Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.

Chapter 73

— Dragons are coming back, and you're a born dragonslayer. —

Delphine to Edzard after he killed Sahloknir.

The images began to become visible in the eyes of all those present a second after everything went white from the explosion. The first thing they saw was that, instead of being at the base that belonged to Euclid, they were now in a huge crater.

"What happened?" asked Karna, looking at the place with astonishment and terror, not fully understanding what had happened.

"We were attacked by a powerful magical attack." replied Baraqiel, observing how the place was under a light blue protective barrier in the shape of a whirlpool. Shifting his gaze from the barrier, he noticed that the one who had raised it had been Edzard, who had his hands extended, with a sphere of magic of the same color as the barrier between them.

"It wasn't just a magical attack." Edzard commented, capturing the attention of those present.

"What do you mean?" asked Karna, approaching his new "boss".

"This has been caused by the breath of a dragon."

Edzard's response caused everyone who heard it to freeze. Fear began to arise in some of the Fallen who were with them inside the barrier, as the level of destruction outside the barrier could only be caused by a high-ranking dragon, one that must have, at least, the rank of "Dragon King".

"Baraqiel." Edzard called quickly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before his barrier suffered another attack and, due to the rush he had had in conjuring it, the barrier was not very stable. That meant that if it received another attack of that caliber, it would be instantly destroyed.

Hearing his name called, the cadre of the Grigori looked at Akatosh's son.

"Yes?" asked Baraqiel.

"Move all the remaining capsules and get out of here as quickly as possible." Edzard said firmly, implying that he would face the dragon that had attacked them.

The way Edzard spoke surprised Akeno's father, but that didn't last long. He knew that the boy was a veteran of wars and battles, so he could keep his composure very well. Besides, he knew that the enemy who had attacked them was a dragon, and this young man was a dragon slayer. Therefore, if there was someone who could deal with that lizard, it was him.

"Okay." Baraqiel replied, using the same tone of voice as Edzard. However, despite his words, the Cadre did not move from his place, but looked at Karna, who was standing next to Edzard. "What about the boy? Where will he go? Will he come with us? Or will he stay with you here?"

"Neither he will go to my kingdom." Edzard quickly replied, then looked at Karna. "Karna, put your hand in my pocket."

Edzard's request puzzled both Karna and Baraqiel, as neither knew why he was asking for that. Something that Edzard quickly noticed, so he explained that in his pocket there was a coin, which Karna would use to travel to his pocket kingdom.

When they finally understood what Edzard wanted to do, Karna quickly took out the coin.

"Is this it?" asked Karna, amazed, as it was the first time he had seen a coin like that.

"Yes." Edzard replied, who looked to one side and saw how Baraqiel, who had left after Karna got the coin, was ordering his subordinates to hurry up.

"I see… And what do I have to do with it?" asked the young human.

"Squeeze it-" Edzard's words died in his mouth when he saw how the entire sky was covered with a sea of flames. Seeing this attack, Edzard looked around and saw that he would not be able to save anyone who was there, as the flames would envelop them instantly once the barrier broke.

Knowing that he could do nothing for lack of time, he came up with a crazy idea at that moment, but it was the only one he had. So, moving his lips, he let out a shout.

"TIID! KLO! UL!"

Edzard's thu'um subjected time, making everyone around him stand still, moving at such a speed that a snail. The son of Akatosh's view changed as he shouted, he could no longer see the world in colors, but he saw it in various shades of blue. However, that didn't matter to him, because he knew that, despite how powerful this Thu'um was, his new physiology prevented its effect from lasting long.

So, moving quickly, he stopped creating his barrier and brought his right hand to his Shadowkey, which he had dropped when he activated the barrier. Moving it, he made use of something he had been hoping to use or rather, check for a long time, so, he made the portal through which the Grigori had been passing close. After closing that portal, he quickly opened another portal, but this one was at the feet of all the Grigori.

'I should have done this from the beginning.' Edzard thought, because with that movement, all the Grigori would return to their place of residence in the underworld. With that solved, he quickly moved his left hand towards Karna and, in one movement, broke the coin he had given him.

Those were the only actions he could take, because a second later time returned to normal.

"AAAAHHHH!" was the scream of surprise that the Grigori let out as they were swallowed by the portal of the Shadowkey.

"What's happening?!" Karna shouted as he was dragged by the purple vortex that had been generated by the breaking of the septim he had in his hand.

Before the attack could engulf them, the Grigori and Karna disappeared from the place. Seeing himself alone, Edzard closed the portal of the Shadowkey and looked at the sky. When he did, he saw that the flames were just a few meters from his face, which allowed him to feel the scorching heat that came from them.

'How long has it been since a dragon almost scorched me…?' Edzard thought as he let the flames get closer. Even so, he did not feel fear, because he only needed to open his mouth to save himself.

BOOOMMMMM!

A huge explosion erupted when that sea of flames hit the ground, engulfing everything that was in that place.

The explosion, visible from several kilometers around, was being observed by a single being at that moment. This being was the same one that had caused it and was currently flying over the place.

"It seems that the job they assigned me is already done." said the being, whose identity was Crom Cruach, with some disappointment to himself.

Crom Cruach was, without a doubt, the most powerful evil dragon of today. His power was comparable to that of the celestial dragons at their best, which made him one of the most powerful dragons today. Crom's appearance was, strangely, that of a tall, attractive human male with long hair, which was a mix of colors between black and gold. His eyes were heterochromatic, with his right eye being gold and his left eye black. He wore a long black coat with pants and shoes of the same color. When one of the many air currents generated by his attack moved his hair, his pointed ears became visible. Currently, he was flying with his wings, which were black.

The most powerful evil dragon had been sent to this place to eliminate the base that was here. The reason for this was that Euclid had heard that the alarms of this place had been activated, so he knew that this place was being attacked and, as he did not want his experiments to be known for the moment, he sent Crom to destroy this place immediately. However, the dragon had decided to go for a walk somewhere else before, so he had been a little late in arriving.

When he arrived, he realized that this place was being looted and, feeling that there was no one of value down there, he decided to eliminate the whole place. Although he was surprised to see that barrier appear, as he did not expect someone to be able to stop his breath attack. At this, he got a little excited and, after waiting a few prudent moments, he launched a more powerful attack. However, unlike the previous time, this time the barrier disappeared, and his attack hit. This made him feel disappointed, as he expected more.

"It seems that there is nothing more to do here-" the words he was saying died in his mouth when out of nowhere he saw how something was shot out of the place where that laboratory had been before. That figure dissipated the smoke that was there, being so fast that Crom Cruach himself was surprised.

That figure stopped a few meters away from where he was right now. At first, he didn't know who it was, as it was covered in smoke. However, that didn't last long, as all the smoke that covered it dissipated when he made a quick movement with his hand.

Before the eyes of the evil dragon, who was surprised, appeared the figure of a young human of no more than twenty years old.

"You know, it's kind of rude to throw fire breaths just like that." said the young man with a somewhat mocking voice, while looking at him with the strangest eyes he had seen in his long existence.

Upon hearing him, a smile began to form on Crom's face, as he realized that this young human was completely unharmed. This was something he did not expect, but he did not care, as it was an indication that this young man was strong and perhaps, would be a good opponent.

Edzard's body felt a slight chill when he saw how a bloodthirsty smile formed on his enemy's face. Although that chill did not last long, it was enough for Edzard to realize that the dragon in front of him was not just anything but was one that could be on the same level as the brother he "loved" the most, Alduin.

That revelation was enlightening for Edzard, who did not know if there was any dragon with the power to match Alduin alive, as the only ones who could fall into that power range were Albion and Ddraig, but both were sealed. However, right now he was seeing the one he could consider the version of this world of his brother and, if he was honest with himself, right now he felt some anxiety.

'Third Heavenly Dragon? my balls… that title is not entirely mine yet, not until I manage to defeat this bastard…' thought Edzard as he looked at the dragon in human form who was in front of him.

The mental mention of his title, one that he did not like so much, as it reminded him that one of the reasons for leaving Nirm had been the possible succession war of the Empire, made him feel that it was something banal. Even so, he knew that titles in this world had even more weight than in Nirm, so keeping it helped to maintain a strong status in the Kuoh pact.

"It seems that I was wrong…" said the dragon in front of Edzard with a playful voice. "I thought that the one who had built that barrier was someone who only did it by luck, but it seems that it was not… It was you who built that barrier, right?"

Upon hearing the dragon's question, Edzard smiled, as he knew that many tended to underestimate him thanks to his magic tattoo hiding his aura and power, at least a part. Deciding to continue the chat with the dragon a moment longer before going to blows, he replied.

"It may be, as it may not be." The son of Akatosh responded ambiguously, to give himself an aura of mystery.

"I see, I suppose I will have to find out." The dragon pointed out, raising a hand. "But before we start hitting each other, I think we should introduce ourselves. At least so you know who will kill you."

Upon hearing him, Edzard smiled with amusement. "Sounds good… my name is Ysmir, nice to meet you."

Edzard felt slightly confused when he realized that the dragon's eyes opened slightly when he heard the name that had been given to him by the monks of High Hrothgar. However, his surprise would increase when he heard the words the dragon would say.

"Ha, ha… ha… HA, HA, HA, HA!" The dragon in front of Edzard began to burst into laughter, while he brought a hand to his face, covering his eyes. "I can't believe it! Of all the individuals I could come across just like that, it had to be you! The so-called «Ultimate Dragon Slayer»!"

The mention of that title, a title that only very few knew, as only the leaders of the pact, as well as the members of his group, knew of that title given to him by Delphine when he killed Sahloknir in Kynesgrove years ago, caused Edzard to be greatly surprised. The surprise he had felt had been such that unconsciously he took a step, or in this case, stepped back a little.

"H-h-h-how do you know that title?" asked Edzard once he regained his composure.

Upon hearing Edzard's question, the dragon just smiled amused.

"That's for me to know and you not to… However, I will tell you my name… my name is Crom Cruach, the Dragon of the Crescent Circle."

When Edzard discovered the identity of the dragon in front of him, he was surprised again, as he knew who he was. Because he was a Dovah, he had wanted to learn more about the dragons of this world, so he asked his best source of draconic information he had, Tiamat. The dragoness had told him about the types of dragons there were, highlighting a particular class, the evil dragons.

'The strongest and one, if not the only, of the evil dragons that are still alive or active.' Thought Edzard as he remembered what Tiamat had told him about these dragons.

According to what Tiamat had told him, the evil dragons were stronger than the dragon kings, but were consequently much more violent. This made him associate them with the Dovah, who despite Alduin's defeat, continued to attack mortals just because they could. This made Edzard decide to mark them as possible targets to hunt, of course that was before Tiamat told him that most of them had been eliminated. Upon learning of this, Edzard felt somewhat relieved, as it was more than certain that these dragons would join the daedra almost without thinking.

'And apparently I was right.' Thought Edzard, as he realized that the only way Crom Cruach knew that title was because he was allied with a daedra… one that seemed to have a kind of obsession with him.

"Now that we've finished with the introductions… How about we get to the heart of the matter? I suppose you must know why I'm here, right?"

"Sure, you don't have to be stupid not to see it."

"Good, I'm glad you understand." Crom whispered calmly for a second later to disappear from the place, reappearing in front of Edzard.

The eyes of Akatosh's son opened in surprise when he saw Crom Cruach's fist approaching his face.

'He's fast-' was the only thing Edzard could think before his body was forced to turn to one side, courtesy of the blow he had just received.

Edzard's body bent to the left side due to the blow… or at least that's what it seemed, but the truth was that the blow had not connected, as Edzard had managed to react in time to dodge it. Upon dodging, he decided to use the wind wave that was generated by his enemy's attack to be able to take power from the inertia, so while he was spinning, he moved his right leg, delivering a kick directly to Crom Cruach's face.

Edzard's attack was powered by two things: first, the inertia of the movement that Edzard had made to dodge the evil dragon's attack and, second, a thin layer of frost magic. The attack seemed to hit Crom Cruach's neck, but before it hit, the evil dragon covered himself using his arm, stopping the blow dead.

A large shock wave was generated now Crom stopped Edzard's attack.

"You're good." Crom Cruach praised Edzard, as the young man had managed to use his own attack to attack him, something not many could do.

"Thank you." said Edzard with a smile at Crom's praise, but not only that, but a single second after speaking, he moved his other leg, kicking Crom Cruach's abdomen.

Seeing this new attack, the evil dragon quickly covered himself with his right leg. After that, he quickly moved his hand with which he had previously attacked and launched another blow against Edzard, this time aiming at his chest.

When Edzard saw the attack coming, he quickly covered himself with his arms, forming an X over his chest. Now Crom's fist hit, Edzard flew a couple of meters, but managed to stabilize.

When he managed to stabilize, he looked at his arms and shook them slightly, as he had felt the pain of the blow.

"You're really good, Ysmir!" shouted Crom Cruach at the top of his lungs as he approached Edzard flying at high speed.

Seeing him arrive, Edzard also threw himself at him, as he could not afford to stay in a defensive position against such an opponent.

Both moved at high speed, ending up meeting in the middle of the distance that separated them. When they saw each other face to face, they began to exchange blows at such a speed that it would not be possible to see for any supernatural being.

The blows came and went, being entirely neutralized by both, as so far neither could land a sure blow on the other. The force of each impact was of such caliber that shock waves of such magnitude were generated that, had they been on land, several pieces of it would fly out.

The battle was fierce, showing that both were giving their all… or at least that would be true, but the truth was another. It turns out that the only one who was giving his all was Edzard, who was using all his physical abilities he could in his human form. This was evidenced by his eyes, which were now golden. However, even though his rival, Crom Cruach, was not giving his all, the truth was that he was fighting with a good part of his strength.

Edzard moved slightly to dodge the attack of his enemy, which was a combination of three punches aimed at his head. Despite having his reflexes enhanced, they had a marked weakness, which was that, even though he could see the attack, it didn't matter if his enemy was faster than his ability to move to stop that attack. That's why he had been forced, most of the time, to dodge the blows instead of stopping them.

After dodging the three blows, Edzard quickly responded by throwing an uppercut, which was dodged by Crom, who moved back. This made Edzard in a bad position, as he was poorly placed to defend himself. This was taken advantage of by Crom, who smiling, moved his head and headbutted Edzard.

The blow of the evil dragon hit Edzard's face, causing him to step back a bit.

"Agghh… damn it." Edzard grunted and cursed as he felt the blow. Bringing a hand to his face, he touched his nose and, luckily, it hadn't been broken.

After checking for any injury, Edzard looked back at the dragon in front of him and decided to play a little with words.

"It seems you're tougher than I expected." said Edzard opening and closing his fists, to give his limbs some rest.

"That should be said to you. You're more resilient than I expected, but knowing that you're from that other world, I wouldn't expect anything else. Even so, I feel somewhat disappointed. You're supposed to be the ultimate dragon slayer of that world, but you haven't managed to hurt me. That makes me think that the dragons of that place are not that strong." replied Crom Cruach mockingly, who did this to provoke Edzard to attack with more power.

The evil dragon was not stupid, as he knew that Edzard was not fighting with everything, so he was not doing it either. Therefore, he hoped that insulting the beasts he had fought all this time would make him decide to fight with everything.

The moment Crom insulted all the Dovah, a mark of annoyance formed on Edzard's forehead. This arose since, right now, Edzard was also a Dovah, he may not behave like one, but he had the pride of a Dovah and hearing another dragon insult his entire race, well, if Edzard had wanted to insult him to annoy him, now the thing had been reversed and it was he who was annoyed.

"So, you want to compare how strong the dragons of my native world are with you, right?" asked Edzard with a voice full of edge and annoyance. "Then don't cry when I separate your head from your body."

The moment he finished saying those words, Edzard moved his hand and, conjuring a vortex of Magicka, made the sword «Gram» emerge from there. When the aura of Siegfried's sword manifested, Crom Cruach's body shuddered slightly, as the aura of that sword was more saturated with power than usual.

"Wow…" said the evil dragon with some surprise, as he did not expect this dragon slayer to have the most powerful demonic sword in his power… not only that, but it also seemed that he could make the demonic and dragon-slaying aura of the sword increase without showing signs of fatigue or weakening. This made the dragon wonder how much life energy Edzard had.

"Well, let's start the second round." said Edzard as he tightened his grip on the sword Gram, causing his fists to turn somewhat white. Looking at his enemy, he quickly took a little air, as he was about to fight as he did against the dragons back home. So, prepared for combat, he opened his mouth and shouted. "WULD!"

The moment that thu'um was unleashed, Edzard disappeared from Crom Cruach's field of vision to reappear just two meters from him. The eyes of the evil dragon opened wide when he saw this, as he did not expect Edzard to be able to move at that speed.

"Take this!" shouted Edzard as he lifted the sword over his head and launched a powerful downward slash.

The speed of the initial attack, added to the state of shock in which Crom Cruach was, prevented the dragon from reacting in time to stop or dodge the attack, receiving it fully.

"AGGHHH!" was the agonizing scream of pain that Crom let out when the blade of Gram cut his flesh.

Although, that cut was not the only thing that Edzard's attack did, as thanks to the force of it, Crom Cruach's body was sent to the ground like a supersonic rocket.

BOOOMMM!

A huge explosion shook the ground when the dragon hit the ground, raising a huge amount of dust.

Even though no normal dragon could have survived an attack of that magnitude, as the force applied along with the power of the sword Gram were a monstrous combination, Crom Cruach was not a normal dragon. And that was demonstrated when all the smoke in the area dissipated the moment the evil dragon moved his wings.

Crom Cruach stood while half of his coat was torn, allowing to see a wound all over the place where the blade of Gram had hit. However, to Edzard's complete surprise, that wound was not very deep, but rather slightly superficial.

"He, he… that's better." said Crom Cruach as he brought a hand to his wound, touching it lightly.

The evil dragon had come out with that wound thanks to the fact that the power released by Gram had not been able to overcome the new defensive power he had obtained from his deal with Rizevim and Euclid. Even so, the ability of someone like Edzard to use a sword as peculiar as Gram surprised Crom Cruach, as he did not expect that sword to have such a talented bearer.

After stopping touching his wound, Crom Cruach looked at Edzard and smiled, with a smile thirsty for blood and battle.

"Yes, this is better…" the evil dragon whispered in a low voice as he prepared to continue fighting. "That's how I like it!"

After letting out a feral scream full of excitement and desire for battle, Crom Cruach launched himself like a rocket towards Edzard, moving at tremendous speeds.

Seeing him heading towards him, Edzard didn't waste any time and launched himself against him. As they approached, Edzard opened his mouth.

"WULD!" Edzard shouted, causing his body to move faster than before.

Edzard appeared in front of Crom Cruach, who unlike the previous time, was prepared for this. Therefore, when Edzard appeared, the evil dragon moved his fists, which were covered by his dragon aura.

Crom Cruach began to attack Edzard with his fists, throwing fast punches. Seeing these attacks, the son of Akatosh began to use his sword to defend himself.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

The sound of the blows began to resonate throughout the place, filling the atmosphere with a deadly melody. As they continued to fight, both Edzard and Crom Cruach moved around the place, creating very powerful shock waves, which dissipated clouds and, when they fought near the ground, craters were created by the unleashed force.

"Ha, ha, ha! Yes, yes! This is what I was looking for!" Crom Cruach shouted excitedly as he continued to use his fists, which were beginning to show wounds due to the power of Gram. "This is what I expected from you, dragon slayer!"

Crom Cruach's excited scream contrasted with Edzard's serious countenance, who was using all his sword combat skill to keep up with Crom Cruach's physical prowess, which was already surpassing the power he had in his human form.

'Incredible… It's incredible how much strength this guy has. No wonder he's the most powerful evil dragon that exists.' Edzard thought as he used his sword to deflect three attacks from Crom Cruach, which were aimed at his solar plexus.

"Ha, ha, ha! This is perfect! So far there aren't many who can go against me like this, but now tell me…! Can you raise the level?!" shouted Crom Cruach, who after that, moved faster, managing to surpass Edzard's reaction speed.

Edzard's body bent into a V when he received a powerful knee to the abdomen, courtesy of Crom Cruach's right leg.

"Puajjj." Was the only thing that came out of Edzard's mouth when he spat out a lot of saliva mixed with bile and a little blood. The power of the blow was such that Edzard was shot out, following a straight line to the north.

Seeing that Edzard was moving away from the blow he had just given him, Crom Cruach didn't waste any time and launched himself against him, chasing the body of the dragon slayer. When he reached him, he began to hit him, causing Edzard's body to move as if it were a ping pong ball. However, despite the blows, not all of them impacted on Edzard's body, but were deflected or stopped by the son of Akatosh.

Edzard moved Gram, to stop the incoming attack from Crom Cruach, who was throwing two punches at him. Moving the sword, Edzard managed to use the flat part of the blade to stop the first attack, but he couldn't do anything when the second attack hit, as that punch was not intended to impact on his body, but on his hand, which was holding Gram.

"Tsk." Edzard let out a grunt when the blow hit his hand, causing him to drop his sword. This made it the first time in years, more precisely since he finished training with Kodlak, that he was disarmed in this way.

After being disarmed, Edzard put his arms over his chest, as Crom Cruach spun on his own axis, to gather momentum and kick Edzard in the chest.

The kick hit Edzard's forearms, causing him to feel pain from the force of the blow. But not only that happened, as Edzard was sent flying into the sky at high speed.

"I suppose this is your limit, hunter." said Crom Cruach with some disappointment, as he expected more. Even so, this combat had entertained him enough to pass the time. Therefore, he decided to give his enemy a good ending. "You were a bit entertaining, but it's over."

After saying those words, the dragon of the Crescent Circle opened his mouth and let out a powerful breath of fire. A sea of very hot flames arose, expanding several meters around, forming a wave of fire so large that it could easily engulf a squadron of tanks from the human armies.

As the flames approached, Edzard watched everything from the sky. The young dragon's mind was active, analyzing everything he could from the recent beating he had just received.

'That bastard is more powerful than I expected.' Edzard thought as he glanced at his body, full of bruises and some minor injuries. Fortunately, there weren't many broken bones, except for a rib or two. Even so, despite the state of his body, Edzard managed to understand the power level of his opponent, discovering that if he continued to fight in his "base form" he would have no chance of winning and, apparently, not even surviving. 'It seems I have no more options… I will have to increase the intensity…'

Already decided to fight with more power and after making sure that there were no civilians within hundreds of kilometers around, Edzard maneuvered in the air. When he managed to stabilize and adopt a position that favored him for what he was going to do, he dove headfirst into the sea of flames.

As Edzard was heading against the flames, he cleared his throat a bit, as he was about to unleash two Thu'um consecutively, whose effect was different. The moment he was less than fifteen meters from the flames, feeling their heat on his skin, he took a good amount of air, as he was about to shout at the top of his lungs.

"FO! KRAH!"

The moment he exclaimed those words, a powerful breath of frost emerged from his mouth, which was so cold that it surpassed the cold that could be found in Antarctica. The sea of frost moved against the sea of flames from Crom Cruach's breath, creating a deafening explosion when they collided.

The shock wave generated by the explosion was of such magnitude that it left marks on the ground, which was more than two hundred meters below the point of impact. Hundreds of cracks began to emerge, destroying the landscape that once reigned in that place.

Although Edzard's Frost Breath had been launched at a shorter distance, and therefore had not been able to expand as Crom Cruach's breath did, it accomplished its mission perfectly. The temperature of the frost breath managed to cool the flames, and after the explosion, a smoke curtain was created, which was used by Edzard to hide and use the next Thu'um he had planned to use.

"MUL! QAH! DIIV!"

When those words were shouted by Edzard, his body was covered in black flames, but despite this, the young dragon did not stop. Instead, he let out another shout.

"WULD! NAH!"

Edzard's body advanced at a more overwhelming speed than before, moving like a rocket towards where Crom Cruach was.

CRACK! BOOM!

The ground under Crom Cruach's feet cracked when Edzard landed just two meters from where he was standing.

"Hello." said Edzard, who was with his legs bent, as he had done that to decrease the tension of landing at high speed.

The eyes of the evil dragon opened when he saw Edzard alive, but he was even more surprised when he saw how the flames that covered his body began to go out, showing that he had a draconian aspect.

"W-w-what?" was all Crom Cruach could say, because a second after that he felt a deep blow in his abdomen, as Edzard gave him a powerful punch there. The force of that blow was of such magnitude that a huge shock wave was present, dissipating the smoke that was in the sky and sending fragments of earth flying.

Crom Cruach's body was shot out, because of the blow received. The speed at which he was moving was incredibly high, so much so that it could be compared to a sonic boom, but that was nothing for Crom Cruach, who recovered from that easily, managing to stabilize in the air. Planting his feet on the ground, the evil dragon managed to stop, but not without leaving deep furrows of earth in the path.

"Hahhh…" Crom Cruach let out a deep sigh, then brought a hand to his abdomen. The sensation of the blow was still there, sharp and causing him pain. While another being would be somewhat worried about this, he was not like them, as he began to smile. Looking ahead, he saw how Edzard was standing, looking directly at him. Standing up, he knew that the real battle was about to begin. Clenching his fist, he was tempted to return to his dragon form, but he realized something, that would be counterproductive. His enemy was a dragon slayer and was more than used to fighting dragons in their reptilian form, but that would be different in this form. So, with that, he decided to stay in his humanoid form, besides, the difference in strength between both forms was minimal.

"You really are something else, kid…" said Crom Cruach looking at Edzard from head to toe. The new form he had adopted had amazed him, as he did not expect this turn of events. "It seems you are a dragon… heh, I suppose that's why you are the ultimate dragon slayer, what other being can know a dragon so well, if not another dragon?"

After those words, Crom Cruach slowly rose, beginning to fly. When he was several meters in the sky, he saw that Edzard had also flown and was in front. The distance separating them was not much, so they could talk quietly.

"This is new… I suppose you were holding back, weren't you?" asked Crom Cruach as he looked at Edzard, noticing that every so often his wings moved.

Hearing that question, Edzard smiled amused as he raised a fist and gathered some Magicka in it. "The same can be said of you… you have held back… enough not to hurt me too much with your fists."

"No, it's not like that." replied Crom Cruach, shaking his head. "Your body, in its human form, is very resistant. Even so, don't think that by changing form you can defeat me."

"Heh, we'll see about that." said Edzard as he cracked his neck slightly. "Shall we start the third round?"

Crom Cruach's answer to the question was to smile and take a combat position to fight hand-to-hand. "What do you think?"

Seeing the position Crom Cruach had taken, Edzard responded in the same way, adopting a fighting stance.

The wind began to whistle at that moment, rustling the hair of both fighters. Silence filled the desert area where they were, a place more than suitable for beings of their power to fight quietly without anyone interrupting them. Neither of them moved an inch until out of nowhere, more than four kilometers away, a stone fell from the cliff where it had ended up after the shock waves of the previous combat between Edzard and Crom Cruach. When that stone hit the ground, the fight began.

Edzard and Crom Cruach moved instantaneously, covering the distance separating them in a flash. When they were face to face, the first to move was Crom Cruach, who lifted a leg and covering it with his dragon aura, launched a direct kick at Edzard's face.

Edzard's response to this attack was to move his arms and, using his right hand, he stopped the attack to counterattack with the other hand. Closing his fist, he tried to punch Crom Cruach's face, but the dragon managed to intuit this attack, which allowed him to easily dodge it.

"That was easy." said Crom Cruach as he moved his left hand, with which he tried to throw a quick punch, but this failed, as Edzard let go of Crom Cruach's leg and quickly ducked slightly, causing the attack to pass over him.

"Yes, but… can you dodge this?" asked Edzard as he moved his right hand and, using magic, launched a ray at Crom Cruach's chest.

"Ahh? Ehhh?" was all the dragon could say before that attack hit his chest, sending him flying.

Seeing his enemy shot out, Edzard moved his wings and quickly pursued him.

While he was flying, Crom Cruach, who was not very damaged thanks to his body being covered by his dragon aura, so, moving his body, he stabilized and looking ahead, he saw Edzard arrive. Seeing him, he smiled and launching himself against him, he managed to intercept him on the way.

"HELLO!" shouted Crom Cruach when he saw Edzard, starting to throw several consecutive punches at him.

Seeing the attacks coming, Edzard, who unlike the previous fight, could now react better, began to stop the blows.

Both of their arms began to move at such a speed that they looked like blurs as they attacked each other, thus creating powerful shock waves, which began to further destroy the desert landscape around them.

Moving his leg at high speed, Crom Cruach launched a side kick, which caused Edzard to back off a few meters to be able to dodge it.

"I got you!" shouted Crom Cruach with a smile when he saw that Edzard had moved away a bit. Moving his hands, he made his dragon aura condense around him, after which he launched them as if they were bullets of compressed power.

Six dragon aura bullets were directed at Edzard at point-blank range. Seeing this, the son of Akatosh, moved his wings and let himself fall, causing the bullets to pass over him. These bullets continued their path until they reached a mountain, creating several explosions, which were heard by Edzard.

"Fiuuu…" Edzard whistled in surprise when he saw how the mountain had been literally almost erased from the map. However, he had to return to the battle when he felt someone approaching, so turning quickly, he moved his arms and managed to stop Crom Cruach's attack.

After stopping the attack, both Edzard and Crom Cruach separated, to start attacking each other again. Moving at breakneck speed around the place, they began to hit each other, using both their arms and legs.

The entire territory in which they were fighting began to tremble, almost as if it were an earthquake, but the truth was that all this was produced by the shock waves generated by the exchange of blows.

Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum! Plum!

The number of blows they were giving each other in the sky were almost countless as the shock waves generated dissipated the clouds and caused the ground under the ground to crack and fill with craters, as every so often they came down to fight on the ground like simple humans.

"Take this!" shouted Crom Cruach as he threw a punch at Edzard, who managed to dodge it and move away. Seeing his enemy move away, the evil dragon opened his mouth and released his breath of fire.

Seeing the sea of extremely hot flames approaching him at high speed, Edzard opened his mouth and shouted.

"FO! KRAH!"

The frost breath that emerged from Edzard's mouth was directed towards the fire breath of his enemy, colliding inevitably. The moment both attacks hit, a huge explosion was generated, shaking the entire battlefield. The explosion generated winds so strong that if there were trees, they would be uprooted and sent flying. However, although there was no vegetation, there were several stone cliffs, which were turned into piles of stones thanks to the powerful shock waves produced.

'This seems to be at a stalemate.' thought Edzard, who was watching the dust cloud, waiting for Crom Cruach to launch himself at him. 'That bastard is more skilled than me in hand-to-hand combat… But thanks to my reflexes and the fact that I'm imbuing my punches with destruction magic, I've managed to level the playing field somewhat. But I'm sure he's noticed that his power and energy reserves are slowly decreasing… So, he might change strategy soon… Haaahh… I guess I'll have to attack with more magic and with my Thu'um to be able to impose myself.'

After those thoughts, Edzard looked at the ground and seeing the number of stones he had an idea. Moving his hand, he used the «Telekinesis» spell. Conjuring a golden sphere, Edzard made several large stones be covered by a golden aura, which made them approach him and when they were about to touch him, they remained suspended around him.

With the stones floating as if they were moons around a planet, Edzard turned his body and, looking at where Crom Cruach should be, released the spell.

The telekinesis spell was a simple spell to use, it allowed to move any object at a distance as the user wished, but not only that, but it could also be used as a crossbow. This was because if the user attracted an object to him at a certain speed, he could throw it against a specific point at a very wide speed, so Edzard made use of that to throw the stones against Crom Cruach.

The stones that until a few seconds ago surrounded Edzard, were shot against Crom Cruach at almost Mach one speed. These stones pierced the smoke cloud resulting from the collision of the two breaths.

This attack did not take Crom Cruach by surprise, who, despite having been thinking about what was happening in this battle, was still alert to anything that happened around him. The evil dragon was not stupid and had realized what was happening in the combat, as he had noticed that his enemy had more than curious abilities in several senses of the word. First, the ability to attack not only his body, but also his energy reserves, something he had not seen before in an enemy. Second, those shouts he used, which seemed to be his greatest power, as for some reason he was able to do things that a human could not do, such as becoming a kind of hybrid dragon, releasing frost breath, and moving at a speed that surpassed his reaction capacity.

"I see…" the evil dragon whispered to himself as he realized something. Smiling, he compressed his dragon aura into several power bullets, which he launched against the stones approaching him. The bullets moved at Mach one speed, destroying the stones as if nothing, managing to head towards where Edzard was.

When Edzard saw the draconic power bullets approaching, he was flying towards the evil dragon. Therefore, realizing that he should dodge them, he quickly moved his wings and began to dodge them, but due to the way they had been launched he could not maneuver much, which forced him to move minimally, just enough to dodge them.

The moment he finally managed to dodge the attack, Edzard was abruptly stopped when Crom Cruach appeared in front of him.

"I already know how your ability works!" shouted Crom Cruach as he moved his arm, showing that his hands had turned into claws.

The dragon of the growing circle moved his claw at high-speed launching a diagonal attack on Edzard's chest, who seeing the attack coming moved his wings to move away enough to dodge it. However, even though he managed to move out of the range of the attack, Edzard felt something like the blow of a sword blade on light armor.

"Gkkk." Grunting, Edzard looked at his chest and was surprised when he saw that there was a cut on his chest, which had the shape of the evil dragon's claws.

Surprised by this, Edzard looked at his enemy and his eyes opened when he saw how Crom Cruach's dragon aura condensed over his claws, causing them to have a greater reach.

"Surprised?" asked Crom Cruach with some amusement in his voice. "Don't think I can only use my dragon aura to protect myself, I can also do things like this."

Hearing him, Edzard brought a hand to his chest and using restoration magic, healed the wound to the point where it was no longer bleeding, but without fully healing it.

"Yes, I'm somewhat surprised… I didn't expect you could do something like that." Edzard responded sincerely, who remembered how his fight with Tiamat had been, and if he was honest, it was much easier for him to finish her off than Crom Cruach.

"I feel the same, your fighting style is unique, your ability to destroy my power reserves and my energy is incredible… but I've already discovered your weakness. You can only make use of those abilities if you are the one attacking, but if you are on the defensive that is useless." Said the evil dragon as he prepared to launch himself against Edzard.

Hearing Crom Cruach's conclusion, Edzard was surprised, as he had identified the weakness of his hand-to-hand combat technique. Even so, he knew he could continue using that technique, especially if he combined it with his Thu'um, so he just decided to take a fighting stance again.

Seeing that Edzard was taking a hand-to-hand combat stance again, the most powerful evil dragon just smiled, but even so, he also took an attack stance. The stance that Crom Cruach had taken at this moment favored more the use of his claws than fists, so he had his hands open to improve the reach of his attacks.

Without wasting a single second, both launched themselves against each other. The speed of movement of the two dragons was such that they looked like black blurs as they moved, impacting when they attacked each other. The blows began to come and go, as both began to fight harder, to see who was the dominant in this combat.

Edzard threw an uppercut, to hit Crom Cruach in the chin, but the evil dragon dodged it, dodging the attack by a few centimeters. After dodging that attack, the evil dragon counterattacked, moving his claw against Edzard's face, who was forced to move to one side, but despite that, the attack still managed to connect, causing a cut on Edzard's cheek.

"Tch…" was the sound that came out of Edzard's mouth when he clicked his tongue in annoyance at seeing that his enemy had dodged his attack and had managed to hurt him. Feeling some blood coming down his cheek, he moved his hand and cleaned his cheek.

'The reach of those things is hard to determine, that bastard is modifying them according to his attack… it's making it impossible for me to dodge them correctly… Damn it! He's forcing me to change my combat strategy… I have two options, stop being a fool and use my Thu'um more often or start using my swords to block the attacks…' After thinking about it, a smile appeared on Edzard's face, as he knew what to do. 'Why use one when I can use both?'

After thinking that, the son of Akatosh launched himself against Crom Cruach, who blinked for a second when he saw him do that, but that didn't matter, because a second later he started to smile and launched himself to intercept him.

Edzard moved a little slower than before, something that was taken advantage of by the evil dragon to approach and launch a direct attack on Edzard's face, with which he planned to impale the young man's face. However, what was about to happen would greatly surprise Crom Cruach.

Seeing the attack coming, Edzard smiled and opening his mouth, he shouted.

"FEIM!"

To the total astonishment and shock of the dragon of the crescent circle, Edzard's body became ethereal, causing his attack to pass through the young dragon's body.

"Ehhh?" was what came out of Crom Cruach's mouth when he saw that his attack had failed.

"I got you, bastard." said Edzard when Crom Cruach's hand finished going through his ethereal body. Tightening his right fist, the young man threw a direct punch at the evil dragon's face.

PLUM!

A grotesque sound sounded when Edzard's fist blow the evil dragon's nose. The body of the dragon of the growing circle was shot backwards, but before he could even react, Edzard opened his mouth to shout again.

"WULD!"

After that shout, another blow was heard again, only this time it was in the abdomen of the evil dragon, as Edzard had appeared in front of him and had grabbed him by the neck, to give him a good knee in the abdomen, causing him to lose all the air he had in his lungs.

After that attack, Edzard let go of Crom Cruach's neck and raising his hands, he threw a direct punch at the back of the evil dragon, causing him to plummet to the ground at dizzying speeds, leaving a sonic trail in his wake.

As he fell, Crom Cruach, opened his eyes and clenched his teeth, as those last blows had hurt quite a bit. Looking up at the sky he saw Edzard going after him, so opening his mouth he prepared to throw a breath of fire at him. However, before he could launch his attack, he heard Edzard shout.

"JOOR! ZAH! FRUL!"

After that shout, a blue energy wave came out of Edzard's mouth, which hit Crom Cruach's body full on, which now that attack touched his body, he felt completely strange. The first thing he felt was that his wings were not working and that no matter how hard he tried he could not fly, the second was that he began to feel his body strange, almost as if he felt the weight of his years of existence.

"What have you done to me?!" shouted Crom Cruach with some terror, as it was the first time he had felt this way, and that was something that terrified him, as it was almost as if his own being had changed.

Hearing the question of the evil dragon, Edzard smiled in a macabre way, almost as if he found this amusing. Opening his mouth, he replied. "You're feeling what it's like to be mortal!"

After that shout, Edzard opened his mouth to use another Thu'um, but before he could do so, the evil dragon launched several bullets of compressed draconic power towards Edzard.

When the son of Akatosh saw this, he quickly shouted, but used another Thu'um, one different from the one he initially planned to use.

"FEIM!"

Becoming ethereal, Edzard went through the enemy attack, and when those bullets were behind him, he shouted again.

"WULD!"

The moment Crom Cruach heard Edzard's Thu'um, he involuntarily covered his chest and face with one arm each. And good thing he took those precautions, because at that moment he felt Edzard's fist blow the arm he had on his abdomen.

"Tch." Edzard grunted when he saw that his attack had failed, yet the force of it caused the evil dragon to be shot to the ground.

Crom Cruach's body approached the ground dangerously, but before impact, he maneuvered in the air and managed to land on his feet. Upon doing so, he quickly looked at the sky and released his breath of fire.

"Die!" shouted Crom Cruach, who was no longer enjoying this combat as before, as he was getting angry at what Edzard had done to him.

The sea of flames that came out of the evil dragon's mouth spread in such a way that Edzard saw that they literally covered a huge amount of distance. Even so, he knew he could nullify it, so opening his mouth, he shouted again.

"FO! KRAH! DIIN!" shouted Edzard, using all the power of his Thu'um of frost breath.

A sea of frost emerged from Edzard's mouth, colliding head-on with Crom Cruach's attack.

BOOOOMMMM!

The resulting explosion filled the place with smoke, but even so, that did not prevent Edzard from falling to the ground and after creating a crater with his landing, he launched himself against Crom Cruach.

The evil dragon was already waiting for Edzard, so he charged at him, running at dizzying speeds, as he still could not fly.

Finding himself in the middle of the road, the evil dragon moved his claws, trying to cut Edzard, but when he was about to hit him, the young dragon made a sword appear made of almost translucent white energy, with which he stopped one of his attacks. Seeing this, Crom Cruach moved his other hand, trying to throw another blow at Edzard, but the same thing happened, except that this new sword was purple and had a somewhat evil appearance.

"What?" Crom Cruach asked in surprise when he saw Edzard's weapons.

"Heh, did you think I only had physical swords and not some made of magic?" Edzard asked back, then with a quick movement, managed to get Crom Cruach's claws off him.

"Tch." The evil dragon growled as he took a step back.

After that, they both launched themselves at each other again. When they met, the evil dragon began to launch attacks against Akatosh's son. Crom Cruach's claws moved at high speed but were countered by Edzard's swords.

"HAAAAA!" They shouted at the same time as they both began to launch attacks at high speeds, causing the place to start shaking as the shockwaves destroyed everything around them, raising dust and pieces of earth and stone, which were sent flying in all directions.

In the midst of this exchange of blows, Crom Cruach felt his body and his being return to what they were before, which made him smile, as he realized that the power Edzard had used on him was not permanent. Therefore, taking flight, he rose above Edzard, and being several meters above him, he moved his hand and gathered a large amount of his dragon aura into a power bullet the size of a three-story house.

Seeing the evil dragon's attack, Edzard clenched his teeth, as he realized that that thing had the power to destroy several kilometers of extension, something that was not good for anyone. So, clenching his teeth, he unconjured his swords and moving his hand, he conjured his best sword, which appeared in a purple vortex. Taking it by the handle, he took a position to use one of his two most powerful Thu'um…

However, before he could even say or do anything, a purple vortex appeared in front of Edzard's eyes behind Crom Cruach, who was surprised when that portal began to absorb him.

"What?" The evil dragon asked in surprise, as he did not understand what was happening. At least, that was for a few minutes, as a few seconds later, he realized what was happening, so looking at the portal with anger, he shouted at the top of his lungs. "EUCLID! DAMN BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT ME?!"

Crom Cruach's scream disconcerted Edzard, who did not understand what was happening, but then understood what was happening when he saw how the dragon of the growing circle was dragged by the portal. When the dragon was swallowed by the purple vortex, Edzard saw with some horror how the power bullet had not disappeared, but because it had been left incomplete it had become an unstable mass of draconian power.

Seeing it, Edzard realized that if that thing exploded it would cause even more damage than it would if it were complete. Therefore, upon realizing this, he quickly moved his hand and taking a position, he prepared.

'I can't destroy that power mass as it is… I must weaken it first… so, I'll have to use that.' Edzard thought as he focused on the draconian power mass. Opening his mouth, he used another Thu'um, one he had learned during his journey with Serana to defeat her father.

"GAAN! LAH! HAAS!"

That shout, called Absorption of Vitality, created a wave of energy, which when it hit tore part of the magical power of that draconian power mass, greatly reducing its power.

"Gkkk…" was the grunt that Edzard emitted as he felt Crom Cruach's power fill his being. That power was violent and very aggressive, something like what his brother Alduin had… even so, he did not waste time and ignoring that, he shouted another Thu'um. "YOL! ZAHKRII! VEY!"

When Edzard shouted that, the blade of "Akachihel" was covered with fire so violently that it seemed almost as if it was made of fire. So, feeling the power of his sword ready, Edzard spun around and unleashed a powerful cut. A huge cut made of flames emerged from Edzard's sword, heading towards the draconian power mass.

Although that attack should have cut the power mass, that was impossible because that thing did not have a physical body, but was something made of pure energy, so they only collided. However, it was that collision that caused a huge explosion, which engulfed everything in its path, including Edzard.

"Damn…" Edzard said as he saw how the explosion was approaching him quickly. Upon realizing this, he shouted again. "FEIM! ZII! GRON!"

Using, for the first time in a long time the three words of that thu'um, Edzard became ethereal. And that was good for Akatosh's son, because a second after unleashing that shout, he was completely engulfed by the explosion.

Being inside the explosion, he could see firsthand how the magical flames generated by it began to calcine everything they touched, leaving a permanent mark on the place, which would not go away until many years later.

When the explosion stopped, Edzard saw how everything around him, approximately more than thirty kilometers, was now made up of black earth, creating a real wasteland in that African desert.

"Damn it, that was brutal…" Edzard said to himself as he saw the amount of destruction that explosion had left.

Starting to walk around the place, Edzard began to move away while reflecting on what he had just learned from this fortuitous encounter.

'It seems that Euclid and Rizevim have a powerful ally with them, but from what I see, it's not as if that alliance is very firm… well that doesn't matter for now, if the opportunity arises I will try to exploit that to my advantage…' thought Edzard as he walked and began to limp, because now that his "battle" had ended, he could relax a little. 'That dragon is very strong… if it weren't for the passive abilities of my magic and my Thu'um, I would surely have died… Tsk, damn it, it seems that I'm falling behind in the fights… I thought that after killing a god, only those who were in the top ten, as well as the two dragon gods would be real problems, but I was wrong…'

After those thoughts, Edzard stopped and examined himself well. With this examination he saw that although he did not have serious fractures, except for some ribs, he did have several bones in his body fractured. Not only that, but he also had some cuts in various parts of his body, such as the chest, legs, and arms.

"I will have to ask Asia to heal me, as this will take me a long time to heal with restoration magic." Edzard said as he stopped and looked at the sky. "I suppose I should go back, I can't rest, there's a lot to do… and something tells me I'll be very busy… but first, I must find «Gram»… damn steroid lizard…"

After those words, Edzard began to fly, looking for his sword, as he did not know where it had been sent by all the battle. As he searched, he was thinking about how to explain all this to his family and colleagues… as he thought, he decided that maybe he would go to Kuoh to look for Issei to be able to talk to Draig about Crom Cruach…

Author's Note:

To those who have made it this far, thank you for reading. To be honest, my English writing skills are not strong, and I'm relying on Google Translate and the dictionaries that come with Office 2019.

And Chapter 73 is ready XD

Here we see a fight between two dragons… I hope I was able to depict it well.

As for how Crom has managed to resist the power of Gram, well, let's just say that making a pact with certain beings can give you many advantages, but… not everything is beautiful. In the future, we will see what happens between Crom and "Euclid".

I apologize for any spelling errors. Please don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter, or if there's something that needs improvement, or if you have any questions about the story. Any constructive advice is welcome. With nothing more to say, see you in the next chapter.