Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 64: The Beast Within

"A job well done my liege," a voice suddenly came from behind Damion, and he spun on his feets, his O-Katana appearing in his hand.

He found a blur speeding towards him, and in a swift motion, he crossed his sword and arm in his front.

[Dragon’s Reflective Skin has been activated]

He felt his skin itch, but he ignored the feeling and slashed at the blur, but at the last moment, the target changed direction, spinning on the balls of their feet and swinging their Short Swords at him.

[Shadow Pulse has been activated]

Drax retreated, skidding across the ground and stopping his movements.

"Nice reaction speed," Drax said. "I remember there was a time you wouldn’t see me coming until you were already knocked to the ground."

Drax threw Damion a contemptuous gaze and chuckled evilly. "Anyway... I’ll be taking that horn," he said again. "Thanks for the kill."

Damion’s eyes narrowed. "You can try, but I’l..."

Drax blasted forward, streaking like a ray of light and attacking Damion with his Scramasaxes. "Not everyone gets a chance to say their lines!" He shouted as he pierced out.

Damion’s gaze focused. He could partially read Drax’s movements due to him being in the range of Dragon’s Authority, but his superspeed was a problem.

’I have no choice then,’ Damion thought as he barely parried the Scramasax, stopping it from piercing his shoulder.

His Tang Dao appeared in his other hand, and Drax paused for a moment, before a wild grin appeared on his face and he pressed forward.

"So you’re him!" He hollered, jetting forward again, his weapons raised. "I knew it! I just knew I recognized that figure from somewhere, but when you claimed to not be... you, I changed my mind and tried to figure out why I felt a sense of familiarity."

"You talk too much," Damion merely said, shooting forward with almost a 50% boost to his speed.

"Agony huh?" Drax commented. "Wait till everyone hears about it."

Damion scoffed. "Snitching wouldn’t make any difference."

"But I will," Drax retorted.

Damion traded blows with Drax again. He had sustained several cuts, and his body was already covered in numerous small lacerations and tears. However, as soon as the boost of the Tang Dao triggered, his aura shifted, and Drax’s momentum came to a sharp halt with Damion matching him evenly.

Damion’s swords cut through the air in one swift motion, and Drax retreated, surprised by the sudden speed.

"You’re still no match for me," Drax declared and took a running stance.

He sheathed his Scramasaxes, but still held them. His Mana surged, and a sheen of golden light coated his lower body.

Drax took a step forward and seemingly vanished. Damion failed to track his speed, so he just activated Shadow Walk, teleporting away from harm’s way.

Drax didn’t stop though. He sliced off the horns of the Rhino smoothly and made away with it, his laughter lingering in the air as he disappeared into the thicket.

Damion grinded his teeth against each other so hard his gum almost bled. The Rhino which he had suffered to kill was now almost useless to him. Its Core was located in its horns, so he had failed to get its Essence, Core and horns.

"All that effort... wasted," Damion uttered angrily.

"You will die, Drax." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Damion retreated, trying his best to find a way out of the situation. They had stumbled upon the Rhinos luckily, and he remembered the fearful aura they gave off.

He ignored that for now and contemplated deeply. He needed to find a way to quickly find another Steel-Plated Grey Rhino before dawn.

Damion glanced at the dead Rhino by his side, and a thought entered his mind.

He took a step forward and placed a hand on it, activating his storage right after.

"At least something went as planned," he commented as the carcass of the beast was sucked into his storage.

Just then, an explosion rocked the atmosphere, and a rippling shockwave passed over him, causing the trees and plants around to wave in the air and sway vigorously.

His head snapped in the direction it came from, and he hurriedly made his way over to the source.

He got there just in time to see Lyra huffing and panting with her arms raised.

Her two Exoskeleton arms seemed to have merged to form one huge cannon, and when he followed the direction it faced, he found a Rhino in a trench, a burning hole in its side.

’Such intense firepower,’ Damion thought as he stared at the smoking hole.

Lyra lowered her arms and dropped to her knees, her helmet opening up as she gasped for air, taking in several mouthfuls at once.

"I hope it’s over," she said. "I can’t do this anymore, I’m so tired."

Damion landed beside her, and Kenzo came a moment later. Both stared at the sprawled figure of the petite girl, and they shook their heads simultaneously.

Lyra was a little too lazy.

Suddenly a roar took their attention away from Lyra, and the trio looked up.

"Matilda," Damion and Kenzo chorused.

They ran ahead, following the roar and passing through a clearing and lots of bushes before coming to a stop.

Their eyes darted around, staring at the destruction that had occured. Then their eyes landed on the two causes of it all.

"Not again," Kenzo muttered, gripping his sword’s hilt tighter.

Damion heard this, and he looked towards him for clarification.

Kenzo felt the gaze, and he unwillingly began to explain.

"There’s a terrible side effect of her Ability," Kenzo began, gesturing at the three meter tall being Matilda had become.

Matilda’s whole body was covered in black scales —including her face— and there were green glowing lines in-between each scale.

Her clothings had practically been destroyed by the increase in her size, and the tangible green aura in the surrounding thirty meters of her turned everything it touched into a blackened, poisoned mass.

Her legs were digitigrade, and long claws curved out from her finger tips, tearing into the ground as she stood on all fours.

Her hair had become tangled. It seemed to have grown longer with her transformation, turning into a two meters long black and dark green mess. And last but not least, a tail grew from her tailbone, its thickness visible as it swayed slowly and dangerously from side to side.

"In this form, she loses all sense of reasoning and attacks everything she comes in contact with... including humans."