My knee buckled and nearly took the rest of me with it, I had to swing my arms out just to find my balance. It was a little harder than I thought—fighting back against that kind of pressure.

Alice stood up to her brother when he was still in his dragon form, if she could do that, then what excuse did I have?

I have to fight too!

The aura surrounding us, it looked like some kind of mist but it was definitely aura. It was his, but for some reason, I was able to feel its presence. I wondered if everyone else was able to sense this when I used my skills.

Being surrounded by it—engrossed in such a concentrated amount made me a little more familiar with that feeling. I fixed my posture and stood up straight with both arms at my side, hands clenched into fists.

{User is feeling the effects of Pressure}

My guess was confirmed just in time, Uriel appeared in front of me and brought my concentration back. It was as if he had snapped his fingers in front of my nose to pull me out of that trance.

“Thanks Uriel…I got this now.”

I realised it from when I first got these abilities but my mana had gotten stronger the more I levelled up, not just that but also my ability to sense and control it. It happened every time I used a skill, an aura would appear and continue out the effects.

Each time I activate a skill that aura—my mana—would build up inside of me, ever since around level ten it’s been a lot easier to sense that feeling build up inside of me. If that aura was just mana then that stuff around me…it had to be his mana then.

Once I concentrated on the mana within me it flared like a fire that had been fed a log of wood. It was a part of me, something I never really thought too much about since getting it. Perhaps it was time to start?

I focused deeper on the feeling it brought, the sensation of the flame flickering and moving within me. I wasn’t very good at it but I managed to move it slightly, I could make it pulse. I was only able to manage it by flexing the flame sort of how I would a muscle.

The pressure around me picked up again, he was on the attack. The crimson dragon’s aura became focused into a wave of red, smoky air that blew towards me.

I didn’t have time to practice, I needed to act fast or I knew I wouldn’t be able to get up again. I buried my feet into the ground and braced for what came next. The impending force about to hit me was strong, I didn’t even need a strong ability to sense it to know that it was coming for me. I would have felt it with my eyes closed.

With one hand raised towards the oncoming wall, I focused that feeling—my mana—into the palm of my hand. It was difficult just making it move but suddenly I had to get it to flow through me—it felt like an impossible task, to say the least!

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I didn’t have time to let it be impossible though, I couldn't let that be an option.

I stopped thinking for a moment and felt, I felt as the mana pulled towards my fingertips.

I felt the wave approach me but my mana opposed it. Within a second the mana built up at my palm in the shape of a large ball. It was just as I had seen so many times before, except instead of being in some elaborate shape of a monster or object it was simply a ball.

All that was left was to fire it off, that much I knew how to do. I had felt that sensation over and over since receiving these powers. The more I put into it the larger it got, so it all depended on how much I wanted to fire.

“If I’m going to fight on your turf, why not go all out?!”

I’ll admit that I felt a little cocky but could you blame me? I was facing off against a freaking dragon—and I had a chance to possibly win!

Blue aura focused at the centre of my hand into a large spiralling orb, over twice my size. I didn’t expect it to ever stop growing but once the mana in my system felt strained I let the pour of mana stop and the orb halted its massive growth.

I released everything I could and let that massive blast of aura into the wall, bursting past it on impact. The two smoky attacks collided with a soft exchange that left only the blue passing through the red wall.

I did it!!

As the blue aura broke past, it flew towards the crimson dragon and was a moment away from smashing into him.

He smirked…

The orb broke apart before it could reach him and spread across his face like actual mist, unable to harm him. At that moment I felt like throwing up, the pressure he released from his body was unlike anything I had felt before.

I could see it all—the amount of mana he must have had to produce that much aura—he was definitely not human!

I was fooled, led into a false sense of safety because of his human appearance but at his core he was still…

“…a dragon?”

I looked up at the large structure his aura had constructed. What greeted me was a large figure with flaming wings and a ferocious scowl that would melt the bravest of warriors down to liquid.

I wanted to pull my eyes away and scream in horror at what I saw but I couldn't bear to do it. My body wasn’t mine to control any more, it was under his control.

Suddenly the darkness, the mist, the beast over me, all of it vanished in the blink of an eye. Standing opposite me was the crimson dragon in his human form, just as he looked before I had entered that dark void.

“W-what…what the?”

My eyes stretched as wide as they could go and my hands were still in the middle of a violent shake.

Did I imagine it? Was any of that real? How did it happen in the first place? Was it his doing?

I thought that I finally got some answers but suddenly I was dropped back there with even more questions than I started with.

My gaze shifted to my side where Arga stood, she was motionless alongside Mister Ed, and neither of them seemed the least bit fazed by any of what just happened. I couldn't believe it, I kept wondering if they hadn’t experienced what I just did.

I looked around to see if anyone shared my panicked state but it was just me; the only person who looked like they saw what I did, was him—the dragon who was there at the centre of that void.

He simply stared at me in that long pause, his smirk turned stern and shifted to Alice.

She looked up at him after seeing my face and made the connection.

“Brother, what did you do to Rei?”

“Nothing, Alice. I simply tested something.” He responded stoically.

“What, there’s no way?! Just look at his face, you had to have done something!”

…

She doesn’t know the half of it.