“There are three stages for the transformation. The first one you will become a Dragonewt. In the second, you will transform into a Dragonoid, and in the third, you will become a full-fledged Dragon Knight. You cannot just transform in the get-go. You have to be prepared mentally and physically to do so.” Said Raimeiryuu.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you need to train yourself to be ready for the transformation. It will have a big toll on your body. The higher the evolution, the higher the toll. That’s why I was training you on the way of the Dragon Sword techniques to make you ready to learn the first transformation.”

“I am indebted to you. With this, I can have my vengeance against that demon if I ever come face to face against him in the future.”

“Let’s master it first before saying anything. At your current level, you will barely be able to use it, and I even doubt you can keep the form for a long time.”

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Current date:

I flew toward Adramelech and cut him on the chest.

“I will not waste time with you anymore. This is my revenge.” I said with a threatening tone.

The demon panicked for a bit and moved backward. He touched his chest and felt blood coming from the cut.

“How were you able to increase your power this much? What is this sorcery?”

“This is the real power of the Mythological Weapons.” I flew higher in the sky and shot a ‘Dragon Head’ at the demon.

He barely dodged the attack and shot several glittering dots at me.

I dodged the initial explosive dots and he fired more.

I kept dodging all his attacks by flying at a higher speed. None of his attacks could reach me. Then, I dove toward the demon and slashed him with a ‘Dragon Slash’ on the same spot.

He could not dodge this attack and screamed.

I followed my attack with another ‘Dragon Slash’ that he blocked using his glittering tail.

In contact with my sword, an explosion happened.

I used my wings to protect myself from the explosion and flew upward again.

“If I only had my arm and eyes, I wouldn’t struggle against this kid.” Adramelech was frustrated.

“Playtime is over.” He took a deep breath and pulled himself from the ground using his peacock tail. He opened his empty eyes, extended his arm, and started saying weird words.

“What is he saying?” I asked.

“He’s speaking the old language.” Replied Raimeiryuu.

“Can you understand him?”

“Yeah. I do not know what he will do with it, but he is chanting a spell. You need to stop him before he finishes.”

I dove toward him with a thrust and stabbed him in the heart. “I got him.”

“That’s too early to celebrate.” Smiled the demon. “My ritual spell is complete. You will witness the real power of the demons.”

Before I could bring out my sword from his body, his tail shone and an explosion happened.

.

.

The explosion threw me away, but I managed to stop myself from using my wings. My right arm was broken and I was bleeding from my head.

Adramelech emerged from the explosion with a different and eerie form.

His skin became brown. He had an iron plate around his reddish horns and on top of his remaining shoulder. He had big fangs coming from his big horse mouth. He grew slim wings with no coverts and only bones were visible. His arm doubled in size. He no longer had his peacock tail, but he had a weapon similar in shape to his old tail.

“This is my true form. Let’s see if you can keep up.”

We flew higher and clashed with our weapons. He could harden and soften his weapon at will. When it is in its hardened state, He used it as a sword. When he softened his weapon, it became a whip with numerous feathers that can catch anything.

I was caught off guard with this new ability and he smacked me to the ground.

I stood up and flew again and we kept on clashing for several minutes.

When I felt I was near my limits, I unconsciously held back and he took this chance to fly behind me and kicked me with his ogre's leg. Then, he swung his weapon in its softened state and threw a lot of glittering dots.

“Damn, he can still use the explosions.” I came into contact with the explosive dots while falling from the sky and I was bombarded with several explosions that created a hole on the ground.

It took me all I have to stand up on my feet. I took too much damage and I could not keep my transformation for more than a minute.

Adramelech attacked me with his hardened weapon.

I parried the attack and countered with a ‘Dragon Slash’ and cut him on his back between his wings.

He kicked me with the talon of his leg and pushed me away from him.

He turned and swung his softened weapon and shot several explosive dots.

I used my wings to protect my body, but a light screen appeared in front of me and blocked the explosion from reaching me.

I turned and saw Mika standing behind me.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“Yeah, I can still hold my ground for the time being.”

“Then let’s finish this once and for all.”

“Ono-Ha-Itto-Ryu, Crescent Cut” The transformation enhanced the mana slash. Adramelech tried to block the attack but ended up flying away and dodging the hit.

“Light of the Seven Heavens.” Mika created seven light balls around her orb and channeled Light-based mana from her orb into the light balls. “Buy me some time until I finish this spell.”

“I can only last for less than a minute.”

“That’s more than enough.”

I used everything I had to keep him at bay. The change between the hardened and softened states of his weapon took me off guard several times.

“Let’s see how long you will be in the defensive.” Adramelech propelled himself backward with a small explosion, dodged my ‘Dragon Slash’, used another explosion to push himself toward me, and swung his softened weapon.

I saw the weapon glittering at full capacity and knew that he was about to use a large-scale explosion at close range.

“This is the moment,” I muttered as I strengthen my resolve and flew with all my powers to counter him mid-attack.

As he was about to swing his weapon, I shot an ‘Air Slash’ at his arm, but he turned backward to protect it using his back and turned again mid-air to continue his swing.

This little movement gave me the time to reach him on time and blocked his attack using a ‘Dragon Slash’.

“Did you think that you could stop me?” Laughed the demon.

“I won’t, but she will.” I kicked him with my dragon legs and threw him away from me.

“You are just giving me the chance to strike back.” He smiled.

I didn’t say anything and only pointed toward the ground. He looked behind him and saw that Mika was ready to shoot her attack.

“Damn…” Cursed Adramelech.

The link between the balls and the orb broke, and then Mika shot her ‘Light of the Seven Heavens’ at light speed and hit the demon.

He was engulfed by brilliant flames and fell to the ground.

I felt I was losing consciousness, so I decided to land slowly while gazing upon the body of the demon disintegrating inside the flames – The same way in which Lucas died -. I felt a peaceful satisfaction.

As I was landing, I saw little movements inside the fire and felt uneasy, and then a blazing body came out and dashed towards the tired and staminaless light mage.

I used all the mana left inside me to clad myself in mana and flew toward the demon to intercept him.

“Dragon Dive.” I pointed my sword downward and flew like a meteor toward the demon.

I stabbed my sword on the back of the demon before he could reach Mika and I injected all the mana - that I conjured around me – inside him and he burst from the inside.

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.

I pulled my sword and my form dissipated in the air. I fell unconscious on the ground.

***

Inside the void chamber:

“You overdid yourself there.” Said Raimeiryuu.

“I didn’t have a choice…”

“You did a good job. I have never thought that you could pull the first transformation and use it that much time in your state. You were already in a bad shape before using it.”

My astral body drifted inside the chamber and I closed my eyes. I remembered everything that happened with the demons and Adramelech.

The feelings I had resurfaced and thought to a part of the conversation I had with the imprisoned person on the sixth floor.

“The seven demon lords are ruthless. They will do anything to reach their goals.” Said the mysterious person.

.

.

‘Asmodeus…’ I muttered to myself while floating around Raimeiryuu.

“He must be one of the demon lords.” Said the old dragon.

“Yeah, and he seems unforgiving. He took the arm and eyes of one of his top henchmen because he couldn’t get that machine.” I stopped and looked at the big dragon in front of me.

“It was the right move in the grand scheme of things.”

***

I opened my eyes inside a hospital.

I looked at my broken arm and saw that it was already healed. There was no sign of any damage. I felt too tired; I have not recovered my stamina yet. My mana pool was near empty, but I felt something was different.

I closed my eyes to rest and I felt people were moving outside the room. My senses were somehow better and sharper than before.

I opened my eyes again and called out Vladimir who was hiding behind the door.

“Vladimir, I know you are standing there.”

“Each day, I’m more impressed by you.” Vladimir entered the room and closed the door behind him.

“Thanks for your help back there.”

“Don’t worry about it. I had to rescue my guildmates.”

“I’ve never thought of you being the caring senior.”

“I am not one, to begin with.”

“Then what was your purpose of coming?”

“I had to see the demons with my own eyes and set my plan into motion.”

“Plan?”

“You will see soon.” He smiled and exited the room.

***

During the three days I stayed at the hospital, I visited the other awakeners who were there to check on their conditions.

Fortunately, no one died during this raid and the fight against the demon army.

Of all my party members, Kamui was the only one kicking and energetic. He did not like staying in the hospital, so he forced his discharge to be on the same day as I.

Mika was also recovering faster than normal. After awakening her new powers, she could use the regenerative abilities of the being sealed inside her orb.

We chatted a little bit and gave her my phone number to stay in touch.

The following day after I woke up, I checked my inventory and found out that I had two new mysterious items stored inside.

The first was a nail from the kanabo of the red ogre, and the second was a feather from the tail of Adramelech.

These new mysterious items did not surprise me, but what caught my attention was the weapon that I have received after clearing the dungeon.

It was a “Legendary-Grade weapon” called the sword of the Crusade and could only be used by A-rank or higher swordsmen.

After I was discharged, I went with Kamui to the dojo.

****

Somewhere in the world:

“It seems Adramelech was killed.” Said one mysterious person.

“He first failed in getting back that machine, and now he got killed without achieving his mission.” Said the second mysterious person.

“He is just a loser.” Replied the first.

“Lord Asmodeus, what do you think?” The third mysterious person addressed the lord of demons sitting on a throne.

“Losing Adramelech and his army is a huge loss for us, but it’s not a problem. Let’s concentrate on the next missions.” Said the demon who was sitting on a throne. “Now that all the ten Mythological Weapons are out there and known, the destined day is approaching us.