Chapter 174: I’m sorry my lord
SLASH!
CLANG! KANG! KANG!
Sparks erupted into the hot afternoon air, lighting up the shredded tree line outside Oakhaven’s western gate.
"Moon Fall..." Gareth whispered softly.
Plumes of dense, white steam hissed from the corners of his mouth as he dropped into an impossibly low stance. Before Vetra’s crimson eyes could even track the footwork, Gareth lunged forward at speed far surpassing the speed of sound. He reappeared instantly twenty paces behind her, his longsword already sweeping into a clean reverse guard.
A fraction of a second later, a dozen diagonal lines of blue physical aura bloomed across Vetra’s torso and shoulders.
SPLURT!
Blood sprayed across the dirt road as her dark, iridescent dragon scales split under the sheer velocity of the cuts. Yet, owing to the density of her newly awakened dragon hide, the razor-sharp strikes failed to reach her vital organs.
Gareth straightened his spine slightly, adjusting his bloodied grip on his hilt. "I must say... you are one tough dragon-kin."
Vetra wiped a line of dark crimson from her jaw, a low, reverberating chuckle vibrating in her chest. Her slit pupils flared with raw, primal joy and ecstasy.
"You humans are something else," Vetra rumbled, her voice heavy with dragon resonance. "Show me more!...I want more!"
CRACK!
Vetra launched herself forward, tearing up the bedrock beneath her feet.
"DRAGON CLAW!"
She swung a savage, downward arc with her bare right hand, her obsidian claws cutting through the air like five hot iron blades. Gareth snapped his longsword up into a two-handed diagonal block.
KANG!
The force of the impact drove Gareth’s boots three inches into the solid stone, the air between them bursting in a violent shockwave.
Gareth didn’t retreat. He shifted his weight, using the momentum of her strike to slip past her guard. His sword flashed in a rapid triple-thrust pattern—Imperial Stance: Point Piercing—aiming precisely for the joints in her shoulder and neck.
Vetra blocked the first strike with her scaled forearm, leaned into the second, and opened her mouth. A concentrated burst of raw, red combustion flared from her throat, forcing Gareth to jump back as a wall of fire scorched the grass between them.
He’s incredible, Vetra thought, her heart hammering against her ribs like a war drum as she circled him in the smoke. Precise. Ruthless. Unyielding. Exactly like Vince. Strength is the only currency that matters. If I hadn’t already submitted my loyalty to Vince... a warrior this magnificent might have claimed me himself.
"You’re distracted, dragon," Gareth called out coldly from the smoke.
Gareth unsealed the iron suppression rods across his spine completely. They hit the road with a deafening thud, and his physical aura surged into a blinding, white-hot pillar.
"This is the end," Gareth said softly. He raised his longsword high above his head with both hands, every ounce of his remaining physical aura, stamina, and mana condensing into the edge of his blade until the steel turned translucent.
"Divine Sword: Heavenly Severance!"
Gareth brought the sword down.
A massive, vertical crescent of pure, light-speed aura tore through the earth, splitting the ridge in half as it slammed directly through Vetra’s chest and abdomen.
BOOM!
Dust and pulverized rock covered the road.
Gareth slowly lowered his sword, his arms trembling violently as he sheathed the blade with a quiet click. He clutched his torn left side, coughing up a mouthful of blood as he collapsed against a jagged stone boulder, his chest heaving. His mana core was completely empty—he had poured every drop of his life force into that single, fatal strike.
As the dust settled, Vetra remained standing.
A massive, terrifying wound stretched across her chest, blood pouring over her black dragon scales. Steam rose aggressively from her body as her internal temperature spiked to dangerous, core-melting levels. Her vision blotted with dark spots; she was barely conscious, her legs shaking so violently she could barely hold her own weight. She, too, was entirely out of mana.
Gareth looked up through his blood-soaked vision, his jaw dropping in absolute disbelief. How is she even able to stand after a direct hit...?
Vetra looked down at him through blurry, crimson-tinted eyes. A wild, ecstatic smirk spread across her bloody, scale-covered face.
"There’s nothing more dangerous..." Vetra wheezed, her voice raspy and broken, "...than a cornered animal."
"Huh...?" Gareth grunted from the base of the stone, unable to lift a single finger.
Deep within Vetra’s chest, where her completed dragon core sat dry, an orange ball of raw, biological fire began to swell in her stomach. It traveled up her esophagus, shifting from burning orange to a brilliant, streamlined blue as it reached her throat.
"You’ve fought well," Vetra rumbled, her glowing eyes fixing on the helpless blademaster. "But this was a battle of endurance."
"DRAGON’S INFERNO!"
Vetra roared, throwing her head back before snapping it forward. A concentrated, streamlined beam of blue fire erupted from her mouth, blazing straight down the center of the road.
Gareth sat motionless against the stone. If he had possessed even a fraction of his stamina or mana, he could have stepped aside effortlessly. But devoid of energy, pinned against the rock, he was entirely helpless.
As the searing blue fire rushed toward his face, Gareth closed his eyes.
"I’m sorry... My Lord..." Gareth whispered into the heat.
KABOOM!
The blue fire engulfed the boulder and the road around it, an agonizing yell echoing briefly through the roar of the flame before being consumed by the inferno.
When the last wave of fire finally left Vetra’s jaws, the stream died down to faint whisps of smoke. The road ahead was incinerated into molten glass.
Vetra’s legs finally gave out.
She tipped backward, hitting the dirt with a heavy thud, staring up at the blue sky as her dragon scales slowly receded to Thier normal thickness and length and her eyes closed in total exhaustion.
Hope you guys made it... Vetra thought silently into the darkness as her consciousness faded.
A familiar chime rang in Vince head below the council hall