Malum was fired up to fight Fafnir at first. But, in a few blows, three planets had been destroyed because of him going through them. He had been flattened. Fafnir was even bigger than a giant but his speed hadn't dropped the slightest and his Manifestation was still doing wonders.
"Well shit," Malum cursed as he stood up in the middle of a crumbling mountain. "This isn't what I expected."
Almost all of his bones and muscles were damaged in some way. If it wasn't because of his 'madness' and the inhibition brought by the Berserker's Path, he would have already collapsed.
Malum looked down. "Hm, this planet is quite rich… I'll take it," he muttered and placed both of his hands on the ground. "I can only use it once after all."
"[Fifth Red Art, Exhaurire]," he chanted and drove the Art to its maximum output. He withstood the pain originating from his magic circuits and drained the life energy and mana of the entire planet. The plants withered and turned into dust while Malum restored his mana and some of his injuries. When he finished, the entire planet had become an endless desert.
"[Fifth White Art, Sana Intrisecus]," he cast another Art and a white halo surrounded him. Most of his remaining wounds closed and only the deepest ones, as well as his fatigue, were not healed.
He gritted his teeth and cackled. "My bad, Arima. You'll need a few months to recover from this. Karma, the 'you know what' please," he demanded.
"{Coming,}" Karma answered in high spirits and the great sword changed into something else. The handle became a lot longer and the blade changed shape and curved.
The chain hanging down the weapon became a lot thinner and longer and hovered around Malum as if it was alive. The black dragon ended up with a large dark red scythe in his hands. The weapon was extremely threatening and the hint of purple on the edge of the blade made it look even more intimidating.
"It's time for the big hunt," Malum laughed and kicked the ground. The agitation he created on the sand and dust around him provoked a giant sand storm.
He left the atmosphere with the scythe on his shoulder and suddenly bent his body when Fafnir teleported right next to him. He evaded a powerful claw-strike and commanded the chain with his thoughts.
The black chain coiled around Fafnir's arm and squeezed it. Blood spurted out and Malum jumped on Fafnir's arm. He ran on it until he reached the golden dragon's shoulder. Fafnir was about to summon a weapon from his 'Vault' when Malum smirked and wielded the scythe like a whirlwind before planting it in Fafnir's arm.
"Karma!" Malum shouted as he continued to run toward the dragon's neck barehanded.
"{Got it!}" Karma replied and the scythe made a sparking sound. A powerful electric current was sent through Fafnir's body, directly into his muscles and nerves. When his arm was electrocuted, his body acted automatically and contracted.
His arm straightened and his hand clenched. Ultimately, Fafnir himself pulled on the chain of Karma and the scythe dug even deeper. But he couldn't do anything about it as along as Karma was constantly channeling lightning through his arm with surgical precision.
The golden dragon roared in pain and wasn't able to stop Malum as he reached his neck. Malum stopped and pulled out Superore from his soul and fired at the dragon's neck. He couldn't produce lightning anymore so he was lucky that Superore had a separate mana storage as well as an enchantment that would cast the magic automatically.
The plasma and lightning fused and exploded on Fafnir at a very close range. Malum jumped back by riding the shockwave while Fafnir gasped for air. His throat had suddenly been thumped and all of his arteries had been crushed.
He growled and the bell above him tilted again. The sound made both Malum and Fafnir cough blood. It wasn't even an attack. Just the pure spiritual pressure brought by the bell's ringing.
Immediately after the first tune, the current produced by Karma stopped and Fafnir regained control of his arm. He prudently bent his arm and then pulled out the scythe with a savage expression. He recovered from the bell's influence faster and punched Malum with a fist full of pent up anger.
When Malum got hit, he discretely drew a magic circle on the dragon's claw before soaring through space. "Karma!" He shouted and the end of the black chain flew toward him. He grabbed it and then pulled strongly.
The scythe spun in midair and then landed back in Malum's hands. He whirled it and then scraped the edge of the blade with his hand. Some of his blood traced the blade and glowed before forming runes.
"[Periit sacrificium sanguis] (Blood Sacrifice)."
"[Plasmodium falciparum dolore] (Pain Inhibition)."
"[Affectus earumque oppres] (Emotion Suppression)."
He chanted and Karma conjured her lightning magic. On the other hand, Malum chose to assemble darkness magic around the scythe.
"This will be an improvised magic. Focus," Malum warned.
"{No problem,}" Karma responded confidently and Malum smirked.
"Let's go then," he declared and clenched the handle of the scythe. He tilted his body forward like a beast observing its prey.
"[Berserker Adventum, Sanitas Detrimento] (Berserker's Advent, Detriment of Sanity)," he intoned and his eyes turned bloodshot.
His muscles tensed and his scales produced a worrying grinding sound. He flapped his wings and instantly disappeared to arrive right in front of his opponent in the split of a second. Fafnir summoned a barrage of countless spears and swords and then teleported far above them to dodge the scythe's blade.
He looked down from there and raised both his hands upward. His mana was compressed to form a small golden marble. Then, gilded flames slowly started igniting on its surface. The magic didn't seem to be that potent but Fafnir looked as if he was carrying a planet.
Malum's eyes flashed with a cold light. He snorted and dark flames escaped his mouth and nostrils. Although he couldn't cast fire-based spells anymore, fire breath is the ability of all dragons. They are simply able to produce fire with their lungs.
Malum's flames formed a sort of barricade that protected him from the barrage of golden weapons. Just after that, Fafnir waved both of his arms and the small marble fell in the black fire before shattering.
The temperature increased considerably and the void lightened up as if a new sun, radiating with beautiful golden light, had appeared. There was no detonation, just the incredible heat coming from the flames.
When the light faded away, Fafnir's expression changed as he noticed the chain coiled around his body. He hastily searched for the target of his magic and spotted Malum smirking at him while holding his scythe. He had lost one arm and a huge chunk of flesh.
And after a brief second, the black dragon collapsed on the ground; lifeless. The golden dragon couldn't believe his eyes. But he then noticed that the chain binding him was tightening. His entire body shuddered and he looked behind by instinct. His maddened look expressed shock as he saw Malum lifting the scythe to strike him.
"[Third White Art, Doppelganger]," Malum uttered. He had swapped with a clone just before Fafnir could initiate his barrage. The magic circle he had discreetly drawn on Fafnir's arm was a one-use teleportation circle for his doppelganger.
Malum wielded Karma who was covered with lightning and darkness.
"Let's see how you fare against this one," he said and swung the scythe downward. The tip of the blade hit thin air as if an invisible wall was situated there.
"[Ruunt ad insaniam convertunt] (Mad Rush)," Malum chanted and his figure became blurry. Then, out of nowhere, hundreds of copies of himself surrounded Fafnir. They all flapped their wings and charged at the golden dragon.
The original Malum lifted his weapon filled with dark lightning and followed. Fafnir was rattled when he determined that every black dragon around him had a physical influence. He first protected himself with his shields then immediately activated the Bell of Mictlan. It only had the time to ring once but that single note managed to dispel half of the clones.
Malum grinned. He knew that the bell could deconstruct magic theories but it couldn't dissipate powerful magics with a single sound. Malum rushed toward Fafnir before the bell could ring once again. All of his clones struck the golden shield of Fafnir. The darkness and lightning contained within Karma's blade were finally released and each scythe easily broke through the barriers.
The black dragons assaulted Fafnir and opened countless gashes on his body. The gilded dragon could only roar in anger and deal with the clones one by one while protecting his vital points as much as possible.
Malum inflicted numerous injuries to his opponent but it only lasted for a moment before the bell rung once again and dissipated all of his remaining clones. Fafnir then grabbed Malum with his tail and spat out an immense wave of fire.
Malum gritted his teeth in the chaos of flames and magnified his strength to the limit again.
"[Terminus Confractus, M] (Limit Break, 1000)!" He shouted and shook off Fafnir's tail before riding the flames to retreat. He threw Karma with all of this strength in a certain direction and grabbed the chain. The scythe crashed on the mountain of a nearby planet, completely razing it.
Just like that, Malum got himself a support and used it to escape the endless fire breath by pulling on the chain. He left the area with a fuming body and blistered scales. His left eye had been wasted too. As he was retreating, he smirked and snapped his fingers.
"[Habente simultatis reliquias] (Remnant Grudge)," he intoned and hundreds of crimson magic circles appeared on the Fafnir's body.
The gilded dragon's eyes narrowed as he discontinued his fire breath. But it was too late already as the circles glowed and exploded into a combination of lightning and darkness.
Malum then raised is hand. "[Fifth Destruction Art, Spatium Horti] (Space Garden)."
Unlike the ways this Art was used before, Malum conjured it as a small dark blue sphere which he threw at the explosion covering Fafnir's huge body.
The sphere promptly expanded and trapped the giant dragon. "[Gaudete] (Burst)," Malum's eyes glowed and the spatial sphere distorted as the red flowers were drawn on it. It didn't take long for it to explode into a huge spatial tempest.
Malum exhaled and glanced at Jorga. The serpent had closed his eyes and seemed to be pondering hard about something.
"Two minutes… I hope you'll get it by then," Malum muttered and looked ahead as a new, ominous item emerged from Fafnir's 'Vault'.