Is This The End For Me?

"Father, are you sure this was a good idea?" Julius from his throne questioned his father as he stared down at the humanoid dragon.

"Now that you mention it, I don't know." The king replied.

"Alexander...I never thought you'd go as far as using the Dragon Emperor." Julius uttered in his mind. Alexander was his best friend and training partner, they both grew up together attending the same mage school, they both shared the same instructor under which Julius became one of the best essence users in the kingdom.

However there was a huge difference between the two of them, Julius cared for both the higher class and the lower class citizens equally. Alexander on the other hand once shared the same perspective as Julius did, at first both him and Julius treated the commoners and considered their existence.

Unfortunately for Julius, along the line something changed within Alexander. He wasn't the man he once was, he suddenly lost interest in the people they both cherished growing up.

As time passed by, the private instructor who took both Julius and Alexander under her wings became extremely worried. She perceived the behavior of Alexander towards the commoners as toxic and alarming, hence she ended all instructing activities that had to do with him.

"Alexander.." Julius uttered softly as his eyes were fixated on the humanoid dragon that was unleashed in the colosseum. The only question he could never answer was, what caused him to change.

The Dragon Emperor gnarled as it fixed it's glowing red eyes on it's prey. The icy scales of Alexander made him impervious to any external attacks, he didn't need to worry about defense anymore which made him more vicious.

"W-what the hell...are you?" Rai asked shaking visibly in fear, the literal cold that escaped the scales of Alexander's Dragon Emperor sent chills down the spine of Rai.

He growled, his glowing eyes growing dimmer as he squinted his eyes with anger. The Dragon Emperor widened his mouth and gathered glowing white energy within its mouth.

"Wait! Stop!" Ford exclaimed as the level of essence that emnated from the energy the Dragon Emperor was building up was highly intense. Ford slammed his hands swiftly on the ground and exclaimed. "Philosophers Shield!" Sparks of lightning were generated at all sides of the dragon, the ground got transmutated to create a large thick wall with several layers with the aim to protect the spectators and Rai as well.

From it's mouth, the Dragon Emperor fired a concentrated beam of white energy at Rai, it tore through the thick layers of wall with ease just like a knife slicing through butter.

Rai felt the tremendous pressure of the dragons breath, the feeling was very similar to that feeling he experienced back in his previous life when he faced off with his brother. That feeling...was referred to as death.

His eyes widened on realization and his body instinctively moved on its own, leaping out of the range of the beam. A bright light illuminated the whole colosseum as the beam exploded.

The whole colosseum became silent, as though it was the dead of the night. All souls present including the King's and Julius were completely mesmerized by the strength of Alexander.

"I-is he dead?" Julius asked. He searched from above through the dust that engulfed the whole arena the body of Rai.

As the dust cleared completely, Rai was found sitting on the ground. His eyes wavering with disbelief and his body trembling from fear. A deep sensation which he hadn't felt in a very long time began rising to the surface.

The half of the colosseum which the dragon faced was completely obliterated by the blast it unleashed, displaying the power it possessed. Rai indeed was luck to be alive as he was able to determine the exact range of the dragon's destructive breath.

Alexander approached Rai slowly, his footsteps resounding across the remaining parts of the colosseum as peals of thunder. As Rai watched with dismay, he attempted to come up with an effective strategy that would work on this beast.

The ice wings of the humanoid dragon expanded signaling that it was ready to strike. Rai shook his head vigorously as he knew, it wasn't over till it was over.

Given the size of the dragon, he still had a slight advantage over it. His speed.

He got to his feet and clutched tightly the healm of his katana and dashed forward at the beast. Arriving swiftly at it's back, he aimed the tip of his blade at the neck of Alexander utilizing all the strength he had for a clean and precise attack.

Alexander unfazed by his speed stood still, as the blade connected with the base of his neck it shattered instantly like glass.

Rai's facial expression displayed shock as he watched his blade fall to the ground in pieces. Alexander slowly turned his neck and gazed at Rai with his fiery glowing eyes.

He growled softly as he sent his palm swiftly into the mid-section of Rai.

"BLEGH!!" Rai forcefully ejected blood from his mouth as he felt one or two of his ribs being cracked. He was propelled backwards by the overwhelming strength of the Dragon Emperor Alexander.

Before Rai could even crash into the ground, Alexander had already appeared in the path he flew through.

BOOM!

A deafening roar shattered the silence, sending shockwaves rippling through the air as Alexander drove Rai into the ground with his enhanced strength.

Julius could only watch in dismay. As sad as it was, he felt disappointed that this was the extent to which Rai could reach. "Maybe I was wrong after all, I assumed he would be a talented Essenmage because he didn't need his essence to handle the paradoxes. Turns out mere skills can only take you so far." Julius sighed with disappointment as he stood up from his throne, the only reason he decided to watch the Essenmages exams this year was to estimate the strength of the boy he placed his hopes in.

Abigail from her seat sighed as well, she gazed upon the half dead assassin as the humanoid dragon lifted him by the neck. "It would have been a sight to witness your true skills Rai Voltia, it's a shame it had to end this early." She said, closing her eyes as Alexander was about to land the decisive blow.

"Good riddance... you filthy abomination.." Alexander with his monstrous voice spoke loudly, he raised his right claw and swiftly drove it towards the chest of Rai.

Rai, who at this point was beaten almost to death watched with wavering eyes as the claws of Alexander approached him slowly.

"Why?" He said in his thoughts as he evaluated his final moments in the exams.

"Why did this have to happen again?" He said once again in his thoughts. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had always been holding back. Even when he was presented with the opportunity, he refused to land the decisive blow as he always recalled the last words of his mother before she passed away.

"What an assassin I turned out to be." He uttered his final words softly, slowly closing his eyes as he knew that it was the end of the line for him.

However,

[Dormant ability (Assassins mode) has been activated]

The right hand of Rai moved independently and caught the sharp claws of Alexander before it could penetrate his chest.

"What!?" Ford exclaimed, the prince stood still as he stared down at the battleground a bit flustered.

Rai's white silky hair grew longer and his finger nails also grew longer and sharper possessing the same durability as that of a lions.

His eyes were forced opened and glowed a reminiscent bright white as he gazed upon the Dragon Emperor with his facial expression devoid of all emotions.