Saleem ran at full speed, passing through a wide corridor with torches on the walls. She ran through a large gate and found herself in a large hall several meters wide and littered with white pillars. There were white pillars all around. At the end of the hall was another large gate.
"This must be the 99th floor. Why are there so many pillars here?" she wondered.
She remembered the Orcs and shuddered.
"Calm down, you're safe; they won't be able to do anything to you," she said, hugging herself.
"I had to leave that boy alone, but I'm sure he can take care of himself." She walked toward the gate.
"It's said that the Tower Of Babel's 100th floor houses the Metatron Cube. With it, I'll be able to free my mistress." A huge pillar was sent flying and landed a few feet in front of her.
"So you've finally decided to show yourself."
A knight clad in white armor stepped from behind the pillar and stood facing her.
"Eiden, Lord of Salt," Saleem said.
Eiden stood about six feet tall with a slim build and golden hair flowing from behind his helmet. There was a tattered white cloth tied around his waist with a golden emblem on it.
Saleem charged at him and threw a punch which shook the room upon impact. The dust cleared, and the knight had caught her fist. Saleem grabbed him and threw him away, but he caught himself in midair before landing, charging at her the moment his feet touched the ground. A white crystal longsword appeared in his hand, and he made a swing at her. She dodged, but the force of the swing destroyed the pillars behind her. Saleem was surprised by this, especially since she didn't sense any arcana from him. He appeared in front of her and made a swing, but she caught the blade. Her teeth grew into fangs, and scales grew around her mouth, her eyes becoming more reptilian. She blew a breath of fire that knocked him through several pillars and into the wall.
"My mistress sealed my power, so forgive me, I can only use about 25 percent of my dragon power," she said, walking away.
"Not that it'd matter. If you're this weak, then..." Eiden appeared behind her and knocked her through some pillars. He then formed several bladed weapons and, taking two axes, charged at her with a loud boom.
"Bastard!" Saleem said as golden flames covered her arms and rushed at him. The two collided, shaking the room, and began exchanging blows. Saleem dodged and destroyed all of Eiden's weapons save his two axes and jumped back, releasing another dragon breath. Eiden didn't dodge and took the full force of the blast. The flames, however, converged inside him, and he used the same attack on Saleem, who created a barrier around herself to protect her from the blast.
"I see," she said, getting to her feet. "You copied my ability," she said.
Eiden charged at her again, this time going on a full assault. His movements were so fast, and his strikes were so heavy that Saleem found herself being pushed back. She spread her arms, and dozens of magic circles surrounded her; flame constructs of serpents shot out at Eiden. He sliced through them while jumping over others and raised his hand. A giant pillar shot from under Saleem and slammed her into the wall, holding her in place. Eiden ran on the pillar and was on her in seconds. He was about to take off her head with a swing, but Saleem blasted the pillar apart. As Eiden fell, he formed a spear and threw it at Saleem. The spear was about to hit but was destroyed by a strong aura of Arcana as Saleem increased her power by 5%.
Eiden, seeing this, also increased his aura accordingly and charged at her. The two locked in battle, with Saleem flying and dropping explosive magic attacks at him. Eiden dodged while slicing her attacks, returning fire with white crystal spikes. Saleem waved her hand, destroying the projectiles and flicking her other hand upward, causing golden spikes to shoot out of the ground, but he managed to jump out of the way. Saleem punched him into the ground and followed up with a massive backhand. She gave him an uppercut, and a magic circle appeared beside him, blasting him away.
Eiden slowly got to his feet and released an aura similar to Saleem's but much more powerful.
"What the? How are you?" Saleem began, but before she could speak, a dislike appeared under her and struck her side. A white magic circle appeared under the spikes, and they exploded, sending her flying. Several pillars here out of the walls and converged on Saleem from all sides. Eiden spread his arms, and dozens of magic circles appeared around the ball that had trapped Saleem and began unleashing powerful magic blasts similar to the ones Saleem had fired at him previously.
Suddenly, Eiden's white magic circle began to glitch, turning white before disappearing. A magic circle appeared above Eiden, and he was suddenly slammed into the ground by an invisible force. The pillars holding her broke apart, and Saleem floated. A horde had grown on her left temple, and her left eye was a golden slit within black pupils. There was a golden line which was an extension of the rune on her forehead that ran over her eye, down her cheek, and went down her neck.
The magic power unleashed by this transformation changed the weather outside the tower, and the province of Dia'Mon was plunged into a storm, the epicenter of which was the tower where the two fought. The clouds began to spiral above the tower, and gold lightning flashed as loud peels of thunder echoed all around.
"This is 15% of my power. Now prepare yourself," she said, charging at him.
Kojo felt the sudden surge in Arcana and looked toward the gate. Below him was a sea of bodies belonging to the Orcs that had attacked him. Even though they were in bad shape, with the least damage taken being no less than three broken limbs, they still clawed at him as he floated above them. Kojo sighed.
"This aura I'm sensing...."
(It is the aura belonging to a dragon, although not one at its peak.)
"Wait, there was a dragon in here?"
(It's the girl who ran from here when she saw the Orcs.)
"Can't say I blame her. Even I wouldn't want to lose my chastity to these oversized pigs."
(She's probably more experienced than you in that regard. You should learn a thing or two from that.)
"What are you trying to say? And wait, she was a dragon?"
Sysia sighed. (Oracle)
(Yes. Dragons or Dragonkin, the offspring of the True Dragon, first beings to emerge alongside Seraphim, Faeries, and Daemons. They are a strong race, with each individual being capable of destroying worlds at a time.)
"Worlds? Okay, I know they're OP, but that's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"
(Demon Lord Dona Crymson, the Queen mother of all dragons, sundered this world, Gaea, completely terraforming the planet and creating the various continents.)
"Yeah, but she's a Demon Lord. It's to be expected that she can blow a planet to bits."
(You're hella dense.)
An Orc jumped at Kojo but slammed into the barrier he'd put up around himself. The tower shook, and the light in the floor Kojo was on flickered.
"That must be Saleem," Kojo said, looking at the gate. He noticed that several Orcs had begun to slam their heads into the barrier in order to get to him.
"This is all because of their inherent skill, right?" Kojo raised his hand.
"Universal ♾️ Negation"
The Orcs dropped to the ground, succumbing to their wounds. The barrier disappeared.
(You know you could have just done that from the beginning.)
"There'd be no fun now. Let's go. I wanna see how strong a Dragonkin is, even if they're not at full power." He said, flying toward the gate.
(You know I mimicked the skill that gives Orcs their insatiable sex drive and stamina, Hunting Season.)
"Why'd you do that?"
(So you can use it on a certain someone who asks tonight.)
"That skill's so....."
(Keep talking. Give me more reasons why a man your age is still a virgin.)
"Shut up."