At that very moment, just after Shane finished speaking, a gate appeared next to him, and from it came a blast of air with tremendous pressure. It struck him forcefully, slamming him into the arena wall, causing an injury and bleeding from his head.
Shane, stunned, muttered, "Damn, what the hell was that thing that hit me?"
He then noticed a creature resembling a dragon emerging from the gate. It had a tail and legs, moving with incredible speed, and it struck Shane in the stomach with such force that blood poured from his mouth.
Shane rose once again and found himself surrounded by a large number of these creatures.
"So, these annoying things are your last trick? Fine."
Shane activated his blood spider limbs and attacked one of the creatures, expanding his attack and slicing it apart. However, when the creature was cut, it exploded with a huge air blast, similar to the one that occurred when it first emerged from the gate. Shane was thrown to the ground again.
There were far too many of these creatures, and if things continued like this, Shane would be completely drained and fall.
His patience was running thin, and it seemed he wanted to end this quickly with a massacre.
"Damn, this isn't fun anymore. I’m done. I’ll end this nuisance now."
"Red Cloud!"
This time, the blood used in his technique was mixed with poison at a very high concentration, much stronger than before. He also expanded the range of the cloud to cover the entire arena. The poisoned blood formed chains with sharp blades, each blade containing concentrated venom.
"Come to me now, insects!"
Shane moved quickly and began slicing through the creatures one by one.
Prince Ando, knowing Shane would find a way to deal with the dragons, stayed hidden. He moved slowly and quietly, reducing his breathing to slow the poison’s effect. Using wind magic, he pushed the gas from the Red Cloud away to avoid inhaling it. He was biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and end Shane with one deadly blow.
Sure enough, the opportunity came when Shane lost his balance due to the air explosion from one of the dragons as he sliced it apart.
At that moment, Ando leaped from his hiding spot with incredible speed and launched his signature attack.
"Great Dark Winds, First Dragon’s Hand!"
A massive dragon’s claw appeared, its enormous, square-shaped talons emerging from the place where Ando’s arm had been.
Shane noticed the enormous attack coming towards him but was off balance in the air, with no chance to defend or dodge it.
"Damn, what the hell is that?!"
The claw struck Shane with immense force, and the prince drove the talons deep into Shane’s body, rendering him immobile. Shane began to collapse, and it seemed he would need new corpses soon to survive.
"What is this? How did it come to this damn situation?" Shane muttered as he felt his strength fading.
It seemed the battle was nearing its end. One of them was about to fall—either Shane from the dragon's claws, or Prince Ando from the poison running through his veins, worsened by the Red Cloud gas.
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The prince, barely able to speak, said through gritted teeth, "What do you think now, you filthy devil? It’s over now."
Shane, grimacing in pain and struggling to speak, replied, "You talk as if you won’t be coming after me, too, little prince."
Shane tried to escape from the dragon's claws somehow. Suddenly, sharp, bloodthirsty weapons emerged and stabbed into the claw. More weapons continued to appear from the Red Cloud, and Shane kept stabbing the claw, injecting it with as much poison as he could muster.
But the prince kept screaming, enduring the pain and the poison with furious rage, pushing the claws deeper into Shane.
"Black Winds, Dragon Riga, The Final Winds!"
At that moment, the prince saw an image of Dragon Riga, speaking to him.
"Enough, Prince. I will no longer lend my strength to the lower family."
The prince was puzzled. "But why?"
"That’s how it is. You must accept it. I’ve given you more than you deserve."
And then the dragon started to disappear.
"Damn it, where are you going? Come back here!"
The prince spoke bitterly and angrily, "Damn it, he betrayed us. He wanted to kill us from the start of the contract!"
Even the hand he had obtained was the result of the prince's own efforts, using his skills and the Dark Wind energy that he had learned from his father.
Then, he remembered a saying his father had always repeated to him, which he had never fully understood.
"Never trust dragons."
The prince continued to fight with everything he had left, but the claw began to melt. Its color changed, and pieces of bone and flesh started to fall off it, rotting and disintegrating completely.
Sadly, the prince could not continue the fight or maintain the claw due to the poison. The Dragon's Hand had completely deteriorated.
Despite still holding his sword and attacking Shane one last time, the prince collapsed, his strength drained.
He fell like a true warrior, fighting until the very end, proudly facing his people.
The announcement was made that he had lost. Shane had won.
Shane approached the prince, still not believing that he had finally won. With a devilish smile, he pulled out a blood-soaked spear and prepared to finish him off.
"Goodbye, you wretch. I never expected you to cause me all this trouble."
At that moment, one of the soldiers spoke up, "Sir, they’ve declared the fight over. If you kill him now, you’ll break the rules. Have you forgotten?"
"I don’t care. I want to kill him," Shane replied.
The soldier hesitated, "Sir, this will cause a lot of problems. The Golden Kingdom will react quickly, and this won’t please the General."
"Ha! Damn it, fine."
Shane added, "Give him the antidote I prepared and expel him from the kingdom immediately. Then clean up this mess and handle the remaining procedures, like the surrender documents. I’ll go now to contact the General."
"Understood, sir."
The soldiers used a magic circle to neutralize the poison in the prince and instructed him to leave the kingdom immediately.
As the prince stood, Shane kicked him as he was rising. "Rejoice, you scoundrel. I spared your life. Now leave here, immediately."
The prince walked out slowly, under the watchful eyes of his fearful yet grateful people. As he walked, they cheered his name. Shane, however, killed a few people to stop the riots and clashes with the soldiers.
Shane ordered the soldiers to bring the bodies to the royal palace and wait for his return, as he had been delayed in contacting the General.
Meanwhile, Prince Ando, who had already left, muttered under his breath, "Shane, Dragon Riga, you will pay. I will show you a hell like you’ve never seen before."
At that moment, Shane entered an empty room in the castle and contacted the General using a long-distance telepathic magic technique to inform him that the mission was complete.
"Hey, General, the mission is done. Things got a little crazy, but we’ve got the situation under control now."
"Why did you disobey orders? Your recklessness caused a huge mess, and why did you kill innocents? I specifically told you not to do that," the General said angrily.
Shane stammered, clearly worried, "I’m sorry, sir, I thought…"
"Shut up! I don’t want to hear your excuses. Just follow the damn instructions!" the General snapped.
"Okay, understood, sir," Shane replied nervously.
The General continued, "I promised the former king I wouldn’t harm his people, but you’ve ruined that."
"I’m really sorry, General," Shane apologized.
"Apologize to the people, and build a memorial statue for the victims in the kingdom. That’s the least we can do because of your damn mistakes," the General ordered.
"Okay, General, I understand."
"The most important thing now is to increase the human resources in your forces. Recruit the elite after they’ve been trained, and trust them as soldiers within the organization. And make sure it doesn't get out that you're currently working for the organization, as this will slow down the movements of the others. They'll discover it eventually, but at least we’ll gain time to strengthen our branches. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. Understood."
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, in one of the hideouts of "Eien Hakai," the General was preparing for the next move after receiving a report from one of his aides at the headquarters.