Rick could tell that his body was failing. His nose bled, and his vision kept getting blurry.
He could hardly lift his sword with his arms, and every breath felt like breathing in broken glass. But the dragon was getting weaker too.
It moved more slowly and with more urgency. There was a pool of black blood underneath it, and one wing hung uselessly at its side.
A little bit longer. He just needed to hold on a little longer.
The dragon made one last, desperate strike. It lunged at Rick with its mouth wide open, moving faster than something that was hurt should be able to.
Rick tried to move out of the way, but his body didn't respond. He was finished and couldn't even move anymore.
Carmilla jumped in front of Rick and the dragon's jaws. The teeth of the creature caught her sword, which bent but didn't break. She screamed because it was so hard, and her muscles were straining to hold back a lot of dragon rage.
"Rick!" Natasha's voice was full of fear. "Get out of there..!"
Rick couldn't do it, and his legs weren't working. He couldn't do anything as the dragon's claws came around, trying to rip Carmilla's guts out while she held its jaws shut.
Then a burst of golden light filled the plaza.
A wall of pure holy energy appeared between the dragon and Carmilla, stopping the claws just a few inches from her armor. The holy magic burned the dragon's scales, and it screamed in pain as it pulled back.
"Get away from them!" a voice shouted with the power of a goddess.
It was High Priestess Liora.
She came down from the sky on wings of golden light. Her amber eyes were full of righteous anger, and she looked like an avenging angel. Her robes flowed around her, and the holy power that came from her whole being was strong.
"How dare you attack the people I'm protecting?!" Liora raised her hands, and more barriers appeared. They were cages of holy light that held the dragon's limbs. "You have the guts to put innocent lives at risk for your queen's sick games?"
The dragon fought against its bonds, but dark creatures hated holy magic. The Ancient Black Dragon was especially weak to Liora's purifying power because Sylvia had corrupted it and was controlling it.
Liora's face softened with worry as she looked at Rick. "Rick, you brave, foolish boy."
"Take a break. I'll take care of this."
Rick fell to his knees, his body finally giving out as his Spirit Unity started failing. He saw Liora move toward the dragon as his mind quickly faded. Her magic made weapons of pure light, holy lances that she drove through the dragon's body with deadly accuracy.
The creature's screams got quieter. It stopped fighting as much. The Ancient Black Dragon stopped moving with one last sad cry.
[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETE: THE ANCIENT BLACK DRAGON HAS BEEN DEFEATED]
[CONTRIBUTION: MAJOR]
[REWARD: 500 EXP, TITLE: DRAGONSLAYER (NOVICE)]
[LEVEL UP! FROM LEVEL 9 TO LEVEL 10]
[LEVEL UP! FROM LEVEL 10 TO LEVEL 11]
[NEW SKILL: DRACONIC RESISTANCE LV.1]
The notifications came at Rick like waves, but he could barely understand them. His body was broken, and he had no magic left to use. He tried to get up, but he fell right away.
Carmilla caught him before he hit the ground. "You complete idiot," she said, her voice full of emotion. "You could have died..."
Rick was able to whisper, "At least... it was worth it... I wanted everyone to be safe."
"Not really," Natasha said, coming up next to him.
Her usual calm demeanor was broken, and real fear showed through. "Don't ever do something that dumb again."
As Liora got closer, her holy aura got less strong. She put her hands on Rick's chest, and a warm feeling spread through his body. The bones healed, the muscles got better, and the tiredness went down to a level that was easier to handle.
"You've gotten stronger," Liora said, looking at him with her amber eyes. "But you're still careless."
"That thing you did with Spirit Unity could have killed you."
"At the time, it seemed like a good idea," Rick said with a weak smile.
A slow, deliberate clap rang out across the plaza. Dragon Queen Sylvia was still flying over the city when they all looked up.
There was something in her old eyes that hadn't been there before, but her face was hard to read. It was interest and wanting to know more. Maybe even respect, too, in those eyes.
"Impressive," Sylvia's mind voice was quieter now, as if she were thinking. "Most people would have run away."
"And probably, most people would have tried to work things out, bargained, or begged for mercy."
"But you...? Hahahahaha! You ran straight at a creature that could kill you with a thought."
"It was a stupid choice, but also impressive."
She went lower, and her huge body cast shadows over the whole plaza. People ran away in fear, but Rick stayed put with Carmilla and Natasha by his side and Liora standing guard nearby.
"You killed my wayward child," Sylvia said, looking at the body of the Ancient Black Dragon. "I had power over that one for three hundred years."
"It is... not good that it is gone."
"Good," Rick said, surprising himself with how defiant he was. "Maybe next time you'll think twice about using living things as weapons."
Sylvia's eyes narrowed, and then something unexpected occurred. She laughed—a genuine sound emanating from her dragon throat, not just a mental projection. It was a mix of deep amusement and genuine surprise.
"How dare you talk to me like that? After I said I would burn your city?"
"After I gave you a choice?" She laughed louder. "Oh, young hero. You are a lot more interesting than I thought you would be."
Rick could smell sulfur and old fire on her breath as she leaned her giant head closer. Those smart eyes looked at him closely, taking in every detail.
Sylvia said, "You smell interesting," and her voice changed. "The priestess's holy magic, the mage's ice magic, and the knight's steel magic are all mixed with your smell."
"But there's something else going on underneath all of that... something real..."
"You really do care about those people, don't you? It's not about the power or the prophecy. Your heart really cared about those useless lives..."
Rick didn't know what to say, so he just nodded. "... ...?"
"How nice," Sylvia's mental voice said, sounding almost kind now. "I've been waiting for three hundred years, hoping for a brave warrior looking for glory or a clever schemer pretending to be a hero."
"Instead, I get a boy who fights dragons to save people he doesn't know and tells the truth to power without caring about what happens next."
She pulled back a little, and for the first time, Rick saw something other than cold authority in her face. Was that interest? Or maybe love?
"I came here to make you do something," Sylvia said. "To make you do what I want by scaring you and destroying things."
"But you showed me something I haven't seen in a long time. Real bravery, and not the kind you hear about in stories and songs, but the real thing."
"The kind that is messy, painful, and dumb, where you give up your life for others without expecting anything in return."
She looked at the dragon that was dead and then back at Rick. "You killed my wayward child to protect people who can't help you in any way."
"You stood up to me, a being who could end your life with a single thought, because you thought it was the right thing to do."
"You are either the bravest idiot I've ever met or something much more dangerous."
"What does that even mean?" Rick asked, not sure why she was acting differently.
"Someone I could really respect," Sylvia said simply.
"Someone who is worthy of the prophecy's weight."