A woman clothed in black stood at a distance, her eyes closed, with her hand gently resting on the hilt of her katana.

Though she radiated no aura, she had an enormous presence that caused the wind around her to swirl like a storm, her long dark hair flickering within it.

Raiden started shaking immediately. He recognized her, and the memory of her purpose was crystal clear. The Huntress—and she was hunting him.

"Nico…" Raiden murmured and swallowed hard as Nico turned in his direction, his smaller frame trembling in his boots.

"She is an unbreakable force, Nico, and she's after me alone." He muttered, failing to meet Nico's gaze as his golden eyes focused on the Huntress.

"She won't do anything to you… even if you try to attack, because I'm the only one she wants."

Nico's expression grew even darker with his mouth parted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Silence was Raiden's only response as he began approaching the Huntress. She had been tracking him for months now, and while he had no memory of whatever future action had damaged the universe badly enough for the unbreakable force to mark him for death, he knew the Huntress would harm no one else—only her intended target.

"Just listen to me, Nico… stay out of this." It was the first time in their entire relationship that Raiden had addressed Nico with such icy detachment, his tone brooking no further discussion.

Nico then slowly began backing away as he watched Raiden transform into his moon dragon form.

His lengthy dark hair transformed into brilliant white with a cloudy, ethereal texture, floating weightlessly within his turbulent dark aura.

Sinister lines manifested across his body, coiling around his arms and up to his neck like serpentine tattoos, while a dragon wing symbol emerged on his forehead and jagged lightning bolt marks appeared beneath his eyes.

He summoned his shadowy odachi sword as it smoked in dark flames within his hand.

Raiden squinted, feeling an unsettling tension ripple through his frame as his hand instinctively found his sword's hilt. He couldn't identify the source of his unease, but every instinct screamed that action was necessary.

Yet figuring out how to initiate the confrontation remained a challenge, and judging by her relaxed stance, she had no intention of starting things either.

Raiden's grip trembled intensely on his sword, his heartbeat pounding. But he began concentrating mana into his lower body, having been robbed of his domain—the darkness—as the sun blazed above him.

Still, in the blink of an eye, the desert sand exploded into the air, and the next moment, Raiden was before the Huntress.

His sword headed directly for her, but before it could land, Raiden's chest tightened as his eyes widened. The Huntress was gone. But instincts took over in an instant, and his body leaped to the left.

His lips parted in confusion, trying to understand how the Huntress had managed such an impossible disappearance. He'd never blinked, never shifted his focus from her.

But his mind barely had time to puzzle over it before his blade was seeking her again. His body moved like a puppet on strings, and she sidestepped the attack effortlessly.

This irritated Raiden and not only made his blood boil with the need to land at least one strike, but it also wounded his pride as both a warrior and the moon dragon.

All his dragon abilities were at 95%, and was this the best he could do? Not even land a strike?

Though he couldn't fully process his thoughts because of his fragile mind and being in the middle of a battle, this still stung him, this couldn't be the moon dragon's feet.

For the brief moment that followed, Raiden had his teeth gritted in irritation, staying extremely tight on the Huntress's trail and delivering strike after strike. But still, she had her eyes closed, her expression calm, and her hand still resting gently on her katana while still dodging each of Raiden's attacks.

Before long, the entire field was filled with the desert sand, burying them in the dense atmosphere, and still, Raiden's prideful eyes managed to track her.

Even so, the battle was lingering on too long. He knew she was an unbreakable force, a being whose involvement with something makes the future uncertain. But still, things weren't adding up. Why wasn't she attacking? And was their speed difference that vast?

While in thought, Raiden's strikes tore the air. The precision and brute force were undeniable as the dodged strikes sent daunting sounds through the distance.

However, for the first time in their battle, the Huntress' face shifted a little. Though her expression would have been the same to the average person, the shift in her overwhelming presence made it hard for Raiden to miss.

In that brief second, it was as though time paused for Raiden. Everything seemed to clear as he watched the Huntress release the hilt of her sword and launch a strike at him.

Everything felt too slow, slow enough to have allowed Raiden to deliver a dozen strikes at the Huntress. And yet, as the strike moved at an alarmingly slow pace, Raiden couldn't even move his body.

Each part of his body remained in a slower drifting pace, leaving only his eyes and mind active enough to watch the strike land.

And after forever of waiting for the strike to land, Raiden's chest collapsed inward, the force of it passing through his body at an agonizingly slow pace.

Slowly, his senses began taking in the torture—what felt like a mountain slowly being placed on his chest, the agonizing pain tearing through him. Updates are released by noᴠelfire.net

Still, his expressions were too slow to keep up with the unbearable pain, as though his body was being burnt from within, even a mere scream now a distant memory.

Raiden couldn't help but wonder if this was the true power of the Huntress, to let her opponent feel every inch of her prowess as though it were a punishment.

However, just as it seemed the strike would never succumb its entire weight on Raiden, he was a thought away when it hit him like a brick.

The next thing he knew, he was hurtling backward with incredible force, bouncing off the ground before finally collapsing into their shelter's walls, bringing down half of the building.

Sprawled on the ground, his body enveloped in thick mist, Raiden coughed up blood as his chest blazed with searing heat, like he'd consumed molten fire.

He clenched his teeth against the pain as he attempted to stand, but his legs refused to obey, shaking violently beneath him.

Yet he looked toward the Huntress as she approached, but watching Nico make a valiant but futile effort to stop her, his blows passing harmlessly through her form while she moved forward as though he didn't exist at all.

Raiden's throat tightened as the Huntress advanced. The strike should have been fatal, should have carved through his torso and severed his spine completely, but mysteriously it hadn't.

Even through his bewilderment at being alive, he knew that enduring another such hit would leave him paralyzed at best, dead at worst.

Battling through his fear, as the Huntress drew near with Nico trailing behind her, Raiden struggled to push himself up, but his body simply wouldn't obey his commands.

But something struck Raiden as unusual as he watched the Huntress lean toward him slightly. It was a perfect opening to slit her throat, and before he could reason through such a careless mistake on her part, his arms moved on their own and slashed across the Huntress' chest.

Raiden felt his stomach drop as warm blood sprayed over him. The Huntress stood perfectly still, her eyes drifting down to assess the gash across her chest. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was simply gone.

Bewilderment washed over Raiden, leaving his mouth slightly agape while the searing pain in his body faded from his awareness entirely.

Not only was her opening meaningless, the Huntress could have avoided the strike if she wanted to. Even he who made the attack could tell it was pathetically slow.

However, even through his confused daze, Sulli's usual voice echoed in his mind.

[ALERT]

[CURRENT STATUS: NUMBER 5 : LEVEL- 0/100]

[MANA CONTROL:

DRAGON AURA:

DRAGON MANA POOL:

SOUL OF DRAGON: 100%

HEART OF DRAGON: 100%

MOON DRAGON'S VEINS: 100%]

[NEW TRANSFORMATION ACTIVITED: TRUE DRAGON.]

[YOU HAVE GROWN STRONGER. STATS NO LONGER DEFINE YOU.]

"Wait… what?"