Life Hunter 174 ''Mystery''

"Because you're too dangerous to be left alone" Layla answered and her aura was then imbued with her power over emotions "And the dragon you talked about is the man I fell for, so do you really think I will let you go there so easily?" As she said that, Karma, who was behind, made a smug face and Jorga whistled and would've clapped if he had hands.

"And you also called me 'strange girl'. That's enough" When she added that, both Jorga and Karma stiffened.

Meanwhile, Fafnir's confusion was just deepened by her words and actions "This is the G.o.ddess of Worldly Emotions' power… Is that why I can't get angry at you even when you told me that…?" He mumbled and glared at Layla "Just what are you? You're using the power of a G.o.ddess but you're not one"

"You seem to be half human and half G.o.d, but you're not a child from the union of both since those kind of children don't have divine mana… I cannot understand" Fafnir straightened his body and squinted his eyes as if he wanted to dissect Layla with them "Your entire existence is a mystery for me"

Layla smiled and tapped Deva's back with her feet a few times. Fafnir blinked and when his eyelids were lifted again, what he saw was Layla's rapier trying to stab his eye. His mind panicked as he didn't expect that. Layla's aura had calmed him against his will and lowered his attention without him noticing.

He immediately reacted and s.h.i.+fted his head to the side as he deviated the blade of the rapier with telekinesis by just staring at it. He managed to avoid having one of his eyes cut but Layla didn't let him go so easily.

She fired with rapier and spun with the recoil and punched Fafnir temple with the momentum. The dragon didn't think much of that strike before it actually landed.

His entire body was lighter in s.p.a.ce and it pushed him back for quite a distance. His mind blanked for a second and was shocked as he felt the pain rising to his brain. He gritted his teeth and flapped his wings to retreat and used his tail to strike Layla. But she was swift in transforming into a small dragon of light. She escaped the tail and receded too.

"(What was that?)" Fafnir was shocked. It's not like they were fighting a hard battle already or anything but he was honestly astounded "(Even if we're in s.p.a.ce, the rebound and equivalence of ma.s.ses still apply. How the h.e.l.l did she push me back without even moving? How strong is her body?)"

His surprise was justified. It wasn't really a matter of life force level or overall strength. Layla's physic is just way smaller than Fafnir's and it would be normally impossible for her to push back a creature as big as him. And even if you have enough strength to do so, it should still have some repercussions.

For example, back when Arima fought with Errastas, he managed to block a single palm from the giant with the sacrifice of both of his arms. That simply meant that their physical weight, strength, and resistance were worlds apart.

This time too, it should've been the case. Layla and Fafnir were both technically at the third divine and had basically the same advantages. But Fafnir was a dragon, one of the strongest beasts in the world.

"There's only one explanation" Fafnir muttered as he looked at Layla "You're not human anymore. I'm not talking about those little scales and wings. You turned into a higher species" He declared and Layla frowned.

"Magic power, life force, enchantments, theory… all of those are different for everyone and don't concern race or species. But the body is a different story. It's something you get at birth" Fafnir spoke while looking down at Lanya.

"Humans, G.o.ds, Therianthropes, Ranian, Jelorian, Kiarion, …all of those races can't keep up with my body for example. And it's something you can't change no matter what. You can strengthen your body but it won't become stronger than what it is actually capable of without consequences"

"We dragons are not only bigger; our muscles can hold much more power than humanoid species" Fafnir snorted "Your muscles have mutated. If there's a silver line to how much you can change before being considered as a different race, you already crossed it"

What he said was completely true. The world is not fair and every living being in it has different abilities and some are more blessed than others.

Physically, humans are one of the lowest while dragons are the highest. For example, if Arima had done what Layla just did in his human form, he would've most likely lost his arm, even if he was resonating with Night.

The only exception was the 'Kind Demon' form and the 'Final Resonance'. Arima managed to attain those two transformations as if it was in his DNA. With them, he can surpa.s.s humans and dragons alike. But for Layla, it was something way different.

"You've become an even bigger mystery. Although I have mutated myself, it was because I was cursed and it only actually happened after I merged with a draconic essence" Fafnir smirked and said "What could possibly create something like you? From what I can see, I've come to the conclusion that something or someone acted on your genes and soul and created you"

Layla's expression twitched "I suppose I'm right then" Fafnir nodded "That's an important thing to know actually. Now," He paused and glared at Layla with killing intent "I know that I have to kill you today. Your power may become unreachable for me in the future"

He uttered and disappeared from his spot as a golden light flashed. Layla's eyes narrowed and flew away to the right to evade the dragon claw that suddenly emerged from nowhere.

"You escaped, huh?" Fafnir's voice resounded and before Layla could even register what happened, he was already back to his original position "The Unblinking Eyes? Indeed. A troublesome technique, as always"

The dragon casually remarked while Layla was having cold sweats. She barely managed to predict that attack. But she couldn't even understand how it happened.

"…What was that?" Karma asked as she watched from afar. Deva had retreated even more since the fight began.

"It was not teleportation, nor was it near instantaneous displacement or fast movement" Jorga muttered "This was more complex than that…, it was at the level of "

"A Manifestation" Fafnir heard Jorga and finished the sentence for him "You see, when I was still a simple dwarf, I specialized in stealing" He laughed "I'm a confirmed robber and a.s.sa.s.sin. This is my pa.s.sive Manifestation, 'Lone Bridge'. I can 'appear' behind anyone. There's no signs, magic fluctuations or time delay, the only way to counter it is by looking at the future or stop it head on"

When they heard the word 'pa.s.sive', Jorga, Karma, and Layla shuddered at what it meant.

Fafnir grinned "You can only use one of them and you can just dodge but the other is impossible for you. Now that I know about your strength, you won't take me by surprise again" He said and vanished one more time.

Before Layla could react, a golden tail had already hit her flank which she barely managed to protect with her rapier. This time, she was the one to be pushed back but in contrast, she flew away like a cannonball and even took more time to stop because of the lack of air resistance.

She deployed her wings to stop and without losing time, she pressed the trigger of her rapier to turn around with the recoil. Thanks to that, she managed to avoid Fafnir's claw who had suddenly appeared and now had the dragon facing her.

She didn't have the time to chant before he could get away so she used her sigil to the maximum. She had an idea which may work. She perfectly understood that Fafnir wasn't using the s.p.a.ce-time dimension to move.

But he was still using it to appear in this world. It was obvious. Fafnir's Manifestation basically could create a path out of the s.p.a.ce-time surface and reappear somewhere else.

Lanya's sigil glowed on her hand and cast two magic in one. The first one exploded into a giant light ball. It radiated with great energy that would atomize most matter if it touched it. Fafnir didn't even blink and used his displacement again to get away.

But when he saw where he had reappeared, his eyes narrowed and roared as fire burst out of his mouth to consume the devastating light around him. Just after, a silver light flashed and Layla's rapier managed to pierce Fafnir's eye.

The golden dragon's voice thundered again and he used his wings and tail to create a powerful wind that pushed back Lanya. He then finished destroying the light magic with his fire. He gritted his teeth as he had his eye pierced and locked on Lanya with the remaining one.

He tried to use his Manifestation again but emerged somewhere else once again, at the perfect spot for Layla to attack him. He sneered and blocked Layla's sword with his tail but still had to get rid of the light arrows that fell from the sky just after.

Fafnir's eyes contracted and a golden aura exploded the arrows. Layla was taken off guard by the sudden increase in pressure and froze.

"I'll admit that I may have underestimated you a little too much" Fafnir spoke and his eye had already healed. His golden scales started to become even s.h.i.+nier. His aura was continuously rising.

"That was an interesting strategy. You didn't try to stop my Manifestation since you couldn't affect it. So, you thought of disturbing it" Fafnir gravely talked "To be exact, you focused on controlling the place where I'll appear"

"That's indeed possible. I may teleport without the s.p.a.ce-time but I definitely get back to it no matter what. In theory, if you 'catch' the place where I'll appear with s.p.a.ce magic and then move it, it will change my destination" He explained.

"I see now. That's incredible" Jorga immediately understood and praised Layla for her tactic.

"But how did she know where he would appear?" Karma was a bit confused.

"Have you already forgot? She saw it" Jorga responded and Karma exclaimed in realization.

"A strategy that only someone who can see the future can use" Fafnir snickered "Really interesting. But now, I'm slightly mad. I won't go easy on you anymore. If you have a Manifestation, use it now because you won't have the opportunity to do so later" He declared and the dark blue color of the outer s.p.a.ce turned golden as if it was put behind a filter.

"I have many treasures" Fafnir said and Layla's draconic eyes trembled. The golden salamander smirked "You saw it, huh?" He uttered and deployed his large wings "[Open]"

Golden lights instantly s.h.i.+ned behind him and continued to grow in number. They also seemed to change shape at the same time. Fafnir laughed "[Vault of Greed]"