Drip.
A single drop of blood fell to the ground.
Then it felt as if everything stopped.
The crowd had fallen silent.
No one moved.
Not me.
Not him.
Seconds passed that felt like minutes.
Until time began to move again.
Zarik slowly lifted his sword from the sand and straightened. His gaze locked onto me. Then, slowly, his free hand rose toward his face, brushing over his cheek.
His expression shifted from surprise to something blank.
Then, just as slowly as he raised it, he lowered his hand again. Breaking eye contact, he looked down at his pale white palm.
A crimson stain marked it.
Blood.
His blood.
A moment passed as he just stared at the blood on his hand.
Then his expression crumbled. His lips twitched, eyes widening as if he couldn't accept what had happened.
The rage that had disappeared returned.
Then—
Swoosh.
Mana erupted outward from his body.
A faint breeze brushed through my hair and against my skin as my core resonated with the wave. But the surge didn't fade—it lingered, heavy and suffocating.
Then, beginning from his chest, a sapphire-colored liquid of mana spread outward. The mana felt thick. Oppressive. It was nothing like the faint glow that had previously coated his limbs when he enhanced his body.
This was different.
No.
It felt different.
The liquid mana wrapped around his chest first, then flowed outward—over his shoulders, down his arms, along his legs—until it climbed up his neck and head, finally encasing his entire body.
His lips twitched.
The mana twitched with them.
Like a living thing reacting to its source.
His breath hitched.
Then a shout tore out of his throat.
"You dare?!"
The mana thickened even further as if reacting to his emotions.
Step.
I took another step back, creating more distance.
I wasn't sure what he was doing.
And whatever it was...
My senses told me that it wasn't anything good.
His hand trembled, almost shaking.
Then, he finally lifted his gaze from the blood on his palm and looked at me.
His mouth opened.
"Blood?!"
Ever so slowly, the blue liquid wrapped around him began to move.
The mana along his back stretched outward, pulling away from his spine. Two vast outlines formed behind him, jagged and unstable, pressing against the fabric of his coat. The cloth stretched until—
Sktch.
The coat tore apart.
Beginning from his back, the glowing liquid thinned and darkened. From the holes in his torn coat, scales began to form. The mana dissolved as if consumed by them, and the once unstable outline took shape, turning into wings.
The dark color of the scales brightened again, turning dark blue. Then, as the transformation reached its end—
Flip.
The clasped wings stretched at once, unfolding behind him, revealing their full size with a wingspan of at least three meters.
But that wasn't all.
Something shifted behind him.
The mana gathered at his lower back twisted sharply and pulled outward. His trousers tightened at the front as if being dragged backward.
Sktch.
The fabric tore, and just like the wings, the outline darkened again. Beginning from his back, scales replaced the dissolving mana, and a tail emerged. When it fully formed, the scales turned the same dark blue as his wings.
The tail—nearly a meter long—twisted and stretched before slamming into the ground.
Thud.
The mana gathered around his horns took shape. They lengthened, stretching backward. Sapphire was replaced by obsidian black as they changed color.
The rest of his body, which was wrapped in the same glow, changed as well.
Muscles swelled, filling the space where the liquid mana had once been. His clothes tightened around the expanding frame. Several seams ripped apart.
His hands grew larger, filling the shape which the mana had created. The pale white skin of his hands turned darker before hardening into dark blue scales. His nails grew into sharp claws, colored in the same obsidian as his horns.
The same happened to his feet.
His boots stretched, leather stretching before ripping apart. Scaled feet emerged from the broken remnants.
Dark blue scales appeared all over his body, not fully covering him, only in a few spots.
His jaw clenched before opening.
Teeth had turned into sharp canines, bordering on fangs.
Now able to speak again, he shouted.
"You lowly slave!"
But the transformation still wasn't complete.
At last, his eyes, which stared down at me, changed. His round irises narrowed until they turned into reptilian slits.
Then, as if it had never existed, the sapphire glow faded completely.
Only the transformation remained.
Zarik stood there.
Fully transformed.
His breathing was heavy, as if the transformation had exhausted him. He clenched and unclenched his claws, testing his new strength.
Then, having examined enough, he turned toward me again, slitted eyes staring down at me. Rage burned in his eyes, making them tremble.
But beneath it—
There was something else.
Joy.
Step.
He moved forward.
His tail swung slowly behind him, and his wings opened and folded again as if testing their movement.
Seeing the completed transformation, I couldn't help but admire it.
A Partial Transformation.
Rash's explanation echoed in my mind.
I hadn't been able to imagine it before.
Humans, or more like humanoid beings turning into Dragons.
It wasn't something I could just hear and imagine.
But seeing it now with my own eyes.
I couldn't deny it.
Zarik stood proudly, chin raised as if the previous duel—where he had failed to land a single hit—had never happened.
Not only had his appearance changed.
The aura surrounding him had changed as well.
The air itself grew heavy, oppressive, breathing became harder. It felt as if I stood high on a mountain.
Then, after staring for a while, Zarik spoke.
"You really dared to injure my body?"
His voice was cold.
"To draw my blood?"
Step.
"Something like you—a creature worth no more than a few coins."
Step.
Slowly, he walked toward me. Each step sent another ripple of mana through the air.
"Dared to lay your hand on a noble being like me?"
His anger grew with every word.
"You must be fearless to believe you will survive after this."
Step.
"I will kill you."
He paused.
"No… that would be too much mercy."
"I will rip you apart and feed you to the beasts so that nothing of you remains in this world."
Step.
He suddenly stopped.
Only a few meters remained between us.
"The world will remember this day—"
His clawed hand raised the sword, tip pointing straight at me.
"—as the day I, Zarik Vakaris, revealed my true strength."