Chapter 889: Black Sparks
Chapter 889: Black Sparks
Matilda lunged forth, cracking the ground as her father yelled, "STOP!" Arad flashed to his side, dragging him out of the way.
Zank smiled, "So you're coming for me!" He shouted, pulling his claws back and clenching a fist. "Fine, I'll put you back in your place." He threw his fist at her, aiming for the face.
Matilda lifted her shield with a passive and emotionless face, deflecting the punch aside as she swung her claws, aiming to rip his side open.
Zank dodged to the side and swung a kick at Matilda's thighs, "Get down!"
Matilda lifted her knee and lowered her elbow to block the kick, but due to the weight difference, she ended up getting thrown away with a blast.
Zank looked at her as she got thrown over a house, "You're lighter than I expected, but to think you blocked that. I heard you were a failure, what was that all about?" He jumped after her, lunging into the air, and leaped over the house.
Zank landed in a garden and looked around, "My little mate, where did you go? Hiding won't save you." He looked around, sniffing the air but couldn't detect her. "Strange."
Keeping her position and the wind's direction in mind, Matilda was prowling through the vegetation of the garden, keeping her eyes firmly on Zank, looking for an opportunity to attack.
The moment Zank took a step, Matilda lunged at his back, swinging her claw at the back of his neck. Due to the large strength difference, she can't hold back and is going for the kill.
Zank's eyes quickly turned back, "So you were there?" He stepped aside and avoided her strike with ease. Almost immediately, he swung his foot at her stomach.
Matilda lifted her shield to block, but due to her already accelerating forward, this attack would be painful. Zank's foot smacked into her shield and sent her flying back through a window, coughing blood.
Zank stopped and started looking at his foot, weirded out. "What?" For some reason, he felt like he kicked a pillow or something, not a hard shield. And then from the side of his eyes, he noticed Arad standing at the side of the garden, watching with glowing purple eyes.
Not having that much time, Zank ignored him and rushed after, Matilda, thinking that he was just watching. But what he didn't know is that Arad did jump between them and cushioned the impact with his palm, and retreated back to his standing spot without them even seeing him. Compared to them, he was that fast.
Zank lunged into the house and looked around, "A direct flow? We're on the northern part of the village after all." The house had two windows facing each other going from one side to the other so the northern breeze could pass through the house, bringing fresh air. Matilda seems to have flown into the house through one window and escaped through the second.
He didn't waste any second and jumped outside, not realizing that Arad was sitting on a chair inside the house, watching.
The moment Zank jumped out of the window, Matilda jumped down at him from the roof, swinging her claw at his head. He dodged with a single step, looking at her with a smile. "Always going for the kill, I like that." He spun around and swung his fist at her, "But I don't..." She blocked his punch with her shield but ended up thrown away once more. "...like you sneaking around like that."
Matilda flew all the way to where they started fighting, barely managing to stop thanks to her hind claws. Shards of wood and steel fell from her shield as it cracked, it couldn't block any more hits. Zank's raw strength wasn't something she should block.
Thud! Zank jumped toward her and landed with a large smile on his face, "This is...how you use tricks." With a powerful kick, he kicked a stone toward her face. Almost in a panic as she didn't expect a ranged attack, Matilda lifted her shield and tried to deflect the stone.
With a loud crack, her shield shattered into pieces and Zank lunged at her, opening his right claw, "Healing exists." He swung his claw at her, aiming to wound her just enough to prevent her from fighting. Healing magic and potions are a thing, one large wound won't be a problem.
As his claws approached Matilda's chest, her eyes opened wide and her body relaxed for a second. Black sparks of magic crackled in her eyes as she breathed out.
ZON! Zank's claw missed, he slashed the air. Matilda was nowhere in his vision, she disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving him confused. But he wasn't stunned for long, even if his eyes couldn't see her, his ears and nose still caught wind of her. He knew in a fraction of a second, she was right behind him.
Zank spun around, his torso accelerating to an insane degree as he used his hind claws for grip, this time swinging as fast he could, with all of his might. Whatever it was, either moving that fast or teleportation magic, it meant one thing, Matilda wasn't someone he could underestimate any longer.
"Interesting!" He roared, swinging his claw. He could see her, she was indeed behind him, and this time, he was moving even faster. If it's teleportation, she shouldn't be able to cast it that many times back-to-back, one cast is the norm.
ZON! Matilda disappeared once again, letting his attack miss. This wasn't any teleportation magic, it was [Void Walk] Unlocked from her void bloodline. What Merida had was far weaker than what Arad had started with, she could only teleport within three meters and to a spot that she could see, while Arad had started with forty meters and now could teleport up to forty kilometers.
Watching her from the side, Arad could confirm the potency of her void magic, it was less than 0.0001 of his void magic, reminding him of where he stands. A true dragon compared to a bloodline holder.
^She has less than a tenth of what I had as a wyrmling. It's probably due to her lack of scales which limits how much she can release...or is it due to some other limitation?^ Arad stared at her with a curious gaze, while trying to protect her, he didn't waste the chance to learn more about the void and how to optimize it.
It took Zank a fraction of a second too long to realize that Matilda had teleported out of his attack a second time, and just like before she was behind him, getting ready to attack.
From a long-forgotten generation, the spark of the void left in her blood pulsed. The magic traveled from one person to another, getting strengthened and weakened by their abilities, refined for what will be the form used by Matilda.
Matilda clenched a fist vibrating with the void, sensing the magic surging through her blood, almost seeing her ancestors standing behind her. The hand landing on her shoulder felt familiar, the same hand that raised her.
She threw her fist forward with a black spark, hitting Zank in the liver with a booming black lightning burst. The void absorbs, consumes and stores matter and magic. Besides the basic [Void Walk] ability, Matilda managed to tap into the closed power to her that was stored in the void, her mother's black lightning.
Zank coughed blood as he got thrown away with a thunderclap.
Serba gasped as he saw Zank's massive body flying through the air, and Zara looked with a gaping mouth, he could see her mother in her.
Zank grabbed onto a tree with his claws and glared back at Matilda with a growl, "You little girl! Hiding all of that magic." He jumped back at her immediately, this time intending to
give her a bloody beating.
Matilda charged at him, teleporting left and right with sparks of lightning roaring from her claws. He landed on the ground and swung his claw at her while throwing a kick to the back.
As Matilda teleported behind him, she lifted her arm and blocked his kick, jolting him with the black lightning at the same time as he cracked her forearm.
Matilda landed on a tree, her left hand had become useless, she couldn't even move it. But the same could be said for Zank, his left foot had burned to the bones, and he couldn't even put it
on the ground.
She clenched her fist and the black lightning flashed from her right arm as she got ready for one last punch. Zank leaned forward and stood on all three, ready for a charge. He'll rush her as fast as he could, and finish the fight in the coming attack.
As the two jumped at each other, Arad caught Matilda's fist in his palm, the black lightning didn't even phase him. On the other side, a tall, large-breasted woman with pure white hair and nine fluffy tails stood, blocking Zank's attack with her fan.
"I've seen enough." Hati said with a smile, "I can't have you kill him." She slowly looked at Arad. "He's quite important, you know." In the blink of an eye, she smacked Zank in the face with her fan and sent him flying into the forest.
"Aron?!" Matilda gasped, unable to believe how fast Arad was, and how he didn't seem to be affected by her black lightning.
Arad turned toward Hati and glared down at her as she looked up at him. "I was going to kill him anyway." He said, the magic rushing from his body far surpassing anything that Matilda
ever felt in her life, and the same came rushing out of Hati.
At that moment, Matilda knew, that Arad and Hati were in their own league.