[Passive Skill Obtained: Power of Kings]

After flying for a while, I stopped in my tracks and turned back.

There has been a powerful presence following me for a while and they don\'t seem to want to stop. Whoever it is, they must\'ve been sent to take me out or possibly capture me.

Well, I should be getting to the shore right now to stay away from this country for a few weeks, but this guy will most likely go after me as I do that. Looks like I\'m just gonna have to kill him before I get out of here.

A few seconds later, I could see a white figure flying towards me. Suddenly, a horde of flying golden-white blades darted towards me. I used Ultraviolet Laser Emission, firing countless purple rays from my back to counteract the blades.

Shards of the blades scattered across the field. The figure got closer and I noticed that it was a dragon, the same size as me. It seemed to be dragging four giant golden-blue blades behind it too. They seemed to be emitting divine energy. Could they be-?

My thoughts were interrupted as the dragon landed a few meters in front of me. Though it didn\'t show it, I could tell it was smirking at me. It reached for one of its swords and pointed the end towards me.

"Greetings, Naoko, the Inept Hero."

He seems to know my name. Well, not really a surprise since everyone knows who I am. The attention is quite annoying, to be honest.

"Should I know you?" I asked and he chuckled.

"Hm? No, of course not. I am but a mere warrior. However, this should give you an idea of who I am."

A rift opened beside him and the next thing he pulled out was a giant golden shield. The shield was made out of dragon scales but that wasn\'t very important. The marking was, however.

Number 11.

I see. So that\'s who he is. I saw him next to the king on the balcony. During the prince\'s speech, I had sent one of my shadow soldiers to be my eyes.

"An Enigma, huh?"

"Yes. My name is Brigen Margo. I am his majesty\'s royal guard. Though I am considered the lowest amongst the other guards, my skills are recognized by the Twilight Queen herself."

Margo? Is he related to Deroc? And who the hell is the Twilight Queen?

"Since you killed the prince, I am ordered to kill you and take your head back to his majesty."

Kill me? Well, that\'s a lie.

"Don\'t lie, you were never given orders to kill me. I am too much of an asset to your king. If he had ordered that command, I would not be standing here by now."

"Oh, smart aren\'t you? Well, then you know why I am here, right?"

"If it\'s to challenge me, I have no time for you."

"Oh come on? Why not? Or should we be talking about why you deranged my younger brother?"

"Oh, so you know about that, huh?"

"Of course. I come home and there is my younger brother, begging for mercy. It was a rare sight. I wasn\'t mad but I was curious as to who placed my brother under such conditions. You were probably weak back then and not knowledgeable about your power because you left some traces on him. Now that I am meeting you face to face, your energy is a lot similar to the one left on him, so I figured it was you."

"Lucky you, so you\'ve come to avenge him?"

"Of course not, I was just surprised to find someone able to beat my cocky brother. My brother\'s skills are formidable but they were never able to match up against me."

"Hmph, so you are just here for a duel."

"Yeah. Let\'s stop talking and get to it."

Brigen readied himself, holding a giant sword in one hand and his shield in another. Guess there is no way out of this. I could escape, but this guy is an Enigma, meaning he\'s strong. He probably has ways to find me even if I do flee.

I have several options, but the one I will go with is the act of killing.

Brigen charged towards me in a blink of an eye. His sword neared my neck but I managed to catch it before it struck me.

The force of his attack dug my feet into the ground and I almost fell on my back.

He\'s powerful, I\'ll give him that, but it\'s the only thing he has.

Instantly, I appeared behind him and attempted to attack him, but the giant swords behind him quickly reacted and I was almost impaled.

"You\'re fast! Is that perhaps Cursed White? I\'m not able to access such power but I can make it up using this."

The next moment, Brigen duplicated, then he duplicated again, then again. In just a matter of seconds, there were ten white dragons circling me.

Some king of cloning technique huh? Could be Doppelganger.

The ten dragons darted towards me and swung their swords. I barely managed to dodge them as most of the openings were nearly closed. Good thing I just used Black Magic, otherwise I would not have been able to get out of that.

One of the dragons died due to Black Magic and the remaining nine turned towards me.

Suddenly, countless waves of blades shot out from their backs and headed towards me. I used Ultraviolet Laser Emission to counteract but I could only hit a few of them, so I activated Rebellious Shield, causing all the blades to bounce off of the oppressive barrier I created.

Brigen continued to repeat his attacks while I slowly took down each of his clones. As we clashed, I could not shrug the feeling that he had some kind of trick up his sleeve. I also noticed a few other details.

Though he was in his dragon form, his body structure seemed a little off. His arms and legs were similar to a dragon\'s, but they were built for one to move around like a human.

Could this be his Primal form? Or is it just a giant dragon that has a humanoid body? If it is the former, then that must mean he has an Altima sword.

Once all the clones were defeated, I had managed to break two of the giant swords floating behind Brigen and break a majority of his shield.

"Impressive. I can see how Deroc lost to you. Your mastery over Cursed White makes your speed immensely great."

His body was then wrapped in white before he shrank, turning into his human form.

"Fighting as dragons is alright, but the destruction caused is greatly overwhelming. Why don\'t we fight in our Altima form? I know you have one."

I gazed at the scenery around me and sure enough, there were multiple craters painting the field.

Fighting in our Altima forms would cause the same amount of destruction, but I guess I\'ll comply if it means to tire this guy. Now that I think of it, I haven\'t felt tired at least once in our battle. Strange...

I quickly exited my morph, landing on the ground. As I lifted my head, Brigen smirked at me as a golden aura wrapped around his body.

He closed his eyes and raised his head towards the sky. Then his body started to glow, protruding sharp edges on his body and growing out two giant bat-like wings.

As the light on his body sprinkled off from his body, in his place was now a humanoid suited in white, golden, and blue dragon-like armor. His sword appeared in his hand and his shield shattered, finishing his Altima form.

"This is my Altima form. It\'s not much, but my power will prove its worth. Now then, for you."

I stared at him blankly before taking my Altima sword in my hand. I instantly shifted into my Altima form without delay.

"Oh? Instant huh?"

"I don\'t have time to play around, so let\'s end this quickly."

"Heh, yes, I shall."

Suddenly, the next moment, he appeared in front of me and performed an instant upward slash, cleaving my body into two.

I froze, shocked by his sudden attack as he backed away and laughed.

"HUWAHAHAHAHA!! Who cares what the king says, your dying for staining my family\'s reputation. HEHAHAHA-!!"

Brigen\'s laughter started to fade away. My vision started to distort as I felt pain rush through my body.

Is this how I\'m finished? No, that would be stupid. I can\'t die... I can\'t die like this! Not like this!

My vision turned completely black and I thought that was the end but then suddenly, the sound of flesh trashing around could be heard. Then my vision returned to normal as the pain subsided.

...

...w-what happened?

"What kind of sick trick is that?" Brigen questioned, a terrified look replacing his laughter.

.

.

.