Chapter 359: Rivalry Forged from Flames and Lightning. [Release Version] (Patreon)

<[Prayer (Major)] [Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

A giant water beam shot right out of Karhalantheel’s mouth, soaring through the stormy skies at the silver dragon dancing in the air in front of it. Its tentacles and appendages tried to swipe at her, dragging her down into the ocean. From the damaged spots on her ice armor and how her underskin was showing, it seemed the leviathan had been successful at least once or twice in catching her.

On the other hand, Melloxtressa, my dragon mother, had hardened her silver powder into her own shimmering ice version of “[Panzer].” She was using her tail like a humongous spear, striking, thrusting, and slicing the tentacles and water beam away from her; at one point, this left a large enough opening to swoop in. She grabbed the leviathan on its neck and tried to pull him out of the water, only for the beast to roar and summon a water twister using its appendages.

That’s one of Yeostar's hints. It needs its tentacles to control its flow, but it can also make those maelstrom with them.

Mother’s wings fluttered, slicing at the beast with her razor-sharp ice armor, before constructing a gigantic ice dagger to deliver a strong blow on the beast. However, it twisted its body around like a snake, constricting around Mother’s leg and unbalancing her. While Mother was trying to pull him out, he was trying to pull her into the waters.

Magic circles then appeared around Mother’s body and she blew everything away, resetting the situation before the two giants entered into a beam battle. Water and ice breaths clashed against each other in the distance, creating a shockwave strong enough to form tsunamis higher than Elyonda’s walls.

“Hahahaha! My tail is shivering! Men, hard starboard, wrap up the topsail! We’re flowing with the waters!” Adhi shouted his commands like a madman at the helm, steering this shaking boat the best he could. “Fast to the wave’s side. Weakest point! Tell the Champion!”

Everybody, even the twins, were hanging on to their dear lives as we avoided whirlpools, tornados, and the clashing of the monsoon and blizzard. Since my solar core was nearly out of juice, I was feeling the biting cold of this terrible weather. I was shivering, unable to warm myself up since I had to be careful of arcane corruption. My skin was slowly turning blue, but it was still very much purple.

“Urgh, dammit!” Unable to handle it, I took out my glaive and activated my catalyst on it, creating a heatwave around it. “Shit, I'm sooo gonna get a cold after this.”

Tasianna had used her catalyst to create an [Air Shield] around us, and due to Zephira’s blessing on it, it allowed her to control it pretty much perfectly. Even better than my [Aerokinesis]. It blocked the rain and snow, but it allowed us to breathe and hear the sound outside. Tasianna was even manipulating the temperature with her [Cyrokinesis] for us, but it was still pretty cold.

“Bit embarrassing for the daughter of a silver dragon, you know?” Neill stumbled over to me with Renee and Tasianna. The former two were shivering like a bit, while Tasianna was shrugging this off as if it was nothing. “Grrr, why doesn’t a stupid harbor city have any better coats?!”

“Because the land is warm all year outside of WinterSun. We don’t have heavy-furred monsters around, nor do we have a proper dungeon in the entire country. We would need to import these coats, and who would expect such a situation?” Renee tried to excuse her country, reminding me outside of Elyonda, Yeos wasn’t exactly a wealthy country.

“I do apologize. Her Imperial Majesty’s Territory is a bit too much for me to handle. If I don’t constantly maintain my control over the surrounding air, it would just drop into freezing temperatures again,” Tasianna apologized for her lack of control, but the rest of us told her it wasn’t her fault.

“Grrrr, nothing we can really do. The closer we get to the center, the colder it’ll get. Just look.” Neill pointed at how the battlefield between the two SS ranks was quickly freezing into a castle before the water and twisters broke them apart. All for it to be repeated over and over again.

Sis shook her head after showing us how two elemental masters were fighting. She then excused herself and activated her dragon paths, walking away without any problems despite how wobbly the ship was. “I’m asking Yorshka’s husband how he’s not shaking at all. That man has to have a secret.”

“Oh, I have to speak with Shay and Beth about our plans. Please, excuse me for a moment, Lady Hestia.” Tasianna bowed, almost falling over, before she left Renee alone with me.

I looked over the others on the ship. The merfolk and naga sailors were trying their best to keep the ship on course while avoiding the natural disasters around us. Meanwhile, Yorshka, Farron, and Master were toasting before taking a single shot of some hard liquor. I didn't know what it was, but it seemed it came from Master’s pockets.

Latent’s eyes were focused on Karhalantheel island — our destination — while Tehmrayn was literally pulling the ship around like before, where he saved Elyonda’s navy. Shay and Beth talked about how they were looking through their SP shop, since they had skill points to spend. Tasianna was speaking with them now.

“Nervous?” Renee suddenly asked. “I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t have a problem with the cold.”

“You’re overestimating me here. No energy in my sun core means I can’t properly control my body temperature. My control is pretty bad right now. If I try to increase the temperature any further, I might accidentally burn down the ship.”

It was true. My core was responsible for managing my internal temperature, to the point that if it didn’t have any energy, I couldn’t overuse my flames. I could literally overheat and burn up, dying by cooking myself up. It happened once already, and my current sun core even had a small crack.

Not to mention, I had arcane corruption. I had bad status afflictions just waiting to appear on my Profile at any moment now. Once on the island, I really should focus on pure support. Just play some music and buff people up, just ‘cause we had a ton of hard-hitters on this raid team. If the  demonkins and their Yanderu mercenaries come back, then we have the squad to win against them.

Karhalanetheel island wasn’t particularly far from Elyonda’s coast. You could see it clearly from the harbor, but with all the tsunami’s and water disaster, it felt like we were sailing towards some far distant location. The trip felt far longer than usual, but we were making steady progress.

Once the island was just a couple of minutes away, Larent shouted for everybody to get ready. We didn’t know if the enemy was there, but we had to be ready. Renee tapped my shoulder, telling me that we had this, no problem. I turned my head around to her, finding the way she said it weird.

“What? We have two Champions, one blessed, a dragon princess, two A rank adventurers, two B rank wyverns, and a ‘wind elf’ far stronger than her level suggests. I am, technically, the only normal person on this ship. Even if I am one of the few with a unique Job right now.” Renee tried to reason her statement. “Sometimes, we just need a bit of positivity. As in, we WILL WIN THIS! When the enemy is daunting, it is even more important to cheer for yourself! A moment’s hesitation could mean death!”

… Hold on, I thought she was just about to jinx things. That is actually a pretty good motivation speech.

“... Well… Honestly, do you have a charisma or persuasion skill or something like that? You’re really good at speaking.” It really felt like she was a natural-born speaker. “In any case, I know what you mean, but don’t say things before a battle. You’re setting up a flag.”

“...?” I couldn’t see her face, but I could imagine what she was thinking. “I don’t know about putting my flag down on the ship.”

Well, didn’t plan that pun.

“No, I mean jinxing things.”

“For a mage, you really believe in weird things, huh? Look, we’re about to arrive on the island. It’s just a bit—”

And just then — BANG. As if it was waiting for Renee’s word, a giant thunderbolt struck the water right in front of our ship, blasting water up like a fountain and creating a wave large enough to swallow the ship. Tehmrayn quickly took control and helped us ride the wave, negating any damage it would have caused. However, it still managed to push us away from the island.

More lightning appeared, falling around the island like a thunderstorm. I looked up, noticing there was a purple magic circle in the sky, a clear sign that we were being targetted with a spell. In other words, that demonkin girl was around!

“We got enemies inbound!” Adhi shouted, steering the ship to the side as something suddenly burst from the waters. If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, this random encounter was an entire bloody ship!

“Cannons!” Tehmrayn shouted as he manipulated the water underneath the ship, sending us flying into the air to avoid a barrage of cannons.

Seeing us free falling, I immediately called up a cushion of air around us with [Aerokinesis], softening our fall back into the waters. We expected the ship to continue its assault, but what came next caught us off-guard — the ship began to fade away. As if it was never there in the first place?!

“Skull mask! Enemy illusionist!” Larent shouted before brandishing his blade, darting his head around to try and find where the enemy was. However, with the thunderstorm intensifying and moving towards our direction, we had to abandon locating the mage and take evasive maneuvers.

Only, that was when Tehmrayn noticed something actually surfacing from underneath us, this time. Adhi, too slow in his reaction, couldn’t steer the ship away in time as something sprang up from the water, nearly capsizing our vessel.

A stone monster formed like a ship appeared and smashed its arm against Tasianna’s [Air Shield], breaking it. It then shot stone hooks into the side of our ship to pull us closer to it. I instantly recognized it as a golem, probably one that Ghorush made. On the creature itself, a bunch of skull mask gang members started boarding the ship, all while the illusive man himself — the actual Skull Mask — began throwing bombs at us.

Skull Mask didn’t care one bit if his grunts were blasted by his weapons, no, in fact, they supported his decision by throwing poisoned knives at us. This might have been a the last ditch effort to stop us, but this was just plain suicidal!

Yorshka and Farron, however, were far too fast for them, defending themselves against the knives before jumping into the sky. Meanwhile, the wyverns froze everything around themselves with their ice breaths and Master shouted to abandon ship before creating water dinosaurs with his skill for us to escape on. Larent wanted to charge at Skull Mask, but Tehmrayn immediately stopped him by cutting the hooks and pushing the golem ship away with a tidal wave.

“Swim off! We got this!” Adhi shouted to us.

“Head to the island! Stick to the plan!” The naga Champion agreed, reminding us why we had to reach the island first. Tehmrayn not only had to trap Karhalentheel in a whirlpool to entangle the monster’s tentacles, but it seemed like he was saying to leave the ship and the sailors to him.

“Let’s go!” Renee grabbed my arm and pushed me forward. “We nee—”

“H-Huh, look out!” The moment she let go of me, my [Danger Perception] activated, prompting me to grab her this time and pull her behind me. Noticing something bright red coming straight towards me, I released my scales to defend us from an incoming fire ball.

While the fire’s strength was far enough below my resistances and Wisdom that it dealt literally zero damage to me, the blast from the attack was still physics. I couldn’t just ignore physics, no matter how high my stats and skills grew. So, I was forced to use my scale barrier to prevent myself and Renee from being knocked into the water, and immediately [Danger Perception] activated once again, this time it told me an attack was coming from above me now.

I snapped my head around, only to see that familiar looking girl in the sky. Six electrical arms were on her back, all holding weapons like some martial artist. Red lighting trails were around her leg, but my eyes were focused on the fact she was readying her lightning halberd for a throw.

Oh sh—

Seeing as it was too late to cast any spells, even [Purple Haze] into [Gloria Ascendence], I spread my wings and tried to dodge it by flying away. However, I only made it a foot above ground as the lightning fast attack struck the timber beneath, exploding and launching me and Renee into the air.

Taking the full brunt of the attack with my scale barrier, Renee was thankfully unharmed, but we were still forcibly separated as I was knocked away a bit too far. Renee, about to fall into the water, immediately recovered by using [Wind Blast] to blow herself up, closer to me. Seeing this, I activated my rocket boosters to catch her, but unfortunately once again, [Danger Perception] did not allow me to rest.

Only this time, it felt like if I didn’t dodge this attack, I would actually die. I looked at the island, where the notice was coming from, only to see Ghorush at the beach, holding onto his rapier with a large grin. These guys came here prepared.

Up? Left? Right? [Foresight], come on!

[Foresight] told me all those decisions were wrong as my brain went into overdrive to think. Any of those choices were immediately rejected by the skill. I only had one way to avoid this.

Verdammt. Kriffiek kllk gaaung!

<[Battle Frenzy (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

It was to hope I survived in the tulmotious water.

I grabbed Renee, cast [Panzer] on myself, and took a deep breath before diving right into the water as whatever Ghorush did shot past us. The crashing waves and torrents of the water immediately caught me off-guard though, as even my rocket boosters were having trouble keeping me from being dragged around like a piece of driftwood. I couldn’t even use wind magic properly.

Woah!

[“Hold your breath! I’m getting us out of here!”] I told Renee as I turned up my body temperature to keep the two of us warm in these freezing waters. Since I could set flames while underwater and keep them from dying due to my mutation skills in [Hellblade Dragon], I ignited more scale-dust to brute force through all the currents.

This damn water! [Draconic Barrier] was protecting my eyes from the salty water, but it couldn’t stop it getting into my nose. Any opening, really.

It was then I saw something drop into the water, only for me to realize it was an ice anchor. Coating myself with [Panzer], I then grabbed onto it, leading to me being dragged out of the water by Master’s water dinosaur.

“Lady Hestia! Renee!” Tasianna called out. She was the creator.

However, celebrations didn’t last long as my skills rang out again. I snapped to the side as I unfurled my wet wings, noticing that damn demonkin girl readying another attack, this time with her staff. The purple magic circle shot out a [Lightning Bolt] at me.

My rocket boosters were already on, helping me dodge it, but the demonkin already had her lightning crossbow aimed at me. Bolts were shot out, prompting Renee to help out by activating a rune on her armor — [Defensive Rune: Auracoil]. The barrier of mana, however, cracked open from every attack, showing the futility of defensive measures against this level 150 beast.

Naturally, I already had a taste of that person’s power, and the only way for me to equalize this fight was to start singing. [My Darkest Thoughts], to be precise.

“Staring out the window while it rains ♫

No one here to talk, silence is all I have ♫

So I delved into my thoughts and wondered, “What if?”♫

Aerokinesis began to play, immediately showing its effects as the size lightning arms dissipated behind her. Smirking at this success, I was even more elated Tasianna and Master were covering my way back onto the ship. Only, of course, this wouldn’t be this easy.

“FUCK YOU!” Was all I heard before my body instinctively wielded my glaive, blocking the surprise attack from the girl. Noticing the veil of lightning around her, I guessed she had used [Overload] and her red lightning move to launch her attack.

I saw the demonkin’s surprised face, probably not expecting me to just block her attack like this. Sadly for her, this was why I had leveled up the [Flame Lancer] Job during the siege! To get my [Spear Technique] and [Spear Mastery] both up to level ten for their fusion skill — [True Spear Technique]!

Finally, I broke through [Spear Technique Lv. 9]. It had been a long time since I got stuck at a skill level due to the breakthrough requirements. In fact, ever since I began using my SP to upgrade skills, it hadn’t been a problem. However, since my spear skills weren’t my priority as a mage, I had decided to just do it the hard way to save SP. Well, surprise, constantly swinging the spear against enemies until a point and getting an advanced spear-related Job was all I needed.

Now, with [True Spear Technique], the System was helping me out a bit by teaching me how and when to strike. Not completely autopilot, just suggestions. Pretty good ones, too, since it allowed me to parry the attack just in time. In the battle of fire against lightning, it seemed like my fire won.

“!!!”

Oh oh.

I might have also wounded her pride a bit, seeing as she was glaring at me as if I was her mortal enemy. Before [Foresight] and [True Spear Technique] could do anything, however, she tackled me. The weight of a sledgehammer rammed right through my protective scale barrier, right into my [Panzer] and [Draconic Barrier], before I suddenly heard the sound of electricity reach my ears.

Arck! No!

[“I’ll handle this! Go!”] Was the only thing my parallel minds and I could say to the others before Renee and I were launched off from the ship. I couldn’t hear my ribs breaking, but oh boy, it felt like they would give up any second now.

I looked down as I felt my body prickly from electricity, only to see it was the demonkin girl. Renee was hanging onto me for dear life, before she pulled her curved shortsword out to slash at our abductor.

The latter, of course, blocked it, but it gave me the opening to twist my glaive to bash at her side. She caught it, though, but I used this chance to spread my wings, killing our acceleration before letting out a magma breath at the defenseless demonkin.

Her eyes widened and she let go of my staff, falling down before using her red lightning to jump right behind me. Snapping my body around, I tried to react against her attacks with my glaive, only for her to use it like a springboard to stay afloat. WIth this second momentum, her lightning figure launched a right hook right at my face, breaking right through any defenses I had and sending me crashing into the ocean.

“Krak!” My white flames immediately wrapped around me to heal me, but I was sure I just heard my skull or jaw cracking. Whatever it was, this knockout punch sent my head into chaos as I couldn’t control my breathing. “Uup!”

Fuck!

Water! I just drank a huge amount of water before I could react, coughing on it as a reflex. However, this involuntary action just made it worse, causing me to let even more of this salty water into my lungs. This had to be a joke! Drowning? Seriously? What a stupid way to go out! With this sudden realization and with my head healed up, I —

Hold on, what?

… I had water in my lungs, but I wasn’t drowning? No, after calming myself down, I noticed I was actually doing just fine in this torrential abyss. Weirdly, I could breathe. Or, at least, my lungs weren’t feeling like they would burst from water.

To test things out, I took a small breath. However, instead of choking, I felt like I could continue? I quickly checked my status, looking for the spell [Marine Lungs] in my Profile, however, I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t there, but…

… You gotta be kidding me. No way, I don’t have the ability to do this. I’m a dragon, not a leviathan. I shouldn’t be able to breathe. I don’t even have such a skill, so how— No… System, open up [Battle Frenzy]. I want to see my available usurped skills.

<[Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] effects on [Battle Frenzy]: [Flashfire] [Light Horizon] [Marine Lungs]>

… Plesia… So this is why she gave up so quickly on my usurpation attempt on Master’s blessing. What a bi… Troll.

For some reason, I felt like I got scammed. Instead of giving me a proper skill, she went and trolled me by giving me the ability to breathe underwater. Although it wouldn’t be too bad usually, the problem was, I had to be in [Battle Frenzy] for it to activate. This was beyond trolling… this was advanced trolling.

… Goodness… Flashfire!

Speaking of abilities, I could still see my magma falling down from above. [Flashfire]ing out of the water, I activated [Humanize] to transform back into my minor form. Not into my full form, since Renee could fall down while I turned larger. I couldn’t risk her falling into the water.

<[Humanize (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

“Are you alright?” Renee tried to keep her composure, but the last few minutes were more than just wild. I could hear her voice break a bit.

[“Not one bit!”] I was honest. This felt like a rollercoaster, in the worst kind.

And it wouldn’t stop, as I snapped my head around, noticing the red streaks in this monsoon. [Foresight], this time, activated in time, allowing me to block the demonkin’s next attack.

“Arck!”

“Ya trying to save that deadweight, hero? Keep it up, so I can splat ya!” The demonkin trash talked before her halberd exploded right in out faces, sending me flying away.

I wanted to stop the knockback, but Renee, for some reason, grabbed them, keeping them furled. “Just fly! Land in sight!”

I turned my head around, finally noticing how far this aerial battle had pushed me away from Karhalantheel island. Right here, I could see the islands Chayahat mentioned where the Caedhulen immigrants’ home was. We were so far away from the coastline, I had to turn my head up to witness the kaiju battle. I was probably close enough to send Mother a telepathic message!

I used [Dragoon Dive] to crashland at the nearby island, praising internally for finally being back on land. Sea water sucked ass. Although I wanted to continue taking in this moment, I had to get ready for our guest. I let Renee down, who in return took out her flamberge and wind flag.

[“You sure? I have my subspace to keep you safe.”]

“I might be a burden, but I can at least take the front for you. Just buff me up, Hestia. Let me show you how I’m not just a maiden-in-distress for a knight to save. I am the knight!” She raised her flag and planted it on the ground, buffing us up before activating her father’s medallion, turning her armor almost into wind.

<[Flag of Valiant Hearts] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

Sure, she looks stronger, but is she? Damn, I have to keep playing [My Darkest Thought]. If that song wasn’t playing, how much damage could that demonkin had done?

I massaged my head, still feeling the phantom pain from my skull cracking. If Neill or any of the other frontliners were around, I could probably play around, switching songs to turn the tide, but right now, I had to focus on defense. We had to survive… just long enough. The goal wasn’t to defeat her, but to escape. The moment I saw an opening, I was taking Renee out of here.

However, I did have something special for this fight. Prepared just for it.

<Skill Points: 8050>

I took another breath, before I looked up at the sky. The demonkin girl appeared there before she landed on the ground in a hero pose. She cracked her neck and knuckles, before conjuring her lightning rapier in one hand and a staff in the other.

[“The laughing kid stomping loudly upstairs ♫

The damn lovebirds flirting on the streets ♫

Those rich asses living in their golden bubbles♫

I just wish they would all just disappear ♫

Those are my honest thoughts, something I wish to hide from them ♫

My life is stagnating, nothing I do brings me forth ♫

All I can do is sing, drowning my sorrows while it rains ♫

Every step I take just brings me back, to a rundown apartment room ♫

Turn away, close my eyes, lock these wishes far away ♫

Not again, not again…or I’ll cry until the end ♫

All of my darkest thoughts ♫

Will serve me as my muse ♫

So, I’ll sing, I’ll sing, I’ll sing, I’ll sing! ♫

As I fade from your thoughts ♫”]

“... Ya really want to do this? Starting with that shitty song of yours?” she growled, contorting her face like some third-rate gangster.

[“Yeah, yeah, come on, talk more trash, will you? A mouth like that deserves to be cleaned with soap,”] I retorted. [“You got lucky back then. That idiotic partner of yours really ruined that fight.”]

“Gahahaha! ‘Lucky?’ Me? Ha!” Her [Tyrant Aura] flared out, taking Renee aback. “Put some respect on my name, you lizard. I am a Warbringer by the name of Vifi’Yok. Third highest authority in Lord Wrath’s army after our Prince himself.”

[“Fourth in the ranking, but if my mother had taken you a bit more seriously, you probably wouldn’t be standing here. In fact, I’m surprised you lasted long enough for [Dread Burn] to disappear.”]

“I can admit where I failed. I underestimated your skills, I also just underestimated how good you are with your glaive. I carelessly approached an SS rank. I also apologize for that… misunderstanding with your friend. I just wanted to repay her back for giving me those donuts for free.” Her face suddenly softened up, looking more like a normal teenage girl than this bloodthirsty warmonger I saw a second ago.

Repay? Was she talking about Amelia?

But in the next second, her face changed back. “But this ain’t some time for merriment. I’ve been tasked with your death, and since I know ya want to flee with ya tail in between your legs, let me spice things up.”

She suddenly pulled something out of her jacket, causing my eyes to widen a bit.

“Ya see? Like I said, we got a spare. Yours, in fact.” Although it looked different, it was the same item they used to trap me in that dimension with Mother. “Ain’t strong enough to trap ya mom, but it’s enough to keep her preoccupied. Just like ya trying to do with Karhalantheel.”

[“...”]

It was obvious, why would they be on the island otherwise?

“What is that reaction? Hmph. Ya probably should have figured something was up with how weird the tournament was going, right? Why did some two no-names know how to operate that demon castle? Who hired them? Well, probably wasn’t obvious, since he’s a pro. That Gh—Sorry, Streiga, sure knows how to do research. Got everything figured out for us, even managed to guess you would come back to the island. Some seal made by the God of Knowledge won’t just break apart completely by a bunch of mortals, right?”

Ghorush … I hate the Yanderus so much!

“So, ya wanna run? Leave ya mother to die after I activate this trap?” I steadied myself, but kept up the song to weaken her. “Ha! Well, thought so. Then let me get right—”

All in, [True Spear Technique] and [Lightning Resistance]! Go, go!

<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [True Spear Technique Lv. 10] [Lightning Resistance Lv. 10] . 3650 SP spent. 4400 SP remaining>

Clang!

“...? Again?” The demonkin was flabbergasted as I parried her rapier almost perfectly. Seeing this exact expression was why I saved up all this SP!

I might have shown quite a few of my skills and cards in our previous bout, but so had she! With minimal movements, I twirled my glaive, forcing her to dodge, before I unleashed my [Hellblade Edge] combo with my tail and glaive, sending out a flurry of attacks.

The demonkin was sent onto the defensive for a moment, but as you would expect from a more experienced weapon user, she quickly adapted to this surprise. As mentioned before, [True Spear Technique] only showed me suggestions. Attack paths I could take and which seemed the best to use, however, if the opponent was especially skilled, the variety of attack choices would dwindle.

Strike here and there, deftly and with just enough power to not overexert myself, and she would counter. It was like a dance where neither of us were hurt, locked into a duel of metal and lightning. We were both mages, but none of us were using spells at all, too focused on our display of skills.

Only—

“Tsk!” I clicked my tongue as the demonkin finally broke through my assault.

“Slow!” She roasted my attack patterns before sidestepping around me in a circle, before performing a feint. I tried to parry it, but the moment she stopped midway, the number of my attack paths just dropped down into the single digits.

What?!

“Come on, where is that moxie—”

“Royceman Style: First Act — Wind Shiver!” Before she landed her next attack, a wind blade shot right at the demonkin, pushing her back, although it didn’t deal much damage. Immediately afterwards, Renee charged in, swinging her wind-covered flamberge at our enemy. “Agility, Strength, and probably Wisdom! Pronto! Give me those buffs, now!”

There was no time to think about it. I just had to act, so I cast [Overload], [Sacred Veil], and [Swift Winds] on my self to buff up Renee through [Music Resonation].

<[Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

[“I have no Strength related ones! I don’t have [Strengthening Flames] anymore!”] Since Shiterno took that damn System spell away from me!

“Thanks for the speed, but where the hell is my damage supposed to come from! I don’t have the stats for this!” Renee complained, but she swung her blade regardless of it. However, despite her complaints, she was keeping up pretty well with the demonkin.

Not in speed, no way, but the way she swung her sword felt swift and precise. Feints? She never fell for them, only countering back. It was mesmerizing, honestly. Although I was happy with my sudden skill progress with my glaive, it felt like Renee was utilizing her weapon far better than I could, despite the clear stat difference.

It was nowhere close to Larent’s swordplay, but at this moment, I recognized how much that old man had gone easy on me. Our duel was quite honest and straightforward, as he never tried to overwhelm me with this sword. Now that I thought about it, it felt like a spar. However, right now, it felt like both Renee and the demonkin were doing their best to survive.

“You’re better with the blade … but this ain’t ya place, ya weak ant!”

And that was when the lightning staff began to materialize a magic circle. Instantly, I shot out a fire bullet at her left hand, forcing her to dodge the attack and disrupt her attack, only for Renee to follow up. Even by sharing my buffs, Renee still couldn’t keep up, but she didn’t need to if I could cover her with spells.

Terra Wall. Sacred Smite. Banishment Beam. More, and more!

Distraction, impediment, guard breaking, intent to kill; all while I weaved my spells as if I was conducting my own symphonia. There was a rhythm to my casts while my parallel minds juggled spells arounds with [Delayed Cast] and [Continuous Cast] to ruin the tempo the demonkin thought she had. Being unpredictable and annoying.

Just like when I was fighting with Neill or Saori. I had my role, and my frontliners had theirs. They kept the enemies away from me while I rained down spells and buffs to tip the scales. I didn’t even have to stop there, as I could dash in and out with my high Agility to block attacks Renee just couldn’t handle. Sure, my glaivemanship was still very blunt, but having [True Spear Technique Lv. 10] wasn’t a joke!

“What?!” She cried out as I face tanked a [Lightning Bolt] of hers without showing any signs of damage. Even my white flames didn’t appear.

“Royceman Style: Second Act — Cometh Breeze.” Renee tugged her sword backwards, ordering the wind to flow towards her. The demonkin was pulled in!

She tried to jump out with her red lightning dash, but I just blasted the grounds underneath her with holy flame bombs. As Saori told me, I had to disrupt the mana concentration at her feet to impede her movements. With her trapped like this, I took this chance to attack her with my alfamed glaive.

Seeing no way out, she clapped her hands, suddenly blowing us all away with a magnetic push. Mid Flight, I shot a fire bullet right at her, using it to [Flashfire], to finally land my first glaive hit right at her chest.

“Ssshrk!” The armor she was wearing glowed up as she crashed against a tree. Looking at her, the armor was repairing itself as white flames began to burn her up, attempting to “heal” up that wound of hers. Of course, it was impossible, since she had [Dread Burn] on.

There were three reasons why I wasn’t fighting as a dragon right now.

Number one, due to my Job skills of [Champion of Aurena].

<Holy Demon Slayer: Increases all damage against demonic forces. Healing magic will turn into damage on demonic forces>

<Humanity’s Foe Slayer: Deals increase damage towards any race or nationality considered an enemy by 75% of the world’s humans. Enemy: Demonkin, Carmaniate, Grimgarians>

Secondly, ‘cause the island wasn’t large enough for me to fight properly. If I grew in size, Vifi’Yok only had to target me since I was bulkier than Renee. Right now, I was small enough to slip through as Renee kept her busy.

And third…

“Tsk.” The demonkin clicked her tongue.

[“... That’s some good armor. No runes, but I can see it has enchantments. You also have two rings, a necklace, and also some specialized carapace boots this time,”] I remarked, finding that appraising them was just as hard as their wearer.

“This time I ain’t just ‘sneaking around’ for that favor. This time, I’m fighting in a war.” Vifi’Yok stretched while fidgeting with her ring. “Countermeasures for nasty demon-suppressing abilities.”

“...”

“So this is about to become even harder?” Renee sounded depressed. Obviously, since it was already quite hard to keep up.

“Sure will be. Dunno if you two have any idea what being a Warbringer really means, but I don’t really care. Ya about to find out… But, before that, I guess some are willing to equalize this fight a bit.” She looked to the side, causing us to do the same as all three of us could detect three people coming closer.

Now, the third reason why I was still in my dragonewt form instead of my dragon form… It was the party bracelet’s party finder function. As long as I had the thing on, my party could look for me within a certain range.

This was why I only wanted to survive this for long enough… Not only to escape, but also to delay enough for some friends.

“Lady Hestia!”

“Sis!”

Tasianna and Neill were here.

“Master!”

“Tch, well, it would be too hard if you can’t fly well. Using flames to propel you forward means you won’t have anything to attack them with… Oh, and be careful, her song is—”

“Arck!”

And the third person was that fire demonkin from before. The moment he came close enough to listen to my song, his fire arms disappeared and he crashed onto the island like an idiot. Meanwhile, Tasianna and Neill landed gracefully, immediately getting ready to fight.

“Good work staying alive up until now, you two!” Neill praised us with a grin.

“... Well, just barely. Bridging over 50 levels of stats is impossible if Hestia hadn’t been such a good support,” Renee summarized the situation.

“Of course, my lady is the best, after all.” Tasianna looked a bit too proud of me. “But, let everything up until now be ignored. Princess Fargryneill and I are now here for the both of you! Let us turn this tide over… the Aurora way!”

[“Just what I wanted to hear! Just feels a bit wrong saying that without Saori, Ellaine, and Grimnir. Ahem… In my purgatory, I make the devil cry ♫

In Hellfire ♫

All you hear are his screams, begging to be released ♫

It’s Music ♫”]

“Master, I apologize!” The older demonkin kneeled down as his fire arms reappeared from me changing songs.

“It’s all right, Hee’Rlak. This just feels better anyways. We can stomp down on all four of these idiots, all at once. No need to chase after them.” Vifi’Yok slowly walked forwards and removed one of her rings. “Ever heard of the Original Sin, you shitty dragon? Ever heard of the Original Sin for us wrath demonkins? Well, let me show you it… I call upon the demon inside me, the blood of the rebel fueled by betrayal and falsity. Rage incarnate, unwilling to bend towards the higher will. Eternal strife and carnage, neverending in pursuit for true freedom! Original Sin—”

[“We’re taking this to the second act! Let’s start the climax and finale of this event! Symphonie des Feuergottes!”

“—Satanael.”]