Sigurd was a colossus; he stood nearly 2m tall and built like a brick shit house. His arms were larger than Lex's thighs and wrapped with dragon scales. The legend himself appeared more a dragon than a man in his armor.

There were some discrepancies in his intimidating appearance. Long locks of blonde, almost white hair flowed down his helmet, contrasting to the man's red cape. His armor was a mismatching set of red, black, and green-colored scales. He took the lizards apart and decorated his armor with their corpses. Sigurd whittled teeth into spikes lined his back, he carved the thick shoulder bones into pauldrons, and smaller joints mirrored his lining the armor. To a dragon, he was sure Sigurd looked like a maniac.

Lex had to focus; what did he know about Sigurd? This guy was powerful. He shattered the storm of an Eastern Dragon; his presence caused ripples in the sky and quakes in the earth. Though Sigurd had yet to draw his sword, its presents felt like biting heat. Fighting this hero should be impossible in his current state. There were few openings in the man's armor, and he doubted the sword in his hand could pierce Sigurd's dragon blood enhanced flesh. But, if the legends were true, even stabbing the man's heart may not kill him. The fight hadn't started, but Lex felt like he'd already lost. What did he have that could stand up to Sigurd the dragonslayer? Could his weapons even block Gram?

Through their bond, Zhan spoke. "You're stronger than you think. With my help, you can use dragon force; a human with Dragon force is even stronger than a dragon. My cultivation realm is near enough his own, and with your cultivation technique, we can match him." Zhan said.

"Are you sure it wouldn't be better to run away? I doubt a Confederate warrior is here legally." Lex didn't want to fight this guy. Sigurd was several rounds of power higher than Lex. Worse of all, Dragon Force was new.

A golden light began to spiral around Lex. His body shook, and his muscles bulged. The veins running along his skin swelled, and his body shook. His awakening threatened to rip him apart. Instincts to hunt, burn, and destroy nearly shattered Lex's mind shake; without Zhan to keep him focused, he'd be overwhelmed. This dragon force felt foreign to his very being. He could control it no more than his heartbeat or the hiding from tribulation technique. New instincts, alien and old, forced him to see Sigurd as a rival instead of an overwhelming force.

While this change happened, Sigurd drew his sword. Then he closed the distance and aimed for the death blow.

Lex moved like a puppet lifting his sword to parry Gram. Lex felt his shoulder nearly give way. Twisted chains shot out from Sigurd's shadow and latched onto Lex's arm. They pulled firm lining it up for a chop from Gram.

Suddenly, an explosion of power erupted from him. Powerful winds blasted from his body, carrying bolts of lightning. These winds soon turned freezing as Hel's blessing mixed with them. As Gram's edge sliced through his arm, more power flowed through him. Lex screamed as golden blood squirted from his stump. Lex lost his mace and most of his forearm. Disarmed in a very literal sense, he tried parrying Sigurd's backswing.

Can it be reattached? How could he win this with one arm?

Lex managed to parry Gram and felt a crack run through his sword. "So, not even losing a limb will convince you," Sigurd said. The image of a dragon mixed with a man appeared behind Sigurd. Gram charged with a red and blue qi swirling together into a purple-black mix.

The overwhelming force channeled into Gram was the power of a nascent soul. Not only could Sigurd's presence negate the techniques of dragons, but the hero generated the power to cleave through mountains and forests. Lex could feel it from the charge; this was what nearly split Zhan in two.

If this hit, they'd all die. Lex shot forward and stabbed his sword under Sigurd's unarmored armpit. The sword he'd taken from a knight shattered on impact. While the power was on him, he thought quickly. A crazy desperate idea came to mind. He pointed his finger towards the gap in Sigurd's helmet. Not only did he push out the spiral ball as a beam attack, but he also mixed in Dragon force and Hel's blessing. His heart skipped a beat as the power gathered; the spiral channeled it and then blasted the energy out of the spiral technique's condensing cone.

At the last second, Sigurd turned his head to the side. The attack smashed into the legendary grating of the legendary helmet of Sigurd's legendary armor. Even with the power increase, Lex was still no match for Sigurd. The hero's attack fully charged, and he turned the blade directing all his might upon Lex.

In show desperation, he spiraled the power of Dragon force and Hel's blessing around himself. Then, a concentration of cold, gravity, powerful shifting pressures, and lightning spun around him while the power of Gram, the blade of wrath, slammed down upon him.

Scattered waves of Sigurd's power tore the mountain range behind Lex apart. Exploding rock showered the landscape blasting nearby villages and hamlets, ruining crops, tearing apart houses, and possibly killing thousands. Sigurd's attack left a scar in the landscape. Rarely has such power been unleashed in the lands of Britannia.

Lex stood his ground as unspeakable power swept over him; he only survived by spinning his qi. So long as he kept spinning and turning away Sigurd's qi, he could survive. Dragon force thrashed around through his body. It increased the potency of his qi enough to rival even Sigurd's. But it wasn't focused; without Zhan to help him, Lex might have exploded.

When the power died down, he thrust his finger forward and blasted. Natural elements gathered and shot forth in a concentrated beam slamming into Sigurd's legendary armor. The hero withstood the attack and stoically trusted his armor to parry the beam attack.

"I tried to spare you, a fool standing between my quest and I; you are unworthy of mercy." Lex continued to fire his beam even as Sigurd walked towards him. The hero was as inevitable as death itself, and nothing Lex used could damage him.

He saw the mace on the ground in his arm. Lex let go of the beam to grab the mace and felt cold steel enter his flesh; maybe he should run away. His golden blood that usually plugged up any wound flowed like a river. Lex gasped as his lifeblood left him. It felt like both a surprise and a betrayal.

Just because he was dying didn't mean he didn't want to get a punch in. Lex straightened his stance and smashed his fist against Sigurd's helmet. The hero, the legend, and the bane of dragons himself stumbled back a couple of steps. The legendary hero's head turned to the side from the blow. Sigurd's legendary sword remained embedded in Lex's chest.

Everyone looked from the great hero to the sword in Lex's chest. Lex had disarmed Sigurd, and only the hero's legendary armor remained. Yet, this was an opportunity like no other. Sigurd's initial stab had only hit a lung, an almost useless organ in his body. Even as his blood flowed down his chest, Lex dashed forward and delivered another punch.

Sigurd threw his hands forward to grab the blade's handle. He figured Sigurd would try to take the sword, yank it out, and finish Lex off. But, instead, Sigurd's focus on the blade allowed Lex to line Sigurd up for another blow. This time it was the knight who rolled across the remains of the mountainside. Then, with the bit of breathing room, he reached down, reclaimed his discarded arm, and pushed both stumps together.

By some magic, his blood acted like glue sticking the two limbs back together. He could sense growing fear from Sigurd. The man had underestimated Lex and chose to use their fight to recover from some curses.

"Give that back; it doesn't belong to you. That's my father's sword." Sigurd yelled, breaking his stoic persona. Heat began to roll off of Sigurd's armor. The many dragon scales began to squeeze and flex together. Sigurd didn't notice; instead, he charged forward. His gauntleted hands resembled Dragon's talons as he slashed and clawed at Lex.

In the blink of an eye, Sigurd ripped a clawed hand across Lex's chest, spilling more precious golden blood.

Despite being a hero and a mighty warrior, Sigurd wasn't used to fistfights. Fighting like an animal didn't help him; claw attacks against Lex were usually ineffective. Except Sigurd's claws were made from dragon talons. So every slash ripped Lex apart, digging deep and slicing through muscle and tendons. The tactic was as brutal as it was effective. Finally, the man stopped trying to take his sword back and just lashed at Lex.

With only one functional arm, Lex handed Sigurd his multicolored ass. With all the power that Sigurd had, it appeared that he refused or couldn't use any complicated techniques without his sword. Lex pummeled the man even as the armor dented and shifted around the man's body.

Lex's left hand twitched. He brought the arm up and touched the pommel of Gram. At this point, Sigurd had evolved into a mad clawing beast. Was it the sword? Did the sword possess the ability to control a dragon's blood? If so, Lex didn't know if taking the sword was lucky or not; but he was in poor shape.

Lex found an opening between Sigurd's slashes and hit the hero hard enough to shatter mountains. While touching the sword, controlling Dragon Force was a little easier to use. For the first time since their battle began, Lex thought he could win.

If Sigurd had waited and healed his wounds, this fight would have been very different. But, instead, Zhan had crippled Sigurd's power base, and even now, he could feel Sigurd's power drop.

If Sigurd had just taken Lex seriously from the beginning, Lex would be dead. But Sigurd perceived this fight as a victory regardless of what Lex did. Perhaps killing so many dragons had made Sigurd complacent.

Blood gushed down Lex's stomach as he pulled Gram out of his chest. The sword Gram practically vibrated with malice. It hated everything, including Sigurd. Gram hungered for the blood of sentinels.

Lex grasped the pommel and pulled. Zhan roared, and black beams of light smashed into Sigurd.

"I've done it, my curses have weakened him, and your patron deity provided a necromantic revival to the dragons he wears. Strike him down so that he will never trouble us again." Zhan said.

Lex held up the blade, and he felt it suck the qi out of him. Lightning flashed from the blade, and a corona of darkness whirled around it as Lex used it as a medium for the spiral. He shot forward and stabbed through the armor and out of Sigurd's back. Sigurd gazed at him, seemingly at a loss. Lex reached down and took Gram's sheath; he placed a foot on the legend's chest and kicked them off the blade.

Sigurd tumbled down the mountain blood seeped from his wound and fell from the heavens. He'd won with a lot of help, a fool of an opponent, and a lot of luck.

Lex felt the Dragon force leave him, and he slumped down. The power to compete with enemies realms above him vanished. As it left him, Lex felt it slip beyond the wall.

"Rest; your body it's still adapting to the change. Using the strength of my kin for the first time can be trying; you did well." Zhan said.

The Dragon lifted him between two claws. "My hero, I think you deserve a reward." She dunked him in a puddle of her blood, and only when he stopped struggling for a couple of minutes did she pull him out. He felt the full sensation return to his severed hand. All the aches and pain from his transformation had eased.

"Well, Lex, you did it this time. Why couldn't you have just cut off the guy's head? Now he's going to track you down for his sword. You can't use dragon force again unless it's on your own after you awaken it, and that could take centuries." Hel said.

Lex shut his eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn't as bad she made it out to be. He had Gram and Hel trapped Sigurd in the undead Dragon armor. Sigurd might never recover from this, or Sigurd's country may send another dragonslayer to slay Sigurd honorably. He didn't have to freak out; this wasn't as bad as Hel made it out to be.

"Zhan, how much did your curses affect Sigurd?" Lex asked.

"While we Eastern dragons are known for our manipulation of fortune, curses are a specialty of ours. In our fight, I placed hundreds of curses upon him. But, unfortunately, my curses limited the number of techniques he could use at one time; some inflamed his joints, many slowed his reaction time, disrupted his inner ear, made him sick, and disrupted his sense of time." As a result, he no longer felt very good about his chances when he fought Sigurd again.

"Bye Zhan, stay safe until we meet again." She dropped him off in the middle of the woods not far from Fort Doral. He watched the azure dragoness fly away, causing sudden downpours wherever she passed. They'd meet again; he was sure of it.

While their familiar bond gave him great power, he needed a weaker familiar for his battle against the inquisitors. That's why he was here in the black forest just a few hundred kilometers from Fort Doral. Zhan claimed there was a Nightmare in these woods.

Lex heard the thundering hooves and prepared for whatever came next. He prepared to draw Gram with a group of soldiers stopped before him.