Chapter 5
"Is enough, I have enough clothes now, let's go pay and then we will go directly to the university."
They paid for the clothes and then put them inside Melody's space ring. While on the road, Leah kept stealing glances towards Ark. Did he look this good earlier today? Maybe it's because of the new clothes...wait, what am I thinking? I need to think about what I will say to my father later today, not about these things.
On the road to the university, there were no more accidents, and Ark had the time to see the city a little bit also.
When they were still 5 minutes away from the university, a black car stops 10 meters on the road in front of them, and two men get out, then the car shrinks and the driver puts it in his pocket.
When Leah sees the big man in his suit with a look on his face that could kill, and his wild aura that suffocates everyone, she stops in her tracks.
"Father."
The man looks at her and first asks.
"Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"
"I am fine, he didn't do anything to hurt me, father, I am sorry."
"I will deal with you later."
Ark and Melody just look at the man, with no signs of fear on their faces.
The man also looks at them, and when he sees their serene gaze and calm aura, he is surprised. This is not what he thought he would find. He made thousands of scenarios in his head: A plot by his enemies to anger him, or simply a fool who doesn't know who he is, thinking he is the center of the earth, and he can do anything that he wants.
But what he sees from the man throws away every scenario out the window. Better I should ask first about his intentions.
"Who are you, and what do you want from my daughter and from my clan?"
When Ark hears him, he thinks, 'He is a real man who life taught him good. He could've just started to attack me or insult me like the young man from his clan. But because he didn't act like an arrogant prick, he will live to see tomorrow.'
"I don't have ill intentions against your clan or daughter; she just lost a bet, it's so simple. If you want to take her home, then you have to fight me, and win."
When the man heard that, he was stunned. How long ago did anyone talk so freely to me like that, and not put me in his eyes? Is he the real deal, or only talk?
He says to his driver:
"Take out the device for barriers, I want to fight him without a care."
The driver takes out from his space ring a metallic device that looks like a cube. He throws it in the air and then says in the Uniakea language:
"Expand."
Then, a few miles-long transparent barrier expands around them. But the people can still see them, and they can still see outside the barrier. Ark looks around and says:
"Pretty strong barrier and practical, not bad."
Then, Melody and Leah back off. The two men look at one another.
"I am Ark Ember, what is your name?"
"Zmaug Drakon."
When he finishes introducing himself, immediately he sees a fist in front of his face. Calmly, he puts his hands up and blocks the fist, but he underestimated the power of the punch and is sent flying towards a building, destroying it.
Only then does the result of Ark's movement catch up with him—the earth where he was before exploding like a bomb, the sonic boom following his path and destroying everything near it, including the earth in a straight line. And only then did the sound of the building collapse reach them. Ark put his hand behind his back and waited for Zmaug to come back.
Inside the building, with rubble over him, Zmaug was in pain and disbelief.
'Ouch, that hurt. Did he really injure me? With a normal-ass punch?'
Rage appeared on his face, and then his body started to transform. The rubble was sent flying as he got up and slowly walked back.
When he appeared in front of Ark, he was completely transformed, but he kept his humanoid form.
Black scales covered his body, stronger than the strongest steel, his fingers sharp like knives. On his back were two wings blacker than the darkest night. His scales extended only to his neck. On his face, two golden eyes looked down on everything on Earth, and above his head was a golden crown made of light.
This is the Patriarch? People were asking themselves in awe of the majestic-looking dragon.
'So this is my father's stage 1 transformation. He looks awesome.'
Thought Leah, a proud look appearing on her face. He will win.
Melody was looking with an unperturbed expression at them.
Ark, extending a hand towards Zmaug while keeping one hand still behind his back, says:
"Come, show me the powers of the Drakon clan."
Zmaug starts taking a deep breath, turning his head a little bit back. He roars, and from his mouth, he fires a dragon breath, but it felt more like entire suns were fired. The fire was a golden color, the temperature rising immediately, the earth beneath him melting, and the breath traveled with the speed of light toward Ark.
And Ark calmly looked at the fire-like suns coming toward him. When the fire was in the middle of both of them, he also fired his laser from his eyes, the laser even faster and hotter than the breath. They met in the middle, and underneath them, the earth was completely destroyed, while the temperature kept rising and everything kept melting. Then, the breath started to lose against the laser.
The laser pushed the breath back to Zmaug. He roared even stronger, and his breath grew stronger, exploding at the point where it met the laser.
The explosion, like a supernova, pushed everything apart. The barrier kept trembling, as though on the verge of collapsing.
Then Melody sent a little bit of energy to the barrier, and it stabilized.
After the explosion subsided, both launched at each other. Zmaug sent a punch from below, and Ark a punch from above. But just when the punch was near Ark, Zmaug disappeared completely. Ark, still in the motion of punching, felt Zmaug appear behind him through the shadow. Zmaug, smiling, continued the punching motion even stronger than before.
Zmaug, certain that the punch would connect, covered his punch with a dark aura that made it even deadlier. But all of a sudden, he lost sight of Ark. Now, he felt something wrong behind him, and before he even had time to turn his head, he was sent flying again, with burning, excruciating pain on his back and his wings torn from his body. He looked at Ark, who was floating above the ground, a dim light in his eyes from activating his laser vision, and holding his wings in his hands—broken and bloody.
Zmaug still felt the heat on his back from the molten scales, combined with the pain from his wings. He thought, 'When was I ever hurt this badly, did he really teleport?'
Then a smile formed on his face, and he started going back toward Ark while gathering his dark aura. Magic circles began forming around him.
"Let's see how you handle this."
Leah felt like she couldn't even blink because she was afraid she'd miss the battle. So this is a fight between monsters.
And it's the first time I've seen my father smile so freely. Free from being a father, free from being a husband, free from being a patriarch, free from being a corporation boss, free of everything.
Free to just let loose and fight like a man, giving his all.
"Father, you can do it! You will win!"
Zmaug turned his head to his daughter and saw her with tears in her eyes, cheering for him. An even bigger desire to win burned inside him. I will win!
And then the magic circles fired dragon's breath, while the shadows bound Ark's shadow, making it nearly impossible for him to move. While Ark was stuck, Zmaug took out a spear with a dragon head. The dragon's tongue was a 30 cm blade, not straight, but curved like a wave. The spear's body was covered in dragon scales.
The breath reached Ark, but he flew up, breaking the shadows binding him with brute force. The breath just reached where he had been and flew further and further before dissipating.
Ark looked at Zmaug.
"Let's finish this."
Ark flew toward him, and a transparent film formed on his hand.
Zmaug prepared to attack with a thrust of his spear. When Ark reached the range of the spear, Zmaug thrust, and Ark punched.
When the tip of the spear contacted the transparent film on Ark's punch, lightning and light formed at the point of contact.