"Huh?!"
Cherry turned back, seeing the magical flare.
Of course, she knew what it ant—Maria was obstructed by soone or sothing and could be in danger. However, right now, she had the duty to pass a ssage to Axel. To tell him about the mural she saw and the "end" that awaited them.
However, she could only choose one or the other.
She can’t go help Maria while also going to visit Axel to tell him about what she saw.
And that forced her into a standstill.
She knew she couldn’t stop there, as the matters were ti sensitive; however, she couldn’t decide on where to go. Her eyes flickered with indecision for a split second before she closed her eyes.
"I... have to go!"
And ran.
...
Around the ti that Cherry was forced to choose, Axel’s side of the battlefield was also changing.
The evil dragon Fafnir—who was struck by Fenrir’s God-level ability, the dragon-slaying sword wielded by Axel and Arianne, and while being kept in check by Eve’s sniping—underwent a significant change.
It completely changed its mind.
No longer holding back, its form changed. Rapidly shrinking down.
Although the dragon’s size got smaller, the energy within it got bigger, denser, and scarier. It was so dense that even Axel was starting to get cold sweats! It felt to them as if they were staring at an ard atomic bomb, about to explode at any second!
Since the transformation happened in a flash, there’s literally no space for them to interrupt it.
They could only watch as Fafnir’s size beca the sa as Bella’s dragon form. Rather, they looked almost the sa, except for the part that Fafnir’s scales were a lot darker.
[Disappear from sight!]
As soon as his transformation was over, Fafnir moved.
Nobody blinked, so there’s no way for them to miss his movents. However, the next instant, the evil dragon was already before Bella, slapping down at her with his long, spiky, scaly tail.
"...!"
Bella only saw it when the tail had struck her body, failing to notice Fafnir’s movents at all. It was almost as if he had used her stop-ti ability against her!
Of course, she knew that wasn’t the case.
Fafnir wasn’t using any ability interfering with ti at all; she could tell, as there were no "fluctuations" with the fabric of ti-space at all. Which ant...
’This is only thanks to pure speed!’
Unable to block it and unable to even stop ti to dodge, she had no choice but to crash down like a falling teor.
BOOOM!
A cloud of dust rose as she landed, going deep into the ground—a kiloter deep—before finally stopping.
Of course, during that ti, Fafnir didn’t stop. As if letting off steam, after hitting Bella, he turned to the next closest target—Fenrir. The wolf girl saw the dragon move; however, it was truly fast. Just keeping track of his figure was the best she could do.
"Kuh...!"
Fenrir bit her lip as she morphed both arms into furry wolf paws. The red aura around her arms was strengthened, almost looking solid around her. And then, Fafnir struck her right through the front.
It was so fast that Fenrir’s reaction wasn’t able to keep up.
Only her reflex kicked in, moving her arm to block the incoming claw by crossing it before her chest. The sharp claws rend the red aura around her as if tearing through paper.
Thankfully, it managed to slow down the attack until Fenrir was able to push it aside and dodge.
She was safe and eyeing the evil dragon a few ters away. She watched its deadly claws, its black-scaled body, and its wide grin...
"Na—!"
However, she failed to notice the tail that ca from her blind spot—straight below. It landed squarely on her back, sending her flying across the sky and crashing into the ground below.
BANG!
It was barely a second that passed, but Eve managed to provide covering fire imdiately.
However, with Fenrir and Bellachrona both down, her distraction was less effective. The bullet didn’t even touch the evil dragon as it passed by. Though it missed, it did perform one job successfully—
[Bitch...! First is you!]
Fafnir locked onto Eve and flew fast.
So fast that afterimages of him were left behind.
The air burned, turning his body red. So fast that oxygen itself self-ignited upon contact. It was as if bombs were exploding ahead of him as he continued flying toward Eve. Explosions that didn’t really slow, much less damage, him.
"Not on my watch!"
Though, of course, there’s soone there who could protect Eve.
Axel.
As soon as he saw Bella get slapped away, he already figured out who Fafnir would target next. Thus, he positioned himself along the path of Fafnir and Eve, acting as a blockade, physically.
Gram in hand, he t the flying dragon, now like a burning red teorite.
With perfect timing and aim, he swung the blade down.
But at the sa ti, Fafnir swung his claw forward.
CLANG!
Blade and nail t, causing a loud, resonating ring to crack everything nearby.
The two attacks colliding acted almost like the detonation of a 10 kiloton bomb.
The ground below them folded like the surface of water, spreading outward in waves. the air was heated, ringing, and boiling. The sky cracked, the clouds turning superheated and disappearing completely.
It didn’t end there, though.
"HAAAP!"
Axel swung his blade not once, not twice, but hundreds of tis in the span of a few seconds. A quick exchange! But Fafnir wasn’t losing out. Each of Axel’s swings was t with a claw attack.
Although his claw was slower than the sword, he made up for it using both hands, moving in alternating patterns!
The girls, even if they wanted to provide support, couldn’t really approach.
Not even Fenrir and Bella dared!
The two were stuck in a one-on-one match for a while, until—
"PFFF!"
Axel... ran out of gas.
His mana was bottod out.
He had 10x his mana pool before the fight happened, 11x if including his actual mana. But even with that, he could barely keep the 1000% output for a full second!
Worse, however, he ran out of gas mid-exchange.
It was his honest mistake. He failed to calculate his mana and pace his Overdrive properly. Thus, not only did he lose all his power-ups, but the backlash from using Overdrive ca in one go too.
Axel’s body almost exploded from within, blood spurting out of his pores, eyes, and nose in one go. The pain assaulting his senses was sothing he thought he had already gotten used to while he was still practicing the skill.
He was bloodied, weakened, and falling to the ground—mana bottod out.
But that’s not all either.
Fafnir’s claw flew forward, fast.
Then, rcilessly, it pierced through Axel’s chest.
Everyone who watched this happen could only stare blankly, silently. Nobody was able to move, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Mas...ter..."
Not even Fenrir.
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