The reason for her upper hand was that she was unaffected by the dragon's aura thanks to a passive effect of the sword as it would devour the aura cancelling it from affecting Natalie. There were also movement and healing buffs on the sword but only to a small extent not to mention despite the hard scales on the dragon,the sword cut effortlessly through it. Even casting mana defense barriers seem not to affect the sword's decisive attacks. The dragon kept on healing but the attacks made by Natalie containing both swift and grace mixed with determination in her eyes made it fall into a huge problem as the rate at which it was healing was slower than her attacks and if this remained the case the the once mythical dragon residing at Germount Mountain of the feared Mordant kingdom would be slain. Moira was perplexed by this scenario unfolding ,"How is she able to injure the dragon? It's scales are impossible to break through even with Ytterbium as it would make light cuts on it's body." Eva sneered at that remark snorting ,"Because the sword my knight is using is a sword made by beloved.
No one is more powerful than him." Moira looked at Eva who snuggled in Aldritch's embrace then looked back at the fight. She was barely standing as the aura emitted by the two was simply too imposing on everyone forcing them to cast a defense barrier on themselves but judging by the magnitude of this fight,they wouldn't last long as the difference between S rank and SSS rank was too huge and they had started using artifacts to protect themselves as they tried to gain insights from this battle to help with their own cultivation.
Due to the intense aura emitted by the two SSS rankers,a huge field of about ten miles was absolutely barren with no human or beasts in sight sensing the dangerous aura,they instinctively backed away. "Let's see your mastery on your spatial talent. Can you try to stop that dragon? All you have to do is manifest a black hole in it's heart and it should stop moving." Aldritch said looking bored at the fight. Eva raised her soft palm towards the dragon to which nothing happened. "It's heart has mana flowing through it and in order for me to manifest it then I would need to overcome that barrier in it's heart." Coating one's heart with mana in battles was rather strategic as one could afford lethal attacks towards the heart.
"Then overcome it." Aldritch said looking at the dragon which was bleeding covered in patches of it's own blue blood. It's situation was dire but it could turn the tables provided Natalie didn't have that sword. Formulating a plan to unarm her it felt an external mana source trying to impose itself in it's heart's core which would be lethal to it as external mana which it's body was not accustomed to would result in unwanted consequences considering the situation it was in. It couldn't plan and avoid wild external mana to invade it's body so dealing with one of the two it opted to first deal with the latter as it was more lethal.
Sensitive to mana influxes it sourced the cause of the external mana being the vampire . It couldn't reach her in time without Natalie interfering therefore
*Ice ray*
it shot an ice ray similar to the one from earlier used to attack Horace but this time ,it was a hundred times more bigger and the chill underlying in the attack would render any creature immobile only to face it's impending doom. The adjacent knights could feel the magnitude of the attack seeing themselves dead. But strangely,the closer the ray got,the smaller it's size reduced to the point it vanished into thin air right infront of them all. "Finally." Eva jeered in excitement before snapping her dainty fingers in a similar fashion to Aldritch and the creature suddenly froze in place shocking Natalie.
She anticipated the dragon to make a move but it just flew in place not making a single advance then looking down she figured why. The dragon's face writhed and contorted in pain as a black hole slowly ate away his heart. Natalie who was now starting to feel the chilly effects of the dragon decided to finish it of by launching one of her more potent attacks.
"Shadow edge bla-*
Aldritch stopped her midway as he teleported her back down taking her by surprise. "I was about to finish it off as you had instructed your highness." Aldritch replied in a neutral expression ,"I wasn't really planning on killing it rather..." He looked at the creature frozen in place then continued ,"I was planning on enslaving it." All were shocked by his words before Eva interrupted ,"Regular slave collars won't work on it." Aldritch continued to look at it ,"Why would I need to enslave a literate being,now I'm well aware that you understand me." The dragon looked at Aldritch before responding in a grave tone ,"Yes I do understand you but there would be no way that I would serve under you humans." Aldritch scoffed before he retorted ,"If you think that I'm a regular human then you're already weaker than I initially thought." Gently placing Eva on the velvet couch before standing up and teleporting straight infront of it suspended in midair. "You still think I'm human. I just have a humane appearance, nothing more." The dragon looked at Aldritch in bewilderment wondering how he was staying up this high but Aldritch snapped his fingers bringing the dragon to it's original state with no injuries taking it by surprise.
"Feel free to attack me and I won't dodge a single attack or try to block it in anyway whatsoever Vermont." He said stretching out his arms disdainfully looking at the ice dragon which was surprised that he knew his name. Assessing his new situation this was beyond his control as his opponent could restore himself to his peak at any point of the battle bot to mention it would seem that he somehow had access to his memories or Moira had given him Intel about him but his actual name wasn't it. "Your death freak." He said in an angry tone.
" Malovelont Typhoon of Destruction."
He casted as huge whirlwinds of ice shards capable of slicing and dicing anything spun at an incredible speed not to mention the fog accompanied by this attack would make it impossible for one to get out but he stayed put like he said with the aftermath spilling over a large area affecting everything within a fifty mile radius.
The attack lasted twenty minutes before it faded off but Aldritch was still in earlier position with a nonchalant look on his face. "Are you done?" He asked with a bored look on his face."Or do you have something else up your sleeve." The dragon was perplexed as it had thrown it's most powerful attack yet the enemy stood completely unscathed infront of him. "It is apparent that you are their leader but how are you so powerful?"The dragon posed a question yet the response was not what it expected ,"I need you to do me s small favour." Aldritch addressed it and the dragon thought that maybe Aldritch wanted to enslave it to use it. "Do you wish to enslave me?" Dragon asked but Aldritch shook his head. "No. I need to copy your aura."
"What !?!" This thought rang in everybody's minds as they could not understand why he would do such a thing so understanding their confusion he explained ,"Since I am way too powerful for any of you to sense where I stand I need to take on the aura of a weaker being such as yourself in order to ward off some fights as the concept of people underestimating me is not pleasing. Do you accept?" The dragon felt ridiculed by his harsh statement but deep down it knew that it bore the truth.
No one present could sense him for he was a multidimensional horror so sensing his power level was completely out of their caliber so the dragon decided to go along with his request as it wouldn't lose anything from it. "Fine,what do you want me to do ?"It looked at the small humanoid infront of him to which he responded ,"All you have to do is release your presence of SSS rank and I'll take care of the rest." He finished off with a slight smile.
The dragon once again released it's aura which affected the environment they were in causing multiple avalanches to give way and forming cracks all over but the only ones who remained unfazed by this was Eva and Natalie. The rest of the guards were forced to endure this once more risking their lives but Natalie formed a small dome to shield them from the life threatening aura.
[{System, copy this aura emitted}]
[{Copying aura...}]
[{Aura successfully copied. Host can now produce the same aura as the subject copied. It's magnitude can be reduced or increased to the host's liking.}]
"That will do."Aldritch said looking at the dragon. "And now for your fate since I can't have a SSS rank monster going on a rampage..." The dragon wore an apprehensive look before blurting out ,"Wait ,I can service you as your steed if you'd like." Aldritch replied ,"I already have one and I don't need a weaker one so you'll have to service her but should you ever defy any order she gives you, you'll find I'm more lenient than her."
The dragon looked down and realizing that he meant the vampire,it was slightly worried. From it's perspective humans had emotions and with it willing to exploit this wanted to get a better position but the one it was assigned to was an undead, irrelevant to any emotions. The dragon flew downwards lowering it's head in a humble manner before stating "My master, I am ever ready to serve." Eva was a little amused by the concept of owning a SSS rank mythical dragon but she didn't refuse the offer. "Can you transform into a humanoid shape?" Aldritch asked to which it promptly replied ,"No,huma- eh I mean master." It was still getting accustomed to it's position as a servant as it was the one that was worshipped,not the one worshipping. "Anyway let's get this construction underway, Shadow."
His shadow appearing out of thin air with it's static body gazed down at the once beautiful landscape of the mountain which now lay in rubble and snow everywhere in a mess. Aldritch snapped his fingers and in the fraction of a second not only the entire mountain but also the collateral damage that lay all over the place was erased out of existence and now what remained was a large vast plain covered in grass undistinguishable from the mountain that had been present. His shadow then took from here as Aldritch then teleported back to Eva and the dragon was surprised by this ,"You are capable of teleportation, master?" He replied dismissively and briefly ,"Yes." The dragon wanted to know the full extent of his capabilities but Aldritch raised his index finger towards it indicating to remain silent.
[{Temporarily gift my shadow with the skill Overwrite for ten minutes}]
[{Skill successfully copied and gifted for ten minutes}]
From here the shadow cast forward it's static hand constituted of antimatter erasing the space it inhabited and the empty , desolate plain was covered in eternal darkness which slowly started to take on the shape of a house but not just any house,it was the largest mansion bigger than the Darwarke castle but what made it stand out was it's design as the shadow slowly started gaining colour and shape. It went from antimatter to matter but the materials used to make it were clearly not of this world. Nanotechnology chipping in with the materialization of Overwrite matter made this house impervious to any form of attacks. It spanned a huge area with highly sophisticated architectural designs from Aldritch's initial world making it work of art amidst this world's regular regulations. Finishing off the construction of the mansion taking everyone by surprise the shadow ceased to exist reverted back to form Aldritch's shadow but everyone was transfixed on the beauty that stood showcased to their eyes.