What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
…
BOOM!
The sound wasn't an explosion—but the raw displacement of air as Zeke became a blur aimed directly at the heart of the storm. In the span of that single, world-shattering dash, his mind was a supercomputer executing a flawless sequence.
He felt the Pride buff ignite his stats—a torrent of power flooding his veins like liquid lightning, sharpening his senses and making the world crystallize into slow-motion clarity.
With a thought as simple as breathing, he invoked Predatory Mimicry. He didn't need to look at Zeldris. He had already Observed him. The complex, golden energy pattern of Giant's Dominion (S-Rank) unfolded in his mind's eye and was instantly replicated, woven into his own being. An 80% boost to his physicality slammed into him—a seismic wave of raw force compounding on the Pride buff. His muscles didn't just grow stronger; they thrummed with the raw, unrelenting power of ancient giants, fibers tightening like steel cables.
He was no longer just Zeke. He was a force of nature wearing a trench coat.
Karys, the dragon, finally moved. Its languid posture straightened infinitesimally, the ancient, reptilian scales around its eyes crinkling as they widened a fraction of a millimeter. For the first time in centuries, it felt something akin to surprise—a flicker of cold interest in its primordial gaze. This insect had not just shrugged off its aura; it had transformed into a being of tangible, physical threat that demanded recalculation.
Zeke didn't just lead with a punch. He led with a declaration.
BAAM!
He hit Karys clean in the face—which led to Karys swinging his hand to fling him backward.
Zeke skidded to a halt twenty feet from the treasure hoard, the stones beneath his feet groaning in protest, not even breathing heavily. He looked Karys dead in the eye—a predator recognizing a peer, his own amber-gold gaze meeting the dragon's ancient one without a shred of submission.
"Reality Anchor," Zeke stated, his voice calm, yet carrying the weight of command, echoing with newfound authority in the vast chamber.
He had copied Sunder (SS-Rank).
A shimmering, translucent dome of solidified spacetime erupted into existence with a low hum—not around the dragon, but around his friends. A perfect, impenetrable Dimensional Pod. The trio, Yeon, Zeldris, and the two Avalon hunters were suddenly sealed in a silent, shimmering bubble, safe from the conceptual crossfire. The "Protect the Mortal Anchors" mission was, for now, accomplished.
The dragon's head tilted—a slow, deliberate motion that spoke of genuine, intrigued confusion. This creature was prioritizing the weaklings? It was an illogical, sentimental act, a baffling paradox.
Zeke gave it a sharp, bloodthirsty grin, all teeth and predatory promise. "Don't look so surprised. A king protects his subjects."
Then, he attacked.
He copied Cryo-Volt Dominion (SSS-Rank).
A spear of electrified ice—so cold it burned the very air with a biting, ozone-tinged chill and so charged with lightning it hummed with a deafening, aggressive pitch—materialized in his hand. But this wasn't Yeon's delicate, precise construct. Fueled by his SS-Rank Strength and SSS-Rank Agility, he didn't throw it. He blitzed forward, using the spear like a lance, moving at speeds that left afterimages flickering in the dust-heavy air.
Karys reacted with instinct honed over a millennium. A claw swiped out, met the spear, and shattered it in a spectacular burst of frost and angry blue sparks. But the force behind it—the raw physical power—made its massive arm recoil for the first time, a faint, surprised jolt running up its limb.
Before the shards of ice had even hit the ground, tinkling like falling glass, Zeke had already swapped abilities.
Sunder.
He sent out an invisible, intangible slash—Unseen Severance.
A large, clean gash appeared on Karys's chest, dark, shimmering blood welling up for a mere instant.
Karys had felt it when the human created a spatial barrier akin to his own around his comrades. Now, seeing it use Unseen Severance—his own ability—he confirmed it. This human was a copycat.
He had faced some before. They always died to him. So would this human.
How it resisted his trait and possessed the ability to inflict damage on him, he didn't know.
Not that it mattered anyway.
He was a dragon, after all.
Within seconds of the wound appearing on Karys's chest, it knitted back in place—flesh and scale reforming without a scar, the dark blood vaporizing into motes of black energy. The regeneration was silent, effortless, and absolute.
"Hmph." Karys smirked as he looked at Zeke, a flash of condescending amusement in his eyes, as if mocking the futility of Zeke's effort.
This bastard.
Not to be outdone, Zeke used Unseen Severance to cut off his own arm. The limb fell to the floor with a dull thud, and immediately it healed as well—the new arm snapping back into existence with a soft, wet sound of perfect regeneration. Not a single drop of blood was lost.
"Heh." He smirked back at Karys, a challenge blazing in his metallic grey eyes.
"Oh, interesting." Karys, the dragon, spoke for the first time, its voice a deep, resonant vibration that seemed to emanate from the stones themselves. A slow, terrifying smile spread across its features.
"Indeed," Zeke replied, his tone dripping with casual defiance.
Then he attacked again.
He swapped again. Cryo-Volt Dominion. This time, he didn't create a weapon. He flash-froze the air in a sphere around the dragon's head—the moisture crystallizing with a sharp crackle—while simultaneously summoning a cage of sizzling, violet lightning from the ceiling.
Karys burst through it with a contemptuous flare of its oppressive aura, the ice and lightning shattering like fragile glass against an immovable mountain.
But Zeke was already gone, having used the distraction to close the distance in a blur of motion.
As he reached Karys, the dragon smiled, throwing out a flurry of blows with blinding speed—each fist a comet of condensed power. This time he did not underestimate Zeke. With his own supreme Perception, he could track Zeke's movements easily.
BOOM!
The exchange of blows began—a thunderous, relentless percussion of flesh and scale meeting with world-shattering force. The very air in the chamber quivered with each impact.
…
Inside the Dimensional Pod, the group watched, utterly mesmerized, their faces pressed against the shimmering wall of the barrier. They weren't witnessing a beatdown as they had expected. Zeke was a metronome, ticking relentlessly between two modes of destruction, each swap perfectly timed to exploit the momentary defense the dragon had erected against the last. He was a storm of ice and lightning one second, a silent, spatial assassin the next.
Karys, the dragon, was a beast—a primordial engine of destruction—and they finally understood the soul-deep terror they had felt upon entering the room. Every movement was efficient, powerful, and radiated an age-old mastery of violence.
The trio, having watched Zeke's battle against the Minotaur, understood a little about his battle style—drawing damage with his amazing healing ability whilst wearing down his opponent. They had thought a similar, grueling battle would take place.
But Karys, the dragon, had a monstrous regenerative ability as well—a perfect mirror to Zeke's own. Every blow they traded, every gash and shattered bone, was healed before the next collision could even begin.
They had stopped using their various abilities and focused on an all-out brawl—a brutal, primal contest of attrition.
With Zeke overpowering Karys in terms of agility—a flickering phantom dancing around the dragon's form—and Karys overpowering him in terms of raw strength and endurance—each of the dragon's landed hits sending visible shockwaves through Zeke's body before it instantly repaired itself—it was a stalemate written in thunder and regenerated flesh.
…