Dragon Maken War - Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Chapter 122 – Specters from the Past (2)

2

Azell was now completely acclimatized with the Dragon Weapon named Vitan’s Chalice .  He didn’t feel any discomfort at the prospect of using the Vitan’s Chalice in battle .  He even sparred Kairen, who had become frustrated at his absence from the sparring sessions .

Leticia spoke .

“It was frightening and unbearable to see a man child, who’s over 100 years old, throw a tantrum .  Thankfully the nanny came back from his vacation . ”

“Ha ha ha .  I thought you enjoyed it . ”

“I won’t deny that fact, but that man doesn’t need to know the extent of my enjoyment . ”

Leticia snorted .

Kairen sparred with Azell until he was exhausted, and he went away to wash himself .

From that point on, Leticia started to spar with Azell .   Azell had focused his attention on Vitan’s Chalice for a good amount of time, so he was a bit impatient at that moment .

The sword lightly exchanged blows with the spear as if they were probing each other .  Then their exchanges kept increasing in speed .  The speed had increased so much that a normal person wouldn’t be able to follow what was occurring .  Then they released their magical energy .  A battle between Spirit Order and the Dragon Arts had started .

As they were exchanging mental waves in a remarkable manner, Leticia let out a sharp stab with her spear .

Pah-gahk!

When it looked as if her cross spear was about to clash against Azell’s Dragon Sword, Azell accelerated as he tilted himself .  He used his shoulder armor to hit the shaft of the spear .  As the spear was thrown off its path, he stopped on a dime to do a roundhouse kick .

His attack had totally caught her by surprise, but Leticia remained calm .  She jumped into the air as she avoided the kick .  Her body spun in the air as she aimed for Azell’s head with the part of her spear, which held no edge .

Instead of deflecting or dodging, he dashed towards her again .  At the same time, his body blurred .  She faced with two opponents coming at her from both sides .  She couldn’t differentiate between the clone and the real body .

“I was wondering when you’ll use that…  Are you planning on attacking in earnest?”

A white frigid energy rose up from Leticia’s body .  She knew Azell’s clones possessed substance .  This was why it was pointless to waste energy in figuring out which one was the real one .  She’ll just seal the movement of both of them!

Pah-ahhhhhhhng!

The cold air exploded forth, and the surrounding froze .  Leticia was about to retreat backwards as she used a linked attack .  However, she saw something unbelievable before she could do anything .

“…how did you do that?”

Azell had pierced through the cold air, and the tip of his sword was right in front of her nose .  She had just caused the explosion of cold air, so she assumed she had bought a moment of reprieve .  When she started to move, he took her by surprise .  She had experienced all sorts of hardships through battle, yet she couldn’t do anything against his attack .  

Azell spoke as he put away his sword .

“You didn’t try to discern which was the real body .  You were decisive, but you shouldn’t put too much trust in your area of effect attack .  A tough opponent can just brute force his way through, and an opponent with good senses can read the flow of power to avoid it . ”

“You still haven’t answered by question . ”

“It was simple .  I knew your Dragon Arts had the property of coldness .  I just needed to change the property of my magical energy to match yours . ”

This was the same as the insulation method he used against an opponent, who enjoyed using electric attack .  He wrapped himself with magical energy, which had the property of coldness .  An attack of this strength wouldn’t be able to harm him .

Leticia flinched in surprise when she heard Azell continue to speak .

“You shouldn’t use this method against high ranking magicians .  You probably had a lot of fun using it against Spirit Order practitioners and the Dragon Arts practitioner… .   Moreover, there are others out there that can change the properties of magical energy like me . ”

Azell’s voice emanated from behind her .  Soon, the Azell in front of her dissipated, and she was struck dumb by a realization .

“Incarnation… .   I’ve heard about it, but now that I’ve experienced it for myself, it leaves me flabbergasted . ”

Azell had pointed his sword in front of her face, yet it had only been the clone created using the ‘Dance of Shadow’ .  He had also used this method against Niberis before .  His clone possessed the property of the element used by his opponent .  While his clone conducted a surprise attack, he hid his real body in an attempt to find the next opportunity to attack .

Azell spoke .

“I guess not many people uses this technique anymore .  Is this the same in the Plain of Darkness?”

“It holds true there to my knowledge .  I wasn’t able to climb too high in their hierarchy, so I can’t be sure… . . ”

“Hmmm . ”

Even during the Dragon Demon war, there were hardly anyone, who used the Incarnation technique .  A much smaller pool of people were able to use it in a proficient manner .  Aside from Azell, there had been only three people, who were able to use Incarnation in a proficient manner .

There was the alliance’s best technician and vertan knight Duke Croix Nidel .  The rest were Almarick, who was one of the four Dragon Demon Generals, and…

Dragon Demon king Atein .

‘Well, it was a technique that was very discerning on who could use it . ’

Aside from the difficulty of the technique, there were other criterias that determine which users could use the technique .  Even if one was able to do the Incarnation, it didn’t mean the user was always stronger than the others .

Azell spoke .

“Anyways, now that I’ve fought you, it made me feel more confused . ”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your Dragon Demon Qi is really…  It similar to the one I know . ”

“Didn’t you say your teacher was a Dragon Demon named Reshoo?”

“Yes . He was my fourth teacher . ”

“You had a lot of teachers . ”

“There were five in total .  Well, it is a bit dubious to call that old man a teacher… . ”

Azell’s fourth teacher was Dragon Demon Reshoo .  Reshoo’s status was a bit ambiguous, since he was neither an enemy nor an ally .  Then there was Duke Croix Nidel .  He was Azell’s fifth and last teacher .

Leticia asked a question .

“You said the Dragon Demon named Reshoo taught you how to handle the power of Dragons .  What did you mean by that?”

“Is it my turn to receive questions from you?”

“If I don’t start getting some answers in return, it feels as if I’m sustaining too much of a loss . ”

“I’ll acknowledge that .  Mmm .  Reshoo was a first generation Dragon Demon . ”

“A first generation Dragon Demon… .  Those who walk on this land without parents?”

“I guess some call them that .  They possess peerless power when compared to the other Dragon Demons . ”

From Azell’s memory, no one was more powerful than Reshoo in terms of Dragon Demon magic .  If one was measuring only the quantity of Dragon Demon magic one possessed, even Dragon Demon king Atein was weaker than Reshoo . Reshoo’s use of power was almost identical to the Dragons, so he didn’t have to use techniques of the Dragon Arts .  He could use his will to wield his power, and he was able to produce calamitous results .

“Isn’t he the type of being able to wield his power using just his sense?”

“He was .  Well, when he acted as a teacher for me, he learned a lot of technique from me .  Afterwards, he changed a lot, but his fundamental characteristics remained the same . ”

“Did he use a weapon?”

“No, he always insisted that his body was the best weapon for him . ”

“Yes, the difference becomes more stark as you speak .  From my memories, I’ve never seen my teacher use powerful Dragon Demon magic .  He might have been strong, but he never revealed it to me .  Moreover, he never wasted his power unnecessarily .  For example, he gave me a drill where I had to receive drops of water… . ”

“You participated in a drill where you had to receive drops of water?”

“It is a training where I stab quickly with my spear .  The blade of spear won’t disperse the falling drops of water, and my spear would receive the drops of water intact .  This is only possible if one is able to finely control one’s magical energy . ”

“…… . ”

“Why are you making such an expression?”

“No, it’s nothing . ”

“Hmm . You said you learned how to control the power of Dragons .  What does that entail?”

“It is as the words imply .  Originally, humans do not possess Dragon Demon magic .  Isn’t that right?”

“Of course . ”

“When a human awakens to one’s magic, one develops a new sense and power .  One has to through a lot of hardship to train it .   Let us say one trains in the magical energy until it’s like controlling a limb .   What if this existing power if changed into a completely different power?   

What will happen?”

“Hmm…… . ”

Leticia spoke after thinking over his words for a moment .

“…your senses will become confused since it’s used to handling normal magical energy . ”

“That’s right .  This is the inevitable trap for those who gain Dragon Demon magic through the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual .  On top of that, it isn’t as if one’s magical energy converts into Dragon Demon magic in an instantaneous manner .   The properties of magical energy slowly takes on the properties of Dragon Demon magic .  This adds to the difficulty .   If one thinks of developing magical energy as growing a new limb, then the magical energy changing into Dragon Demon magic is like one’s limb turning into something different and weird .  Of course, the performance of this limb is better, but what if an extra joint, a finger or the range of motion appears… . ”

Even now Azell’s magical energy had not changed entirely into Dragon Demon magic .  From Azell’s experience, it would take at least two more Dragon Slayer’s Ritual to completely change his magical energy into Dragon Demon Magic .  He would have to go through the process of completely processing the power of the Dragons .

“If one is sloppy in the process of gaining Dragon Demon magic, one’s own senses could become out of joint .  What would you do if that occurred?”

“I would try to expand my normal senses, and I’ll put my effort into learning how to wield a new weapon . ”

“It is as I’ve said before .  You are very outstanding in terms of understanding techniques . ”

“Don’t treat me as if I’m your student .  You are only a young human . ”

“It was an innocent compliment .  Anyways, that’s the problem . ”

When one obtains a new power, one had to maintain one’s prior senses as one expanded control over the power .  This allows one to be able take advantage of the merit of the new power as one became stronger .  However…

“It isn’t enough .  The feel of the techniques has to be built back up from the bottom . ”

When he obtained the Dragon Demon magic for the first time, Azell had used the Dragon Demon magic to increase the efficacy of his techniques .

For example, when he normally tried to make a flame sword, he coated his magical energy over the blade .  This was done so his blade wouldn’t lose its edge from the fire .  Then he had to make sure a constant energy was provided as fuel for the flame .  He had used a combination of these two magic conjuration to form the flame on the outside .  However, after he acquired the Dragon Demon magic, he could directly create a flame over the sword .

“Reshoo asked me why I used such an idiotic method . ”

When Reshoo saw the result of Azell’s technique, he had a puzzled expression on his face .  He asked why Azell hadn’t created a flame that doesn’t damage the edge of the sword .

“…it sounded ridiculous .  What do you think about his idea?”

“From my point of view, he gave a logical response .  Of course, it is possible to do that . ”

“This is the difference between someone who was born with the Dragon Demon magic and a person who had acquired it . ”

Would he really be able to create a flame that burned one’s target, while the blade remained unburnt?

The users of magical energy thought about protecting the item before setting the item on fire .  On the other hand, the users of Dragon Demon magic just made a flame that didn’t burn selected targets .

It sounded ridiculous, but one could create this phenomena using just one’s will .   One could use Image Making to achieve the desired result .

“Reshoo taught me about my problems, so I had to rebuild my techniques from the ground up .  While I was doing this, Reshoo learned as many systematized techniques he could . ”

“Basically, it wasn’t a one-sided relationship .  Are you saying you guys were each other’s teacher?”

“It was like that for Reshoo and the old man, who was my fifth teacher . ”

Azell smiled as he reminisced over the past .

His fifth teacher was Duke Croix Nidel .  At the time, he was known as the living encyclopedia in the world of Spirit Order .  He possessed expansive knowledge, and at the same time, he had the skill to utilize all the techniques .  At the time, Azell had been learning any techniques he could scrounge up .  When Azell met him, he was able to find learn about the frightening power of learning techniques, while having a clear-cut root to his skills .

As recompense, Azell taught him about handling Dragon Demon magic .  Croix Nidel was advanced in age, so he had been very set in his ways .  However, he was able to gain enlightenment .  He even came up with the technique where one was able to use multiple Dragon Demon weapons at the same time .  It had been something only the Dragon Demon king Atein could do up until that point .  

Azell didn’t give much details on Croix Nidel to Leticia .  Still, she was surprised just from the fact that he had been a better technician than Azell .

“They are quite interesting figures .  Could you perhaps tell me what the Dragon Demon named Reshoo looked like?”