"Incandescent Ray"
Sairao raised an arm to block the attack and was pushed away from Val'Drakar, who knelt down, focusing—luckily, it hadn't hit his core.
"Are you okay?"
Valença ran to him, while Enrico dashed past both her and Val'Drakar, heading straight for Sairao with charged momentum. Defending himself with a burned hand, Sairao caught Enrico's fist. This wasn't good—his body couldn't handle so much power anymore, but that mattered little now. Raising his hand, Sairao emitted a black aura streaked with red. From that hand, several seeds fell to the ground, from which distorted creatures began to emerge.
"Only four? Trash."
Sairao snapped his fingers, and these creatures appeared to be sacrificed, their essence transferred into his body. His mana increased significantly, and he instantly appeared in front of Enrico, launching an earth-infused punch to his face, sending him flying. A large fireball approached him.
"Devouring Shards"
A sphere appeared in Sairao's hand, which broke a second later, scattering numerous shards around. When the fireball touched one, it vanished into the air. Two fire slashes headed his way, but with the shards still in the air, both slashes disappeared before reaching him. Surrounded by the three, Sairao snapped his fingers again, making two more creatures appear.
"Sacrificial Explosion"
By moving two fingers, the two creatures turned into magic and flew toward Valença and Enrico, who fled immediately. Even putting some distance between them, they were caught in the explosion.
Multiple slashes appeared on Sairao's body, tearing half of him apart. Regenerating, he looked at Val'Drakar, who was launching another barrage of slashes, this time aimed at the other half. Sairao knew he was trying to find the core. It must've been frustrating for Val'Drakar, since the core Sairao had created moved automatically to avoid being destroyed. But not wanting to keep it as a trump card anymore, he dodged the attack.
"Lava Terrain"
The ground beneath Sairao turned into lava. Remaining there despite his feet burning, he kept his eyes on Val'Drakar.
"Multiple Lava Slashes"
Thirty attacks landed on Sairao's body in a single second, scattering more shards and making many slashes vanish, though some still landed. Two more creatures appeared, and he prepared to launch the explosions at Val'Drakar.
"Cataclysm Flame"
A sphere fell between him and the creatures, exploding and making both creatures disappear and obscuring his vision. He felt three arrows hit him from behind, dealing damage, followed by his body nearly being torn apart by Val'Drakar's slashes.
The three regrouped, watching Sairao reform. They couldn't understand why the core wasn't anywhere to be found. Seeing that he'd been hit all over but still couldn't be located, the only explanation was that it wasn't with him—or it was somehow protected.
Sairao was irritated while regenerating. That's why not just he, but all the gods, preferred human bodies or similar races. The Nartheis had this damn core that could interfere with movement.
"If I just stay calm, I'll lose this weakness in three, two… one."
Spheres spun around him with the air rotating too. An energy unlike anything Valença had ever felt appeared before her. A pillar of black light covered the whole area. When the spheres descended, Sairao had transformed. A dark cloak billowed; his appearance still bore traces of a lizard, but much less, and his green skin was now lighter.
"With this, I should be at Nartheis Rank Ranvil level."
This information made the two nervous. Before Enrico's body could crash into him, Val'Drakar grabbed him by the clothes. He had a plan, though it was risky. First, he needed to try to make things easier for those two kids. Raising his hand, he summoned ten of his invocations and assumed a stance with both swords crossed.
"Dual Lava Slash Fusion"
A sword swing tore through the ground toward Sairao, who blocked it with one hand. Sairao noticed his hand wouldn't let go. A second later, he realized his palm had melted and was stuck to the attack. It had happened so fast, and without pain, that it took him a moment to notice.
"I see… but it won't work a second time."
He crushed the hand, breaking it in two. He might only be at Ranvil level one, but that was more than enough to deal with them. Raising two fingers, four creatures emerged from him and charged at the three.
Val'Drakar stepped forward and defended with his sword. The explosion was so massive that it engulfed the entire area. Val'Drakar was destroyed by that one attack. Valença and Enrico were moved to Val'Drakar's tree, where a new fruit transformed into a core, and he returned.
"If we can hold out for two minutes, I'll be able to recover my power..."
Two new attacks came their way, and Valença fired an incandescent ray at one of them, but couldn't stop it. Val'Drakar raised his hand against the attacks and was destroyed again. Another fruit descended, turning into a new core. They were lucky that the tree behind them strengthened everything around Val'Drakar, preventing another explosion from happening.
Above them, Sairao stomped on Val'Drakar, causing several cracks. Raising his hand, he was about to cast a spell on Valença—but a hand grabbed Sairao's. He stopped, seeing that something had changed in the boy in front of him. Enrico let out a breath, blood beginning to flow from his body, opening new wounds—wounds that hadn't been inflicted by anyone else since the battle began.
"From what I heard, we should have about a minute and a half left, right? Mr. Val'Drakar."
Valença looked at Enrico and smiled, seeing his eyes had returned to normal. Val'Drakar below had a satisfied look—because the boy had accomplished what the two elves could not.
"Enrico."