CHAPTER 54: MAIZONO MEDLEY

XENON WINGATE

1 ½ YEARS AGO

“Eight seconds sound long enough for me.” Serena smiled as she readied her dual-wielding sword battle stance. Then she charged towards the enemy.

I don’t know if she’s just flexing or not, but that does not ease my feeling of losing this fight. The enemy has a lot of shield plate battery percentage left on him, and considering the distance, it would take five seconds just for Serena to close into the Pentagram Knight Marlon. If I charge and attack, I might get hit by his sticky fireballs again, and that would eliminate me from this fight.

My only course of action here is to wait and do nothing. I have to trust Serena on this fight, just like any other fights where I’m the tank and she’s the damage dealer.

“Seven seconds left, moja!” Marlon swiped his fingers in the thin air sideways, and five fireballs materialized. It rushed towards the charging celebrity dragonoid with an accurate aim. “Multiple Fusion Flare!”

With Serena’s nimble feet and flexible body, she dodged the first two fireballs with a spin. Then, she tumbled to evade the third and fourth fireball and danced like a ballerina to evade the fifth, all while getting close to the enemy. There are roughly twenty meters left in distance, and Serena won’t make it in time.

Suddenly, Serena materialized her longbow and arrow, jumped forward while spinning like an acrobat, and fired her projectile straight to the enemy’s face. Sadly, all Marlon did was to tilt his head in order to evade the headshot, and now the arrow hit nothing but the dusty ground.

“Ha! Missed! Five seconds left, moja!” Marlon laughed.

The next five seconds was a nightmarish slow motion for me. I see my shield plate at 5%, and the mystic flame is bound to remove one percent every second. I am all depressed when suddenly, Serena revealed her trump card.

“Blink!”

In a blink of an eye, Serena disappeared from midair and teleported towards the arrow behind the enemy. Everything happened so fast that everyone who watches this fight is all amazed at Serena. Even me. I never thought Serena is capable of casting Blink magic in the first place!

“What the-!!!” That was all Marlon could mutter as he turned to his opponent behind.

“Showtime~” 

Serena spread out her hands and forged short swords on each. Then she executed the enemy with her ultimate combo technique as she spelled her name out loud and quick. Everything from here happened so fast that I couldn’t help but to think Serena as an alien from this world.

“S!” Serena quickly made a cross slash towards the chest of the enemy, then she teleported to another side.

“E!” Serena forged a lance and hit the enemy’s waist, and then teleported again.

“R!” Serena forged a shield and bashed it towards the enemy’s nose, and then she disappeared.

“E!” Serena forged an ax and slashed the enemy’s shoulder, and then she teleported to the backside of the enemy.

“N!” Serena forged a giant gauntlet on her right hand and punched the enemy in the cheek. Then she teleported again.

“A!” Serena forged a staff that unleashed lightning towards the enemy. 

Then, she kicked the chubby knight as she somersaulted back to gain a distance of five meters.

“Maizono...!!!” Serena crossed her wrists and channeled a ridiculous amount of magic energy on her fingerless gloves, making her able to forge a thing that has never been artificially created before: an actual dwarf star, that is about the size of a basketball. With this excessive energy she created in a short amount of time, she unleashed the dwarf star in a speed of light! “...Medley!”

“Guh-!!!”

There was a loud explosion upon impact. All those combos from the Serena Maizono Medley attack only took in a mere three seconds, and it’s so hard to determine what was happening if you have slow eyes. I didn’t even get a read of the enemy shield plate when it registered the damage absorbed from the ultimate combo.

When the smoke faded, the enemy revealed himself, resting flat on the ground, with his shield plate at 0%. 

When I looked at my shield plate, it was already at 1%, and then it made a loud beep when it fell to zero.

“The Pentagram Knight’s shield plate reached zero first, so the winner in this fight is Serena Maizono!” The announcer proclaimed. After two or three seconds, he realized the mistake of forgetting something. “And oh, this is a victory for her dragon knight Sir Xenon Wingate too!”

“Yay! Perfect~” Serena made a V-sign on her forehead as she made a cute wink at the fans. Stars sprinkled as she did those.

“Woaaaaaah!!!” The crowds roared. It was so loud that all the dried earwax on my ears fell off. I can also feel the ground trembling because of the sonic boom the retarded fans created by their shouts. Hundreds of cameras started to flicker out blinding lights which would certainly make an epileptic suffer a seizure.

The media, the fans, and all the other audiences started to flock on Serena. They actually caused a stampede but it doesn’t matter as long as they get close to the most beautiful dragonoid. They started to interview Serena about the fight, and who will be the next Pentagram Knight she will be fighting next, like a post-interview from a championship boxing match. Some fans also requested a handshake and even autographs from her.

And I… I am just left in the corner. With this massive amount of people, I will not be able to approach her. I’m completely disregarded in this, and in fact, some fucker threw a tomato to my face. I reckon it was made by one of the fans of Fira, who were furious at me for beating the poor sexy dragonoid to a pulp.

Suddenly, my brain flashed a past event. Back when we’re at the beach a year ago, Serena was assaulted by a random assailant. I can’t afford to have Serena’s life in danger again!

“Serena!” I was about to swim in the crowd of people, but then, somebody stopped me by holding my shoulder.

“Give it a rest, Sir Wingate.” It was the handsome and rich Duke Marcus Corasell, and he’s holding hands with his eight-year-old daughter. “Let Miss Serena enjoy the crowd of stardom. Let her enjoy the happy faces of the people.”

“Get off me.” I slapped off his hand from my shoulder. I was about to turn away from this hypocrite duke, but then he said something that got my nerves to explode to anger.

“Sir Wingate, I need to talk to you about Serena and the Dragonoid Rights Bill.” Duke Corasell frowned, his eyes full of worries. 

“I already know that you’re sponsoring her to promote your bill,” I said as I made a plastic smile. “Being rich is so convenient, eh?”

“No, that’s not the point. I’m not that rich as you think either.” Duke Corasell said as he forced a smile. He immediately changed back to a serious face afterward. “I need your permission to have Serena go to an event that would boost the chances of passing the Dragonoid Rights Bill. Since she’s your master and all, I think it’s appropriate to have your consent first.”

“You two already had that agreement, right? You don’t need my consent anymore.” I made a single sarcastic laugh. “You two do whatever you want. I don’t give a damn about that bill.”

I balled my fist. I know I’m rude. I know I’m so unruly. But I can’t help it. I’m so tired of trusting people that look too good in the face. I can’t help but compare Duke Marcus Corasell to Michael-fucking-Eldritch. Whenever I see this guy, I see the fucker that betrayed me. Whenever the duke talks about Serena, I feel like somebody important will be stolen from me, just like when Eldritch stole Marisse.

This will be the first time I’ll admit it. I’m jealous. I wanted Serena to be mine and mine only. It’s an illogical unreasonable feeling inside my heart, and I've fully succumbed to it. I don’t want to lose any person dear to me. Not again. If that happens… If I get heartbroken again… I will never be able to take it.

“I apologize for not consulting you earlier.” Duke Corasell bowed. “But this time… This time, it’s different. The Dragonoid Rights Bill needs a lot of money to be promoted, and I need your help.”

“I don’t have money,” I said.

“No, it’s not that. Actually, one specific person is willing to be a sponsor, and he wanted to meet Serena and me in person. I will be asking for your guidance and protection.” The duke politely bowed. “Please, I’m begging for your help. For a better world for all dragonoids, I need you, your power, and your influence not only as a dragon knight but a man of justice. This is not a normal meeting that Serena and I can face alone.”

I said earlier that I don’t give a damn about the bill. I don’t care about being a man of justice either. As Necross Messiah said, I am no hero. I’m just a man seeking revenge. I became a dragon knight not for honor and peace, but for war and carnage.

But, this ‘one specific person’ Duke Corasell is talking about got my full interest and attention. 

“Who is this sponsor?”

“Doctor Cheng Du. Please, we need your help.”