Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

Rayne was falling towards the Slayer like a meteor. The magic-fuelled mechanical construct saw her coming but it showed little to no concern. It didn’t try to dodge or guard against her. It simply let her ram into and the two went tumbling in the air before crashing to the ground after falling for a few hundred metres.

The Slayer was unharmed from the crash. Shallow scratches covered its body but since none of those “wounds” affected its core circuits, it was technically unharmed.

“Not even a dent…” Rayne muttered grimly. She was also largely unharmed but unlike the Slayer, scratches were considered as wounds to a mortal being of flesh and blood. However, these minor wounds quickly disappeared, leaving not even a scar.

This was the ability she had obtained after becoming Henry’s consort, or so she believed. If that wasn’t the case, then she had no other explanation for her newfound ability. In addition, she also realised she had become stronger, faster, and significantly more durable. Otherwise, she would have been mortally wounded from such a long fall.

“I definitely should have surrendered myself to him sooner,” Rayne admonished her past self. There was no doubt she had fallen in love with Henry but that didn’t mean she was no longer an individual that revered strength.

The Slayer rushed at Rayne all of a sudden. It wasn’t an unexpected course of development but it was surprising that it suddenly took off dashing. There were tens of metres between it and Rayne but it closed the gap at a speed that any ordinary individual would consider it as instant.

The Slayer threw a straight punch. It was slow. Rayne saw the fist coming before it was even thrown. However, she dodged the punch instead of receiving it. When the punch went past her, Rayne felt the shockwave grazing her cheek. She knew she made the right decision to dodge instead of guard. No doubt she would have broken a few bones.

Rayne countered immediately, sending an uppercut into the Slayer’s ribs if it even had any. The Slayer jerked back from the punch but that was all there was. It retaliated with a joint hammer fist of both its hands clasping together.

Rayne hopped away from the attack and the ground where she had just been standing caved in from the Slayer’s strength, forming a small crater.

“By the gods…” Rayne gasped. She was glad speed wasn’t one of the Slayer’s specialities. This fight would have been over if it was fast on top of being incredibly strong.

Then, dark red energy began to glow and boil all over its body. The Slayer splayed open its right hand and energy started amassing in its palm.

Rayne didn’t know what the Slayer was attempting but her guts told her it was dangerous and that was all she needed to know. Rayne shot towards the Slayer and kicked at its hand.

The conjuration was interrupted but the Slayer didn’t seem perturbed. It simply responded accordingly. It reached forward, attempting to grab Rayne but the Zeva was far too quick.

The moment Rayne dodged the Slayer’s grasp, she countered with a hook to its face. It staggered but that was the extent of the damage. The Slayer once again responded accordingly. Rayne dodged its attack and countered with a punch to its belly. The result was the same. It faltered a bit but there was no actual damage done to it.

The violent dance continued in such a rhythm and manner. Rayne would keep herself close to the Slayer so as to not let it cast any spells. Since the Slayer was not faster than Rayne, it had not landed a single hit on her, while Rayne had landed multiple punches on the Slayer.

Still, the fight was a stalemate. Rayne had no way of breaking through the Slayer's tough defence and the Slayer could not hit the cunning and slippery Rayne. At this rate, the victor would be the Slayer as Rayne would run out of stamina and breath before the Slayer would run out of Murux.

“Damn it… is there nothing I can do to—” Rayne suddenly felt a tingle on the tips of her fingers. Her hands had turned warmer than usual before she knew it. Taken aback by the sudden and slight change, Rayne nearly lost her head as a result but her agility and speed prevailed.

She created some distance from the Slayer after dodging the punch that nearly took her head. She looked at her hands, which were now letting off smoke. Her hands were searing hot but strangely enough, she didn’t feel any pain from the extreme heat.

“Could it be…” Rayne came to a realisation just as the Slayer hurled itself at her.

Rayne thrust her palm forward and reimagined the flames that Henry often spewed from his mouth. She recalled the overwhelming and oppressive sensation whenever Henry unleashed his flames.

The Slayer’s claws were inches away from her neck when a bolt of fire shot out from her palm, striking the Slayer square in the chest. The firebolt sent the Slayer tumbling across the ground.

Rayne scoffed in amazement and disbelief with a grin. “I love you so much, Henry,” she muttered in a stupor of her other newfound ability.

The Slayer rolled around on the ground instead of quickly getting to its feet. It fumbled with its burning chest when it failed to smother the flames. It pried its chest off of its torso as the last resort. The internal circuits of cogwheels and pipes were exposed to the elements.

As Rayne wondered if such drastic action was necessary, she noticed the burning chest piece of the Slayer was gradually turning into molten steel. She was once again reminded of how fearsome Henry was, not that she had been underestimating him, this sight really brought home the fact that Dragons were the original Apex Predators.

“Its core is exposed now. This should be—” Rayne wanted to say “easy” but what she saw made her retract her words.

The Slayer had grown a new patch of “skin”, precisely the part where it had torn out.

At the same time, Rayne noticed the decrease of the Slayer’s Murux reserves. Evidently, it was using its fuel to repair itself. Now, the fight had become a battle of attrition, as long as Rayne herself did not make a fatal mistake.

Perhaps sensing its plight, the Slayer became even more aggressive in its assault. The red glow flared and boiled all over its body as it charged at Rayne.

She shot a firebolt but it ducked under the flame projectile without losing speed. Rayne forwent her newfound ability and fell back onto her fists. Barely a few blows were exchanged when she felt something was amiss. She evaded a hook but not completely. She ended up with a graze on her cheek.

The Slayer had become faster and stronger.

“It’s burning through its power source to gain an edge over me,” Rayne surmised. “I’m honoured.”

From then on, Rayne was forced into a defensive position. She couldn’t get a punch in as she was too busy dodging the Slayer’s attacks. She no longer had the opportunity to counter. The Slayer was quick to recover its momentum after it sent out an attack.

The unfavourable rhythm and flow went on for a couple of minutes before things finally took a turn for the worse. The Slayer landed a punch on Rayne, on her solar plexus. She was sent flying through trees until a boulder stopped her momentum but that boulder crumbled after absorbing the collision force.

Such strength would have turned anyone into a pulp but Rayne wasn’t just anyone. She was the bride of the Dragon God’s champion. It would take a lot more than a single punch to defeat her.

Rayne rose to her feet in seconds after she crashed into the boulder, albeit with some difficulty. She groaned when she tried to take a step. She clutched her chest. Something was cracked within her body but she wasn’t worried. After a short while, the pain disappeared and she could move with ease again.

But she had no time to celebrate. The Slayer was already upon her once she had recovered. She moved away from a slash of the Slayer’s sharp nails. Even if they weren’t sharp, it could probably still “slash” her given the force the Slayer poured into each of its attacks.

Before Rayne could retaliate, the Slayer had already thrown another punch.

“There’s no other option here,” Rayne muttered and raised an arm in front of her face. Her arm absorbed the punch. True to her expectations, her arm bent in a gruesome way. Instead of agonising over it, she used this opportunity to launch her counter. And it wasn’t just a simple punch.

She splayed her hand open right in front of the Slayer’s face and cast a firebolt. Since a spellcast required some time, the Slayer had ample time to plan its manoeuvre. The firebolt ended up only hitting half of its face but that was enough to throw its bearing off.

Rayne did not let go of this opportunity. She threw the rest of its bearings off by burying her fist into the other half of its face. The Slayer went stumbling but it didn’t lose its footing. It attempted to retaliate but Rayne saw through its move and kneed the Slayer in its torso before its fist could reach her.

The Slayer threw a punch in another attempt but Rayne battered it away and returned the favour. The Slayer swung its fist backwards but Rayne caught its arm and targeted its upper arm and shoulder. She endured a few punches in return that shattered quite a number of her bones. She persisted and continued striking the arm she caught until she tore it off its torso.

Sensing the tremendous disadvantage it was suddenly plunged in, it was the Slayer’s turn to distance itself from Rayne. It assessed its damage briefly and began to repair itself.

As for Rayne, she was also recuperating, healing the heavy injuries that she suffered in return for breaking the Slayer’s arm. Her healing factor was quicker than the Slayer’s. She grinned and thrust herself at the Slayer once she was back to full health.

The Slayer was still repairing itself when Rayne came for it. The Slayer gave up repairing itself and focused on facing Rayne, which it could barely do with only one arm.

Rayne threw away all notions of techniques and focused solely on brute force and speed. In other words, she unleashed a barrage of punches on the Slayer. The loss of its arm not only cut down its offensive power but also its defensive strength as the weight of its body was now imbalanced.

Rayne wasn’t as strong as she was in her prime but that was only if she judged herself based on her overall strength of all combat aspects. Currently, her physical brute strength was twice as strong as it was in her prime. Though a single punch to the Slayer didn’t even dent its body, the same couldn’t be said if it was a flurry of continuous punches. Her punches began to cave the Slayer’s own body.

The Slayer’s remaining arm could only withstand so much. Eventually, its right arm was utterly crushed and mangled by Rayne’s torrent of fists. Now, it was completely defenceless. With a grin wider than ever, Rayne stormed and pulverised the Slayer until it was nothing more than a pile of scraps. Only after making sure that the Slayer was no longer moving or twitching, did Rayne stop her pummelling.

Rayne herself wasn’t without wounds. Her knuckles were cracked and bloodied as a result of her own incessant force. Her skin was not as tough as Henry’s.

“Damn,” came a voice from behind Rayne.

She didn’t need to turn her head to know who was behind her. She simply let her exhaustion take over. Her body fell backwards but a pair of arms were there to pull her into an embrace.

“You did well,” Henry said as he wrapped Rayne in his arms tightly.

“Oh, I did wonderful.” Rayne chuckled. “I fucked her toy up.”