Chapter 1742 — A close second

Dragon-Lex looked at the enemies around him and decided that, unlike the Dark Knight, they did not deserve his ire. They were simply monsters, doing monster things. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, had been an incessant irritation, what with his loud bragging and pompous attitude.

Although he was in a different form, Dragon-Lex was still Lex, so he was still pissed about the knight making his headache worse. Fortunately, with the advent of his partial dragon form, his headache had also gone away. Of course it had, because he was the best.

Unlike his lotus form, which was supposed to grant him lotus’ abilities, his dragon form did not actually grant him any new abilities. They just made the ones he already had much stronger, allowing him to use them as a true dragon would.

Which was to say, in this form, Lex did not need to rely on tenets, or Lawcraft. All powers and abilities would manifest as he willed them to.

Lex unleashed his Golden Inferno, a jet stream of roaring golden flames which ate through everything they touched, and channeled the flames into assuming a shape identical to his form. Then, under his command, the flames started to fly around, crashing into the enemies, burning and eviscerating them. It wasn’t actually hard.

If Lex hadn’t been weakened, he wouldn’t have even needed to transform to defeat them all. It was a pity that none of them presented the same challenge that Kreel had, or else Dragon-Lex would have shown off the superiority of his new form.

Even so, Abaddon was nothing if not persistent. Enemies kept raining down on them, trying to stop Kaemon from doing whatever he was doing, yet while Lex’s barrier stood erect, none could reach the Magma Lion. Meanwhile, the flaming incarnation of Dragon-Lex kept consuming all the enemies that came their way.

This provided Dragon-Lex with the opportunity to focus on his clone. It was true what Jack had said. Something had hijacked the connection between Lex and his clone, and was using the clone to approach the well. Originally, distracted and overwhelmed as he was, neither Lex nor Jack had noticed that the clone was acting oddly. Now, though, it was clear.

Like a tsunami, Lex’s will erupted with little warning, snatching back control of his clone. A wretched cry, one entirely unhuman, came out of his clone’s mouth as control was snatched back.

Unable to contend against Dragon-Lex, whatever had taken control of his clone did the only thing possible. It cut off a piece of the clone’s thumb, and latched onto it, severing the bond between the thumb and Lex.

Such ignominious defiance was an insult to Dragon-Lex, and so he had no intentions of letting the morphed, severed thumb, which now looked more like a centipede scurrying away than his thumb, survive.

Yet there was interference. It was not Abaddon who stood to defy his will, it was a white bead.

A single, inconspicuous bead placed on the board caused the clone’s energy to fail. The severed thumb had created a weakness, and the bead expanded on it. As unlikely as it seemed, Lex’s cloning ability was nowhere near perfect, and the wound became the foundation of the technique unraveling. If left alone, the clone would disappear and the centipede would escape.

"How dare you?" Dragon-Lex spoke, his voice dangerously close to being a whisper. "I have already declared you dead, a foe destined to fall upon my sword, yet you defy me still?"

Dragon-Lex’s anger was channeled into his will, which he channeled all towards the board. While Lex had learned a lot about the game now, each piece placed giving him hints, Dragon-Lex could read between those hints far better. It was almost as if the secrets of the universe were eager to reveal themselves to him - as was appropriate.

A lot of the times, Lex’s actions or improvements, connections and networks made would cause beads to be formed which he could use. Yet sometimes, or actually quite often, Lex’s actions merely provided him with the opportunity to create a special bead, but he had to be the one to actually create them. He couldn’t rely on the board to give them to him. He suspected that it was the same for his opponent - he would likely have to create those special beads from something.

Now, Lex’s anger was channeled into his board, with his new form as the advancement he made. More importantly, Dragon-Lex willed a new piece to be formed. A new, black bead suddenly appeared on the board, identical to the incarnation Lex had made from Golden flames.

"Bear the mark as my prey," Dragon-Lex declared, and solemnly placed the bead on the board.

Far away from him, in the Artica realm, Axios was in the middle of a meeting when his expression suddenly changed. In fact, everyone around him had their expressions changed as they looked at him.

A subtle aura enveloped Axios, an aura containing a primal ferocity and tenacity which intimidated any who sensed it. It was a Mark of Ownership!

The Mark of Ownership was not like a slave brand - no, this mark indicated that this particular prey had been claimed as a warning to others. If anyone else dared hunt the marked prey, they would suffer the wrath of whoever had placed the mark.

Back in Abaddon, Dragon-Lex suddenly felt a lot weaker. Using his will like that drained him immensely, making it clear that his form was about to recede - even if he didn’t want it to.

Yet he was not resigned to leaving it just like that - not while he still bore the stain of insult.

Lex’s unravelling clone looked ferociously at the centipede and self-destructed, channeling the resulting explosion into burning up the accursed vermin that grew out of his body.

Abaddon or no, none could insult Dragon-Lex like that.

Feeling a satisfying feedback, aware that his prey had been killed, Dragon-Lex reluctantly allowed his form to fade.

"Although I am the best, you are a close second," Dragon-Lex said to Lex as his form faded.