Yixing’s POV:

(At the end of the Second Round)

My, my…she is tough. She has more experience and skill than I thought. I did not know she was holding back like me as well…although I made her go all out first, heh heh heh. To her ignorance I am also holding back as well, since I can…accidentally kill her if I go all out. My tail is sharp, to the point of slicing off a level 207 Adult Tarrasque’s arm off through the claws first. Dad made me fight a Tarrasque, a Cyclops, and a Behemoth with all of them in the hundreds level as a graduation ritual to test my progress. A Tarrasque is like a dragon with the body of a T-Rex. It has two short but huge clawed arms, two oversized horns at the sides of its head pointing forward and slightly curved upwards, many sharp fangs, ridiculously armored with gray and red scales at every inch of its body except for its belly, two T-Rex legs, can breathe fire, and its tail has a spiked wrecking ball made of its bones at tip point. Really resilient that one…unless you chop off its head of course.

Anyway the point is, I have some…arsenal too good for someone my level. My spear-blade tail can cleave through the strong hide of the mentioned monsters effortlessly…that is how sharp my tail is, hell I even dropped a feather on my tail’s blade (though I tried several times attempting to get the feather to land on my tail) and other objects and it still sliced them clean, so I cladded my tail with a mana barrier to ‘sheathe’ the blade so I can use it against Meixi without worries of accidental dismemberment.

If that is not enough, my poison affinity is abnormally high and is as potent as an Ancient Toxic Dragon’s at my level. My poison can kill youngling dragons Meixi’s age, so I had to keep it under wraps by refraining from using poison-related skills or imbue my attacks with poison. An Imoogi’s poison at eighty percent affinity can even bring those of the Divine to their knees…so I am pretty toxic as hell. I plan to train myself in controlling and handling my poison as soon as I can after this duel. There are more things that trouble me, but back to the point.

At the first round, I was a bit lucky as she let her guard down, so I used one of two skills I absorbed from a Storm Kick Rabbit I met on the first day in the forest with Essence Absorption. It was also the first time I tasted raw flesh…which tasted unusually delicious…I am worried, but that is for another time.

Lightning Flash (Active) Class D [46/100]

Move and outpace your foes at the speed of lightning.

Cost: 25,000 Mana

Effects:

- Dash at the speed of lightning.

- +140% movement speed and reduction of wasted movements for 5 seconds upon activation.

Cool-down: 7 seconds after activation.

It’s a very useful skill that needs work, as it’s a skill with a Class identification next to it. Classes with letters are used to classify the grades of certain skills, monster threat levels, caliber of ingredients both culinary and alchemical, sharpness, item grade of certain tiers, and etc. going from F to SSS, from lowest to highest. The skill here can be improved though it is bit different than how one improves Masteries, but the foundation of the system is still the same.

This skill allowed me to catch Meixi by surprise, despite me just slithering and having no legs hahaha; I decided to finish her off in a way I saw in a video game made by Capcom involving a crossover fight between certain angry demi-god and an all-time, Raging Demon Street Fighting favorite. I dragged her around the arena floor for a few seconds and threw her a good distance, and then quickly moved into place where she would…crash into my tail as I struck her *Evil Smile*. I even did it before the five second speed buff wore off.

I underestimated her sadly because of this…as it seems we both made the same mistake. I learned it the hard way when she roasted me with her breath. Damn, that singed me good. I was in a very bad position, so I built up my strength and waited for the right time to fight back while pretending to be a trapped, squealing mouse in the process. When she was about to use her breath again, I used Matter Manipulation and Psychokinesis to tear off a slab of the arena by slamming my tail on the arena floor for added effect, and struck her jaw when she was about to breathe with great timing.

Although…here I am, burned and out of bounds. That spell she used singed off more than 20% of my health…and that was just from the explosion. If I received a direct hit without the proper defenses and counters, I would’ve been screwed a little. Although…I did made a ‘profit’ from her using the spell though, heh heh heh.

Before I got back up and into the ring, I purposely leaked my thoughts to Meixi with telepathy, in hopes of a proper conversation. Although…it nearly drove her mad when I did, but still I continued to probe a conversation. I am curious of a dragon’s character in depth, so I want to decipher her story. She’s not one for conversation though, so all I know is that her reason for hating Imoogis is something on the more logical scale, instead of it being the byproduct of defective pride judging from her instinctive strong resentment when I tried to compliment her looks. I mean, she has the looks of a pale-yellow skinned beauty that can only be seen in fiction or from products of professional artists.

She is wearing long, black boots covering up to her thighs, a slightly revealing skirt with sun pictures on it, her shirt is sky-blue with some other decorative colors and a sun picture in the middle of it, and long brown leather gloves on her arms. Her light-yellow hair is braided into a ponytail pointing upwards, her pink eyes are strong and serene, her legs look sexy and flawless as hell, and her figure…damn she would put the top models back home to shame. …Hmmm, this means I’m still attracted to human females still, huh? I am not into lizards…as it would be weird as hell still, even from thinking about the thought of it. *Shivers*.

Anyway, now on standby on the arena, I transformed into my ‘human self’, although my appearance is a lot more different than I am familiar with. My hair is longer while retaining my black and white colors, my eye colors are still unchanged, and worse…I look like one of those damn pretty boys from the mangas…How embarrassing. For my clothes though, I formed a red leather assassin-style jacket hoodie with buttons based on the guy from the Assassin’s Creed game, a gray T-Shirt underneath, long pale-black jeans, and two good old-fashioned sneakers. I even added icons of my favorite fiction characters in there, from One Punch Man and RWBY :D! I formed them just for laughs, and boy was I amused hahaha. Also, the funny thing about forming clothes from Polymorph, is that the clothes were forged from my durable hide, HAH. Meaning my clothing acts like armor and it retains the same resilience as my scales and hide in Imoogi form. I can even take it off and give it to someone else, and it lasts a long time.

Meixi is armed with a very pale-blue longsword…the brown handle is kind of decorative, as it shows an artistic, abstract picture of a moon blocking the sun. The blade however is … kind of eerie. The mana it emits…is very enigmatic, but feels so familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it……Oh, I think I know, but I am not exactly sure yet.

I then asked her about the final round, as there are some spells and skills I want to try. Luckily, spells are allowed as well. I then looked at Dad in the eye to silently say that I will hold nothing back this time, and he nodded to give his consent. I then proceeded to warm up. This will be…an exciting match for sure.

She is quite polite to wait for me…though she is bit of a showoff. She flashed the flat side of her blade at me, showing my reflection on the blade. In return, I decided to test her patience for fun. She was quite irritated, hahaha. I wonder how well she can fight in human form…her sword stance reminds me of how an average Jedi holds a lightsaber from the movies, like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As I prepared my stance, I gaze at her eyes with absolute focus, and she does the same to mine. We moved when a convenient stray cloud covered us in shadow, exactly when the shadow first came in contact with us.

She is about to use a skill preparing a right horizontal slash, so I use one of my tricks I learned with Void Magic and Darkness Magic and charged a particular skill I learned to reduce my enemies to paste with my bare hands, but I am sure she is more than sturdy enough to survive it with acceptable losses. Using Void and Darkness Magic, I can instantly teleport short distances by moving through the ‘shadows’ and instantly popped in front of her to her astonishment. Before she can react, I used that skill, Chaos Pulse Palm with my left palm striking her stomach. This skill…will destroy (figuratively) anyone hit by it at the cost of around 50,000 of my own stamina and has a 3 second cool-down…and the effects are worth it as it destroys my enemy’s ability to fight, heh heh heh. A loud explosion occurred when I used the skill and struck her, followed by a large explosive shockwave in the aftermath.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

To my expectations, she did not become paste though she is a bit bloody and her eyes are close to being white. She was sent flying hard and is now out of bounds…at least that is what is supposed to happen.

*SHING*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Meixi regained her consciousness at the last moment, and jammed her sword into the arena floor to cling on back into the arena as much as she can by reducing the momentum of her ‘flight’, leaving only her bottom half of her body almost touching the colosseum floor while her upper half is desperately trying to climb back into the arena. Her sword is quite sturdy and sharp, not a hint of damage from the frictional force upon looking at it after she removed her sword from the ground. It is undamaged even against the arena’s durable floor resulting from my catastrophic blow as it left a large slash-mark crevice on the ground. The floor repaired itself within moments though, unlike Meixi coughing and wheezing her lungs out unable to recover from the damage.

“MEIXIII!” – Longwei shouted in shock.

It seems he is a bit concerned for her safety this time…as he didn’t expect this outcome as well. Looking at Dad, he is only observing analytically meaning he has a better grasp of the events than Longwei. Turning my head back to Meixi however…

*PANT*…*PANT*…*PANT*…*WHEEZE*…!..*COUGH*COUGH*COUGH*

‘Wow…she handled the blow better than I thought. I’m surprised she can still stand after that, even though she is using her longsword as a crutch.’

Most of the skills I learned are meant to kill, especially if I imbue my hands with mana or Qi, which is kind of morbid, but hey…survival is survival, especially if I am in a forest full of monsters that can kill me if given the chance. I did not imbue my fist with the said energies because I do not want a murder on my hands. The skills I learned are too powerful for someone my level as my masteries are in the Intermediate or lower. Dad however, said that it is because of my unique cultivation, Odin’s Blessing, and my profound experience and talent in martial arts. Apparently, most blessed and/or reincarnated can have these level of skills…as the Status Window cannot limit those blessed from Gods or foreign souls as much as the average person, and I am an Imoogi for crying out loud.

It would be boring if I strike her down, especially dishonorable, so I sat down on the arena floor cross-legged resting my right elbow on my leg with my right hand supporting my right cheek. I decided to wait for her to recover…ah, she dropped on her knees…and I want to know how she fights with a sword. Her swordsmanship could be a good reference to master my own sword one day, so I decided to form my third eye on my forehead. I can form and deform my third eye if I wish, and it still retains the same color and effectiveness as the eye in my Imoogi form.

After a few moments, Mazupo decided to comment for the first time on our match.

“Yixing is giving her time to recover from his devastating blow! How audacious! Although Meixi can recover in a short time from absorbing sunlight, for some reason she is not recovering! Is Yixing giving her a chance to fight back out of pity, or is there a deeper meaning to his mercy?!” – Mazupo

‘She can heal from just absorbing sunlight? Huh, there’s something you don’t hear every day…’

At her words, I feel Meixi is boiling with anger in her heart, burning as bright as the sun above. A few seconds later after panting to catch her breath, Meixi spoke out her mind angrily.

“…Imoogi, is what she said true?!...ARE YOU REALLY SPARING ME OUT OF PITY?!!!” – Meixi asked in seething anger.

She then fell down face-down on the arena floor after overexerting herself in anger…are those tears dropping from her eyes? Oh no -_-‘…I need to be careful with my words.

“No. Not out of pity.”

“What? Then WHY?!! Why won’t you finish me off while you still have the chance?!” – Meixi screamed while crying. I think I wounded her pride.

“It is out of my own self-interest. I do not want the match to end like this little dragon, as I want this match to be something worth fighting, not like this where I can…off you anytime I wish. Besides, finishing you off right now will be very distasteful to my own honor.”

*Cough*

“Then...*Cough*! What is *Pant* that dreadful skill...? A window notification told me my stamina, HP, and mana are not recovering because of it.” - Meixi

She is struggling very hard to stand. Window notification huh? I wonder what it says specifically...as there are additional effects that can be inflicted not mentioned in the skill descriptions sometimes. I am surprised that the skill can cause that much devastation to those that survive it. She did well to survive the skill, so I should tell her out of respect.

“Chaos Pulse Palm…A deadly attack I learned to destroy my foes, and decimate those that can survive it. You did well surviving that attack, my Imoogi-hating friend, as you are the first being that actually endured the attack head-on and lived to tell the tale, just so you know.”

She is now panting very hard, and when she caught her breath enough she responded to my explanation.

“…*Pant* Are you *Pant* serious…? What a *Pant* terrifying skill *Pant*…So what now? Are you just going to *Pant* sit there while I recover *Pant*? I don’t think *Pant* I can *Pant* even fight *Pant* in this condition…*Pant* How long does *Pant* your skill’s effect *Pant* lasts anyway…?” – Meixi

Pondering on the matter…I replied to her disappointment.

“Hmmm… truthfully, I am not sure. No one ever survived this skill except you, so I don’t know the skill’s effect duration as it depends on the individual of course.”

After I spoke my mind, I decided to give her a freebie by healing her with White Magic, using a simple spell called Healing Hands. I learned this spell after Dad taught me the basics of this magic. It can restore health and stamina, and even cure poisons and fatigue and more if one is skilled enough.

*Whoooooooooommmmmmm*

I shone white light from my hands while still sitting cross-leg. A slight waste of mana, but no matter. I healed her health and stamina back, although her mana will not be refilled. I even healed her ‘condition’ in the process.

After she recovered enough, she asked me a question, baffled from my action.

“Did…did you really just heal me…just like that? *Deep Breathe* Haaaa… finally, I can breathe again…You are seriously giving me a second chance to fight back this easily? ….Ha…You are either very honorable…or arrogant and foolish…I hope you won’t regret your choice after what I am about to do. I will give you what you ‘want’, and return the disgrace you’ve wrought me tenfold, Imoogi!” – Meixi

She got back up and readied her stance again, the same stance as before, ready to fight. She is now looking down at me as I am still sitting cross-legged on the arena floor.

‘Ohhhh, she seems to be in high spirits. She wants to make me feel regret and reclaim her pride, how adorable. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have much more skills and spells I want to try out, and the skill you endured is just the tip of the iceberg.’

“Of course. It would be boring otherwise and I regret nothing in doing so. Besides, do you really want it to end like this without putting up a fight? *Smug Grin*”

I remained seated and cross-legged, pulled out and wagged my right index finger to taunt her into attacking me first. You will be the most useful practice dummy to test my progress.