"—————"
Cao Cao said nothing, but a flame ignited in his eyes.
Words were no longer necessary. The duel between the man chosen by the Holy Spear and the proud, mighty Evil Dragon began in earnest.
Cao Cao moved first.
Without a hint of telegraphing his intent, he lunged forward. With speed no human should possess, he struck Apophis head-on.
Apophis's reaction was delayed by the lack of an opening move, but he launched a ferocious counter-offensive of shadows. Drills of black water and crushing darkness swirled in a dance more violent than anything before; even a god-class being would have been shredded.
Yet Cao Cao dove through it all. He didn't use holy energy to cancel it, nor the Spear's special abilities to parry it. He simply read the darkness with a level of technique that transcended the supernatural.
Emerging from the storm, Cao Cao swung the Holy Spear—now glowing with an unprecedented light—and landed a heavy strike. The blow sent Apophis reeling. The dragon's full-power darkness had been broken.
"Even my shadows cannot stop it! What terrifying luminosity!"
Apophis breathed a torrent of darkness from his maw, but before Cao Cao's absolute evasion in his "Sanctuary" state, the darkness only bit at the air. Cao Cao closed the distance in an eye-blink, raining damage upon the dragon.
However, Apophis was the premier among Evil Dragons for a reason. He began to adapt to Cao Cao's limit-breaking movements, gradually finding the rhythm to counter the onslaught.
Inside the black barrier, they clashed again and again. One fought with peerless, polished technique; the other with overwhelming power that eclipsed the gods. They threw their very souls at one another.
The battle reached a stalemate. It seemed they would fight until one simply ceased to exist—until a sudden change overcame Cao Cao.
His body gave a violent throb, and he suddenly coughed up a massive amount of blood.
[Third-Person POV]
▽
[Cao Cao POV]
"Guh... hah...!"
I spat out a mouthful of clotted blood and froze, clutching my mouth. Agony screamed through my nervous system; my limbs began to seize and tremble. The radiance of the Holy Spear flickered, grew weak, and finally died out.
What... what is this?
As I spiraled into confusion over my body's sudden betrayal, Apophis spoke calmly.
"It seems you have reached your limit."
"Limit...?"
The dragon nodded.
"That movement you used to overwhelm me far exceeded the level a human can sustain. You stepped into a domain where even gods do not tread lightly. The price for such power is high."
So, this agony was the backlash.
Is this the wall? Because I'm human? No, that's just a pathetic excuse. If I were stronger, I could have finished Apophis then and there. To fail at the most crucial moment... I'm pathetic.
Strength drained from my body. My vision blurred and began to darken. My Balance Breaker was failing; the Seven Treasures were flickering out of existence.
Apophis spoke again.
"It is a shame. I did not wish for our duel to end like this..."
Darkness began to seep from his form. He was significantly weakened from the damage I'd dealt, but he still had more than enough power to finish me off in this state.
"But I have my own goals. Allow me to bring this to a close."
Apophis's darkness surged toward me—and then.
Something damp and lukewarm brushed against my skin. I looked up to see a mist drifting through this void of darkness. It was a familiar mist.
Someone caught me before I could fall.
"Man, I've never seen you look this pathetic before."
"Heracles...? What are you... doing here...?"
Sure enough, the one bracing my shoulders was Heracles.
Then, multiple shadows flickered into existence around me.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Cao Cao. I couldn't fully dismantle the barrier, but I managed to slip us inside," Georg said, adjusting his glasses.
"My, my. You really are in tatters, Leader," Jeanne added in her usual lighthearted tone.
"Probably because he's a jerk on his off-days," Perseus muttered, offering zero sympathy for my injuries.
The members who were supposed to be hunting Evil Dragons outside the barrier had converged around me. According to Georg, he'd managed to carve a temporary path through Apophis's barrier.
Jeanne smiled. "Perfect timing, don't you think? Another second and you'd be a goner."
She wasn't wrong. If Georg and the others hadn't appeared, I'd be dead. I didn't have another miracle left in me.
Heracles pointed a finger at Apophis. "Yo. Sorry for the wait. From here on out, we're your opponents. No complaints allowed."
"You're not going to say no, are you, Mr. Legendary Evil Dragon?" Jeanne teased.
"Forgive us for crashing a one-on-one duel," Georg said. "But we need Cao Cao. We can't afford to lose him here."
"Look, I still hate the guy," Perseus said. "But as a former teammate, it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth if he died here."
One by one, they declared their intent. The fighting spirit radiating from them was more intense than anything I'd felt before.
Heracles looked back at me. "So? Can our 'Dear Leader' still move? You can take a nap if you want. We'll handle this guy."
"Don't be stupid. He was my opponent. I'm fighting—even if I can't move a single finger."
"Fine then. Take a breather. Join in once you've recovered a bit."
Supported by Heracles, I looked toward Apophis.
He didn't attack. He simply observed us, and then—he smiled. It was a fierce, boisterous grin. He looked... delighted.
"I see... Very well! Scions of heroes! Defeat me, and prove yourselves to be true heroes!"
Apophis's power surged! They say Evil Dragons are persistent, but where was he hiding this much energy?
But even in the face of that crushing pressure, Heracles and the others didn't flinch. They took a step forward.
"""HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"""
With a collective roar, they charged! Heracles, Jeanne, and Perseus—our front-line specialists—lunged into the darkness, their bodies reinforced by Georg's support magic.
Heracles deflected the shadows with his gauntleted fists; Perseus blocked the black water with his Sacred Gear shield. Jeanne, mounted on her holy dragon, lunged at Apophis with her great-spear. From the rear, Georg unleashed a "Full Burst" of offensive magic—Norse runes, Black magic, White magic—every ritual and attribute in his arsenal.
As he cast, Georg spoke to me.
"Cao Cao. Everyone here has changed. You included. We used to fight by stacking plan upon plan, striking only at weaknesses. We never fought unless we were guaranteed to win. That was the 'logical' way. But this time is different, isn't it?"
"..."
He was right. We used to research our enemies, exploit their flaws, and take the win. We avoided any fight that lacked a calculated advantage.
But looking at them now, I saw something else.
Heracles was fighting for the children. Jeanne now had a place to return to, a reason she couldn't afford to die.
Georg continued, "Somehow, I think this is for the best. We look far more like 'Heroes' now than we ever did when we lived as 'poison' to the supernatural world. Not that I'm one to talk."
Georg deployed his mist, blocking Apophis's counterattack.
The battle between the Evil Dragon and the former executives of the Hero Faction became a desperate, back-and-forth struggle.
But then—
"Aaaaagh!"
A drill of black water pierced Heracles's stomach. Even with his durability, that wasn't a wound he could just ignore.
"Heracles! Dammit!" Perseus tried to move to support him, but the darkness cut him off. Jeanne's holy sword was blocked by a shield of shadows before it could reach the dragon's body. Georg provided fire from the back, but Apophis was beginning to ignore it.
This is bad... we're going to get wiped out.
"Georg, can you do it?"
"You're going? In that condition?"
"I have to. I haven't recovered, but it'd be bad for my image if the leader stayed benched while his team bled, wouldn't it?"
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