"--ker."

Taking a deep breath, exhaling it, and drawing a new, deeper breath, I hold it and revel in the feeling of lightness. My muscles are all that slightly more responsive, and my leaps will take me far, far, farther. Because I can just resume breathing again, and then possibly holding my breath again, at any point to change my velocity mid leap, it’s going to be a bit hard to dodge me now as I try a new method of locomotion.

Summoning a T K Square beneath my feet, and both pushing off of it, while it pushes towards me, I leap straight into the air, far higher than I should be able to, causing Olashax to flash his one good eye around in surprise, making certain it wasn’t a trick. I rotate my center of gravity, drawing my knees closer to my chest, and summon a new telekinetic square right where the base of my feet are, and simultaneously thrust the T K Square while leaping off of it, propeling myself completely horizontally, parallel to the ground at a nice velocity. Okay, the practice worked. With minuscule adjustments to the angle of the square before or during summoning, I can change my trajectory to be unpredictable, or even just to dodge. Hell, because I’m so light like this, I could put a T K Square right in front of my face, and use it to shove backwards, to arrest my momentum. It’s a lot like my old Jettison Thrust Leaps. Going from J T Ls to T K S Ls is going to take a bit more practice than just two leaps to perfect it, and really, I probably shouldn’t be inventing new methods of movement mid battle, buuut I’m me.

Alright, forty five degree angle T K S L downward, swing my legs up and push off it, angling back towards Olashax’s left shoulder, he’s going to draw back and swing, thirty degree left angle upwards T K S L just before impact. Now! Fifteen degree forward left down angle T K S L, right for his eye, and start breathing! Gravity grips me like a kraken, dragging my adamantite body plummeting downwards above Olashax’s snout while he’s still rotating his muscles from the over-extension of his left claw swing. I drive Frostburn deeply into his eye, but he’s a massive creature, and his eyelids themselves are their own titanic weapons. They grip me, squeezing my breath from me, which frees me all the more quickly, allowing me to run along the edge of his closed eyelid, dragging Frostburn along his eyeball the whole while. I’d end it right here and now if I could, but I kinda forgot he had wings.

Oof. He covered all my possible angles of exit, so I took a wing directly to the face that would knock me towards the clouds, or I would have. I pull a Quick-change ring, a Q C R number one. Suddenly three ravens are me, I am they, them, we. Can’t strategize as well, can’t figure next attack, only instinct is safety, not so good, get to Lil, safety for me and Lil. We spiral, we helix, we intentionally overshoot two of us, as Olashax does not know who we are, what we are. We resume life as Reggie Shellcracker, atop our buddy Lil, while Olashax searches the sky above him. Sheathing Frostburn, and returning number one to our quick-change ring compartment, we sit atop Lil, take a deep breath, sigh, and inhale another deep breath again, holding it.

Hello my best buddy. I love you so much. Let’s get that nasty signal out of your nervous system eh? Show them why they call you Sun. My still exposed Honoris Causa drinks of signals and energies within Lil. I try to be careful so as not to harm him. I recognize some of the energies as Can’Z’aasian mana, I try my best to avoid them. Focusing, I try to understand the things entering my void. It feels like minutes before I figure out the correct signal, just as Olashax is looking back towards the ground, and running this way. This is it. This belongs to an Ice. This is the dragonfright signal, specifically Ancient Ice. I’ll need to learn to do this for every type of dragon, though adults and younger might simply be less complex, easier versions of the same elemental signal.

Olashax pauses to rear back, thinking he has us both, since I’m not moving any longer. He continues charging his breath weapon, and I try not to smile, so as not to give away the ruse. Olashax’s breath weapon continues to charge as I continue to reduce the signal within Lil. He seems almost fully charged, almost. I flash Olashax a grin as I leap off of Lil’s back towards his now-opening jaw. As smoothly as if I’d shut down a radio tower broadcasting the waves of dragonfright, I free Lil.

You see. Lil is Can’Z’aasian. His breath weapon? It’s born of digital mana. It might not have been as powerful when we got to Rayileklia, because he couldn’t access Can’Z’aasian mana to empower it, but he’s had months to understand his Latent, and it’s been boosted by his mother. He’s had months to practice his natural, instinctive breath weapon, based on a power that is innate to him. Months for a Can’Z’aasian adventuring creature, training and traveling, is a whooole other ballgame. We lead short lives, but we sculpt ourselves, we cultivate our abilities quickly.

It doesn’t make Lil invincible. It doesn’t make him undefeatable. It doesn’t even mean he instantly incinerates anything he attacks. But when I say Lil’s fire is hot, I mean closing in on thermite hot, perhaps half of that. And because Lil’s Alias is Sun, his breath weapon’s temperature, and volume increases the longer he breathes, rather than the longer he charges up. Why am I silently telling you this Olashax?

Because I won’t say it out loud. Because I want you to feel the fear when you realize your almighty breath weapon can’t make headway against a dragon who’s maybe a tenth of your size at best. Because I want to watch you burn for how you’ve hurt people I love. Because, sadly, I’m using Lil as a distraction as you unleash your ice breath towards him, mostly fully charged. Or perhaps that is your best, perhaps I waited too long, and gave you the time you needed, while I was learning new movement abilities. Taking a deep breath as I stand on one T K S, I create a second one directly behind me, facing Olashax and hop so that I can throw my center of gravity, recoil my legs, then thrust off of it, directly at him.

I have to adjust once, twice, three times, as Olashax tries to angle so that his breath weapon can reach me while holding back Lil’s breath that ever encroaches closer and closer to him. I land on Olashax’s disgustingly mucused right eye that I’d just slashed apart, flooding its aqueous humor, or perhaps vitreous fluid. I haven’t done a lot more than tear his cornea a long gash, maybe a bit of his iris or sclera, but it’s got to hurt like hell.

Just like Kozzurth, this piece of crap is completely engrossed in unleashing his long-charged breath. Perhaps they can’t stop. Maybe it’s like humans going pee. He could stop, but it would be difficult, a muscle exercise you wouldn’t normally do as a dragon. I don’t have time to play around with this piece of crap, but how do I end him? Will greatest shadowy evocation, G S E of balefire work on him? He’s much larger than Yisstendahl. Worse, there’s one really big problem with greatest shadowy evocation. That problem is that it’s partially illusory.

I’m positive that Olashax is convinced I used illusions to sneak around the battlefield. I’m fairly certain that Olashax here at least thinks at least half of what I did was illusions. Especially when he didn’t connect his attack when I was at his eye. If he attempts to see through the substance of my spell, G S E just becomes shadow-stuff, barely more harmful than stepping into a dark room. Perhaps like having a very large bucket of jelly splashed at you. It’s why it can copy such high level forms of magic, bringing forth some of the most damaging evocations possible. Because it’s not entirely real. I need to consider this, determine the percentages of wasting the S P, and determine a course of action.

I dive into a moment between moments, seeking the non, the absence of time, the space between spaces, the realm of possibility. Diving in to my mindscape, sighing as I attempt to paint everything I can recall of the battlefield across the several miles that I took in, I recreate the images in my mind. Despite how scary it is to have his breath weapon blown back at him, and despite how hot Lil’s breath is, it won’t incinerate Olashax, due in part to his gelid nature. Also, partially because cooking any dragon from outside the scales won’t do a whole hell of a lot. They’re fantastic insulators. If I put three telekinetic squares on his lower eyelid, can I keep it down? Could I hack and slash my way in through his cornea, his lens, his iris, his sclera, his retina, and to his optic nerve?

Hm, possible. When there, should I resort to balefire, or save the S P? What harm might he do to Lil in the meantime if he realizes he should just dodge to one side and rush Lil, taking the flame for a moment? I don’t want to risk Lil being seriously injured or killed, because I acted inefficiently. Oh. Wait. Number four. That could work. There’s an awful lot of lightning on Rayileklia. It might not come down though with how thick Olashax’s orbitals are. Or only the lightning furthest to one side would come down, only to strike me.

I do have a pretty big electrical charge saved up from earlier when I’d equipped number four during my landing. Should I try a three second burst of lightning from me, plus several blasts from my staff? Should I summon a fire elemental from the staff, inside his eyeball? Fire, or stone, and it could help me work my way into his eye. Hell, I could loan a stone elemental a spare Valkyrie sword. Hell, even an entire suit of armor. I’m glad I packed extra full suits. The elementals from the staff seem to serve me dutifully, and even if a stone elemental decides to fight me at this point, I can just float away. It also likely wouldn’t see through a G S E blast of any element, probably dying in a single burst.

There is the chance that summoning a stone elemental might trigger a panic attack for me. Actually, there’s a chance that, because I’d been thinking about them, as soon as I get back to meatspace, I’ll be in trauma headspace. I might even be in a prolonged panic attack, based on how much time I spend in here. That’s not good. Fatal weakness Reggie. I know. I know. Nothing we can do about it for now. Wrath seems to know what to do about it. Don’t even think it. We have slivers of dragonforce left. Hell, we ignited our Honoris Causa, then kept it ignited when we realized we could free Lil. We’ve only got maybe a few hours of life, minutes of life left from that stunt if we keep our Honoris Causa active to go free others from dragonfright.

I wonder if we can practice with the Honoris Causa, to get it to cost less dragonforce, similar to how gaining stamina skill on Can’Z’aas reduces mana cost. Ugh, but practicing the Honoris Causa would take a finite resource, unlike mana, so the savings wouldn’t be worth it. Fricklefrack. Unless, unless I could fine tune the process itself without practicing. I’ll need Nala’s help, and probably Kinzul’s help, though I might possibly be able to get away with any other dragon. That’s a project for later. Huff, focus!

F^&*! Plus, there’s the rest of the battlefield to consider. Teuila is to our east about several hundred, maybe a thousand meters, facing Xinthoz. Xinthoz is a strange pearlescent cobalt blue, not quite shiny and metallic, more like refractive and shell-like. His head seems far too large for his torso, and his chest seems far too large for the rest of his body, I guess that’s why he’s a Breather not a Brute.

Luni about the same distance beyond Teuila that Teuila is from us, and she’s with Vanathar. He’s a red, but I didn’t catch much of him in the flickers of lightning when I had a clear view that direction. Like Lil’s current form, I think his dragon form has massive, powerful forelimbs, and his strong jaw is alligator-like, giving him a strong grapple, and long reach with a deadly bite. I saw him charge immediately as Lucky was landing in front of him while he was still growing towards the ground. Lucky must have been forty or fifty feet tall at the shoulder at that point, and still growing. Lucky would have playfully lowered his fore, waggled his butt, and hopped rearward to his right as Vanathar took his first lunging swing. He’d then have leapt leftward shoulder checking Vanathar, who still happens to be quite bigger by far.

Once Lucky’s had his fun, he’ll run forward, gaining distance as Vanathar takes a moment to turn around. Vanathar will begin to follow, but see that Lucky outspeeds him by far. Lucky can turn on a dime, and as soon as Vanathar pauses to begin taking wing, Lucky will leap, making his first real strike, going for one of Vanathar’s wings. Realizing Lucky’s an actual threat at that point, he would activate dragonfright. But that’s as much as I can predict before things get too muddy, too many what ifs, reactions, likelihoods. It’s hurting my friggin’ brain. I don’t know if Lu has a counter to the dragonfright, or if Lucky might be immune, or anything.

I’m trying to get a clue on how to finish Olashax efficiently by picturing the other battles going on around me, but I’m not sure it’s helping.

What about Teuila? Well, if I were her, I’d have Essie out, maybe even prick myself on the thumb with Essie, or ask her to help keep the air around me silent. Teuila wouldn’t have let getting the drop on Xinthoz go to waste. She’d have literally dropped on him, spear down, probably Essie. Most likely hit would be a shoulder blade, too much chance that he simply turns his head while falling to aim for the head from so far up. Xinthoz would rear, and either flick his tail, or wing buffet to knock Teuila aside. She’d be starting her title, stating her Honoris Causa as she got struck. The blow wouldn’t even bruise her, but it’d give Xinthoz some distance as he began to activate his dragonfright. He’d definitely do it upon hearing her title.

Xinthoz’d be confused that he’s not making any sound as he moves, so he’d be cautious, and attempt to gain much more ground while he had time to charge his breath weapon. He couldn’t move fast while charging it, due to his odd frame and shape, so either he sprints first, then begins charging, or he moves while charging it, either way, giving him about the same time and distance away from Teuila that he feels is necessary. He could just keep Teuila frozen until her silence wears off, checking if he starts making sounds. It would probably wear off sometime mid-distance-gaining. If we’re lucky, Essie is immune to dragonfright, and can perhaps generate an aura of silence around Teuila. If so, I’ve got absolutely no worries. Te will destroy him. If not, huff, well, I’d better finish Olashax so that Lil can fly us that way and I’ll pair up with Luni beyond Te.

This whole while, we’ve got Astridus to our west by a thousand meters or so, with Kinzul shrinking down to drop out of the sky on top of her daughter. She—, she’s probably going to make it personal, and be in her human form by the time she lands. When she fights, she’ll begin literally pounding in Astridus’s skull. She might try talking to Astridus first. It would be a mistake, but I would make the same mistake in her shoes. Astridus will not be talked out of this, and if Kinzul shows any weaknesses, or vulnerability during the attempted chat, Astridus will capitalize on it and strike. I wish I could convince her to go all out from the start in her full dragon form, but there must be another reason she’s holding back too. Oh, right, the secret. Also, Astridus has a Latent, and it has something to do with mobility. Crap on a cracker. I—. I have to trust my Lady Kinzul. Our Administrator.

Huff, none of this is getting me any closer to a solution towards guaranteeing that I go about efficiently destroying Olashax. What about to our south? There are *thousands* of kobolds, and Draconiacs, and there may secretly be some younger human-form dragons among the rank and file. Prinny, she’s way, way to my southwest, dropping in the midst of a horde of them, unleashing a fully charged acid blast from the very beginning. She can cover a massive area with potent acid on the way down, not having to worry about accuracy. By the time the ground horde realizes it’s not Rayileklia’s normal acidic drizzle, they’ll be losing limbs, if not dying.

I have no idea what spells Prinrin’ll be facing though. She’ll have to land and pick off the stragglers, anyone who was between pockets of acid, or under allies bodies, or holding a strong enough shield overhead once they realized what was happening. She can’t show mercy, she can’t hesitate. She has to wipe out any and all of the ground forces within her reach, swiftly. Oh Prinrin, please be safe. Make it home to your— glp. Make it home for them.

East of Prinrin, still to my southwest is Orthral, the Bronze, He’s got a lightning blast, but he’d be trying to angle it, so he’s probably swooping around to catch the most of the horde at once. Good overall strategy, but it could cost him time where he’s spotted and being attacked. $%!7! There’s something in his segment of the horde, something I don’t recognize. I don’t know how to account for it in retrocognition. This could screw a lot of things up. I can’t waste time fretting about it, gotta keep making plans, figuring out who’s where, what’s going on on these stupid acid-muddied foothills.

The foothills do work slightly to our advantage. Between Rayileklia’s ever-darkened skies, this endless storm, this *Worldstorm*, now that I know what it is, between that, and the foothills, the horde won’t know right away that we’re attacking their leaders from behind. Anyway, east of Orthral is Fenric, just to our south, but he’s going to be sweeping out east from the looks of the angle he was taking, he’d be crossing flight paths with Gilmeshtu for some reason.

I think Gil and Fen do a combination fire and ice thing. They swoop into each other’s previous flight paths while continuing a prolonged breath attack, going over the same region the other one went over. That quite possibly helps take out anyone that had something powerful that stood against one of the elements. It’s a good strategy to make sure that not all of the stragglers are powerful mages adept in their elements. Between freezing, and burning everything, that should clean out most foes along their swaths. I assume that they then return to the center and intentionally initiate a steam explosion, in order to concuss, and shatter, everyone remaining.

Hm, steam explosion, old standby. Maybe I should try to create a source of water in—. All of this aqueous and vitreous humor. Maybe a fire elemental would be better. No. Frostburn. We’ll simultaneously launch a fireball from the staff, empower a fire rune, and use Frostburn’s cone of flame, directly into Olashax’s eyeball. It’ll blow his skull clean apart. Even if he doesn’t die from it, I’ll take a journey to his brain next.

Empowering a fire rune, or any elemental rune, without using a spell is risky, but it’s the only way I can be sure to get enough heat, quickly enough, that the compressed gas superheats. I’ll need Lil’s help too. I’ll ask him to hop to his left and aim at me, instead of at Olashax’s ice-blast, for quick second. Olashax’s ice will start to reach Lil, but he’ll be able to turn his attention back to it immediately. All I need is a quick blast. I guess we’ll have to take it from there. We’ll probably use an equipped stone elemental to help out either Teuila and Lil against Xinthoz, or to help Luni Lucky and me take down Vanathar. Possibly a water elemental, in case he gets the bright idea to use his breath weapon after all, if his physical attacks aren’t bringing us down.

Too bad I can’t safely make it into Olashax’s throat, with him breathing what I’m pretty positive is Latent boosted imprisoning ice. Okay, deep breath, exhale, inhale again deeper, and hold it. Loose your grip on the non, let free the flow of time, depart from the absence. As soon as we’re back in meatspace, give Lil the request.

Telepathically, I joke to Lil, “Hey buddy, I need you to do me one of your oldest favors. I need you to hop left and blast the hell out of me for a quick second. Just a quicky then go back to defending yourself. Kay? Love you!”

Of course the majestic bulldog-shaped, winged fire-lizard that is Lilagni trusts this request implicitly by this point, as he grumbles, “Awe man, not again. I hate doing this Rej. Three, two, one!”

Rune for fire is crafted, waiting on being empowered. I’ve got Frostburn jammed deeper into his Olashax’s eyeball, up to my shoulder, spilling more humor, heat behind me preventing gas from evaporating out or spreading out any other direction. This is the moment! Engage the rune, engage the boosted version of Frostburn, let loose a single fireball from the staff! Blanket a section in telekinetic squares to keep all the explosive force directed inward, and brace against it with Valkyrie buckler!