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A Chronometric Defect
175 ⧖ Interplay

175 ⧖ Interplay

Dracosect's Mana rockets abruptly jut out from his back and fire. Those, plus his wings, give him insane speed on the small arena. Their levels are equalized, and Geritel is far weaker than him, so he's about half as strong. Geritel is many orders of magnitude stronger than his normal self. The difference in preparedness and experience is obvious.

Geritel, not to be outdone, kicks off in a sprint. He meets Dracosect after only a few steps; the latter's absurd speed far outclassing his. However, it was enough to directly counter Dracosect's charge. He didn't dodge!

Still, the difference in speed is manifested in Dracosect's higher momentum; Geritel begins to be bowled over.

Just as I think it's about to end like all of Dracosect's one-sided beatdowns, Geritel's tail splits into nine sections. He puts three down on one side like a tripod, then flips off to one side at an insane speed.

Really? What the...?

I can only track his movement because I'm a Rank 3 god. Where the heck did he come up with that?

His tail whips around, his spikes shifting to 'grab' as he spins. Dracosect pulls back and dodges Geritel's tail, then throws an arm spike at his retreating enemy. He, too, slams his tail onto the ground to change direction, throwing a kick as his arm spike is dodged.

To my amazement, laser cannons jut out from Geritel's back and fire instantly at Dracosect's face. Dracosect somehow dodges before the laser even fires. Oerhaps he detected the cannons' Mana buildup while they were still hidden.

Geritel smacks his tail sections down in a wave-like pattern. The flow of his tail sections against the arena allow him to make a half-moon turn at breakneck speed. He flips, does a smooth cartwheel using both tail and arm, then his legs propel him toward Dracosect like an agile gymnast.

Was he actually a gymnast?

He fires off another laser cannon on approach. Using this, his left wing turns black for a moment before flipping to white, firing a blaring flash of light like a camera.

Dracosect dodges the laser cannon again, while his dark blue pupils are mostly unaffected by the flash of white light. He may be temporarily blinded in the lower spectrum— but he can still see blue and higher wavelengths just fine. Geritel can't fully hide from his vision, though his body's green coloration might be less visible.

He throws another kick at the approaching Geritel, who once again spins sideways on his tail tripod. Geritel slashes both of his forearms' spikes up toward Dracosect's legs from his upside-down position, then Geritel's spike-covered legs also come down in a sort of pincer attack.

Dracosect decides to take the hit and moves in for the kill.

Except— he suddenly jolts sideways as Geritel blasts two laser cannons through his own chest!

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Man, that's brutal. He's utilizing our self-healing ability quite well.

However, that wasn't the end of his combo.

Dracosect's dodge takes him into five of Geritel's tail segments, two of which snag onto Dracosect's armor. The other three bounce off various spikes without grabbing. Unable to do any damage, however, he uses Dracosect himself as leverage and spins sideways, reversing his tail spikes and releasing his grip on Dracosect.

Dracosect jumps over Geritel's incoming dragon horns, then his Mana rockets fire downward. He's trying to take the battle into the air. Geritel again reverses his tail spikes so they flip into grab mode, which manages to snag four onto the ascending Dracosect... As if his misses were planned all along.

He throws Dracosect back onto the arena floor with what should be a thunderous crash— were the arena not magically silent.

However, Dracosect recovers on the rebound from his ungraceful impact and digs his claws hard into the arena's stone floor.

##ROOOAAARRRR##

He blasts a plasma breath directly at Geritel, who again gracefully dodges, pushing himself off toward Dracosect with his arm and tail, feet first. Contrary to expectation, though, he curls into a cannonball and uses his wings to flip forward in midair, thus firing a surprise laser blast directly at Dracosect's head.

Dracosect barely dodges— the laser passes within a centimeter of his neck. Dracosect responds by throwing out his extendable tail spike, which finds easy purchase on the slippery Geritel who's still in midair.

He pulls Geritel directly toward himself, rearing his arm back for the killshot. He pushes his arm forward, his arm spine being thrown out like a bullet. Except, Geritel's head twists in a weird way and he barely dodges. Dracosect's ripsaw throws off a shower of sparks as it grates against Geritel's armored scales.

Geritel uses the sparks to reflect a confusing series of flashes, then he tries to kick Dracosect's tail spine in midair. Nope, he's not letting go— not a chance.

Geritel's wings shift from white to green as he continues to fall uncontrollably toward Dracosect's kill zone. Dracosect goes for another killshot with his arm spine.

Geritel toothily smiles, twists again, and fires off a laser cannon point blank at Dracosect's snout. His wings wrap around Dracosect's head as he tries to prevent his prey from escaping. One membrane panel of the left wing shifts to an ultra-reflective white as it passes behind Dracosect.

Dracosect fires his Mana rocket upward, pushing him down toward the arena floor. The laser cannon just BARELY misses. It grazes his two smaller horns, though.

Just as Dracosect goes for a third killshot—

The laser reflects off Geritel's reflective wing membrane. The beam then hits the back of Dracosect's head.

"OVER. Geritel 1-9, Dracosect 999-1. Congratulations, Geritel!"

Temp calls the match. Since he's part of me now, he can use my absurd powers to nullify any damage. That powerful laser cannon was like laser tag to those two, hreh.

"Oh, my god. Chronovoid. Dracosect LOST?!"

I look at Pride again.

"You're gonna have to try pretty darn hard to catch up, Pride. Those two will only get stronger from now on. Since they have a rival to train against."

He gestures at the arena.

"Uggggg! I'm gonna go conquer a planet. At least then everyone can see my majesty without THIS absurdity."

I bust out laughing.

"Hraw hraw hraw!"

He turns to leave.

I remind him of our agreement.

"Hey, Pride. What about that match?"

He turns back again.

"My god, you're stronger than all of us combined. I get it! I need an attitude adjustment. I'll set more sensible goals."

"That's very mature coming from you, especially, Pride."

"Thank you, my god. You've taught Pride himself a bit of humility. I appreciate it."

He nods his head, then turns and walks away.

"No, Pride. You taught yourself. You can be proud of that too, you know."

He stands tall as he walks.

I love my dragons.

So much.