As the saying goes: where you fall is where you stay down.
The Thunder Dragon King, Eclixion, followed this creed faithfully. After taking that full-power smash to the forehead from Darwin, he lay straight on the ground, motionless.
Chris and Erza flew over from the left and right, landing on Darwin's shoulders.
"Did it work?"
"What are you thinking? This was only the end of the first round!"
Facing a giant dragon, Darwin didn't dare be the slightest bit careless. "To decide the winner, I think we'll need at least seven or eight more rounds!"
"But didn't you smash his teeth out?"
"Losing a few teeth doesn't prove anything. Who knows if the big guy is just in a teething phase, or if he just has cavities from too many sweets..."
Chris gave Darwin a speechless glance. "If you can still joke, it seems I don't need to worry about you for now."
As they spoke, a muffled groan came from Eclixion's throat, and his muscles began to twitch.
"The guy is waking up. Let me take the next round!"
Chris clenched her fists, her eyes radiating an infinite will to battle.
"Eh?"
Darwin blinked. "Are we doing a tag-team rotation instead of attacking together?"
Erza also looked at Chris with concern. "The opponent is a dragon; going in alone is indeed too dangerous!"
Chris only smiled, showing no intention of listening to reason. "I trust you guys to back me up!!"
With that, she leaped off, manipulating the wind to fly toward Eclixion's position.
"Wait, Chris..."
Erza wanted to try persuading her again, but she was a step too late. She could only stand there shaking her head and sighing. "Sigh! She just told me not to be too impulsive, and yet she's more stubborn than anyone once the fight starts!"
Darwin chuckled. "Can't help it; that's just her personality!"
On the other side, Eclixion had recovered.
"Damn it..."
"Vile human, you actually knocked out two of my teeth..."
"I will never let you get away with this!"
Just as he crawled out of the crater, he sensed another human aura rapidly approaching. Looking up, he saw Chris, riding the winds and clouds while commanding the lightning.
"Hmm?"
"Another one seeking death?"
"Fine, fine! I'll vent my anger on you!!"
Eclixion believed that a giant with a "rubber constitution" was definitely a special case. Moreover, this girl seemed to use wind and lightning magic—areas where he felt completely superior.
With a loud whoosh, the dragon snapped his wings, wrapping himself in a fierce gale as he took to the sky.
Rumble—!
The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be summoned. Countless bolts of lightning, as thick as giant trees, poured down like a torrential rain, instantly covering the entire valley! This wasn't a targeted strike on a single point, but an indiscriminate, devastating bombardment meant to turn everything within range into charcoal!
"Lightning?"
"Suits me perfectly!"
Faced with the black clouds pressing down and the lightning rain approaching her body, Chris showed no fear. Instead, she let out a refreshing smile.
The young girl raised her right hand high, her five fingers grasping at the sky. The lightning power scattered throughout the thick clouds suddenly behaved like subjects meeting their monarch, gathering obediently. Finally, about thirty centimeters from her palm, it condensed into a full, solid lightning orb nearly a meter in diameter.
Chris couldn't turn herself into a rubber body like Darwin to gain immunity, but she could manipulate lightning and even, to a certain extent, draw it into her body—absorbing its power to convert into her own attacks!
This was different from Dragon Slayer Magic. To use a metaphor: Dragon Slayer Magic turns a wizard's body into an Energy Converter, while Chris's ability simply turns her body into a Storage Unit.
Both had their advantages. Dragon Slayer Magic provided a "Special Attack vs Dragons" property, but the latter's raw destructive power was even greater.
"Take this—"
The dragon's body, the golden lightning orb, and the girl's palm formed a straight line in the sky.
"Thunderous Bursting Tide!!"
Locking onto her target, the lightning orb in Chris's hand turned into a torrent of electricity, erupting toward Eclixion!
Eclixion took the hit head-on!
BOOM—!!
The powerful lightning shook the heavens and the earth. The entire valley was filled with wild, restless electrical energy, swaying uncontrollably.
Darwin had expected this and grabbed Erza to hide far away, avoiding the fallout.
Watching the scene from afar, Erza couldn't help but marvel: "Chris is indeed incredible. She really is the unshakeable number one in the academy... Will her attack be effective?"
Darwin stared intently at the exploding sky, not daring to relax. "I don't know. If the thing taking that hit were just an ordinary beast, there wouldn't even be ashes left..."
After an unknown amount of time, the frantic electrical energy slightly subsided. On the ground and in the air, currents still crackled and hissed, but compared to the scene moments ago, it was many times calmer.
In mid-air, Eclixion's position was completely shrouded in smoke, making it impossible to see the situation inside.
But Chris knew in her heart that her attack hadn't achieved the desired effect. If the attack had been effective, the dragon shouldn't still be flying; he should have plummeted straight down.
Sure enough.
The next moment, a gale howled. Eclixion spread his wings wide, dispersing the smoke.
Looking closely, not a single scale on his body had fallen off. Aside from being covered in a bit of dust, he was essentially unharmed.
"Tch—"
"Without the Dragon Slayer attribute, it really can't do the full job, huh?"
Chris gritted her teeth, preparing for a second attempt.
But how could Eclixion allow a mere piece of "food" to act so insolently before him again? He let out a wild roar and dived straight for Chris's position.
"Realized that lightning is useless, so you're switching to a physical collision?"
Seeing the dragon's plan, Chris immediately weakened the wind around her, letting her body fall toward the ground. Though Eclixion's flight speed was fast, he wasn't as agile as Chris. Combined with the fact that he was charging with full force, he missed his mark completely.
But the dragon didn't give up on his target. His body spiraled in the air, reversed direction, and dived downward.
Before Chris's body even hit the ground, her Celestial Magic surged once more.
"Meteor!"
With a soft cry, a brilliant golden light erupted around the girl. Her entire being turned into a shooting star, tracing a parabolic arc back into the high sky!
"You want to crash into me? Let's see which is harder: your scalp or a meteorite!!"
"Starfall!!"
The ultimate secret of Celestial Magic allows for the manipulation of matter and energy from the cosmos.
This "manipulation" includes not only the control of wind and clouds or the absorption of lightning, but also transforming into a meteor, summoning meteorites, black holes, auroras, and even releasing solar storms and cosmic deluges.
It was no exaggeration to say that this was a magic capable of destroying the world!