In my current Dragon Form, my instincts became impossible to suppress so I no longer tried. I was part dragon after all, so I wasn't the same as a wild beast. As long as I remembered my plan, my instincts would take it from there. My wingspan could now be compared to the height of my castle, which made me seem small so I wasn't sure how to use them in combat, but that was where my instincts came in.
By accessing the memories in my bloodline, I knew exactly what to do. I slightly leaned forward with my wings taut, and then shot off like an arrow. My wings didn't need to flap, just being there enhanced my speed to new levels. Like a beam of light, I appeared before the Demon King with a clenched fist. He tried to face my fist with his own, but the confrontation left him with a broken arm. Since I knew this wasn't something get excited about, I then calmly used my claw to rip into his chest. He took a step back so I couldn't pull anything out, but four bloody lines were still there.
He retaliated with a swing of his arm, but I slapped him away with my wing before it could reach. He was flung away once again, but this time I held up my hand and dragged him back with the power of Poltergeist so that I could continue dealing damage. The next time I punched him, I could feel that his skin had gotten tougher but I continued. Him getting stronger couldn't be avoided so my objective was to hurt him as much as I could.
To deal with my wings, he sprouted his own along with another pair of arms. Of course, his wings were no match for mine, but it became harder to take advantage of him. However, when he grabbed my wings and I grabbed his hands, he forgot that I still had another appendage to use. My tail acted like a whip and slapped away his legs so that I could then kick him into the sky. In order to take advantage of this chance, I swiftly chased after him and began to display the air superiority of the dragon race. With my wings, I could reach speeds akin to teleportation without the obvious sign of spatial interference and so I could use hit and run tactics to unleash a barrage on the Demon King.
Over time my advantage became less noticeable, but I didn't panic and continued to hammer him with as much force as I could muster. I even smashed him into the ground and used my absolute favourite technique, a true Dragon Breath. Now halfway between man and dragon I could finally unleash that famous move.
Unlike when I tried replicating the technique with magic, I could feel the mana in the surroundings naturally blend with my own around the back of my throat. When the energy hit its maximum point and I felt the urge to vomit, I took a deep, deep breath and then spat out a rainbow blast that erased everything in its path, including space.
If I was an optimist then maybe I would think the spatial tear would provide me the chance to escape, or maybe I would want to check to see if the Demon King was dead, but I didn't bother humouring such thoughts.
I couldn't pick it up before, but as I watched the space fix itself I noticed that there was another restriction that I hadn't recognized. This restriction was hidden unless I tried to escape while my opponent was still alive. I didn't know what it would do, and I didn't plan on finding out. And there was no need to doubt the Demon King's survival because the fact that I was still here was proof.
I wasn't the least bit shocked as he burst out from under the almost healed space and reached for my wing. I tried to slap him away with my other wing, but this time it was my wing that was repelled. As if he was protected by an invisible barrier, it didn't feel like any half-hearted attacks would reach him.
Thanks to my late reaction after seeing my wing get repelled, I allowed him to grab my other wing. It wasn't a bad idea to try and rip them from the base, but he was seriously underestimating the physique of a dragon. While he was occupied by my wing, I strengthened the power of the rainbow light around my arm and then swung my claw at his neck. Just like I thought, I was able to break through his barrier but he managed to escape with only a small scratch.
As I looked at the blood left on my claws and took a glance at the beast who had landed and was ready to fly up here once more, I decided that I had reached the limit of what I could. Which meant that I would have to ask for 'their' help.
I was really reluctant to get assistance from them, but there was no other alternative. For the final act of my plan, this was essential.
"Hah... I'm sure you hear me. I, need your help."
If I did this in public then I might be seen as a crazy person, but I received a proper response while I was defending against the Demon King.
"Kihihihihi! I knew you would come around before the end of the decade. Still I must admit, I didn't expect you to end up in this situation so soon. What a 'hot' time you're having, hahaha!"
Despite how annoying they were, the high-pitched voice I heard in my head was the Fire Spirit King. My Summoning Magic level hadn't changed, but there was a reason for that. Due to my dragon factor, I could communicate with spirits related to nature easily. Through conversing with them I found out that by forming a contract with a spirit, you had to lay yourself bare before them, basically exposing your past, present and future. I didn't think the benefits outweighed risks back then, but it was different now.
"Yeah yeah, leave your corny jokes for later. Let's make a deal."
"Hoho, let's hear it."
"If you help me buy five minutes, I'll allow you to watch me for ten years."
Normally summoners could only make contracts with spirits, which generally involved promising something in addition to giving up their privacy, but as a dragon, a creature that stood at the apex of the natural order, I could make a deal with them where we stood on equal footing.
My offer might not seem appealing, but it was something that these stalkers had been begging me for. According to Ryzen, I was a very intriguing subject to the intelligent spirits who longed for excitement, but it wasn't possible to keep an eye on me without a contract or my permission. That was when I came up with this idea, not that I thought that the time to use it would come so soon.
"Too little, make it a thousand years."
"Ha! Just because I'm in danger doesn't mean I'm that desperate. I don't even know if I'll live for that long. Twenty."
"Nine hundred."
"Fifty."
"Seven hundred."
"One hundred. I'm not budging."
"Come on, at least five hundred. We're fighting a Transcendent for you!"
"Five minutes ain't worth five hundred years. Either take the hundred or lose the chance forever."
I could notice the Demon King begin to overpower me, so I was getting a little antsy, but I wouldn't go above my limit. My peaceful life didn't involve allowing eternal peeping.
"...Fine. We'll accept that for now. You're up, Blackie."
Once the Spirit King accepted the deal, I saw a portal open on my left and a force that instantly blew back the berserk Demon King was summoned. From that portal emerged a black humanoid with two red eyes. I couldn't tell the age, gender or even height of this humanoid, but it did have a presence similar to what I sensed from Ryzen.
"Thanks for coming. I need you to-"
In the midst of my greeting, it raised its hand to stop me. Then, I heard a rough, low-pitched voice slip into my head.
"Get back. I'll show you what it means to be the Dark Spirit King."
I wasn't sure, but based on his tone it sounded like he knew about Alma. I felt a little awkward for thinking that Alma had the potential to be on the same level as a Spirit King, but fortunately the Dark Spirit King didn't blame me. I felt comfortable with leaving this to it so I went down to the ground.
The Dark Spirit King continued to look down on the Demon King, who glared at its figure with wariness in his eyes. Maybe the Demon King didn't know who it was, but he could sense danger from its being.
The Dark Spirit King made a grabbing motion, easily trapping the Demon King in a manifested giant black arm, however, the markings on his body glowed bright and made it easy to break out of the hold.
With a single glance at the markings, the Dark Spirit King figured out their identity.
"A Domain of Unrestraint I see."
While the Dark Spirit King muttered to itself, the Demon King used a burst of speed to charge at it. It seemed that the Dark Spirit King would soon be embroiled in close range combat with the Demon King, but just like it said it would, it proved why it was known as the king of dark spirits.
"Face your own heart, pitiful demon."
At that moment, the Demon King stopped in mid-air, and then began to freefall to the ground. A mere crash landing of that level didn't put a scratch on him, but he grabbed his head and begin screaming in pain.
"Argh!!!"
'So he messed with his mind. This way he won't aggravate the Wrath skill but still keep him in check. That's the Dark Spirit King for you.'
I also thought about using mental interference, but that wasn't my specialty and for Transcendents like us normal spells would have no effect. Anyways, with the Demon King taken care of, I prepared my trump card.
[Assimilation (Unique)
???
Revive Shadow
Skill Evolution.]
After becoming a Transcendent through taking in Brad's soul, I unlocked a new ability from my unique skill. With it, I could sacrifice undigested souls and my own growth to raise my skills to new levels. It was a pity that I had to drag out the soul of Alcor that I had planned to investigate, and it was even more annoying that doing this would take away my chance to evolve, but I needed a life to do research and continue growing.
I chose to evolve Lightning Magic with holy magic as another drawback of Demonic skill Wrath was that his resistance to holy attribute would drop at the same rate as his strength grew. This wasn't something I knew beforehand, but something I found out while testing different magics on him during our fight. Additionally, holy attribute could slow down his regeneration process so it was my best bet at finishing him off.
I did as much damage as I could to raise his holy weakness, and now it was time to collect on my investment.
I couldn't use the ability while activating Laplace, but I instinctively knew how to activate it. First, I focused my mind on Lightning Magic and imagined each ability from it.
Lightning Bolt
Imbue Lightning
Boost Lightning
Shape Lightning
Lightning Reflex
Lightning Flash
Thunder Strike
Once I was finished visualising each of them, I concentrated the essence of Lightning Magic in my right hand. Next, I visualised each ability of Holy Magic,
Bless
Imbue Holy
Boost Holy
Prayer
And focused the essence of Holy Magic in my left hand. With one magic in each hand I moved on to the final step, combining them using my sacrifice as the glue. Unlike when I had to find the perfect balance between the elements, the process felt natural, like I was only putting two broken pieces together again.
[Skill Evolution successful. A new skill has been unlocked.]
[A new title has been unlocked.]
The completion of the skill didn't have any obvious signs, but I could now feel a new possibility emerging. Once I used it, the sky quickly became dark with ominous clouds.
The Dark Spirit King looked up at the condensing clouds and then faded away like a mirage. I wouldn't have minded if it stayed just in case, but even I didn't know how well I could control this new skill. The Demon King no longer had nightmares, but he growled while watching the sky. Soon you could hear claps of thunder and flickers of sparks flashing through the clouds. There was no place to escape the clouds which had covered the entirety of the sky, and like a apostle I spoke the intent of the furious heavens.
"Heavenly Punishment."
It was a single lightning bolt that fell, but that one bolt filled this space with blinding white light that nearly burned my eyes and a rumbling noise that erased all other sounds. It was in a mere instant, but the lightning and its influence extended throughout the land as if the earth was insufficient to bring this current to a neutral state. Minutes after the bolt, sparks were still scattered around, further emphasizing the power of that hit. It didn't shatter space or distort time, but its impact embodied the essence of omnipotence. However, there was someone still standing after taking that attack head-on.
"I guess I should have expected that."
I didn't feel too disappointed because I saw the burnt piece of armour that had protected him. It was likely one that only activated when he was about to die. For Transcendents, most magic items would lose their worth but as the Demon King I expected him to have a life-saving method or two, but based on his expression it didn't seem like he was happy about having to use it.
"Well then, how about we wrap things up."
Even for someone who had reached the limit of their magic capacity like me, using that powerful spell wasn't something I could do often, but I had to push through. I gathered the remnant sparks on my right hand to form a blade, and he growled at me with his body slightly leaned forward. With the next clash, this would end.