The Second Match (2)
A short scream escaped Luke's lips as he tumbled from his saddle.
Even with his body enhanced by dark elf sorcery, he lay there dazed for quite some time, unable to regain his senses.
"Kee-eek!"
Hyper, having sent Luke flying with a single strike, let out a triumphant screech.
But the little dragon was in a precarious spot, like riding a tiger's back.
One wrong move, and the Similis Dragon might devour him whole.
"Hyper! Bite it!"
At Owen's command, Hyper sank his teeth into the Similis Dragon's shoulder.
Crunch!
The size difference was too vast for serious damage, but the agony was unavoidable.
"Shaaak!"
Caught off guard by the sudden bite on its shoulder, the Similis Dragon bucked wildly.
It smashed its head into nearby fir trees and lashed its tail in every direction.
Boom! Crash!
Even amid the chaos, Hyper clung to the shoulder without letting go.
True to a Murish Dragon's reputation—once it bites, it never releases.
Luke, sprawled nearby, scrambled desperately to avoid being trampled.
He half-crawled in his frantic escape.
"Grrgh! You coward! Using two dragons in a match?!"
Luke, having dodged in the nick of time, drew his sword and spat in fury.
It was a foul—a violation.
Unless special rules stated otherwise, a knight couldn't control two dragons alone.
Owen could hardly believe his ears.
"You've got some nerve, you bastard. Complaining after firing that crossbow."
Owen drew his own sword.
At the same time, he ordered Grenville to assist Hyper against the Similis Dragon.
"Harass it and keep your distance, Grenville! You can't win head-on!"
"Eung!"
As the battle intensified, the nearby fir grove turned into a wreck.
Trees toppled one after another, kicking up thick clouds of dust like fog in the forest.
Rumble! Boom!
In the midst of the mayhem, Owen and Luke faced off, long swords pointed at each other, eyes locked in a glare.
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The spectators watching the chaos unfold in the forest soon noticed something amiss.
"Wh-what's that?"
"The trees in the forest keep falling!"
The Surpuk Duke had explicitly forbidden damage to the forest in this match.
Violating the rules meant immediate disqualification for the offending Dragon Knight.
"Hmmm…"
The Surpuk Duke himself was observing the situation.
"What will you do, Your Grace?"
Bobart Count, standing beside him, inquired. The duke chuckled softly.
"Truth be told, I expected someone might wreck the forest. In a fierce dragon match, it's bound to happen."
"So, shall we let it continue?"
"No. What I wanted was self-control and patience—virtues always needed on the battlefield."
Regardless of who won or lost, the duke's goal was to assess the Dragon Knights' skills through the matches.
"Even if they fight brilliantly, rules are rules."
"Understood. Let's investigate what exactly is happening."
It was hard to judge immediately, as no one could see inside the forest.
But then, a series of dragon roars erupted from the woods.
"Gek-gegek-gek! Eung!"
"Shaaak!"
"Kee-eek! Kek! Kek!"
The cries startled the onlookers.
"Three? Three of them?"
Only two dragons had entered the forest.
So how could there be three roars?
Quick to sense the anomaly, the Surpuk Duke acted swiftly.
"Bobart."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Halt the match immediately. Things in the forest seem more serious than we thought."
"Right away!"
The horn signaling the match's suspension blared across the field.
Bwooo—!
The crowd buzzed, trying to grasp the situation.
The Dragon Knights, hearing the horn, reined in their mounts.
"Damn! Things were going so well."
Leon, who had his opponent pinned, felt a pang of regret.
After fumbling the previous match, he'd been eager to show his true colors this time.
But he soon realized something was wrong.
Even after the suspension horn, the noise from the forest didn't stop.
"Leire? What's going on in there?"
The Surpuk Duke's side was equally puzzled.
They'd issued the halt order, yet it was ignored.
If anything, the commotion inside seemed to intensify.
The clash of swords rang out continuously.
Then, screams erupted from the spectators.
A spectacular blaze suddenly shot up above the treetops.
"Flames!"
"It breathed fire!"
Per the match rules, fire-breathing was forbidden inside the forest.
Yet flames had erupted.
The fight within was clearly a desperate struggle to the death.
The Surpuk Duke issued another command.
"Bobart, send in the small dragons from the 1st Dragon Stable on standby. Have them enter the forest and stop the knights if they find them. If they don't comply, arrest them both."
"Understood!"
Drawing from experience, the duke added one more order.
"Deploy troops around the forest perimeter. The knight might kill his opponent and flee."
In past dragon matches, knights had slain foes in the heat of the moment and escaped.
Emotion or accident often led to such tragedies.
The duke, sensing trouble, aimed to prevent it.
"Owen, you rascal. What the hell!"
The Owen he knew was young but thoughtful and composed.
There had to be more to this.
The duke beckoned Russell Count nearby.
"Russell. The knight facing Owen is from the Albert family, right?"
"Yes."
"Send someone to their main house to check."
There were no identity issues on record.
But the order wasn't born of ignorance, so Russell nodded.
"I'll look into it thoroughly."
"Good. Come to think of it, it's odd for a Dragon Knight from the Alberts to appear out of nowhere."
While the Surpuk Duke hurried his commands, the battle inside the forest raged fiercely.
Owen's swordsmanship, in particular, left Luke genuinely stunned.
Despite a lifetime of swordplay and dark elf modifications boosting his physical prowess, he was outmatched.
"Impossible!"
Seizing the opening, Owen directed the Murish Dragon Hyper to attack.
"Krak!"
As Hyper clamped onto his arm, Luke's armor pierced in places, and he screamed.
In that moment, Owen miraculously got Grenville to spew fire.
Whoosh!
A massive blaze erupted, singeing the Similis Dragon and making it hesitate.
"Hyper! Back!"
Owen swiftly recalled Hyper, bringing the fight to a temporary standoff.
Both sides glared, neither daring to advance recklessly.
"You dog!"
Luke seethed with rage.
Escape was no longer an option.
His plan had been to quickly dispatch Owen in the forest and slip away.
But the suspension horn had blown, and chaos stirred outside.
Now he'd have to explain the uproar—no sneaking out.
"Owen! Since it's come to this, I'll kill you for sure!"
Luke steeled himself.
His life had ended the moment his body was altered.
Killing Owen would at least vent his grudge.
He began chanting the forbidden spell the dark elves had taught him. His eyes turned pitch black, and magical runes tattooed themselves across his cheeks.
A secret art usable only after body modification—it exploded one's potential.
It granted terrifying power briefly, but death followed inevitably.
With the plan in ruins, Luke abandoned any hope of survival.
"Owen! Prepare yourself!"
Sensing the lava-like aura surging from Luke, he bellowed fiercely.
But Owen's question gave him pause.
"Dark elf sorcery, eh?"
Owen recognized Luke's state at once.
The black eyes and rune tattoos on the cheeks.
He'd seen it a few times on past battlefields.
Rare, but those who used it turned the field into a bloodbath.
"You know of it? You?"
Luke halted the potential surge.
The dark elves handling his mods had said no one in the Empire knew of this art anymore.
"Yeah. Exploding your potential. Stop. You'll die if you use it."
"Kuhuhu. Shut up! My life's over anyway! I curse you, Owen! If I can get revenge, it's not so bad!"
Thick resentment dripped from Luke's voice.
Post-modification, he'd become a tool for the dark elves.
They controlled him with pain and addictive drugs.
He saw no future for himself.
Better this way. Dying here ends the torment.
He'd resigned inwardly, but Owen said something utterly unexpected.
"Don't give up. You can break free."
"...What? That's possible?"
"Yes."
"You're full of shit! Damn brat! How the hell could you restore me?!"
"I'm dead serious. It's possible. I know a mage who can solve this. I'll arrange it for you."
"Why should I believe that? Scared of my jaw now?!"
Owen shook his head.
He wasn't afraid.
Killing the man now was less useful than forcing a surrender.
I need him to spill the truth. There's some conspiracy he knows about.
Owen pressed on persuasively.
"Don't you want revenge on those who did this to you? You hate me, sure, but them too, right?"
"......"
"I've got business with them now because of today. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, no?"
Luke showed signs of hesitation.
A sudden glimmer of hope had appeared.
He'd been ready to die, but not to remain a dark elf puppet.
Sensing this, Owen sheathed his sword—a gesture of parley.
"I won't ask you to trust me. Let's trust our mutual interests. You get restored, I dig into this plot's mastermind. We can help each other. Better than dying together, right?"
"Cunning bastard. You say that, but..."
"Hey. If I can't fix you, just don't cooperate."
"Grr..."
As Luke wavered, commotion stirred around them.
"Over here!"
"Hurry!"
Riders on small dragons, per the Surpuk Duke's orders, were closing in.
Owen urged him.
"Come on, surrender to me. His Grace's men are coming."
"Surrender to you?"
"Yes. If you do, I can claim rights over my prisoner. Intervene in this mess. That's imperial knight custom."
If the duke's men captured him first, things would complicate.
"I have no pull in Bris court. Handed to them, I can't do shit. Hurry!"
Luke bit his lip hard.
The issue was thorny, but the answer simple.
"Fine. I don't wanna die like this."
Freedom from being a tool made him want to live.
But one problem remained.
"I need special drugs every few hours, or the pain kills me. Surrendering won't help if you can't fix that."
"I know. What drug it is."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Seen dark elves control people with it."
Owen had witnessed such horrors before.
It gave him knowledge for moments like this.
"I'll make the drug myself—no more begging those bastards."
"...Fine."
In the end, Luke aborted the sorcery.
His eyes returned to normal, the cheek tattoos fading.
"I surrender to you."
"Smart choice."
"Damn it. Must feel great, huh? Capturing a villain like me for the glory."
Owen didn't deny it.
"Since it's come to this, boost my rep a bit. But who the hell are you? I don't know you, yet you hate me so much."
"I'm Luke."
"What?"
"Forgot already? We met at the Thieves' Knight's fortress. Luke, Magnus's mercenary."
"Oh! The one who brought the heavy cannon! That failure led to this?"
"Ha... fucker. Because of you."
"My fault? You botched it yourself. Magnus, though!"
Owen hadn't imagined Magnus colluding with dark elves.
He was glad he'd spared and swayed Luke.
Otherwise, he'd never have learned the mastermind.
"This is a golden chance to take down that bastard Magnus. Never trust subordinates' betrayal."
"Shut up. Break your promise, and I won't cooperate."
"No worries. I don't lie."
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