Chapter 189: Chapter 189- Dragon
Julian’s jaw tightened as he pressed both palms toward the colossal beast, his gravity field straining against its bulk. The whale’s sheer mass resisted, ripples of distortion spreading across the battlefield like invisible waves. His teeth clenched, sweat dripping down his face.
"Tch... it’s not enough," he muttered, voice rough. He shot a glance toward Joe, who still crouched low, energy spiraling like a storm around him. "Don’t stop, Joe! Keep charging that strike! I’ll push forward!"
Lightning flared across Julian’s body in answer, sparking down his arms, crackling across his shoulders until it bled into the ground beneath his feet. He kicked off the sky with a boosted burst, the air cracking as he shot forward like a thunderbolt.
Darkness followed him, the shadows themselves rippled at his heels, stretching unnaturally. With a snap of his fingers, they surged upward, coiling into jagged tendrils that lashed out at the whale’s underbelly, binding it for just a heartbeat.
The beast roared, firing a beam of compressed water and shards of ice. Julian twisted midair, his body moving faster than human reflex, boosted by the crackling surge inside him. The gravity field bent space, pulling the beam just slightly off-course, enough for him to slip through the spray.
"Too slow!" he snarled.
His fist ignited with lightning, wrapped in shadow like a blade of night. With a forward lunge, he slammed it into the whale’s armored hide. The impact rattled the battlefield, sparks bursting in a blinding flash as lightning drilled through the thick skin, shadows gnawing at the wound left behind.
The whale thrashed, its massive fins glowing with frost. An avalanche of ice shards cascaded toward him. Julian’s eyes narrowed; he stomped hard, amplifying gravity beneath his feet, pulling the ice shards down midair so they shattered harmlessly into rubble. He blurred forward, a streak of crackling light and black mist, cutting across the beast’s flank like a living storm.
Every movement chained together, boost accelerating his strikes, shadow binding the whale in bursts, lightning searing through its flesh, and gravity twisting the battlefield to tilt odds in his favor.
Julian’s voice thundered across the battlefield, crackling with energy, "You’re not taking this world while I’m still standing!"
And the battlefield shook as the leviathan writhed, its massive body carving currents through the sky.
Then Julian narrowed his eyes. Lightning still crackled faintly around him, but his focus sharpened on the shimmer covering the creature. The translucent barrier that had stubbornly resisted every assault for so long... flickered.
"Wait," he muttered under his breath, eyes tracking the pattern of the glow. And then, aloud, through the intercom, "The shield... it’s pulling back."
As if to prove him right, the barrier rippled and peeled away from its massive wings and tail, concentrating instead around a single section of its chest. Other parts of its body were suddenly exposed, raw and vulnerable.
Rafael gasped. "I-It dropped its defenses?! N-Now’s our chance—!"
But Leo’s voice cut in, low and sharp with that familiar disdain. "Don’t get stupid, Idiot. The whale’s not that dumb. He’s not giving up the shield, maybe he’s protecting something."
Julian’s gaze darkened, his mind piecing it together. "...The core. From earlier. That brief glimpse when we struck deep."
Leo clicked his tongue, forcing back his swarm as if to test the creature’s reaction. "Exactly. The bastard knows we saw it. He’s covering the one thing that actually matters." His lips curled into a sharp grin. "Which means we only need to crack that shell open."
The whale let out another guttural roar, a sound like crashing glaciers and rolling thunder all at once, as if mocking their realization. Its body gleamed with frost and steam, power boiling around the sealed core.
Julian clenched his fists, replying flatly, "Then we hit it harder. And kill it"
Then Leo stared sharply at the whale and said, "This time, let me be the one to initiate the attack."
Leo’s eyes gleamed with that familiar arrogance as his armor of chitin shifted and writhed. Segments of carapace split open along his forearms, and from them, tiny insects crawled out, their bodies shimmering with venomous hues, emerald, violet, sickly black.
"Let’s see how you like this, old beast," he muttered, then flung both arms wide. The swarm shot forward like living arrows, buzzing in unison as they splattered toxin across the whale’s glistening hide. The venom hissed, burrowing into the wounds Julian had scorched open with lightning, spreading like wildfire under the creature’s thick skin.
The whale shrieked again, unleashing a spiral of water laced with shards of ice, but Rafael was already moving. His trembling hands spread wide, magnetic force shimmering around him. The shards froze midair, caught in an invisible grip, before he clenched his fists and hurled them back like a storm of steel-tipped daggers, peppering the beast’s armored flank.
"I—I got you covered!" Rafael shouted, his voice shaky, but the storm he launched was devastating.
Julian didn’t waste the opening. His body blurred with lightning, shadows wrapping around him as he struck low, smashing a fist of pure force into the whale’s side. Gravity bent, pinning the beast for a heartbeat, while his strike detonated in a burst of black sparks that carved another bleeding gash.
The monster howled, thrashing against the combined assault.
But then Leo’s voice crackled over the intercom, "Hey! Hold back, save your damn strength! If you burn out now, Joe’s charge will be worthless!"
Julian skidded back, sparks still crawling over his arms, his breath heavy. He glared at the thrashing beast, then at Leo. For a moment, the storm inside him begged to keep tearing into the whale, but he exhaled hard, forcing the energy to dim.
"...I know." Julian growled, shadows melting back into his boots as he shifted to a supporting stance.
Behind them, the air rippled, then erupted in a violent surge of heat and pressure.
The ground itself trembled as a storm of fiery aura exploded outward, forcing even Leo to halt his form for a second.
Rafael turned his head, eyes wide, stammering, "W-What... what is that...?"
From within the crimson blaze, Joe emerged. His body twisted with scales of molten red, his shoulders lined with jagged ridges that pulsed like veins of magma. Fangs lengthened past his lips, and his eyes burned like twin furnaces. The dragon inside him had pushed further, gnawing at what remained of his humanity.
The atmosphere thickened with the weight of his presence, it was like standing before a volcano about to erupt.
Joe raised his regenerating arm, now fully restored and glowing with ember veins, and let out a guttural laugh. "Hah! Now this—this is what I’ve been waiting for!"
He slammed his clawed fist together, sparks scattering into the air like fireworks. His aura flared so violently it carved fissures into the stone beneath him.
"Get that shield nice and tight," Joe roared, eyes locked on the leviathan’s chest. "Because I’m going to tear it apart with my own hands!"
His wings of flame unfurled, scorching the air as he leapt forward, voice rising in manic delight—
"I’LL KILL THAT WHALE MYSELF!"