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Zach stood still where he was, brandishing his sword forward and preparing for whatever came his way. However, Emery could tell behind that strong visage the Dragon protege was struggling with the skill's severe drawback.

At tense moments like this, the provocative words that entered his mind gave him the push to charge at the Dragon protege with everything he got. His form streaked across the ground, shooting towards the weakened Dragon.

Emery's cores exploded with power as he swung his sword in succession, firing several [Shadow Edge] at Zach.

Bamm! Bamm! Bamm!!

The breakthrough from the mid-stage to the high-stage of Rank 9 Acolyte that Emery had gone through granted a much higher boost to his spell power, which could be seen from how each [Shadow Edge] hitting Zach would send the Dragon protege skidding a few feet back.

When the slew of sword energy finally ended, Zach was wobbling on his feet. His mouth spurted out blood due to the internal injuries. When he regained his bearings, Emery's figure had already disappeared from before him.

Immediately, the Dragon protégé threw his head left and right, anxiously looking around for his opponent's whereabouts. It also didn't help that the gravitational pressure affected his Spirit Reading to sense Emery's movement.

Realizing his attempt to search with his impaired Spirit Reading was futile, Zach chose extreme measures. He cast [Mega Flare] and released a massive body of flames that exploded into his surroundings, blowing everything up and burning anything around him into cinders.

Zach thought his attack was able to stop Emery from approaching him. But then, Emery's figure appeared from the weakest corner affected by the blast which was directly on top of the Dragon protege's head.

Not wasting the golden opportunity, Emery declared his arrival with his strongest offensive spell. Two glowing spheres of energies were seen swirling on his two palms, they merged into one and were pushed towards Zach.

When the latter finally realized what was heading towards him from above, it was already too late.

KABOOOOOMMMMM!!!

A huge cloud of dust rose into the sky as a large explosion occurred. The ground shook violently by the sheer force it created. Only seconds later the curtain of dust and dirt receded, revealing the figure hidden within.

Zach's body could be seen lying flat in a huge crater, his weapon embedded in the right side of his chest. The Dragon protege coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of blood. His face was pale devoid of any color.

Apparently, at the last second before Emery's Dao Matter hit him, Zach managed to position his sword in front of him, using it to block the attack. Unfortunately, such action was far from enough to stop the spell, especially when he was in such a weakened condition.

"This is enough," Emery said to himself, thinking that Zach was unable to fight anymore.

But then, the grand magus' voice once again entered his mind.

"Your opponent is a dragonborn. Do not stop halfway or you will regret it."

Such words, combined with his past experiences, seemed to affect Emery more than he thought as he turned his gaze towards the lying Dragon protege.

From the sky above the wounded Zach, Emery roused his spirit cores and once again gathered his spirit energy. Moments later, he commenced his second onslaught by bombarding the former with the [Seed Bomb] spell.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Dark orbs fell from the sky like rain, causing a cacophony of explosions.

There were at least twenty of those Seed Bombs that struck the Dragon protege, which created another cloud of dust and smoke that shrouded the ground beneath. That amount of attack should incapacitate anyone, but through his Spirit Reading Emery saw his opponent slowly stood and returned to his feet.

The dragon scales covering his skin had cracks everywhere, while wounds of varying degrees adorned every inch of his body. However, despite being in such a severe condition, Zach still held on and used both hands to try and block Emery's attacks.

Through all of this, the Dragon protege was trembling violently, his body seemingly on the brink of falling apart entirely.

Seeing such a sight, Emery shouted, "You can stop now, Zach! You won't be able to beat me as long as we fight in this place. I have won!"

From beyond the smoke and amidst the rampaging blasts, Emery could see Zach's gaze was still fixed on him. Their eyes crossed each other; the Dragon protege's fighting spirit still had not dwindled.

He roared into a frenzy, losing all of his former composure as he shouted.

"NO!! I will not be defeated by the likes of you! I am Zach Talon!! I am the strongest dragon!!"

After Zach finished shouting those words, Emery suddenly felt a powerful aura rising from the former's body. One that was almost as powerful as the grand magus had shown to him. An frightening aura that birth fear.

Without Emery knowing, throughout the entire duration of battle, Grand Magus Lilith had been shouting in his opponent's mind just like him.

"You let yourself be defeated by a wolf?"

"That kid came from nothing! A lower realm!"

"You are a disgrace to the dragon bloodline!"

Those words, coupled with an actual beatdown from Emery himself, caused a chain reaction. Finally, something buried within the Dragon protege broke free and revealed its existence to the world.

[Draconic Aura - Bahamut]

It was Dragon's bloodline innate ability, an

upgrade of Zach's Draconic Flame buff, one that corresponded to his Rank 6 Neo Bahamut bloodline.

What came after the terrifying aura was the sight of the flame cloak covering Zach's entire body darkening and turning into a haze of ominous dark flame.

The next instant, Zach stomped the ground and blasted into the sky. As he sped through the air, he dodged and blocked all of Emery's Seed Bomb as if the appearance of his critical state was a mere decoration.

Seeing the incoming threat, Emery quickly gripped his sword with both hands. He channeled his darkness spirit energy, as if he was about to fire [Shadow Edge], with the build up power, he performed the sword battle art [Omega Strike].

That combination was the most powerful swing Emery could make, and the two swords clashed once again. A surge of destruction erupted and swept over the vast expanse.

KABBBOOOOMMMMM!!!

A storm of sparks rumbled between the figures of the two of them, when suddenly the glaring sound of something cracking was heard.

CRACKK!!

Emery was shocked when he saw his Savage Sword split in two. Alas, before he could address the grief of losing his weapon, Zach's swing advanced freely without its obstruction and managed to slash his chest open.

Spllaaatttt!!

Blood splattered in the sky, followed by the wolf howl.

Emery resisted the pain and swiftly tried to dodge away, but Zach moved much faster than before, it was as if the gravitational pressure no longer affected him.

The Dragon protege spun his sword on its hilt, using the flat end of his weapon to hammer Emery's body.

It follows with a hurricane of attacks, similar to his special moves, however this time it was activated instantly.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Eventually, the sequence of hard swings ended with a powerful smash that sent Emery hurtling towards the ground.

Hitting the ground hard and creating a small crater, Emery could feel dozens of broken bones, his body sinking in the pain that ran through the entirety of his body. He was still unwilling to give up.

Emery stood up with all his strength and brought out his blade claw.

However, the frenzy Dragon protege already arrived next to him and once more smash him across the field crashing him into large rocks.

Emery's body started to shut down as his [undecaying flesh] couldn't heal as fast as the heavy damage he received.

Zach was ready to give Emery the killing blow when Grand Magus Lilith finally stepped in and stopped the fight.

"That's enough!!"

Hearing the voice of the grand magus, Zach seemed to sober up. He followed his master's order and sheathed his sword to his back.

The dark flames enveloping his body started to dissipate. Seeing all this, Emery who was lying on the rock let out a bitter chuckle.

The hard truth was, if Zach had used his sharp edge of the blade, he would have died already.

Emery realized that he had once again lost.

However, what happened next dealt another heavy blow on him.

Grand Magus Lilith approached her disciple with a smile saying,

"The young wolf finally served his purpose...very good.. With this breakthrough, you can finally be the number one!!"

While still lying on the rock grimacing in pain, Emery finally understood the true intentions of the grand magus and his role in these weeks of training. He was merely an impetus for Zach to break through the bottleneck he had; he was used as the best mental stimulus to the Dragon protege.

Oblivious to his thoughts, Grand Magus Lilith walked over to Emery.

"This is good news, young wolf. Now that we don't need you anymore, you can leave to see your girl again."

To be continued