CHAPTER 20: CLEAR SHOT

XENON WINGATE

2 ½ YEARS AGO

Serena was a weak and fragile girl. But the blood that is flowing through her veins has witnessed thousands of years of warfare. Her grandfather and her father are warriors, and she’s a lady that has a natural talent in the course of combat. Aside from that, she is a dragonoid that has the power to turn into a powerful and rare Nexus Dragon. Nexus Dragons have the power to utilize extraordinary feats by assessing emotional, psychological, and magical connections from a dragon knight.

Her magical forging powers is a great example of that link to me. She is able to magically create weapons with the help of the fingerless gloves I gave to her, which contains my essence. With the help of her bloodline magic Nexus Link, she can utilize my combat experiences, reflexes, and magic, and at it all to her own abilities. With that power, she will always be one step ahead of me in terms of battle capabilities.

“Haaaah!” Serena used her short sword to slice through the last fireball projectile. Now that she’s two meters away from the opponent witch dragonoid, she kicked the floor with her full force.

Suddenly, Serena disappeared from everybody’s sight. Z looked from left to right, only to be disappointed in not finding Serena.

“W-Where is she-” The witch dragonoid muttered, but she was cut by a powerful slash from behind! “Kyah!”

The elemental witch fell down to the ground after taking a clean cross-slash from behind. Thankfully, Serena used the flat edges of her swords so that it wouldn’t hurt the opponent dragonoid.

“Z has been eliminated from the duel!” The referee soldier announced.

“Fucking wanker!” Alphonse cried in panic. 

He finally stopped hitting my shield with his elemental bladed chains. Seeing that his precious dragonoid has been knocked down, he was stunned for one second. I took the opportunity to charge forward, with my blaster shield in front. I’m a little bit sluggish, so Alphonse noticed it immediately.

“As if I would let you shitface get close!” Alphonse jumped back and whipped his chains at me. Eight of the bladed chains was blocked by my shield, but two of it was able to sneak out and slash my right bicep and left thigh.

“Guh!” I cried as I almost fell down on the ground. Good thing I had my blaster shield as my third foot.

“It doesn’t matter if you defeated Z! I will take you down myself!” Alphonse cried as he whipped his elemental chains twice as fast than before. Specks of fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning dust showered upon my body as I completely nullify his attacks with my shield. Even though I can withstand the attack, the shaking impact of every hit makes me a lot dizzier.

“Senpai!” Serena shouted as she flanked towards the left of the enemy. She jumped back to maintain a distance of eight meters. 

With vigor and grace, Serena combined the handles of her short swords to form a curved longbow. She swiped her fingers from the top edge of her bow towards the bottom edge, magically forging a bowstring. Pulling the center of the bowstring with her right hand, she used the magic that I have given to her.

“Forge.” Five long golden needles materialized as her arrows, aimed at the enemy and ready to fire anytime. “Haaaah!”

Five arrows shattered the wind barrier with extreme speed.

“Fuck!” Alphonse exclaimed as he withdrew his chains and created a wall using his steel tendrils. 

Three of the golden arrows were blocked, but there are two lucky arrows that passed through the holes of his chains. It hit Alphonse’s tummy and left shoulder which gave him a small knockback. It’s not enough to put him down. Serena should deliver a clean shot to win this fight.

“Fwah!”

Now that nothing is attacking me, I can now get close to him! I bolted forward again until I was a meter away. Noticing me getting close again, I became the subject of his metallic whips for the hundredth time. But that is what I wanted him to do. My purpose is to tank all of his attacks so that Serena can have a clear shot on the enemy,

“Forge!” Serena shouted as she swiped her fingers on the center of the bowstring. A gigantic drill-like lance was created, ready to be fired with her bow. As Serena made a deep breath, she imbued her magical energy towards her longbow and lance.

And then, she unleashed the projectile with tremendous force.

“Wha-!!!” Alphonse was hit directly on the stomach. The drill is coated with magical wind barrier magic, so the worse it can do to his body is to be launched up high in the air. He was put to the ground with such tremendous force. “Aaack!”

Seeing all these happenings, the referee soldier raised his hands and proclaimed the conclusion of the duel.

“The duel has ended! It’s a draw!”

Everybody who witnessed the fight is dumbstruck. They were all silent. They may have seen a good fight between dragon knights and dragonoids, but they are disappointed in the conclusion. Why was it a draw?

“Eh? Eeeeeeeh!?” Serena’s eyes widened, like a puppy who does not have any idea what’s happening in the world. When Serena looked at me, she finally realized why the duel ended that way. She found me lying flat on the ground on my tummy. Incidentally, I hit the ground at the same time as my opponent was knocked out.

Let me explain. I got a hangover that aches my brain, and I suffered from pressure assaults from my enemy’s magical chains. It made my knees weak and my dizziness went way worse. And when Serena unleashed her final attack, the excessive magical wind vacuumed me to the ground without much resistance. And so, I was knocked out too.

“Senpai! Are you okay!?” Serena went to my side and held my hand.

“Y-Yeah…” I muttered. “I just think I’m sick…”

Suddenly, the opponent dragon knight went to my side. Alphonse had this serious look on her face. He’s giving me a cold gaze. He must be pissed that I can go toe-to-toe with him even with my hangover and promise to not attack in the whole fight. 

“You fucking shitface...” Alphonse smiled as he lent out his hand. “Nice fight!”

Then the dragon knight who’s supposed to be hating me assisted me on walking to the nearby bench. I thought he’s bitter for having the duel a draw, but it seems that there is deep sportsmanship in this man.

“You better rest. I don’t want you looking like a hammered shit while training or doing combat.” Alphonse said with a serious face.

“Aye, sir.” I weakly muttered.

“You sly bastard,” Alphonse said. “I never thought your dragonoid packs so much ability. If it wasn’t for her, you could have lost.”

“No, you could have lost. I kept my promise on not attacking the whole fight.” I grinned. “Without that handicap, we could have swooped your asses easily.”

“Then we need to schedule our next duel then,” Alphonse said as he assisted me to sit on the bench. “Next time, no handicaps. I’ll show you the true power of an Elemental Dragon. I’ll make you shit your pants that you wished that you have equipped a diaper.”

I just replied with a silent smile.

I spent the rest of the morning watching my fellow task force train in the obstacle course, while my dragonoid Serena took care of me on the bench. Serena gave me painkillers and feed me with hot soup which made me feel a lot better. By afternoon, I was able to join their training.

After my duel with Alphonse, I feel a lot more shitty than usual. The people who witnessed the fight are frustrated that I let my dragonoid do all the work in that battle. In their eyes, I look like a weak and lazy dragon knight who does not care about my dragonoid’s wellbeing. I’m fully aware of it, and I have fully accepted how people think of me. I took all the attacks in that duel and never shares the glory of my partner. That’s the fate of a decoy tank like me. Tanks are always treated like shit, just like in videogames.

That’s not the case for Serena. Soldiers who witnessed her abilities are now thinking highly of her, even though she’s just a dragonoid. They were impressed with her performance in that fight. Her magnificent reaction time and continuous casting of forging magic are beyond excellent. She’s perfect; way too perfect, compared to her lazy alcoholic dragonoid partner. Now it feels like I’m not worthy of her.

I wonder if other dragon knights feel this inner incompatibility with their dragonoids.

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