Greerheart, the Dragon Prince of War had entered the frame.
He sat confidently atop the mound of earth, and with sheer willpower alone, his axe Gharindal returned to his grasp.
"It is one thing to harm my subordinates, but to proclaim oneself the strongest on the same lands I traverse is an affront to my honor," he declared before Gharindal vanished in a brilliant blue light.
"Prince Greerheart!" Natia called to him out of concern, no other reason.
Lucretius was very used to the scornful behavior of this prince, knowing him to be a very contemptuous being.
An arrogant, boastful, and domineering individual, who took it upon himself to deliver judgment to those he felt had wronged him.
"So you believe you're the strongest? Is that right?" Lucretius inquired not particularly expecting an answer.
"What else would I be, you fool.." the prince was quick to reply. "Your tactic is to overwhelm your opposition with an endless projection of blades leaving no room for them to attack... It lacks efficiency and elegance, you call it the optimal way of fighting but in actuality it's the uttermost waste of energy." his countenance characterized him as unimpressed.
Lucretius was a firm believer that absolute power was the only way to achieve victory, and he was not one to be swayed by emotion or tenacity. He was known for his mercilessness, as he sought to completely dominate his opponents, no matter how much weaker they were.
[ Ice magic • Crushing Fangs of Torment ] He unleashed countless lances of ice from his powerful magical seals. These ice spears were sharp and strong enough to penetrate metal.
They traveled at an unstoppable speed, seemingly unstoppable. The potency of his magic was beyond impressive.
"...interesting." Gripping his resolve, Greerheart summoned the rippling mirror, Desilica, with its frame of dragon statues.
This divine weapon was a spatial gateway, connected to an endless void, limited only by the magnitude of magical power that could enter at once.
With a single, sweeping motion, it completely absorbed the ice spears until they were no more.
Fern and Natia watched him battle "Your Highness, you must be careful! We don't know his true intentions.." the wounded girl uttered.
The two stood a distance of ten meters and battled solely with ranged attacks, it was more ideal.
Three blades of ice appeared like fast moving projectiles missed to hit Greerheart who easily evaded the attacks by tilting his neck in the opposite direction. The way he fought with grace and yet so nonchalantly was proof of his strength.
"Noted." he responded to his subordinates.
A sixteenth magic seal was formed, diagonally facing the prince from above.
A metal chain with tipped blade at the end bolted for him. But Greerheart was even quicker dashing backwards to avoid the chain.
The blade struck the ground instead and drastically fractured the earth.
It was easy for the prince to react as he possessed five divine senses [Danger Detection, Divine Sight, Power Detection, Sense of Strength and Enhanced Senses] to make up for his lack of [Dragon Sense].
Dispelling the divine weapon Desilica, he summoned forth four orbs of light that traveled in a rectilinear path.
Lucretius had a prepared counter for this, then halfway they intersected by way of several sharp turns in alternating direction. Indecisiveness forced the Demon Lord to erect a metallic wall ten meters in length and breadth.
Withal, the light rays atomized the wall but Lucretius was safe. "You surprise me dragon prince.."
Manifesting an intricately designed longsword out of ice, he instantly accelerated for Greerheart with one short burst of speed that resulted in a deep, rumbling noise that resembled thunder.
"Give me a challenge please, I haven't fought a demon lord before especially one from the Pentagram..."
Greerheart observed Lucretius' advance toward him, and his subordinates witnessed a sudden burst of speed that created a shockwave and scattered dust.
The Prince then manifested Gharindal, the King Slayer, once more.
This colossal, ornamental battle axe had a blade shaped like a crescent moon. Its design specifications and weight distribution were likely intentional, as most of the weight was concentrated in the head, making it even more difficult to wield than its already impressive weight would suggest.
With Lucretius within a meter's reach of his target; Greerheart.
Said target pulled back Gharindal and swung it effortlessly to clash with the longsword.
The clang of weapons was accompanied by an astonishing wave of light and heat, this illuminated the sky and caused onlookers to believe it was the sun itself - a truly spectacular sight!
It was praiseworthy to note that the longsword formed of ice had not shattered on impact with Gharindal, the King Slayer.
"You defective demihuman sicken me.." with another stroke of his blade, Greerheart matched the force through a block with Gharindal.
Their blades clashed again, and again until the movements of their weapons was so fast it could barely be perceived by the human eye. The speed in tandem with their physical strength resulted in a powerful upsurge of wind and depression of the ground they stood upon.
The two dashed backwards to a distance of six meters. The environment was slowly being decimated by their battle.
It was evident that Greerheart did not take kindly to the offensive term "demihuman." His unique lineage, being born of a Dragon God and a human, warranted him the title of Dragon Prince instead of Dragon King.
Since there are no Dragon Goddesses, Dragon Gods must mate with Dragon Queens, yet Greerheart's father had chosen to couple with a human, thus resulting in Greerheart being the only Dragon Prince of impure dragon blood.
It was commendable that he did not allow discouragement to impede his progress.
Despite having the lowest magical capacity of any Dragon, he rose to become the strongest through his fighting style and physical strength.
He was able to defeat his opponents with minimal magical power, and even acquired five divine senses and ten divine weapons from the transcendent beings he had vanquished.
Ultimately, he became the greatest War Dragon - a remarkable feat indeed.
"Demon Lord... do you remember the story of the seventy-four giants that attacked Babylon?" Greerheart casually asked prior to resting the head of Gharindal on the ground. Its weight caused the surface it laid upon to fracture although to a minor extent.
"Indeed, I remember correctly that was two hundred years ago? The seventy-four giants were obliterated by pillar of light that descended upon the lands... some believing it was the anger of the gods and their resolve to the humans."
"History is often inconsistent.." the prince folded his right hand, a dull, metallic sound from his golden draconian gauntlet resounded.
After a sigh, his devious blue eyes fixed a piercing gaze on Lucretius "You see, I was the one who erased all seventy-four giants in that brilliant pillar of light.."
As shocked as Lucretius was his face didn't convey it, whereas Fern and Natia were flummoxed as to how this was possible "He really did that?" Fern found it hard to believe.
Natia didn't have a suitable answer to provide him with, she was equally clueless.
"This is getting unbearably sad Dragon Prince... what sort of power would a demihuman possibly possess that could wipe out giants in one fell swoop." he believed this was merely false information, another way for Greerheart to brag.
"Your divine weapon was incapable of breaking my unembellished sword of ice.." he found it difficult to take his words even by a grain of salt.
The prince shrugged, "Indeed, maybe in my current state no..." then, he removed his draconian gauntlet and displayed it for all to see before dropping it on the ground.
The moment it hit the ground a loud rumbling occurs as the armament forced a foot deep crater on landing. Unsurprisingly, it raised even more astonishment, everyone now knew the gauntlet had a purpose.
It was favored for a practical rather than frivolous approach.
He firmly grasped Gharindal with both hands and hoisted it onto his right shoulder.
"Behold, the attack that caused the heavens to rain down upon the giants. Brace yourself.."
Greerheart had a naturally menacing aura and presence, it struck fear into anyone he glared at.
His aura was so menacing that it petrified a low-ranking demon and even frightened and caused the normally calm and collected Lucretius to lose his cool for a split second.
The entire power of Gharindal was released in one go.
This caused the weapon claimed to tear apart the seas and lands to pulsate a golden energy. In this state, the hammer was so hot that the imbued orichalcum surrounding it melted like lava.
"Don't die.." he told Lucretius.
Many wholeheartedly approve of Greerheart's signature move and instant kill technique. By summoning divine light and infusing Gharindal with it, Greerheart arched his back downwards and, upon the brink of pulling down Gharindal, his subordinates wisely ran out of the area to avoid being caught in the range of this undoubtedly lethal attack.
"Heavens Fall!"
He brought down the axe with a powerful slash, focusing all of the divine aura in the sky and unleashing an immense flare of destructive power upon Lucretius.
The heat from the pillar of light was so intense that it melted stone into lava, and the force of the blast was strong enough to obliterate rock formations that could withstand military arms testing.
The blast radius was expansive, it could cover several city blocks. The entire area was illuminated by a brilliant white light.
It was truly remarkable.
A divine attack. Was this the end?