Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 88: The Showdown (2)

Toby and Damion kicked off the ground at the same time, dashing straight ahead with all intents to kill.

Damion’s skin itched again, and his brows furrowed in confusion. His mind raced with thoughts of what might be causing the itch, but he ultimately had to drop that and focus on the battle.

A large blue axe of three meters appeared in Toby’s hand, and he brandished it diagonally, its massive blade cutting through the wind seamlessly.

Its descent was stalled by a calculated swing from Damion’s own flaming sword, and Toby was forced a step back, his wrists ringing from the rebound.

Damion smirked as he moved to the side, letting another axe swing miss him by a hair’s breadth. He took in a deep breath, his eyes flashing with a malevolent light as he bashed the flaming club in his hand at Toby’s knee.

Toby faltered, his knee bending just the slightest bit before springing back into position. His grip on his axe tightened, and he roared, a yellow aura blazing around him and his weapon.

Sparks flew as the weapons clashed again, and Damion’s eyes narrowed. Something about Toby had changed.

Damion deflected a stroke from above, twisting his spear to lock Toby’s and then unleash a sharp punch to his jaw.

His head snapped back, his bones groaning, muscles straining and his veins and arteries stretching. The blazing yellow energy grew fiercer, and his head shot back, the yellow of his eyes beginning to spread.

There was barely a pause from them as they traded blows with full force.

Damion didn’t know when and where Toby had learnt such Martial Arts, but he appeared to have great mastery in it. His movements were fluid, transitioning from one form of attack to the other. He did it so seamlessly and quickly it looked as if he was dancing.

Damion’s on the other hand was sharp, calculating and treacherous. His sync with his ability concept was getting deeper, and his understanding of body control and stealth was growing.

He vanished in a swirl of black, the remnants of a Shadow Pulse creating a portal he used to reappear by Toby’s side quickly.

Swift and devious, his blade struck true, sliding through the armor plates and drawing blood for the first time.

Toby grimaced, but powered through the pain and delivered a powerful downward blow.

Shadow Pulse.

Shadow Walk.

Damion reappeared, stabbing outwards with a flaming dagger and kicking off Toby’s body to retreat.

The dull echo of his boot resounded in Toby’s ears, and he paused for a second.

Damion stared ahead calmly, the beating of his heart regulated to an unnatural degree. Even with all his erratic movements, he was as calm as a lake, not the slightest ripple seen in it.

With each moment that passed that Toby wasn’t killed yet, he only became more calm and deadly. He hadn’t felt that way before, but he knew he was onto something. Something that would lead to a breakthrough soon enough.

Toby, meanwhile, was seething, his anger visible, so much so that steam began to pour out of his head, and his yellow aura increased by a notch, before condensing down into another layer of protective armor.

The yellow of his eyes spread out, his sclera turning yellow and vein-like patterns snaking around his eyes to form a stigma of sorts.

The danger he radiated suddenly spiked up, but Damion’s expression didn’t change. His purple eyes were as cold as an iceberg, the frigid look in them capable of quenching the hottest of flames.

Then they moved.

More speed, more strength.

Damion clashed with Toby, his weapon’s blade glinting dangerously under the rising sun and slashing with deadly precision.

The Tri-Nexus Plane or Convergence Dimension was created like an actual world, according to Nyx, so the normal day to day cycle occurred just like on earth.

Though for some reason, Damion could see the sun earlier than usual.

Had he lost track of time? Probably. But it wasn’t to the point where something like this would go unnoticed.

Another swing, and the purple flames banged against Toby’s pauldron, the tongues licking at its metal greedily.

It melted, but quickly reformed from an activation of its skill.

Damion felt Toby’s strength increase as the sun rose higher. His power output, speed, reflexes and battle IQ saw a drastic change.

Damion wasn’t on the backfoot just yet, but he appeared to be getting there, slowly but surely.

’That’s no sun,’ Nyx said urgently into Damion’s mind.

Damion didn’t stop even as he heard these words. He couldn’t, not now when there was a predator bearing down on him with killing intent.

Another clash led to a stalemate, and Damion found himself pushing harder to not take a step back. Regardless, his expression remained the same.

Suddenly there was an explosion of information in his mind, and for the first time his face twitched, a hint of emotion showing in them.

Toby took advantage of the short lapse in his movements to sneak in a blow, the blunt edge of his axe slapping Damion’s shoulder like a hammer.

Damion grunted a little, but he was relatively unharmed due to Dragon’s Reflective Skin.

Toby wasn’t fortunate enough to use the sharp blades of the axe due to a maneuver of Damion at the last moment, but a win was a win... or so he thought.

Damion felt the itch again, and he resisted the urge to start clawing at his skin to ease his discomfort.

He wasn’t sure what was going on, but the moment a notification appeared in his view, his eyes narrowed into slits, and a grin more scary and sinister than the devil’s, spread across his cheeks.

[Dragon’s Reflective Skin- Level 6(12)]

Toby felt a cold shiver run down his spine, and he jumped back, firing a beam of his yellow energy in a bid to slow him down. However... 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Damion burst through the beam forcefully, the itch in his skin reaching a tipping point.

He grinned a toothy grin, his teeth beginning to elongate into sharp black fangs.

Tiny black protrusions grew from his limbs, torso, and the sides of his face, before growing into abyssal black scales that absorbed light itself.

His nails elongated into dark purple claws, their curvature edged with an unnatural sharpness. His hands, feet and chest widened, and he grew a few inches taller, his muscles and bones condensing and increasing to match his height.

And last but not least, his tailbone reformed, a long, thick, black-scaled tail with a piercing Scorpion-like tip growing out of it.

The slit his eyes had become became sharper, and the only thing in his sight was his prey.

Toby felt fear creep into him as he stared into those eyes. Those weren’t the eyes of a normal human anymore, but a being that had transcended.

The table hadn’t just been turned once again, it had been flipped over.

Damion landed before Toby, his boots tearing off and his shirt seemingly burning off from his skin, leaving only his struggling military trousers.

His mana churned, and a palpable pressure radiated from his body, Dragon’s Authority’s pressure debuffing Toby by a whooping 30%. Two small bumps in his head ached, and he felt a prickle there. The same was with his back, but nothing came fort.

Damion silenced the multiple notifications flashing in his face, and concentrated on the feeling he was having.

The Mana winding up within him was disturbing, and he needed to let it out.

The temperature suddenly plummeted, and Toby’s life flashed before his eyes.

Damion opened his mouth, a black and purple ball, with hints of green in it, beginning to gather slowly.

His shadow, his most powerful tool, took shape within his mouth, and the feeling of something leaving his body caused him to hesitate.

That hesitation was thrown through the window when he instinctively understood that he wouldn’t be harmed, then he did it...

Damion breathed out a stream of scorching hot, black, purple and dark green flames.

The air shuddered and rippled, the oxygen levels reducing speedily. The faunas around burnt, their once sturdy barks giving way to the Shadow Flames’ potency.

A billowing cloud of heat, smoke and particles flew and blew around fiercely, the ground trembling at the power unleashed upon it.

The stream lasted longer than Damion wanted, but it ceased soon, and he coughed out a mouthful of smoke, with steam and smoke alike rising from his ears.

Silence ensued.

What should have been a burnt corpse layed before Damion. He didn’t know if the armor was that durable, or if his flames weren’t hot enough.

Damion wanted to believe both, but his instincts forced him to wait and watch.

His mind worked differently in his partially transformed state, but he retained all the knowledge he had, plus he gained a primal instinct that he couldn’t ignore even if he wanted to.

In due time, the burnt body of Toby twitched, and his Shadow tore off from it, rising into the air and staring at Damion.

A frown crept up Damion’s face, and he growled.

Instantly, the shadow dove back down and invaded Toby’s body, causing it to writhe, twist and turn at unnatural angles.

His skin paled, his blood draining from it as it turned pitch black. Purple lines of energy spiralled on the surface of his skin, and every wound that had been dealt to him was healed.

The armor reacted in kind, fixing itself too and clicking back into place.

The body stopped moving, then suddenly exploded into action, rolling backwards and pushing off on its palms.

It landed with a bang, axe in hand, staring straight ahead... then it kneeled, uttering in a deep, rumbling voice that echoed from its mouth:

"Greetings, my Liege!"