Vali's head tilted slightly. When he spoke, his voice carried the echo of dragon roar. "That's new. Let's test it out."
He moved faster than before, one moment he was across the arena, the next his armored fist was inches from my face.
I brought my spear up to block. Sacred fire met divine metal in an explosion of light and sound that shook the entire colosseum.
"Divide," came the mechanical voice from his armor.
I felt the drain again, but this time something was different. The Kavacha and Kundala absorbed part of the effect, the divine armor's protective properties interfering with his Sacred Gear's ability. Instead of losing half my power, I only lost about a third.
The Kavacha and Kundala had interfered with his Sacred Gear's ability, the divine armor's conceptual protections treating the power drain as just another form of attack to be negated.
Vali's eyes widened behind his helmet visor. "Interesting."
I spun my spear in a wide arc, forcing him back. "You're not the only one with tricks."
Vali came at me with everything he had—wings carving through the air like giant swords, armored fists striking with the force of meteors, speed that left afterimages burning on my retinas. The Scale Mail armor had removed the ten-second limit on his Divide ability. Now it activated with every contact, a constant drain that would have crippled most opponents within minutes.
But I had advantages too.
The Kavacha and Kundala wasn't just armor—it was a conceptual defense, protection on a divine level. Every strike that connected was weakened, every technique partially negated. And my fire spear cut through his defenses like they were made of paper.
"Divide. Divide. Divide."
The mechanical countdown became a constant chant as we exchanged blows too fast for the crowd to follow. But each drain was weaker than it should have been, blocked or reduced by my divine protection.
Vali's wing swept toward my head in a strike that would have decapitated a lesser opponent. I ducked under it and drove my spear toward his ribs.
He twisted away, but not fast enough. Sacred fire seared through his armor's side plates, burning through metal and into the flesh beneath.
Instead of flinching, he grabbed my spear shaft with both hands.
"Divide."
Power drained from the weapon directly, sacred fire dimming as its energy was siphoned away. But Vali had made a mistake—getting this close meant I could hit him with more than just the spear.
My armored fist caught him in the solar plexus. The punch carried all the force of my enhanced physiology plus divine reinforcement. The impact drove him backward, his grip on my spear breaking as he flew across the arena.
He hit the far wall hard enough to crack the reinforced stone, then dropped to one knee. Steam rose from the dent I'd put in his chest armor.
"You're slowing down," I called, striding toward him with my spear held ready. "Getting tired already?"
Vali pushed himself upright, movements sharp with pain. Several plates of his Scale Mail were cracked now, silver light bleeding through the gaps. "Just getting started."
He launched himself skyward with explosive force, wings beating so hard they created downdrafts that stirred up dust devils. At the peak of his arc, he folded his wings and dove.
Not at me—at the arena floor directly in front of me.
I realized his plan a heartbeat too late.
The impact when he hit the ground was apocalyptic. Stone exploded outward in a shower of debris, the arena floor cratering like it had been struck by a meteor. The shockwave knocked me backward, golden armor ringing like a bell as chunks of reinforced stone bounced off it.
Through the dust cloud, I saw him rise. His armor was more damaged now, several plates hanging loose or missing entirely. But his eyes burned brighter than before, and seemed to bore straight through my soul.
He came at me through the settling debris like a white comet, moving too fast to track properly. I managed to get my spear up just as he reached me.
The collision was tremendous.
We went down in a tangle of limbs, rolling across the broken arena floor in a desperate struggle for dominance. His armored hands grabbed for my throat while I tried to drive my spear into his ribs. Sacred fire met draconic power in miniature explosions that left smoking craters in the stone around us.
I managed to plant a boot in his chest and kick him away. He flew backward, wings spreading to arrest his momentum, but I was already moving.
My fire spear traced a blazing arc through the air, aimed directly at his heart.
He caught it.
Not with his hands—with his wings. The draconic appendages folded around my weapon like a cocoon, trying to smother the flames with sheer draconic power.
"Divide. Divide. Divide."
The mechanical chant became frantic now, his Sacred Gear working overtime to drain my weapon's power. Sacred fire dimmed as energy was siphoned away, but I just poured more mana into it.
The weapon exploded with light.
Sacred fire erupted outward in a sphere of purifying flame that turned the entire arena into a miniature sun. Vali's scream echoed through the blast as divine fire washed over his armor, burning away draconic power like morning mist.
When the light faded, he was on his knees twenty feet away. His Scale Mail was ruined—plates cracked and blackened, jewels dark and lifeless. Silver blood dripped from dozens of gaps in the armor, pooling on the shattered stone beneath him.
I walked toward him, my own armor unmarked despite the devastation around us. The fire spear in my hand blazed with renewed fury, hungry for more destruction.
Vali looked up at me through his cracked visor. For the first time since I'd known him, I saw something in his eyes I'd never seen before.
Fear.
"No," he said quietly. "Not yet."
He struggled to his feet, armor sparking and smoking. Around us, the arena had gone completely silent. Even the gods were holding their breath.
White light began gathering around him again.
His armor began to shift and change, white plates taking on a more draconic appearance. His helmet elongated into a dragon's skull, and his wings became more organic, more alive.
When he spoke again, his voice was barely human.
"I, who am about to awaken, am the Heavenly Dragon who has taken the principles of supremacy from God. I envy the infinite, and I pursue the dream. I shall become the White Dragon of Supremacy, and I shall take you down to the depths of the radiant white darkness."
The crowd erupted into panicked murmurs. Several of the weaker devils in the audience actually fled their seats.
Vali's transformation completed with a roar that shook the very foundations of the arena.
Juggernaut Drive.
The forbidden technique that temporarily removed the seal on the Heavenly Dragons, granting immense power at the cost of the wielder's sanity and life force.
The thing standing across from me was no longer entirely Vali. It was a fusion of human ambition and draconic fury, a creature of pure destructive potential wrapped in armor.
Golden eyes blazed behind the dragon skull helmet as it fixed its gaze on me.
"Now," it said. "let's finish this."
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