The Dragon Awakens

Hearing his opponent taunt him, a vein started to visibly bulge on Anton's forehead as he shouted, "Don't get cocky because you got lucky and dodged my strike by chance!"

He charged at Raz once again and continued to swing his fists as a child would wildly. It was plain to see that Anton had not been formally trained in hand-to-hand combat.

This made it easy for Raz to put both of his arms behind him as he easily weaved and ducked past all the sloppy attacks.

Even though his body's physical capabilities were on par with his opponent's, his vast experience, skills, and senses made the fight look like a grandmaster dealing with an average person.

As Anton's attacks continued to hit nothing but air, his breathing became more labored, and his expression contorted even further before he exclaimed, "Stop dodging, you freak!"

"Tch, what do you want me to do then? Purposely get hit? I'll never understand some people, but if you want me to start attacking, I'll oblige," Raz responded, dodging another wide and sloppy punch.

All this time, Raz had continuously danced around Anton in a circular motion without breaking a sweat, but this time he abruptly moved forward, almost face to face with the boy, who became startled.

Raz skillfully brought his foot behind Anton's front foot in a hook motion before he swept his opponent off balance and gave him a tap on the forehead with the knuckle of his index finger.

Like a tree cut down, Anton fell onto the floor with a thud as he realized he had been so easily taken care of by someone younger than him before his face flushed red from embarrassment.

Squatting down in Anton's face, who was still on the floor on his behind, Raz clicked his tongue in disappointment, "I thought I would actually get a bit of entertainment out of that, but it was incredibly boring, I must say. I've seen newborn animals move with more grace and dexterity than you did."

"Y-yo, you freak! You only won because you've received hand-to-hand combat training. That must be the reason I lost!" Anton stuttered as his face continued to turn redder from anger and embarrassment.

"Yeah, yeah. Ask anyone who knows me. I have received no such training of the sort. Perhaps you are just that ineloquent and incompetent at fighting," Raz remarked as he stood up and started to walk away once again.

As Raz started to walk away, Anton turned towards the other children, who were all trying to contain their laughter as their bully had been easily defeated and humiliated.

Seeing his reputation in tatters, Anton quickly pulled out a metal ball with patterns etched into it and a mana shard from his pocket as he growled, "You forced me into this! Face the price for embarrassing me!"

Raz, who hadn't really thought anything of the boy, felt a sudden sense of danger he had felt numerous times as a cultivator. His senses would start blaring like an alarm when his life was in danger.

He turned around abruptly and spotted the unknown metal ball and the mana shard before having a bad premonition. He hadn't really ever registered Anton as a potential threat, as the boy couldn't control mana since his circuit hadn't developed yet.

However, with the help of a mana shard, it was possible to activate certain things that required mana which made him incredibly fearful and apprehensive about what the metal ball did or could do.

Observing Raz's face of caution, Anton laughed as he raised his hand with the shard up in the air, preparing to break the shard against the metal ball, "Haha, not so smug anymore, aren't we? You little freak! Prepare yourself, AHAHA!"

Everything seemed to slow down as Raz stood there and thought, 'Is this how I, the god amongst cultivators, will die? To a child? I must have really gotten overconfident and senile if my rivals and enemies from the cultivator world knew about this. They would definitely be rolling in their graves.'

A sudden feeling of completion overwhelmed Raz. It felt like a piece of him had been missing all his life and had suddenly been filled to complete him. The feeling was truly indescribably and more addictive than any stimulant or drug available.

Unbeknownst to the children, who could not see or detect mana, the mana surrounding Raz went from a calm standstill to a raging storm as it was being sucked by his body subconsciously.

The mana rushed into his body like a raging hurricane thrashing against the very fabric of reality before something within his very soul awoke.

If someone of the highest tier of Magus were standing here, they would be in awe as it looked like the very balance of the world was disrupted.

Sensing Raz's danger, a silhouette of a black dragon suddenly appeared behind him in the shadows.

None of the children seemed to have noticed the beast, as they could not see the hulking shadow and made no reaction.

Meanwhile, Anton's mouth went wide as his eyes turned fearful, and his pants became wet as he pissed himself with no hesitation.

Feeling the familiar feeling of the Dragon God whom he had bonded with, Raz, whose eyes had a tinge of red, left it to his bond to do the work.

The shadowy black dragon seemed to grow larger and larger as it loomed dozens of meters above Anton before it roared and appeared to attempt to consume the scared boy.

Anton started to shiver uncontrollably and sob on the tiled floor next to the fountain while clutching his head as if the shadowy dragon was truly real and attempting to viciously devour him.

His metal ball and mana shard dropped to the ground beside him as he continuously shrieked, "GET AWAY! GET AWAY!"

From inside the maze, Aria's voice could be heard close by saying, "Father! I'm telling you, Anton's trying to bully the other children and even beat one of them up! You have to stop him!"

A trio of people appeared from one of the many pathways leading into the fountain's center. Raz turned and saw Aria, Viscount Malfe, and his own father appear.

Viscount Malfe saw his son seemingly passed out on the floor, muttering something as his expression darkened before he went over and noticed the metal ball and mana shard.

Incredibly confused, Viscount Malfe stared at Raz and the children, sternly asking, "What the hell happened here?!?"

After interviewing the children, Viscount Malfe learned of his son's unruly actions and his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Raz before they mentioned everything else.

The other children saw everything unfold, but they, for some reason, did not see the shadowy figure of a dragon and only saw Anton take out the metal ball and mana shard before pausing as he seemingly collapsed on the ground in fear with a wet stain on the front of his pants.

After all, would such a divine beast like Raz's dragon allow such normal kids to gaze upon itself even at its weakest?

Hearing multiple children's testimony about what they had seen, Viscount Malfe sighed before walking in front of Raz as he bowed, "I apologize for everything you experienced here today. I've never been disgraced so horrendously. To think the first time would be because of my own son."