"You can't control this power, can you."
It was a statement, one that Igor confirmed when Atid's eyes glazed over like black mercury for a moment before reverting back to draconic.
Atid was clearly about to be overtaken by anger, but Igor had long since lost the appetite to play around with his idiot of a friend.
"I don't want to fight a mindless beast."
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|DxD|
.
"I told this brat not to overly rely on that dragon of his. Now look at him---beaten and bruised like a rotten banana."
Very high up in the skies of the Heavenly Realm, Indra and Sun Wukong watched the battle below with differing expressions. The old monkey had his arms crossed in slight fury and annoyance. His tail swooshed behind him animatedly, betraying his agitated state.
Indra on the other hand was quiet. His eyes could vaguely be seen through his glasses, but the slight twitch of his mouth showed he was somewhat…disturbed by the sight before him.
In their battle, Igor was the obvious winner between the two. To be accurate, calling it a battle would be a misnomer. It was a one-sided beating.
Atid was played like a fiddle and ended up being pierced in the heart. Such a wound wouldn't kill him…yet.
"I agree, Old Sun. My son has already lost. But I hope he will learn and grow from this."
Indra was not disappointed with Atid. From the beginning, he had a feeling things would end this way. But just because he wasn't didn't mean Sun Wukong shared the same sentiment.
"That stinking brat should've listened to my advice."
"I'm glad he didn't. Learning through harsh lessons will be more beneficial for him."
Sun Wukong couldn't help but worry when he heard Indra's words.
"Do you not worry this would become a dark splotch on his heart?"
"Wukong. Everyone has taints of regrets in their heart. What matters is how they progress from it. My son may be the same age as Igor, but their mentality is too different."
Indra could see the disappointment in Igor's eyes. For a moment, this triggered one of his own memories, but he quickly pushed it aside.
"I've spoiled my son too much. Compared to Igor, the setbacks he's suffered are not worthy of being counted. Let this be the first one."
From birth uptil now, Atid's life has been smooth. He was the son of a god born with a Longinus-Tier Sacred Gear. His training was supervised and his power increased by leaps and bounds. As a young scion, he was treated with respect everywhere he went.
Compared to Igor's journey, Atid's lacked the pressure that would sharpen his mentality and his edge.
"Only when iron has gone through fire can it finally be moulded into a sword."
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|DxD|
.
Down on the battlefield below, the situation was tense. Igor had stabbed Atid with a golden tendril of nature energy mixed with demi-ki. As part-dragon, striking his heart was the same as striking the central hub of his energy network.
The lightning armour surrounding Atid had vanished and his scales lost their hardness by several notches. A steady stream of energy being channeled into his body kept him paralysed.
He was like a puppet with its strings cut. He was weak before Igor and without his ability to boost himself, he was no different from a man under a guillotine.
In those few moments, it felt like an eternity had passed. He felt angry, humiliated, and completely unreconciled.
"Igor-"
"I'll end this here. You've lost."
Igor retracted the tendril of energy from Atid's chest and let the boy fall to the ground on one knee.
"The next time you challenge me with an uncontrollable transformation, I'll kill you."
For a moment, the world descended into silence. Igor was like a god before a defeated dragon. His golden radiance enhanced his divine figure. Atid was on one knee like a subject before a king, like a prisoner awaiting execution.
For warriors, their greatest fear was not death, but being spared. Such a thing was no different from humiliating them.
Ta…Ta…Ta…Ta…Ta…
"..."
Atid felt rage and humiliation like he never could before. But worse, he felt disgust. He'd considered himself a true warrior, but in the face of death, he showed fear. Perhaps that's why Igor spared him and no longer entertained him.
Even as he heard his rival's retreating footsteps, Atid did not have the face to look up. His head remained lowered in shame…but his anger could not be suppressed.
*Clenches Fists!*
{It's because he has the time chamber.}
{That's right! If it weren't for it, he'd be nothing in front of you.}
{As long as you expose its existence, numerous people will want to kill him.}
{If he dies, wouldn't you become the unrivaled heir?}
{It's a good idea, right?}
{Yes! Let him die.}
{Let him die.}
{Let him die!}
{Let him die!!}
{Let him die!!!}
{LET HIM DIE!!!}
"STOP IT!!!!!!"
Atid stood up on both feet and clutched the sides of his head like a madman. His eyes were bloodshot and his veins were bulging. The amount of bloodlust wafting off him was so dense it could be seen with the naked eye in shades of red, and that bloodlust reached its peak when he raised his head.
"IGOOOOOOOOR!!!!"
"[WELSH DRAGON! HEAVENLY MANIFESTATION!]"
A dense crimson pillar of aura covered Atid's form like a curtain. It was massive and completely obscured his figure from view. The pillar quickly expanded in radius, easily covering hundreds of metres.
Su!
Igor along with any remaining soldiers did not hesitate to put some distance between themselves and this expanding monstrosity.
The others were oblivious to the changes happening inside, but Igor wasn't. Through the mist, he could feel what he assumed to be soul fragments gradually suppressing Atid's conscience. He did not know where they came from, but he knew they weren't good signs.
"..."
Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su!
Without hesitation, he raised his hand.
Vwomp!
A small golden sphere formed within his palm. It was a very powerful blast made from a combination of nature energy and demi-ki.
Atid would sooner or later turn into a berserk monster and as it stood, Igor truly was no longer in the mood for playing around.
He was just about ready to kill this transformation in the cradle when he suddenly received Shiva's mind transmission.
{Let him be.}
"..."
For a moment, Igor was curious. Was Atid's budding transformation worth the attention from Shiva? If that was the case, then he wouldn't mind seeing what his berserk friend would pull out of his rear.
The orb within Igor's palm slowly vanished. He calmly stood idly and waited for Atid to ascend to whatever form he beat out of him.
Igor wasn't scared nor was he excited. True, Atid was getting stronger, considerably so. His strength would no doubt be eclipsed very soon if this continued, but Igor didn't even consider such an issue as a problem.
To him, Atid was no different from a mindless beast, a dog.
"ROOOOOAAAAAAR!!!!"
The crimson pillar burst apart to reveal a massive dragon. It's size alone covered several hundred metres, comparable to very large malls. It's towering figure brought a huge shadow over the vicinity. The flap of its powerful wings scattered dust and rattled armour.
The soldiers had long since retreated by several kilometres, yet they still couldn't believe their eyes. The dragon's body was covered in red scales. Its neck was longer than the height of most buildings.
Golden scales adorned its form at various points and its hollowed gaze was especially menacing.
SWOOSH! …SWOOSH! …SWOOSH! …SWOOSH! …SWOOSH!
"..."
Where many would be overtaken by fear, Igor remained calm.
[So this is the manifestation of the Heavenly Dragon Y Draig Goch…]
As expected of the dragon who's publically listed in the top five of the strongest entities in the world. His aura was impressive, but it didn't compare to the pressure of the existence he felt when he was fighting against his clones in the Dimensional Gap.
Still, berserk or weakened, he wouldn't underestimate his new foe too much. This clearly wasn't Ddraig at his prime, but Igor would still need to exert some effort to bring down this behemoth.
GRUUU! SU! SU! SU! SU! SU! SU!
His aura surged to life once more. The gentle corona of gold became a vengeful flame ready to engulf everything.
Igor decisively raised his hand and pointed all five fingers at the dragon. Since time immemorial, dragons were always slayed with swords. He didn't have a sword but, he would make do…
CLANG!
…is what he thought. It turns out even Ddraig's eyelids had some armour. Another interesting discovery was…
Su!
…despite his immense size, Ddraig was extremely fast.
Tswii! …BOOOOOOM!
A quick application of Instant Vanish allowed Igor to avoid the swipe of very massive claws. Just one of them was already the size of a double-storey house.
Multiple trenches were dug into the ground just by one swipe of his claws. Beings in the lower realm of Supreme Class would either die or suffer extreme injuries from this simple strike.
[And this isn't even his full power.]
Igor was awed by the power of the strike, but it didn't arouse any fear within him. If he was calm enough to still be impressed, then it meant he still had some means to handle this overgrown lizard.
Ddraig was still flying in midair when Igor stretched out his hand.
"Get down here. My neck hurts."
.
AN
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Did Atid transform into a dragon or a dog? If an enemy spoke like that to me after pulling out my strongest card, I'd use those wings to fly away.