Chapter 17

Issei immediately watched one of the flying orbs rushing straight at him, moving at speeds that he couldn't keep up with. "Listen, I'll give you the signals, and you'll just have to dodge the attacks."

Taking the brunt of the attack, Issei felt his wings shatter into thousands of pieces. "The thing was aiming to get rid of my wings."

"You don't have time seeing what happened, focus on what will happen. Move left!" Issei got his composure back and swung his body to narrowly dodge another orb. "Right!" Issei, rather, ducked his head and dodged the next orb. However, he felt them coming right back to him from behind.

"You need to get back onto the ground now." Issei raised his hand into the air and caused a small explosion to shoot him down.

Once on the ground, Issei watched as he already dodged two of the orbs that were aiming for his back. Now, there were two orbs, one from coming towards him from the front, one coming from the back, both were heading towards him at the same speed. However, Issei silently formed a barrier around himself which the impact of the two orbs slowed down their speed, enough for Issei to see the two orbs trajectory and move his body to dodge the two orbs. They barely grazed his shoulder, with both of them shattered the armor that covered his shoulder.

However, the orbs stopped the moment that they shattered his armor, Issei expected for the worse and mad a mad dash away from the orbs. That was when Issei began noticing something, the deer monster in front of him hadn't moved at all. It was just staring at him.

How was he going to beat this monster? There was no way that he was going to win. Even before increasing its power, Issei was barely able to match the power of the sludge monster. Now there was no way that he was going to win, but he needed to end this thing now. If he doesn't, this thing will grow uncontrollably, potentially even being too much for his future self. The deer monster stayed still, confused on why Issei wasn't moving anymore?

"Partner, get your shit together. What the hell are you thinking right now?" Ddraig's words echoed through his mind. "Why the hell are you afraid?"

"Ddraig, how do I beat this thing? I've given it my all, but I can't win. It just keeps getting back up. No matter what I do, this thing comes back without any scratches or any sign of fatigue."

"Partner, I can't guarantee that you will win. No, I can never lie to you. However, there's one thing I want to tell you. Is this really how you want to go out?" Issei stayed silent, not understanding what his partner was saying.

"Are you willing to die fearing death when you've lived through it once already? Are you willing to give up against this thing? How are you going to get your revenge against her? Are you willing to let her walk away with what she had done to you? How will you watch her break down in front of you? How will you break her when you can't break this monster in front of you? Raynare will live unless you fight this thing and win! So, partner, why be afraid of something when you already have been through something worse?"

"No, I will kill her. I will break her. I will make her suffer far worse than she made me suffer." Issei spoke with pure hatred. The deer monster tilted its head from the random negativity that Issei was showing.

Ddraig stayed silent, he knew that abusing Issei's trauma and using it to empower him was terrible for him, but he needed his partner to live. He gulped before finally continuing, "Partner, you're only being dragged down by your fear. You can do this! Think of the monster as... Being one of Raynare's henchmen. Remember, she could be the one watching you suffer. She could be the one controlling all of this."

Issei stopped and that was when his hatred began flooding his mind. The deer monster in front of him. He needed to kill it if he wanted to defeat Raynare. It was an obstacle that he needed to kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... He will kill it. With his emotions being such a driving force for him since he was a dragon, his entire being was driven by his emotions. Hatred... It was all that he needed to lose control of his aura. The heat that he was beginning to exhibit was beginning to melt the ground.

"Nothing will stop me forming ripping that bitch to pieces." Issei began feeling empowered by the Boosted Gear, not only that. 

"The hatred from two dragons can never be looked down upon. Albion, God, and Lucifer, you all brought this misery to me. My partner is the one to save me and I will not have him dead. Have fear..." The power of the Boosted Gear began increasing to levels that Issei has never shown before. His entire body began glowing a crimson red with flames engulfing him. His bluish aura was surrounded by crimson flames. "For I am here."

A large projection of Ddraig engulfed Issei. This wasn't the battle between Issei and the deer monster, this was a battle between a berserk Issei and an enraged Ddraig.

The deer monster finally had enough, seeing Issei finally acting, it wasn't confused anymore and rushed straight toward Issei. Using one of its sharp antlers, it tried piercing Issei's blinding speeds, but Ddraig took control of Issei's legs and forced him to lean downwards to narrowly dodge the attempt. Stepping forwards placing all his weight into his right arm, letting the berserk Issei slam a right hook right at the neck of the beast. Penetrate was obviously used and the damage was staggering. Deforming the head of the monster, Issei didn't stop there... He was going all out. Every ounce of his will... Anger... Sadness... Power... Essence was going into this battle.

Left...

Right...

Left hook...

Uppercut...

It was all being used. Each attack landed a devastating amount of power, but the deer monster wasn't done yet. Quickly, when taking the uppercut, it yanked its head right back down and cut Issei's armor and skin on his chest with its sharp antlers.

However, Issei didn't budge at all. His adrenaline was through the roof, ignoring all the pain that he could take. He continued landing attacks, from punches to kicks, but he continued taking the brunt of the slashes that the monster in front was landing. Cut after cut, Issei began feeling his armor ripping apart, Ddraig was trying to find an opening.

When the deer tried to back up a little bit, having its entire upper body deformed, Ddraig took this opportunity to quickly pinpoint all the aura and power from the Boosted Gear into Issei's hand and applied penetrate at the same time. In an instant, Issei watched as his right arm moved on its own and saw his hand deep within the flesh deer's stomach before his hand exploded with his aura within the deer. The monster screamed in agony before being sent soaring through the sky.

"Listen Issei, I'll be allowing you to use a skill I never thought I will ever use again. Your body can only handle it once before it crumbles from the heat. Use it wisely." Hearing his partner even through his rage, Issei nodded before letting go of all his armor.

"Ddraig, focus on making the armor onto my arms only." Listening to his partner, Issei began feeling this sensation through the Boosted Gear. This feeling was strange.

"Issei, show the world what it means to be feared. Show the world, the Blazing Inferno of the Scorching Flames, my flames." Ddraig's voice echoed with pride.

That was when Issei felt the flames form in his hands. The intense heat... It began melting his armor and parts of his skin closest to the flames. However, Issei watched as the deer in front of him rushed toward him. Boosting to the max and placing all his energy into the flames, expanding the flames until they were easily half the size of Ddraig, he began condensing the flames once more. By the time the deer reached Issei, it was slowed down by the many deformed parts of its body causing a struggle for it, Issei wasn't finished. The deer, one more time, slammed its antlers straight through Issei's flesh, tearing straight through the side of Issei rather than the heart, Issei could only stagger from the pain, but he wasn't going to fall down.

Applying to penetrate while watching as the deer began having a large flesh head stretch from its head with eyes and a mouth, it began talking. "Finally, we become family."

That sound echoed throughout the silent deserted area before the small ball of energetic flames was pushed in front of the monster in front of Issei.

"Cyanara." The flames erupted from Issei's hands. Melting straight through the flesh, the bones, the eyes, the ground, everything that was in front of Issei, it was all reduced to ashes. Not even Issei was safe, his entire arm was melted to nearly only a thin layer of skin holding it up. His body was starched with many burns and cuts, but he stood smiling at what happened.

Issei dropped down onto his knees, smiling at his accomplishment. He wasn't alone through the battle, most of the help during the end was from Ddraig. They won! "Partner, we did it."

"Yes, we did. We won." Issei may have taken a bunch of damage from this battle, but there was one thing that he obtained, something of the utmost importance.

He had unlocked Ddraig's flames. Another thing that he would need to work on controlling.