Chapter 57: The Gauntlet
It all happened in an instant.
The more Kurt continued to look at Saramin as she was about to have her neck sliced off by Anthony's blade, the more a sudden desire to stop him and rescue her began to surge inside of him.
Before he even noticed it, his right arm had been completely covered with metal scales and assumed a more animal-like appearance, much like Hugh displayed during their fight.
"How is this possible...?" the boy mumbled in disbelief. He was sure he had heard before that dragons were only able to harness the power of one talent.
Could it be that Kurt was some sort of special case? Some sort of anomaly?
Hugh couldn't help but smile like a little baby at the sight of his younger brother's new power, "Check it out, Annie! He's just like you!"
Annie herself also seemed pretty happy with that outcome. Her usual large grin had become even larger much like her wide-open eyes which as usual were focused solely on Kurt.
"Indeed he is..." the emperor commented, "To think two of the guests would be able to utilize more than one talent... The dragon race truly is a blessed faction!"
Kurt immediately closed his palm into a fist and began to rush towards Anthony and Saramin.
"Let my sister go!! Now!!" the boy ordered as he jumped high up and prepared to land a punch on the green-scaled dragon with his new metal claw.
Unfortunately, just as the attack was about to connect, Jefferson appeared between them and used all five of his palms to block the attack.
"What!? Guaagh!!" Kurt yelled while being slapped by the grey dragon's massive tail and being sent flying like a rocket until he crashed against the wall.
"Truly a most impressive development, master Kurt!" Jefferson commented, "But it still won't be enough to match against the power of a full dragon!"
"Ugh..." the boy groaned while rising from a pile of rubble and dust, "You guys are making it really hard for me to not want to kill you..."
He tried to use his healing flames to fix the new wounds he had received, but for some reason, his power wasn't working. He tried a second and then a third time, but again, nothing happened.
He then realized what was going on, the same way Saramin could only use talents of the same type at the same time, Kurt couldn't use a psychic talent and a body talent at once.
As long as he relied on that metal gauntlet, he was unable to heal up.
The twin-headed dragon turned invisible one more time and began to crawl towards the boy at a great speed while he was distracted, but Kurt noticed the dirt flying as the dragon continued to move and managed to pinpoint his location just as he was about to smack him.
A wave of three different fists appeared trying to punch the young prince from his left side, but Kurt reacted in time and twirled his body in order to block the attack with his metal claw.
Jefferson was shocked by how such a tiny piece of metal could stop his attack.
"Don't underestimate him, Jefferson..." Lian Garen advised while staring at Sabiri, "If this metal is anything like the one his mother uses, it will probably be the most durable material present in this entire building!"
"Most durable...?" Kurt repeated while opening and closing his fist a couple of times, "You don't say..."
Jefferson tried to vanish one more time but Kurt was faster and grabbed him by the tail with his metal claw, proceeded by spinning the beast around with little effort and knocking him against the ground, completely pulverizing the floor.
"Kuurgh!!"
Saramin and Anthony were completely frozen while watching Kurt displaying his newfound power.
"Holy smokes, little bro... Where was all that strength ten minutes ago?" she commented.
"I didn't know I had this talent ten minutes ago!" he replied.
"Talent..." Saramin whispered, "I wonder..."
She then started to pay close attention to Kurt's right hand, trying to look at it as much as possible as he continued to move while using it to fight off Jefferson.
And before Anthony could even react, he suddenly felt one of his blades breaking apart as he was distracted.
"Aaarghh!! What the-??"
The green dragon looked down and noticed that Sara had shattered his razor with her hand which was now also covered in metal scales just like Kurt.
"You memorized his talent!?" he gasped.
"Sure did!" the girl responded with a malicious grin as she proceeded to stand up and smacked his crocodile's snout with a metal fist.
"Guaagh!!"
Saramin couldn't stop looking at her own reflection on her new metal arm as Anthony continued to groan in pain over his injury.
"Well, damn... This just got a whole lot easier!" she declared while shoving her fist into his stomach.
Jefferson stood up one more time and attempted to attack Kurt again but just like before, the kid blocked the incoming fist with his metal claw and used the opportunity to get closer to one of his faces and punch it with all he had, causing one of Jefferson's snake heads to pass out completely.
"Truly, marvelous, young master..." the grey dragon commented.
"Let's stop this now! You know we can't lose as we are now!" Kurt declared.
"Until the emperor gives the order, the servant cannot deny his command."
Kurt glared at his father, and just like always, the long-haired man was watching everything as if it was a football game without a care in the world.
"If you won't stop, then I'm not gonna hold back!"
"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary, young master!" Jefferson muttered.
"Kurt! Watch out!!" Saramin suddenly shouted.
The boy turned around in response and noticed Anthony rushing towards him at great speed with his only blade aimed at him.
Kurt panicked and covered himself with his arm which out of nowhere began to increase the area covered in metal scales from just his fist to his entire limb, giving it, even more, the appearance of an armor piece.
The blade bounced off after being blocked by Kurt's metal allowing the kid to get closer to the green dragon.
Anthony tried to escape with his superior speed, but Saramin approached him from behind while he wasn't looking and locked him down by covering her other arm with metal scales as well and shoving one fist into the ground while the other grabbed the dragon's leg.
Unable to escape, Anthony had no choice but to take Kurt's attack head-on at full power, resulting in him getting an uppercut that caused its entire body to fly high-up and open a hole on the roof.
"One down..." Kurt commented.
"One to go..." Sara added.
The two began to look for Jefferson next, but the multi-armed dragon had activated his camouflage talent again, making him invisible to the eye.
Kurt and Saramin nodded at each other and shoved their metal claws on the ground, and right after that, began to completely tear apart the floor, raising up a pile of smoke and dirt everywhere.
The duo noticed a faint figure moving through the dust and knew that they had found their target.
"Give me a lift?" Saramin asked.
"No problem!" Kurt replied while opening his palm.
Sara then jumped on top of his hand and the boy proceeded to launch her at the hiding Jefferson as if she was a human-sized bullet.
The white-haired girl opened both of her claws and once got she close enough to her prey, filled him with slashes on several parts of his body.
"Guuuuaaaghh!!!" the dragon roared as his blood started to cover his invisible skin.
Anthony finally dropped from the sky and landed on the ground like a meteor, destroying all that was left from the poor floor.
Once the dust cleared up, all that remained was Saramin sitting on top of Jefferson with Kurt standing with his arms crossed in front of Anthony. Both kids staring at their father as the two servants were completely knocked out.
"Most impressive!" the emperor commented while applauding the two.
Sabiri just sighed in relief while Karine continued to smile by her husband's side.
"We're done!" Kurt declared.
"Not quite!" his father corrected, "These two are still breathing! Finish them off!"
"Father!"
"Finish. Them. Off!"
Kurt could see that his father still wasn't going to budge on that plan. He wondered if there was anything he could say or do in order to get out of this situation.
He was exactly the kind of person Dorothy warned him about, someone unable to take 'no' for an answer simply because he could see no wrong in his actions and decisions.
Thinking about that made the boy shiver as he remembered how Dorothy's story ended, with both her and her best friend getting killed by someone like that. He couldn't let the same thing happen to him and Sara.
'Dorothy...' he whispered towards his mentor using their mental link, 'I need your help...'
'Eh!?' the tiny gray owl gasped.
'I... I don't know what to do... Please!'
Dorothy stared at him with her eyes wide open, 'Whoa... I'm not used to seeing you asking for help. You usually just try to solve things on your own and then goes 'Eh... If I get hurt I'll just heal up later...' or something... This is kinda unnerving.'
'Dorothy, please...'
'Sorry, sorry... Just give me a second... Uuhh... Okay, repeat what I say...'
Kurt took a deep breath and looked directly at his father.
"One year!" the boy muttered while raising his index.
Lian raised an eyebrow confused by what exactly he meant with that, "One year?"
'Give me just one more year to develop my skills the same way I had been doing up until now!' Dorothy spoke inside Kurt's mind allowing him to repeat it with his own lips.
"Why would I do that?" the emperor wondered.
Kurt received a few more words from his owl and started to speak them out one more time, "You said it yourself that the amount of power I display is unlike anything you seen before. I think my method is showing results that you will be pleased with! Just allow me more time to fully develop and master my current skills before we attempt to unlock my second form again!"
Lian didn't seem convinced, "And after one year, you will finally fulfill my request?"
"Your request is that I unlock my second form right? I would like to experiment more and see if I can do it my way! Think about it! You would be able to save up a lot of resources and manpower if I figured out a method that doesn't rely on killing our own kin!"
"Our own kin, you say? So you're finally ready to accept becoming a dragon?"
"It's like you said... You have accepted me as an outsider and treated me as one of your own... It's only fair that I repay your kindness!"
Saramin felt like she was looking at a completely different person. A few seconds ago, Kurt's vocabulary when confronting their father could be summed up as different ways of saying 'I don't want to!' and now the kid was acting like he could give a lecture or write a book with the way he was speaking.
"I see... So you want to give one last attempt at proving your method is better than mine..."
"It's not about being better, it's about being better for me and maybe others in the future... I just want to explore a different way. Is that really so wrong?"
"Mmmm..." Lian could tell Kurt was trying to trick him, but he also had to admit he was a little curious about his suggestion.
It was true that Kurt was strong, and he had achieved that strength in his own different way. If he could find a new way to make dragons even more powerful, why not just let him?
"Very well... I shall accept your challenge! One year! Prove to me that you can become an even better dragon than what I had expected! Your little attempt to prove me wrong is rather amusing!"
"Thank you... F- Father..." Kurt whispered while bowing to him.
"But I have one condition!" he claimed.
Lian then turned his hand into a red claw and grabbed Sabiri by the neck, which startled her and everyone else in the room.
"Should you fail to keep your promise... The dragon whose life you will have to take will be your own mother!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone