Reborn as a DRAGON

Chapter 55: Second round

Ember had a blank expression on his face as he got carried away by the multicolored dragonness. Grandfather who thwarted my strongest attack like it was nothing glanced at me with a serious face. "Aether, did you just use your second element?" He asked, but from the look in his eyes, It seemed as if he already knew the answer and was merely looking for confirmation.

I hesitatingly nodded, before I replied. 'I'm not sure how I did it myself, It simply happened in the spur of the moment,' I explained to which he nodded in understanding.

"Can you try and use it now?" He asked, his frown never quite leaving his face.

I closed my eyes as I tried to sense the cosmic mana in our surroundings, to my immediate disappointment, I could not feel any. I let out a troubled sigh and shook my head, ashamed that I wasn't even able to feel the mana.

Seeing that, grandfather's frown was quickly replaced by a wide grin as he laughed joyously before speaking. "What are you sulking about little one? Your feat is already incredible as it is!" He proudly declared.

I looked up in confusion, waiting for him to continue. "No dragon with dual elements can use their second one before the rite of passage, what you did already broke all the rules we know of!" He said.

'Ah, I remember Amanita saying something like that,' I inwardly mumbled. Grandfather's large figure came down from the sky with a loud thud causing all of the water I had filled the arena with to evaporate.

I frowned before I jumped into the air, the small lake quickly disappeared as a sea of crimson flames took its place. Once the water was completely gone, grandfather then retracted his mana, It was only then that I landed back down.

"It looks like your fight ended a little bit too fast, how about you continue with me?" He asked with a dangerous grin. I gulped before hurriedly replying while furiously shaking my head.

'How could I ever hope to compare to you grandfather, please don't joke about such things!' I hastily said, the memory of our previous fight was still fresh in my mind. Had it not been for Blacky's timely warning, I would have without a doubt not been here.

Hearing my reply, grandfather's grin disappeared in a heartbeat, his entire aura changed as he frowned. "Who said I was joking? Put your guard up Aether!" He growled.

His entire body emitted a thick bloodlust that caused my knees to shake, I had my fair share of fights, but none were truly dangerous, hence why I was still not used to being faced with such a situation.

Grandfather's temper was erratic, he could be smiling with me in one second and the next could be vying for my neck before I can even blink. Recalling our last clash, each attack of his was meant to kill, he did not hold back his punches, which made things even more dangerous.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" His voice reverberated in my air, my eyes widened as his giant body blurred before he disappeared.

'What?! Where!?' I sensed his mana before I could see him, he was already behind me. I did not even look back as I willed a water pillar into existence from under my feet.

The water pillar sent me hurling through the air and as soon as I did, a fire breath obliterated the space I was at moments ago. 'That's damn cheating! How is he so fast when he's so damn big!?' I mentally complained as I flapped my wings to stay in the air.

My pillar had already evaporated from his attack leaving me vulnerable in mid-air. I kept my mind focused as I scanned the space for any abnormalities, should I sense the slightest change in mana, I would run, I could not rely on my eyes only.

"Dragons don't need to use mana to attack, our bodies can do the trick just fine," His voice once again spoke in my mind as my pupils shrank in surprise.

Grandfather stood on his back legs, and I watched in horror as the arena cracked under his pressure before he launched himself like a rocket towards me, his dark opened jaw full of razor-sharp teeth was already upon me.

Faced with his intimidating figure, I panicked as I summoned a large water wall to stop him. To my dismay, the wall collapsed like a thin piece of paper doing nothing to stop his momentum. I hastily maneuvered my wings as I avoided his jaw, yet as soon as I did I was met with his opened palm which sent me pummeling down to the ground.

My body seemed like it was on the verge of breaking as I laid in a small crater on the ground. I gasped for air as I felt my lungs collapse, yet I had no time to rest nor recover as Grandfather's ridiculously large body was coming down at me fast!

I used mana once again to send me hurling the other way as I desperately avoided his enormous figure. Once he landed, the entire arena shook under his weight as the cracks worsened.

'Damn it! What should I do?' I desperately tried to think of something, my attacks were useless against his hard scales. Just then, I suddenly remembered one of the earliest fights I ever had against Golden boy.

'The back of the neck!' I recalled Golden boy going unconscious as I whacked the back of his neck. Yet once I saw grandfather's bloodthirsty figure staring at me like one would look at a prey, my fragile attempt at making a plan collapsed.

'And what if the back of the neck is a weak spot? I can't do anything with my weak power output! Fuck!' I groaned in pain.

"What's the matter? Done already?" I could sense the teasing tone in grandfather's voice, he was toying with me the same way I did with ember.

'Damn it, that's annoying,' I growled, before shaking my head. 'Getting annoyed won't help with anything, think Aether, think!'

I attempted to stall for time I summoned a dozen of large ice sickles to attack him from all sides, all the while trying to aim at his eyes. He was not using the fire body he did last time we fought, so my ice sickles all managed to land true on his scales yet unsurprisingly failed to do any damage.

I did not stay put in one place as I forced my body to constantly move around him, trying to keep a distance between us. To my despair, each time I think I successfully moved away, grandfather would move with almost impossible nimbleness and close the distance.

This caused a few dangerous close calls, my final strike was when I miscalculated the distance between us and was sent flying from his tail attack. Thankfully, I had managed to summon a few layers of ice shields which somewhat helped, yet my body was already starting to fail.

'Looks like staying in the distance isn't going to work, that means the only way I'd stand a chance is by bringing the fight to him,' I gulped. I knew that what I was about to do could be called suicidal, yet I truly saw no other chance. It was either try and stay away before a strike eventually manages to make its way to me, or take my chances and dive right in.

'Fuck it!' With my mind settled, I made a mad dash forward.