"And my name…" he began, but paused for a second, instead looking at the surface of Durandal.
'How could I forget the easiest choice?' He wondered as he then used the reflective surface to take a look at his own face.
When he saw, what he looked like, he noticed an uncanny resemblance to a character he still remembered. 'I guess it is decided then.'
"Just call me Pendragon. That will be enough." he announced.
The second he saw his appearance; that blonde hair, and those deep emerald-green eyes, that was the only name that thoroughly settled in his mind.
He was basically the exact image of Saber, Artoria Pendragon, as a man, after all. A first name could be thought about at a later point.
With everything said what they wanted to say, there was nothing else stopping them from the fight, and as soon as they noticed that, both sprang into action immediately.
Myriad did not hesitate and flapped its wings once, then twice, and soon began rising into the sky.
Back on the ground, the blonde-haired young man did not wait for an extra invitation. Still following his body's instincts, he rushed straight forward, already beginning to feel Mana burst consciously.
He crossed the distance in barely two strides, before suddenly shifting directions and leaping towards the nearest tree, which stood merely a few meters away. Using the trunk of the tree as an extra foothold, he activated Mana Burst once more, elevating himself into the air, aimed straight at the shocked Myriad.
The shock of Myriad quickly went by, and the shimmering dragon aimed his right front paw, armed with four claws, directly at his body.
Mere centimeters, before the claws could skewer him, he used another wave of Mana Burst, directly from his feet, catapulting himself through the still existing gap, between two of the dragon's claws, and further beyond.
"RAAAAAGGGHH!!"
Two seconds later, a deafening howl could be heard all across the island, followed by a huge crash, which in turn, was seconds later mimicked by a much lighter impact.
'That definitely won't work again…" the blonde-haired young man thought, panting heavily, after what he just did.
His entire body was covered by blood and sand.
Though, this blood wasn't his.
It was Myriad's.
Only by pure luck, had he been able to barely fit in between the two claws, and it was what followed, what caused him to be covered in this much blood, once more.
Directly in the path of his Burst had been Myriad's wing, which offered only little resistance, compared to the human man, who was catapulted into it, sword raised, with speeds that should never be achievable for a human.
The point of impact nearly exploded, which brought the Dragon down to the ground. Unfortunately, it had also taken a significant amount of Magical Energy, and his reserves were merely halfway full, at the moment.
Another move like this, and they would be empty. Not even his Fae blood could withstand the astronomical expenditure Mana Burst required.
'Is it because of the low proficiency…?' a realization struck him. 'But, it definitely won't increase in just one fight… so I have to make do, with what I got.'
Nearly on the other side of the bay, Myriad was laying on the ground, with pain flooding his brain. He had underestimated that damn human brat, twice in a row. And now, now he wouldn't even be able to fly anymore.
Swallowing down its anger, Myriad directed its gaze towards where the pest that had been the reason for his current problems currently rested.
As shameful as it was, it could not dare to underestimate the human any longer. Therefore, for the first time, since it erected the Barrier, which had hid him from the outside world, for many years now, it used its Real Magic again.
Not that cheap spell it had used earlier.
In the next moment, the body of the dragon seemed to grow bigger, and bigger, until it nearly towered over the mountain range.
The blonde-haired young man could only look on, with widened eyes, shocked by this sudden change. But, there was a feeling in his gut that he couldn't really make out.
Until, it was too late.
Using every bit of willpower, and strength he had in his body, the young man tried turning his body in time, but it was in vain.
From one moment to the other, Myriad had appeared right next to him, and slashed his claws down on him.
Its attack hitting right on target.
"AAAAAARRGHH!!"
Kneeling on the ground, and holding the remaining stump of his right arm, while Durandal lay on the ground, being covered by his blood.
But, said blood was by no means red, and did also not even leave a single stain behind, not on the sword, nor the sand, in which Durandal lay. Instead, the fluid that was coming out of the stump of a right arm, was a silvery-gold color, which seemed to evaporate mere seconds after it left his body.
Even Myriad, the real one, and not the gigantic Illusion of it, looked somewhat scared by this blood.
'Is that boy no mere human…? What is he?'
The dragon was completely caught off guard. Sadly, the young man was in no condition to make use of the opening that presented itself, before him.
'Whatever he is, now that I have already wounded him, I need to finish him off, and disappear from here, before whoever he belongs to, comes looking for him.' Myriad did not hesitate any longer, and simply raised his left paw, to finish the wounded being blonde off.
As the claws came closer, and closer, the wounded blonde had no time to react, and he simply closed his eyes, praying for a miracle.
He was waiting for the pain, or… well, anything. But, nothing came. Not a second later. Not even half a dozen seconds later.
Confused, he opened his eyes and looked at where previously Myriad had been.
What he saw, though, was a golden bubble, all around him.
Only then, did he notice that Durandal was no longer laying on the ground, but was floating in the air, while glowing in such a radiant light that he couldn't even properly look at it, instead.
Even if the light coming from Durandal seemed blinding, his gaze was still drawn to it, as if something called out to him, from somewhere deep inside.
Gritting his teeth, and fighting against the pain, which still hadn't stopped, he raised his left hand, and reached for the sword's hilt. When it seemed, as if he couldn't raise his hand high enough, due to the pain, the sword came to him.
He looked at it in wonder, before closing his eyes, and taking another deep breath. No matter how the fight would end, he had already surrendered once, he wouldn't do so another time.
Now, for the first time in the entire fight, he drew on his reserves of magical energy consciously. It felt rough, and would need a lot of training, if he ever got the chance to, but it worked. The magic was drawn to the sword, and slowly imbued it.
'Durandal is indestructible… this is my only chance.'
With this thought in his mind, he continued filling more and more Energy into the wonderful sword, which had saved him once already. The barrier, which had most likely come from the sword too, was slowly dimming, as hits could be heard, slowly but surely.
Mere seconds, before the bubble would break, did he stop imbuing more of his energy into the sword, he felt it; it was enough. Relying on his instinct, as well as his own will, he raised Durandal, and prepared himself, for one last attack.
And then, the moment Myriad broke through the golden barrier, the young man's body seemed to explode into a golden light, and he disappeared.
A second later, a thud could be heard again.
He had expended all of his strength. It wasn't even enough to look, if it had been enough. He just… lay on the ground, too powerless to do anything.
Unknown to him, while Myriad was still standing… the light every living being carried in their eyes, had already gone out in those of the dragon.
He had won.
---
It took him an entire hour to come back to his senses. For some reason that he did not know, he survived.
'Could it have been another miracle of Durandal?' he wondered, but felt that this was not the case.
When he finally managed to get up again, he was first shocked to see Myriad still standing, but after his adversary did not move, he calmed down a bit.
He went over to the still dragon, and noticed a hole in the body of it. It went straight through its torso, exiting from the back, but was barely big enough for the blade of a sword.
The dragon, which had been previously towering at nearly four times his size… suddenly seemed so small.
After having made sure, about the death of the dragon, he looked down at his hands, well… hand. His right hand was still missing.
Next, he looked for his partner, Durandal. It must've slipped from his hand, after he went unconscious.
He looked where he had been laying before, but it wasn't there. Perplexed, he began searching the place for it, with little success.
In the end, he returned back to the corpse of the dragon, as if drawn to it. He followed the pull, and eventually found something.
"The reverse-scale…"
And, for some reason or another, Durandal was embedded exactly there. It had truly brought another miracle.
Remaining motionless for a moment, he finally made up his mind.
"Thank you. Without you, I would've never made it out alive, of this fight. Please let me, in your honor, wear the name of your previous master." He didn't care how it may have seemed, if others had seen him, at that moment.
There was a silence, and no sign from the sword.
"I understand. I don't deserve to truly carry his name, just yet. Then, please still let me honor it, ...as Cassian Orlando Pendragon. That way I will be able to make my own path, while still honoring his name."
Cassian could've sworn there was the tiniest bit of a light that came from the hilt of the sword, before it dimmed again, ensuring another wave of silence, until it was inevitably disturbed by a stomach rumbling.
He hadn't eaten since he arrived here, and it began showing. Cassian was somewhat hesitant, but eventually threw a calculating look towards the body of the dragon.
"I mean, surely a dragon must be a delicacy…" it could've been seen as disrespect towards his opponent, but Myriad had wanted to eat him first, so…
Just, as he wanted to begin cutting into the flesh, he remembered something about dragons.
"Wasn't there also a myth, about bathing in dragon blood…?" Cassian was by no means interested in bathing in the innards of anyone, but if it brought even the tiniest chance of something extra, then he wouldn't let it slip by.
So, in the next moment, he changed the angle of the sword, before cutting the dragon's abdomen horizontally, until there was enough room to get inside, without drowning in it.
As he was planning to take the last step, he remembered that he was still wearing pants, which would get completely soaked… Therefore, before getting inside, he once again stripped down, only taking Durandal with him.
Cassian, the moment he dove into the masses of blood and flesh, felt disgusted, and liberated, at the same time. It was a completely alien feeling, all things considered, and yet, it felt… right.
Just as he was actually beginning to relax, something Cassian truly had not expected happened; the system rang out.
[Encountered valuable world resource. Exchange for Currency?]
"…"