Book 5: Chapter 138: Reason (2)
“Please bring me more excitement!” With these words, Luna launched her attack toward Princess Estelle. Every move she made was laden with the weight and force of a mountain.
Despite Princess Estelle’s formidable physique, now akin to that of a true dragon, withstanding Luna’s relentless assault proved challenging.
However, as Luna herself pointed out, this was far from a fair fight. Taylor’s dragon blood that was bestowed upon Princess Estelle was not just sheer strength, but advantages that spanned across species.
Princess Estelle, now a half-dragon, wielded claws as sharp as sacred artifacts. Her scales were impervious to most attacks, and her vast wings were capable of conjuring storms. Her very flesh and blood served as lethal instruments of war.
In contrast, Luna, bereft of “Lilith’s Gift,” stood armed only with her slender, fair arm.
Despite matching Princess Estelle in strength, when Luna finally managed to penetrate the tough scales to reach the softer flesh beneath, Estelle’s sharp claws were already wreaking havoc on Luna’s delicate form.
Luna’s ability to heal was formidable, yet she scarcely had time to recover before new, ghastly wounds marred her body.
Meanwhile, Princess Estelle had fully healed.
The battle was indeed brutal and bloody, with Luna leaving behind a trail of severed limbs and blood.
The fight transcended mere strength or skill; it was a harsh demonstration of the superiority of a more evolved creature over a lesser being.A sneer curled on Princess Estelle’s grotesque face. In the face of her absolute bloodline, all else seemed trivial.
“You think you’ve won?” Luna coughed, spitting out blood and tiny pieces of her damaged organs, as she managed a faint smile despite the crimson blood staining her face.
Princess Estelle leaned in, expecting to see defiance in Luna’ eyes.
Instead, Luna’s lips curled into a small smile, her eyes still shining brightly.
“Keep going, don’t disappoint me now, you winged lizard.”
This taunt erased the sneer from Princess Estelle’s face, replacing it with a surge of hostility that filled her golden eyes anew.
ROAR!
With a thunderous roar, Princess Estelle lunged forward, her slender, razor-sharp claws aimed directly at Luna’s chest, targeting her vitals. This time, she was determined to end the life of what she saw as a pesky insect.
Luna, however, did not attempt to evade. Instead, she raised her hand, trembling noticeably. To Princess Estelle, whose intellect had regressed to that of a young child, this seemed almost laughable. How could this trembling hand, which had seemed so feeble and ineffective even at the height of its strength, possibly stop her lethal strike?
Much to Princess Estelle’s astonishment, Luna’s slender and scarred hand firmly grasped her sharp claw.
The hand, shaky and unsteady as if it belonged to an elderly grandmother in her eighties or nineties, seemed so frail that it looked like it could not even hold a pair of chopsticks.
Yet, it was this very hand that seized hold of the sharp claws, which were capable of slicing through iron as easily as mud, rendering them utterly motionless.
Unlike before, where Luna might have used the bones in her palm to block the attack, the claws this time truly made contact with her palm. The collision was akin to two sacred artifacts striking each other, producing a sharp, metallic clang.
“What’s wrong, surprised?” Luna taunted, her voice laced with mockery, as Princess Estelle looked on in disbelief.
In the brief moment of their exchange, Luna’s injuries had begun to heal.
Roaring fiercely, Princess Estelle, embodying the essence of the dragon race, was not deterred. Her face twisted into a snarl as she pounced on Luna, intent on reducing her to nothing more than a shapeless mess.
“You’re getting repetitive with your attacks, I’m about to be bored out of my mind,” Luna chided.
She clenched her fist and aimed it squarely at Princess Estelle’s chest.
Princess Estelle did not evade. Instead, she was prepared to trade blows with Luna. She was confident that her scales would protect her, resulting in nothing more than a superficial wound for herself, while Luna would likely be torn apart by her.
In their previous battles, Luna was always driven into such dire straits by Estelle.
However, it was different this time. As Luna’s fist connected with Princess Estelle’s chest, a chorus of her ribs cried out in pain. The sharp agony contorted Estelle’s already grotesque face into an expression of utter disbelief.
The punch Luna had just delivered was nothing like the ones before.
Princess Estelle’s diminished intelligence rendered her incapable of questioning what had happened, and Luna had no intention of offering explanations. Instead, Luna relentlessly continued her assault, raining her small fist down on Estelle’s chest with increasing ferocity.
Each blow was stronger than the last, causing Estelle’s chest to cave in, then miraculously recover, only to be struck again. It seemed as if Luna was calculatingly giving Estelle just enough respite to heal before launching an even more brutal attack.
Though Estelle’s injuries were healing, the pain was undeniably real, her growls gradually morphing into pained whimpers. In a desperate attempt to escape, Estelle tried to pull away, but Luna maintained a vice-like grip on her claws.
Estelle retaliated wildly, inflicting numerous gruesome injuries on Luna’s delicate body, just so that she could force Luna to release her. Yet, Luna only appeared more exhilarated, her smile widening as if urging Estelle to hit harder.
Eventually, Estelle realized that Luna’s speed of recovery was becoming faster, and the injuries she was inflicting on Luna were becoming shallower. Fear finally seeped into Estelle’s eyes, and her roar took on a different tone—one filled with a spectrum of emotions.
“Is this… all you’ve got?” Luna voiced her disappointment, and with a casual punch, she sent Estelle crashing into the frozen lake.
When Princess Estelle resurfaced after a long while, her once hostile golden pupils regained a semblance of clarity.
“Huh? Did I knock some sense back into you?” Luna blinked at her, surprised by this turn of events.
“Why…” Estelle’s confusion was palpable as fragmented memories of the brutal fight flashed through her mind. “Even though I possess a stronger physical form than yours, weapons mightier than yours, and recovery powers surpassing yours—not to mention my half-dragon form, fully capable of annihilating humans… Why… did… I lose?”
“Don’t you understand?”
“Understand what?”
Luna sneered at her. “You possess the dragon blood, yet you don’t understand the essence of their power?”
“Essence of their power?” Princess Estelle frowned. “Is it the dragon language magic? Their formidable physical body? Prolonged lifespan?”
“Nope,” Luna replied as she playfully wiggled her finger.