Esmond aggressively dash forward, digging his legs into the ground to give him a little extra boost power.
The Black Dragon went to swiped away Esmond, but its large front right claw wasn't able to land the first attack.
Rather, Esmond slipped past the huge claw because of the extra boost that helped him get pass the Dragon's defence.
With a clear open space to wreak havoc, Esmond focused his stance and attacked at the lower gut of the Dragon with his Stats peaked at 200 because of the tournament restrictions.
It didn't cause the Dragon to die but it was definitely enough to cause the monster to reel back into the deep valley mountain wall.
The Dragon caused the mountain to rumble and the earth to shake aggressively, that it was like a boat crashing through the rough waves of the sea.
"*Cough*Cough* HAHAHAHAH!!!
For the first time…*Cough*Cough*
FOR THE FIRST TIME!!
SOMEONE HAS HARMED MY BODY HAHAHA!!
COME MORTAL!!!
LET'S MAKE THIS A WORTHY BATTLE THAT WILL LIVE PAST US!!"
Esmond hadn't moved from the spot he'd lacked the gut punch on the Black Dragon.
'He's strong… really strong.'
'What did you think, Esy?
That a Dragon over 300 metres long would come before you and simple say 'Cheerio chap', while giving you roses…'
'Carter…
This isn't the time.'
'Right… you beat him in under 10 hits, you get to choose the film or game for tonight.
Anymore, then I win.'
'Done.'
Esmond shut his mind off from Carter as the Black Dragon's tail slammed into his body, send him crashing into the mountain valley wall.
Creating a crater of his own that had a diameter of several hundred metres.
Esmond dragged himself from the rock, only to hear the Dragon chuckling in an odd manner.
It was facing him, standing around 4 kilometres away, yet his towering figure was enough to level the whole steel jungle of Manhattan within a single stomp of its feet or thunderous roar.
However, the Dragon wasn't one to rage at him senseless.
Rather it wanted Esmond to make the next move and attack.
Much like a game of tic for tat.
Everyone who turned their viewing screen to Esmond, were finding it hard to breathe as the sight of a Black Dragon was a close to see a real God.
They were assumed extinct, even when they asked the all-knowing Retail Market Mainframe System.
Only a few that remained in existence, but nobody knew of their location.
For most watchers of the battle, they were seething because it would be near impossible for most people to fight in the tournament that could only be participated in with a limit of their strength.
A certain number of powerful System Users were crying over their bad luck to not have their own people within the particular round of the Tournament of Champions.
Because each round wasn't repeated in the same land again for a long time between tournaments as well, the Dragon would disappear again, probably to a point in time where it would end up dead.
Nobody expected Esmond to last longer than a few extra hits from the Dragon but what scared a handful of people was the strength Esmond displayed to harm the monster.
It caused a massive earthquake across the map, terrifying the other participates scattered across the map as the beasts went on a rampage to get themselves as far away as possible from the Dragon and its wrath.
Thankfully they didn't know that the Dragon had grown stronger after witnessing what it had always desired.
Light.
The Black Dragon roared at Esmond as it came to realise the newfound strength that was bubbling up inside of it.
Waiting for the young human child to attack, the Dragon held off from attacking endlessly because Esmond was the first person to ever hit him that was registered by his body.
The scales of its body stopped anyone and thing from causing real harm or damage, but Esmond bypassed that and caused him to feel pain for the first time.
Real physical pain.
For a Dragon of its age and strength, that was considered impossible.
But here it was, across from a human that caused it to feel something.
Now… it had to watch him closely, as the human charged at the Dragon with a stoic and calm expression.
Not once did he looked maddened or brazen to continue the fight with a Dragon, instead Esmond seemed at peace to finally find someone on his battle level.
Rahzil was stronger than him, and so was the Great Elder of the Primordial Xrian Creed through their skills and abilities.
They had refined their craft for longer than Esmond who was scattered across all kinds of fields of study, but even then, they couldn't deal with Esmond's brutal strength and battle prowess that would see them exhausted and defeated within a couple minutes.
Thankfully for him, the battle with the Dragon had just started and it wouldn't easily be over.
This time the Dragon was able to stop him as he tried to get past the Dragons Claw, which left him with the only option to jump up onto the Dragons length arm and landed a powerful punch on the shoulder joint.
Esmond fell back and landed on his feet, where as the Dragon flew back once again into the valley mountain wall, but it also cracked a decent number of scales around its right shoulder joint.
This one action caused all those watching the video feed of their fight to reel back in their seat.
Some of the weaker individuals even faint from the shock, whereas the strongest all stopped their schemes and plans to manipulate Esmond for their own gain.
A few still haven't given up on their plans, but they would in time as Esmond and the Dragon fell into a rhythm and went all out in the deep depths of the mountain valley.
Each of their attacks on one another caused earthquakes to continuous occur again and again, that it affected the landscape and eliminated participants of the tournament.
But nobody cared as their whole attention was on Esmond and the Black Dragon.
It was a once in a lifetime event, and nobody wanted to miss it, so they recorded the events of the participants while they themselves focused on the monstrous man against a Dragon.
.
"SSCHRKEEEEEEE!!!"
The bone chilling roar of the Black Dragon blew apart the land present before it in a heartbeat.
Esmond flashed away from his position in front of the Dragon and moved to its side to cause a body punch in between its front and back legs.
Unfortunately, the Dragons tail whipped him hard enough to bury Esmond several dozens of levels into the crumbling ground.
"Motherfucker…" Esmond groaned as he flew out of the ground, gripping the tail, much to the astonishment of the dragon, who went to slam his down to squish the human.
But it did nothing.
Esmond moved to fast for it to keep up with him as the human blur moved to the dragons lower back as it stood on its four legs.
Using this open chance, Esmond planned to launch an attack near the Dragons skull, but the wings seem decided to sprout dark bones, at the could be shot in his direction.
Esmond survived most of them by weaving through the bone spikes, but one caught him off guard and one nicked his waist, causing the already crumbling body armour to break apart.
Until now, the Dragon strongly believed the human could only be beaten once the armour was removed but that wasn't the case at all when another bone spike hit Esmond's shin.
It harmed the fabric body suit Esmond wore underneath his armour suit.
There wasn't anything overly strong to keep Esmond protected, because truthfully, his body was tremendously powerful.
Even with his Stat Attributes being locked, Esmond continued to gather energy from the damage he was sustaining and his own aura that fed into the Xrian Cells, as they began to screaming and shout to explode with rage.
'Not yet, Esy… not yet.
Make the crowd work for it.
Make the Dragon scream for it.'
Carter recognised Esmond wanted to unleash the Xrian Cells, but it was foolish to do so right now.
The Dragon had yet to go through its first stage of anger, which would be of four, that would wreak havoc across the land.
Each stage would eat away at the rational of the monster until they lose all ability to think, leaving them with only one option, and that is being the force of destruction.
Carter didn't know if the fight would reach that point with Esmond flying about, happy as a child on a sugar rush.
Esmond and the Dragon had been fighting for a while now, with neither person faltering throughout the fight.
The Black Dragon saw many different scales of it cracking, but none broke completely.
Esmond held back from completely harming the Dragon, which it noticed but wondered why, because it was doing its best to beat him till, he either gave up or died.
Regardless, it chose to fight on with Esmond as it chuckled joyfully at the outcome of a dead to free itself from the unruly world it was stuck in for most of its dreary life.
It just hoped the fight would make its miserable life, a notable and worthy one.
Much to its surprise though, the human had said something to it during their fight.
Yet it was debatable in the Dragon's mind that the words were directed to it.
'Freedom is near…
I promise.'
.
Indeed, Esmond had said something because he noticed something in particular about the Dragon that other people wouldn't easily know.
It was hoping to die and a glorious one at that to.
Not wanting to see it suffer any longer, Esmond decided to prepare it for its future within the Space Ark and so he cracked all of its scales.
He was going to punch the Dragon and use the moment his fist hit the last scale of the Dragons, to send it into the Space Ark, directly into a diluted Universal Sentient Lifeform Springwater.
Not only would it help with the healing process, but also increase the Dragons strength, vitality, and physical body.
The diluted Springwater would help settled the internal changes it had also accepted that wasn't exactly stable.
The natural darkness of the Dragon had accepted the light brought into its body because of Esmond's spell.
Because of its pureness, it could contend with the darkness within the Dragon's core, but that light also turned into a problem as it started to cleanse the darkness.
It didn't change its form into light as well, but instead did something strange and unnatural.
Esmond couldn't figure it out right away, but he believed that once the Dragon entered the Space Ark and settled inside the pool of Springwater, everything would be alright.
.
All those still watching had grown exponentially in size, to the point the Retail Market Mainframe System kicked in further and added the 'User Rights: Play Distribution by Viewership Clause', which was included in each contract that the Users would sign.
Essentially the System Users would be awarding a certain percent of the revenue gathered from people entering the arena and those viewing the live steam of the battle.
In Esmond's current case, he brought in more viewers than the Arena Administrators expected, and this meant he would receive 3.5 percent of the overall number of credits gather by his fight alone.
However, he received more than that because everyone was watching his feed over the other participants.
So much so that the Retail Market Mainframe System had to enter and increase the rewards for the first round of the tournament while also managing the viewers.
They were all going to witness how Esmond made the Dragon disappear into thin air, even though the System would register it a kill.
Because Esmond found a flaw earlier on in his hunt, and a big one at that.
He decided at one point to knock out a beast but at the same time, moved them into the Spatial Ark Star World.
Turned out it was possible, as long as Esmond opened a small gate near the body surface, pulling them directly into the hidden world, like a puff of air fading away.
It was quite mystical and fascinating to watch, which is why Esmond hoped to save it for the Dragon.
They were nearing that point in the battle anyway, as the scales of the Dragon were mostly cracked.
Using the Lifeforce Manipulation Control ability of his, Esmond relayed his plan, including how he was going to be sent into a pool of diluted Universal Springwater.
The Dragon thought Esmond was foolishly speaking nonsense to bother it during the fight, yet Esmond continued to relay the message calmly.
Eventually the Black Dragon agreed to the plan but still decided to fight like its life was on the line.
Actually, it got more aggressive, and made Esmond put on a glorious performance that saw every viewer scream in delight, with many taking the moment to talk of the ability to see history being created with their very eyes.
Because they all began to sense the same thing.
The fight was near its end.