Chapter 272 Burnout

Nothing was restrained anymore in that moment; the unseen chains holding the Dread's power crumbled away as a darkness so heavy unleashed from it, cracking the wind as the skin on the torn vessel began peeling away.

The Dread stood there, unrecognizable as 'human', even in the body it inhabited as all of its skin peeled away to reveal the tainted muscle beneath, blackened like rotten meat.

"I invite you to kill me, Dragonheart. I welcome such violence. Fill the world with that rage and so long as you continue fighting, I'll never die," the Dread spoke in maledictions.

Bloodlust was met with equal bloodlust; killing intent soared and became palpable in the air between the two combatants.

In an instant, Emilio bursted towards the entity with flaming speed, subverting the initial head-on approach he took to take his opponent's back, however–before he could reach the Dread's back, the entity countered with circular rims of darkness that expanded around it.

The rims spun around like metallic discs, cutting through anything in their way and leaving a path of decay through whatever they touched, forcing the Dragonheart to keep his distance.

Even as Emilio attempted throwing serene, white fireballs at the figure past the rotating rings, they were dispersed by a continuous emission of darkness that acted like a crushing force.

"You can't touch me!" The Dread howled, losing any semblance of Amon's voice as it became rough and gravelly.

In response, Emilio touched down on the ground, lowering himself into a runner's stance as he pressed his hands against the soil, allowing an emission of the snow-white inferno to magnify around himself. Condensing the flames he summoned, it became a blur of steam and outright heat, building up before the Dragonheart launched himself towards the Dread in the sky with such force it shattered the ground he stood on.

For a moment, it all seemed to fade to darkness; the Dragonheart accelerated to such heights that his physical form itself diminished, shifting completely into the bright-white flames as physical matter itself was discarded in that second between seconds.

In that propulsion, he surpassed the speed of light, reaching a threshold that could only be referred to as "the speed of fire".

The Dread had yet to so much as blink, not witnessing the Dragonheart even move from the ground before the figure had already pierced through the being's so-called "unbreakable" barrier.

Without being able to react to the unmatched speed, the Dread received a tremendous blow straight to its skinless face, shattering the rings that surrounded it with the coming shock wave.

Still, the tenacious entity caught itself, whipping around and shifting its own limb into an extended form of a whip, striking it against the Dragonheart in an unexpectedly quick counter.

"--Tch!" Emilio clicked his tongue as he raised one of his arms.

​ The black-limb whip cracked against the Dragonheart's forearm, completely piercing through his skin as a bleeding, red mark was left.

It was a blow felt in the marrow of his bones for Emilio, doing his best to hide how badly the whip-strike affected him as he rapidly charged forward with a flaming boost, sending his knee towards the Dread's gut. Before it could land, the Dread evaded by shifting into the form of shadows.

For the brief moment they parted, Emilio looked at his bleeding forearm, watching it tremble before he forced it to stay still.

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"Nrrgh!" The Dread growled.

"--Die!" Emilio shouted.

Spinning around again with blurred lines of inferno following his tracks, the Dragonheart unleashed a kick that was followed by a sea of white flames, roaring out through the wind as the Dread miraculously dodged at the last moment by dropping down.

The power wielded by Emilio, fleeting as it was as his own flesh burned beneath his skin as it was fuel for the flames, was something on an entirely new threshold.

It wasn't something he felt impressed by or proud of; it was a necessity for the survival of himself and the others–he knew well what price would come of forcing such devastating power from the depths of his body.

The Dread wasn't getting any weaker; in fact, the newfound desperation in its cornering forced the primordial evil to lunge forth as darkness rippled behind its massive speed, ripping the soil apart at the seams.

"I will not die! I am eternal! I am the manifestation of violence! Violence is eternal!" The Dread howled, tossing its hand forward as colossal slashes etched forward towards the Dragonheart.

Using his flaming propulsions, Emilio speedily guided himself away from the eviscerations, shooting forward like a rocket before tossing a cottage-sized fireball towards the entity.

There was no choice for the Dread but to move its body out of the path of the flames; nothing was able to intercept the immaculate heat they emitted.

"--Your flames burn with hatred! Do you hate me?! Would you hate a storm that swept through your home?!"

As the Dread howled out his words after leaping up to avoid the fireball, cocking his arm back to summon his own attack, the figure was intercepted as a flash of heat came in just as the knuckles of the Dragonheart slammed against its face.

"I would, you bastard!" Emilio screamed out, pushing his fist forward as he flung the entity back through felled trees.

That single punch had the rage of a lifetime and the heat of the sun behind it, sending a wave of heat against the Dread's face that charred its rotten flesh.

After crashing through a dozen trees, the dark-born figure picked himself up, hacking up blackened blood before the bones inside of his body readjusted themselves.

"Then you have only yourself to blame for shortening your life by chasing storms," the Dread spoke without an ounce of playfulness in his bellowing tone.

–The bloodlust of the figure spiked for a split-second before Emilio found himself failing to react to a surprising burst of speed taken from the Dread, whom he thought was too injured to pull off such a dash. Without having been seen moving a single step forward, the Dread appeared in front of the Dragonheart, sinking his fist into his stomach harshly.

After burning through so much of himself, Emilio was left a couple dozen pounds lighter; his frail, forcibly malnourished form left him unprotected against the powerful blows of the Dread, causing the punch to his gut rippling through his internal self.