The sleazy words only served to ignite the sparks of contempt within the man's heart as his amethyst eyes sharpened with those emotions, "Disgusting. After everything your group has done–unleashing the Nightmare on Larundog, freeing Dread, destroying my hometown, and killing my mother…Not to speak of everything else you've done to others–you have the nerve to say it's for the "good of the world"--disgusting."
"Interesting. So, that's how you see it. Alright, then…" Maximus bowed forward with a grin, slowly placing his hand over his chest, "...Come on. Get your revenge, then–if you can, that is. I'm right here."
The challenge was silently accepted as Emilio's draconic armor reinforced itself around his body, activating one of his skills: [Dragon Engine]--causing the boundless heat within him to fuel the internal structure of his scaled armor.
'I'll end this quickly,' Emilio planned.
In the distance, he could hear the rumbling of thunder and roars of lightning bolts with magenta flashes through the sky; Sirius combated the twin dragons through the azure plains.
–
Moving freely through the seemingly infinite stretch of azure sky, Sirius flew around the multiple streams of fire chasing after him.
"That's hot! Too bad you'll never reach me with it!" Sirius taunted as he left trails of electricity in his constant movements through the sky.
The pillars of radiant fire that shot towards him were breathed from the colossal dragons that chased him, flapping their mighty wings with what sounded like thunderclaps.
"Try this!"
Turning back to face the twin dragons with the boundless horizon to his back, he snapped his fingers in succession, unleashing a blitz of multiple bolts directly against the grand beasts. Both of the harsh strikes of lightning struck the dragons in their heads, though it only put a stop to them momentarily before they roared out with thunderous anger.
"...Well, these guys are pretty tough," Sirius muttered under his breath with a smile, "Guess I'll have to kick it up a notch!"
Mystical electricity flowed across the man's skin as his hair shifted its shade into a glowing magenta, allowing his body to be decorated in the erratic patterns of lightning. With the activation of his system, the mana pressure around him skyrocketed as thunder exuded from his position with a shock wave, repelling the approaching dragons.
[Stormheart System Activated]
[Current Stage: 2/10 | Thunder Inheritor]
As electricity violently coiled around his body, Sirius dashed forward as a bolt, evading the streams of fire from the twin beasts before slamming his knuckles straight against one of their colossal chests. The punch was reinforced by a construct of another fist, made by a split-second shaping of lightning.
["Thunder Strike"]
Coming from the man who was dozens of times smaller than the mighty dragon, the strike itself caused the grand beast to recoil in pain as its scales were cracked and shattered.
As soon as he watched the dragon roar out after receiving the blow, he raised his arms as he blocked a sudden strike from mighty claws.
"Mad I hurt your friend, huh!!" Sirius asked with an excited smile as he was dragged through the air while blocking the colossal talons of the beast.
Each of the dragons were surprisingly fast despite their gargantuan status; they were even able to match the strikes of lightning bolts with their flight, catching Sirius–though the man grinned before releasing a massive discharge.
The electricity manifested from every pore in his body scattered outward erratically, striking everything near him and repelling the twin beasts:
[Eye of The Violent Storm]
Despite knocking the dragons back with the complete discharge, he found that they were still relatively unscathed, bringing a half-cocked smile on his lips.
'Talk about tough,' he thought.
–
Infused with draconic energy, Emilio rushed across the sky-high plateau, aiming his malicious intent towards the silver-haired figure. A series of quick, lethal-intended slashes came towards Maximus; Emilio used his experienced footwork to pressure the figure, as well as his boosted physical abilities before–
"Concept Nullification: Dragonheart System," Maximus said, holding his hand up.
Just as Emilio had gone for a slash, an invisible force brushed against him like a whisper of an almighty authority; he came to a stop as the entirety of the draconic armor shattered from his body.
"Huh–?"
Pausing for a moment, he looked at his body, finding that the scales from his system had completely crumbled away, and with it, the power they gifted.
"Confused? Allow me to explain it for you then," Maximus said with a smile, "My Skyborne Rhapsody grants me complete authority over anything related to the sky. Dragons fall under that jurisdiction, and of course, the Dragonheart power does as well."
"You…" Emilio muttered in disbelief.
"While you're in my world of Skyborne Rhapsody, you'll have no system to rely on. That's why I was chosen to take both of you–like this," Maximus raised his hand.
Realizing what was about to happen, Emilio yelled out to his comrade in the sky, "Sirius–!"
"Concept Nullification: Lightning," Maximus invoked.
The whispering force expanded through the boundless sky like a tremor through the ground, brushing against Sirius as he combatted the whispering dragons. Just as the nebulous force touched Sirius, the lightning he wielded vanished without a trace, taking away the alterations to his hair and body from his system stages.
Sirius looked surprised, "Huh."
Reuniting for the moment amidst the utterly perplexing force, Sirius landed beside Emilio, just as the colossal dragons perched themselves on the clouds beside the creator of the world of endless skies.
"Well, this is troublesome," Sirius remarked with a smile.
"Are you ever worried about anything? This isn't good," Emilio remarked, glancing at his companion.
Sirius responded, "Well, it's when I'm backed into a corner that I'm at my best."
"I guess I'm the same way," Emilio hesitantly agreed.
"Good–because we're backed into one helluva corner! It's the same as taking the katana from a master swordsman–declawing a beast; we've lost the strongest parts of our arsenal. But, that's not enough to beat us. It's time to adapt and overcome–are you ready, brother?" Sirius asked.
"Of course."
Together, they launched forward, causing the dormant dragons to return to the battlefield as well with roars that traveled through the sea of clouds.
"I'll handle the dragons this time," Emilio said.
"Sure–a little switch-and-tag then!" Sirius agreed, rushing towards Maximus.
In order to gain the attention of the dragons that swooped down, Emilio launched himself into the air with his wind magic, casting a barrage of fireballs down that pelted against the mighty scales of the beast.
Roars emitted upward, thundering against his body from the angered, bright-scaled dragons, but Emilio welcomed that aggression with open arms.
"Come on. I wonder if this counts as a familial battle," Emilio remarked under his breath before raising his hand, "--To me, Sabbath!"
Invoking the six-pointed star etched onto his hand, one of his Soulbound Spirits arrived at his call, manifesting from petals of darkness into a winged individual. Resembling a human man, but with dark-gray skin and small horns, along with bat-like wings, the suit-wearing man arrived beside him.
"Master," Sabbath said with his hand over his heart in subservience, momentarily closing his scarlet eyes which lay behind glasses.
"We've got dragons to fight–just keep one distracted for me while I handle the other. Can you do that?' Emilio asked.
Sabbath adjusted his glasses, "It shall be done."
"Thanks!" Emilio called out just as one of the colossal dragons had swooped in with incredible speed, almost nicking him with its sword-like claws.
It wasn't the kind of battle he was exactly experienced in: having to fly around in the skies with a masterful usage of wind magic while being chased by a beast not only dozens of times larger than him, but of such incredible speed and power.
'So, this is what a dragon is really like? I can see why my system is the way it is then,' Emilio thought.
Being chased by only one of the dragons, he glanced back to see his Soulbound Spirit in the distance leading on the other without being hit.
'Good,' he thought, now feeling safe to engage the other.
Coming to a sudden stop as if stomping on brakes, he boosted himself up, just barely avoiding the snapping jaws of the dragon before shooting downward, causing his boots to plummet against the beast's head.
Though the impact was great, it didn't budge the scales, forcing Emilio to adapt quickly as he found his system-less strength not being enough.
'--Alright, I'll have to use "faux dragonheart", then!' He thought.
Through his lips, he inhaled oxygen that turned into flames as he exhaled, causing his veins to press against his skin as he created a burning flame within himself; one that did not harm, but instead ignited his bodily functions into an overdrive.
'This is a spell I've developed myself, using other magecraft as a basis–it can grant me strength similar to stage three, but it requires a much larger toll on stamina!' Emilio thought, 'I chose to create it after my system didn't respond to me when I first arrived in Ennage–I've prepared for situations like this.'
Using the enchanting flame throughout his body, allowing the supplementing heat to travel throughout his limbs–to his fingertips to his toes, he felt the power flooding through him as a sweat-inducing heat.
["Faux Dragonheart"]
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