Axel was punched in the face, in the stomach, in the chest, and kicked in the leg, which almost broke his leg bone. With the back of the sword’s hilt, Lucien hit him on the head. Blood started coming out of his nose, mouth, and the cuts on his body. His body was a mess, incapable of contending with the dragon prince even in the slightest.
But Axel wasn’t completely helpless either. Contending against someone who had the blood of the dragon, the demon bloodline, as if possessing a mind of its own. Started pumping out power from within. Axel grinned, showing his bloody teeth, feeling the source of power coursing through his veins. He rose from the ground, punching forward. Lucien also punched in response, seeing him grinning like a fool.
Axel was still pushed back as always, but not much; the force behind his punch was much greater than what he should be capable of at the moment, by all common sense. But that only made Lucien’s eyes gleam with even more sadistic joy. That’s right, how could Axel Nomrad’s last stand be so pathetic? And it was more fun to break someone when they resisted.
As more and more power was generated from the demon bloodline within Axel, his heart began to pump blood faster and faster. A trace of demonic energy was working passively to give him a highly destructive boost of power. With each of the blows, Axel’s physical power increased significantly as his injuries worsened. Until the blows of both parties matched in equal strength, they both glared at each other with hatred.
One was fighting to save his friend, while the other was fighting for the sake of his innocent sister. Who was truly right and who was truly wrong was hard to say. Nothing in this world was black and white after all, no matter what anyone says. There is never truly unbiased justice or pure evil. There is always a purpose, reason, and profit behind every grand action of any individual, whether small or large.
It was always one ideology against another. One thought vs another. One side vs Another. Lucien was now fighting with both of his fists, throwing out the silverthorne sword on the ground. He was using deadly and smooth martial techniques, with extreme precision and reasonable control of energy, someone who had diligently trained in hand-to-hand combat his entire life and was highly skilled at it.
But the problem was that Axel wasn’t fighting conventionally; he was fighting like a rabid beast who had gone out of control, and his physical might continued to increase steadily with each class. Lucien’s elegant fighting techniques weren’t meant for fighting against mad beasts. Instead, it was for fighting against other humans and capable warriors in general.
So, Axel was landing quite a few attacks on him as well, as Lucien was unable to anticipate his next move. But the runecaster, fighting like a mad beast, was continuing to receive more injuries because of his own reckless fighting method. At the same time, Lucien continued to dodge when necessary. But the increasing strength of Axel was becoming troublesome.
The prince could not help but frown. How could his physical strength surpass his own at the moment? Is this the so-called power of the Berserker aspect? No, that couldn’t be. He had seen other berserker aspect holders fight. While the boost in power they received when injured was quite something, it wasn’t anywhere near the level where it could match his own physical strength.
If a mere berserker aspect could generate enough power to match the power of a draconic aspect holder, wouldn’t dragon bloodline be a joke? As he was carefully sidestepping Axel’s mindless blows, he asked with a frown, "You’re definitely a bloodline holder, aren’t you? What is it? Is it orc blood or the ogre tribes’ blood?"
"Tsk, tsk, don’t tell me, you’re grandfather had experimented on you or something? How low the Nomrad family has fallen. How pathetic is the so-called second coming of the Damien Nomrad, in actuality, that he was a damn bloodline holder all along. Wait till I bring your dead body for examination. Your father will be executed, and the rest of the Nomrad family’s properties will be confiscated without mercy. The Nomrad family will be no more."
"Heh, even my stupid cousin will be pretty happy when that happens. That idiot has been quite grumpy with me because I wasn’t doing anything about you, sigh..."
Each of his taunts infuriated the once mighty runecaster even further. Making him look more and more pathetic, though his powers continued to increase with his bad mood, making him more mindless by the second. Lucien was being pushed back at the moment. From the sheer overwhelming physical power Axel was radiating. Axel’s bloodlust, despite being at the measly 50% of his original, was still nothing to scoff at. The demon bloodline also made that bloodlust into something even purer.
But this whole thing was also Lucien’s plan. How long, how long could Axel keep it up? If Lucien wanted, he had more ways to attack and more skills, but he chose not to use anything beyond his techniques, physical strength, and refined aura. If he had to use anything more than this when Axel was so damn weakened, it would only make him look more and more pathetic. His pride and arrogance wouldn’t allow him to stoop so low.
His dragon blood was already making it more challenging in his own consciousness to even kill him now, . Axel’s physical strength was colossal at the moment. Dark red veins writhed like hideous worms under his skin and face, making him look horrendous. Most of his body was covered in blood and injuries, too much blood coming out of the cuts on his skin. There was a limit to how much strengthening of the demon blood his human body could handle, especially in his weakened state.
His legs and hands finally gave in, the red veins writhing under his skin popping like balloons; the pain of it was gut-wrenching. He was running on adrenaline all this time. Letting his rage do the work. But now, it couldn’t take any more. Every part of his insides was screaming at him in boundless agony. Pain in every form and frequency from every single one of his organs attacked him. Blood came out of his eyes, nose, mouth, and everywhere.
He was feeling extremely dizzy from the enormous loss of blood. Lucien laughed aloud, seeing that, "Damn trash, you fought like a rabid dog without conserving energy. Continued to grow stronger despite the injuries. But there was obviously a limit to it. What a fool."
A powerful kick landed on his face, throwing him backwards. Axel could barely open his eyes at the moment. His heartbeat was becoming dangerously slow. However, Lucien had also received many powerful blows from his side. But It wasn’t anything significant. With slow steps the prince came closer, picked him up, and grabbed his throat.
He sighed for a moment, his tone becoming completely neutral, no trace of mockery in it as he said with a serious undertone,
"The tool you made for Lumina was indeed powerful. To think it could bring out that part from within her, it was truly astonishing. But the price of it was just as heavy. Her consciousness was sent far deep within the area of false void. Actually, I don’t honestly know if you did that on purpose or not. But my instincts say you had a part in it."
"While I also hate whatever is going on between you and Sophia. But it wasn’t that important to me. But Lumina has fallen in love with you, and you aren’t as simple as you show yourself to be, I know that. You will become a danger to Lumina in the future. Her life could be at risk again. I can’t allow that possibility, no matter what. So, you need to die, only for that reason. Nothing more and nothing less." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on noⅴelfire.net
"Goodbye, Axel Nomrad, may your life be peaceful in the next one."
Lucien started to put force behind his grip on Axel’s throat, while the blue-haired runecaster was barely hanging onto consciousness on his part, the words said by the prince had barely registered in his brain, and he was incapable of reacting to them anyway. He couldn’t breathe as the grip continued to tighten. He tried to struggle with the last bit of his strength he could muster. But it was fruitless as ever.
However, something happened. A shift within the entire atmosphere occurred. As far as Lucien could see, the whole of the beast forest darkened ominously. An eerie, sinister feeling spread through the whole area. The air itself became cold. But the concerning thing was that there were no clouds high in the sky, but then why did it darken in broad daylight? What was going on?
A horrible feeling spread through Lucien’s heart, but his grip on Axel’s throat did not loosen. Lucien gazed at the struggling Axel with narrowed eyes. Just as he was about to snap his neck and end him.....
The darkness within the surroundings churned as if they came alive. A slender, white, beautiful palm materialized out of the darkness itself. The hand grabbed the wrist of the golden prince. But the strength behind the grip was humongous. Lucien was forced to let go of Axel’s neck.
Then a Gargantuan and primal killing intent pressed into the very soul of the Dragon prince.