Somewhere close to the epicenter of the Academy Final exam forest field…
In the large forest clearing littered with dead beasts and mages…
A sweat bead slides down Dom's temple as he finds himself face-to-face with a large lizard-like magical beast. Its entire body from each of its four legs to its head covered by a shiny black armor like scale which is stained with blood.
Meanwhile, in the beast's eyes, the world around it seemed dark and lifeless… its only guide are the three colored shrouds of human-shaped mana in front of it.
Once it sees that the purple and blue mana shrouds brigthen in color, it lets out a deafening shriek and raises its fore-limb which promplty slams down with enough force to send rock and bderis flying in all directions.
It stares at the dust cloud beneath it before turning its eyes to the side where Dom is now on a knee several feet away with Sam still in his arms.
"Dom." Sam mumbled once he sees the bleeding cut on Dom's right shoulder.
Dom glances at his wound which stains his torn shirt before focuing his gaze at the beast now walking towards them.
"Can you walk?" Dom asked as he releases Sam who tries to stand but ends up stumbling to the ground.
Dom turns to help Sam get back up only to flinch as he feels a familiar shadow behind him again.
"Dominic!" Dae, who is completely unharmed, shouts from the distance while Sam gasps once he finds the beast now towering directly behind Dom.
Before Sam could react, Dom shoves him aside just as the beast's tail slams into Dom's side.
Dom grunts as he feels something snap in his side followed by an intense sharp pain that rattles his entire body. He tries to maintain his stance but the impact quickly overwhelms him.
With a loud shockwave, Dom's body rockets across the crossing and tearing through the trees until a loud final crash is heard several hundred meters away in the deep forest.
The beast then turns its eyes to Sam who shivers on the ground. "No." He mumbled in horror, his pants instantly becoming damp with piss as the beast raises its fore limb, its fingers producing long sharp claws that soars towards the paralyzed Sam.
But a streak of purple lightning snatches Sam out of the beast's destructive path.
It glares at Dae who suddenly slides back into the clearing with Sam no where to be seen.
"Now what?" Dae whispered as he glances at the path of destruction left by Dom's thrown body.
He places his hands on his sword handles while a nervous sweat slides down his temple as the beast cautiously approaches him.
It shrieks again, making Dae twitch from the defeaning sound.
The beast suddenly charges forward, the ground crumbling its weight and a loud sonicwave inditcating its intense speed.
In the blink of an eye, it stands in front of Dae, its size absolutely towering over him.
Dae looks up as the beast's claws soars towards him.
Despite its claw being mere inches away from contact, Dae easily jumps away leaving its attack to dig through the floor he was standing on.
The beast shrieks as it follows up with another attack but Dae dodges each of them with ease.
He dodges another strike that decimates the floor and finally draws his blades which crackles with purple lightning around their sharp edges.
With a grunt, Dae dashes forward, leaving behind a streak of purple lightning and a loud thunderclap as it reaches the beast's side in an instant.
With a shriek, it strikes, its claws ripping through the air with a blur. "Your speed…" Dae mumbled as his eyes spark with electricty before his body vanishes and instantly reappears above the beast. "… is no match to mine."
The beast looks up, its eyes widening as it swings its other claw which Dae evades again with a spin before running along its extended limb towards its head.
"Form 15: Lightning Coffin." Dae said as he surges forward and swings his blades in sophisticated but mesmerizing slashes that instantly moves across the beast's body with an echoing thunderclap from his movements.
He lands on the ground some meters behind it but instead of ripping apart like it did with the Gorbacks… the beast is completely unharmed.
With a huff, it turns to stare at Dae whose purple eyes are widened as he stares at his vibrating swords .
"Hard." He grumbled before narrowly evading another claw slash that decimates a large rock behind him.
Dae rolls to the side, glances at the shallow slash on his arm before gritting his teeth as he runs towards it again.
It attacks but Dae delivers a faster counter… only for his attack to fail again.
With his facial expression filled with desperation and frustration, Dae continues to attack the beast with different rapid strikes and forms... but after 2 whole minutes, he leaps back to a safe distance.
His swords still vibrate, their edges already chipped from damage while he pants heavily.
"What is that thing made of?" He grumbled just as the beast charges towards him, still completely unharmed.
Dae dodges again but takes a slash to the back of his right leg.
He stumbles, his high speed momentum sending him rolling across the floor before coming to hard stop on a large beast corpse. He groans in pain from his now aching back and his bleeding leg.
He barely catches his breath before he dives to the side, evading the beast's charge that rips the corpse behind him apart.
Dae slides to a stop on his knee.
He stares at the beast who huffs as it fixes its gaze on him again.
"I could just run on my own and get help… but…" Dae groans as he gets to his feet, his injured leg twitcihing slightly from the pain. "I doubt he would approve." He mumbled with a determined glow in his eyes.
The beast's body stiffens as it senses Dae's mana shroud intensify even more.
Dae grits his teeth as he places his two swords together, pointing their tips to the ground and begins to infuse them with his lightning magic.
The beast immeditely charges at him with another slash that rips the air like hot knife through butter… but Dae's body vanishes from its path, leaving it swinging widely while Dae reappears behind the beast, his blades pointed at its exposed back.
As hisblades binrate and glow with purple electricty, Dae's mind becomes briefly filled with the image of a blurry old man. But despite the blur, a friendly smile could be seen… a smile which quickly distorts, leaving another blurry image. This time with that same old man, lying in a pool of blood…
Dae's eyes flash with emotion as his grip tightens on his electrically charged weapons. "I can't die here." He said as he plants his foot down, cracking the earth beneath him as he strengthens his stance.
Meanwhile, Sam watching the fight safely from the bushes, weakly raises his arm once he sees Dae's stance. "No… Don't." He mumbled, his body too weak to shout it out.
"Viper's bolt!" Dae shouted as the purple electricity coating the blades suddenly shoots forward as a projectile that quickly transforms into a snake-like shape with its fangs aimed at the beast.
The attack instantly collides with the beast's back, releasing a bright blinding purple light along with the deafening sound of thunder… but instead of taking damage, it was as if the spell gets absorbed into the beast's armor… until it suddenly and harmlessly disappears.
Dae's eyes then widen as his own spell suddenly re-emerges from the beast's armor now twice as big and fast.
Unable to react, Dae takes the hit, screaming with pain as the intense current rips through his body and destroys anything else around him.
Once the spell fades away, the beast turns around. Its still unharmed exterior a sharp contrast to Dae's current state.
His body is now steaming with his clothes mostly burnt off displaying his now darker skin. His aura shroud is also gone with some sparks of electricity still visible on his twitching body and behind him now lies a long deep steaming trench reaching up the trees.
Dae thought before sensing the beast charging at him.
He tries to move but his still body just twitches in response, allowing the beast to smash its head directly into Dae's front torso.
The impact knocks the wind out of his lungs with blood spewing out from his opened mouth while he whistles lifelessly through the air. He promptly smashes into a tree with an impact that leaves him engraved in its thick bark which sends cracks along the entire tree's length.
A brief moment later, Dae's body slips out of the carved bark and falls front first to the ground with a heavy thud. He groans as he tries to move, his entire body still twitching and screaming in pain.
Dae thought as he coughs up some blood on the ground.
A sudden shadow covers his body and he barely manages to look up, some blood dripping down the left of his face to find the Reflezard looming over him.
The Reflezard raises its long tail which is extremely sharp at its tip with its shiny black armor reflecting some light rays at him.
"No. Not…like this." Dae grumbled, eyes watering as he desperate tries to get up but his body continues to deny his wishes.
Finally, it thrusts its tail forward and Dae's eyes widen.
His life instantly flashes before his eyes… once again showing images of the old man again.
At the end of it, Dae grits his teeth and closes his eyes.
But instead of a stab, a gust of wind and dust suddenly smashes into his face instead along with the sound of someone groaning.
Slowly, Dae opens his eyes… only to find someone holding the beast's tail in front of him.
The Reflezard shrieks as it tries to push the figure down, causing the ground beneath the figure's feet to crumble.
Dae's eyes quickly widen in recognition. "D-Dominic?"
Even with the blood dripping down his temple and some bruises visible in different parts of his body, Dom grits his bloodied teeth as he competes with the Reflezard's strength.
"What do you think you're doing to my partner?" Dom grumbled and the Reflezard shrieks as if to answer.
Dae stares at Dom for a moment, his mind a little relieved before suddenly glaring at him. "Forget it, Dominic! The Reflezard's an A class! You can't beat it!"
"Shut up!" Dom shouted back, leaving Dae speechless. "So what? It killed my friends."
Dom visibly trembles. But it wasn't with fear… It was rage.
The Reflezard lets out another shriek, pushing its sharp tail closer until the very tip pierces Dom's gut with blood already beginning to stain his shirt.
"Don't be stupid! Run!"
Dom smirks through the pain. "You're the one being stupid."
Dae's eyes widen again as he senses Dom's aura intensify.
The Reflezard notices this too and pushes its tail harder. The tip moves a little deeper, drawing more blood but this doesn't bother Dom as his grip on the beast's tail tighten.
"If I run to save myself now…" He widens his grip on the beat's tail. "How the hell am I supposed to become the greatest knight?!"
His grip suddenly tightens to the point that the Reflezard's tail armor begins to crack and crumble.
Once it realized Dom's intent, it now tries to pull its tail away but Dom refuses to let it go.
Dom groans loudly as he squeezes the tail, his feet slowly sliding forward as the beast desperately pulls away before letting out a battle cry as he finally crushes the tail's armor.
Fragments of the broken armor fly into the air while his hands instantly crushes the tail itself. Its flesh and black blood immediately splashes through his fingers.
The Reflezard lets out a high pitched shriek of pain as it finally pulls back to a safe distance.
Dae stares in shock at the injured beast before turning to Dom who rips off damaged his shirt, revealing more of his injuries. He then clencnes his bloody fists with a fiery determination in his eyes.
"Bring it on you fucking bastard!" Dom shouted at the top of his lungs and the Reflezard glanced at its bleeding tail before shrieking at Dom.