Novel Full Chapter 778: Cassian Vs Kain (3)
Chapter 778: Chapter 778: Cassian Vs Kain (3)
The acidic breath lingered in the air, a foul mist of corrosion that hissed and sizzled against the arena floor. Vauleth stood at the edge of the blast zone, his nostrils flaring, crimson chest heaving. The fused Verdara-Light dragon staggered back, thick bark melting away from its left flank in globs of darkened pulp. Beneath the wooden plating, tangled vines thrashed violently, scorched and torn.
For the first time in the match, Kain felt hope flare in his chest.
And then it died.
New vines erupted from the wound, weaving together at impossible speed. Glowing golden sap surged through the tendrils, reinforcing and rearmoring the damaged area in seconds. As the last shreds of bark locked into place, the fusion creature exhaled calmly, as if nothing had happened.
Kain’s eye twitched.
“Of course,” he muttered. “Of course it regenerates.”
———————-
On the far side of the arena, Aegis grunted as another searing blast from the Solar Dragon slammed into his chest. A wave of heat pushed his defensive field to the limit, the translucent barrier buckling but holding.
Barely.
Chunks of the arena had already fused into obsidian glass from repeated exposure to the intense heat and pressure of their battle.
Aegis retaliated with an earth spike, but the Solar Dragon twisted mid-air, avoiding the projectile with lazy grace before retaliating with another sunburst that forced Aegis to raise both arms in defense.
Even with Kain’s support and spiritual power regeneration from Chewy, Aegis couldn’t hold out forever. The solar flames were not just fire due to the addition of the light and star attributes—they carried force, weight, concussive impact that rattled through his frame like a siege engine.
—————–
Meanwhile, the Ethereal Dragon danced through space.
Phasing.
Striking.
Vanishing.
The Vespid guards scrambled to regroup each time it blinked into existence, but each time it returned, another was struck down. Queen, though still airborne and commanding, looked visibly strained.
And yet she did not falter.
She was watching.
Observing.
And soon, she began to see the pattern. The Ethereal Dragon, cocky from its overwhelming dominance, had become predictable. Every third teleportation lasted longer. It always paused for a fraction of a second before rematerializing.
Queen sent the signal.
Vauleth, already anticipating her cue, turned mid-flight and unleashed another wave of corrosive breath—timed perfectly.
The Ethereal Dragon reappeared directly into the blast.
Its screech tore across the arena. Acid melted through its left wing and ribcage, splattering the ground with still sizzling flesh.
The crowd roared. Even the announcers gasped.
But before the cheers could build—
The wound pulsed.
Golden matter surged from within, growing like ivy across the scorched flesh. Bark-like plates grew over and began to heal the wound in seconds like a scab made of plant matter. The wing also repaired itself mid-air. Although now it was mismatched with the other one due to the holes in the wing being filled with a hardened amber-like substance. But since the Ethereal Dragon mostly teleported around the air, rather than flying, it wasn’t a big deal.
Kain’s eye twitched again—an involuntary response to the absurdity unfolding before him. Every time he gained ground, the battlefield seemed to tilt back in Cassian’s favor. The healing. The regeneration. The endless tide of resilience. It was frustrating—it was demoralizing. He’d fought hard, evolved his team, refined every detail of his strategy… only to watch even his most precise countermeasures melt away like they were nothing.
“OH COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK!”
—————–
Chewy, clinging to Kain, gurgled in frustration.
Through their bond, Kain sensed what Chewy had picked up. Vague but vivid impressions filtered into his mind—heat, pulsing energy, and the rhythmic hum of spiritual conversion. Kain focused, interpreting the images quickly.
Though he couldn’t transmit elaborately long sentences due to his young age and limited vocabulary, Kain understood him perfectly. This healing process… it came from the same place as the photosynthesis.
From the inheritance.
Queen’s healing was stronger, no doubt. She was still the best healer on the field. But unlike the vines, her restoration came at a steep cost. Every wound she mended drained her reserves. It wasn’t something she could keep doing endlessly. Even with Chewy’s support.
This new system Cassian’s team had? It didn’t tire. It didn’t slow. And worst of all—it made every hard-won injury feel meaningless.
But Kain didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity.
Another roar. The Coronaflow Dragon was closing in again, shrouded in a veil of water and light that distorted its outline. It was hard to track, hard to predict.
A pulse of alarm shot through Kain’s mind. A signal from the Threads of Destiny spiritual skill.
Kain didn’t wait. He sensed a black thread appear just to his left.
He dove to the right, rolling across the cracked stone just as the dragon’s claws raked through the air where his neck had been.
Sweat beaded on his brow. He fully activated the Threads of Destiny, white, grey, and black strands spreading across the arena and pulsing with probabilities. A black thread—danger. A white thread—opportunity. Neutral grey—uncertain outcomes.
That was the only reason he’d dodged in time. And it was also his greatest chance at grasping a fleeting opportunity for a turn around.
After the attack let Kain gain some distance from the Coronaflow Dragon, he took the time to examine the threads around the field.
The battlefield was a mess of grey and black threads. Meaning that even Fate was against him. The chances of him winning this battle were slim…
Majority of the threads around Bea were a dark grey–not terrible but not super optimistic either.
Bea continued her mental stalemate with the Dream and Nightmare Dragons. The three mental attribute spiritual creatures flickered in and out of each other’s mental fields. Bea countered every intrusion, deploying layered defences and decoys, while simultaneously protecting the minds of her allies.
The Dream Dragon attempted to hijack Chewy’s perception. The Nightmare Dragon conjured a false battlefield filled with writhing tendrils to confuse Queen’s guards.
Bea shut them down. One by one.
But she was starting to feel it. The constant mental pressure, the illusionary terrain, the split second timing. It was taking its toll.
Then Kain glanced at where Queen was. Unfortunately it was practically a black hole due to how dense the black threads were. It was only a matter of time before the Ethereal Dragon takes her and all her children out of the competition.
Vauleth was holding up okay, and based on the light grey threads surrounding him, the outlook of his battle, if nothing drastic changes, was neutral to positive.
However, it was Aegis battle that surprised Kain.
White.
Like a beacon in the dark, there was a single bright white thread amidst all of the grey and black. Letting Kain know that there was a single crucial turning point for victory and it laid with Aegis…if he could find and capitalize on it.
’What could it be?’
Then, something occurred to Kain.
He glanced at the regenerative vines on the fused Plant-Light dragon.
It was too effective. Too efficient.
But not perfect.
The Verdara civilization was supposedly quite powerful—but it had still fallen. Not to war. Not to disease or famine. Not to civil collapse.
But to the Abyss.
Kain’s eyes narrowed.
They had no true counter to Abyssal corruption.
Or if they did develop a counter to the Abyss, it came at too late a time for them to turn things around and avoid their inevitable extinction.
And if such a counter to the Abyss did exist, it was likely deep into the inheritance and not a surface level skill or knowledge.
There’s no way Cassian would have touched on it yet.
Kain sent a message.
’Aegis. Use Abyssal energy. Just a little. Enough to wound—but make sure you clean it up after. No traces. We can’t afford to be sloppy with so many watching eyes’
Kain didn’t want anyone to know that Aegis could use Abyssal energy. That power was considered taboo. If word got out, it would raise countless red flags, perhaps even paint a target on Kain’s back for the Empire’s forces. More than that, it would throw suspicion on his past, his contracts, and everything he’d built up until now. Aegis would need to ’clean up after himself’—no residual traces, no lingering aura. The battlefield must remain uncontaminated.
Aegis didn’t respond verbally. He just nodded—barely perceptible—and shifted his stance.
——————-
Aegis leapt forward, ducking beneath the Solar Dragon’s latest attack. In the next instant, his arm shot out—Now in the form of a blade—striking the Solar Dragon’s shoulder.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Abyssal energy pulsed.
The blade drove deeper, abyssal energy injected beneath the surface. But just as quickly, Aegis twisted his arm and retracted the corruption, pulling the invasive energy back into himself like a vacuum.
There was a faint hiss—then silence.
The Solar Dragon stumbled back, growling.
It didn’t seem exceptionally hurt. But that wasn’t the goal of the attack.
Soon it twitched.
The photosynthetic vines wrapped around its body spasmed violently.
Then began to wither.
As did the plant-like matter that was attempting to close its wounds.
Golden sap blackened. Leaves browned and crumbled. The bark-like scabs covering its wounds from fighting Aegis peeled off in curling flakes, revealing raw, vulnerable flesh beneath.
The photosynthesis—stopped.
The healing—gone.
Kain’s eyes widened before he smiled faintly.
Finally. A foothold.
Finally… a break.
There had been a single white thread on this field, and Kain had grasped it.