The black spikes on the dragon start from the base of its head to the end of its very long tail. Its large red eyes focused on Soverick immediately it appeared. There is intent for violence in those red eyes so there is no chance that Soverick and the dragon can talk things out and come to an amicable resolution.
Its exposed teeth and the gleaming claws that promise swift evisceration are especially intimating. Soverick found them to be more intimidating than the sheer pressure of the dragon's presence. The presence of the dragon is considerable but he is sure that it cannot hurt him as well as its claws and teeth can.
Soverick felt an unprecedented threat from this beast. It is not from the overwhelming presence. He wouldn't be walking away with some injuries if the dragon lands a good hit on him. The dragon doesn't even need the extra features on its body for it to be deadly. That massive body of its cannot be for show. It must be packing some serious strength in that ginormous body. And that's not even accounting for world power. The armored rhino needed world power to become big but this dragon has bigness down to perfection. Having world power is just cheating.
"This is just over the top." He groaned after examining the dragon. "It is the perfect monster to put a tiger with wings in its place."
He has to admit that this dragon has been endowed with too much power. If there is such a thing as too much power, then this dragon is proof of it. He looked at his spear and he wasn't encouraged. It is not a wonder that this monster induced lamentations among the competitors of Arena 28. How are they supposed to live on the same battlefield that a monstrosity like this gets to rampage on?
But most important is how he is to kill the dragon with a toothpick in his hands. His gaining a weapon can be likened to a tiger gaining wings but this dragon can put him in his rightful place and make him learn some humility. If he thought he was unstoppable before, now he knows that he was very wrong to think so.
He looked at his beautiful and powerful black spear. Then he looked at the big and powerful red dragon. He compared their size in his mind and did some calculations. He also compared their power.
He sighed and said, "Now I know why they gave me the spear. I don't stand a chance without it. How can one even kill this?"
He was musing to himself about his opponent and reviewing his options. He has never fought a dragon before even as Gehaldirah so he doesn't have any personal experience with fighting one. Gehaldirah always runs away from dragons. His limited experience with dragons can be summed up in a warning which is that fighting dragons is a bad idea. It doesn't help that his observations have made him determine that this beast is near impossible to kill.
His toothpick of a weapon is not encouraging and neither is his observation of his enemy. He is outclassed both in size and power. The worst of the situation is that he is to kill this dragon. He can manage if he is to fight for his life and prevent himself from being killed. That means he can try to survive against the dragon. That is the aim of the challenge but this situation with the dragon won't be like that. He has to kill the dragon or he won't be able to survive. He doubts the arena spirit will just conjure the dragon and be satisfied without a life-and-death showdown.
If he intends to kill this dragon, then he needs to pull out all the stops. Even then, he is not even sure that he will be able to kill the dragon. Throwing big power at the dragon won't kill it. It already has power under its claws and within its service. The best way to kill the dragon is to maximize the efficiency of power.
Everything he does must be useful and must deal critical damage or it will be a waste. For now, he will use only one eye but he will use a different approach than what he used to defeat the armored rhino. He can be more efficient now that he doesn't need to use his eyes to steal momentum.
The two beings stood in the air gazing menacingly at each other. The four wings of the red dragon beat rhythmically creating gusts of wind beneath them. Its tail moved from side to side languidly as its body bopped up and down in the air. The gust of wind that it was making blew into Soverick's face. It had little effect on him since it can't get past his barrier. He would have thought nothing of it if he hadn't seen the grin on the dragon's face.
The dragon was taunting him. It was looking down on him and blowing air into his face. It wanted him to attack first. It is not generosity out of chivalry or because of magnanimousity. The dragon is intentionally giving himself a handicap and it is making it known that it thinks nothing of it. Soverick might think it is an advantage to attack first but the dragon doesn't think it matters. It will win anyway.
Soverick's eye twitched. He felt his pride take a hit. The damage to his pride is not because the dragon is disregarding him. It is because the dragon is right in disregarding him and he knows it to be true. He would also disregard a puny being were he the dragon. But he is not the dragon in this situation. He is the puny being who is being underestimated.
He wouldn't care if a weak person disregarded him. A weak person's opinion of his doesn't matter because they don't have the strength to make their opinions a reality.