The Dragon King was now completely angry. Probably not just from injuring its lungs earlier but also from dodging its attacks consecutively too. Judging from the state of its God Domain, it was definitely going to start killing us seriously from now on.
But Fang, too, was sporting a serious expression. She had already resolved to use [Soul Exclipse] with or without my permission. However, I can't let her do that since, at worst, it'll completely disintegrate her soul upon failure.
'Before she finishes her preparations, I need to activate the Flame of Regression first!'
With renewed resolve, I hurriedly attempted another shot at using it.
As soon as I willed it, the Flame of Evolution lit up over my right palm. As usual, it was steady and as calm as a quiet lake. However, when I try to ignite the Flame of Regression on my left hand, the Flames on my right hand quickly fade as if being sucked, ending up in failure to activate it.
"... I must be doing it wrong..."
I reimagined the skill, analyzing why it always fails... And one answer came to mind almost instantly, right after accepting that the previous method was faulty.
"I need to activate them at the same time!"
With a new idea, I quickly tried to apply it. I closed my eyes, calming my nerves. Then, when I finally had minute control over my energy flow, I started the process simultaneously.
On my right hand, I focused the Energy on my palms in the pattern that draws out the good karma inside me. The left hand was the complete opposite, creating the pattern that draws out the bad karma inside me. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, I tried to ignite the two simultaneously.
"... Kuh!"
It didn't go as easily as I thought, however. As soon as the energy I sent to ignite it passed, the two hands felt like they would completely fall off. However, the process could be considered a success when ignoring the pain it came with.
"Finally, the Flame of Regression!"
It was hard to maintain since I was basically creating two opposite flows on either half of my body simultaneously. However, the wait wasn't long, as soon as the reddish-orange flame from the right and the black flame from the left started spreading up my arms and covering my entire body.
Although I could feel the infinite flow of energy from the Flame of Evolution, the Flame of Regression was absorbing the energy like there was no tomorrow. It felt like the right side of my body was burning while the left was buried in cold ice.
Without wasting another moment, I quickly turned to Fang and extended my left hand, covered in black flames.
"Fang, take my hand!"
The default effect of the Flame of Regression was to absorb energy from its surroundings. However, now that the Flame of Evolution was "feeding" it, the black flames would be reduced to their primal effect: burning off Bad Karma.
Fang's eyes flickered. Worry was reflected in her expression. However, when she turned to the Dragon King, who had been gaining on us earlier, she quickly shook her head and extended her hands to grab mine.
"... Ugh!"
As soon as she did, the black flames extended from my body to her, burning her in a cold flame that ate nothing but her bad karma. Soon, when the flames spread all over her body, covering her like a blazing aura, she let go of my hands. She stared at her own hands, now covered in black flames, with a sparkle in her eyes.
"This is... Amazing!"
Although she couldn't tell what was going on physically, instinctively she knew what was happening. Her bad karma was rapidly vanishing, completely going against the rules of Samsara and breaking the subtle equilibrium governing her fate.
"With this, I can feel that I will succeed!"
With renewed confidence, she turned to face the Dragon King.
Her body, covered in a burning black aura, suddenly got covered in deeper darkness, almost concealing her entirely from view. It was to the point that only her glowing eyes, now the color of fresh blood, were the only thing that could be seen beyond the veil of darkness.
*RRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!*
Noticing the anomaly, the Dragon King visibly hurried. It was rushing headlong, stretching its gigantic body from beyond the clouds just to reach us. Its wide, open mouth was threatening to capture us—swallow us, to be exact.
"But I won't let you do that!"
Now that I had succeeded with the simultaneous activation of the two legendary flames, I had access to an almost infinite amount of energy. As long as my body can handle the rebound, I could even harness the strength of a God-tamer if push comes to shove.
Using the energy that I have, I quickly activated all the buffs that everyone has that I could use. Most were from Igni, though, as she was the one with the most buff skills around.
In an instant, not only my defense but even my offensive strength increased fivefold after activating all of the buffs simultaneously. Although it was hard to maintain them at the same time, it should be fine to risk frying my brain just to ensure that Fang can execute her skill perfectly.
"Hup!"
With a short running start, I leaped into the air. The Dragon King was visibly surprised after seeing me approach it, but quickly returned to its angry appearance as it tried to change directions and headed for me first.
'Wrong choice, buddy!'
I thought as I reeled in my right fist before throwing a clean, straight telephone punch.
The power behind the strike wasn't much, but the effect was impeccable. A bright red-orange flame spread from the spot I punched, rapidly eating away at the Dragon King's entire body.
*SHRIEK!!!*
Although the flames weren't hot enough to injure him, the Dragon King instinctively knew that the flames were dangerous. It tried to put off the flames, trying various water and ice skills, but it was useless. Nothing can smother the Flame of Evolution after it ignites. Although I, the user, can easily put off the flames, it was extremely difficult for the enemies to do so.
In just seconds, the flames spread around its entire face. Its spreading speed was accelerating every second, slowly encroaching on the entire body of the Dragon King.
By the way, now that it partly came out of the clouds, I finally noticed that it wasn't an Eastern dragon but a Western one. It had arms, wings, and even legs, slowly coming into view as it rapidly descended from the sky.
*GRAAAAAAAHHH!*
An angry roar echoed before the Dragon King rushed to where I was, falling down freely. It completely lost all rationality, letting anger completely take over and attacking without even a plan.
"I may not be able to damage you with my fists, but..."
I grabbed the gun from my [Spatial Storage] transforming it into rifle form and loading the bullets I normally use.
"This baby can crack your skull!"
As I shouted, I cocked the lever and pulled the trigger. There was no need to aim, as the gigantic face of the Dragon King was right before me. Unless I aimed the gun backward, missing the target would almost be impossible.
*BANG!*
With a loud explosion, the bullet got propelled forward as I was slammed faster downward from the recoil. Since the pressure was more on my upper body, it was almost inevitable that I started rotating uncontrollably before crashing against the hard, cracked ground.
Although I was dizzy, I quickly checked the Dragon King. On its forehead, a tiny wound, about pin-sized if the dragon were human-sized, was bleeding subtly. It was basically a minor wound, but the effect of the bullet, disturbing the energy flow, was doing its best work.
"LEADER!"
Suddenly, Fang's voice echoed from somewhere afar. She sounded worried, so I quickly stood up and raised my fist, showing a thumbs-up. I'm not sure if she saw it, but since there's no follow-up, she must've realized I was safe.
The Dragon King was flailing around in the sky. The clouds were cleared as it rolled around uncontrollably, revealing its entire majesty to view.
The Dragon King, although just the avatar, was more than a kilometer long!
Just as I was staring in awe, I noticed a black line heading straight for the wound on the Dragon King's forehead—the one that my sniper rifle left.
"Fang!"
Realizing that she was finally activating her skill, I quickly jumped back to her location with [Shadow Skip]. As I reached her side, I was just in time for the complete activation of her skill.
The black, thread-like energy finally touched the wound, connecting the two of them. When that happened, as if time had stopped, the sky suddenly turned pitch black. From there, a blood-red moon appeared, bathing the Dragon King in its eerie light.
It wasn't the only one that was bathed in the red glow; so was Fang.
It was like a red spotlight was aimed at the two of them, not letting them out of its "sight". Of course, I was excluded from the light's range. Even though it should be radiating all over, I was left completely untouched by the red beams.
"..."
That felt a bit of a bummer, so I moved behind Fang, bathing in the red light together with her.
"Leader!"
Fang shouted in anger as if telling me not to do it, but I just held her shoulders and smiled. The skill was already activating, so no matter what Fang did, she couldn't stop it anymore.
The moon's glow took on a deeper red hue, and the Dragon King suddenly started squirming uncontrollably. It was obviously feeling a powerful wave of pain, not a physical one but a spiritual one.
"D*mn it..."
Fang cursed lightly as she also fell to her knees, her face covered in large beads of sweat.
What's happening...? Is it a contest of endurance now?!
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