My Ultimate OP System: Summoning All Dragons, Gods, Heroes & Villains-Chapter 47: A Dragon’s Sense & A Terrible Idea
Ethan said nothing, but he knew she was right.
Battle Sense had kept him alive, but it wasn’t making him a great swordsman. It was just giving him the bare minimum knowledge to survive.
The skill complemented an already existing foundation. It didn’t create one from scratch.
Another thing that had also been keeping him in the fight was his enhanced strength and speed as a dragon hatchling. Without that, Albedo would have overwhelmed him in several minutes.
Ethan adjusted his grip on Ragnarok once more and steadied his breathing.
Albedo watched him for a moment, then asked, "So, you still going to continue?"
She grinned. "Because the next time I engage you, I’ll be fighting with all I have now."
Ethan met her gaze directly then whispered, "Amplification."
A surge of purplish aura erupted and swirled around his body. His muscles tensed as the power coursed through him, doubling the strength and speed his dragon side already granted.
He knew he was lacking in the speed, strength, and skill of a trained saber. But he hoped to cover for it by amplifying the enhancements of his dragon side.
Then he looked at Albedo and said, "I’ll be giving this my all too."
Albedo’s grin widened. "Now we’re talking," then vanished in another burst of smoke.
Ethan’s eyes darted around, scanning the field. But suddenly she reappeared to his right, aiming to slash his neck with her knife.
There was a sudden tingle of his senses the moment she materialized, causing him to leap away from his position instinctively.
However, she immediately lunged forward again, aiming to attack Ethan while his foot was still above ground from the leap.
But this time, Ethan was ready. As Albedo closed the distance, he thrust his free hand forward and a purple magic circle materialized in front of his palm.
Albedo’s eyes widened.
"Air Bomb," Ethan whispered. And at once, compressed blast of air erupted from the circle, slamming into Albedo at point-blank range.
The force of the explosion sent her flying backward, as her body tumbled across the ground before she caught herself and slid to a stop.
She stood slowly, brushing dirt off her shoulder, and sliding her fingers across her head to clean off the little blood.
Due to Ethan’s Amplification trait, the spell carried twice its original power.
And perhaps, Albedo being at the strength of an elite class summon was probably why she didn’t disappear into motes of purple light at once, after being hit by that attack.
An attack of that magnitude would have instantly removed a regular-class summon from the field.
"That really hurt" she said in a forming frown on her face
Ethan grinned at her. "I’ve got a few tricks of my own too."
Albedo’s grin then returned. "Alright, summoner. Now you’re making this fun."
She vanished again, and this time the exchanges were faster. The Assassin reappeared to his left, slashing toward his arm.
Ethan blocked with Ragnarok and countered with a horizontal slash.Albedo vanished before the blade connected, then reappeared behind him, thrusting toward his back.
Ethan quickly spun and deflected the strike, then immediately thrust his palm forward and released another Air Bomb.
But Albedo vanished before it hit, leaving the blast to explode into empty air.
She made another reappearance above him again, diving down with her knife.
But Ethan raised Ragnarok and caught her blade, then twisted his wrist and threw her off balance.
She flipped backward and landed on her feet, grinning.
Ethan then lunged forward and was going to swing the sword again, when sudden she vanished into Stealth.
His eyes widened as her presence had disappeared completely. Stealth even raised sound.
He looked around, scanning the field, but there was no trace of her. However his grip only just tightened around the sword’s hilt, standing at the ready for her next attack.
At the very last second, his body reacted.
He shifted his feet into a sidestep, moving his body out of range from Albedo’s blade that made the attempt to cut through his torso again.
The Demon, still invisible, froze for a second in shock.
How?
She changed direction without hesitating, circling to his side and swinging her pen knife from a different angle.
But again, Ethan sidestepped.
His eyes darted around the field, still scanning desperately to find actual traces of her but saw nothing still.
His natural dragon senses were playing a huge part in his continuous avoidance of the attacks from the invisible demon.
They detected the danger at the last possible moment, right when she closed in, which was why he kept dodging at the last second.
But it wasn’t just instinct.
Ethan was detecting her by sensing the brief changes in air density around him.
Stealth made her invisible, but not intangible.
When someone moved, especially quickly, their body pushed air molecules out of the way. That created a slight increase in air density in front of them for a split second.
By detecting those quick changes in front of him, or at any corner around him, Ethan’s body moved instinctively to avoid the strike.
If this was any other hatchling, such a level of sensory detection would have been impossible.
But due to Amplification, his natural senses had been sharpened far beyond normal limits.
Albedo came at him again, causing a shift in density to his left. Ethan stepped right.
A shift happened again behind him, and he leaped forward.
A shift happened once more in front of him, and he moved again to the side, letting her blade pass inches from his torso.
This continued for a while until Albedo decided to just stop.
She deactivated her stealth and materialized a few feet away, raising both hands in surrender.
"I don’t know how you’re doing it," she said, shaking her head with a grin, "but you win, summoner."
Ethan was heaving just a little at this point, and slowly he grinned as well.
"But you haven’t used your ultimate skill yet," he said.
Albedo’s scoffed and shook her head amusingly.
"Why would I want to kill the only one who anchors me back to this world? I’m sorry, but I won’t do that."
She paused, then added with a little disgust on her face, "Plus, it makes me look unsightly."
Ethan said nothing more, deciding not to push by commanding her to use it.
——
After a brief pause, Ethan slowly raised Ragnarok and pointed it toward Nina.
Her eyes widened instantly as she threw both hands up in surrender and shook her head repeatedly.
"I won’t fight you, my liege. I surrender. I surrender!"
Her voice wobbled as if she were on the verge of tears, tiny dramatic streaks forming at the corners of her eyes in full over-the-top fashion.
Ethan smiled, then said calmly "I can barely hold my own against an Elite-class summon, so I’ll obviously lose against you. But I’d like to see how long I can currently last against a Legendary-class."
"No... no..." Nina continued shaking her head, backing away slightly.
Ethan’s smile widened. "I command you—"
The instant the final word left his mouth, Nina vanished.
Even Albedo’s eyes widened. The half-dragon summon had blitz in a streak of motion so fast that even Albedo didn’t see her move.
Nina reappeared in front of Ethan in a blur, with her fist already drawn back.
Ethan blinked. "Eh?"
Her fist connected with his face.
BOOM.
And in the next instant, he was sent flying across the field, bouncing off the ground once... twice... three times, before finally skidding to a distant stop.
Albedo winced as if she had felt the impact herself, with one hand instinctively touching her own cheek.
Nina stared at her fist, then her hands flew to her mouth.
"I thought I held back, my liege... I’m sorry..."
She dropped to her knees dramatically.
"I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit!"
Meanwhile, Albedo had completely lost composure.
She was on the ground, clutching her stomach, and laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.
In the distance, Ethan lay flat on his back, staring at the sky.
"Yeah..." he muttered to himself. "That was a terrible idea."
