Agrona

"The water's cold….."

How long has it been? Since I've sat down on these calm waters. It was a huge contrast to the raging waves outside the spell perimeter. Almost like a beacon from above.

"Fuuuuu" I blew out the smoke from my cigar and downed the last bottle of beer in my stash before looking above.

The alcohol would've felt like water, had I not added the trait of intoxication using mana. A nifty spell for someone like me who always feels his nerves stretched beyond the limits of comprehension.

"Ahhhh! That's it!" The drank the beer, bringing a slight burn along with a wave of high as I waited for Agrona. "If the calculations are right, then it'll take a few more seconds before he breaks it." While it was true that the Dragons had the ability to use aether arts, putting them at the top of the hierarchal ladder, the basilisks weren't that far behind.

Crack—!

The sounds rang out like a cheese grater breaking on stone and colors inverted for a split second before I saw the snake appearing 50 feet away from me. His face carried shock as to how he got exposed. Almost on the verge of denial.

But as expected of an experienced warrior, he quickly composed himself and took a stance. I didn't bother with the meaningless pleasantries and used mirage walk to run across the waters and closed the distance.

As if expecting this outcome, he summoned his sword and swung at me from above. It felt like a meteor crashing down on me. The sheer weight of that swords was astonishing even to me. For a second, his demeanor merged with Hades.

….But that was it. It paled in comparison to the god's strength. A red spark flashed as my fist met his sword, slowly pushing him back, much to his astonishment….. and delight once he saw a drop of blood trickle down my hands and mix with the salty waters.

The once calm lake shook, as if threatening to collapse like an underground cave, swallowing the both of us as we fought.

"You have-" I didn't let him finish his words and attacked once again from his blind spot. My previous image disappearing like a mirage as held his horn and twisted his head, ushering a wild roar.

"Your corrosive mana is useless, so stop being so smug." I shook off the dirty black blood coming out form my hand and charged once again, this time with a sword on my hand. "Let's see if your experience is enough to catch up to my theory.

Strictly speaking... this was my first time holding a sword. With zero experience under my belt, I opted to stimulating counters to all 360 possible outcomes. While it was true that there were countless techniques, they all aimed at your vitals in the end. If you were trying to draw the battle out, so as to tire your foe, then it was optimal to aim for areas that aren't vital.

Swordsmen prefer to switch at an irregular rate, to throw their opponents off guard. To disrupt the predicted flow and seizing the window of opportunities makes him the most unpredictable and hence the most dangerous enemy.

The only counter to this method was using feints.

To sum it all up, no matter what fancy technique you use, there were only 360 outcomes to it...."And I predicted all of it you bastard!"

Ting—!!

Agrona's eyes carried disbelief as his arm was flung back from the recoil and he received a kick piercing his intestines.

"Kahh!.....You dare!" "Yes I dare!" I spoke before sending an uppercut, drawing blood from his torn chin and held his horns once again to deliver a knee kick on his face.

"You shouldn't have taken a human form while fighting me." I said and threw him over my shoulder on a spear jutting out from the waters , going straight through his shoulders.

"And you shouldn't have gone against me….." Mana coiled around my limbs like a snake, taking a gold hue as I kicked his head, sending him flying,, leaving a trail of parted waters, before teleporting right next to him and waterboarding him.

"ENOUGH!" A shrill scream rang out as his form changed to a basilisk and he swatted me away with his tail like a mosquito. "You think too highly of yourself! You filthy lesser!" His now red eyes glared at me, promising a painful end, to which I just stayed quiet.

….

The once intimidating eyes, slowly changed to shock as he witnessed the sight before him.

"To be honest, I could've ended you right now if I wanted to do so."

[Core has been installed. Now at 330,000 RPM]

"But I needed someone to test this out on. And you lizards were at an adequate level of strength."

[Golem— Ariel, activated]

A pair of golden eyes glowed within the dark night, swallowing all the light from its surroundings. I might've gone overboard with the Venti (anemo archon) color scheme and went with a full on feminine optimus prime physique, but it looked pretty good.

The lizard however didn't seem to appreciate it very much, as he started throwing spells catastrophically more dangerous than before, almost edging on my Tera-scale magic. But the barriers held on as expected. I got into the cockpit aka 'The cocktagon' and put on the VR helmet to synchronize with Ariel.

[Synchronization at 97%]

"Good enough"

Through the infrared cameras, I located the nervous snake swimming underwater to erase its presence.

"Didn't expect you of all people to act like that...….. actually scratch that. You all are exactly like that. A cowardly race that prides itself on being better. A pathetic existence"

So don't blame me for what's about to happen next. It is just karma knocking on your doorstep.