Sam felt his Dao being pushed back towards his body, constricted and restrained by the forces howling around him. With a grin, he summoned his own domain, a third set of armor layering itself upon the first two. Made of mottled red and blue plates, it exuded an aura of solidity, unbroken by even the Dao domain of an old monster like Abrinadus. The fact remained that while the dragon’s enveloping, widespread manifestation of his power was both potent and impressive, it was spread out over a wide area. On a local scale, like around a human body, even Sam could easily overcome it.
Glowing like an ember in the night of the dragon’s domain, Sam shot forwards, jets of mana blasting out of his armor. Like a shooting star, he crossed the firmament, and as he did so, he expanded Terra’s Will to its fullest size, bracing it for impact.
Abrinadus realized the futility of his Domain, and condensed it down into a much smaller field around himself, about a mile in diameter. Sam immediately felt the force of a thousand gravities pushing down on him, and he crashed into the ground, skidding along it, his armor cracking below the force.
Sam rolled with the force, using it to propel himself towards Abrinadus. Pulsing his Dao to its utmost, burning through almost a quarter of his reserves, he drilled a hole through the dragon’s Domain, and teleported before Abrinadus before he could lock down space. His hammer hurtled into the monster’s already damaged jaw. A beam of raging fire seared through the dragon’s head, burning away his scales and flesh.
Abrinadus roared in pain, and swatted Sam away with one clawed foot, finally locking down space. Sam felt his layers of armor break beneath the strike, cracks spreading across them. His metal armor bent, pressing into his skin as he slammed into the unyielding ground.
Groaning, Sam pushed himself to his feet, just in time for another claw strike to send him head over heels, Abrinadus teleporting in. A charge of brilliant lightning danced across the dragon’s claw as he struck, and Sam shuddered as the electricity seared through his flesh, cooking it like a side of meat in an oven.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Abrinadus withdrew his claw at a sadistically slow rate, reveling in the pain that he was causing. A ghoulish smile spread across his ruined face. “You have some promise, but the weight of power is undeniable. You are simply my inferior, in every way.”
Sam gritted his teeth, and with a flash of his Dao, he purged the elemental energy from his body, snakes of writhing lightning melting the ground around him as they were expunged. His Dao surged in power as he conceptualized his revenge, and his suits of conceptual armor returned to their full glory, glowing brighter than ever before.
Sam glared at his foe. “Your inferior? Coming from a washed up worm, so devoid of talent that ten millennia couldn’t make anything more out of you? I’ve achieved all of this in a few months.”
Abrinadus faltered for a moment. “What? That-that’s not possible!”
Sam grinned. “You said you could read my mind earlier. Well? Do it!”
A sudden flicker of the dragon’s expression was all Sam needed to mount a counterattack. The nature of the beast’s Dao, one of overbearing might and rulership, cracked as it was faced with a being like Sam, far more talented than its user. The spatial lock disappeared, and Sam blinked through space. His body burned with might, Dao Juggernaut mixing with all of his other enhancements to create something akin to a living weapon of mass destruction.
Abrinadus took a single step back, and Sam struck. An old skill, long since outgrown, was brought back to the forefront of his power, merged with his newer, far more powerful abilities. Justice is Best Served Cold was one of earliest finisher moves, and while it had been replaced since then, Sam still remembered how to use it. His hammer snapped up into the underside of Abrinadus’ jaw, leaving a molten orb of concentrated Dao energy there. Sam flashed across the dragon’s body, leaving similar pockets of potency everywhere. He then leaped away, flipping through the air, and triggered the skill.
Detonations of scarlet light blasted apart the dragon’s flesh, and while blades of blue energy were forced deep into Abrinadus by the explosions, slicing through his body like razor blades. Sam could sense a resonance within his skill, a hint at a possible upgrade. The time for that wasn’t now, though, and he was more than happy with its power. With the potency of a Dao Seed, the already devastating skill was able to take out E Rankers with ease.
