Chapter 103: The Pride of the Strong (Part 2)

I can tell when a fellow is strong or not. The two of you combined have the power to confront Thanatos. Do not fret. I will be sure to help when you’re distracting his attention. → Ignatius
How can we be sure you’ll help when we’ll need it? → Shen

Shen asked again.

My only goal in this world is to defeat Thanatos. He is the Dragon of Chaos and Darkness. I, as a Dragon of Light and Balance, can’t tolerate his actions any longer. → Ignatius
…Understood. We will do as you say, dragon Ignatius. → Shen

Still somewhat suspicious, Shen answered accordingly then Ryu followed.

We agree with you then, Light Dragon. → Ryu
Very well. → Ignatius

Ignatius’s aura started to shine with a blood-red luster and grew in dimensions. His powers grew and the red aura made him look as if ready for battle.

[Are you so desperate to burn your own life essence? Ahahahah! Old fool! Even if you burn yourself out! You won’t be able to do a thing to me!] → Thanatos

Thanatos laughed out and released out a dark purplish aura around himself. The aura looked extremely dangerous as if anything that got in contact with it would wither and die the next moment.

[…I am indeed burning my life essence, but it’s not for myself.] → Ignatius

Ignatius then shot out a blood-red glob of light downward.

[?!]

He threw his own life essence?! → Thanatos

Thanatos was shocked by Ignatius’s actions, then even more so when he saw where the life essence landed.

Ryu absorbed the life essence in an instant and felt like a newborn. A red aura covered him as his blood started to boil and circulate with incredible speed. Red mist evaded his body while new blood was hastily created by the body. Even though not painful, Ryu felt his body buzz with power, just like a phone on vibration.

“Ridiculous…” → Ryu

Is this a dragon’s energy and blood? It’s incredible! The blood is so strong, it can resist the primordial energies with ease!… I will be able to fully transform if I use this. → Ryu

Ryu felt elated. He finally had the powers to fight against dragons and gods on equal footing as long as he still had Shen’s assistance. His blood then completely evaporated and was then replaced with another one, blood which could circulate his dragonic power without breaking the veins or meridians.

Good for you, brother. → Ryu

Shen said with a grin. If Ryu was able to fully transform into a dragon, then he would be able then to release the Last chapter of One with the Universe which he wasn’t able previously, without needing to create a mental barrier for Ryu or worry for his overused organs.

We will be able to reach powers of Adept God rank for a short period of time. It won’t be enough to fight against a legendary dragon on our own, but as for a normal dragon, we should be able to have an evenly match at least. → Shen

Shen then focused and tried to enter in a trance once again.

Yeah. Let’s show to that lizard how we do things when we unite our powers for real. → Ryu

Ryu felt his blood boiling. His skin turned red and his eyes in slits.

It’s time for round two. → Shen

[Boahahahahah!!! To actually sacrifice hundreds of years of your life only for a hybrid mortal! You’re mad, old fool! MAD!] → Thanatos

Thanatos turned from a ridiculing tone to a furious roar in the same sentence.

[How can you give our kin’s blood to mere mortals?! You are disrespecting us as a race!] → Thanatos

[Disrespecting the race? Because of such thoughts, our race is endangered and disappearing! Because of our pride! Because of our superiority complex, our race fell in numbers, remaining less than a thousand on the entire Sario! This ‘disrespect’ you’re telling me about is more beneficial for us dragons as a race than you’d ever think!] → Ignatius

Ignatius said with poison while he glared at Thanatos. He felt pain for his race’s arrogance and irritation at how prideful the dragons were in the past and even in the present. Because of their pride, they refused to breed with the weaker dragons while the one at the top won’t even look at the ones below. Even though they were lustful beasts, they would never leave their seeds in “an inferior being”, even if that being was of their own race.

[We are at the top of this world, you fool! Even gods are aware of us! Why should we care about the weaklings?! We are immortals! We do not need another generation to take our places!] → Thanatos

Thanatos said with hate and shot out a beam of dark energy from his claws.

[Burn in Tartar! You foolish old bastard!] → Thanatos

-CLANG-

[You!] → Thanatos

Thanatos looked with killing intent at Ryu who just repelled the burning beam of dark energy with his wings.

[This time, I will be sure to put an end to this war.] → Ryu / Shen

Ryu and Shen said with one voice while their aura boomed again.

—– START OF STATS —–

« General Information »

Name: Ryu

Sex: Male

Class: Spirit Fighter

Primary Element:  Frost – Earth

« Skill Points »

Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

Health:    1.020,000

Mana:    800,000

STR:    807

AGI:    729

DEF:    900

VIT:    1000

INT:    719

Avg Attack Power: 2,820 (AP)

« Status »

Hosting player: Shen (All the stats, skills buffs, and curses will be added to the Host 100%)

[The Blood of The Legendary Ignatius] (If activated, the host will start the transformation and stats will be boosted by 110% in time. AP will double instantly.)

Soul’s Rank: Golden (Awoken)

Pride’s Might (Awoken)
One of the Seven Deadly Sins. Essence used by gods against gods.

Wrath’s Might (Awoken)
One of the Seven Deadly Sins. Essence used by gods against gods.

Feeding on Prana:

Regenerate 50.000 HP/s. In case of instant death, the body will be completely rebuilt in 100 seconds.

Curse of Vepar (Weakened)

Strengthens inner demons and Rosabhi’s awakening power.

WARNING: If AP overused for a prolonged period of time (past the 1720 limit), [The Blood of The Legendary Ignatius] will activate and start the transformation. The host will suffer severe pain as the body will be rebuilt and the host will be unable for combat 7 days.

WARNING: If hosted player: Shen, overused mental power for more than 20 minutes, the hosted player’s defensive system will be deactivated for MP conservation.

—– END OF STATS —–

Ryu opened his eyes and two shining orbs of lights appeared. Around Ryu space was undulating and above his head, a golden ring appeared. After that, his body started to grow. It grew to almost the same dimensions as the other two dragons as the transformation was finally completed. A huge tail and two enormous wings grew from his back, shining with luscious black scales. On his head, two horns sharp like daggers appeared while his hands turned into strong and sharp claws. He transformed into a fully-fledged dragon in the state of “One with the Universe” where the mana from all around them was at his command. Both of them were unaware of their own status, their only thoughts being those of trying to survive and protect their kingdom.

[What is that thing?] → Thanatos

Thanatos looked with confusion at Ryu. He couldn’t comprehend how a half breed transformed into a complete dragon and had such weird features, then a memory surfaced in his mind.

[What’s wrong with your eyes, half breed? Are you part of the winged tribe? Or is your partner one of those bastards?] → Thanatos

[…]

Even Ignatius was surprised.

This level of power has exceeded my expectations. It seems I got myself a good partner for this hunt who also knows the Winged Tribe’s Arts. But why is he in this place? → Ignatius

[Well, you can say I’m winged now, but this doesn’t matter. Now I’m ready for you, Thanatos. LET’S FIGHT!] → Ryu

Ryu roared and charged at him with all his speed.

[You fool! You think by having the body of a dragon and some weird arts you can fight me?!] → Thanatos

Thanatos dodged the charge and slashed in front with his claws covered in dark flames.

-CLANG-

[What is this!?] → Thanatos

Right before he could cut Ryu’s back, two plasmatic claws appeared from his back and grabbed hold of his claws.

Got you. → Ryu

Inside his head, a deep and neutral voice like that of a devil resounded like an echo.

[Winged Arts! You dare interfere!] → Thanatos

Thanatos opened his jaw and was ready to shot out a breath. However, right before he could shot it, he felt danger behind his back.

[ROAR!]

A sharp claw cut toward Thanatos’s neck, going for a fatal hit.

[ROAGH!]

Thanatos used his tail to hit the claw then swung it like a whip and sent Ignatius flying back.

[Let go! You inferior being!] → Thanatos

Thanatos then cut with the second claw at the mana hands, cutting them and releasing himself from them.

[Oy lizard. Cath!] → Ryu

Ryu then took the pose of throwing a spear. Inside his claw, a black and ghost-like spear materialized. It was the corrosion spear which dematerialized everything that had a physical body.

[Why do you know Devil Arts now!?] → Thanatos

Thanatos then did the same and threw a spear of dark-purplish flames right back at the corroding one. It was the spear of chaos made from the essence of chaos which turned everything it touched into a twisted figure, completely different from the original, corrupting it and making it turn against the laws of nature. The two spears collided then exploded in black and purple flames together with dark and purple lightning.

[…]

So it can use the same skills. What should we do now? → Ryu

Ryu started to get weary of him.

It’s not the same. The essences differ. Even so, I cannot ignore the fact that the powers are the same and he’s even nulling our every skill. → Shen

Shen said with his neutral voice when he was in the last chapter.

To make it worse, the experience difference will prove to be more difficult. We will need to plan it out with Ignatius before we start striking for real. → Ryu
Yeah. He must have some ideas. → Shen

[Ignatius.] → Ryu

Ryu looked at the flaming dragon and started to converse telepathically while Thanatos was with his guard up.

[You’re trying to plan something? Like I’d let you!] → Thanatos

He then flew right after Ignatius, trying to get the other arm from him.

[Do not underestimate me, Thanatos!] → Ignatius

Ignatius crouched then used his tail to counterattack.

[I will because I can! Old Fool! ROAGH!] → Thanatos

Thanatos grabbed the tail then he swung hard making Ignatius crash toward the ground with an air-cutting sound.

[Coming!] → Ryu

Ryu charged toward Ignatius and grabbed him right before he could crash on the ground, landing him easily on the scorched earth.

[Nice cath. I chose the best partner.] → Ignatius

Ignatius laughed out loud then Thanatos’ mocking words boomed from the sky.

[Using help from lowly humans, you have no shame as a legendary dragon?!] → Thanatos

Thanatos pouched downward, right at the two of them with his claws wide open.

[When facing death, how much is pride worth?!] → Ignatius

Ignatius tried to evade but was too slow. He got hit by the tail and crashed on a nearby bald mountain which half of it was destroyed from the pressure of having a Legendary Dragon crash on it.

[ROAR!]

Ryu unleashed a frost breath and to his surprise, some darkness element was also visible in the breath.

[Grrr!]

Thanatos resisted the breath, using his wings as a shield.

[That was a breath? Let me show you how a true breath looks like! ROAAR!] → Thanatos

Then a breath two times bigger of dark and purple flames appeared right in front of Ryu.

[S***!] → Ryu

He felt the dread coming toward him when Shen hastily reacted.

[Spear of Nothingness.]

Two spiritual dragon arms appeared together with a ghastly dark-green spear. The arms spun the spear and when the breath reached it, the flames simply extinguished, like pouring water on a candle.

[Devil arts again! And of higher ranks! Human souls! You contracted with a Devil!] → Thanatos

Thanatos felt dread after seeing that spear. He felt as if death was right in front of him, helpless to even lift a finger but this only ignited his fury for the weaker souls that were able to even sell their own souls to devils so they could acquire more strength on their part. Hearing his comment, Shen subconsciously answered back with a severe tone.

[You don’t need to worry about my problems, Dragon of Chaos and Darkness.] → Ignatius

The spear then disappeared as if it was just a lie. Two corroding spears appeared in its place and launched toward the flying dragon once again.

[!!]

Because he was still dazed by the shock just now, he wasn’t able to react fast enough.

[ROAGH! GAAH!]

He was able to destroy one spear with his own but failed to block against the other one, having one of his wings penetrated.

[Grrrr!]

He then used his own fire to extinguish the corroding essence that was eating at his wing. Because of the huge hole in the left wing, Thanatos had to land on the ground, crashing like an asteroid and cracking the ground under him.

[Shen, what was the first spear? It was terrifying!] → Ryu

Even Ryu was affected by the terrifying aura of the spears, feeling as if he was looking at a deep abyss with no end.

It’s a taboo skill. I’ve been restricted to use it by the higher spirits, in combat. But nobody said anything about using it for defense. I can at least defend myself from such unparalleled dragon breaths, right? → Shen

[…]

Ryu was dumbfounded when he heard that and he asked again.

Are you trying to trick even the gods, Shen? → Ryu

Ryu felt like shaking his head. He couldn’t believe how he has such a fearless friend and he didn’t know if he will bring misfortune or luck in the future.

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Trick? The reason I found such a loophole is their fault. I am free to do as I wish as long I do not go against the laws of the universe. If they have a problem with it, they’re free to tell me. → Shen

Shen said with his neutral voice while Ryu answered back while feeling a world of troubles coming in the future.

Right… → Shen

[Grrrrr… You angered me enough, puny insects.] → Thanatos

Thanatos’s aura shot out and monstrous energy was released in all directions.

[Grrr…]

Ryu almost kneeled on the ground from the pressure.

Damn it! I can’t move. What is this weird pressure? → Ryu

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