Alex pulled out his blade, his figure turning into a dark blur and appearing before the recovering giant, delivering nine masterful strokes, each aimed to cripple or kill.

Yet each one was blocked at a speed faster than the sword strikes came, while at the same time, Zarathrax swung his blade in a diagonal arc, only for the massive great sword to cut through a mirage.

Alex appeared behind him, delivering four quick sword thrusts, but Zarathrax twisted his waist full one-eighty degrees as if his muscles and bones were made of liquid, not only blocking all four thrusts with his shield but also swinging his sword that was now a dark crimson blur of energy.

Alex did not back away this time, meeting the mighty blow with a slash of his own, the wave of crimson meeting the veil of darkness. Both energies clashed with a thundering roar, not giving way for even the metal of the two blades to touch.

The two energies gushed forth, trying to erase the other, their struggle illuminating opposite ends of the room in their colors, but the one to emerge victorious was the darkness.

Alex’s sword Misery met the crimson great sword with a resounding clash, pushing it out of the way, and even though Zarathrax tried to move back using his serpentine flexibility, the tip of the sword still dug into his breastplate, carving through the armor and flesh alike.

Zarathrax retaliated by driving his shield into Alex’s body and face, but the first blood was drawn, and Alex had already moved away.

Zarathrax corrected his posture as he blocked a slash and defended against another, his form turning into a crimson blur clashing against a dark shadow that appeared and disappeared, delivering strikes from each angle.

The chamber echoed with thundering clashes as the two weapons met in the struggle for supremacy, their resulting forces so intense that the ground, hardened by decades of destructive erosion and capable of withstanding full-powered Sixth Rank attacks, was torn open.

Zarathrax did not resort to using any skills even when he was being outmatched in all areas, from strength and speed to elemental might.

After mere minutes, Zarathrax stood drenched in his own blood, his massive frame covered in deep gashes, his wounds not closing because of the deterioration of his flesh, while Alex stood unfazed, not a single scratch on his body, showing how one-sided the battle had been to this point.

“So now, do you wish to accept my offer, or do you want to continue?” Alex asked, and as if giving him an answer, the silent giant began to transform.

The deep gashes on his body began to close, his skin knitting together without a scar. His form began to grow, his armor falling away, his clothes torn to shreds.

His form grew to a towering height, his legs fusing together like flowing wax, becoming from the waist down a monstrous serpent, his skin giving way to layers and layers of dark crimson scales.

His face elongated and grew pointed, appearing less like a snake and more like a fearsome alligator, marked by a pronounced snout and powerful jaws lined with jagged teeth.

A majestic hood unfurled from behind him, extending gracefully from his neck down to his ribs, intricately patterned with dark, iridescent scales that shimmered with a sinister beauty, radiating a sense of regal menace.

Zarathrax’s lamia form towered nearly twelve meters, reaching halfway to the ceiling. Seeing the transformation and feeling the immense aura, Alex narrowed his eyes and strengthened his grip on his sword.

Alex’s sword pulsed with darkness and sword intent as he readied himself for the next phase of the battle. Zarathrax’s towering lamia form loomed in the distance, the nearly three-meter-long sword now fitting perfectly in the creature’s transformed grasp.

With a guttural roar, Zarathrax lunged forward, his immense tail sweeping across the chamber, breaking a stone pillar as if it were a mere twig and launching it and the surrounding debate at Alex in a rain of stone bullets, accompanied by a wave of crimson.

Alex leaped high into the air, channeling chaos energy into his left hand before he swung it, sending forth a twisting energy wave of similar size, and the two energies met in a thundering explosion.

The chamber shook violently as the two energies struggled for supremacy, crushing debris and turning it to dust, and slowly collapsing into nothingness.

Zarathrax zoomed through the struggling forces of the explosion, appearing unscathed, his scales providing immense protection. He retaliated by swinging his great sword with a speed that belied his massive size.

Alex met the strike head-on, darkness and sword intent swirling around his blade as he parried the attack, and with a quick twist of his wrist, he redirected Zarathrax’s sword and thrust forward, aiming for the creature’s exposed side.

Zarathrax’s serpent-like agility came into play as he twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the strike. His tail lashed out, but Alex anticipated the move, using Void Step to disappear and reappear behind the giant.

He delivered a series of rapid slashes, his sword cloaked with the unified intent of fluidity, slicing, and sharpness, leaving deep gashes on his scales, but the creature’s wounds healed almost instantly.

Zarathrax swung his arm back, forcing Alex to move away and without missing a beat, the towering creature created a swirling vortex of destructive energy around his shield.

He slammed the shield into the ground, sending a shockwave of red energy racing toward Alex, disintegrating everything that came in its path.

Alex responded with a barrier of darkness, absorbing the brunt of the destructive energy, before cloaking his blade with the aspect of nothingness infused with three blade intents, all melding together to create a weapon that could cut through both physical and elemental defenses.

Alex disappeared from sight, his movements a blur as he executed the Phantom Sword Flash. He delivered a few dozen slashes of darkness that cleaved through the hardened scales and dense flesh of Zarathrax with ease.

Zarathrax met Alex’s assault with a flurry of his own strikes, but many of the slashes slipped through his defenses, leaving him bloodied and injured, yet that didn’t deter him, and if anything, it seemed to fuel his rage.

If Alex wanted, he could end the battle at any time, but since he could not collect the shard from a dead man, he needed Zarathrax to stay alive, and that was the only reason he was holding back.

The two combatants moved with blinding speed, the chamber echoing with the sounds of their clash, the clang of metal, and the roar of elemental energy filling the air.

In a sudden move, Zarathrax snapped open his jaw and unleashed a concentrated beam of destructive energy that even erased the fabric of space.

Alex narrowly avoided the beam, but it was all a distraction as the real attack came in the form of the ground, as a pillar of destructive energy surged forth, engulfing him before he could move away, forcing him to use Nihility purge, creating a barrier that absorbed and nullified the most of force.

The destructive energy’s output was too great for Alex to move out without getting injured, so he began to prepare the nihility star to deal with the wild energy, knowing it would not stop any time soon.

In the brief window created by Alex being caught in place, Zarathrax took advantage of the opportunity and began to prepare for his trump card.

A ghostly white mist began to seep out of his scales and began to gather at a single location, his physique visibly shirking by the moment, his eyes going dull, his scales cracking as if his very life was being sapped away.

The mist coalesced into a small needle with a width of barely more than a hair and a few inches of length, and without a moment delay, it was launched into the piller of crimson destruction.

Alex, who was ready to unleash the nihility star to get away, did not even see the needle coming at him because of the disturbance in space, only seeing it when it was already too late.

Alex released the nihility star, expecting it to erase all of the energies, but seeing the needle zooming through the darkness and appearing unfazed by it, he raised his sword to block it and did so successfully.

But the moment the needle made contact with the dark blade, it exploded into a bust of ghostly white mist, and instantly, Alex felt a tinge of pain all over his arms, face, and abdomen and every place the mist made contact.

It was as if he was being stabbed by thousands upon thousands of needles, sensing the mist digging into his flesh at an extreme speed, and even when he tried expelling it by force, it did nothing.

Alex felt panic grip his heart as he realized his cells were dying at an uncanny speed, and it would not be long before he dropped dead if he did not do something to stop the poison invading his body.