His blue eyes widened as only 2 bolts hit, to his dismay. They hardly seemed to affect the dragon, who hardly blinked at the attack as the bolts continued raining down around them. Takumi would have to avoid his own lightning as well, since he couldn't consume it it would still do a fair bit of damage to the young Slayer. Zirconis clearly wasn't all that impressed, as indicated when he opened his mouth and breathed jade shards directly at Takumi. The shards moved faster than Takumi would have thought, catching the slayer off guard as they hit him head on. Winning at the brutal force that the shards had hit him with, he just barely had time to grab for his scythe and block as the dragon attempted to catch him with his claws. The dragon was definitely determined... was he trying to kill Takumi? No, that couldn't be.This was just a rank up exam, there was no way, right? Mura wouldn't give him any challenge he thought would kill him.
"I will not go down that easily, Zirconis!" Roared the slayer as he lept backwards a few feet, surveying his opponent. The dragon was large, and with that hardened skin would be difficult to defeat. But he had confidence he could beat the dragon, it was his magic, after all, dragon slayer magic. He wasn't losing, not today or any day, and not to Zirconis! He was going to make it to the top of this tower, where Mura was waiting. He would not fail! The short man sized his opponent up, who was rapidly advancing, ready to strike once more. The dragon's tail came out of nowhere, bashing the side of Takumi's head and sending him tumbling down several steps. Dimly, as he landed in a heap on one step, he seemed to feel wetness on the side of his head that must be blood. His ears were ringing from the harsh blow as the dragon stood over him, looking down on him with some emotion in his eyes that Takumi couldn't identify just yet.
"Are you finished?" He would ask as he looked down on Takumi, who was struggling to get up. The short man wouldn't answer immediately, but as he stood on shaky legs, he looked the dragon directly in the eyes and gave his answer.
"Not on your life, Zirconis!" He spat as he finally stood to his full height, head now bleeding from a gash just above his left ear. The blood soaked into his black hair, and some trickled down his face as he glared defiantly at the dragon. This was not going to be the end of his exam, not on his life. He had to do this if he ever wanted to be stronger. The gods in his head were screaming now, telling him to crush Zirconis, and to move on, but he had other plans. They did not include crushing the dragon, but rather simply making him see that he would not defeat Takumi. The small slayer charged in with blade in hand, leaping forwards to whack the dragon on the side of the head as hard as he could manage without injuring the dragon. All his strength was behind the blow, though once again it seemed to do very little damage to the large dragon, who, with one sweeping movement, threw Takumi off, roaring. Takumi was not daunted by this, getting to his feet after he had landed in an ungainly heap. This was all part of his plan to assert his dominance...
As he stared at the dragon, Takumi made the next move, once more summoning lightning to his hand. The lightning blade formed once more, deadly and destructive in its capabilities. He would not aim for anywhere too painful, though he was certainly going to make sure this slowed the dragon down somewhat. He charged in, lightning held in his hand and full of intent to disable rather than kill, his attack landed on the dragon's leg, rather than his heart, which is where Takumi would have aimed had he intended to kill. As it was, the lightning still hit the leg hard, causing it to go out from under the dragon in a painful manner. Takumi's eyes brightened at this small victory that caused Zirconis to pause, having hit him only a few times the dragon wouldn't sustain any of the damage for long, but that wasn't the point. The point was to weaken the dragon until he admitted defeat, not to kill. As Zirconis went down his claws caught Takumi's leg, the one with the limp, causing blood to instantly well from the gash it left. Takumi himself let out a cry of pain as he went down too, right next to Zirconis. Dammit! That had been painful, but he was more worried about the fact that it would slow him rather than the pain. That was it! Time to show this dragon what he was really made of. Hoarsely, he commanded his scythe to dissolve into cherry blossoms, which were surely painful as they came down on the dragon all at once, burying him beneath a massive amount of pink petals. The petals would shred at the dragon's resistance, though they weren't enough to kill the dragon, obviously. Next, with a roar, Takumi would call for his undead servant, Argentum. The silver skeleton appeared in a flash of lightning, attacking Zirconis mercilessly as he got up. The skeleton himself also wasn't enough to finish Zirconis, his attacks frenzied, but not for long as the dragon swept his tail at the skeleton and caused him to fall apart from the blow.
Takumi was next, as he stepped forwards to look Zirconis in the eye. “I told you I would not give up. I meant it entirely” he would say as he made the next move. The roar would burst into existence, hitting Zirconis at point blank range, as Takumi had stepped closer to look the dragon in the eye. The lightning swallowed both dragon and man in a shower of blue sparks, and when the sparks cleared both were on the ground. Both were battered, though Takumi's eyes showed far more resolve than they had yet during this exam, as he stood up and faced Zirconis. “Do you yield?” he asked, blue eyes burning with resolve. Even if the dragon wanted to fight still he would keep going. But this was not to be the case, as Zirconis nodded firmly. “Then I shall move on, thank you for giving me a challenge.” With these words, Takumi would limp onwards, up to the final steps of the tower, and towards where Mura would be waiting for him.
Wc: 2976/4000