"The finest fury is the most controlled."
― Christopher Hitchens
***
One of the biggest reasons the Duskblades were feared was due to one of their most prized sword technique, named in honour of their ancestors. Every single form of the technique was a killing move, and the most terrifying aspect was that it consisted of six forms, each one more lethal than the last.
It was said that only the patriarch and grand elder of the Duskblades who had reached the Blade soul could command the technique most efficiently, and the power they could output with it was said to be truly tyrannical.
But now, Rya, who had stepped beyond the blade soul, could be said to have unearthed the true potential of this killing technique and pushed it beyond its intended boundaries.
***
[Rya-al-sar POV]
The thin strand of blade-attributed mana shot forward from the tip of my sword after I executed mana severance and cleaved through the Dragon's roar, which still reverberated through the huge cave. Then, seeing the sharp wave of mana coming towards it, the dragon tilted to the left, as if to dodge it.
The startling thing was that the dragon had moved with an uncanny agility that didn't match its size at all. The blow crashed into its left wing at the edges. It growled and glared at my quickly approaching figure, then it raised its right claw, which began to redden as if fire was running through it, and swung downwards.
[Infernal claw]
A blaze of fire that blotted out my vision came crashing towards me, shaped in the form of a claw with six razor-sharp nails extending out of it.
Pulling my sword back till my right shoulder and pointing it forward at the incoming inferno, I pushed the mana from my now expanding but very-slowly degrading mana pool into the blade and stabbed forward in a ripple.
My blade heart thumped, and I pushed the comprehension of swiftness I'd gained into the mix of the rushing mana.
[Duskblade second form - blade flicker]
The vision in front of me glitched, as if reality itself couldn't seem to comprehend the scene happening that instant.
Then, sharp cuts appeared on the claw made of flame, and I passed through it without slowing myself down.
My breath hitched because of the temperature rising around me. That attack was hotter than the magma I'd been in earlier by several times, but no matter, I was only getting started.
And judging by the Dragon's regenerating wounds, and the charred, dismembered scales knitting themselves back, the dragon seemed to be only getting started as well.
The sight was startling because, according to our information sources and the historical records, the dragon should only possess a flame affinity. Maybe it was some advanced technique of regeneration using fire mana based on some elusive comprehension?
My eyes hardened as the wretch continued to heal. My thoughts split into fragments as the most ideal plan to damage the bastard continued to form in my mind.
'The info on the bastard is only half-baked… because no being in the same realm had fought it, thus nobody had managed to damage it enough to reveal this aspect… I need to find every other card it might have up its sleeves… Potent probing attacks are my best option. The battle favours me because sixth and tenth could deal fatal damage at the most opportune moment… they'll eventually know every other ability it might have.'
The battle didn't necessarily have to be won by me; I just had to make sure that the bastard was injured enough that the others could finish it off.
Breathing out, the world was still a blur to my senses as the planning didn't take any substantial time; my body was continuing to dash towards the dragon with the blade hung near my right hip, ready to lash out.
Ranged attacks weren't my forte anyway, plus, the agility of the bastard would make that plan futile anyway.
I would need to get close and hack it apart.
My mana pool was at forty per cent due to my forceful ascension and my not using the quintessence stones yet.
I hadn't used any overly mana-draining techniques just yet. That was about to change right about now.
As the dragon growled while jets of billowing fire streamed out of its orifices, it charged at me with its wings wide open and claws gleaming with hellish red flames.
The ground splintered, and cobweb-like fractures marked the place where it stomped, while the ground under me hardly shook due to my leaping steps.
In response to the incoming attack, I charged up mana through my blade and prepared to execute another attack.
As we neared each other, the dragon slammed its claws right where I would've stepped.
In my slowed-down perception, I saw the gleaming claw descend on my form like a deity's palm slamming down like divine punishment.
Pushing mana into my lower half, I tensed my muscles and darted slightly to the left of where the claw would slam down, using my movement technique.
[Phantom Flicker]
Then, with the comprehension of swiftness imbuing my blade, I leapt up right above the limb, which was still descending downwards.
Murderous bloodlust filled every pore of my body, and my vision went red as a hazy crimson blade light erupted from my sword as I pierced forward, right towards its eye.
[Duskblade third form - slaughtering sword]
A concentrated beam of crimson-blood-like mana wave erupted and was about to pierce the wretch's eye. But, at the last fraction of a second, it tilted sideways a bit while closing its eye.
The beam of sword light crashed into its face and dug a gruesome trail from the edges of its eye, passing through its scales and rending the side of the bastard's face while carving out a path of blood, torn flesh and broken scales.
The other eye of the Dragon constricted as chunks of flesh fell from its face, then, filled with a wild frenzy, it opened its maw and a concentrated ball of mana formed in mere milliseconds at the back of its throat.
My hair stood on end while still suspended in midair near the dragon's face. As the incoming attack made my instincts scream out like never before, the imminent heat wave made my already sweat-drenched body sweat more.
'Fu*k! This crazy bastard!'
Any being's response to a near-death attack would've been a flinch or even a bit of fear. Alas, the beasts that conquered our planet were already mad.
I felt the heat from the fire licking at my body encased in the spectral armour before it even erupted. Watching the attack about to erupt from the bastard's mouth, I hurriedly started to execute another strike.
[Duskblade fourth for...
Right that instant, the ambient mana around me ignited before I could prepare myself.
It constricted like a vice around my figure. My mana sense saw nothing abnormal, but I could clearly feel the mana around me attacking me like I were its mortal enemy.
This kind of thing only happened after someone laid out their dominion on the world, but I didn't sense the deployment of any dominion.
Sensing the attack approaching me, akin to an arrow about to puncture its prey all the way through. I only had the time to hurriedly reinforce my body with mana, while encasing myself within a thick film and positioning my sword in a defensive grip in front of me.
[Dragon's breath]
A blast of flames that seemed to have come from hell itself erupted in front of me, encasing the entirety of my body in a whitish-blue pillar of firestorm.
I didn't know when, but my body crashed heavily into the wall of rocks behind me from where I'd come from. All the while, a torrent of flames continued to assault me from every direction.