Bhautik's Fury Unleashed

He tried to stay calm, but it was definitely a fact that he was irritated. He knew better than anyone that he couldn't lose his cool from a simple sentence. Velios saw how angry his opponent got from it, and he could sense that the fighting was going to begin soon. What Velios hadn't realized, however, was just how complacent he had become while fighting. The last time he faced something so difficult that he thought he was actually going to die was Osiris, one of the most intelligent monsters he had ever faced. Even before then, he had many near-death experiences that he somehow managed to dodge. The bear attack could have crushed his skull; Vadh got his whole arm through Velios' chest, and he would have been dead if it weren't for unlocking a new skill. The fight against Kaala had almost crushed his body with a single landed attack, and he could feel how it was a memorable experience. The last thing Velios was not going to be able to ever forget was the time he had fought one of the ten sovereigns.

All the different emotions he had felt that day were something that had only happened once in his entire life. That was the day he had felt the most human. Right now, Velios had strayed even further from the emotions of a normal human. Velios had fought the king and was completely fine. The king said himself that he was the strongest dragon as well. What he hadn't accounted for was probably the fact that no one would actually fight seriously against the king if they were stronger than him. If things continued as they did, Velios would only proceed to get stronger while losing his emotions even further. It would be no different than who he was before. Velios had become far too complacent. He had now developed a habit of even underestimating his enemy while fighting, and he could barely feel the fun in it anymore. All those times he had enjoyed fighting were when he was being pushed to his physical and mental limits, and only then did he actually grow and expand his fighting capability. He had grown far too complacent, and he would have to pay the price gravely. If Velios was going to have a moment where he was going to understand what fighting truly meant, it would be right here.

The dragon suddenly began launching at Velios but then disappeared. Velios couldn't even sense where it was anymore. It was so fast that his senses couldn't distinguish where it was at the correct time. Velios could only faintly hear the cheering from the crowd as they knew the fight had finally started for real. Suddenly, the dragon appeared in front of Velios. With no time to react, the most he could do was to try and shield up, but even then, he knew that the damage was going to be devastating. The knight captain threw a punch so fast that Velios wasn't even able to see it. The only reason Velios could tell that he had been hit was because of the damage he took. His whole arm had been severed by a single attack, and it looked like it was only the beginning. Even though Velios could easily regrow lost limbs thanks to his skills, he didn't even truly know if it was going to be enough. Velios couldn't see him, but he suddenly got hit once again. He didn't know how many hits it was, and he couldn't see a single one of them, but he knew that he had been hit by the fact that his body was sent flying into the barrier.

Blood gushed through multiple spots on Velios' body as multiple of his limbs had been severed; he had been punched through his body and had multiple holes that could be used to see the wall behind him. Velios realized only at that point that he had finally found what he had looked like. He also realized how complacent he had become with a part of his training. His training lacked proper hand-to-hand training, which made his actual technique suffer. Velios didn't bother actually healing anymore. He started maniacally laughing, which could be heard throughout the stadium while blood was dripping from his body, creating a huge puddle below him. His damaged arms were hanging from the rest of his body, and his back was slouched just a little. The more he laughed, the more his back leaned backward, and the more he laughed, his bent arms were slowly raising into the air. Velios suddenly rushed back towards Bhautik with speed that no other dragon except him was able to see. Velios would only proceed to chase after him, trying his best to land even a single hit on him.

It didn't matter if Velios got hurt anymore. Velios had now entered a state he had only entered truly once before. He could feel adrenaline rush throughout his whole body. Velios got even faster as the fight continued. Even though Bhautik was able to block every attack that Velios threw, Velios now stood a chance of barely being able to keep up. With every punch that the dragon knight captain used, it only further slowed him down while Velios was psychopathically and gladly receiving his attacks, slowly catching up even if just a tiny bit. Multiple of Velios' body parts were laying on the ground, and all of Velios' clothes were fully covered in his blood. He had multiple holes in his body, had at maximum only three limbs at all times, and had parts of his head missing. Despite all of this, he continued fighting even more fiercely, being able to hit Bhautik even if he was blocking them in time. Velios was beginning to laugh even more while continuing to attack faster and harder than before.

At one point in the fight, the two of them just attacked each other, focusing solely on offense and disregarding defense altogether. Velios hadn't realized it since he couldn't even land an attack on him, but his regenerative abilities were not to be underestimated either. Limbs were flying everywhere, and the whole arena was slowly being covered with blood and other body parts. The punches were being thrown so quickly at this point that the barrier wasn't even being destroyed by the sheer power but by the frequency. Velios had two advantages over Bhautik: mentality and the rate of growth. Velios was adapting to his opponent and could now effectively tell what types of attacks the dragon was going to throw. Another thing which Velios was becoming better at by the second was his technique. He wasted fewer seconds with each small movement, always found the best positions to both dodge and exert maximum strength. Thanks to his adrenaline and overflowing amount of magic, he didn't even feel the pain either. He could lose an arm and would be completely fine, continuing to laugh while attacking with his other. He could lose both and would continue to kick until they had regrown.

Velios would punch even when his arms hadn't fully grown. His arms were still severed, and the inside of the arm could be clearly seen. Despite that, he had managed to land multiple attacks with his severed limbs. At this point in the fight, Velios was completely covered in his blood, and Bhautik was also covered in Velios' blood. The whole arena was cheering and screaming for the two of them, but barely anybody could see what was actually happening. None had realized just how impressive Velios' fighting abilities actually were compared to the dragon knight captain of the first battalion. A dragon that Velios had quickly realized was actually stronger than the king himself would most obviously catch the crowd's attention. All of the onlookers were amazed at what they were seeing—or rather, impressed at what they couldn't see. They could only see Bhautik at a few times, and they realized that he wasn't even the injured one. They all knew just how big of a beating Velios was receiving.

"O-o-oi... Shiva...! D-d-do you... are you seeing this...?" Vadh was left completely speechless. He couldn't even properly talk as he turned his head to face Shiva before turning it straight back after hearing another of their clashes in the arena. "A-a-and who's that other cat...?" Vadh sounded like he was afraid. He couldn't properly speak, and he stuttered at every word. His face was covered in both fear and excitement. Freya was equally as shocked as the rest of them and the band of criminals, literally sitting just a few meters away. They tried to express their emotions through words but couldn't. The thought of a mere dragon besting Velios in combat was simply ridiculous. Shiva couldn't even answer him as he watched the fight continue. He was one of the few who were able to see what was actually going on. From his and Freya's point of view, the most scary part wasn't even that the dragon was stronger than him, but it was the fact that they could tell just how much Velios was enjoying this.

Velios wasn't the only one enjoying the fight. Not only was Bhautik also enjoying the fight, but he was also growing at a rapid pace. The fighting got even more intense as the barriers soon began to slowly break. Not even those could hold the physical powers of the two put inside into a single place. With each attack, Velios grew stronger, faster, more durable, and better technically, and very soon, every attack became an attack that would sever a limb or destroy a part of the body. Blood, parts of skin, flesh, muscles, and even parts of different organs and the bones protecting them were spewing off into multiple directions, covering the whole field. The two of them could effectively attack each other at full power for hundreds of times in the duration of a single second, and soon, not even Shiva or Freya were able to see what was truly going on. The one with the worst reaction, however, was from the king. As the king watched the fight start to get even more intense, he could see himself fighting the man clad in pure black just a few days ago.

The king began trembling in fear as more memories of that day emerged in his head. He was standing up just moments ago and now began to buckle backward. He was breathing heavily from his mouth, and it took way longer to realize something else as well. The king knew of the massive amounts of mana the man clad in black possessed during their fights. Even if he didn't use it all, it was still far more superior than most dragons, and he even had better control over it. During the whole fight, the king had thought that it was something so simple and predictable, but little did he realize. The participant named Soilev hadn't even used a single bit of mana yet. Even for his healing, the king wasn't able to sense a single bit of mana. That just pointed out the fact that Soilev's natural restorative powers were so good that even the dragon knight captain, Bhautik, was struggling to defeat him. The king had then realized that if he truly wanted to, he could completely change the battle to his favor.