Terrifying Strength

It was almost a conditioned reflex--

Sensing the intense danger, Dragon's body wrapped itself in a vortex of wind, and he retreated rapidly without hesitation.

The instant he left his original position, a dazzling arc of sword light swept across the spot where he had been standing.

Those crystal bricks, clear as water yet incomparably hard, were suddenly pulverized beneath the sword light.

A bottomless crack thus cut across the entire palace floor before spreading upward along the walls until it reached the ceiling.

Dusk was approaching.

The orange-red twilight passed through the sword mark in the palace wall, casting a straight line of light across the floor.

That single sword strike had directly split the entire magnificent, luxurious palace in two.

The sword's momentum had simply been too fast, while its control was flawless.

So much so that even the palace itself had not "noticed" the sword mark running through it. It still stood there quietly, completely unharmed.

Dragon retreated all the way to the palace entrance.

He glanced at the orange-red line of light reflected across the palace floor, and his pupils contracted slightly.

Above the raised platform of the steps.

Imu gently lifted the rust-covered blade, then bent and extended his arm into the shape of a drawn bow.

His arm was the bow, and the sword was the arrow.

Threads of black-and-red lightning surged and leaped across the blade.

The rust covering the blade rippled as the ends of the crackling lightning struck it.

"..."

Dragon looked up, and his already narrowed pupils contracted into pinpoints.

The extreme sense of danger transformed into a chill that spread through every corner of his body.

Elementalization!

His rapidly turning thoughts transformed the command into concrete action.

In an instant, Dragon elementalized into a powerful gust of wind and