"You're an interesting enemy, but just to be sure…"
The grip on Miriana's hand tightened.
"Can it endure?!"
The snapping sound didn't come, forcing out several gasps from Olivia and the rest.
Miriana sneered and mocked the newcomer, "Of course, it can."
"Then I'm glad to hear it!", the young man replied and sent out a punch.
She crashed into the wall, tearing it down and forming a wide hole. Blood dripped out of her nose and wiped it out, recovering from the sudden blow.
"You pack a punch, brat!", Miriana said with a wide grin.
The young man stepped in front of Olivia, carrying his halberd upon his back.
"So-Solordo! How come you're here?!", she asked in surprise.
"What? You don't want me here?!", Solordo felt betrayed, "You girls… Really, just when did this soft little sister dare to act courageously in front of others? Doesn't suit her well, doesn't suit her well."
Emi's weakened eye managed to catch a glimpse of his dashing figure.
"Brother… Solordo…"
Jinmu arrived and knelt over, gently lifting her upper body and checking her condition.
"Ah, brother Jinmu…"
"Shh.", Jinmu gestured, "She's okay. The winter rattlesnake's venom won't kill her."
Miriana laughed at his words, "What a joke! Do you know how potent my venom is?!"
Solordo advanced, "All I know is that her healing ability is more potent than your venom."
"Even that fatal strike of yours won't kill her off anytime soon."
Miriana looked at Emi and was uncertain as she noticed a swarm of green lights surrounding her body. She was able to detect the distant radiation of dense life energy.
'Self-healing? Since when did wizards gain such skills?'
Grimmold also took notice of it and remarked on his mind, 'These weirdly dressed mages and wizards all have some mysterious abilities.'
'And that brat carrying a halberd, is he some fool? What kind of wizard brings a halberd to a fight?'
He usually saw wizards condense magic weapons and throw them around, but never would they wield them with their bare hands.
'No, he's not a wizard. He managed to grip Miriana's hand and almost broke it in half. A wizard can't possibly do that.'
"I-impossible!", a stuttering voice rang nearby.
Grimmold turned his head and watched as Erik slumped to the ground, pointing his trembling fingers straight at Solordo.
"Young master, what's wrong?", Grimmold was confused.
"That guy. He-he has divine assimilation! M-my demonic aura could feel the divine energy flowing within him!"
Divinity was the bane of demonic energy.
Erik, who usually enjoyed a high status and solitude at the top, felt immense danger as he sensed the vibrant divine flame dragon's aura dwelling within Solordo's chivalric core and blood.
More than that, Solordo's assimilation and imprint were complete as compared to Erik who resorted to a demonic contract that provided him limited strength.
Grimmold was reminded of an event months ago, "Divine assimilation? He's that brat who managed to assimilate with a divine beast?"
Ignorant of their chatter, Solordo closed his eyes and channeled his chivalric essence, "Enough chatter, let's fight! Chivalric Assimilation!"
A domineering thump burst out of the great hall, shocking the three Siegfried Clan members.
Grimmold's hands shook, "This is…", and both Miriana and Erik widened their eyes, "A dragon's might!"
"No!", Erik screamed in anguish as his mind broke.
"Divine Flame Dragon!"
Fiery flames surrounded Solordo and his classmates, protecting them from any harm during his spectacular transformation.
Then came a deafening howl that deafened the ears of those who were unfortunate to hear it. The sheer loudness forced the wind to surge violently, forming a treacherous tornado within the messed-up great hall.
The two elite guards and Erik grunted in pain. This was drastically different from the latter's chivalric assimilation.
The voice's pitch and raging atmosphere peaked, almost breaking down their consciousness into the void.
A burst of powerful aura smothered the great hall into ruins while also blasting the three of them away.
It revealed Solordo fully covered in dragon armor. His wizard robe adapted to his new form, creating new openings for the dragon tail.
The flames were still gathering to form the last bits of his transformation but Solordo didn't intend to give his enemies any room to breathe.
He gathered strength from his legs and dashed at Miriana's face, slashing from below without a warning.
Mid-air, Miriana agilely twisted her body and dodged his attack. She sent out a few thrusts from her short swords but were blocked by Solordo's thick dragon carapace, ringing loud grazing sounds.
'My short swords can't cut that deep!'
She then noticed fire brewing from Solordo's mouth.
'Dragon breath? I can't dodge on time!'
Amidst her panic, a hand materialized below her shadow, pushing her hapless body to the left.
Solordo breathed out the accumulated fire, roasting the ground below and blackening the entire surface. The wooden pieces turned to dust while the metals melted under extreme heat.
His senses pricked up, alerting him of a dangerous presence from his right. He used his small dragon tail and struck out, hitting nothing but the air.
His eyes widened in surprise after seeing that black phantom hand phasing through the tail. It took a slight turn and hit him right in the gut.
A thought flashed through his mind, analyzing this peculiar scene.
'His attacks can pass through defenses, huh? Another interesting enemy!'
"You may have a thick carapace, but it's nothing in front of the shadow hound!", Grimmold proudly declared.
"Your punches are nothing to this young master either!"
Before Grimmold could phase out, Solordo countered by covertly enclosing his hand in dark mana and grasping hold of it.
'He managed to grab my hand! What is this?!', worried about the sudden turn of events, he bluffed, "It's useless! No attacks can harm me!"
Solordo grinned, detonating a huge explosion between him and Grimmold. The latter didn't expect it and was blasted away.
'I was affected by that?'
Grimmold's heart raced. Rarely did someone manage to inflict a hit on him.
'Wait, I remember him saying divine flame dragon earlier. Is he… someone from that secular household?'
His interest piqued knowing that the members of that particular household were allied to the flame dragons, having the freedom to assimilate with a flame dragon's blood as they wished.
Grimmold's eyes blackened, "Humor me, brat!"
'Shadow Phase: Black Hand!'
He plunged his hands into his shadow which then appeared beneath Solordo's feet. He grabbed them and immobilized them.
'Although the range is limited, I can immobilize you from a distance! But I have to be careful. If he disrupts the image of his shadow with fire, it might be distorted in the process!'
Grimmold noticed Solordo struggling in place.
'Good, he hasn't realized it yet! Time to finish this!'
"Shadow Phase: Pack Bite!"
Grimmold's body released a dark-colored chivalric essence that passed through his shadow before appearing beneath Solordo's feet.
Several hounds materialized after, howling straight at Solordo's ears. Their bodies were bathed in a scarlet aura that gave off a demon beast's scent.
Solordo found it disgusting but he couldn't defend himself on time as each one bit his limbs, his chest, and his head.
Grimmold and Miriana eased, knowing full well that the brat won't be able to escape from this attack unharmed.
Solordo snorted, revealing a trace of shock from both Grimmold and Miriana. The armored helmet resembled that of a draconic face with its domineering red eyes glaring around in contempt.
"You call this an attack? You've got to be kidding me!"
An intense dragon aura erupted from Solordo's body. It disintegrated the hands that bound his feet and the hounds that clung to and bit him.
"I-"
The two elite guards froze in place. Their chivalric essence became chaotic while their imprint shook in despair.
A dragon was so mighty of a beast that just their auras could prove devastating to the spirit of other lesser beasts.
Witnessing the dragon's might first-hand, Solordo was satisfied with its results though unhappy somewhere in his heart.
'Damn it. I didn't want to rely on this heavily but I'll guess it'll have to do for now.'
'Mother, I'll make it up for another time, okay?'
Despite the bloody mess inside his armor caused by the shadow hound's sharp bites, the sensation of pain thrilled his numbed muscles. He charged out, dragging the heavy halberd behind.
Solordo traversed the messy terrain. The obstacles seemed to not have slowed him down a bit.
Grimmold managed to release himself from Solordo's frightening burst of dragon aura.
He gritted his teeth and threw large pieces of debris toward Solordo. The brat only smiled and readied his halberd to pulverize the incoming projectiles.
'You think I'm going to hit you with that?!', Grimmold channeled the chivalric essence within him, focusing on the shadows underneath each debris.
'Shadow Phase: Perilous Darkness!'
The shadows of the projectiles trembled slightly, prompting Solordo in realizing Grimmold's true intentions.
Dark beams started to form in each shadow. The larger they were, the stronger the dark beams became.
'What an interesting source of power!'
Solordo extended his free left hand and casted a spell, 'Dark Vortex!', forming a palm-sized dark ball spinning on its axis from left to right.
Grimmold suddenly felt a part of his body and soul being torn from him. He felt mana emanating from Solordo and grew pale in terror.
"This is-!"
"Dark magic!", Miriana added, 'Chivalric essence versus dark magic! This won't end up good!', rushing to help her acquaintance.
The shadows trembled once again, but this time, Solordo was fiercely absorbing the beams.
In retaliation, Grimmold started a brawl of tug-of-war.
'So he was a dual cultivator all along?'
Solordo's appearance was deceiving. Either one thought that he was a warrior pretending to be a wizard or the other way around but never would they expect that he was actually both.
'This brat must not get ahold of my power or else, that absorbed power will be the death of me!'
He increased his focus and strength, going all-out.
Solordo grinned, 'He fell for it!', changing his stance into holding the halberd like a spear and channeling his dark mana once more, 'Weapon Enhancement: Dark Halberd!'
Dark mana surged from within the gaps of his dragon armor and covered his halberd with an additional dark layer.
Grimmold was aware of the brat's intentions and could feel the strong penetrative power of his next attack.
'He used my tactic against me! What a cunning brat!'
He glanced at the tug-of-war battle and quickly analyzed it.
'If I let go now, I can escape that halberd but the subsequent empowered attacks may down me.'
'And if I don't, the halberd will surely get me! My shadow phase won't work if he enhances his attacks with dark magic!'
Grimmold grinned, 'But… I'm not fighting alone!'
"Shadow Phase: Pack Bite!"
He targeted Solordo's limbs and locked them in place, preventing the latter from throwing the spear-like halberd.
'You either absorb the dark beams or the shadow hounds!'
'And even if you blast them away, Miriana will follow up to finish you!'
"Miriana! I have him pinned down! Attack now!"
Miriana arrived. Her body had long since changed into a resemblance of a winter rattlesnake but had four extra limbs, making it more lizard-like in appearance.
With her skin blending almost flawlessly with the surroundings, Solordo did not notice her subtle advance.
Now that her target was within her reach, she pounced with great speed, extending one of her hands as she struck a fatal blow.
"Die!"
The short sword whistled through the air with precision and speed. Miriana could already see Solordo hugging his torn neck.
Right before her eyes, a huge shadow fell upon her.
'Tail? Oh no-!'
Solordo's dragon tail whipped her face and sent her crashing into the ground, hitting a hard metal.
He ignored her sorry state and infused dark mana into his dragon tail before striking the closely-clinging shadow hounds. They were immediately eliminated, releasing his right hand.
"You-! How can you still move after all the injuries you have sustained?!", Grimmold couldn't believe the unwavering will of Solordo.
A distant memory flashed on Solordo's mind, "Heh, you wouldn't understand even if I tell you!"
"You still can't move that heavy halberd with that crippled hand of yours!", Grimmold sneered.
"Oh, did you forget about my other hand?!"
Solordo controlled his dragon tail and firmly grabbed the halberd. He raised it high, pointing at the paling Grimmold.
A wave of scarlet aura stopped their combat just as the halberd was about to thrust into Grimmold's chest.
Solordo lost control of his dark vortex, releasing the restricted dark beams which caused havoc when they fired out. Some of it struck his armor, tearing holes upon impact.
Miriana had it worse and was now bleeding all over. Unconscious, she could not react to the dark beams and was ruthlessly bombarded.
Grimmold was unscathed but he wasn't any better either.
'I've lost most of my energy. I can't continue to fight like this!'
He turned his head around, feeling the sporadic rise of demonic essence in the distance.
'That location. It's the young master. So he has finally made up his mind about helping us?!'
Another pillar of scarlet light flashed to the skies. Grimmold widened his eyes in shock.
'This power... It's too-!'
"Finish them, you fool! What are you but my demon slave?!", a loud demonic voice proclaimed impatiently, "Cowering from behind. Why do you think I gave you that fragment of power for you to use, huh?!"
Erik shivered in fright, "But my lord... He... someone has a divine assimilation!"
"How shameful! There's no helping it! Lust of the Demon Asura!"
The scarlet pillar thumped like a heart, pouring demonic essence into Erik's mind and body and corrupting his rationality and entire being.
"AH!", Erik screamed.
His dark veins bulged, enlarging his already huge body to greater heights. The once partially demonized eyes were now fully red, revealing a trace of demonic intent filled with bloodlust, hatred, and rage.
Coupled with his boiling blood that reddened his skin, Erik stood up like a towering brute.
He grabbed the great axe that was now also bathed in scarlet aura. His evil nature took over and all his mind could think of was blood and more blood.
Miriana's blood caught his attention and near that place...
"The brat with the divine assimilation..."
"Your blood will be mine!"
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