444 Skyborne Rhapsody
Just as he acquired this boost in physical abilities, he jumped off of the dragon’s head just as it tried snatching him with its claws, countering with a kick straight to its snout–
THUD
The impact caused the cerulean-scaled dragon to let out a grumble in pain as its head cocked back. The kick itself didn’t do any damage, however, only causing the beast to flinch as he followed up with the real attack, holding both hands in front of him as his boots stood on the empty sky itself.
Utilizing the effects of “Faux Dragonheart” with the heat of roaring flames coursing throughout his very veins, the element of fire itself was bolstered considerability within this self-enchantment:
“Chains of The Fire-branded God!”
Enormous chains linked by manifestations of fire blazed into the sky, whipping around the grand dragon with a scale large enough to wrap around the beast. Before the beast could attempt to swipe away the blazing chains or evade them, Emilio tugged on the mystical restraints, causing them to wrap around the winged colossus and squeeze tightly.
‘Got it!’ He thought.
Though he bound the beast, it was another task altogether to keep it restrained as he could feel the mountainous power behind its scales resisting the blazing hold.
“Grhh…!” He struggled, holding onto the chains with both hands as he upped the heat of the internal flame within him, causing his complexion to redden and sweat to evaporate as it left his pores as steam.
The strength of a true dragon was something else entirely; it felt as though he was attempting to keep a bullet train from pulling away with nothing more than ropes.
‘If I can just hold it–I can conjure a spell to finish it off!’ He planned.
Having to wield the chains with only one hand, he raised the other as he began to weave into existence the ultimate spell in mind, bringing together a coalescence of the four prime elements.
Embers danced in the air with sublime heat; water swirled with its unrestrained, tranquil flow; stone gathered as the unmoving foundation of the spell; wind brought it all together into one.
“Ngh!”
The legendary creature thrashed around in the sky, allowing its storm-churning wings to push and resist against the burning chains as its claws gripped around the bindings, contesting their hold greatly. It wasn’t as though the chains were normal in any regard; Emilio poured a heaping amount of mana and magical reinforcement into them, furthering their potency through the scathing heat infused into their form.
‘Just holding these chains…It feels like my arm is going to be ripped from my body! Even while bound, it’s this strong?!’ Emilio thought.
Still, he managed to create the unison of all four elements; the combination spurred on an evolution of each element, combining into a dazzling force of flashing colors, retained into a sphere. The grandiose ball of transcendent elements released unstable winds like fluttering litter and dazzling stars, quaking the skies around.
The extraordinary heat existed without evaporating the sublime water, melding with the ferocious, yet fair roars of the wind, all kept together by the impervious stone—hardened by the other elements. It was this perfect unison of elements that transcended each into something greater than any of their individual forms.
From down below, both Sirius and Maximus paused for a moment amidst their clash, looking up towards the unique manifestation of magecraft.
Maximus’ eyes widened for the first time, “That magic…I thought it was a myth–the ultimate element only able to be created by Aelor, the Element King. He can use it…?”
“Hah! Surprised? That’s just the kind of guy my bro is,” Sirius gloated proudly.
It was an incredibly difficult element to tap into, requiring a perfect synchronization of elements–made even more arduous as the man found himself having to wrangle the dragon at the same time.
The jaws of the dragon snatched multiple links of the blazing chain, tugging and gnawing on it violently. Even while conjuring the mass of magnificent, transcendent elemental energy, he kept an eye on his familiar, which continued leading the other dragon around.
With the completion of the ultimate element’s manifestation, it formed into the spell that Emilio had conjured through his steel-forged mind of magecraft.
“Ghhh…Arrgh…!” He yelled out in pain as his muscles cramped and began tearing from the tug-o-war with the dragon.
Still, he forced himself to maintain complete focus, knowing the level of concentration such a spell required.
‘Through eras of darkness and light, from eons of nothingness to the permanence of life–the one, unending truth of the universe lies in my hands: “Before Genesis”,’ Emilio invoked.
The chromatic element spread itself with a thunderclap before the climactic spell etched itself into the fabric of reality. Clouds parted with the emergence of light, revealing a colossal pair of hands that descended upon the bound dragon.
It was the godly hands that arrived with an ascended aura of almighty authority that surrounded the dragon with open palms. Even the mountainous creature was oversized completely by the transcendent hands, each of which could grip the beast’s entire body as if it were a mere lizard.
As the chromatic hands of blurred light held near the dragon, grandiose seals hummed, forming in a multi-layered tower of seals above the beast.
“Destroy,” Emilio commanded the spell with a gesture of his hand.
Descending from the parting of clouds that were possessed by the ultimate element, an unparalleled hammer of light crashed down upon the dragon, beaming down from the circular seals that acted like a barrel for the energy.
“Raaaaaaaagh—!”
The dragon’s roar lasted only for a moment before being engulfed by the sky-shaking power of the almighty attack.
It wasn’t just a powerful array of energy; the ultimate element possessed an unequaled property that granted it the capability to break anything struck by it down to an atomic level.
“…That’s bad,” Maximus remarked with a worried smile as his silver hair fluttered heavily in the violent winds generated by the distant spell.
Sirius laughed, watching the spell that looked like a pillar of flashing colors descending from the clouds, “Nice one, brother!”
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[Level Up!]
[Level 55 Achieved.]
A breath of relief slowly left his lips, still holding his hand out as he hovered in the sky.
“Ngh…!” A wince left his lips as his muscles cramped harshly with the completion of the high-cost spell.
It wasn’t just the dragon-vanquishing attack that left him battered, but the “Faux Dragonheart” spell left him overheated.
‘My body…it feels like I’m inside of an oven. “Faux Dragonheart” isn’t something I can use for very long still. It was enough for that, but anymore of it…I don’t know if I’ll last very long that way,’ he thought.
“Master!”
Flying straight towards him was Sabbath, who looked in shock as chasing behind the spirit was the other dragon–fueled by a primal anger as it breathed out storms of fire from its mouth.
‘Crap…It’s mad now,’ Emilio thought.
“Return!” Emilio shouted, causing his Soulbound spirit to return to the realm they came from, leaving the wrathful dragon heading straight towards him.
It was scary just how freakishly fast the colossal dragon was, moving like a speeding train through the clouds, leaving Emilio feeling as though he only had one choice: “Skin of The Golem King.”
Around his body, he formed an armor of reinforced, diamond-like gemstones. He was only able to halfway form it before the speeding dragon swept by, slashing its mighty claws at him. Fortunately, the tough armor around his arms was already manifested, allowing him to block the attack.
‘So strong–I can feel the impact vibrating through my bones,’ Emilio thought.
Feeling himself be blown back through the boundless sky after blocking the attack, he flipped around, restabilizing himself with his wind. As he looked around, he could feel the flap of the dragon’s wings echoing through the skies like thunder.
It was incredibly fast; the cerulean-scaled beast of fantastical might was smart, as well, using the clouds as cover as he encircled him without revealing itself.
‘…It’s not just a mindless beast. It might be something summoned by that guy, but I think this is what the real thing is–this is how a dragon truly fights,’ he thought.
Hovering in the air, he felt the wind break as his ears popped, feeling an enormous pressure suddenly closing in before–FWOOSH.
It was difficult to even react to it, only finding himself being clawed at viciously as the mountainous beast swept by like a thunderbolt, yet possessed the weight of a mountain of lead. The sweeping strike had cleaved a chunk of his gemstone armor off before the mighty beast passed by, sinking into the clouds before any counterattack could be launched.
‘If it wasn’t for this armor, those claws would have torn me in half with that last attack. I have to be careful–but I don’t want to let Sirius fight our target by himself much longer. It’s easier said than done, though–this dragon is particularly nasty,’ Emilio thought.
Aerial combat wasn’t his forte, either, though he found himself thankful for the training he’d done to master flight with the element of wind as he began soaring, keeping his eyes peeled for the grand beast.