Reincarnated with a lucky draw system

Chapter 448: HANDICAP BATTLE

"I hate pests that can’t even follow the basic unwritten rules of not attacking outrightly," an annoyed yet strangely captivating voice announced, announcing his presence with lazy confidence.

He stepped into view, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the angel who had come before, same elegant features, same flawless beauty, but where the angel had radiated a blinding holy aura, this one was cloaked in deep, swirling darkness.

His wings stretched wide, not pristine white but midnight black, each feather shimmering with an oily, obsidian sheen that seemed to drink in the surrounding light. A fallen angel, no question.

"Yawennn," came a drawn-out, sleepy yawn from another direction. "And here I was just beginning to enjoy that nap."

Hypnos, of the god race, rubbed at his watery eyes with the back of one hand.

His silver hair fell in careless waves across his forehead, and his half-lidded gaze carried genuine irritation at being dragged from slumber.

The air around him felt heavier, slower, as though time itself resented being disturbed.

"To have so many of you gathered here..." A voice dripping with suspicion cut through the clearing. "Just what in the hells is going on?"

The speaker belonged to the devil race, tall, lean, horns curling back like blackened thorns.

His crimson eyes narrowed as he scanned the growing assembly, tail flicking behind him in barely restrained agitation.

High above, perched silently on a thick branch, an elf watched everything unfold.

His lithe form blended almost perfectly with the dappled shadows of the leaves, yet Aaron had spotted him the moment he arrived.

The elf’s bow rested loosely across his lap, arrow already nocked, patience carved into every line of his angular face. He made no move to reveal himself further.

Not yet.

A soft shimmer of golden light announced another arrival. Hildr, also of the god race, materialized a few paces away.

She folded her arms across her chest, silver armor catching faint glints of sunlight.

Her expression remained calm, almost bored, as she regarded Aaron with the detached curiosity one might give an interesting insect.

BOOM!

The ground trembled. Leaves rained down in a sudden green shower as an enormous fire dragon crashed into the clearing, wings beating hurricane gusts that flattened grass and cracked smaller branches.

"Can’t believe we’re all gathered here just to deal with one arrogant human," the dragon rumbled, voice like molten rock grinding together.

Scales the color of fresh lava glowed along his massive frame, heat radiating in visible waves that made the air waver and sting the eyes.

Aaron stood at the center of it all, taking in the motley collection of supreme beings. A peculiar, almost amused smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

The way they carried themselves, so full of self-importance, postures rigid with entitlement, struck him as darkly funny.

The pride rolling off each one in thick, tangible waves.

The way they stared down at him like judges passing sentence on a criminal already condemned.

It was all the proof he needed: the so-called authority of the universe was rotten at its core, propped up by nothing more than ego and brute strength.

"You," the fire dragon snarled, lowering his enormous head until glowing amber eyes bored into Aaron.

"I’ll offer you one chance to avoid a truly painful death. Kill yourself right here and now, and you won’t have to suffer in my claws."

Aaron’s smile widened, slow and deliberate.

"Seriously?" he said, voice light, almost playful. "You all aren’t nearly good enough to deal with me."

He let the words hang in the air, deliberately stoking the fire.

He had already decided to raise the stakes just a little higher.

His divine weapons, his mastery over space, and those mystic eyes of his, they would be the true stars of this little party.

"You brought this on yourself!" the dragon roared, arrogance giving way to fury.

Jaws parted wide.

A torrent of dragonflame erupted, searing orange and white, so intense it scorched the air itself into shimmering mirages.

The heat hit like a physical wall even before the flames reached Aaron.

Aaron didn’t flinch.

He smiled wider and sprinted straight toward the oncoming inferno.

His mystic eyes worked at blinding speed, dissecting the roaring blaze in less than a microsecond.

Every swirling current, every weak seam where the energy faltered, he saw it all laid bare.

With a casual flick of his wrist, he summoned Dragon Forge.

The weapon materialized in a flash of dark steel and destructive aura around it.

He struck precisely at the flames’ weakest link.

Destruction essence poured from the point of impact like black ink spreading through water.

It raced outward, unraveling the dragonfire from the inside.

The massive torrent collapsed in on itself with a tortured hiss, reduced to harmless sparks that drifted harmlessly to the scorched earth.

But the fight was never going to be one-on-one. Fairness had no place here.

The devil struck next.

Crimson devil flames, sharper, hungrier than the dragon’s, exploded from behind Aaron, aimed to catch him in a pincer.

A second white sphere detached from Aaron’s side, independent and swift.

It morphed mid-flight into another Dragon Forge, identical in every detail. The blade met the devil flames head-on.

A violent pulse of destruction essence shredded the attack into nothing but fading embers.

Then came the arrow.

It streaked from the treetops like a comet, blindingly fast, trailing silver light, its trajectory so precise it left almost no room to maneuver.

Aaron wasn’t fazed.

His eyes tracked the shaft perfectly, reading its spin, its intent, its killing arc.

As long as his body could match the speed of his perception, no attack would ever land cleanly.

He sidestepped, fluid, almost lazy and the arrow screamed past, embedding itself in the ground with enough force to split stone.

The movement placed him directly in the path of Hypnos’s follow-up.

A beam of soft violet light lanced toward him, the sleep ray, lazy yet insidious, designed to drag even gods into dreamless oblivion.

Space itself seemed to bend faintly around him, a subtle ripple only he could feel, as though the universe held its breath.