Panic consumed Zweicor as he recalled their previous encounter. As he turned to run, Zycor shouted at his friends, “Everyone, run away! This guy is too much!”

Zweicor was promptly stopped in his tracks by black ooze forming in front of him, Mister X’s figure rising from the bubbling puddle. Zweicor reflexively stumbled back, only stopped by Aisha, Mylon and Baz. Mylon, sweating from Mr. X’s presence alone, questioned, “So, I take it you two are acquainted?”

“Heh, hardly. He invaded my dreams a while back and tried to consume me from within it.” Zweicor nervously chuckled. His gallows humor was only met with silence.

“So, any trump cards someone has yet to play?” Baz rhetorically asked.

“Yeah, I have one but I don’t have enough mana to make use of it.” Zweicor responded.

Not expecting his question to receive an actual answer, Baz could not help but chortle, “It’s alright buddy, I wasn’t being serious anyhow! The fact you actually have something at all is hilarious!”

Aisha, having been deep in thought, asked, “What if you could replenish your mana to an extent? Would this trump card work?”

Zweicor shrugged, “Honestly, I am not sure. But this is sort of a ‘do-or-die’ situation, so I don’t think it matters too much.”

“If that is the case, then smash your gauntlets.” Aisha suggested.

Mortified, Zweicor questioned, “You want me to destroy my only weapons? How would that help at all?!”

“Hear me out, your gauntlets are made of magnecite, right? Well, aside from channeling magic and adjusting its size, magnecite also stores mana. If you shatter it, the mana will return to its owner. You have used them for a while, so there should be enough mana stored in them to restore a reasonable amount of your mana pool.” Aisha explained as quickly as she could.

Mister X, who was tapping his foot, interjected, “Are you quite… done with your… farewells?”

Out of time to think about it any further, Zweicor shouted, “Well, it’s do-or-die! Let’s go!”

Zweicors eyes shifted to Zycors’ evergreen, followed by Zycor throwing his gauntlets on the ground and yelling, “Baz, smash the gauntlets with all your might!”

Baz grinned as Aisha and Mylon moved out of the way. He brought his mighty axe down as hard as he could, shattering the gauntlets and partially fracturing the ground. Mana flowed from the shattered pieces of magnecite back to Zycor. With his restored mana, he faced Mister X who stood grinning, fully enjoying the group's desperate struggles. Zycor cried out, “Novos, I invoke our contract! Come forth and grant me your power!”

Novos began to glow intensely, shooting into the sky in a spear of light. He shot back down and through Zycors chest from behind. The spear of light was absorbed into Zycors body as the ground began to shake violently. Beneath his feet, the ground began to fracture as Zycor roared. He hunched forward as two massive, blue dragon wings sprouted from his back along with a dragon's tail. He sprouted fangs and his pupils dilated and changed to that of a lizard. His hands, arms, feet and legs became covered in the same blue scales as Novos. His fingernails grew long and turned to claws as a pair of horns sprouted from his head. Lightning began to arc across his body as Zycor breathed heavily. For the first time in the planet's history, a dragon demi-human was born. He inhaled deeply and let out a deafening roar that pushed everyone but himself and Mister X back.

Zycor blitzed forward with speed incomparable to what he was capable of before. Coating his fist in lightning, he plunged it into Mister X. Unfortunately, his punch passed through Mister X’s body that quickly mended itself by reconnecting using black ooze. Undeterred, Zycor pivoted on his right foot and exclaimed, “Engulf!” His body was instantly covered in lightning and he ripped through air even faster than before. But this time, he covered his fist with gravity magic. As his fist made contact with Mister X, the latter realized that his form was not breaking apart. For the first time in nearly a millennium, Mister X was hit and sent flying into the mountain beside them.

Through his labored breathing, Zycor yelled, “Now’s your chance everyone, get out of here! I will catch up shortly! I can’t use that attack too many times due to the mana consumption!”

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Mylon and Aisha began to run as Baz hesitated for a moment looking at what Zycor had become. He gritted his teeth and said, “Don’t you die on me kid.”

He then turned to escape with Mylon and Aisha. Unfortunately for them Volnir stepped in front of them, thoroughly pissed. “Well, I may not have been able to have my fun with that child, but I will be damned if I don’t kill someone today!” he exclaimed, “But that can wait, why don’t you all stay and watch as your companion dies?!”

Mylon and Baz both charged him with everything they had as they shouted, “Move out of our way!”

Volnir brought his sword, covered in intense mana like before, as he grinned sadistically and said, “I don’t think so.”

Making contact with Volnir’s sword, both Mylon and Baz stopped dead in their tracks. Volnir pushed the duo back as he chuckled, “Well would you look at that, if that was your best I must say the child has poor taste in comrades!”

As they were preparing to face off, massive shockwaves could be felt behind them. Turning around, the trio saw Mister X decimating Zycor easily. Zycor was able to dodge one of his punches and went in for another gravity punch and connected yet again. Unfortunately, this time it had little effect due to him running on mana fumes yet again. “I must admit, you surprised…me, dear Zycor. It has been a very… long time since someone has… hit me. But, as are most things, it… was meaningless in… the end. If you want to… kill me then you will have to accept… my gift.”

Zycor remained defiant, standing tall despite how injured he now was. As he went to respond he suddenly stopped and clutched his chest. With a shout of pain, Novos was ejected from his body as he went to his knees. “How unfortunate that… this is the end of our fun. Perhaps a little… nudge will help you embrace my…gift.” Mister X pondered aloud.

He looked at Volnir and nodded, giving him the go ahead to begin killing his opponents. Volnir’s eyes lit up at this and he began to walk towards the trio. As he raised his sword, there was a massive impact right behind him. As if the goddess was going out of her way to stop Volnir specifically, he found himself face to face with Adria yet again.

She looked around the area to get a rudimentary understanding of what was going on. As she did, Adira saw Zycor and what had happened to him. Her eyes widened as she realized what he had done, then narrowed in unfiltered and unrestrained fury directed towards the finely dressed man and Volnir. Volnir sighed, “I just cannot catch a break, can I?”

Finishing his sentence he was sent flying through the camp and beyond by Adria. Locking eyes with Mister X, she used her Status personal skill and instantly realized how large of a threat he was. Adria was one of the most powerful people in the entire world without question. Entire nations cowered in fear of her raw power, never mind her schemes and connections. However, the man standing before her was something not of this world, neither dead nor alive, with power unquantifiable even to Adria’s transcendent personal skill. Not missing a beat nor breaking eye contact, Adria commanded, “Aisha, Mylon, Baz, grab Zycor and leave this place. Don’t go back to the city either, you have to leave here entirely. I will buy you all time, so go.”

Unable and unwilling to refuse her while she was in her current state, they all nodded and went to retrieve Zycor. Zycor looked at Adria with panicked eyes as he exclaimed, “But what about you?! I won’t just leave you! I can’t!”

Mister X interjected, “I agree with… Zycor. Although it may be for a… different reason, I will not… allow him to leave. Especially not when… he is so… close.”

Adria seemingly teleported between him and Zycor. She threw a fire coated fist through his face, removing it and cracking the mountain behind. After a moment, Mister X’s head reformed, cocked his head, and threw his own punch in return. Adria ducked under it, confused at the lack of force behind it. But when she looked back, she saw the soldiers that were in the way begin to decay into dust along with their armor, the dirt and rocks.

At this moment, Adria saw the danger the man before her posed and tossed Zycor towards Aisha, Mylon and Baz. After he was caught, Zycor questioned, “Wait, mom!”

“My idiot child, do you really think I am that weak? I just need you to be far away enough to not be caught in the crossfire. In this case, that would be nowhere close to this city. Besides, Abros is overrun with Velathrian knights now, so there really is no point to return there at the moment.” Adria explained.

She glared at Baz who promptly threw Zycor over his shoulder and began to leave. Zycor shouted back in a panic, “But mom, he is extremely dangerous! You can’t fight him alone!”

Adria chortled, “Oh please, sure he has power, but not as much as myself! Now get out of here!”

As the group high-tailed it out of earshot, Mister X questioned, “Are you certain your last words should have been lies?”

“They are only lies if I am proven wrong, care to try?” Adria quipped back.

“I do hope that… you keep that… bravado. It should serve you… well during your stay in… the afterlife.” Mister X threateningly expressed.

Adria sighed through her chuckles, “Hohoho~boy, I am going to enjoy killing you far more than I should.”

Her eyes narrowed as she got serious. “All of that aside, those stats of his could prove troublesome. Especially considering all of them were question marks. Just what in the world is he? Well.Questions for after I put him six feet under.”