Mathilde healed herself in a flash of divine light. "Impressive as expected. Even if that dance is not perfect, the accumulating momentum can still help you charge it enough to hit a bit above your weight limit."

Li stood in place, "You healed from that? As expected of an angel. You called it not perfect. What does it lack?" She took a stance, ready to keep fighting even though her body was already at its limit.

Mathilde tilted her head, "First, I am an Archon, not a regular angel. Second, that Sword Dance of yours isn’t tailored for your body, and you’re using a blade of moonlight instead of your legs." She pointed at her, "You don’t learn it, you have to reinvent it."

As they moved for the last time, Mathilde dodged Li’s punch, and knocked her to the ground with a single punch, and it was over. "See baby, your body was already failing you."

Immediately, Mathilde healed Li and flew with her up to the platform where Arad and the others were. "She isn’t overly powerful, but skilled for a mortal. I would say she can give a newly assigned angel a bit of a hard time."

"A mortal facing off against an angel?" Cerilla gasped, and Mathilde shrugged. "It isn’t as big a feat as you think it is. New angels are arrogant and would most likely challenge her in a physical fight out of pride. The only reason she’ll give them a hard time is Blade Dance, if she were willing to dance to her death."

Noel looked at them. "Princess Li’s kicks like a battering ram, but she cannot topple castle walls. She might move like the wind, but only the tips of her toes surpass the speed of sound when she kicks, and she might endure pain, but she hates it and is a crybaby most of the time."

Li had done her best and proved her power to be beyond what anyone expected. She was by no means weak, but also didn’t reach higher realms. She was the perfect image of a mortal who reached their peak, yet couldn’t break free from the shackles of mortality. She was edging the limit between what Arad would consider the third type, trying to step above, but lacking the will and arrogance to impose her own influence on the world.

"If she had kicked her way out of the wood elves’ secluded kingdom, she might’ve already gained enough power and skill by traveling the world and facing its harshness to stand with people like Alcott and Nina." Arad looked at her with a smile. "But that is good now, she would only grow stronger. Of course, if she wants to. She can live a peaceful life and only deal with the political matters regarding the wood elf kingdom."

Arad’s eyes quickly shifted as he bent down to look Noel right in the face. "This is the first time I’ve seen a bloodline bearer so tuned to their blood."

Ever since Noel was young, she knew that there was a dragon inside. For countless decades, she fought to keep the beast down, she strived to hide the rage boiling inside her, the violent draconic emotions, and the will of pure domination and destruction.

But now, seeing the darkness burning inside Arad’s eyes, the hunter inside her was about to lose control. Should she let it? That dragon was nothing but destruction, bloodshed, and chaos, but it was a part of her; she is letting it out.

VROOOM! VROOOM! In an instant, her heartbeat could be heard revving up an engine, and seeing the scales appearing on her face and arms, Arad knew she wasn’t going to hold back that monster inside her.

The knights who came to protect Li all backed away, terrified. They had seen that power once before when Noel massacred the entire temple, but even then, they had never seen scales appearing on her body.

Noel smiled from ear to ear as she slowly lifted her hand and touched Arad’s face. "Let’s move, baby." Then she slapped him off the platform toward the ground and jumped after him. The slap was so hard that it made a sound as loud as cannon fire, and the shockwave released almost knocked everyone else down.

Arad landed on the ground first, straight on his legs as he rubbed his cheek. That slap stung a bit. As he looked up, he could see Noel dropping after him, swinging her massive greatsword down. He smiled, took a stance, and then swung a kick up, hitting her right in the face as she was coming down.

The shockwave ripped the ground, and Noel dug a trench in the ground. Arad looked at her with a smile, "Now, that was a nice slap."

"Arad! That was too much strength to the head, what if you killed her?!" Cerilla shouted from above, and Arad pointed at the clearing dust. "Are you sure, Cerilla? That’s woman is a real monster."

As Noel stood up, her entire face was covered with fragmented stone that crumbled into dust and fell apart as she growled back at him, still maintaining the smile on her face.

Earth dragons, also known as brown dragons or stone dragons, are among the strongest dragons physically, and they all boast extreme defences and endurance. Usually, if an Earth dragon was locked in a physical brawl with any other dragon, except magic dragons, they would win most of the time. Even steel dragon claws shatter on their stone hides the same way blades shatter against stone, and like a boulder, those brown dragons aren’t smart enough to know when to give up.

With a large smile on his face, Arad opened both his arms. "Come on, Noel. You don’t need to hold back anymore. Let it all out."

A beam of golden light burned out of Noel’s body as plates of stone covered her maid outfit and turned her greatsword into a massive slave of stone. The ground around her shook, and she glared at Arad with a pair of burning golden draconic eyes.

"It seems that I’ve got a strange luck with dragon maids. Come at me," Arad extended one arm forward, and his eyes burned dark purple as Noel leapt at him, swinging her massive and heavy greatsword with ease as if it weighed nothing.

One swing after another, Arad dodged each one, yet he could see and feel the raw strength and power Noel had in her arms and back. That sword had become a thick, four-meter-long boulder that she was just flailing at blinding speed like a club. It doesn’t cut; it crushes and shatters bones.

High strength, high durability, incredible weight, but an average speed. She was an unstoppable crushing tank, and it started to make sense how she could massacre an entire temple of trained monks on her own.

"You are still far faster than the average adventurer, but still, you’re nowhere near fast enough." Arad dodged one of her attacks with a single smooth sidestep, looked at her with a grin, and taunted her for another swing. This time, he didn’t dodge and let her hit him right on the side, and her stone greatsword shattered into pieces upon impact.

"But I am harder." In the same instant that her great sword shattered, Arad jumped forward, and with a single punch to the stomach, he sent her flying back with a trail of blood. The sheer impact had cracked her stone armor, and her eyes rolled back as all of her guts were rearranged with that single hit.

Mathilde cringed up on the sky platform. "Oof! That has to hurt."

"Yeah, a straight punch to the gut from Arad like that would make you shit your pants." Dendron flew to her head, "But, that girl is something else."

Instead of hitting the ground, Noel landed on her feet, barely staying up as her stomach was now exposed as Arad’s punch had easily torn the thin fabric of her maid uniform. The skin below was dark purple now, and Noel didn’t last a second without puking a river of blood.

"I can’t believe she tanked that." Cerilla gasped, and Li was just waking up. The first thing she saw was everyone standing around her, and when she looked down at the fight, she saw Noel barely being able to stand.

"Wait! Noel!" Li screamed, "The fight already started?!"

Noel conjured a greatsword of stone and leaned on it, gasping for air as she tried to catch her breath. Any regular mortal would’ve already died from such a hit, but thanks to her draconic resilience, her body was barely holding onto life. Arad did hold back a lot, but he certainly was trying to push her to the brink of her death.

"Aren’t you a bit too rough with ladies?" She growled at him with a smile, and Arad just crossed his arms. "I do face a lot of monsters, and many of them hit harder than that punch. If you can’t survive this, I can’t be certain you can survive in a fight."

Arad was right, right now, she was already reaching her limit after tanking that one punch. If this were a real fight, this would’ve been her end. So here, where she is guaranteed to survive, she should test the most extreme of her powers.

She smiled, and the ground started trembling. "Fine by me! COME!" She pointed one fist at the ground as she glared at Arad with a crazed smile, and he could see the shadow of a massive brown drakaina roaring behind her.