Across the spine of the dragon corpse, the Sword Dragon and the Atomic Dragon faced each other like mythic reflections—one a blade, one a star. "You stand alone against me?" the Atomic Dragon laughed. "Foolish."
The Sword Dragon answered only by igniting his wings. His wings became blades.
Dozens of blades. All vibrating with the power to cut anything. The Atomic Dragon inhaled. His throat glowed white, violet, gold and then exhaled. A beam of pure fusion ripped through the battlefield, carving trenches across the ground and slaughtering countless dragons which were unfortunately in the way.
The Sword dragon formed a shield with his blades, blocking it. The Atomic Dragon roared, nuclear flares exploding across his wings, blasting the Sword King backward with gravitational shockwaves. Below sword drakes charged and atomic drakes countered. Sword met starfire. Steel met supernova.
Far to the eastern flank, the battlefield pixelated into fractal layers as the Cyber Dragon fired of beams from its glowing body like circuit boards. Machine-dragons fired data-stream breaths, melting the air into neon grids. The Psychic Dragon fought with invisible force made of mind-lances, telekinetic implosions, and telepathic storms. His army created psychic shields to block the onslaught.
Near them was one fight that warped into impossible sapphiric reflections. The Gem Queen glided in the air as the Ocean dragon sent a great wave crashing in, swallowing the sky. The gem dragon lifted a single crystalline claw. The water froze into solid sapphire.
In the western flank, colors shimmered like dancing illusions. The Fragrance Queen exhaled a plume of scent changing the emotions of any that it touched. A wave of perfume-laden mist swept across the battlefield scents layered so densely they rewrote perception.
Sky drakes faltered, trembling with induced euphoria or sorrow or rage. "ENOUGH!" the Sky Dragon screamed. Her wings ignited with hurricane force. She unleashed a wind so strong it nearly carved rivers into the Emperor's bones. The scented clouds scattered but not entirely.
The Fragrance dragon released new spores. The Sky Dragon inhaled by accident. Her eyes unfocused. She blinked. Multiple illusions reflected in her pupils. The Fragrance Queen approached, voice soft. "Sleep." The Sky Dragon snapped out of it and snarled. "Never." as she batted her away with her wings.
Further out, the Sisters of Duality dived in a spiral of incandescent grace. With each flap of their wings, light refracted or softened, shadow condensed or dissolved. Below them, the Storm dragon and the Sound dragon rose like rival tempests. The battlefield between them detonated.
-
The battle of Kings and Queens raged across the corpse of the Probability Dragon Emperor, but at the highest ridge of the shattered spine, where a vertebra curved like a crown of bone, a different confrontation awaited.
The Kinetic Dragon mane swirled not in the wind but because it was constantly being pushed by inertia. His horns hold not light, but velocity. Its hooves shimmered with sparks that were not fire, but friction personified.
Behind Artorius, the Pain Dragon paced excitedly, to his right, the Crimson Drakonar flexed his talons with steady discipline, scales humming with internal power. Together, the three stood across the rising slope of the ridge where the Kirin waited.
[Royal Kinetic Kirin — Level 36]
Artorius exhaled mist, steadying himself. The Pain Dragon snorted, cracking his neck with a thunderclap. "This looks fun," the Pain Dragon grinned. "I will enjoy breaking it." The Crimson Drakonar didn't answer. His eyes never left the Kinetic Dragon.
"Are you sure you will be doing the breaking?" the kirin asked. If Artorius had blinked, he would have missed everything. The Kinetic Dragon did not run forward. He did not dash. He simply became velocity. A soundless blur crossed the ridge.
All Artorius was able to do was get his hands up in defence before he was sent flying. He went careening in the air with many bones broken in his body and crashed to the ground. He wasn't sure if he would have made it if he didn't have adaptability and work on it.
The Crimson Drakonar lunged, teeth bared, claws extended. He struck at the Kirin's flank, a blur of red and black scales flashing with ferocity. The Kinetic Dragon reacted instantly dodging away from the blow.
Then it unleashed a whip of kinetic force, knocking the Crimson Drakonar backward making it pinball through many soldiers. The pain dragon stepped in going head to head with the creature and each blow that it suffered seemed to empower it.
Staggering to his feet, Artorius joined in on the fight once again with the Crimson Drakonar. He did not mind if the two of them died to the royal dragon but if he was left alone with it especially with many of his abilities locked he wasn't sure he would survive long.
However even with the three of them combined, the kirin was impossible to pin down. It was too fast. Every attack sent its way was dodged. They had to lock it down somehow. However before he could come up with a plan the kirin upped the ante as three orbs of compressed velocity manifested and spiral-spun toward them like bullets fired by the world itself.
Each was aimed at them and darted in quick as bullets making him unable to dodge. The ball snapped toward him with no sound, only distortion. CRUNCH!
The impact folded him backward. Pain detonated through his jaw and neck. But the Crystal Harness drank the kinetic force like a starving beast. The chestpiece lit up first blue, then white, then blinding gold as the built-up damage overloaded its channels.
The Harness screamed as it was stained beyond its limit. A crack shot across the central crystal plate. Another followed by another. "Oh shit—" Artorius managed. BOOOOM!
The Crystal Harness exploded, shards of glowing crystal scattering across the battlefield like burning metal. The force blasted dust off the area they stood and knocked him off his feet. Artorius staggered forward, chest steaming, bare skin exposed. No protection. No buffer. No safety net. Just him.
The Kirin stared at him as the ball returned to it and shot it right back at him to finish him off. Artorius spat blood and straightened, seeing the ball coming his way he made a decision that felt like suicide.
He didn't dodge. He let it hit him in the throat. CRACK.
His vision went white. His breath vanished. His head almost went flying off from the force but somehow the damn collar still held though he did notice there was now a crack running across it letting it wisps of mana slip out from his body.
The Kirin tilted its head and looked at him like he was insane. He couldn't help stop smiling a bloody grin as he charged right at it along with the pain dragon and crimson drakonar.
They crashed together with the pain dragon somehow grabbing hold of the kirin by the horn and pamaling it. Momentum shattered outward. Dust spiraled. For the first time, the Kirin skidded hooves carving a short trench through the bone ridge. Not injured… but pushed back.
The Pain Dragon laughed, flames drooling from his jaws. "YES! MAKE ME FEEL SOMETHING!" He lunged again, trading blow for blow. Each strike he absorbed made his body twitch with grisly delight as power flooded him until he resembled a creature high on agony.
Artorius used the opening. Fire burst from his palm as he called upon the Word of Power for Flame. Shaping the flame into a fire whip he started giving it a taste of it. The flames washed over the Kirin's hindquarter. Kinetic hide dispersed most of it, but not all, the fur blackened, smoldered, and smoke spiraled. The Kirin growled softly, first sign of pain.
Then the Crimson Drakonar slammed in. He didn't roar. He didn't grandstand. He cut through the battlefield like a blade. Claws wreathed in internal pressure hammered down. Each strike carved a thin red line across the Kirin's flank not deep, but visible. Its velocity cloak resisted most of the damage, but not the whole thing.
Blood, the Kirin's blood hit the bone ridge in tiny droplets. Artorius blinked. They actually hurt it.
The Kirin's mane flared violently, inertia curling around each strand like a serpent. The crimson Drakonar didn't stop. He used the Pain Dragon's broad back as a platform, launching himself upward and spinning midair, talons glowing a molten red as he brought them down in a cleaving arc.
The blow landed square on the Kirin's shoulder. This time the bones beneath actually bent. The Kirin staggered half a step. The Pain Dragon howled triumphantly as it did not stop whalloping it. Artorius felt the momentum shift. For a moment just a moment they were winning. Then the situation changed in an instant.
All the blows that somehow got through and even the ones that were near it seemed to be building up. Its ability reminded him of its harness and it seemed to hit a plateau. In an instant, the Kirin shifted. Momentum twisted. Time dilated around them as it honed in on the biggest threat, the Pain dragon.
The Pain Dragon's instincts screaming. In a split second decision, the Pain Dragon lunged, placing Crimson Drakonar squarely between him and the Kirin's deadly horn.
Crimson Drakonar's eyes widened by the time the Kirin was already upon him. A heartbeat later BOOM. A blood-red streak painted the air. The Crimson Drakonar's body jerked, twisted, snapped inward and then exploded in a fan of red momentum.
A shockwave slammed Artorius backward so hard his ribs bruised instantly. The Pain Dragon tumbled across the bone like a ragdoll. The Crimson Drakonar hit the ground twenty meters behind them. Not alive. Not dying. Just dead. Killed so fast his nerves never fired.
Artorius stared in disbelief. One move. One strike. One impossible application of a law that no mortal, no dragon, no mage could grasp. "How…" Artorius whispered.
The Pain Dragon stood up, brushed bone dust from his wings…and laughed as he hoisted the remains of the Drakonar and tossed it aside. "Oh, how BEAUTIFUL!" he roared. "So that is your Law?! Momentum! How I desire one for myself. Let me devour your corpse to see if I can learn it."
Headlessly it charged right back into the fight while Artorius stood back frozen in disbelief. Only the pain dragon's roar pulled him out, "He fought well… better than most," he growled, his tone equal parts rage and dark amusement. "But don't think you're off the hook."
Artorius snapped out of it ans set aside his disgust for the betrayal. The kirin seemed to be weakened and a bit slowed from using its law so this was his chance. "Hold it down," he called out not minding if the pain dragon fell.
Artorius inhaled. This was it. Time to use one of his trump cards he had newly learnt. His hands glowed as he called out two Words of Power. Fire swirled in one palm. Light gathered in the other. He smashed them together.
Fire + Light = LASER
A line of annihilation ignited from his palms. A red hot white spear. A perfect execution beam. Silent. Precise. Merciless. He fired and shot through the Pain Dragon right at the kirin. The system seemed to recognize this great accomplishment he had been training secretly as he got a prompt.
+1 Intellect
The Pain Dragon froze mid-attack. A hole burned through his torso, glowing white-hot. His face twisted, not in pain but in astonished delight. Then the beam caught the Kinetic Dragon.
The Kirin's eyes widened. The momentum around him faltered. For the first time since the battle began…he stopped. Not much. Not dramatically. But he paused. A microsecond of hesitation. Thanks to Artorius commanding, "FREEZE!"
The beam seared across his chest, carving a clean line of scorched fur and sparking scales. He stumbled backward. His hooves scraped trenches into the bone. Velocity bled off his frame. Friction sparked violently.
Artorius lowered his hands, breathing raggedly. The Pain Dragon collapsed behind him, bleeding torrents, not dead yet but fading, grinning with a sick joy. The Kirin stared at Artorius genuinely astonished as he came up to it. "You…" he whispered but Artorius did not let him finish as he scorched him with another combined word, Plasma. Ending it for good.
You have slain: [Royal Kinetic Kirin — Level 36]
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Race: [True-Blood DragonMen] → Lv. 29
Stat gains: +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 DEX, +1 Per, +1 CHA
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Archetype: [Leader] → Lv. 29
Stat gains: +1 INT, +1 WIL, +1 CHA
-
Across the jagged ridges of the shattered battlefield, the air vibrated with the remnants of magic, fire, and steel. The carcass of the Probability Dragon Emperor lay beneath them, a grisly monument of a war that had torn everything apart and spilled countless blood.
Dragons of every kind clashed in the chaos, their roars and cries overlapping like a symphony of destruction. The Sword Dragon and its nemesis, the Atomic dragon circled each other like predators. Every movement from the Atomic Dragon sent heatwaves scorching the air, every swing of the Sword Dragon's blade-wings cutting through rock and bone alike.
Their duel was merciless and unending, yet, in the end, the Sword Dragon struck true, piercing its opponent's heart with a flash of blinding steel. The Atomic Dragon collapsed on to the ground grabbing hold of the blade. "Ahh, so this is how its ends!" Then fell headfirst dead.
The Psychic Dragon had surrounded his foe in a cage of telekinetic force. With each mental strike, it crippled its opponent's senses, bending limbs and locking joints with merciless precision. Its enemy fell, writhing in agony but not dead just permanently broken.
The Ocean Dragon Queen was a living tidal wave and stood before the defeated Gem dragon. The Gem Dragon cried out as a tidal vortex wrapped her body and shattered several of her scales.
The sky dragon's talons slashed through the Fragrance Dragon's chest. Perfume erupted like bleeding roses. The Fragrance Queen screeched as the Sky Dragon grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into a bone pillar hard enough to crack the pillar in half.
The Fragrance Dragon tried to counter with different scents but the Sky Dragon powered through the illusions with raw fury and tempest might. Wind crashed into the Fragrance Dragon at point-blank range. Her body was thrown away and did not get up.
Dawn Dragon radiated burning brilliance; Twilight Dragon consumed it. Together they orbited each other in spirals like dual stars opposites, but perfect. Their enemies laid before them defeated.
Artorius stood over the corpse of the Kinetic Kirin. His hands still smoked from the Plasma Word. His bones were still cracked, his muscles bruised, but he was alive. He looked across the horizon. Their side had come out on top.
The Ocean and Sky dragons who were the only ones to win their fight saw this and tried to get away. However they were not having that as the Sword Dragon who was bloody and torn up charged at them.
Escaping from out under the grasp of the twin dragon, the storm blocked the sword dragon's path with determination in his eyes and his mane crackled with lightning.
"You dare stand in my way?" he growled. The Storm Dragon inhaled. Thunder swelled. He unleashed lightning bolts so powerful it bent the clouds. The Sword Dragon simply sliced through it. The storm dissipated like shredded cloth. The Storm Dragon blinked in terror as the blade chop still came his way not stopping at all.
Artorius watched as he fell dead though the Sky Dragon did escape. The Ocean dragon on the other hand had no one to stop here so she also got away scot free. The battles ended not with a roar but with exhaustion.
As their fights ended, the armies those countless legions of drakes, wurms, wyverns, serpents, and basilisk did not immediately realize the war had ended. Armies still moved, still roared, and still killed each other simply because momentum had not yet stopped.
Even the ground was unrecognizable. The vertebrae of the fallen Emperor was fractured, split open in places like gaping wounds. Blood ran in places where armies had clashed, bones that had once towered like pillars had been shattered into jagged splinters, some sharp enough to impale entire squadrons as they fell.
Above it all, the Sword Dragon hovered wings spread wide despite gashes and scorched scales. Its eyes burned with cold precision as it scanned the battlefield. "Enough!" The single word rang across the battlefield, carrying the weight of authority that no dragon could contest. It echoed through the empty bone valleys.
Slowly, the surviving dragons faltered in their movements. Even those who had not yet fallen froze mid-air or mid-stride, wings quivering, claws twitching. "This battlefield… is ours." The Sword Dragon's voice cut through the lingering smoke, deliberate, sharp, and final. "Put down your arms and we will show you mercy! Your masters have either been defeated," he said, pointing to the dead and captured, "or fled!"
The surviving armies of dragons hesitated, the roar of combat dying in their throats. The devastation was near-total. The once-mighty formations of different dragons were reduced to fractured remnants. Artorius, standing atop a splintered vertebra, watched the survivors drop their weapons while their own started cheering.
This battle was over, but he wondered how this war for the corpse would end. For some reason he felt it wouldn't end well.
-
Across the corpse of the fallen Emperor as the battles raged like a storm of teeth and wings. Dragons of all types including royal who were tearing into each other in their hunger for power. Firestorms bent the air. Atomic light shredded soldiers. Elemental force buckled the marrow of ancient bones. The entire battlefield trembled with the weight of their desperation.
But beyond it all, beyond the husk, beyond the hurricane winds and ruptured magic, figures silently observed. One was a creature made from branches of living wood twisting across its scales, bark-like armor gleaming faintly even in the shadow of ruin. Leaves, still vibrant with life, trembled on its shoulders as if in acknowledgment of him.
It was known as the Wise One, the keeper of knowledge and secrets. He gazed upon the battlefield with neither pity nor disdain only a measureless calm. To him, the royal dragons were sparks tossed in a storm. Their rage, their cries, their might… all of it was ephemeral compared to the quiet nature of all of life.
Far beyond his groves was another towering dragon whose entire being smelled of countless spilled blood. Armor-like scales glowed a deep iron-red, as though quenched in heartblood. His wings stretched like banners of conquest, torn at the edges not from age but from the weight of victories. He was known as the Warmaster.
He watched the unfolding fighting with an eager crack of his knuckles and snorted a plume of smoke thick enough to blot out anything. "They fight well," he muttered, voice like anvils grinding, "but not magnificently."
His eyes traced the struggle of the Sword Dragon cleaving through the Storm Dragon, the Psychic Dragon crushing its foe's mind, the Ocean Queen drowning the Gem Queen in spinning vortices. He clicked his teeth. "They lack devotion. True battle demands surrender of self." There was one person though he paid attention to who he heard word about, Artorius.
In the shadows of reality shimmered a form of a silhouette, one that flickered between clarity and haze. Her horns were half-formed. Her wings were both present and not. The edges of her body dissolved like painted mist. She was the Dreamer, sovereign of illusions, dreams, and the unspoken truths that haunt sleepers. She watched it all unfold and turned away from it already displeased with it.
A laugh rippled across the skies of the Nest. Space bent. Light warped. Hanging upside down above a tear in the sky of the very battlefield many were watching was a dragoness who tumbled into existence like a falling star. She somersaulted midair, her scales shimmering with cosmic dust. Tiny comets orbiting her tail zipped past in tiny arcs before dissolving.
She was the Wanderer, mistress of space, freedom, and joyful chaos. She peered over the edge of reality to look at the battlefield. "Oooooh… they're still killing each other!" Then she was gone onto the next place in the Nest.
Heat shimmered far away like the golden hush that precedes dawn, then swelling into a breath of full, triumphant noon. Colors brightened simply to be seen by her. Even the wind seemed to pause, charmed and dazed. She was the greatest Ruler of the Nest.
She looked upon the corpse-sprawl of the Probability Dragon Emperor and the dragons warring over its bones, and her radiance dimmed at the edges. Her eyes swept the battlefield, the rivers of blood, the mutilated wings, the shattered monarchs lying broken in the dust. Royal dragons tore at each other, feral with desperation, driven by pride and fear and ancient grudges.
The air trembled with the fading echoes of their last roars. She watched the battlefield hesitating to get herself involved once she saw that the Fragrance dragon started losing to the Sky dragon. "Poor child," she murmured.
The last to be watching the battlefield was the sixth and final sovereign blooded dragon who saw everything unfold. She perched upon her throne whatever she touched, life thinned. Where she exhaled, the air held its breath. She was the Undesired one and she wasn't just paying attention to the fighting going on in the surface of the corpse but also the one deep within its heart.
To say she was surprised to see an immortal dragon hatched would be an underestimate.
-
Chapter 40 Recap!
Leveled up Race: True-Blood DragonMen to Lvl. 29!
+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CON, +1 PER, +1 CHA
Leveled up Archetype: Leader to Lvl. 29!
+1 INT, +1 WIL, +1 CHA
+1 Intellect for new Combined Word; Laser!