While everybody was fighting against the Four Hounds, Drake was fighting the big boss head-on! He knew that ultimately, Surtr's Flames would be the key, but he wanted to gauge just how powerful the old man was.
The Dragon King's [Nine Divine Dragon Breaths] and the Flame Emperor's [Twin Abyssal Dragon Fists of the End] clashed into a huge explosion of cataclysmic proportions.
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM…!
The explosions' shockwave caused the whole continent to shake for a split of a second. The battle between divine beasts and gods stopped for some seconds, as everyone glanced at the chaotic cataclysm.
They all secretly expected one of the two to remain standing. However, to their surprise, both were as unscathed… The power of their techniques were almost equal!
"You're one tough old man." Drake said, his multiple eyes glowing fiercely. "Good, I've got a lot of powers I want to try on you anyways… You'll make for a good punching bag."
"Hahahahaha! Your arrogance knows no bounds, Dragon King!" The Flame Emperor laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to stuff your corpse and put you on full display inside my palace once I'm done with you!"
Both stopped talking and instantly resumed their battle, their powers and divinities clashing and making the entire world around everybody shake! Some started to think the world was coming to an end.
It was a surprising spectacle to see a Fire Giant battle a beast several hundreds of meters larger than himself like nothing, the Flame Emperor was not only proficient at using his Black Flames of the End, but he was also incredibly strong physically.
Perhaps it was quite an obvious ability, as he was someone within Rank 10, a Rank that was already close to what the Ancient Venerables had to reach to begin their journey as the world's strongest.
"Hey, you idiot, why are you not using my abilities to fight against flames?! He's using two of my brother's fragments too!" Suddenly, Aegir's voice whispered to Drake.
"I can't use your strength recklessly, you're not invincible. Also I'm pretty sure you get quite tired after we use your abilities, I don't want to overexert yourself when we had yet to face the worst that this bastard can offer." Drake told her back.
"Huh, so you're saving me for the last?!" Aegir said, feeling slightly offended, yet at the same time praised.
"Yeah, I want to see how far I can clash against him just using my own Divinities and Divine Abilities! This is also a test for my own strength, and I haven't even hit Rank 10 yet either!"
Drake had purposedly not advanced his Cultivation, staying at Rank 9 Upper Stage because he wanted to see how far he could go. He had already defeated another Rank 10 threat on the Deep One, so he wanted to see the difference between the Flame Emperor and the eldritch abomination.
While the Deep One was almost his same size, if not larger, and had stronger and more potent blows that covered a large quantity of space and were also heavy, the Flame Emperor was much less "monstrous" and his battle methods were surprisingly refined.
His fists and kicks were precise, his mastery over his black flames was incredible, and his magic spells were potent, fast, and explosive. Unlike the slug that the Deep One was, the Flame Emperor was an incredible flashy opponent, and his small size did not work against him, but was an advantage.
The smaller he was, the harder it was for Drake's larger body to catch him, but he would end up weakening himself if he tried battling by using his Humanoid Dragon form, as it decreased his total powers and stats.
And making himself smaller would only make it easier for the Flame Emperor to blast him into ashes, burning him faster than he could regenerate! The advantage of having a gigantic body was that he could use his Immortal Body Unique Skill to its maximum utility.
His body was so large that even the most lethal and largest of wounds could regenerate rapidly, without blowing the rest of his body into smithereens if he was smaller.
At first he started fighting by using a combination of weapon techniques, and his four Divine Weapons at once, without even calling for the aid of his Divine Spirits yet.
However, the Flame Emperor easily intercepted all of his blows with his explosively powerful Black Flames of the End Spells, and his combination of Martial Arts and Body Strengthening Techniques.
Ever since he fought the Vampire Venerable that Drake hasn't been pushed this much! He was forcing himself to remember his abilities, every one of them was going to be useful against this monster! He quickly decided to combine several arts together.
"[Divine Soul Forging Arts]: [Draconic Soul Strengthening]!"
By fusing the [Divine Soul Shell] [Divine Soul Fury] [Divine Soul Temperance] [Divine Soul Rampage] [Divine Soul Fusion] [Divine Soul Materialization] Divine Soul Forging Arts together with his Draconic Arts, Drake created a new technique, [Draconic Soul Strengthening]!
FLUOOOOSH!
The effect was almost immediate, as a wave of Divine Power veiled his own soul and forcefully strengthened it to its limits, making it resemble a draconic monster of its own! This was also using the principles of the Draconic Soul Materialization Draconic Art.
His Divinities melded together into countless small dragons, covering his body with hard materialized shell of his own soul, and fusing it with the Divine Metal Creation Divine Ability as well.
"RAAAAH!"
With a furious roar, Drake rushed forward, swinging his four enormous arms, and unleashing a destructive barrage of piercing and crushing blows with all four of his Divine Weapons, a storm of Blood Red Icicles, Shadow Spears, Spiraling Ocean Vortexes, and Beginning Flame Meteors bombarded the Flame Emperor was he attempted to evade!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!!!
"W-What?! What changed?!"
The Flame Emperor was suddenly overwhelmed, stepping back further! However, he simply could not evade all of Drake's tremendously strong, and gigantic blows and explosions, which quickly forced him to take several hits.
His foe had not realized what happened because this technique was silent, but Drake felt proud of his own created technique, after all, its effects were tremendous.
[You have activated the [Draconic Soul Strengthening] Divine Soul Forging Art!]
[Your Soul has been Strengthened by +500%, with an additional +100% with every Dragon Bloodline you have.]
[All of your Stats have been increased by 50% of your Soul's Strengthened Power.]
[Any of your Physical Blows will be enchanted with [Draconic Soul Explosion], increasing damage dealt by +50% with each of your Dragon Bloodlines, alongside another +1% with every 1000 units of Draconic Energy spent.]
[Current Accumulated Draconic Energy: 563.683]
It sounded like a normal technique, but it effects were completely out of this world. It seemed that collecting all those Dragon Bloodlines and strengthening his soul through torturous methods was paying back!
"T-This can't be…!"
The Flame Emperor, who was trying to take it easy against the Dragon King, quickly realized that only he was being the arrogant one in here.
Drake wasn't being arrogant at all, he was simply showcasing his strength, and being confident on what he could achieve!
"Now show me your true power, or I'll crush you to smithereens before that happens, Flame Emperor!"
Drake mercilessly combined the might of his Draconic Soul with his weapons, as four combined attack struck down his foe as if he were nothing!
BAAAAAAAAMMM!!!
