Life Hunter

When she closed the distance, Fafnir smirked and one of the golden lights flew quickly and stopped right in front of him. The light faded away and a giant decorated golden shield was hovering there, protecting Fafnir.

Layla tried to bypa.s.s the shield but even if the latter didn"t move at all, she was not able to pa.s.s as she stumbled upon an invisible wall. She clicked her tongue and thrust her sword at the barrier. The tip of the sword wielded a small light sphere and exploded when it touched the wall.

Multiple silver circles formed and tried to go through the barrier as they corroded it. The gold shield from before cracked and broke after a few seconds.

But when Layla managed to do so, what came to her next was a golden ax almost as big as Fafnir himself. It was shockingly fast and the blade was not escapable. Layla parried the giant weapon with her rapier. And even if it was a bound weapon, it was far from Karma"s level and cracked under the weight. A rapier was not meant to parry to begin with.

Layla decided to do it differently as she discarded the idea of countering with her weapon. She concentrated her mana into her body and strengthened it with the light attribute. Her eyes glowed. She transformed into a beam of light and punched the ax at full strength.

The golden weapon deviated and even cracked under the might of her body and the tough scales. Fafnir snorted and the next weapon was a hammer. Even more tough looking and bigger than the ax.

Layla gritted her teeth when she saw the hammer falling on her like a meteorite. She was being played with and it irritated her deeply. She clenched her rapier and met the hammer with the tip of her blade.

When the two weapons touched, a silver light escaped the rapier and covered the entire hammer like a spider net. The rapier cracked even more because of the clash but a small hole started to be dug on the hammer.

Fafnir was quite impressed actually. These were not his strongest weapons, but he thought that this hammer was enough to finish her. He wanted to continue watching but tried to transfer beside Lanya in the end but ended somewhere he didn"t want to again.

His eyes widened and laughed just after "I see, so that"s why you couldn"t predict my weapons apparitions and movements. You were focusing your vision on me"

Layla bit her lip as the hammer was falling even harder. It wasn"t obvious like this, but the strength behind that hammer could"ve easily destroyed a planet. She let out even more mana and cast a ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of silver light which pushed the hammer with her.

The "strings" of the net also tightened and also tried to cut through the golden weapon "You can see the future but you are not able to keep attention to many things in a fight" Fafnir mocked and strangely stood up on his hind legs.

His body started to transform. His legs became longer and his upper body changed too. After a moment, Fafnir had become a three hundred meters" tall n.o.ble dragon with incredibly large wings.

He stared at Layla and grinned "Let me tell you, this does not represent all of my strength. If you only take guard against one thing. You"ll never win"

He said and raised his hand. He pointed his palm upward and chanted "[Dragon"s Wrath]" A huge fireball, which soon turned even bigger, was conjured.

If it wasn"t for the fact that Fafnir made it right in front of her, Layla would"ve never believed it was magic. That fireball had the size of a small moon and its glow and flames were perfectly identical to those of a burning star.

"I"m a dragon after all" Fafnir remarked "Try to take this too" He declared and waved his hand. The sun moved slowly at first but then deformed unnaturally as its speed increased and went toward Layla like a bullet.

The latter looked at both the hammer and the fireball and her expression darkened. At this point, she knew that she had no other choice and closed her eyes. If she doesn"t do it now, she will die.

"[Second Resurrection, Maiden Ostara]" She chanted just before the sun touched her and exploded. The flames spread around in s.p.a.ce. It looked like they were floating. The silver net lost its grasp on the hammer and the golden weapon was lifted again. It went out of the explosion while fuming.

It placed itself vertically then fell again on the exploding fire and struck the whole thing. The fireball was struck in its center and was blown away by a golden discharge.

This clash of magic created a powerful wave which spread around in outer s.p.a.ce like a GRBS*. When it reached Karma"s group, it was surprisingly Deva who protected them. She just opened her eyes and an odd transparent barrier stopped any wave coming at them.

But except on their side, the wave didn"t stop and the closest planets were struck by the pressure and their orbit was forcefully changed. Maybe the inhabitants even felt an earthquake across the entire surface.

When the chaos of mana and aura finally stopped, the area finally returned to normal and the only light illuminating in the dark s.p.a.ce was Fafnir"s natural glow. Layla"s figure had disappeared and one may think that the fight was over then but not only Fafnir but even Jorga and Karma were looking around with confused expressions.

They all felt Layla"s presence. Her aura had disappeared but her natural presence which is created by any living being"s life force was still there. The problem was that they felt it absolutely everywhere.

As if Layla had become everything that composes the world around them "…Ostara?" Karma mumbled.

"Ēostre?" Jorga exclaimed and Karma glanced at him. Before she could ask, the world around them changed. The dark color of s.p.a.ce disappeared and was replaced by a bright light. The planets and stars in the distance vanished.

The world had become white. But something was soon added to this world. Everyone looked up and saw a blue line becoming bigger and bigger. When the size stopped increasing anymore, another line appeared beside it, gradually.

Then it was repeated numerous times until everything was blue above them. Afterward, some white spots appeared on the blue color and became wavy and transparent. After that, it was below them. A line of green, then another, until everything was of that same color.

Next were shades, contrast, details, optimizations… And finally, the trees appeared, the gra.s.s, soil, rocks, and mountains… Everything was completed by the apparition of a bright star in the sky.

Deva looked around along with Jorga and Karma. They were looking dazedly around them and so was Fafnir. The environment that was created right then was extremely disturbing. Nothing seemed to be really real.

Everything was frozen and could only be qualified as pretty. It was just like a drawing. No, this whole world had just been created like a painting. The sky and the ground were painted with a brush and so was the rest.

Fafnir frowned and produced a golden sword from his "Vault" before grabbing it. He was on his guard and kept looking around. But that wasn"t enough as he was struck by an unknown energy and was sent flying away.

His humongous body crashed on the ground but he didn"t bury himself or create a crater. He even slightly bounced as some of the "soil" and "gra.s.s" stuck to him "This is… actual paint?" Fafnir muttered when he touched the paint, he had on him.

He then looked at the ground and his eyes widened "A canvas…" He was astounded "From the beginning, this was a white canvas on which a scenery was painted..." The dragon uttered. He stood up and stared at the place where he had just been attacked by an undetectable force.

"What kind of theory could do this?"

Before he could think of an answer, he felt something touching his back lightly before it turned into a heavy strike which made him roar as he flapped his wings and retreated. Immediately after, he opened his "Vault" again and the golden lights reappeared.

When the third strike happened, it was blocked by the same golden shield from before "Get out!" Fafnir shouted "I know you"re not in a physical form. You won"t be able to win like this!"

Everything was silent for a moment then something changed on the "ground". The paint moved by itself and formed some beautiful patterns. All kinds of flowers were drawn; roses, tulips, lilies, anemones… Then a figure appeared right in the middle.

Karma gasped while Jorga and Fafnir were taken aback. If Layla was beautiful before, right now she was most likely the most beautiful person they had ever seen until now.

Her draconic appearance was gone and her features didn"t change that much but it seemed like her skin, body, and face had been deprived of any imperfection. Her eyes had turned mystical. If you looked quickly, you may only be able to see silver and red colors but if you focused a little, you would see the flowers in her pupils.

Her dress was now decorated with all kinds of plants white retaining its red silver and black colors. Her hair had also changed a little. After her "rebirth", the hair she had above her shoulder had turned silver while the rest had become black. Now, the different strands were mixed together and gave another charm.

But what struck the lookers the most was the impression she gave. She made you feel calm and serene and her whole appearance reminded one of nature, youth and vitality. Just a glimpse of her and your mind would be affected and appeased.

"Ēostre…or Ostara, is a G.o.ddess who represents the opportunity of growth and rebirth after the stagnation of winter; the Maiden G.o.ddess" Jorga recalled and smiled wryly "She fits the legend and image perfectly" He added and Karma nodded strongly.

Fafnir observed Layla solemnly and raised his sword without saying anything. Layla smiled radiantly and lifted her completely restored rapier.

Fafnir"s expression twitched as every single one of her moves looked like art "You wanted it. I"ll go all out" Her voice resounded everywhere and even managed to calm Fafnir a little even if it was a taunt.

The golden dragon clicked his tongue and flapped his wings, Layla didn"t move and when the sword was about to hit her, the paint around raised like a whirlpool and shrouded both of them.