"Are you sure?" She asked as the Aqua Tira casually walked towards us, not a hint of urgency in her pace.
I chuckled,"Just don't die on me. Focus on the fight and ignore me."
"Got it."
Tarkyol's first level of power had one I would use: Draconic might.
The plan was most definitely a suicidal one. I planned to overdraft on mana repeatedly till either the aqua tira was killed or till I died.
"Beast form. Draconic might." In an instant, newfound strength flooded my veins as I saw 50 purple triangles and 50 purple squares appear on my wrist.
Following the train of logic, 50 purple would mean 500,000 red triangles. Wasting no time, I dashed forward and slammed into the dragon with unexpected speed, my throat letting out a guttural roar so terrifying and loud I never thought possible,"GRRRROAARRRRR!"
We slammed straight into the crystal wall as intense pain hit me as the dragon's jaws crunched down on my side. I landed a punch on its side, chipping away at its scales as my mana was nearly reaching its limit.
I slammed my hands down repeatedly until-
998 lives remaining.
Roaring out once more, I found renewed vigour as I continued my barrage of assaults on the dragon despite being mercilessly dragged by the waist through the walls till my spine was shattered, back muscles torn. But I persisted through the pain and kept on slamming my fists down. My weight of 10,000 was effortless to the dragon.
997 lives remaining.
My mana had run out once more,"COME!"
"GRRRAR!" The dragon challenged my roar with one of its own as we clashed once more, tearing into each other mercilessly as I finally manages to break the skin. As the dragon chomped down on one of my arms, I mercilessly bit down on its muscles, pulling them out a blood began to spray out.
"Meteoric!" I let off a flurry of punches with my remaining, each one knocking the dragon back more each time before I dropped dead again.
996 lives remaining.
"Meteoric!" I screamed again as I clashed headfirst with the dragon once more, my body slammed violently against the floor as innumerable sickening crunches of bones sounded all over my body. My maniacal nature prevented me from stopping my barrage as my fists autonomously slammed down on the dragon's tough hide,"LET'S FUCKING TANGO!" I cackled, revealing a vicious bloodied smile filled with broken teeth. My tongue was bleeding and my face terribly disfigured, several bones bent in the wrong way.
The dragon managed to catch my head in its mouth after another few short bouts all ending with my swift demise as its raw sharp teeth sank into my eyes and skull with slight difficulty due to my defences, my body still continuing its single-mindedness to kill. Mercilessness to oneself was a trait I found the most effective, especially since I had multiple lives.
My arms dislocated the dragon's jaw just as I died once more.
"SUNHEART! DRAGON'S BREATH!" I screamed as my entire body flared up, completely burning the dragon's mouth as I spat flames down its throat.
It recoiled in agony, throwing out my dead corpse as I revived again like a cockroach, seemingly able to survive anything.
887 lives remaining.
I cracked my neck as I body slammed the dragon, forming light constructs with the Luciferous imprint and stabbing them into its open wounds.
The dragon switched tactics to ranged, shooting hundreds of pressurised droplets at me,"GLUTTONY!"
In an instant, some droplets turned into mana for me to use whilst others punctured my organs, killing me repeatedly as I stood up time and time again, charging forward whilst I sent light constructs straight at him alongside blood constructs with the aid of my Sanguine imprint.
Slowly but surely, I was beginning to whittle it down but I feared-
268 lives remaining.
I breathed heavily as I felt my mind slowly being broken. Dying repeatedly was mentally taxing, compounded by the overuse of mana and the stress of facing a rank 9 only made it a recipe for disaster with it having been only eight minutes being the cherry on top of this disastrous pie.
Seeing that its master was being attacked, it wanted to rush to aid her but I prevented it from heading back to help. This only infuriated it as its attacks got increasingly vicious,"God...fucking DAMMIT! HOW MUCH FUCKING MANA DO YOU HAVE?!" I growled in frustration as I landed another punch, knocking the thing back a few centimetres before it came back with murderous vengeance, its claws caving my chest in as I staggered back and died, only to revive once more to repel it.
"VIGOUR CRYSTAL!" In an instant, the triangles shot up to seventy purple triangles as my punches got doubly fast, landing punches powerful enough to send it flying into the wall as large craters had formed. My wounds head but alas-My mana had been overexerted.
193 lives remaining.
BAM!
The claws slammed me into the ground once more as the pain grew even more. It seemed the pain grew more heightened than numb,"Haaa! Haaa!" I hyperventilated as I dealt a staggering right hook, the dragon crashing into the wall, its entire body raw and bleeding.
Another minute had passed.
My eyes turned to Charlie's fight. It was clear even she was struggling to hold her advantage. Fifteen minutes most definitely wasn't enough.
Can't go on...Like this or I'll fucking die for real!
Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind. One I really didn't want to use simply because of the crippling pain that had been vividly described to me in detail by Tom.
It seemed it would be my last resort.
But I could hold on for a bit more,"COME ON YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I dashed headstrong once more into battle's fray with the agitated and infuriated dragon. While my mana and wounds repeatedly healed, it was a different story. They were piling on slowly but surely.
104 lives remaining.
The dragon needed to end it soon, frantic as it saw its master being severely injured by Charlie. It let out a string of combos which cut down my lives by another 33 as I dropped to 71 lives.
"HOW LONG MORE CHARLIE?"
"I NEED MORE TIME! TEN MINUTES!"
"FUCK!" Ten minutes. Too much time was needed. 71 lives were far from enough.
I turned to my last resort,"SHIIIIIIIT!" I took out a small piece of meat. It was the meat from Frigus. More specifically, from it core where it stored its cold mana.
Eating this would grant an insane boost to mana but I would also most definitely freeze to death in extreme agonising pain. And yet, without hesitation, I shoved the piece of meat into my mouth and chewed it as if the concept of dying meant jack shit to me. Mana overflowed through me as intense chills and shivers racked my body. Fighting the freezing cold, I roared,"DECIPHER! METEORIC!" A rain of fire shot towards the dragon, keeping it down as my eyes fixated on the Aqua Tira's figure, trying desperately to spot any weaknesses.
"GAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed as I saw my legs turn to pure ice before quickly spreading to my hands and torso as the cold turned to intense heat which made me feel like I had fallen into lava and was burning alive. It took everything in me to not go insane as my entire body had been paralysed, my mind the only thing keeping the barrage going as my eyes were slowly glossing over with ice.
5 lives spent to break the ice. 65 lives remaining.
I could feel it. I could find its flaw. I had spotted several small ones. Not stopping, I bit down on another piece, that tortuous pain threatening to tear my mind apart appearing once more as a rain of fire shot down again.
"DECIPHER! COME ON GOD DAMMIT! LOOK HARDER!" I analysed everything as I let out inhuman screams, my throat a complete mess as the pain of thawing out and then refreezing was traumatic.
20 lives spent to break the ice. 44 lives remaining.
"SHIIIIIIIIT! COME ONNNNNNN!" I yelled in frustration and anger directed at myself. I could slowly feel the sanity leaving me as I turned into a more agitated maniac.
The dragon let out an enraged roar as it couldn't escape the barrage of my fire, sending out jets of water at me which only froze upon contact as I died once more.
Just then, I finally caught sight of it-The weakness!
30 lives spent to break the ice. 13 lives remaining.
"CHARLIE! USE WATER SPELLS! ATTACK THE IMPRINT DIRECTLY!" I screamed at Charlie as I desperately fought off the dragon, my lives dwindling down to 3,"I CAN'T HOLD ON FOR MUCH LONGER!" Hearing the urgency in my voice, her attacks grew even more intense as the aqua tira let out a bubbly screech, clawing at her viciously.
I turned to the dragon who was now even more frantically trying to get to the aqua tira, ignoring my attacks entirely,"NO YOU DON'T! PEACE AND QUIET!" In an instant, a purple sphere containing us two formed. The dragon desperately tried to break it to no avail. Realising that killing me was the only option to escaping this sphere, it roared as it charged at me.
I took out the last of the canisters,"I'LL TAKE YOU DOWN WITH ME! CHROMATIC FLAME!" The flame shot towards one of the metal canisters and in a blinding blast-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM--!
2 lives remaining.
My mind was teetering dangerously on the edge of insanity. I couldn't take much more. Dying 998 times in a row and that pain. Consuming that meat brought about so, so much pain.
I stood up once more, facing a battered down but very much alive dragon.
"Peace and quiet." I whispered hollowly. Raising my arms. The dragon quickly ended my life as I'd forgotten to even activate draconic strength in this dazed state.
This is your last life. Any death after this is permanent.
I saw the dragon weakly tackling Charlie. While it was weakened and definitely not at rank 9 strength, rank 7 at most, Charlie was injured too.
As if that cold voice had jolted me from my reverie, I stood up, my figure threatening to collapse at any moment.
One. Last. Gambit.
The aqua tira was nearly dead but had a triumphant look on her face as she saw the dragon about to maul Charlie. She was bloodied all over but her back was simply too well guarded.
My willpower kept me going just that little bit more as the dragon was temporarily repelled by her life-saving treasures.
"Just like I thought," I coughed as I grinned weakly,"I can only depend on myself."
Friendship? Dependence? Bullshit.
No one could just simply grow powerful simply by seeing friends hurt. To save them, you needed to be strong. No power-ups. No immense anger. Nothing.
All it takes, is a sprinkle bit of willpower, a dash of strength, a teaspoon of resolve and an ocean of ruthlessness.
To be willing to sacrifice everything to win, to not hold back-This was my greatest advantage. I lacked the fear of death. I licked my lips,"Time to end this hunt."
"Vigour. Draconic strength. Dragon form." I muttered as I slammed straight into the aqua tira one hand grabbing her neck in place, the utter shock on her face as my claws sank into her back, mercilessly tearing out the imprint alongside her skin and flesh brought me a little solace.
I staggered back, collapsing onto the floor.
Into...Life.