His body cut through the air like a colourful arrow. Lightning coated his hand, his claws gleamed like polished daggers and he slashed them at Vermillion.

For the first time in this fight Vermillion used his spear. The spear clashed with Ved's palm. A powerful shockwave shook the air and the seas churned below.

Blood spurted out of his palm and he was sent flying back. Even now, after the enhancement of his Ignition, double ignition no less, he was still weaker than Vermillion.

His wound healed rapidly, new scales grew and the wound disappeared in a matter of moments and he lunged again.

Lightning danced around him and filled the sky like blue snakes. The air exploded wherever he passed, his wings generated gusts of winds so powerful they could uproot trees with every flap.

Everytime they clashed the sky ignited, waves of lightning and fire filled the air, even the sea below was effected.

However Ved was coming out as the losing party with every clash. His blood fell down to the sea like crimson waterfalls.

His regeneration trait immediately generated more blood to replace the lost blood but each regeneration cost him a lot of stamina.

At this rate, he knew his ignition will not last very long, he was burning the vital and soul essence rapidly, he estimated he had a few minutes at most.

Time passed, their battle grew to calamitous proportions. Each of their collisions sent shockwaves that shook the sky, the soundwaves traveled for thousands of kilometres in every direction.

If a normal human was here, their eardrums would've shattered and the soundwaves alone would've killed them.

However Ved still lost out in every clash, wounds grew on his body faster than he can regenerate, he grew desperate, at this rate he would lose without landing a single attack on his enemy and his pride couldn't take that.

His desire for strength grew with each passing moment, his bloodline responded. He punched, the air ignited around his fist and the winds howled from the pressure.

Vermillion stabbed his spear at the coming fist, they drew closer and closer to each other then something bloomed behind Ved.

An image of a tree and a black dragon so vast they seemed to encompass all of existence. However unlike the first time he used it, the dragon was no longer perched on the tree's branches but floating infront of it.

The image was still incomplete, the dragon's features were still unclear and it body looked illusory, however it looked clearer than the tree and the image as a whole was more than before.

Ved could tell the dragon took the main stage this time. Instead of the tree which effect his survival skills, the dragon seem to directly effect his strength and combat ability.

While the tree requires him to be in danger to manifest, it seems the dragon requires him to desire overwhelming strength and have some belief in the strength of his blood.

Which he did, he genuinely believed his dragon body was still stronger than Vermillion's even though he lost in every exchange and in a sense he wasn't wrong.

He knew Vermillion appeared stronger physically but that was because of his technique, not because he was physically superior to Ved. So Ved believed if he could land a single clean hit, he could deliver significant damage to Vermillion.

Just as the fist and spear were about to clash, the space around his fist twisted, like an illusion, his fist suddenly appeared right infront of Vermillion's face.

This caught Vermillion off guard. The fist landed, blood spurted out of his body as the fist larger than his entire body rammed him like a speeding truck. His armour dented but it did not break.

He flew back like a streak of red light and crashed on the sea. The ocean boiled for dozens of kilometres around him covering the ocean with a blanket of mist.

Ved wanted to chase after him but he stopped himself. He knew landing that punch was because he caught him off guard, it was unlikely to happen again.

He doubted someone as powerful as Vermillion couldn't maintain his own image, Ved had already seen the image for a brief moment and if Vermillion could maintain it for longer then he would be even stronger

Not to mention Ved couldn't maintain his ignition for much longer nor can he use the image for more than 40 seconds with only two hearts, and that's only after he used Ignition to strengthen his will.

He turned his attention to the remaining six humans. If he couldn't kill Vermillion then he would kill them instead.

His body shot at them like an arrow. The closest to him were the two women and the Japanese man.

He still couldn't see their features clearly. The woman with a bird cage made a bunch of hand signs rapidly.

Her bird cage glowed. Four golden pillars appeared around Ved and surrounded him, each one with runic circles drawn on them.

Bars grew and connected between those pillars creating a huge cage around him but it was not over. The runic circles glowed and chains flew out of them and bound his body.

Then the cage started shrinking as if trying to crush him. Ved roared and the cage shook, he broke the chains and shattered the entire cage with a single claw swipe.

The woman coughed up blood from the backlash and her face grew pale. Ved turned into a streak of light and appeared infront of them in a blink of an eye and punched them.

A powerful wind pressure hit them before his fist could. The muscular woman tilted her gourd and drank, the red mist around her disappeared and her body gained a golden sheen and she sent a punch to meet his.

Her face became clear, when Ved saw her his heart shook, recognition and doubt appeared in his mind but it was too late to stop his fist, it was mere moments from her.

Just as his fist was about to land the temperature dropped, snow fell around them. A thin blue sword surrounded by bone chilling mist appeared infront of his fist

"Clink" the sound of clashing metals echoed across the sky. His fist came to a stop and he felt a piercing cold seep into his flesh and bones.

The shockwave pushed the cold mist away and when it cleared he saw a woman so beautiful the world seemed to dim around her.

Long curly blue hair that ended in snowy white tips danced behind her, her deep blue eyes glistened like sparkling gems. She was wearing a beautiful blue and white combat dress that flowed in the wind like snow.

Her cold blue eyes met his. His eyes opened wide with surprise, his heart stopped for a moment, a flood of memories drowned his thoughts

His body became paralysed and his eyes became softer. A few moments passed with them staring into each other's eyes then her's grew wide as well, a hint of recognition appearing in them.

" Al..ex?" Her beautiful voice like the singing of angels asked skeptically, a deep sadness and mourning apparent beneath it. Before he could reply, a thin beam of condensed fire pierced through his heart.

' Huh?' his vertical slit pupils opened wide with rage and confusion. He looked at her confused face as his body dropped to the sea, thousands of thought ran through his head then he crashed and sank below the churning waves.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.