The very air seemed to crackle with the intensity of his power. His arms became a blur as he spun them, blood whips materializing and lashing out with devastating force. The crimson tendrils wrapped around the dragon's massive body, seeking any weakness in its armored hide.
But despite the ferocity of his assault, the whips seemed to do little more than annoy the beast, each strike barely leaving a mark on its scales.
Enraged by this persistent attack, the dragon unleashed a new stream of fire. The inferno erupted from its maw, a river of liquid flame that pursued Blake as he darted around the cavern. He pushed his speed to the limit, staying just ahead of the searing heat that threatened to consume him.
As he ran, Blake's mind raced even faster. 'There has to be something,' he thought desperately. 'Some weakness, some strategy I haven't seen yet.' His eyes darted over the dragon's form, searching for any hint of vulnerability.
Already Dumphries had tried to use his strange sword which was deceptively powerful to cut through the scale of the dragon but even that failed at the end. The knights were exhausted from using their powers and had been taken out.
But what more could he do? He had already pushed his blood manipulation to its limits. The dragon seemed impervious to his attacks, its scales were like impenetrable defense against even his most powerful techniques.
Blake gritted his teeth, frustration and determination warring within him. 'Think!' he urged himself. 'Rose is counting on you. Everyone is counting on you.' As he continued his frantic evasion of the dragon's fiery breath, he wracked his brain for any solution, any untried tactic that might turn the tide of this seemingly hopeless battle.
The heat at his back grew more intense, the dragon's aim improving with each passing second. Blake knew he was running out of time and options. The fire was spreading, if he continued going around like this it would catch up with the others and burn them.
He needed a breakthrough, and he needed it now. But as the inferno closed in and his strength began to wane, the crucial insight he so desperately sought remained maddeningly out of reach.
Then a realization struck him, Blake's eyes narrowed with grim determination. If he couldn't penetrate the dragon's defenses, he'd simply have to overwhelm them with sheer, brute force.
"I'm just gonna have to beat the pulp out of this lizard!!!!"
Without hesitation, Blake darted out of the cave, his speed leaving a trail of displaced air in his wake. He burst into the woods, coming to an abrupt stop just at its edge. There, he took a deep breath, centering himself for what was to come.
"Here goes,"
Then, he exploded into motion.
Blake blitzed back towards the cave, his body wreathed in a glowing red aura. Trees splintered and toppled in his path, unable to withstand the sheer force of his passage. To any observer, he would have appeared as nothing more than a red comet, a ball of destructive energy hurtling through the forest.
"If this one doesn't work, then I don't know if I'd be able to move again," he muttered to himself, doing the best repair he could. With no blood in days and the past year, his healing abilities weren't the best. And with this much damage done to himself, he'd need a long time to heal all by himself. But time wasn't something he could afford.
And in the blink of an eye, he took off. Like a fighter jet, he whipped through the bushes, not moving with grace but pure power. He could feel his skin peeling off but he kept reinforcing it with his blood, encasing his whole body.
"Faster..." He muttered mid run.
"Fasterrr!!!" He yelled out as he tore through, the cave getting close.
"Fasterrrr!!!!!!!!!" He growled.
Inside the cavern, the dragon's massive form loomed before him, still recovering from the previous onslaught. Blake's hand, blood encased in a red aura of energy, trembled slightly as he gathered his strength.
"Rarrrrrgh!!!!!!" With a primal roar, he surged forward, closing the distance in a blur of motion.
"Krakooooooom!!!!"
His punch landed directly on the dragon's jaw with a resounding crunch that echoed through the cavern. The force of the impact reverberated up his arm, sending shockwaves through his entire body. The dragon's head snapped back, scales cracking under the immense pressure of Blake's blow.
He landed with a thud on his back, scraping against the I'll treated rocky surface, body tumbling and rolling in itself. He regained vertical orientation moments later, scrapping his way back up to his feet.
This time, his hand felt mangled, every movement agonizing. He looked up and that was when the colour on his face faded.
"It's still alive?!!" He muttered as shock, disbelief, pain, they all came flooding in. What more? What more could he do? He gritted his teeth.
"I'll give more until there's nothing left!!"
He prepared to charge once more but just then he noticed not just his hand but his legs were torn from the strain of his relentless assaults. Flesh exposed out in the open with no signs of him healing.
Yet, before he could take another step, a sudden rumble filled the cavern. The dragon's massive head, wings still outstretched in defiance, began to fall. Blake watched in disbelief as the creature's head collapsed with a resounding thud, sending waves of dust swirling around the chamber.