He was up to my level, that damn samurai. He was covered with refractory metal, hard and shiny. Waterproof, too.

It must have weighed tens of tons and was almost 15 metres high.

But its brute force. I might as well fight with Goldorak

He stooped down and took a balancing posture, his sword bandaged back and he ran at me, aiming at me with a shoulder blow. I dodged but my long body, especially my rear end was slower and I received a crushing shoulder blow on my rear end. I waltzed to the sides, revealing my belly, which I immediately protected by rolling my tail underneath.

I was greeted by a kick in the belly.

Even though the shield was holding, I received the plastic deformation in my belly and the searing pain.

I resumed my position.

Darkia tried a sweep of her tail, but stabilizers gave her a counter blow.

She tried poison but only managed to chip the tip of her stinger.

HAH HAH, I caught my breath.

What a monster! Well, me too, a little bit too much...

FWISSHHHHHHHHHHH, I concentrated my breath but I received an uppercut that lifted me off the ground. He took my mouth with his left hand and kept it closed and threw me a tibia on my ribs, under my wing and I felt my ribs crack?

AAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I coughed and with my mouth closed, a sheaf of blood exploded from my nose.

HMPPHHHHHMMMMMMMMMM. I reared up and swung backwards, hurting my wings and I pushed it over me using my hind legs.

He rolled over and straightened up.

This time he took his sword in both hands.

and came at me. I jumped in the air and passed over him whipping my tail behind his back and taking advantage of his momentum, I added some movement with which he went to crash against a huge tree which flew in shrapnel. I picked up the trunk and threw it right in his face and he swung backwards on his back. He made a dish. Darkia took the opportunity to get herself back and I told her to go to the circle and make sure it kept its integrity.

I still wouldn't have time to cast any spells.

So I equipped my metal sword and training shield from the time of the academy.

The training was just in time. Besides, I didn't have time to rust.

Arrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh," Kim said in Kiai, "and he came at me and I hit my shoulder pads with my shield and I hit my sword in his flank.

CLAAANNG made the metal but my sword twisted. The quality could not compare to 1000 years of difference metallurgy and Japanese steel on top of that.

STRENGTH on sword:? CLAAAANNG, My sword is chipping despite the force on it. If I hadn't put force on the sword, the blade would have broken in two.

PANGG. I hit him with the shield on his nose. He looks a bit like an egg in water in a box being hit. You have to shake it so that it gets damaged from the inside...

I turn around and hit him with all my strength with a tail strike and Darkia in sync with me to make him rise from the ground and eject him about fifty meters further. He's a bit stunned but puts his knee down and sticks his sword in and leans on it to straighten up.

In the meantime I equipped my 88mm rifle with an explosive shell. Even if it doesn't pierce the armour, it feels like a Magnum shot on a bulletproof vest. I doubt that all electronics can withstand such shocks.

PANG I did at point-blank range. right in the plexus. The point of impact is glowing and therefore the metal is softened!

FWIIIIIIISHHHH," I blew on it. To make the metal glow more red.

PANG, I withdrew a blow with the same shell, I did not have the luxury of choosing ammo and 2 strips were blown on his armor.

He then made a low roll and hunted in my paws. The terrible pain, I think he broke one or two of my phalanges and I began to limp.

I threw down my rifle and equipped a spiked sledgehammer, but shorter. I wanted to hit but his KAtana was faster and sliced the handle but the ball went off on the fragile area anyway.

DArkia had crouched behind him and as he backed up, he tipped over and fell backwards.

High-powered magic missile on the fragile area. The metal melted and the inner wall was visible.

DARKIA, now!

She blew ice into the hole and I blew heat out. Forcing his cooling system to generate cold inside but Darkia froze the hole and the metal became brittle as with liquid nitrogen. Whatever the technology, the physical rules still applied.

The armor froze, the hydraulic circuits froze, the pressurized oil could no longer circulate and the mechanism was paralyzed.

I had no time to finish it and risk an uncertain victory and moreover it could have invalidated the contract with World.

I picked up my rifle and weapons as I passed by, the lost mass, and I threw Bigby's hand at him in case he threw himself at us.

For a few moments a giant spectral paw held Kim prisoner and kept him away from us. At least while I cast the short teleportation spell.

I whistled and the six raptors were glued against me and Darkia too, squeezed like sardines in the small circle.

I took one last look at Trevis and thought "What a waste!" and Darkia said "Poor guy" (in the dumb, not unlucky sense).

The light flickered, the stars flickered, and in a fraction of a second I saw Kim, rushing towards us and banging her fists and katana into dematerialized particles... Too late, we were already gone, even though our after-image was a little after-image.

I guess he couldn't believe his eyes. He was holding his belly in one hand, coolant dripping from the damaged part of his armor.

"How beautiful you are, Vermitrhaxa! I promise you, I'll make you my wife!"

A beeper light on his control panel that had all these red areas flashing and saying in Japanese: Critical conditions.

Ha, you're not that far off!

Then he started running like a maniac.

We were at the circle near the camp but I had to cast a stronger and longer spell to reach the Artemis.

However, I threw explosive glyph stones around the circle and started the invocation and started singing.

A very beautiful song but the problem I had forgotten was the cameras. If our fight with the Silver Samurai had been discreet, here the cameras could see us. I was a red dragon and I was next to the black dragon.

"Holospectators, we have two dragons here, how is that possible? The candidates have all disappeared. We have no trace of them except for Mr Kim!" Could he be the last survivor?

What do dragons do? What do dragons do? Singing? It's a beautiful melody, and now the black dragon is singing and the raptors are whistling!

Could there be a connection between the raptors and the dragons???? We'll find out later."

Oh, I see Mister Kim's coming, but BUT what's this mega robot?

It's 50 feet tall, full of scratches and looks badly damaged. It smokes everywhere.

It jumps on dragons, the katana comes out to slay them.

FLAAAAAASH, a light blinds the cameras and a violent explosion lifts the robot and sends it rolling and toppling over from the cliff that saw the first shuttle tip over.

The image came back and we saw the dragons kneeling in prayer position!

"But what are they doing? Are they praying?"

Then a blue light fell on them and like a curtain, it fell, leaving nothing.

Then we saw the robot that had climbed the wall come back and trample on the circle where there was nothing.

The robot froze and his head slipped, leaving a rope ladder sticking out and a Mr. Kim, bloody with bloody blows and scrapes, staggered and crouched in the middle of the circle as if he could reactivate it.

He shot into it and then waited for a shuttle to come and get him.

The victory was for Mr. Kim but the final was won by the dragons.