Chapter 41: No problem. (1/2)
Night and Fayla battled with their large-scale magic for at least half an hour. It was also around the same time that Arima threw Karma into the sea to forcefully cool it down and restrain the heat that could have damaged the blade.
Fayla had suffered some injuries and burns, but she was still better off than Night who had a huge cut on his shoulder and chest inflicted by the trident. His fire dragon had already shrunk by more than half of what it was.
Night regulated his ragged breath and calmly looked at Fayla. He opened his mouth and started sucking air into his lungs, or to be exact, the flames. His chest gradually swelled and the red lines on his body glowed once again. The huge fire dragon changed into tourbillon of fire that was swallowed by Night.
Fayla's eyes narrowed. The trident hovering around her began to madly spin like a whirlwind right in front of her. The spinning generated some blue lines in thin-air which gathered together and formed magic runes. Soon enough, the trident had created a magic circle and was already working on a second layer.
”[Ut incenderent Aeternitatis] (Burn for Eternity),” Night gulped the last flame and chanted. His eyes glowed red. Sparks escaped through his fangs and at some point, even darkness magic slowly covered his body and converged around his mouth. But Night didn't open his mouth immediately and, instead, a magic circle appeared at his feet.
Fayla's expression changed drastically, she perfectly recognized that circle's role. Usually, in a fight, teleportation is really limited because of the aura and magic of the opponent. But one can do it if he prepares himself enough before breaking through the opponent's aura with an intricate formation. Fayla wondered if he had been preparing that circle while they were fighting before.
She couldn't think more after that. Night teleported behind her. She just had the time to turn her head around to see a twenty-meter-tall dragon staring at her with bloodshot eyes.
Night roared and spat a terrifying breath of fire surrounded by a spiral of darkness which wrapped and burned everything in his sight. The fire spread on the ground like water until Night closed his mouth. The odd thing was that the fire wasn't going away. It moved weirdly. As if it was alive.
Night exhaled some vapor and stared at the sea of flames he had created.
”[Gaudete](Burst),” He chanted and the flames suddenly rose in intensity before a deafening sound resounded and along with an earthquake. The whole area that was in fire suddenly erupted and formed countless mushroom clouds. It felt like hundreds of nukes had just detonated there.
The fire persisted for a few minutes before disappeared and leaving the ground thoroughly charred and lifeless. Night observed carefully with an uneven breath. He spotted a figure standing in the middle of this inferno.
Fayla stood there. She was panting heavily and her appearance was certainly pitiful. She only succeeded to protect half of her body along with the head and heart by sacrificing the trident. The result was that her entire left side had been burned to crisp. Her arm and leg were simply carbonized.
Night wasn't surprised about her survival. He wasn't focused on killing her in the first place. He only needed her to tell the human capital that nothing wrong happened here.
”Surrender,” Night muttered in a quiet and calm voice in the middle of the crackling sounds of the burned earth.
Fayla raised her head and glared at Night, ”Never.”
”Don't be unreasonable. You can't beat me in that state.”
Fayla took a small pill from her storage and immediately swallowed it. When she ate that pill, her skin began to heal back to normal.
Night's expression twitched when he saw that and he wryly smiled, ”(A medicine? Arima never even touched that, saying that it isn't a fight if you rely on drugs… But that thing shouldn't be without any cost. Healing injuries is extremely tough when they are caused by powerful magic infused with aura.)”
Fayla had recovered her fair skin, her black dress retransformed to cover the half of her body that was exposed. After that, she brandished her golden sword and stared at Night.
”(Still, I may not be able to hold out for too long. Should I let that woman finish it?)” Night mused then a dark-red light appeared in front of his eyes out of nowhere.
Night observed the red glow wide-eyed before grinning and grabbing it.
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After he tested Karma, Arima took out Superbia and smiled. In the last phase, he sent all the energy that wasn't absorbed by Karma into Superbia and his bullets. The rifle now was bigger and had a hint of red and purple on it.
When he dealt with the meteorite, Arima realized that Superbia and Karma could be really scary if they were used together. So, he took the opportunity.
After that, he swiftly destroyed the volcano and filled the magma chamber with water. At least like that, it will retard the next eruption for a moment.
”Thank you,” The land dragon thanked him right after. ”If it wasn't for you, maybe the entire territory could have been in turmoil.”
”Nothing much. Really, don't thank me,” Arima replied with a darkened expression.
”(I can't tell them I risked destroying the continent for a personal reason…)” He thought and coughed, ”By the way, I haven't introduced myself, right? I'm Arimane Blade, call me Arima.”
The dragon nodded, ”My name is Hieran.”
”I'm Rex,” The dinosaur shamelessly stated and Hieran sighed.
”Well, nice to meet you, I suppose. I mean, it's a bit late. Anyway, now that I saved your little home, can you do me a little favor?”
”Sure. As long as we can do it.”
”It's not much. I'm sure that your forest has a dryad, right? I want to meet her.”
When they heard Arima's request, the two beasts' expressions turned ugly. Hieran groaned and shook his head, ”Sorry Arima, but I'm not sure we can help you with that.”
Arima frowned, ”Why?”
”That dryad has one of the worst personalities you can find!” Rex sneered, ”She thinks of herself as a Queen and is extremely selfish. For this incident, we solicited her help but she said that she wouldn't do it and told us to scram. She also boldly asserted that even if the volcano were to erupt, she could protect the forest by herself.”
Arima listened and furrowed, ”That's unlikely. I'm confident I could protect around a one thousand miles' radius area if I give my best. But all of it is almost impossible. She wouldn't be able to protect the entire forest which occupies almost all the territory. Is she stupid?”
Rex and Hieran laughed together. The latter shrugged, ”As a dryad, she has control over all of the forest and would probably be able to protect the lives in it at least. Maybe she underestimated the volcano's threat though. Anyway, why do you want to meet her?”