Man vs Dragon

-Chapter 12: Man vs Dragon-

Sacred Land of the Druid's, Istar.

The Cave of training.

Just as the names suggests, the Cave of Training is a training ground where the Druid warriors train themselves. Warriors who enter the cave of training are recommended to strip down or take their shirts off, since it is the best state for one to realise and awaken their potential.

Weapons are not allowed within the Cave of Training and warriors are instead given Ash tree branches fortified with magic, making it durable.

Currently, outside the Cave of Training, Merlin and Jenna could be seen watching various magical screens showing the battles happening within the cave.

"Look~! Daddy is beating up the monster~!" Seraphina shouted excitedly.

"What a hyperactive girl she is". Jenna smiled as she grabbed Seraphina and pulled her cheeks.

"Shhtop it~!" Sera complained.

"You should be more like your big sister. Look at her attentively watching." Jenna commented as she turned Sera to Lazuli's direction.

"Sera, be quiet and watch papa." Lazuli spoke up as she looked at her twin.

"Why? I can talk and watch!" Seraphina puffed her cheeks.

Lazuli was quite for a few seconds before she replied, "Papa will not give you head pats".

Seraphina's eyes widened in horror as she quickly said, "No! I'll be quiet!"

Both Merlin and Jenna showed slight surprise at the quick change, but just chuckled.

"Hmm? Those movements, it's like he's…"

"-Dancing". Jenna finished, confirming Merlin's assumption, as they both watched Zephyr effortlessly dodge the Tyrant Dragon's breath attack with a backflip.

…

Inside the Cave of Training.

ROOOAAARRR!

"Haha~ You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to hit me little lizard~". A shirtless Zephyr said with a grin, as he utilised the newly earned [Dancing Mastery] in the form of Capoeira to dodge a tail strike.

Tyrant Dragons, they are wild creatures who can single-handedly level an entire Britannian Town. They are large dragons that have long heads and spikes coming out from the back of their heads and from the bottom of their lower jaw. One of the prominent features of this dragon is its well developed muscles.

However currently, this dragon was struggling against a frail looking androgynous human(That's what he looks like to the dragon). Ever since this long eared human appeared in front of him, he was being mocked and taunted, while this human just dodged with his weird movements. However, the few hits this mere human got on him hurt a lot.

"Oh? Are you feeling angry?" Zephyr questioned with a calm smile, the fight or the spar as he would like to call it has helped quite a bit. He was able to find out a few changes that had happened after the assimilation of the Yato bloodline.

One being, heightened senses. And another was when he imagined himself doing an act in his mind, he was able to perform it without any problem in real time. That was how he came up with the idea of adding dancing to his dodging, and with the [Combat Genius] skill everything went smoothly.

Zephyr took a quick glance at the notifications and couldn't help but be surprised.

[Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 0%) - - > Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 5%)]

[Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 5%) - - > Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 8%)]

.

.

.

[Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 15%)- - > Dancing Mastery (Intermediate- - 30%)]

Zephyr nodded happily at the increase, before once again dodging a charging rush from the dragon. He put his focus back on the dragon and spoke, "Hey lizard! Let's end this in the next attack!"

Zephyr wasn't sure if it understood or not, but he guessed it did from its following action of standing still and staring into his eyes.

"Good, it seems your not brainless after all. With this final attack, either I get incinerated or you get slashed." Zephyr said as he got into his stance. He held the ash branch steady with both hands and leaned his body forward slightly.

On the other side, the tyrant dragon craned it's neck back a little, as if it was getting ready to charge a fire breath, which it actually was doing.

One Man.

And.

One Dragon.

One will lose.

And.

Another will win.

One will die.

And.

Another will live.

Let us see who will be the victor between the man and the dragon.

The two figures faced each other, one significantly towering over the other.

Zephyr, knowing that the technique he's about to use could injure his body decided to use his Mana to protect his body, despite his control being a little rough.

He looked at the dragon, every movement being captured in his eyes. He can see it, the previous craned neck starting to return to position. He took a deep breath and relaxed his mind. Without realising it he focused everything on one purpose, cut. Cut to win. And cut to kill. With that in mind, he took a step…

Crack-!

On the other side, the dragon thought that it gathered enough flames and any more than this would explode in its mouth. So it craned its neck forward, the breath attack ready to leave its mouth. He looked towards the puny long eared human's position just to see the ground cracked with no one there.

He was about to turn to look for the human but before he could, he felt the world spin, and the last thing he heard was a beautiful and emotionless voice, reciting the technique that took his life.

"[Longsword of Silence]". As Zephyr finished those words, two loud sounds resounded. One from his previous position, and one next to him.

BOOOOOOM!

THUD!

A sonic boom as a result of the sound barrier being broken.

And the dead the body of the loser dropping to ground.

The victor has been decided.

Man. Has. Defeated. The. Dragon!

…

Outside the Cave of Training.

Silence pervaded the area as everyone stared in shock at the only magical screen that displayed the fight between Zephyr and the Tyrant Dragon. Since everyone had already finished their training quicker than Zephyr, they were able to catch the last two minutes of the fight.

They watched in awe as Zephyr incorporated dancing into his combat, and saw how he improved over time.

However, what stunned them the most was his final technique. They couldn't even catch a glimpse of him and only saw the head of the dragon rolling!

"W-what was that?" A pink haired , blue eyes young man, Gilthunder, asked as he looked to Meliodas.

"Hell if I know." Meliodas answered nonchalantly with a smile, but was also surprised.

"It was pure speed and technique". Merlin said with a understanding expression.

"Speed?! But fairies aren't even that fast, let alone that strong! Can you not see the cut he made on the cave! And how he split the lake in half!" King exclaimed, still finding everything unbelievable.

Everyone else nodded in agreement with King.

Merlin sighed, "Do you want know what power level I saw when he erased Monspeet's attack?"

"Um, I remember you saying that his power level increased by 5,000 big sis. So he should have a total of 7,000 if you include his magic". Slader commented, making the one's who weren't travelling with them surprised.

"That's right. But the the split second where he used his ability to erase, his power level showed as 22,000". Merlin explained.

"What?!!" Hawk screamed out, and he wasn't the only one.

"Is that true Merlin?" Meliodas questioned. Not feeling that bothered by it.

"Yes. But it returned to 7,000 after the attack. Look here he comes now". Merlin said looking to the cave entrance.

They all watched as Zephyr's figure came out the cave and were dumbfounded by what they saw.

Both his hands were mangled. From his hands to his forearm, blood kept dripping. His skin completely gone, with only his red fleshy muscles and some bones visible.

The reason for this was due to breaking the sound barrier and air friction. Although Zephyr protected his body, he unconsciously used more mana for his torso and head leaving his arms completely vulnerable, bearing the full brunt.

It was thanks to the Yato bloodline that this was only what he suffered, cause a normal human or fairy would be crippled for life or fully lose their arms.

"Elizabeth, go heal his arms quickly". Jenna said with a serious expression, getting out of her surprise.

"A-ah. Yes!" Elizabeth replied, rushing to Zephyr.

While everyone was still comprehending what happened, Zephyr had different thoughts on his mind.

'That feeling… I wonder what it was? It felt like my mind was unrestricted and I could perceive everything, but I know I can't repeat it a second time right now. Also, there was something off when I used [Sword God Style]. I could use the techniques, but they felt…lacking or empty?'

[It's because you didn't have any Sword Mastery. What you did was basically running before you started walking. You have a technique, but without any understanding of the sword it's pointless.] Luna explained, after she saw his thoughtful expression.

'Umu, I understand'. Zephyr nodded in understanding, while wincing from the pain.

[Here, look at the quest completion.] Luna said

[You have finished the following quest]

[Quest: 1st Training]

[Objective: Enter the Cave of Training alone and defeat your opponent with only your physical strength.]

[Rewards: Sword Mastery(Intermediate), Random Skill, Skill Levelling Card(A)]

[Assigning Rewards…]

[Sword Mastery(Intermediate)]

[Dark Determination]

[Skill Levelling Card(A)]

'Give me the description for the skill and Upgrader please'.

[Dark Determination(B): A phenomenon or state of mind were the afflicted is able to completely put aside their sense of morality to kill or protect a person. Under its effects, the user will show no hesitation in committing heinous crimes to achieve their goal. Level: 1]

[Skill Levelling Card(A): A card that increases the level of a skill. A-Rank skill Levelling Card increases a skills level by 5.]

'That skill should be used in moderation, as for the Upgrader, I'll use it later'. Zephyr thought to himself before looking at the person who was healing his arms.

"And done! How are you feeling Zephyr?" Elizabeth asked in worry.

Zephyr smiled and ruffled her hair, "I'm all good now, thank you".

"That's great!" Elizabeth smiled at the calming feeling of the head pat. She didn't know why, but she felt weird when she was close to Zephyr. It wasn't the the same way she felt with Meliodas, he reminded her of her father, but looked more like a woman, so mother?

"Daddy~!" Seraphina dove into Zephyr's chest with tears in her eyes.

"Papa…" Lazuli also hugged him with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

"Hm? Who made you cry? Was it that blonde over there? Cause he definitely looks like a thug."

"Eh? Me?" A dark blonde young man pointed at himself in shock. This was Howzer, a Great Holy Knight of Liones, a colleague and partner of Gilthunder, and a former subordinate of the former Great Holy Knight, Dreyfus.

"Master is just joking~" A small ash blonde nine tailed fox walked out from the crowd stopping in front of Zephyr.

"What are you doing here, Daji? I thought you were sleeping in the tavern." Zephyr questioned, not feeling surprised at her new appearance since he saw it in his temporary room.

"She said she was your familiar. Is that true?" Merlin narrowed her eyes at him.

"You old hag, my husb-master doesn't need to answer all your questions. What are you? His wife?" Daji sneered as she turned to Merlin. She didn't like this woman. She looks at her hus-master as if he was treasure that she couldn't wait to dissect. Although she is same and wants her master's sweet Yang, she decided to prove herself with her actions, unlike this wench who would probably capture him the moment she got her body back.

Merlin narrowed her eyes in irritation, she only met this fox several minutes ago after it entered the sacred lands while claiming to be Zephyr's familiar. So she didn't know why she was being hostile. Did the fox think that she would still her master away from her?

"Ahem! Enough of that! This isn't what you are here for! Now that everyone has finished their training, it's time for Meliodas to get his power back!" Jenna intervened, and pointed her staff upwards. The next moment, a giant amber crystal containing purple darkness appeared.

"So Sir Meliodas' strength is in here?" A middle aged man with white hair and beard wearing a uniform questioned. This was Hendrickson, a former great holy knight.

"It was pain getting everything in here, but for now all of you step back." Jenna said, as she started to chant her Druidic magic.

CRACK!

Cracks started to spread from the amber the more Jenna chanted, slowly it started to spread all across the amber. A few seconds later the chanting finished.

CRACK! CRASH!

The darkness from the amber burst out! The previous blue sky became midnight black.

"W-what! Why is it night time?" Gilthunder questioned.

"It isn't night, this darkness is all Meliodas' power." Jenna solemnly asserted, and started chanting again, pushing all the darkness into Meliodas.

"Hahaha! I've dreamed of this day for so long!" Meliodas said as he felt the power coursing through him.

"Sir Meliodas?"

"He sounds…evil?"

"Meliodas, stop playing around~". Zephyr said with a smile.

"It looks like you got me." Meliodas replied with a cheeky smile. "Merlin send me to the Commandment. I'll give them a greeting".

"That's dangerous!" Gilthunder shouted.

"Sir Meliodas, please think again." Hendrickson pleaded.

"It's possible, but you'll only have ten seconds", Merlin warned.

"That's fine." As he finished those words, he disappeared.

****