CHAPTER 44: BLACK FEATHER DRAGON

SERENA MAIZONO

2 YEARS AGO

I’m quite worried. Not because we are surrounded by dragon knights from both Alterra and Elysia, not because the emperor of an enemy country is watching us from above, but because I can sense Senpai’s rage against those special persons watching us. There is tension all over the arena as if they are all readying themselves to leap towards us.

I gazed upon the audience. I looked at Z and her dragon knight Alphonse, and I also gazed upon the macho Nathaniel and his sassy dragon knight Danielle. They look like they are on extreme alert, and their focus is on the other side of the arena where the Elysian dragon knights are situated. I’m a little relieved that the Alterran dragon knights are not into us but to the enemy audiences. But it worries me that the tension never falls. I think one wrong move on either side will trigger another war between the rival countries.

Suddenly, Emperor Sirius Elkyria continued his huge proclamation.

“We have valuable guests from our neighbor ‘friendly’ country. Sir Xenon Wingate, Dragon Knight Second Class of Alterra, please show the Emperor of Elysia how powerful a dragon knight of Alterra is.”

Senpai’s eyes widened as he saw the Alterran Emperor’s smile on his face. Senpai muttered “I see what this is.” with a smirk on his face, and then genuflected. I followed my master and did the same gesture as a sign of respect.

“Yes, your highness,” Senpai said loudly. As he said those words, I can see a faint glow on Senpai’s emerald eyes.

The platform of the arena opened, revealing the second Pentagram Knight we’ll be challenging. An opponent dragon knight is a man in his early thirties, with long black wavy hair and a dirty mustache and untidy beard. He’s tall and white, about seven feet. There is a long tattered red cloak covering almost three-fourths of his body, and inside that cloak is his Pentagram Knight armor. There are also belts on this knight’s legs, restraining his saggy jeans.

Beside him is his dragonoid, who is a young twenty-year-old girl. She’s wearing a dirty gray hoodie with long sleeves, trying to hide the tattoos all over her body. She also has some abstract streaked tattoos on her right chin, and there are piercings on her nose and ears.

“My name is Sir Eroll Fizarro, and this is my dragonoid Morgian. I believe it is I who will be your second Pentagram Knight challenge.”

Senpai bowed briefly, and then he proceeded to attach the shield plate on his chest. It seems that he’s hastily wanting to fight this opponent dragon knight without properly introducing ourselves, and that is bothering me a lot. Senpai seems like he’s all out of mind.

When the Pentagram Knight noticed Senpai’s cold reply, he just smiled. It’s as if Sir Eroll Fizarro knows why my dragon knight is acting like that, and he completely understands him. So without further ado, he installed his own shield plate on his chest.

When both shield plates displayed the number 100%, the giant screen on the arena started the countdown. Twenty seconds went by so fast even though all we did was to stare at each other’s adversaries. Correction, Senpai is not focused on the fight. He just kept on staring at the Emperor of Elysia and his Empress with disdain.

“Let the battle begin!” The announcer shouted, commencing our second Pentagram Knight battle.

Senpai slammed his blaster shield on the ground, preventing any long-ranged attack from the enemy. But our enemy is not yet doing his move yet. “Serena, unleash my restraint!” Senpai shouted.

“S-Senpai…” I held my chest. “Are we really-”

“Hurry!” Senpai’s shout is so ferocious as if he’s angry at me. Of course, it hurt me a lot. This sudden change of moods of him is unacceptable, and it’s as if he’s no longer the kind and gentle Xenon Wingate senpai I know.

But since it’s the order of my dragon knight, I have no choice but to obey. I spread out my arms and fingers, creating a magical circle with a pentagram star symbol in it. I muttered my command chant as I try to remove the magical limiter inside my dragon knight.

“Unleashing restraints to bloodline magic: Avenger’s Wrath.” I chanted. Then, a laser materialized from the magical circle on my hand and it surged towards my dragon knight’s heart. Green smoke started to spawn on every inch of Senpai’s skin, and his eyes turned into living green flames that leaves a streak whenever he moves.

Seeing this, the Pentagram Knight Eroll drew his weapons, which are two long black shotguns. We have heard that this particular dragon knight is capable of dual-wielding such powerful firearms, and he’s also a formidable opponent even if he uses those guns as battering rods. 

The dragonoid Morgian also revealed her fighting stance of magical kata, which is identical to Z, but the only difference is that our enemy dragonoid is wielding feathered daggers between her fingers.

“Ha!” The enemy dragonoid unleashed her feathered daggers to our position, and it was followed by the echoing gunshots by the dual shotguns of her dragon knight.

With his extreme reflexes, Senpai predicted all the enemy projectiles with his flaming eyes and used his shield to block all the attacks. The sound of the clashing shrapnels and blades towards the shield echoed around the arena.

“I don’t intend to play games with you, Sir Fizarro.” Senpai frowned as he spoke as if he’s completely disappointed in the Pentagram Knight. “Let’s get serious.”

“Aren’t you a little bit hasty?” The Pentagram Knight laughed. “This is supposed to be an exhibition match to impress the Emperor and Empress of Elysia.”

Hearing those words made my Senpai even angrier. He held his chest, which glowed with golden light. “Activating Vesryn Pulse!" I felt the intense pumping of his heart inside my heart, and it immediately turned my body into my true form: a Nexus Dragon.

"Exceed! Forge into the sharpest blade!”

My Nexus Dragon Form only lasted for two seconds, as it was immediately modified by my stupidly hasty dragon knight. Blades spawned from my wings, and I grew three katana-shaped horns on my dragon forehead. My hind claws also sharpened, and my dragon whiskers also hardened into edgy steel. With the power of Senpai’s forging magic and combining it to my very existence, I am now a Nexus Saber Dragon.   

The enemy Pentagram Knight stand in awe as he saw my never-seen-before form. Normally, Senpai would save my Nexus Saber Dragon as a trump card to formidable enemies, but now that he’s so eager to finish this fight swiftly, he would do whatever it takes.

“Activating Vesryn Pulse!” Sir Eroll Fizarro used his ancient magic towards his dragonoid Morgian.

Black smoke started to engulf the arena as the dragonoid transformed. She revealed herself into a nine-meter-tall black dragon covered with feathers similar to those of a crow. Its wings are similar to those of an eagle, and its claws are the same as of a falcon’s talon. Its long lizard tail has a black-feathered fan on its tip. Its head is not those of a lizard, but instead, it has the head of a black phoenix. There is a glowing red V-shaped horn on its forehead. From a distance, everybody would mistake this dragon as a garuda, but this is just a normal form of a Black Feather Dragon.

“Rooooaaaaaawwwwwk!” The Black Feather Dragon roared like a rooster.

“Serena, full assault mode!” Senpai immediately split his blaster shield into two, forming two buster swords. Now that we’re wielding blades on our hands and wings and horns, all our techniques will be focused on firepower. “Go!”

I leaped forward and flapped my wings, unleashing a sonic boom and a bluish-white laser on my trail. With my Nexus Saber Dragon form, I can move twice as fast as before. This form is actually one of my fastest dragon forms compared to Nexus Barrier and Nexus Archer Forms. Since this form requires a close range to be effective, I had to be faster in this mode.

“Oh, you can’t catch me!” Sir Fizarro immediately commanded his Black Feather Dragon to fly up. It flapped its wings and created a sonic boom with twice the strength I made. With such power, they are able to hover away from us with triple speed.

While retreating, the Black Feather Dragon unleashed giant feather daggers on its wings. Hundreds of sharp projectiles went to our direction, so Senpai made the initiative to stand on my forehead and deflect all those incoming sharp knives with his buster sword. I also deflected some with my bladed wings while I surge forward.

“Guh! Ack! Ah!” Senpai cried as some of the feathered daggers went through his parrying techniques. Those feathered daggers that slipped through Senpai’s defense struck his shoulder, legs, and chest. That shot on the chest was actually fatal if it wasn’t for the protection of the shield plate, so Senpai’s shield plate now rests at 24%.

“You’re being too reckless!” Eroll Fizarro laughed. “There is no way you can catch me with your sluggish dragon! Did you forget that I am the fastest Pentagram Knight of all!?”

Suddenly, the Black Feather Dragon made a U-turn, and now they are charging towards us. They are changing tactics from long range, and now they are planning to ram on us!

Finally realizing his mistake, Senpai immediately reverted his buster swords back into a shield. He poured magical energy on it so that the shield would expand into a giant roof.

“Black Feather Swipe!” The Black Feather Dragon immediately converted its body into a gigantic phoenix-shaped shadow that surged towards us. With the speed of light, the dragon slashed its talon-like claws towards mine.

“Graaaaahhhh!” I roared out loud as I cover my head and my knight with my wings. In the nick of time, I spawned bladed spikes all over my body before we collide with the enemy.

That opponent’s attack could have been perfect if only they didn’t underestimate the sturdiness of the blades on my body. Since my dragon body is covered with swords, the Black Feather Dragon suffered tremendous damage on its wings and arms for ramming straight to me. There was a deafening shockwave because of the impact, and both dragons fell down on the arena. Now the Black Feather Dragon is bathing with its own blood, full of ruptures on its feathers and skin. 

I reverted back to my human form because of my weakening heart. The same happened to the opponent Black Feather Dragon, and the only difference is that the enemy dragonoid has sustained greater damage. Now Morgian the hooded tattoo girl is nothing but an unconscious woman lying on the ground.

“Guh... ah…” I panted. I held my wounded right shoulder, which is dripping blood nonstop. There’s also a cut on top of my head that unleashes blood that flows to my right eye, which makes my vision blurry. I’m dizzy, and I’m on the verge of passing out.

The enemy dragon knight is in front of me, about twenty meters. He’s unscathed, of course, because of the shield plate, but it’s now at 70%. With my current situation, I won’t be able to fight him.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. With a gentle tap on my wounded head, he whispered “Forge.” And a bandage was magically created to wrap my wounds and stop the blood flow.

“I’ll take this, Serena,” Senpai said, averting his gaze from me. “For now, rest. I’m sorry if I got you wounded.”

I didn’t reply. My eyes are focused on my dragon knight and his face of desperation. His green eyes never stopped flaming, and I can remember him being so serious in this battle. The last time I saw him in rage was a year ago when he killed the dragon knight who killed his friend.

With his shield plate at 13%, Senpai stepped forward and spread out his right hand which is wielding a shield. Slowly, the shield unfolded like a mechanical gadget until it transformed into a completely different weapon: a high-tech crossbow attached on his wrist.