Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground novel Chapter 1031

Draktharion twisted mid air, landing hard, claws digging into the soil.

’Tch… bastard…’

His Dragonfire raged around him. His claws lengthened further. His wings spread wide.

The echo didn’t wait.

They launched toward each other.

Clashes exploded in a flurry of crimson fire and azure arcs.

Sparks flew. Trees were cleaved in half. Wind screamed.

As the island continued to fall, Aurora and Zoey tried to reach the core again.

But the island’s swaying momentum kept pulling them back.

"Shit!" Aurora cursed, her voice filled with anger.

Still, Draktharion and the echo clashed again.

Crimson met azure.

Blade met claw.

Draktharion’s eyes trembled.

’It’s just an echo… yet I’m still getting pushed back…!’

Atticus’s movements were fluid, insane. Every slash. Every dodge. Every twist, it was like he could predict every move.

Draktharion’s rage boiled.

’I’ll have to transform.’

He didn’t have a choice. He had to fulfill his end of the bargain. He had to kill Aurora. Or Carius would abandon him and all this would have been for nothing. He had to transform into a dragon!

But then, as they clashed, his eyes gleamed as he noticed something.

As they passed close to the core, Draktharion’s eyes flickered.

’His speed… it dropped!’

He sharpened his senses.

’It’s siphoning his essence…! Because it’s still him. The echo is a fragment of Atticus. And the core is drawing it in!’

It was a chance. The core had been made to trap Atticus. And his echo was still him.

Draktharion steered the battle closer to the core.

The echo resisted, but Draktharion bombarded him with a flurry of feints and direct attacks, forcing the confrontation into that space.

Even though the echo knew, it couldn’t abandon its instruction. It wasn’t the real Atticus. It couldn’t exactly think for itself. This was its main weakness.

It was akin to a program, and its current sole directive: protect the others and defeat the threat.

And so it still stayed, fighting, slowing down and weakening.

As the essence continually bled from its form into the orb, its movements soon grew sluggish.

Draktharion’s eyes gleamed.

’Now.’

His wings flared. His speed surged. A blur of motion.

And then;

SLASH!

His claws ripped through the echo, tearing it apart.

The final fragments of the echo’s essence were pulled into the orb with a shimmering pulse.

The forest fell still again. A defeaning silence.

Draktharion stood panting lightly, gaze locked on the orb, his chest rising slowly.

’I did it.’

Although it was just an echo, the fact that he had somehow defeated Atticus thrilled him.

’No more wasting time.’

And then… he turned.

His eyes locked on Aurora in the distance once more.

"You’re next."

But just as he was about to move:

BOOM!

A figure plummeted from the skies, crashing down like divine judgment, earth rupturing beneath his landing.