Axel started limping forward, towards the dragon, his limp turning slowly turning faster, turning to a run, one hand hanging limply to the side, the other with the Gishiki.

He roared, the dragon roaring in response, a beam forming in its mouth as it approached, a few meters between them.

Boom, the beam flashed out of its mouth.

But Axel gritted his teeth, the light reflecting in his eyes and then he hit his leg on a rock, tripping, his body falling, the beam passing just above his head, he could feel the heat on his skin.

Axel smacked face first into the ground, dang it, he cursed and quickly rolled forward, emerging behind the dragon.

He rolled into recovery, one knee on the ground, he turned sharply, getting ready for the follow up from the tail but it didn't come.

He looked up and gulped hard, the tail was frozen mid air, raised ready to slam into him but it was paused, not just it, the dragon itself was frozen in time.

Axel suddenly felt a lump travel up his throat, the urge to cry coming up, he looked to his side, the Gishiki's hilt glowing green.

Been a while buddy, he muttered, but this is no time to cry, let's get out of here.

But he paused, looking up the tail hanging vulnerable, what almost cost him his life, the urge to reach up and cut it crawling into his brain.

And against all logic Axel slashed the katana across the frozen tail, a dark streak tearing across the tail, detaching the tip, but no blood flowed.

Then Axel turned around and broke into a sprint, but at that moment time returned to normal and the tail smashed into the ground, sending him flying up, the tip detaching, flung upward.

Axel reached out and touched the tip, then he disappeared, teleported, the tip and him all.

Axel appeared mid air and he fell, a cave a few meters away, the dark maw promising salvation, but he couldn't move, his body finally giving in to mana exhaustion, he could barely stay awake.

He reached out with his one hand, trying to pull himself towards the cave, but it was futile, he couldn't generate any strength, and worst he felt the ground trembling, wind whipping behind him.

Then boom, he was flung up by the wind, the sound attack again, mid air he saw the dragons crystals glowing changing from green to blue, lightning crackling around it.

Then boom, lightning struck from up, crashing into Axel, slamming him into the ground.

But at that second a blue glow from his necklace spread out, forming a dome, keeping the lightning away, but the lightning wasn't letting up, the dome slowly cracking, and Axel could only watch.

Then boom, the dome crack, broke into pieces and the full wrath of the lightning landed on his body, the force slamming into him so hard, the ground collapsed, as he fell into what appeared to be a room.

The force pushed him down, into the hole, his back slamming against the floor, for a brief second, the lightning letting up.

Then boom, it struck again, slamming him into the floor, his body breaking through the floor again, and again, about two times he broke through, before the lightning finally let up.

At this point his body was an absolute mess, mangled, torn open, flesh burnt, his hair completely burnt, blood flowing out of him like a river.

But his eyes didn't close, it just stayed open with a look of dread.

Of course at this point, he was long unconscious, from the second strike, he had passed out, already on the verge of death, if not for his power up a few days ago, he'd have been dead.

But even that wasn't enough to save him, his heart beat finally slowing down, about to give out.

But at that second, a dark miasma pulsed close to his heart, creating a faint beat, then another.

The white snake around his neck looked lazily at his heart, the black miasma, then it moved away from his body.

The black misama rapidly increased, the heart pulse increasing with it, then it slowly started crawling all around Axel, enveloping his body, forming a dark cocoon or egg.

Then the miasma flowed towards his left shoulder, at this point it was just charred flesh, the place that had taken th grunt of the damage for some reason.

The slowly the miasma covered the charred flesh, entering into muscles, replacing them, rebuilding charred tissues and cells.

All over his body, the same thing was happening, but the main focus was on his left shoulder.

Slowly tissue was repaired, muscles, and finally skin, all of it, the shattered bones fixed.

As this was happening, the remaining miasma gradually shrunk, spiraling towards his chest, infusing into it, turning it black, changing into something else.

Axel's body suddenly started floating as the miasma infused into his heart, his heart turning obsidian with each second, but the white snake suddenly dashed forward and hissed.

Then it bit his chest, and started glowing white, energy suddenly snaking from it into Axels chest, rushing towards his heart.

Then just before the last bit of flesh was consumed by the black miasma, the white energy touched his heart, and the black miasma recoiled instantly, revealing flesh beneath.

Suddenly his heart started glowing white, beating rapidly, the black miasma moving back with each second, till it shrunk to a black patch behind his heart, and finally the light died down.

The snake dislodged its fangs and slittered away, wrapping itself around Axels neck again.

Then Axels body crashed onto the ground with a thud, his flesh reformed, signs of the injuries all completely gone, but he wasn't completely human again, his shoulder having patterns like a snake scale.

For a second nothing happened, Axel just lay still, then gasp, his eyes opened as he jerked to a sitting position.

His left eye was completely black, except for a white slit in the middle, definitely not the eyes of a human.

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