CHAPTER 52: MYSTIC FLAME DRAGON

XENON WINGATE

1 ½ YEARS AGO

The third Pentagram Knight we’ll be challenging is a man named Marlon Trystgade. He is a brown man with a chubby face and curly hair, and he’s quite petite on his size. Wearing his black Pentagram Knight uniform, this person wields a grimoire as his primary weapon. A first look at him will make you feel a bookworm nerd vibe with him. But don’t be fooled on his looks. He’s one of the most powerful dragon knights in Alterra, and I heard that he has the most powerful magic techniques among the five Pentagram Knights.

Trystgade. That is his last name. Fortunately for him, he’s not in any way related to my ex-girlfriend Marisse Trystgade-Eldritch. Trystgades are common in almost all of the four empires, and all of them are rich dukes and duchesses. Marlon and Marisse don’t have any connection of some sort. 

“Looks like we have a lot of fans watching us, moja,” Marlon said.

“Oh yes, master. But unfortunately for you, the audiences are only here to watch dragonoid girls fight.” Marlon’s dragonoid said.

Marlon’s dragonoid is Fira Cromwell, a kunoichi from the eastern part of the world. She is a well-endowed woman with snow-white skin, long black hair tied in a ponytail, slender arms, and long legs. This dragonoid is wearing red kimono that exposes her hamburger cleavage and chicken legs which makes the audience cry for joy. 

Fira is known to be a commercial model, just like Serena. But unlike Serena, Fira is engaged in a more… daring photoshoots. I’ve always seen her face on every issue of Playbunny adult magazine. She is actually a sex symbol for dragonoids, which gives joy to perverted humans and dragonoids alike. However, she’s not as famous as Serena because her target audiences are adults only.

“Serena Maizono, thank you for inviting such a huge amount of audiences in this fight.” Fira made a friendly smile.

“No, it’s all thanks to you, Miss Fira Cromwell.” Serena politely bowed. “Since you agreed that we will have an open-house exhibition match, our careers will surely rocket up beyond the sky. We can both promote the Dragonoid Rights Bill together.”

“Yeah.” Fira nodded. Then, she reached out a weapon from her cleavage and readied her battle stance. Her weapon is a glaive, and I don’t have any idea how it fitted on her skimpy ninja clothing. “This may be a win-win situation for us, but my Marlon doesn’t intend to lose either.”

“Likewise.” Serena smiled.

Marlon and I looked at each other. Not knowing what’s going on between the girls, we both raised our shoulders. I can’t believe the enemy dragon knight can understand me better than my partner.

“All dragon knights, battle position.” The cybernetic-voiced announcer said. At that signal, I readied my shield in front. Marlon also opened his book. Fira readied to launch her glaive, while Serena is just standing stiff, not materializing any of her weapons.

The countdown on the screen of the stadium started at twenty seconds. As we wait, the arena was filled with silence. Not even the Serenatics Fanclub nor the hotdog vendors dared to breathe. They all focus on the center of the arena which will turn into a battlefield anytime by now.

Three… Two… One…

“Serena Maizono, here I gooooooooo!!!” 

Serena made a graceful spin filled with glitters. Then, she materialized her twin short swords. The moment Serena broke the silence, the crowd went wild and nuts, cheering her up with all their strengths.

“Let the battle begin!”

Without wasting any split second, the enemy made its move forward. The spellcaster dragon knight Marlon opened his book to page fifteen, and a glowing red ball of flames materialized between its pages. As Marlon spread out his hands pointing to me, the tiny sun was infused with wind energy that launched it towards us.

“Take this, moja!” Marlon screamed. “Fusion Flare!”

I slammed my shield in front, and it expanded. The fireball was perfectly blocked by my shield, and the impact immediately shattered the burning projectile like an egg being smashed to a rock. Like an egg, the shattering of the outer shell of the fireball unleashed sticky molten lava that splashed and crawled behind my shield. 

“Shit!” I cried as I saw the molten lava sauce splat on my face. Thanks to my shield plate, my face didn’t burn. But the molten lava reduced 23% of my shield plate’s life.

Their attack does not end there. Fira raised her glaive up, and ember specks gathered around it. The weapon spun so fast in midair until it grew into a flaming cross with a temperature that can melt steel. Fira launched the flaming glaive towards me who is still busy defending. “Flaming Shuriken!”

I won’t be able to defend that attack with my shield alone. Thankfully, I have my dragonoid on my side. Serena jumped in front and spread out her hands. “Forge!” She shouted, and a giant tower shield materialized to block the raging fire shuriken.

As soon as the fire glaive and the artificial shield collided, sparks of flame started to shower in the area. The glaive kept on spinning for three or more times until it finally halted and went back to its wielder.

Marlon and Fira’s battle technique is a deadly combination of long-ranged bombardments. If this keeps going, we’ll be defeated. I don’t think we should do a long range too since we can’t be fighting on their specialty. If there is a way to defeat these guys, then it should be at close range. I have heard that they perform terribly in close-quarter combat.

“Serena, switch to defense. I’ll go full assault.” I commanded as I split my shield into two buster swords.

“No! I’ll go offense! You tank all attacks for me as I get close!” Serena protested as she extended the edges of her swords.

Why the hell is Serena arguing with me in the middle of a fight!? This is the first time she disobeyed my battle tactics!

“I’ll do the offense. I’m stronger.” I said.

“I have Nexus Link! I’m stronger!” Serena cried.

“I’m better looking,” I said. I know it doesn’t make any sense but I have to answer back just to keep this argument going.

“I’m an idol! I’m better looking!” Serena answered back.

Okay, that didn’t work out the way it should be. Serena makes all the fine points so maybe I should stick to her plan. Besides, she’s so pushy. Maybe she’s acting all tough because all the cameras and the audiences are focused on her.

Meanwhile, the opponent dragonoid and knight looked at each other with smiles on their faces. They look clueless on why Serena and I are arguing in the middle of a fight. They broke the interruption as the Pentagram Knight talked to us.

“You’re planning for a close-quarter-combat, moja?” Marlon smiled. “Too bad, moja. We won’t let you do that, more!”

Suddenly, Marlon held his chest. His dragonoid Fira glowed with bright crimson flames as they shouted the ancient magic that binds them together.

“Activating Vesryn Pulse! Moja!”

A wide wildfire explosion burst for a second, but then it was immediately vacuumed by a majestic existence of an ancient dragon. It has golden crimson flames as its scales all the way from its head to its tail. Its razor-sharp claws on its front and hind legs are shaped like scimitars, and its white teeth are similar to a crocodile. Its wings are shaped like those of a bat, but there are flames that do not combust its body parts. There is a fire-ring halo on top of the dragon’s head, which makes it clear that Fira is indeed a rare Mystic Flame Dragon.

“Groaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!” The Mystic Flame Dragon roared. Now that Marlon is riding a ten-meter-tall lizard, it will be way harder to fight them even at close range.

“Mmmmph!” Serena angrily stomped the ground as she made an adorable puffy face. She must be disappointed why we didn’t seize the chance earlier and we just kept on arguing on who will do the offense and defense.

Fortunately for us, I have a backup plan.

“Serena, why don’t we both just do the offense and defense?” I asked with a smile.

It took one second for Serena to respond with a sigh. “Fine then. I wanted to avoid transforming into that kind of dragon because it makes me look scary, but it can’t be helped. Just make sure that it looks good to the fans.”

“Will do,” I said. Then, we both looked at the enemy fire dragon, which started to ascend from the ground.

I held my chest and felt the beating of Serena’s heart on my own. The warmth sensation of this magic made me give half of my magic reserves to my dragonoid as I awaken her to a new form. 

“Activating Vesryn Pulse! Releasing Limit! Exceed! Forge into an iron fist!”

A bright white light flashed on the whole arena. And when it faded, everybody who witnessed the powerful presence of a Nexus Dragon’s new form was filled with amazement.

This Nexus Dragon now has a humanoid body with slender but muscular arms and feet. It’s horns shaped into a zigzagged V-shaped crown. Her bluish white wings shrunk into half of its size, and the spikes on her tail were removed. Her scales are no longer hard as steel, but it’s still tough and flexible like a living rubber bulletproof. Her claws are now covered with red steel gauntlets that resemble her fingerless gloves on her human form. This is the sexiest dragon I ever seen with is slender white abs and long legs. 

She is now a Nexus Brawler Dragon, which is her most powerful form in terms of close-range combat.