Chapter 139 - end of the battle
I looked at the four dragons surrounding me.
I only had about half of my mana left.
I need to be careful with my mana.
I couldn’t keep using teleportation like this.
I tightened my grip on Eclipse with both hands and watched the dragons in front of me.
The Dragon Prince had already recovered from my previous attack.
He’s healed already...
But I knew it was a trap.
If I went straight for him, the other three would attack me from behind.
Then a grin appeared on my face.
I suddenly charged toward the Dragon Prince.
Just as I expected, the other three dragons grinned as well.
They waited until I got close to him before suddenly rushing toward me at lightning speed.
But at the last moment, I changed direction.
I headed toward one of the dragons fighting Luna.
He had just been struck by Luna’s attack and was forced to take a step back to recover.
That was all the opening I needed.
Blink.
I appeared beside him and plunged Eclipse straight through his chest.
His eyes widened.
His body immediately began disappearing into particles of light.
I didn’t waste another second.
I moved toward Luna’s side and asked,
"How are you holding on?"
She looked at me and smiled.
"I’m fine. They can’t really get to me. It’s just annoying fighting against their fire."
I grinned.
"Okay. How about we take them on together? If they use fire, I’ll take care of it. You attack."
A smile appeared on Luna’s face.
"Yeah. That works."
I nodded.
The remaining dragons gathered together.
One of them glared at us.
"You disgusting humans! You went running to your little companion for help. Cowards!"
I looked at him.
Then I tilted my head and glanced at Luna.
Luna looked at me.
We both stared at each other for a second.
Then—
We burst out laughing.
"Ahahaha! I can’t!"
I wiped the tears from my eyes.
"Hey, lizard boy! Are you planning to kill me by making me laugh this hard?"
Luna wasn’t any better.
She was laughing beside me.
"Ahahaha! I can’t believe this! Do these people have nuts for brains?"
The dragons’ expressions darkened.
"What are you laughing at, human?!"
I wiped another tear from my eye and looked at them.
"Hey, brainless lizards."
I pointed toward them.
"Think about this carefully."
"We’re fighting two versus eight."
I grinned.
"So, from my perspective, who’s the coward here?"
Their expressions became even darker.
"Some of you even have a one-year advantage over us, and you’re still struggling against two humans."
I raised Eclipse.
"Your place is beneath me. Make that clear, lizards."
They were furious.
But they couldn’t refute it.
They had the numbers.
Some of them even had a one-year age advantage.
And yet...
They still couldn’t defeat two humans.
I laughed inwardly.
They’re getting angry.
That’s good.
More importantly, every second they spent arguing with me gave me time to recover my mana.
I could already feel my reserves slowly returning.
Luna and I stayed close together, ready to move at any moment.
The dragons became more careful.
They didn’t want to get eliminated.
So we decided to attack first.
I looked at Luna.
She nodded.
She was already tracking my movements.
I rushed toward one of the dragons.
I swung Eclipse.
He blocked my attack.
At the same moment, Luna attacked him from the side.
His attention shifted toward her.
That was all I needed.
I fired a Space Bullet straight through his head.
His body disappeared into particles of light.
The remaining dragons immediately reacted.
Fire, lightning, and various other elemental attacks came toward us from every direction.
I grinned.
My Devour has become much stronger than before.
I activated it.
The attacks rushing toward me were rapidly devoured.
Luna took the opportunity and charged toward another dragon.
This time, absorbing all the attacks was much harder.
But after struggling for a moment, I managed to devour them.
A clear flow of mana entered my body.
Perfect.
The Dragon Prince suddenly took advantage of my momentary distraction.
He rushed toward me.
But Luna had already predicted it.
She quickly created an Ice Wall between us.
BOOM!
The Dragon Prince smashed through the wall.
It slowed him down for only a moment.
But that was enough.
I put Eclipse away.
There’s something I’ve always wanted to try.
I coated my fist with Space energy.
The Dragon Prince attacked.
I avoided his strike using my Perception.
This is child’s play.
I clenched my fist.
Then—
BOOM!
My fist slammed directly into his face.
The impact of Space cracked the air around my fist.
The force sent the Dragon Prince flying.
His teeth broke, and blood seeped from his mouth as his body was thrown backward.
I want to make him pay for everything.
But I don’t have time.
I immediately drew Eclipse again.
I appeared beside him with Blink and plunged my sword into a vital position before sending him flying away once more.
Then I turned toward the dragon whose defense I hadn’t been able to break earlier.
That defense...
I still had some mana left.
And Luna could take care of herself for the moment.
So I decided to do something crazy.
Something I’d always wanted to try.
I coated Eclipse with Abyss energy.
Space and Darkness intertwined with it.
The blade began to shimmer.
It was as if an endless darkness had been wrapped around my sword.
I gripped Eclipse tightly.
Then I attacked with everything I had.
To my surprise—
Slash!
My sword passed through his defense like it was nothing.
His eyes widened.
The blade cut through him.
His body immediately disappeared into particles of light.
I actually broke through it...
But the moment I finished the attack, I felt my mana reach its limit.
My breathing became heavier.
I can handle a little Abyss energy...
But there’s no way I can keep using it continuously.
I turned toward the remaining dragon.
I was about to move—
And suddenly—
WHOOSH!
My body was teleported away.
The battlefield disappeared.
The next moment, I appeared inside the stadium.
I blinked.
I looked around in confusion.
"...What happened?"
I looked down at myself.
"Did I get eliminated?"
I looked around and saw Luna standing beside me.
Eithen, Chloe, and the other remaining participants were there as well.
Rosalia was among them, along with the elf princess and a Phoenix.
I blinked in confusion.
I looked at Luna.
"What happened?"
She shrugged.
"I don’t know either. I defeated the dragons on my side by taking advantage of that moment. I used Light and Magic to finish them off."
She paused and pointed toward the others.
"Then some arrows came from... I think that elf. When I tried to come to you and help you defeat that dragon, we suddenly got teleported here."
I looked around at everyone.
There were only ten of us.
Then a dwarf stepped forward and announced loudly,
"The tournament is over! You ten are the winners of your age group!"
I blinked.
Then it finally clicked.
Oh...
There had been eleven of us remaining.
But the moment I defeated that dragon, the number dropped to ten.
That meant the tournament’s condition had been fulfilled.
So we were immediately teleported out.
I looked at Luna.
She looked back at me.
I scratched my head.
"So... we won?"
Luna smiled.
"Looks like it."
I couldn’t help but grin.
Well, that ended more suddenly than I expected.
Outside POV
The Empress watched the entire battle unfold.
She had seen everything.
The provocations.
The strategies.
The way Gray constantly adapted to his opponents.
And most importantly, she watched how he dealt with the Dragon Prince.
She saw Gray defeat him and immediately turn his attention toward the other dragon—the one whose defense had given him trouble earlier.
The Empress watched closely.
She was curious.
How is he going to break through that defense?
She knew Gray had already tried several different methods, but none of them had been enough.
Then she saw it.
An energy began to gather around Gray’s sword.
The Empress’s eyes narrowed.
The energy was so dark that it seemed to absorb the light around it.
It wasn’t simply Darkness.
It was something far deeper.
Gray’s sword shimmered with that strange energy.
Then he swung.
Slash!
The dragon who had previously been able to withstand Gray’s attacks was cut through as easily as butter.
The Empress’s eyes narrowed further.
She carefully studied the strange energy.
What is that?
No matter how many times she replayed the moment in her mind, she couldn’t place it.
It definitely wasn’t ordinary Darkness.
And Gray simply shouldn’t have enough power or control over Darkness to make it behave like that.
Then she remembered something.
Her eldest daughter had told her about a strange energy Gray had used before.
Abyss.
Her lips slowly curled into a smile.
So that’s it...
The Empress leaned back slightly.
How many more surprises are you hiding, Gray?
Her smile grew.
This just became interesting.
The other leaders had witnessed it as well.
They had all seen that strange power.
Their expressions became serious, and their eyes narrowed as they studied the energy surrounding Gray’s sword.
But none of them dared to question the Empress directly.
They knew better.
Even if they asked, there was no guarantee she would answer.
Why would someone like the Empress casually reveal her son’s secrets to other races?
So they could only observe.
They tried to analyze the strange energy.
But the more they studied it...
The more complicated it became.
It wasn’t simply Darkness.
It wasn’t ordinary mana.
And whatever it was, the amount of control Gray had demonstrated over it was far beyond what they expected from an eleven-year-old.
The leaders exchanged cautious glances.
For the first time, they realized something.
They might have underestimated the young heir of the Starlight family.
And the Empress?
She simply continued watching with an amused smile.
This boy really does have more secrets than I thought.