Akira stood up and, like a zombie, turned towards Deliora. When Akira's gaze met Deliora's, the demon's consciousness seemed to be pulled into a sea of illusions.
In that illusion, Deliora saw Akira sitting on a throne that was placed on top of a thousand corpses. And behind him was a silhouette of a great dragon with bright golden eyes staring at Deliora as if he were an ant.
The illusion didn't last long. It was only more than a couple of seconds. But it was during these couple of seconds that Deliora almost lost his mind.
Even though Akira in that projection did nothing but sit on that throne, the pressure he brought alone dealt a serious blow to Deliora.
"Kneel." Just when Deliora escaped from that nightmare, Akira's voice rang in his ears. And as if his orders were a divine command, Deliora suddenly began to feel the gravity around him seem to have increased a hundredfold, making him kneel down subconsciously.
After he realized what had happened, fear once again surfaced on Deliora's face. Using all of its strength and even burning most of its lifespan, Deliora mobilized all of its magic power to break free from the restraints.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
Swish
A dragon claw pierced through Deliora's chest. And in the next seconds, similar wounds also appeared on the demon's body. If one didn't know any better, they would think Deliora was pierced by numerous spikes.
Deliora spat out a mouthful of blood as it looked at Akira with its cloudy eyes. Akira now no longer had his mask on, so Deliora was able to see his face clearly.
Near his eyes, there were some bright red dragon scales that, instead of making his face ugly, gave him a unique charm. His eyes were now like a dragon's, and the coldness in them would freeze even souls. On his head, there were two long horns.
'What a monster, ' Deliora thought as it breathed its last breath. He isn't a pervert like Akira, who could still be alive even after his heart got destroyed.
Like that, Deliora, the calamity demon, lost its life.
….
Shortly after Deliora took its last breath, Akira, who seemed to have taken a miracle drug, collapsed as all the power in his body disappeared.
"Haa... haaa… That was close..." Akira thought as he lay on top of Deliora's corpse, exhausted.
That attack earlier contained all the energy he had managed to accumulate after he healed most of his injuries.
What happened earlier was truly something Akira didn't expect. Honestly, after his heart was crushed, Akira half expected that he would be forced to activate the last trump card he prepared. This trump card is none other than blowing himself up with the enemy together. This is something Akira created when he first started learning Abyss runes. He knew even if he was called a genius, he would eventually be killed if he wasn't careful. But he didn't want his enemy to have a simple victory after he died. So this is why he planted a time bomb that would activate after his life force was below a certain threshold.
But thankfully, he didn't need to resort to that trick. Although Akira himself didn't know why what happened, he seems to have awakened another innate ability of his.
[ Sage Dragon King Slayer Magic ]
This is the magic that Akira awakened in that near-death situation. And this magic also overturned all the knowledge he had known about dragon slayer magic.
Previously, he had thought that to learn dragon slayer magic, one might need to have direct or indirect teaching from a dragon. But he obviously didn't fit into this category. He has no direct contact with any dragon despite having dragon blood in his veins.
Furthermore, Akira knew that despite his having dragon blood, his soul was still that of a human. So even if he could systematically train dragon slayer magic, he obviously cannot use it to its full potential without transforming into a dragon. This also meant that he could not let his descendants inherit his traits.
After all, no matter how much they say it, dragon slayers who had turned into dragons cannot be called dragons in the truest sense at all. They obviously lack the qualities to pass down their magic to the later generations. One could say they are artificial dragons with human souls.
This is also why most dragon slayers, after transforming into dragons, lose their minds. With human souls, they cannot possibly bear the dragon's body. And it is due to this weakness that Akira didn't try to learn dragon slayer magic despite reading all the research notes from Irene's library.
But somehow, he managed to awaken this magic like a true dragon. And although Akira couldn't say why, he could feel that this magic, like the rest of his other magic, is 100% compatible with his soul and body. This led Akira to a rather unbelievable conclusion.
His soul had somehow transformed into a dragon. And during that transformation, his innate magic that was lying dormant had also awakened.
'Damn, if I knew this would happen, I should have stopped suppressing my dragonic blood in the first place, ' Akira thought with regret.
You know, during such an awakening, one could have the power to change one's potential and awaken all the dormant abilities. In fact, his dragon-slaying magic should be just one of the many abilities he has in his body.
So theoretically, if one were prepared, they could actually awaken more than one ability. But unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret.
"Sigh, now then, what should I do with this guy? " Akira muttered as he looked at Deliora's corpse, which was under him.
Although he can let this corpse be sent to the council, he is very reluctant to do that. You know, as an artificer, Akira could tell that Deliora's corpse is nothing but a priceless treasure. And besides, isn't there someone who is going to join Fairy Tail who has the magic to take over demon souls? It would be really a waste if we didn't keep the demon soul at least.
But those councilmen would never let go of such research material. And if he really wants to claim credit, he would need to present some evidence of Deliora's subjugation.
And here is the thing: if Akira were to present Deliora's body, he would definitely get generous rewards, but he would also similarly get a generous bounty on his head. After all, in the council, there is definitely more than one force that wouldn't want him to live.
So logically speaking, the best choice should be to pretend this battle never happened. But Akira is reluctant to just walk away after fighting for all this time. You know, to defeat this guy, he almost died.
Even now, the injuries on his chest hurt like hell.
Just when Akira was in a dilemma, his senses suddenly picked up two familiar magic power signatures rushing here.
"Oh, it seems I might be able to work things out. " Suddenly, a smile formed on Akira's face as a small plan formed in his mind.
****
If you want to read up to 20 advanced chapters go to my Patreon Account.
patreon.com/Nauty_Manu
****