CHAPTER 85: NOT A SCRATCH

XENON WINGATE

6 MONTHS AGO

Serena transformed into a dragon that has never been seen by any other people. My Nexus Dragon is now equipped with silver-white horned helmet, knight-like spaulders, chest plate, battle skirt, and shiny armor on her wings and tail. At the center of her chest plate is a logo of a red cross in it. My Nexus Dragon held a long white sword on her right hand and a tower shield with a sigil of the cross on her left. This complex form that we managed to master together ought to bring the strengths of his Nexus Saber and Nexus Barrier forms. She is now a Nexus Crusader Dragon.

“Graaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” My Nexus Crusader Dragon roared, bringing a weak shockwave in the area.

“Amazing.” Jerick Fachias commended. “Nobody knew that you can merge two dragon evolution forms into one. Kevin failed to tell me that vital information about you.”

“This is the new power that has recently been discovered by us,” I explained with a smile. “Kevin Valesmith would not have known this information. I didn’t spend the last months of my stay on hospital laying on my bed.”

“Then let’s see the fruits of your hospital training,” Jerick said as he pointed his claw towards me and my Nexus Crusader Dragon. “Quasar Blast!”

The enemy Quasar Dragon opened its mouth, revealing its razor-sharp teeth and clean pink tongue. At the center of its mouth, light particles gathered until it charged an orb that is similar to a dwarf star. Suddenly, four portals opened above its wings, charging the same dwarf stars. When the enemy dragon finished charging up its energy, the four portals, together with the dragon’s mouth unleashed a bluish-white blaster that surged towards us!

“Wall of Babylon!” I cried out loud. On my mark, my Nexus Crusader Dragon slammed its tower shield on the ground, and a brick wall spawned in front of us. A second batch of the gigantic brick wall sprouted as soon as the first wall has reached its maximum height. Then, a third brick wall spawned just after the second wall erected. There are now three layers of Wall of Babylon that can block the enemy’s attack!

The Quasar Blast went through the first, second, and third walls with ease, like a laser that can penetrate anything it touches. The last line of defense, which is my Nexus Crusader Dragon’s tower shield, created a golden magical circle that served as a barrier for the Quasar Blast. The bluish laser spread out as soon as it was repelled by the magical barrier, and a wide V-shaped trench formed beside us as a result of the blaster.

“Stardust Accel!” The enemy did not sit idle as they continued with their combination. The Quasar Dragon spread out its wings and launched itself towards us with lightspeed. Silver stardust sprinkled on their trail as a result.

“Serena, hold it!” I commanded.

“Graaaaaaaaahhh!!!” Nexus Crusader Dragon roared back in affirmation. She readied her shield for the impact as she had her left foot step backward. 

There was a powerful shockwave as soon as the Quasar Dragon crashed to the gigantic tower shield. The shield itself sustained severe damage as the claws of the Quasar Dragon sliced through it like butter. As of the moment, the enemy dragon claws are enhanced with extreme magical energy that melts anything it touches.

“Blink!” I shouted out loud. At that moment, I activated my Nexus Crusader Dragon’s Blink magic as if it was my own. Both of us teleported to the sword that is behind the enemy, and my Nexus Crusader Dragon prepared for a quick downward slash with her longsword.

“Graaaah…” The Quasar Dragon cried in pain as my Nexus Crusader Dragon’s sword grazed its back. The Pentagram Knight was spared from any damage as the wings of the Quasar Dragon protected him from harm in the nick of time.

“Fall back!” Jerick shouted. On his signal, the Quasar Dragon dashed away from us, giving a thirty-meter distance.

But we don’t have any intention of letting them go. As I saw the sword around the Quasar Dragon, I shouted “Blink!” again to teleport. My Nexus Crusader Dragon slashed its longsword again, but the Quasar Dragon fled from the attack. I tried it again, and again, and again, but the Quasar Dragon just kept on evading by dashing away. 

I finally gave up on chasing the enemy when I decided that it’s no longer worth it. At this point, I’m just wasting my magic reserves on an attack that does not hit. The enemy has seen our attack patterns, so repeating it would be pointless.

“You’re too good, Sir Xenon Wingate,” Jerick said with a threatening smile. “But I’m sorry, as this will end now. I will not hold back in this fight. I will show you my full strength to see if you are really worthy of having an army. I want to see if you really have the power to save Kevin and your other friends.”

Light particles gathered around the Quasar Dragon as Jerick held his chest. I can sense a ridiculous amount of magical energy leaving from the enemy dragon, but I can also feel that the Pentagram Knight is charging magical energy that is ten times his dragon could have. This attack magic is something terrifying as I recognize the classification of such technique.

“Dracaryx! Activate Star Fury!!!” Jerick Fachias said. At that moment, his Quasar Dragon returned to her human form Colly as the Dracaryx stopped her heartbeats. 

On the other hand, Jerick had his claws glowing white, and it spread out until it is five meters long each. He used the claws to slash endlessly in the air, making a repeated X-shaped wind barrier that burns and slices to anything it hits. He’s going in an extremespeed that makes it impossible to evade with the current situation of my dragon.

This is the very first time a Pentagram Knight really did a serious fight as it is an unwritten rule that a Pentagram Knight must not use their Dracaryx on Pentagram Challenges. I am at an extreme disadvantage here because I can’t use my Dracaryx. Draconis Empyrio Quinella is a Dracaryx that is destined to end my life if I use it one more time. I have to improvise on how to block the attack!

I fired my revolver and pistol towards the raging clawed Pentagram Knight that is driving towards us. Twelve bullets are now fated to land on him, but I doubt normal bullets would work on his Dracaryx. In an attempt to prevent his lightspeed advance, I shouted “Forge!” to transform my bullets into a series of tower shields.

Metal clanks all over the area as Jerick rip my flying shields like pieces of tissue paper. He does not stop flying as he continues to surge towards us with his claw attack. But that is enough, as I already bought time.

“Blink!” I shouted out loud. In an instant, I and my Nexus Crusader Dragon teleported towards the edge of the arena, which is several meters away. We managed to evade Jerick’s Dracaryx, but the problem is not over yet!

Jerick clutched in midair, turned around, and surged towards our direction! His attack must be homing!

“Star Fury will never fade until it hits the target! There is no escape! I can chase you no matter how many times you teleport away!” Jerick laughed out loud.

A Dracaryx of such caliber can immediately deliver my shield plate to 0% in one hit. There is no way I can attack him in a long-range either, as all projectiles will be sliced as soon as it went to his effective range. I’m slowly running out of options. There are just three seconds left before he can hit us.

“Xen, please use my power.” Serena telepathically said.

In an instant, white flames briefly appeared and scanned through my body, giving me the ability to absorb magical energy from the air, land, and other parts of the environment. My ears become pointed, and now I can safely say that I have activated Elform with Serena’s help.

“Serena, thanks!” I cried with tears of joy. I pointed my left hand at the surging enemy and activated the enhanced forging ability of my futuretech glove. The orb of the glove glowed as I cast magic that is able to take down the Crimson Dragonfly in the past. “Sword of Camelot!”

A gigantic portal appeared in front of me, which unleashed the tip of the legendary gigantic sword. The sharp edge of it clashed towards the raging Jerick, and his repeated blinding scratches made an irritating metal clash sounds that echoed around the arena. With his Dracaryx, he continuously chips out the Sword of Camelot little by little.

“This means nothing!” Jerick laughed out loud. “No matter how powerful your attack, my Dracaryx can never be stopped! I will surely hit you-!!!”

Jerick finally stopped talking when he realized that something is not right. While he’s busy destroying the Sword of Camelot little by little, he noticed that I’m the only one on his front. The Nexus Crusader Dragon is nowhere to be seen. 

“Serena! Do it now!” I cried out loud.

A swish of the wind echoes. Serena is there, ten meters behind the enemy Pentagram Knight, charging her bow. She had previously used her Blink and disabled the Vesryn Pulse for easier and stealthier movements, and she finally had the time to Forge a longbow.

“Haaa!” Serena cried as she released her arrow, aimed at Jerick’s rear. The surging arrow in midair immediately transformed into a lance which is coated with a crimson barbed wire that hit Jerick’s back.

“What the-!!!” Jerick was astounded as he never saw the back attack coming. 

The opponent’s Star Fury attack may be able to destroy anything on his front, left, right, up, and down, but it leaves him open at the rear. Against a single opponent, he would be certainly unbeatable as his Dracaryx is designed to chase a single enemy. The only thing that gave us this opening is that there are two of us, and the attack is chasing me and not Serena. To counter him, we just have to return to our original roles in a battle where I mostly act as bait while Serena finishes the enemy off.

Jerick was cleanly hit on his spine, and the lance immediately spawned spikes on its barbed wires to pierce the Pentagram Knight on random parts. But since he’s equipped with a shield plate, it absorbed all the incoming damage and he suffered no injury. The result: His shield plate dropped to 0%.

There was a loud beep and the announcer made the noise.

“The battle is over! Sir Xenon Wingate has completed the Pentagram Challenge!”

The audience went nuts as they cheered for our final Pentagram Knight Challenge victory. Before Serena and I could celebrate, I looked at my chest which has the shield plate attached to it. My shield plate is still at 100%, which means I never caught any scratch in this battle at all.