I felt something brush my leg and looked down. It was my messenger bag containing my belongings. I saw that Leonus had also sent Bila and Kalistra their belongings.

As we put on our gear, someone approached us and yelled, "Halt! Identify yourselves!" There was no illumination and I couldn't see clearly who made the challenge.

Kalistra stepped forward. "I'm Kalistra, Heir of the dojo. Good to see you, Glenvun and Usten." Her night vision allowed the cat girl to see the faces of the two guards clearly.

The guards were flustered by her sudden appearance and bowed deeply. "We meant no disrespect! We were surprised by your sudden appearance in the courtyard," Glenvun explained.

Kalistra raised a paw. "It's fine. We were transported here by magic."

Suddenly, another person appeared. He stood in front of the dojo. "Is that so?"

The cat girl recognized the voice. She dropped her belongings and ran on all four paws. She jumped and tackled the newcomer in the chest. "Papa!"

Kalistro chuckled and bumped his forehead against his daughter's. "You're late in your return and I was concerned when I didn't receive any letter in the mail from you," he grumbled.

Suddenly, the daughter released him. "Hleandros is coming here!" she said with alarm.

The Grandmaster nodded solemnly. "I received a warning from our patron god," he revealed.

Kalistra nodded. "The three of us were granted an audience with Leonus inside the Dream World. He warned us that the red dragon is coming and then he magically transported us here," she explained. "We received his mark." She pointed at the spot on her neck; the divine mark glowed slightly. There were mutterings and gasps around her.

The Heir turned her head and finally noticed that the entire school had come out of the dojo; the members were standing in the courtyard and watching her. She drew closer to her papa and asked, "How will we defeat Hleandros?"

"It depends on what he wants to do. If he is willing to settle for a duel, I will challenge him. If he decides to go on a rampage and destroy the dojo and Tregome, then we will have to seek help from outsiders," the Grandmaster answered.

"There's no need to ask for help!" "We're strong!" "We can take him!" The students were enthusiastic and their morale was high.

The headmaster of the school turned around and addressed his pupils. "I appreciate your loyalty and I am proud of each and every one of you. However, a red dragon is an impossible opponent for you to fight. I cannot ask you to throw your young lives away so fruitlessly. You are my students. You are the future of this dojo. You must survive. I will challenge Hleandros to a one-on-one duel. You will stand and watch as observers. You will not intervene."

"I accept."

Everyone turned and saw a man sitting on the roof of the dojo. He was wearing a red cloak, red shirt, brown pants, and black boots. He took a bite out of the apple that he was holding in his hand and chewing noisily.

I immediately activated Spirit Sense and Magic Sense. I was nearly overwhelmed by the strength of his malevolent aura. He was like the sun itself. His blood red aura was scorching hot. His entire body was covered with magic. My head started pounding and I was forced to release the senses. "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. -5 Health, +100 XP. Magic sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 8, +100 XP." There was no doubt about it--he was Hleandros, magically turned into the form of a human!

The man casually tossed his half-eaten apple into the pond. He then jumped from the roof and landed on his feet like a cat. He lazily rose to his full height. He looked around and was irked by all the weaklings in his presence. Suddenly, Hleandros released his dragon aura! "Scram!" he said and stomped his foot on the ground.

*WHOOSH* A gust of wind blew across the courtyard. The students were helpless against the enormous pressure exerted against their collective will. In unison, the frightened students were forced to open the heavy iron door and fled out of the dojo.

Hleandros scowled at the people remaining in the courtyard. He quickly counted five people: the apparent headmaster of the school, an equally old-looking dog man (!), a human, and two young-looking cat girls. He shook his head in anger. The dragon could understand that the two old guys were high level in their character levels to withstand his dragon aura. But for the rest of us to remain standing in the courtyard was an outrage! "I don't know how you managed to resist my dragon aura," Hleandros said while pointing a finger at me.

Kalistra boldly stood in front of me and pointed at her neck. "We have been blessed by our patron deity," she replied.

The dragon-in-human-form eyed her neck closely. He could feel the faint aura of a divine entity. After a moment of concentration, he saw the golden paw on her neck. "I see that Leonus has intervened. But that doesn't explain why a human has received his mark as well."

I rolled up my left sleeve and cast unveil on the mark of Bane. "I'm also a servant of Bane," I said while pointing at the demigod's brand. "Since I serve your master, you cannot harm me."

Hleandros became indignant at my remark. "Foolish human! Bane is NOT my master! I shall deal with you after I have disposed of Kallimon's descendants." He turned to face Kalistro. "I have waited 250 years for this day and I shall have some fun before I destroy you and this dojo," he said and pointed at the building behind him.

"We will defend the dojo with our lives," the grandmaster replied calmly.

"I like this confidence of yours. Your way of speaking and your pose reminds me so much of Kallimon. I'm going to enjoy trampling all over you. I challenge you to a duel of swordsmanship. Can I borrow a blade from someone here?" Hleandros asked.

I unfastened my scabbard and slowly approached him. I held the scabbard in both hands and bowed respectfully to him.

"Hmm . . . at least you know how to show proper deference. I may let you live," Hleandros remarked as he took the scabbard. He pulled the sword free and tossed aside the scabbard. He took a few test swings. "Not a bad sword." He pointed the tip of the blade at Kalistro. "Let's get this started," he grinned. Suddenly, Hleandros held the sword in both hands above his head and charged! "YAH!"

The grandmaster bravely stood in his path. Kalistro turned slightly to his left. His left hand was holding the scabbard while his right hand held the pommel of his sword. In one smooth, instantaneous motion, the blade was freed. *Swoosh* Kalistro's sword cut through my blade as if it was mere paper.

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Hleandros hopped back. He stared at his sword; the blade was sliced in half and the cut was smooth. He whistled. "That's a nice draw technique. What's it called?"

"Breaking Dawn."

The challenger casually tossed the broken sword in my direction. "Here, kid!" he said.

I was forced to duck to avoid being hit by the sword.

Hleandros adopted a fighter's pose, leading with his left foot. His hands were balled into fists. "Here I come!" he warned and charged again. He jumped through the air and led with his left foot. However, a powerful red aura surrounded the foot.

Kalistro hopped back to avoid the attack.

The challenger followed up with his fists.

The cat man avoided those attacks with his superior speed.

The lopsided fight continued for several minutes.

As I watched, I couldn't help but wonder if I was watching a live-action Dragonball Z show.

Finally, Hleandros was fed up by his futility against the cat man. "Enough with this warm up," he said. A dark red aura surrounded his body, which began to grow in size.

We were forced to back away as the metamorphosis took over a substantial portion of the courtyard.

When the transformation was complete, Hleandros gave a blood-curdling roar to announce his presence to the town. The red dragon sat on his hind legs. He waved his right hand at us. "I'll take all of you at once. It's only fair. HAHAHAHA!" The dragon took a deep breath and spread dragon fire in an arc over of the walls of the dojo. The dragon fire hit nearby buildings and started burning! "Can you stop me before I turn this entire town to ashes?" he taunted. He took a deep breath again.

Kalistro, Kalistra, Gurgne, and Bila charged in unison to stop the dragon from breathing his fire again.

Since I was sword-less, I had to attack with my magic instead. I kissed my left forefinger and aimed at Hleandros' left eye. I cast Acid Arrow. "Acid arrow RESISTED." Damn!

Bila and Kalistra attacked from behind to avoid his dragon fire.

Gurgne and Kalistro took turns attacking the right eye.

Hleandros held up his hand to protect the eye.

However, the Grandmaster's blade pierced through the dragon scale and drew first blood from the dragon's hand.

"Ack! How is this possible?" the dragon asked.

"The blade was made with a fragment of your horn," Kalistro replied. "King Merlin made this enchanted blade especially to pierce through your dragon scale."

"What a troublesome human!" Hleandros huffed. He lashed out with his long tail.

The two managed to jump over the tail.

But the backswing of the tail smashed into the dojo. "Oops! Did I do that?" the red dragon taunted us with an evil grin.

In response, I sent another Acid Arrow at his left eye. This time, I was rewarded with this notification: "Acid arrow SUCCESSFUL. -30 Damage (DOUBLED), -30% Attack, +200 XP."

Hleandros looked at me with his right eye. His backhand flew out and caught me in the chest.

I was thrown through the air and slammed into the wall! "-30 Health. Status: Stunned. Duration: 10 seconds."

"A fair trade," the dragon chuckled evilly. It was pure bravado on his part. Hleandros was inwardly panicking as he blinked his left eye several times. The Acid Arrow had irritated his eye and made it blurry. That was why he received a 30% reduction in Attack, because of his blurred vision. Fortunately, the red dragon was able to stun me and prevent me from mentioning it to my companions.

Hleandros took a step toward me but the duo of cat man and dog man continued to prod at his right eye, forcing the dragon to step back again. With growing annoyance, the dragon took a deep breath. When Hleandros tried to aim his dragon fire at the two men, his head was slammed upward and the attack was directed harmlessly at the sky!

Kalistro had used the flat of his blade to smack the chin of the dragon and knock his mouth upward right before the dragon launched his breath attack. In the chaos of the aftermath, he plunged his enchanted blade into the dragon's chest, causing a critical hit and 500 points of damage!

The dragon instinctively turned around and slammed his tail into his tormentor, causing the Grandmaster to release his blade.

The Grandmaster took the full brunt of the attack and received 100 points of damage. However, he saw that he had caused the critical hit to Hleandros and the in-game notification gave him hope that the dragon could be defeated.

Master Gurgne immediately used the Sprint skill to reach his lifelong companion. The dog man gently pulled Kalistro off the wall and fed him a major healing potion. Then Gurgne pulled out his backup sword and gave it to his friend.

During the brief pause in the fight, Hleandros tried to grab the sword hilt to pull the sword out. However, his hand was too big to hold it. Meanwhile, the magic sword was draining his life at 10 Health per second.

Hleandros was forced to admit that he had underestimated Kallimon's descendant and the cat man's companions. And if he stayed here any longer, the dragon could actually lose his life. Swallowing his enormous pride, the red dragon spread out his enormous wings and prepared to take flight.

However, Kalistra and Bila were waiting for this precise moment. The two cat girls jumped in the air and took big hacks at the dragon's wings, causing a big tear on each one!

In retaliation, Hleandros attacked with his dragon fire but his targets proved too fast to hit. The fire engulfed the western section of the wall along with the well.

Kalistra and Bila attacked the dragon's right eye but their blades were blocked by his right hand and they failed to pierce the dragon scale.

During this period, I was embedded in the wall and my stun effect forced me to become an observer. When the 10 seconds duration had finally ended, I drank a healing potion to recover 30 Health. I activated Sprint to cross the courtyard instantly. "Sprint SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." Now standing within range of my spell, I started spamming Acid Arrows targeting the dragon's right eye. The first three spells failed to overcome his magic resistance. But the fourth spell went through: "Acid arrow SUCCESSFUL. -30 Damage (DOUBLED), -70% Attack, +200 XP." "Hleandros can't see! Take him down now!" I yelled out.

Egged on by my shouting, the four demi-humans used some hit and run tactics against the blinded dragon. They started whittling down his remaining health bit by bit.

I chipped in by spamming Acid Arrow continuously, pausing only to drink a mana potion to recover my mana.

When Hleandros was down to his last 200 Health, he spun around and lashed out blindly with his tail. Then he used his dragon fire again.

We were able to avoid the tail. However, the dragon fire managed to take out one of us--Kalistro!

"PAPA!" the grief-stricken daughter yelled in horror. Activating the Charge skill, Kalistra slammed her sword with all her might. A portion of her blade broke off but the rest somehow pierced through the dragon scale and the skull. Her remaining blade cut into the dragon's brains, causing critical damage and finally ending the life of the red dragon.

Once Hleandros was dead, Kalistra released her sword and ran on all four paws toward the charred remains of her father. She buried her face in his chest and started crying softly.

I bowed deeply to the Grandmaster and then knelt beside Kalistra. I started petting her softly on the head.

"What happened?"

I turned my head and saw that the newcomer was Maisen, accompanied by a contingent of the Watch. She had a mix of fascination and horror on her face in reaction to the scene before her.

The captain of the Watch pointed at the body of the red dragon looming behind us. "Is it dead?"

Master Gurgne turned to face her. "We were attacked by Hleandros, the nemesis of our ancestor, Kallimon, and our dojo. We have fulfilled our duty and killed him. Unfortunately, the dragon had launched his dragon fire over the walls of our dojo and burned some nearby buildings," he explained.

Maisen nodded. "Yes, we were busy putting out the fires." Suddenly, she noticed Kalistra leaning on the chest of a charred person. Her eyes widened when she recognized the person. It couldn't be . . .

The dog man saw who she was looking at. "Yes, we suffered a great loss. Our grandmaster has died while battling the dragon."

The captain bowed deeply from the waist in the direction of the deceased cat man. Her guardsmen immediately paid their respects as well. After a moment, Maisen lifted her head. "Is there anything we could do to help?" she asked quietly. Her heart ached for her longtime friend, Kalistra.

Master Gurgne looked around to make an assessment. He saw a dojo that had been completely destroyed. It will take weeks to rebuild. And the resources required to do so will be a concern. "I need to consult the new head of the dojo first," he said pointedly. After all, Gurgne was not in charge of the dojo.

Maisen nodded in understanding. With her father dead, Kalistra was now the new Headmaster of the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship. "In that case, I will report back to the Watch Headquarters. Please let us know if you need our help."

"I will," the dog man nodded.

The captain caught my eye and nodded. We will talk in the near future. Maisen marched out of the dojo, with her men following closely behind her.