Michael felt his stomach and intestines be crushed a split second before he was flung by the attack's power. Excruciating pain flooded his mind and body, but the chanting in his mind remained clear.

Heal.

Waves of green mana coursed through him as he flew through the darkness. His organs and tissues crawled over themselves, mending in real time to alleviate his pain. Even as he landed back on his feet, no idle thoughts crossed Michael's mind. All that existed was the continuously decreasing agony.

[Your blood continues to burn.]

He barely even registered the System message. Michael raised his gaze to look at Veilthar, but once their eyes met, the Umbra disappeared again. After unhesitatingly activating Lightspeed, Michael shot to the side to dodge the incoming punch. The enormous fist went through his previous position, but this time, Veilthar didn't stop there. The dark-skinned giant took another step forward and punched at Michael again. At the same time, the darkness around him moved and pierced at his vital spots, including every single major organ. Michael widened his eyes and hurriedly leaped backward with Lightspeed, barely weaving between two of the dark spikes, then looked at Veilthar with a shaking gaze.

The entity was now willing to chain attacks together, one after the other.

There was no room in Michael's mind to consider why that was the case. According to his expectations, Veilthar disappeared again. Michael barely had the time to move before the huge fist slammed on his left side again, shattering his entire left arm, which had been in the way, alongside his ribcage. As he flew through the darkness, he only cast Heal again. Once he touched the ground, he was forced to handle another attack.

Veilthar's slight change to his combat style changed everything. From the moment he started stringing his attacks together beyond just using the darkness for offensive support, Michael's injuries piled up far faster than at any point before. Just like before, he no longer had any idea how many times every single bone in his body had been broken, or how many times the darkness had sliced through his flesh to reach his organs. There was no meaning to knowing that. All that mattered was the opponent in front of him.

The battle continued. Despite Michael's growth in real time, Veilthar's fists and legs never stopped being "just fast enough to react to," and "just deadly enough to barely survive." This endless onslaught was adorned by a single System message that continued to appear.

[Your blood continues to burn.]

[Your blood continues to burn.]

This notification brought Michael no comfort or expectations. It was simply there.

At the same time, his entire body's screams became louder and louder because of Lightspeed's burden. Every step tore the muscle fibers of his legs and lower back, and his arms would bleed every time he raised his staff. Just like he'd done back when he had been hunting Lohann, he tried to keep Lightspeed's aftereffects in check by spamming Heal as much as he could. He found middling success. At the very least, the rate at which his body broke down slowed down. Given the situation, the pain was inconsequential. All that mattered was that he could keep going a while longer.

Eventually, the attacks slowed down. Michael was forced back by a single, heavy punch, feeling both of his arms break. The Elder Chief's Staff fell to the ground, but no further attacks sought to exploit that opening. He quickly cast Heal and looked at Veilthar with tired eyes. The Umbra's condition was pristine, and he was staring at Michael with a neutral expression.

"You have some time to recover," Veilthar stated simply.

Michael narrowed his eyes, heaving, then turned his focus inward, finally with some room to think.

My mana's almost depleted.

How long had they been fighting for? Ever since he had awakened to his Dragon blood, he had never run out of mana. This battle had certainly been the most difficult one in his life, but even then, he didn't know how much time had been necessary to make his reserves almost empty. However, they couldn't have been fighting for too long, since Lightspeed's burden would have grown to be impossible to deal with. Was his mana level this low because he had been forced to cast Heal so many times? He smiled bitterly.

I guess it's now the Skill I'm most familiar with.

His familiarity with Edge of Desperation and Resonance had also increased considerably, making him realize that Edge of Desperation had a cooldown of at least five minutes once activated. Michael looked at Veilthar again. The Umbra was staring at him while floating in the air with his legs crossed. He sighed and made his perception take a good look at his body. As expected, it was only a step away from being completely ruined. Michael started casting Heal until his mana ran completely empty, then sat down as well, keeping his Dragonheart active. Michael looked at his newly-restored skin. It was almost as red as blood, and it didn't seem to be going back to normal. Smoke unceasingly drifted above it.

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[Your blood continues to burn.]

Michael stared at the notification that had appeared at the edge of his vision. At his will, it became bigger and moved to the center of his line of sight. He then looked at Veilthar.

He's doing this on purpose.

The Umbra was clearly powerful enough to instantly kill Michael if he so desired. Victory or defeat weren't truly important here. For some reason, Veilthar was trying to get Michael's Dragon blood to manifest itself once more. The reason why was a bit unclear. The obvious answer seemed to be that the entity was simply trying to make Michael stronger, but that wasn't the only possibility.

He might be expecting something to happen once I reach whatever he wants me to reach. Depending on what it is, he might choose to kill me anyway.

Did the Umbra expect Michael to awaken to a specific kind of power? And what if he didn't? There were too many variables and unknown factors for Michael to assume that Veilthar was simply trying to help him, especially because the Umbra was in the middle of analyzing whether he would give up his life for Michael's sake or not.

Michael lowered his gaze as his thoughts turned to the people outside the Abyss. Since he didn't know how much time had passed, all he could guess was that the Tutorial wasn't over yet. Were his friends fine? What about his mother? The odds were small, but had something happened while he was away? Would he even get one last chance to talk to Tairy, given where he currently was?

Lost in his thoughts, Michael barely noticed time go by. Once Veilthar moved, however, he flinched and hurriedly stood up.

"Time's up," the Umbra said simply before immediately disappearing into the darkness.

Michael activated Lightspeed with a bitter smile before moving, feeling an attack graze his chest a fraction of a second later. The graze resulted in a deep cut, but he didn't even blink.

Let's do this.

That was the last line that went through his mind before all thoughts disappeared. He focused solely on the fight. Once more, he got back to attacking, dodging, and defending against the endless waves of incredibly powerful attacks. Even as his body got damaged over and over, he didn't stop.

This pattern repeated itself several times. Once Michael's mana reserves reached the bottom, Veilthar would give him an hour to recover. Once time was up, they would fight again. Each time this happened, Michael got a bit better at recovering as much mana as he could as quickly as possible, but it was impossible for him to return to peak condition within the time he'd been given. Every time he reached a resting period, his body felt a bit weaker than in the previous one. An unknown amount of time later, Veilthar started giving Michael longer rest periods, though Michael had no idea how to measure time within the Abyss. Still, Veilthar's attacks never stopped being 'barely manageable.'

As this cycle continued over and over, something changed.

It happened as Michael was hit in the chest by Veilthar's enormous right fist, his ribs and sternum cracking under the weight of the attack, which had hit him right over the heart. Michael's blood-red skin suddenly became boiling hot, the trails of smoke consolidating into a veritable fog that surrounded him. Michael heaved as his temperature surged, seemingly without limit. He felt like he was on fire. His blood boiled under his skin, and his wounds followed suit. It was as if he had abruptly caught fire. No, like he had been thrown into magma. A few System messages appeared in the center of his vision.

[Your blood has ignited completely once more.]

[You have awakened to your true potential as a Dragon's Descendant. Your Dragonheart finally accepts your body.]

[The 'Dragon's Descendant' Title has changed.]

[The 'Draconic Blessing' Title has changed.]

[Young Draconic Human (E) has become Draconic Human (D).]

[Your Majesty makes itself known.]

Michael ignored the pain from his wounds and only stared at the System notifications like a starving man in the face of a feast. Another one appeared in front of him, but this one shone in bright gold. The edges were even adorned with the images of flying dragons, each one different from any of the others.

[Majesty

Will of Defiance: through the blood you shed and the tears you cried, you have proven yourself as a true descendant of the Dragons. You have withstood their boiling blood filled with ancestral power, and never stopped fighting for what you believed in. The question of why this happened to you never left your mind. To defy the fate you've been handed, to fight against the scenario you were placed in without your agreement, you would go against the gods themselves.

Passive Effects: empowers all magic and magic-related Skills, including all spells, by 12%. Increases all stats by 10%. Increases the effectiveness of all Titles by 8%. Increases the effectiveness of all training by 15%.

Active Effects: upon activation, grants the user and all considered allies within fifty meters the 'Rebellion' buff for forty seconds.

* Rebellion: increases the effectiveness of all Skills by 10%. Costs 20% maximum mana. Once time is up, the user alone will not benefit from the Passive Effects for 10 seconds. When fighting against celestial beings, gods, Demons, and Mythical Beasts, the effects are amplified to 15% and the penalty is removed.

* Unlocks the 'Will' stat.

* This Majesty can change over time.]

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