Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 103: Fighting Fire with Fire (3)

A massive, incandescent blade—crafted from the forceful, yet controlled, compression of flames—tore through the air with sizzling intensity, reaching its target in no time flat and digging into their scales.

Kenzo, immobilized by the fiery energy raging through him, was stuck between a rock and a hard place, watching the blade tear into his neck slowly.

He circulated the energy around his body faster, even pooling some over the spot the blade was cutting into to prevent it from going any further.

He hadn’t expected the energy to force him into a state of torpidity, now he was paying with his life.

Kenzo’s whole life flashed before his eyes at that moment. Buried memories and fresh ones alike resurfaced at the same time, and he re-lived some moments—both the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Two familiar faces popped up in his mind and he involuntarily teared up. Those faces looked like older versions of him and Matilda, hinting at who they were.

A nostalgic sparkle appeared in Kenzo’s eyes, before it was replaced by a sudden, frigid, cold pair of slit pupils.

A memory, which Kenzo had suppressed in the deepest parts of his consciousness, surfaced, and a bubbling anger within him spilled over, consuming him and making him go berserk.

Just as suddenly as he remembered that memory, a primal roar reverberated from his throat, exploding forth from his maws with violent momentum, its force sending the glowing fire blade and its wielder tumbling backwards.

An explosion shook the surrounding area as scorching, red flames poured out of Kenzo’s mouth like an infernal pillar of judgement, shooting towards Noriko and slamming him into the ground.

Noriko managed to block with his weapon, and it rippled once, before shattering into a rain of flickering fiery tongues. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Kenzo’s intent reached into his being, and the energy running rampant was subdued in an instant, forcing his body out of dormancy.

Like a command given to it, the Fire-attributed Mana was distributed all around his body equally, rubbing against his muscles, bones, tendons, organs and cells gingerly.

His system broke down, before rebuilding instantly and breaking down again.

These painful actions repeated themselves over and over, until the energy was done fusing into him.

Barely two seconds had passed during the process, but it had felt like an hour. His body was brimming with energy. Power coursed through his being in waves, intoxicating him.

The clarity in Kenzo’s eyes returned, but the rage churning within him was still there. The deep scowl on his beastial face was enough evidence.

Kenzo wasn’t sure what had just happened with the Fire-attributed Mana he had absorbed, but he knew he had to take advantage of his... well, advantage.

It was now or never!

He raised a palm, and Noriko felt a force wrestle with his control over the flames swirling around him. He resisted fiercely, resulting in Kenzo receiving a backlash. However, Kenzo was unbothered. Noriko was going to die. In fact, he was already dead.

No one could read or follow Kenzo’s movement. They only realized that he was suddenly standing behind Noriko, his large arm having gone through his chest, holding onto a mass of tender flesh beating at rhythmic intervals and oozing fresh blood.

Noriko’s eyes widened. He didn’t register the movements, nor did he feel the pain he expected.

When the pain did come though, his eyes widened further, not because of the pain, but because he seemed to have regained his senses in that moment, breaking off from the control of the Wild Pink Rose.

"W..w.hy?" He sputtered in a barely audible voice, choking up a mouthful of heated blood. His eyes burned with anger, fear, regret and resentment before he collapsed, his head slumping and his body slipping from Kenzo’s arms, dropping to the ground.

But before the body could hit the ground, Kenzo snatched it out of the air on instinct, and took a huge bite out of it.

CRUNCH!

There was no hesitation in his actions, just pure brutality with a purpose.

His munching of the body was sickening, but Kenzo didn’t seem to care. He could feel the energy in his body threatening to slip out of his control, and he couldn’t let that happen.

The whole body of Noriko was devoured in seconds, and the energy began to spiral inside of him.

Kenzo glanced at Damion, giving him a slight nod as his body slowly reverted. His digestive system worked wonders, compressing all of the Fire Mana in his body and pushing it into his Mana Core.

The wounds on his body healed at a visible speed; his body grew more muscular, and his hair became thicker, becoming more like a mane of living fire.

His hair wasn’t just red anymore, but now grew strands of orange, whites and gold in it—although those strands were barely visible.

If those were the only changes it would have been natural as it made him more in tune with fire. But, his nails—they had grown longer... and had turned red.

’Strange,’ Kenzo thought, bringing his hands up to his face.

He could feel his nails radiating a subtle, but intense, heat. It wasn’t dangerous to him for obvious reasons, but he knew that anyone unfortunate to be cut by it would be in for a rude awakening.

He had only come to terms with the changes to his looks when he noticed something else.

His Qi was a lot more stable. It flowed more easily, could be shaped much faster, better and with more finesse than he could before.

What warranted this change eluded him, but he had an idea. An idea that he couldn’t test just yet, not while they were in danger.

Kenzo glanced at his broken sword lying on the ground in pieces some meters away. He thought back to the new Qi control he had, and thought:

’Do I still need a sword?’ he questioned himself, gazing at his forearm as an aura of Qi formed around it, shaping into a long blade extending from his arm.

His Qi was just as pure and radiant as before. It had a silver-white brilliance to it, but then...

Kenzo’s Mana surged, and the silver-white Qi ignited, darkening from its bright brilliance into a crimson, demonic blade.

’I don’t need a sword... I am one.’