[Thats!?]

The dragons voice had been calm until now, but it now carried a hint of surprise. It seemed he realized what the black mana surrounding my body was.

[You already took that step?]

Stop saying things I cant understand!

I thrust my spear forward. The platinum spear devoured Enigma and instantly elongated to dozens of meters in length. Without me having to think about it, my mana moved subconsciously along the path of Divine Speed and pierced through the center of the dragons wing. Shocked, he flapped his wings and shouted.

[This speed and power and this mana pattern I cant grasp. Its as I thought!]

Countless fireballs appeared in the air once more. At the same time, a crushing pressure descended on my body. Clearly, he was trying to prevent me from moving with Divine Speed! The fireballs then hurled towards me and detonated.

[Ill protect Shin!]

[Ill help too!]

Ruyue and Sharana reacted before it was too late, but because of the sheer number of fireballs, they couldnt block them all with their power. And since the fireballs were part of a dragons magic, Steels Extort was limited against it.

[Show me more! Your power, prove it to me!]

I will even if you dont tell me! Peika!

I clenched my teeth and shouted. Peika immediately infused herself into my platinum spear and boosted the spears lightning power. Now that I think about it, I had to give it a name soon. Something like Rose Spear.

Haaaaaap!

I pulled my spear back before thrusting it forward heavily. At the same time that Ruyue and Sharana flew to the side, the dragons flaps became fiercer, and a powerful gale blew towards me.

My spear of lightning strengthened by Enigma collided with the dragons calamity class blades of wind! Sharanas quick interference weakened his wind blades to an extent, but they were still incredibly powerful.

Kuk!

[To think you can even clash with me directly.]

Since a while ago, the dragon had nothing but praise for me. Even so, his attacks never seemed to slacken. He simultaneously used two or three magic at all times. His favorite magic seemed to be applying sporadic pressure, creating and shooting countless fireballs, summoning and dropping down huge boulders.

[Im curious as to how long youll last.]

Thats what I want to say.

Enigma wasnt just a strong type of mana. It stood above other mana and could nullify or dominate them. In a way, it was similar in position to Steels Extort.

And now, I could fully control Enigma without having to use Overlord.

When Steel absorbed the Enigma covering my body, it immediately began to transform. While Dortu couldnt strengthen Steel with his power, things were different now that Enigma was under my control.

The transformed Steel was still thinner than the old Pure Black Desire, but it became thick enough to be called an armor. Reinforced by Enigmas power, Steel began to extort everything that hit my body. However, the dragon let out a snort in response to seeing this.

[Indeed, its powerful. But thats all you can do with that threatening mana!?]

If anything, the dragons ability to use magic was a cheat. Without any preparatory movement, a torrential acidic rain began to fall from only the sky directly above me. Even Ruyues ice barriers reinforced by Sharanas power couldnt withstand its force and shattered.

[That is a mana I cant use. If thats all you can do with that mana, then you do not have the qualification! I will retrieve that power for myself!]

It wasnt yours, to begin with, dont take things that arent yours!

I tightened my grip on my spear. Concentrating Peruta Circuits power on the spear tip, I created a whirlpool of Enigma. Then, I thrust it into the air.

Take this instead!

Again, an immense pressure descended on my body, but I stole it using Extort and added its energy to the whirlpool I shot out. Instantly, the whirlpool spiraled up and sucked in the torrent of acidic rain. After devouring the acidic rain and all of its mana, the whirlpool changed direction and shot towards the dragon.

[Not bad, but not enough!]

Hu!

The dragon easily created a barrier of giant mana comparable in defensive power to the barriers Ruyue created before. In response, I thrust my spear towards the barrier. The stream of Enigma shot out of the spear tip and stuck to the edges of the barrier. With a smile, I yanked on my spear.

[Hm!?]

The barrier disappeared. Soon, the whirlpool of Enigma and acidic rain struck the dragons body.

Following up, I took the giant barrier I stole from him and compressed it down to a ball. Using the spear as its handle, I swung it down on him. With a boom, his scales popped up into the air like petals falling from a cherry blossom tree. It was the first effective attack I landed on him.

[Indeed, thats a fearsome power!]

Now you know? Looks like youre all mana and no brain.

I detonated the mana to round off the attack, but he flapped his wings and blocked it with his own mana. At the same time, he created mana bullets in the air..

The sky was filled with the mana bullets he created. Like stars in the night sky, there was a truly countless number of them. It showed just how much mana he carried.

[Will you be able to steal all of these from me?]

Why dont we try?

The mana bullets shot towards me. With the sheer number of them, dodging them was simply impossible.

Preparing myself for anything that might happen, I imbued mana into Steel. At that moment, intense flames that were impossible to nullify ignited around my body.

I already knew he had multiple means of attack! Thankfully, I was completely immune to status effects. Otherwise, this fight would have ended as his victory a long time ago. A dragon was skilled in all types of magic, and with this particular dragons absurd level of charm, mental attacks and status effect magic were also possible.

[Lets see how long you can keep up that mana!]

How long? I dont have a time limit anymore!

I shouted as I shot towards him. I was still under the effect of Divine Speed. The halo that began to shine radiantly from the moment I began to use Enigma asserted its presence to the dragon.

A dragons magic, lets see it!

From that point, the fight continued for 10 hours. While the dragons magic was powerful, my elementals limited the types of magic he could use. At the same time, it was also hard for me to pierce his magic power defense and deal a critical blow.

However, there was something I gained during this period. I had grown more used to using Enigma and Steel. I got used to the dragons power, and I could now gage his power to an extent.

Ah, I see.

I suddenly came to a realization.

This is how Sherafina expresses others strengths with numbers.

Understanding your power and understanding the targets power, setting absolute numerical values to express ones strengths. It was simpler than I imagined. Sherafinas ability to quantify my strength was shocking at first, but after fighting the dragon for several hours, I had also learned to do it.

Still, Sherafina shortened this process to an absurdly short amount of time. She was truly an amazing existence.

[That power of yours, Ive witnessed it well.]

Though he didnt show his emotions, I could tell he was tired. His body was full of wounds from our drawn out fight, and his left wing was completely tattered. Many of his silver colored scales had also been torn off and were now floating in the air.

[But you dont quite live up to my expectation.]

The scales suddenly began to change. In Greek mythology, there was a story where a prince sowed a dragons teeth in the earth to make powerful warriors. Similarly, this dragon was imbuing mana into his scales and creating miniature dragons.

[Lets finish this. I will take that power!]

Hmph.

I snorted. At the same time, Dortu received my mana and began to create numerous metallic mirrors in the air. It was my small fry elimination skill!

You’ve made a mistake.

[Hm!?]

In the next moment, the dragons created from his scales all became petrified. Dortu then transformed them into metal, and Peika imbued her lightning into them. All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

I then shot everything towards the dragon.

[Kuk!?]

It seemed even he didnt expect this to happen. The dragons blood shot up in the air as a countless number of metallic balls dug into his body and frazzled with lightning. I then took in the dragons blood with Enigmas power.

Attack!

[I am Dortu. Following Masters command.]

Dortus metallic mirrors absorbed the dragons blood and began to shine. In the next moment, they transformed into crimson knives and hurled towards the dragon.

[Kahak!]

This was the first time I heard him scream. But my attack didnt end yet. Activating Death Collection, I poured out my overflowing death energy and summoned a large number of death swords.

When I applied Enigma and death energy to everything, a terrifying amount of weapons comparable to the number of mana bullets the dragon previously created filled up the air.

[You were hiding that power?]

I wasnt hiding anything. You just couldnt detect it.

Enigma surged up. It wasnt something I received from someone, but something I created myself. Before I noticed, another ring of light appeared above my spinning halo.

Now die!

The weapons all stabbed into the dragon. It seemed he planned to blink out, but I was holding him still with my spear. Flesh, blood, and bones burst out of his body. But instead of screaming, he shouted happily.

[Right, you should have at least this much power! Now Im satisfied!]

For the first time, I felt the circulation of his mana. However, this mana didnt just flow inside his body. It was resonating with something in this world and rising up explosively.

Realizing where it was coming from, I looked up.

Previously, I thought the dragon was covering the worlds light, but that wasnt it. It was the dragon that was creating the light in the first place.

To be exact, what was endlessly shining was an absurdly large object.

[But you are still unqualified! Since I cant be sure I cant defeat you, well just have to die together!]

Are you crazy!?

This was the first time I was seeing something like it. A true meteor. Judging from its size, heat, and kinetic energy, it could very well destroy several planets in our solar system.

[Lets see if you can petrify this!]

I cant petrify objects anyways!

While I worked my brain to think up a way to survive, the dragon retorted with a grin.

[The dragons I created before werent alive either, what nonsense are you talking about now?]

What?

I immediately thought back to what happened. Indeed, the dragons he created from his scales only learned to move thanks to his mana. At best, they could be called artificial lives. They werent truly alive. But at the time, I petrified them without much thought.

Did I overcome this limit unknowingly while using Enigma?

But still, I cant petrify that!

[Right, you cant. Thats why well die together.]

As I wasnt a dragon, I wasnt able to read his expression well, but I was sure he was feeling quite happy with himself.

You bastard, you were planning on doing this from the start!

[Not from the start, but from when I realized I couldnt beat you.]

Uaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I threw my spear at him. But it was impossible to kill him, when hes entirely given up on attacking me and was focusing on staying alive until the meteor killed us both.

In the end, there was only one answer.

Fine, Ill show you.

I clenched my teeth. As I pulled my spear back, I closed my eyes.

I stopped thinking about controlling Enigma, focusing all of my attention on a single point on the tip of my spear.

[You dont have time to fool around!]

I am Dortu. Master is focusing. Dortu will stop you.

Perhaps because he absorbed power from the metals I threw at the dragon, I could hear Dortus voice with my ears rather than my mind. Has he materialized for the first time? Im curious! I want to look, but I cant!

What I had to look was something else. The attack I succeeded for the first time when I was showing Sumire. That miraculous attack which was the result of my talent for concentrating energy.

Huu

After gathering everything I could and concentrating them on the spear tip, I took a deep breath.

Before I noticed, an intense heat was in front of me. I could tell without opening my eyes just how close the meteor has come.

I shot my spear forward.

The world became white.