CHAPTER 39: AIRSTRIKE DRAGON

XENON WINGATE

2 YEARS AGO

Mamari’s body was enveloped with golden light as Gerald shouted the ancient magic that binds a dragon and a knight. There was a blinding flash, and the moment the light faded, the motherly dragonoid has presented her majestic dragon form.

The dragon is covered with silver plates. Its claws, fangs, and spikes on its tails are also clean silver. Its head is similar to those of a pterodactyl, only that it is covered with scarlet scales. This dragon has wings similar to a fighter jet, and its feet are similar to a falcon. This dragon lacks any front feet, but instead, it is replaced by a mechanical arm that holds a bundle of missiles. I’ve read it from news articles that this type of dragon is the most used air support unit of Alterra. It is an Airstrike Dragon.

“Rriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhhhh!!!” The Airstrike Dragon’s roar sounds like the noise of an airline plane taking off.

Gerald hopped in and spread out his hand outward. He’s holding a dagger in each hand, in which he enchanted it with magic to expand until it is now on the size of a regular scimitar. Then, the Airstrike Dragon blasted upward like a harrier, gaining an altitude of twenty meters.

“Activating Vesryn Pulse!”

Seeing the enemy getting serious, I held my chest and transformed Serena into a Nexus Dragon. I immediately rode on the nape of my dragon’s neck and spread out my buster swords, ready for the assault. As my Nexus Dragon flapped its wings, we soared up in the skies.

“U-turn Strike!” Gerald shouted. The Airstrike Dragon’s silver jet wings glowed as it immediately surged to our position with blinding speed! Silver streaks were left in the air as they go supersonic.

“Kuh!” I cried as I managed to parry Gerald’s twin scimitars with my buster swords. 

Right after the attack, the Airstrike Dragon rushed away from us, gaining altitude and distance. That U-turn Strike is an extremely quick attack, and I’m actually lucky to have been able to parry it with no problems.

“One more!” Gerald shouted. “U-turn Strike!”

There was it again. All I saw was a silver streak that rushed towards our position. I managed to block the first scimitar with my sword, but the second was a clean hit on my stomach. My shield plate dropped to 53% as soon as it recognized the damage. If only I didn’t wear this high-tech armor on, my breakfast should’ve been spilling out of my belly.    

“Graaaaaaahhhh!!!” My Nexus Dragon prepared a counterattack by breathing blue flames from her mouth, but as soon as her attack was unleashed, the Airstrike Dragon has already gained distance and altitude. That blue flame beam hit nothing but air.

There was around a two-second ceasefire. Assessing from this distance, our dragons are too far away from each other. Gerald and his Airstrike Dragon are about thirty meters above us. His U-turn Strike only has a range of about twenty meters, so he won’t be able to use it again. Not until he approach us first.

But Gerald smiled. His gaze on me tells me that everything has fallen unto his plan, and he’s just waiting to grab a hammer and nail my coffin in this fight.

“Finish them, Mamari!” Gerald shouted.

Suddenly, the Airstrike Dragon released the missiles attached on its mechanical arms. There are eight missiles overall, and each of those is about one meter long. Its rocket fuels burn so fast that the missiles have a speed of two hundred meters per hour!

“Oh shit!” I cried as I reverted my buster swords into a shield. I expanded my blaster shield into a wall that is sufficient to cover my Nexus Dragon’s head and body.

A gigantic explosion echoed. My shield only endured eighty percent of the missile explosions, and the other twenty percent was the impact of the shockwave. We may be able to withstand the attack, but the force of the explosion itself is problematic for us. It caused my shield plate to drop at 35%, and my Nexus Dragon lost its balance in the air. 

“Serena!”

My Nexus Dragon softly crashed back on the floor of the arena. She sustained minor burns on her wings, arms, and tail. Her head and body are not injured, but the force of the explosion made her a little rattled.

“Senpai, I’m sorry.” Serena telepathically whispered to me. “My wings feel painful. I won’t be able to fly for a while.”

Not waiting for us to recover, Gerald proclaimed his victory with his last attack. He pointed his scimitar straight to us, and his Airstrike Dragon growled like an angry jet engine. 

“This is over,” Gerald said. The moment he uttered those words, the Airstrike Dragon opened its mouth, revealing a large machine gun. Suddenly, eight missiles materialized on its wings, ready to fire at us again.

The roar of consecutive countless gunshots and the cries of the surging missiles dominated my ears. Without any means of evasion, all I can do is to shield myself and my Nexus Dragon from such attack by using my remaining magical force.

“Domina Roman!” I shouted as I jumped out of my dragon’s head and slammed my shield on the floor. Colorful cathedral glasses started materializing on the floor until it formed a dome that covered me and my dragon whole.

Several explosions can be heard outside the dome. Every time a missile collides with my magic dome, a crack appears. When the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth missile blasted on our giant shield, the cathedral glasses started shattering little by little. Sadly, the only thing we can do while inside this shield is to pray that we can live another day.

“Senpai…” My Nexus Dragon is using her telepathy to express her worries.

“We’ll win this, Serena.” I smiled as I patted her giant dragon head. Then, I poured all my magic to her as I forge her dragon body into a being that can surpass her battle capabilities even though she won’t be able to fly. “Limit Release! Exceed! Forge into a bow and arrow!”

My Nexus Dragon’s wings started to reshape itself into an arc, and her horns molded into V-shape. Blue flames started to envelop her wings as her crimson eyes glowed with pure determination to win this fight. She is no longer a Nexus Dragon. With my magic, I have evolved her into a Nexus Archer Dragon.

The moment the cathedral glass dome shattered into millions of colorful dust, we have revealed our trump card in this fight. My Nexus Archer Dragon is already charging up energy on her throat, ready to fire at the enemy with my signal.

I used my blaster shield’s orb to lock onto the enemy. I managed to lock into the enemy in a matter of 0.2 seconds, and as soon as that lapse of time is finished, I shouted our indication to win this fight.

“Fire!”

The Nexus Archer Dragon fired consecutive arrow-shaped blue flames from her mouth like a never-ending machine gun. Twenty arrow projectiles have been released in just a matter of a second, and it all chased down the enemy with the speed of sound.

“Mamari, evade it!” Gerald shouted out loud. “U-turn Switch!”

A silver streak trail was left in the air as the Airstrike Dragon evade all those incoming magical arrow projectiles with extreme speed. As expected from them, Gerald Lucielo and his Airstrike Dragon are worthy of being called as one of the most powerful dragons and knights in Alterra. Now that my magical energy is almost empty, I won’t be able to fire any more of those arrows. I won’t be able to fight back at all.

“Looks like you’re out of gas,” Gerald smirked. “Too bad, your last attack all missed. So now, it’s my turn to end this fight.”

The Airstrike Dragon opened its machine gun mouth again and spawned new sets of missiles. This will be a victory for them, but-

“Gah!” Gerald cried in pain. When he looked at his back, there is a magical arrow stuck on it “When did it hit me!?”

Suddenly, two, three, four, ten, fifteen, arrows followed to pierce his back all the way from the stratosphere. The shield plates rendered the arrows harmless to his body, but now, his shield plate is all down to 4%.

I made a sadistic smile. Little did Gerald know that everything fell under my plan. The arrows my Nexus Archer Dragon released are not just normal projectiles, but they are homing projectiles. That explains why I have to lock on to the enemy knight with my blaster shield.

“Shit!” Gerald cried as he controlled his Airstrike Dragon to fly and evade those remaining four arrows that have been chasing him. They descended until they only have an altitude of five meters away from the ground.

This is where the end of the game commences.

The sound of a tearing wind echoes.

“Gahck!” Gerald uttered a cry as soon as he was hit by a giant projectile straight to his head. It’s not the homing arrows that hit him, but it was a regular arrow that Serena launched with her longbow. While they are busy shaking the arrows off, I disabled my Vesryn Pulse and let Serena on human form finish the job.

Gerald’s shield plate went off to 0%. The buzzer of the arena roared, which made the crowd of audiences went nuts.

“Battle has ended! Challenger Xenon Wingate wins!” The cybernetic voice of the announcer shouted.

“We did it, Senpai!” Serena cried as she pumped her fists.

“Yeah! Nice work!” I answered. Then we made a high-five at each other.

After our short celebration, my gaze shifted towards the Emperor of Alterra, Sirius Elkyria. He is comfortably sitting at the front of the audience’s seat, and he’s giving me a satisfied smile.

“The future is bright for you, Sir Wingate. But there is still a long road ahead.” The emperor said.

“I’m deeply honored, your majesty.” I bowed.

Inside my mind, I’m crying with joy. I have never attained this type of power before, and I just proved it to an emperor that I can win with this. With Serena on my side, I can make miracles. I can fight. I can get my revenge. Now, it’s just all a matter of time.

Every journey starts with a single step. And this is step one. 

Wait for me. Cheng. Trystgade. Eldritch.

I’m coming for all of you.

<>