophis thought he was bluffing.

"Then let this be a reminder. A king never yields, and I will show you my proof of a hero." Mordred cancelled his shadow magic and he raised his arms in the air.

A golden sword appeared on his hands. "As Yahweh has said so humans can walk through the darkness." Mordred's mana exploded.

"There will be nothing in my way! Devils? Angels? Fallen? Gods? Dragons!? I will pave the way so humanity will not live in ignorance and fear!" Mordred's eyes glowed.

"Let there be light." The whole world that was eclipsed by darkness turned white.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.