"Best me, if you can."
The moment those words left the ash dragon's lips, Rishia had already fired a volley of arrows at him.
The four-fletched constructs of lightning raced toward the ash dragon at relativistic speed, but he merely raised a finger and said, "And there shall be light."
From the tip of his finger, a miniature star ignited, radiating intense light in all directions and consuming her arrows mid-flight, disintegrating them before they could reach him.
With the same left hand, he formed a knifehand and swung it to the side, deflecting Arthur's blade as it sliced toward his neck.
Flashes and sparks followed as Arthur's next 25 strikes, launched within the span of two seconds, were all blocked by the ash dragon's hand.
After parrying the 25th strike, the ash dragon curled his fingers into a fist and punched Arthur in the stomach, then lifted his right hand to grasp Rishia's Imperative Candescence arrow and crush it before it could explode in his hand.
