The Invincible Hero

Even the Great Fiend was shocked by what he saw. Even though the Great Fiend might be a little arrogant, he still believed in being prepared. He planned every operation meticulously. He researched everything about the major and minor races of the Dragon Empire and in spite of all of his research, he never read about what he was seeing now.

The Invincible Dragon he smacked from outer s.p.a.ce had transformed into a being never before recorded. Lorne"s body demonstrated a ma.s.sive change. The once golden horns were now made up of a black metallic base, with the main body of the horns crystal. A line of gold went from the middle of Lorne"s cheek, pa.s.sed his eye and up his forehead until it traced up the horns on each side ending as gold at the tip of his horn.

His hair was long and silver, while his irises glimmered like blue crystal. Overall, his body was thinner and taller. In spite of this, it didn"t look weak or brittle. Instead, it looked strong and fast. Lorne"s skin color changed to a very light blue color and his fingernails grew out slightly. His fingernails looked like smooth crystal.

Power radiated off of Lorne"s body as he stood on the ground looking majestic and heroic. The power felt like dragon power, but not the dragon power the other dragon experts exuded. Instead, Lorne"s power felt much more ancient and pure.

The Dragon Emperor couldn"t help himself. He quickly flew out to stand next to Lorne as he examined him from head to toe. The Dragon Emperor trembled. Wasn"t this the form he found in the ancient books of the Dragon Clan?

According to the ancient books, this form was called the "Ascended Crystal Dragon Form" and was a form lost to the Dragon people. When Dragons first transformed themselves from their original dragon forms into their human forms for the first time; this was the form they took. All of the original Dragon people had this form and it was only later the Dragon bodies became weaker and weaker.

The Five-Clawed Gold Dragon was the most powerful dragon body today, but it wasn"t always so. The two forms couldn"t be compared!

What the Emperor didn"t know, however, was Lorne"s body wasn"t a pure Ascended Crystal Dragon Form. Lorne had a significant amount of his DNA mingled with his Zimwarn physique and the inheritance of the Wu Di Clan. Master River, after examining Lorne"s body felt it was possible to upgrade it to its most powerful form. Given the seamless integration of the other genetic heritages, Lorne carried with him. This body was many times stronger than even the original Ascended Crystal Dragon Form.

Lorne"s body was unique. It was perhaps the most powerful body in not only the entire Dragon Empire but in any Empire across the multi-verse. Many years ago, in the time disfased new universe, Lorne realized his Zimwarn transformation arts, which allowed him to change his body to look completely different were accidentally altered by Lorne. Instead of only making Lorne look different, he realized with the help of Master River he could create battle forms. These battle forms allowed him to attain even higher levels of power than he was normally capable of reaching.

Another discovery he and Master River made was if Lorne trained mainly in his weakest body form, the Four-Clawed Silver Dragon form, his higher forms would experience major boosts of power. With this discovery, Lorne did nearly all of his training in his weakest form. He only transformed into his higher forms to practice his fighting skills with Big Bear.

Big Bear wasn"t even remotely a match for him in this form. He could only train his fighting arts in this form with Master River. Even Master River remarked his power was amazing in this form. Not that Lorne ever managed to so much as touch the hem of the garment of Master River. That was the problem with fighting a Descender.

The Great Fiend was also a Descender, but he was at a much lower level than Master River. Of course, the Great Fiend wasn"t aware of someone like Master River living in this world. If he knew about Master River he probably wouldn"t have attacked the Dragon Empire.

"Hmm, so he"s already brought out that trump card of his. I wonder how he"ll do. That Fiend is pretty strong." Master River thought as he watched Lorne"s transformation. Master River came to support his students at today"s battle. Even though Kal and Master Rel were his students, they weren"t able to reach as high a level as Big Bear and Lorne.

This was partly because of talent, but it was also because both Kal and Master Rel had other responsibilities which didn"t allow them to completely focus on cultivation. He felt they would eventually reach Lorne and Big Bear"s levels in the future. It was just a matter of time. When enough of his students were at a high enough level; Master River could finally leave this low Realm.

Lorne swung his arm out and then did a few punches getting used to his new form. The Great Fiend was suddenly a little worried. He could sense their power levels were very very close. He wasn"t sure who was stronger, but he was a Descender. Even if the dragon was stronger than him, could he compete with the body of a Descender?

"Let"s try this again, ready for round two?" Lorne asked with a smile to the Great Fiend.

Without waiting for a response, Lorne flashed forward to his enemy. Once again, their movements were too fast for others to see what was happening. The only one who could see their battle was Master River.

Everyone else only felt the battle. Every collision caused the sounds of booms and things to explode in the ears of those present. However, since everything was happening so fast in reality, it sounded like one horrible sound like a demon from the deepest reaches of h.e.l.l screaming and roaring as it broke through the great beyond.

People felt like their souls would escape them. The spiritual energy in the surroundings was in such chaos that even the elites of the Dragon Empire couldn"t use their fighting arts or secret skills. The chaos was so great everyone fled the scene. It wasn"t just the noise driving them to flee. Everything around them was affected by the battle. Mountains would turn to dust, craters would appear suddenly, and many surrounding lakes were displaced. Some of the lakes were completely emptied of their waters.

The landscape of the throneworld was quickly transforming. It was like watching millions of years of erosion and landscapes transformations with the film speed sped up to near instant. Edifices which had lasted millions of years were deformed. One moment they would stand there proudly as they always had, The next, they were gone. Sometimes, the remains of these items would be flung out.

The markings on these things showed some of them had been gripped and used as a bat to attack the other person. Nothing used really seemed to affect the two combatants. Their bodies were at such a level the only things that could cause damage were their bodies.

Something flashed, and another crater formed. Lorne reappeared in everyone"s sight. The Great Fiend slowly got up from the ground, where Lorne had knocked down. Running the back of his hand under his nose, the Great Fiend brought his hand away and looked at it. He was utterly shocked! For the first time in his battles, someone was able to hurt him. This shouldn"t be possible! He was a Descender. No one in this realm should be able to hurt someone from a higher Plane.

"Whoooh! You are one tough nut to crack!" Lorne said while laughing and shaking his hand.

The Great Fiend looked at Lorne calmly but coldly. His hackles were up, earlier he saw Lorne as a distraction. Now, when he looked at Lorne he saw someone who could really hurt him. Maybe this dragon kid could even kill him. He knew it was time to take this fight seriously.

"Don"t get c.o.c.ky kid," said the Great Fiend. "You"ve made me bleed, but all that"s earned you is death!"

The Great Fiend disappeared once more. Lorne, also flashed away as the sounds of battle began once more. After a few minutes of fighting a form once more shot out of nowhere. This time the form crashed in front of the Dragon Emperor and his daughter. After the dust settled they saw the person struggling to get up was Lorne. He looked terrible. It was clear the Great Fiend wasn"t fighting seriously before.

Lorne slowly got to his feet, everything hurt. It seemed like the Great Fiend had suddenly gotten ten times stronger. Lorne shook his head sadly, why was it always like this. It was never enough. It didn"t matter how strong he became his strength was never enough to defeat his enemies. Even now, he had become the most powerful person in this realm, but there was one person stronger.

Would he have to do it again? Would he have to sacrifice his life once more for those around him? Looking around, Lorne suddenly caught sight of someone in the distance. It was his Master! At first, Lorne was excited, but then he saw the sad look on his Master"s face. Master River gave Lorne a solemn nod. He knew what that nod meant. Lorne had to handle this, he wasn"t going to interfere.

Lorne didn"t understand why his Master was forcing him to do this; just like he never understood why his father let him die so easily. Lorne thought back to that battle nearly fifty thousand years ago. He remembered when the battle started, the only person fighting was Lorne! Both of his parents watched Lorne engage the Zimwarn warriors, but neither of them lifted a hand to help him. It felt like Lorne was abandoned by his parents. He had a similar feeling now.

Looking at his friends around him, Lorne once more felt resolved to fight no matter what. For some reason, Lorne felt his eyes moving towards the Dragon Princess. She gave him a sweet smile. It reminded him of her smile, all those years ago. Could it be, in the end, he once again found a person he loved but had to give her up for the greater good?

"What"s so great about the greater good?" thought Lorne.

Lorne shook his head to remove the bitterness in his heart. He knew he didn"t really mean it. Lorne knew if this Fiend was allowed to live the Dragon Empire would meet its end. It may not be the last of the multi-verse consumed by the Fiends if he didn"t win.

Lorne took in a deep breath and exhaled it. He looked at the Great Fiend.

"Final Round."