Chapter 1411 - Aishalstromoz vs Jake (5)

The shift was instant and brutal as Aisha went from being the aggressor to the hunted. Within a dozen seconds, she had more than ten arrows sticking out of her body, leading to even more Dragonsbane entering her system. The toxin was already taking a toll, and Aisha felt a sense of exhaustion, though she was quickly shaken back to being fully aware by the extreme pain whenever she used any magic.

Aisha knew by now that despite having assumed the Chosen of the Malefic Viper was powerful, she had somehow still underestimated him. Yet in other ways, perhaps also overestimated him?

She’d already known his fighting style was simple, but this went beyond expectations. Usually, geniuses like them had very flashy magic and huge attacks to unleash. She and the Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord had often compared the sheer scale of control they could impose upon the world, leading to brilliant displays of power.

Yet the Chosen of the Malefic One was so much simpler. His regular arrows weren’t particularly powerful, though they did fly incredibly fast and unpredictably, making them difficult to dodge or block. Occasionally, a far more potent Powershot was mixed in, which actually dealt devastating damage.

Then there was the poison, courtesy of his Legacy as the Chosen of the best alchemist in the multiverse. Aisha had come prepared, having expected him to have a variant of Dragonsbane or at least something similar, yet again she’d underestimated him. The antidote had done its job temporarily, but clearly it had failed to eliminate all the toxins from that initial disgustingly powerful attack.

Defensively, things were even weirder. The Chosen wasn’t very durable, though he did have multiple defensive skills that were clearly powerful. However, compared to someone like Aisha herself, he truly was feeble. Then again, that wasn’t overly surprising, seeing as he was human. All humans, outside of rare variants or those with special Paths like the Runemaiden, were not considered very durable.

So, defensively and offensively, he didn’t stand out too much. He didn’t have super complex and hard-to-deal-with attacks either. No mind-bending illusions or attacks with incredibly high-level concepts. Well, alright, that clone of his he’d summoned was beyond her understanding, but that was it, based on what she’d seen so far.

The only truly outstanding thing that Aisha couldn’t even begin to understand was his ability to avoid attacks. She’d never seen anyone that mobile, that capable of reading the flow of magic to dodge everything sent his way. It was uncanny, as if he could see the future. Even so, being able to dodge perfectly shouldn’t be enough to be considered perhaps the strongest of his generation.

But when Aisha thought about it, she also couldn’t point out any particular weaknesses. He had dealt with everything she’d thrown at him so far, having even nullified the Golden Seal and her Dragon’s Breath combo that she’d used to kill the person set to be the next Chosen of Umbra, who the Court of Shadows had no doubt expected would have made it to this stage of the event.

Also, while his offense wasn’t extreme, it was more than enough, as evidenced by how haggard her body was. He was also clearly not exhausted himself despite having taken plenty of hits, and even if Aisha had landed a lot of blows, he seemingly wasn’t affected at all.

In many ways, Aisha found it odd. Usually, when she fought others, it would be an exchange of their best skills. Trump cards thrown out one after another. The Chosen instead seemed to patiently await all her attacks, handled them, and then went on the offensive to force her to show what more she could do.

It was only then that she understood. His way of fighting hadn’t made much sense to her till now, but it did start to when she considered... what if he’d never even once thought he would lose? What if he’d battled with absolute confidence that no matter what, he would come out the victor? Was that also why he’d accepted a bet they all truthfully knew only favored the Dragonflights?

In truth, when Aisha had first proposed it, she hadn’t expected him to agree so easily. She’d thought he would counter to demand more from the Dragonflights, perhaps valuable alchemical ingredients or other materials related to True Dragons that they kept heavily regulated. He could have asked for so many things, yet he’d accepted such a lopsided bet.

At first, Aisha had thought maybe he just hadn’t considered countering for some odd reason, but that also didn’t make any sense. He was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, a being who always knew how to take advantage of any situation, so wouldn’t his Chosen be the same? The notion that the thought of countering hadn’t crossed his mind was preposterous, but now Aisha believed she knew why he hadn’t.

Wasn’t it effectively an act of mercy? He never even once believed he could lose, so asking for more in the scenario he won would just be demanding additional resources with no downsides. The Chosen had humored her and at least given some face to the Regalflight by not asking for more in a bet he’d already won in his own mind.

If that were the case, his actions made sense. It also made sense why she hadn’t seen his strongest skills, including those one could consider fancy or complex. Had she even proven herself worthy yet?

Having to even ask herself that was honestly embarrassing, but she couldn’t help it considering she was currently desperately trying to block or dodge the constant rain of arrows coming her way while throwing out the occasional attack to buy herself some reprieve. Recovering from the Grace of Gold would take him, but Aisha doubted she would get the chance. She was weakening, and while she’d tried to hide it, she had to admit that things had gone awry from that very first arrow.

She didn’t call its damage ludicrously powerful for no reason. It had shaved off nearly a third of her entire health pool in sheer damage, and that wasn’t even including the festering wound she had been unable to heal throughout the fight. That one arrow had made her situation incredibly precarious right from the get-go, and honestly, she wasn’t sure she ever had a chance to close the gap.

Aisha had entered this fight knowing her chances of victory were slim; meanwhile, her opponent had never even considered her someone capable of killing him. Perhaps it wasn’t consciously done, but he was pretty much just playing with his prey, curiously trying to learn from her and improve himself from the experience. Perhaps that was how he treated all his opponents... which would explain a lot and made her think he was holding back. Again, likely not even on purpose.

No matter what, Aisha found it frustrating, and as she was being pushed back, she decided that just as the Chosen had made her show what she could do, she would also push him to use his most powerful trump cards.

Despite the pain of the Dragonsbane and her damaged state, she did something she knew would lead to her demise. Even if she survived, she would find herself weakened for years, but at this point, it was a matter of pride.

With arrows approaching, Aisha felt her own heartbeat suddenly speed up, and through the hole in her body, the golden glow of her heart could faintly be seen as the True Dragon spoke and made her promise.

“Golden Vow.”

A promise to herself, the souls of her ancestors, the Regalflight, and the very concept of True Dragons. Her own heart responded, letting out a heartbeat loud enough to echo throughout the virtual world as power surged from within.

Letting out a roar, Aisha spread out her single remaining wing as a second wing of pure golden energy emerged on her other side, and at the same time, millions of golden motes of light exploded out of her body.

Magic, unlike anything she’d unleashed before, manifested all around her, and the arrows still in flight were destroyed by the sheer pressure of energy emanating from her body. Untold levels of mana were expended every second, but from seemingly nowhere, her heart generated more like a never-ending supply that would continue pumping until her soul burned out.

Seeing the Chosen be surprised put a smile on Aisha’s face as she didn’t hold anything back, knowing she was living on borrowed time. A torrent of mana as hundreds of bolts and beams were sent flying, her control admittedly unstable after pushing herself this far.

The Chosen defended, also helping to prove one of Aisha’s theories. He was faster than before, despite seemingly not increasing his boosting skill in any way, only his energy output. She was more sure than ever that the Chosen more or less adapted the amount of power he displayed dependent on his opponent, only really ever displaying his ceiling when forced to. Again, it didn’t even look like he did it on purpose. It was more that he saved energy when he could, not putting in more effort than he had to.

In this instance, though, he was forced to show everything he had as Aisha burned through her very existence. Her mana output kept increasing, and she already knew after a few seconds that she’d crossed the point of no return, where even if she did forcefully calm her heart once more, death would still follow. This was a forbidden ability for a reason.

One that would allow her to push the Chosen of the Malefic Viper to his limits and perhaps even a little bit beyond. Her spell-casting speed increased, and all the golden motes of light, each representing an ancestor of her Lineage, started glowing more brightly as a powerful pressure fell upon the Chosen.

The pseudo-domain that defended him – through a skill she suspected to be Pride of the Malefic Viper – nullified much of this pressure, but it still had to take a toll on him and make it harder for him to deal with her attack. Aisha would also have loved to take a few swipes herself, but unfortunately, moving too much was not advisable in her current state.

Instead, she spoke what would likely be her last Words of Power.

“Soaring Dragons of Gold.”

In her current state, she managed to manifest three golden dragon projections that all moved to attack the Chosen of the Malefic Viper in unison, once more also allowing the human to display his absolutely uncanny ability to dodge any attacks. On top of that, she saw him use his ocular skill, which he used to somehow destroy one of the projections, eliminating the souls it was constructed from.

Feeling her end grow nearer, Aisha knew she only had a few more moves left and had to make them count. She summoned a magic circle both above and below them, and using the pressure from the remaining motes, tried to temporarily restrict the Chosen’s movements. However, once again, his body split in two, and despite seeing it again, she truly couldn’t comprehend the concept behind that skill. One of the two was quickly destroyed, but it had once more been the “wrong” one as the real Chosen took the opportunity to shoot an Arcane Powershot towards Aisha.

She didn’t even attempt to block but let it strike her, sending blood and scales flying, but Aisha didn’t give a damn and barely felt it. The absolute agony from the Dragonsbane was washing out everything else as Aisha’s eyes started to feel heavy, and despite her heart still beating with seemingly unstoppable vigor, her soul could barely hold on.

One more.

Pushing herself even further beyond her limits, Aisha let out a loud roar of defiance. At once, all the motes were mobilized, and rather than simply creating a veil this time, they all came together and formed millions of golden strings that wrapped around the Chosen like a translucent cocoon.

Once more, he simply watched her do this, interest rather than fear or concern in his eyes, only making Aisha more determined as she once more inhaled deeply, intending to unleash whatever power she had left.

The Dragon’s Breath was weaker than her first one despite burning her soul, but it had to be enough. After briefly charging it, she unleashed it towards the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, who was stuck within the cocoon of golden strings. She felt it slowly being dismantled by his will, but far too slowly to avoid the incoming flames.

For a brief moment, Aisha thought she had him. Trapped, weakened, and right in the path of her Breath, it seemed like a surefire hit, but yet again, she was so close, but still didn’t succeed.

When the flames looked about to wash over his body, and the cocoon was broken apart by the flames, she vaguely felt the concept of time, and the next thing she knew, an explosion of arcane energy had suddenly just appeared out of nowhere, with the Chosen floating above the cocoon, unharmed by her attack.

Beneath him, the golden flames passed by harmlessly, failing even to touch his boots. Aisha stared for a moment as the Chosen took out a giant arrow and nocked it, her sense of danger screaming at her. Her eyes were heavy, and she felt her heartbeat slowly start to lose steam, but still forced herself to inhale once more, not even sure if her soul could bear yet another Dragon’s Breath, but she had to try something – anything – to fight back till the very end.

Fortunately, her final stand didn’t go unnoticed. She saw the Chosen of the Malefic Viper’s eyes smile, a look of recognition in them, as he spoke Words of Power for the first time during their fight, making two words echo throughout existence.

“Event Horizon.”

Aisha felt a sense of relief, knowing she’d accomplished her vain goal of at least pushing the Chosen this far. She could only watch in awe, not even bothering to unleash her breath, as the world turned dark, a feeling of endlessness and a skill with conceptual power beyond anything she’d ever experienced from a B-grade before enveloped her. Death came soon after, but she had no regrets as she died... well... maybe one regret that perhaps had never been realistic to aim for in the first place.

Still, even in defeat, she didn’t believe the Dragonflights would be losing out if they could form better relationships with this kind of existence, and if that final skill of his was a glimpse into the future of what the hunter would be capable of, she had a strong feeling even her father underestimated how important it would be.

--

Elsewhere across the world that had been casually created by the Abundant Emperor, three other fights were also taking place.

In one, it was a battle of royals as the Demon Prince faced off against the Forest King.

Another was a grudge match between Wintermaul and the Eastbound Monk, who had appeared close to one another initially, certainly not by happenstance.

Finally, in a third fight, two humans battled as the Sword Saint and Warlord of Valhal clashed blades, definitely having the duel where its two participants had the most fun.

These battles had all, or were all, reaching their zenith as the end of the final stage within the Central Domain grew ever-nearer.