Villain Awakening: Rising to the Strongest Dragon God-Chapter 78: The Demon Knight 2

"Tch"

Auryn released slow breaths, the demon was right and he could feel the drain. But it wasn’t on his mana reserves, those were still substantial, but on his body.

Dragon fire at that intensity required physical stamina and he’d just burned through a significant amount but he could still keep going even for a day.

Auryn’s eyes grew calmer, he knew standard tactics weren’t enough at this point.

The demon knight simply had too much environmental advantage, too much control over the breach’s nature.

Auryn shifted his approach again. He had to find a way. If the demon controlled static darkness, then he’d have to keep moving. If environmental attacks came from surfaces, then he’d have to stay airborne.

In the blink of an eye, he launched himself into the air, using pillars as platforms, maintaining altitude as he sprinted.

"If only I had those bloody wings yet" he thought.

From above Auryn turned everything below to a sea of flames as he rained Fire lances down at angles the demon would have to work harder to defend against.

He moved non-stop, coming from different angles, leaping and sprinting in blurs.

The demon responded by making the pillars themselves into weapons. Shadow-spikes erupting from the surfaces Auryn used for leverage.

But this divided the demon’s attention, forced him to attack both horizontally and vertically, created openings that Auryn expected—

--And he exploited, using one such opening, he formed a Fire Lance mid-leap and threw it but not at the demon directly but the ground beside him.

The detonation on impact created a shockwave that disrupted the demon’s footing. The demon staggered for just a moment but that was all he needed.

Auryn blurred again, he landed hard, planting his feet, and charged directly at the demon in a fluid motion, his consecrated blade glowed with draconic essence as he closed the distance.

Swiftly feinting high, he struck low, using his smaller size and mobility against the demon’s larger frame.

Their weapons met. Consecrated steel meeting solid darkness but this time Auryn didn’t try to overpower, he only needed to create a path as his body billowed with steam.

He redirected the spear’s force to slide past while his clawed hand tore across the demon’s torso, seeking flesh beneath shadow-wrappings.

He knew it was still human underneath all that horror atleast for now.

His claws tore through whatever substance composed the demon’s body as he drew a black substance that hissed when it hit the ground.

The demon’s smile vanished in that moment. His white eyes flared but the emotion behind it was difficult to comprehend. Was it anger or was it excitement? Auryn couldn’t tell.

"There it is," the demon whispered even as began retreating.

"The dragon finally shows his teeth," he smiled.

"Or is it his claws," the wound on its torso was quickly closing up as he smirked.

But Auryn pressed the advantage, not giving the demon time to fully recover.

This was the opening he needed. Close range with the demon momentarily off-balance and his ranged control shortened.

Auryn activated his partial transformation to the maximum. Scales spread further across his whole body, his draconic features becoming more pronounced. His muscles bulked with enhanced strength, claws extended to full length.

Heat built in his chest like a furnace reaching critical pressure. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The demon knight’s tongue clicked as he sensed it. That gathering of draconic essence that preceded something devastating.

He tried to create distance even faster, the shadow-spear in his hand dissolving so he could relocate through the breach’s darkness fully.

But—

Auryn didn’t let him. His left hand shot out and grabbed the demon’s arm, the one with fused black clots instead of fingers.

He held on with strength enhanced by desperation and his enhanced transformation form.

The flesh felt odd with a sensation of hotness and coldness but he held on anyway.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Auryn growled, his voice deeper with a crack.

The demon’s solid white eyes widened.

"Don’t—"

The steam rising from Auryn’s body intensified. His dragon blood was boiling, pressure building then suddenly it all receded inwards.

He opened his mouth. Crimson sparks emerged first. Like stars being born, they floated and coalesced in the air before him, growing brighter, hotter, denser.

The demon struggled against his grip, real panic entering those solid white eyes as he realized what was coming.

The sparks merged into a single point of searing light. Then Auryn released everything.

’Roar of the Crimson Dragon.’

The attack erupted at point-blank range. Pressurized dragon fire that carried concussive force and physical pressure that exploded outward with Auryn as the source and the demon directly in front of him.

All this happened in a heartbeat with the demon’s scream completely swallowed by the roar itself, sound obliterated by sheer destructive power.

Auryn felt the demon’s arm tear away in his grip as the flames consumed everything, the shockwave blew them apart even as Auryn himself was thrown backward by the recoil of his own attack.

He hit the ground hard and rolled up in a defensive crouch with his blade ready.

The cavern turned chaotic. Pillars shattered from the blast, walls cracked and spread like spiderwebs, smoke filled the air with the pungent scent of burned demonic flesh.

Auryn’s Author Eyes scanned desperately for any sign of the demon’s narrative presence.

He found nothing. There was no discernible aura, just complete absence.

He’d done it. The Roar had obliterated the bastard finally.

His claws retracted instinctively as his shoulders dropped. The scales receding slightly, transformation easing back without his permission.

Like his dragon instincts had decided the threat was over and relaxed his combat form.

Then suddenly his claws shot back out more violently than ever. His body overriding itself, sensing something his conscious mind hadn’t processed yet.

"Is that all?, Your Highness?"

A voice came from everywhere within the darkness that still permeated every surface.

Multiple voices speaking in unison, all carrying that same tone and through the dissipating smoke, Auryn saw them.

Eyes—

Hundreds of them, opening across every black surface like blooming flowers.

These human-like eyes blinked and focused on him and standing in the center of the cavern, exactly where he’d been before the Roar hit him, the demon stood whole again.

He wasn’t completely unharmed. His shadow-wrappings showed scorch marks, faint traces where the flames had actually touched him.

The arm Auryn had torn away was back but with harsh wrinkles, the black clots slightly different than before.

But he was there. Alive and with a smile on his face.

"You actually thought a single breath was enough?"

He tilted his head that seemed to continuously rotate till it was upside down.