Aiden took a small breath, refusing to let even a hint of worry appear on his face.
His Draconic eyes scanned the area in front of the ship before turning, looking at the two beings that had inexplicably managed to sorely irritate him.
The past several hours had been incredibly annoying for him. From battling against that abnormally tough cockroach-like human, to watching as the other human ignored him to pay for the wake of Aiden’s spar, to everything onward and in-between.
He was here on a mission, helping escort Mira to look for her grandmother, but he couldn’t help but bristle. These humans were incredibly daring, both the one that constantly switched forms and the one that he had sparred with.
Leader, the one he had fought, was tough and strong, and Aiden sensed that he had hidden a great deal of his true strength when they fought in and over the city. Neither one of them had truly been going all out, both were simply testing the other.
Leader was also incredibly prideful, refusing to bend even the slightest bit to a fierce and mighty Golden Flame Dragon like himself.
What was even more confounding, however, was the fanatic respect and adoration Leader showed to the other human, the one Mira said had a connection with her grandmother and was one of her inheritors.
The one named Dorian.
Aiden couldn’t sense anything that felt even remotely threatening off of the man. He could barely sense even the slightest hint of Law about him, and the only magic he could detect was extremely low level.
Aiden found that incredibly worrying.
‘How strong is he? How much weaker am I that he can hide his strength so well? I can’t sense a damn thing.’ There was no way the prideful human would treat someone weaker than him with that much adoration and respect.
Thus he found himself in a conundrum.
He could not tolerate the unbridled arrogance of the prideful human, but he couldn’t act without facing off against the chief of the two humans. The strength of the chief human, however, was an unknown. The sheer adoration the lesser human treated him with, combined with that lesser human’s strength, had made Aiden wary.
‘Could he be Late King Class? Pseudo-Angelic Class? A multiple Law Practitioner?’ A deluge of possibilities ran through his mind.
After thinking it over, he eventually reached a decision.
The human inheritor of Lady Ausra wasn’t someone he could kill or harm, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be challenged to a duel of skill. If the human was truly as powerful as he seemed, a duel like this would reveal his true might.
So he had challenged the human.
And the human hadn’t even hesitated for a split second before nodding silently, accepting the challenge with an almost bored look.
That alone had half convinced him of his strength.
He clenched his fists tightly as he focused his gaze on the shapeshifting human.
‘I will not lose to you! The pride of a Dragon cannot be defeated! I will not give in! There is no way you are better than me!’
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Dorian took a small breath, refusing to let even a hint of worry appear on his face.
He then looked out over the front of the ship, his stomach fluttering.
Large clumps of stone floated in the air, many of them sizable enough to have trees and small pools of water on them. Vines drifted off the edges of several islands, some rocky ones covered in grass, others just pure, barren stone.
Their magic ship soared through the air on a mostly direct path, only making slight adjustments to avoid distant floating islands.
“These are finely made Bound Iron Knives. They will return to me after they reach more than 1,000 meters away.” Aiden said as he handed 21 of them to Dorian. The Golden Flame Dragon was currently glaring at him, his eyes full of what looked to Dorian like unchecked anger.
Each knife was thin, far thinner than a blade or most other knives. Dorian held the large collection in his hand, slowly organizing them. Because of how thin they were, he could just barely manage to hold all 21 in a single hand.
Each knife, despite its relative thinness, must’ve weighed around 10 pounds (4.4 kg). If Dorian had been a normal human, there was no way he would’ve been able to casually hold 21 of them in his left hand.
“I will go first. We will see if you are as great a warrior as your subordinate says.”
“Hmph. You will be holding your tongue soon, Dragon.” Leader broke in with a retort, his voice oozing confidence, as if Dorian had already won.
Dorian simply blinked outwardly while internally panicking.
‘Crap! How am I supposed to do this? I don’t know how to throw knives at all, let alone how to make them hit at the right angle to keep another knife flying in the air, especially with all this wind!’
The breeze on Lansc was still as chaotic as he had observed before, characteristic of the haphazardly set floating island Exotic Planet. The ship they were on was magically shielded from the wind, but anything that left more than 2 meters from it would be beset by the chaotic currents.
“Watch, lest you miss the dawn of greatness.” The Golden Flame Dragon eyed him and Leader askance before turning to face the front of the ship, his voice full of unstoppable confidence.
WHOOSH
Aiden threw forward the first knife, his right arm a blur as he perfectly shot it out in front of them.
Dorian watched it go, able to clearly pick it out thanks to both his Demonic Eyes, and the fact that his Wrath Vampire form had incredibly keen senses, like most Vampires. He opted to not mess with it using his soul to twist Fate, not when the Golden Flame Dragon was intensely watching its every movement. The energy cost in manipulating the Fate of the masterful King Class warrior’s precision was probably prohibitive, energy he might end up needing for himself.
The Bound Iron Knife sailed up high into the sky and then slowly began to fall, cutting down in a near perfect arc, only marred slightly by the gusting winds that surrounded it.
TINK
A metallic clinking sound echoed out as a second knife perfectly collided with the first, redirecting it into another upward arc.
Aiden had thrown the knife silently, completely under Dorian’s attention. Dorian hadn’t even seen his arm move, so caught up was he with trying to keep an eye on the main knife.
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TINK
TINK
TINK
Aiden threw three more knives in succession, each one perfectly timed to redirect the main knife back up into the air.
‘How is he doing this?!’ Dorian’s eyes widened ever so slightly in genuine shock and respect.
The Dragon was aiming with such precision and mastery that each impact perfectly transferred the needed force, sending the main knife exactly where he wanted it.
Leader, who was standing by Dorian’s side, was merely grunting and nodding, as if this was expected.
‘How high level are these two?’ It was only now that Dorian was truly realizing how ridiculously skilled his companions were. The power and capability one needed to reach the King Class was absolutely not something a common person could ever reach or muster.
‘And to think Yukeli absolutely destroyed Leader with ease…’
TINK
TINK
The Golden Flame Dragon hit the main knife twice more. As he finished hitting it the second time, however, a frown appeared on his face.
An unexpected gust of wind had bounced off a nearby island at an odd angle, slightly redirecting the angle of Aiden’s main knife. The dragon had only a split second to react to the change, throwing forward another knife.
TINK
This knife just barely managed to redirect the falling main knife. The first knife, however, was starting to wobble and tumble, not able to fully maintain its power.
TINK
TINK
TINK
Aiden managed three more knife throws, each one an attempt to straighten out the first knife. His throws carried a large amount of strength and precision, each one designed to hit the main knife at a pivotal point, shaping its arc.
TINK
Finally, Aiden managed one final throw before the main knife tumbled off to the side, unable to achieve a good angle.
“Huff…” The Golden Flame Dragon was slightly out of breath. The extreme concentration it needed to be able to calculate and predict the positions of the knives while also accounting for changes in the wind was at an astronomical level. The duel alone was an exercise in exhaustion.
“Eleven knives. You barely passed the halfway mark. My Great Lord could easily crush such a record.” Leader spoke aloud as the Golden Flame Dragon finished, his voice full of pride and confidence,
“Pathetic.”
‘Damn it, Leader! Stop egging him on!’ Dorian mentally swore at his subordinate, making an internal promise to never take on any other subordinates that were as prideful as him.
Aiden turned around, glaring fire at Leader. He was just about to respond when another voice cut in,
“Aiden… what are you doing with the inheritor?” Mira walked up above deck, looking at the trio curiously.
Aiden ducked his eyes for a single split second, a hint of guilt appearing in them that was immediately quashed.
“Just a friendly competition, Mira.” He shrugged, waving his hands at Dorian.
“Well, ‘Great Lord?’ You should be able to easily surpass that, right? Please, shower upon us your might.” His voice was full of feigned warmth. Mira looked on, a hint of disapproval appearing in her eyes.
Leader donned a smug smirk as he watched this, as if waiting to take pleasure in Aiden’s loss.
Dorian took a deep breath, feeling as if he was about to burn a hole through his stomach. He blinked slowly, his focus on the air in front of him.
Without hesitation, he grabbed a knife from the 21 he was holding and threw it into the air. It shivered as it left the protective boundary of the skyship, cutting through the natural winds of Lansc with ease, for now.
He turned briefly, his eyes flashing as he stared at Aiden and yelled aloud, his voice holding absolute confidence,
“Do not question this Godly Vampire!”
Dorian grabbed the 19 other knives with both hands.
And then hurled them forward all at once.
Aiden’s jaw dropped.
Leader’s jaw dropped.
Mira’s jaw dropped, despite her not quite understanding what was going on.
Dorian smiled mysteriously and closed his eyes, the picture of cool assuredness.
Internally, he focused with all his might upon his soul, putting every iota of willpower he held into twisting Fate.
‘Please, please, please work!’