Without warning, her grip tightened, and with a roar, she pulled.
A geyser of blood erupted as the tail of the wyrm was torn from its body in an act of savage brutality.
****
A pain-filled vociferation sounded out that wracked the soul. The wyrm nearly went mad in its newfound anguish.
However, this didn’t stop Long Nuhuang, for as soon as she freed the tail from the wyrm’s body, she lunged for the wyrm’s head in a single leap and it ducked to keep her at bay.
Alas, it didn’t move fast enough, and she was able to grab a wayward scale.
As the wyrm’s draconic might fell, its aura also plummeted and to the predator that was Long Nuhuang, this was nothing short of a death sentence.
Long Nuhuang balled up small hands into a fist and she brought it down with a devastating force that crashed into the wyrm’s head!
Boom!
The beast’s head collapsed into the ground, sending another round of shockwaves crashing in all directions.
She didn’t end it here, though; she shot towards where its eyes were and plunged her arm into the gelatinous tissue before she flailed it about, destroying its function and everything else!
Another roar rang out within the cavern.
Long Nuhuang’s strange aura wreaked havoc within the wyrm’s wounds, and with its falling aura and lowered draconic might, this greatly hindered its regenerative abilities.
Long Jin stared intently at her while the others, Long Cang included, paid attention to her actions.
This level of brutality was not something that these dragons, and even much less the humans were used to seeing.
It germinated a strange feeling inside them that they couldn’t describe.
The wyrm thrashed about wildly. Its remaining eye locked on her and when it saw the coldness in her eyes, a chill ran up its spine and immediately it tried to escape.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. For as soon as it turned around, she took off in a dead run towards it.
Her black hair waved in the wind and her dress flapped wildly under the speed she approached before she lunged forward, blasting the ground below her to rubble.
Bang!
Shu!
As she neared it, she brought her leg forward into a knee strike and crashed into the hard scales of the wyrm’s body!
The entire length of it bent into the shape of a U before it whiplashed from the force and crashed into the ground!
Boom!
The ground shook beneath the feet of everyone present. The shockwaves being released by the fight were so strong that they could barely keep steady.
No… this was no fight. This was a beat down, pure and simple.
“I-I don’t get it.” Long Huangdi shuddered when he saw the unrestrained ferocity and domineeringness of his wife.
“How is she doing this?”
Yet no one answered him for no one truly knew the answer.
Long Jin growled in interest as he studied what was going on intently. “It couldn’t be…”
Long Cang heard this and looked at Long Jin.
“First Claw? You know what’s happening?”
Long Huangdi turned his attention to the aged dragon, wanting to know if he could hew some information from this creature.
Long Jin shook his head. “This isn’t something that can be easily talked about. The karma it involves is not something you can bear right now.”
He bristled upon hearing this, and his stance subconsciously changed to a more domineering one.
Long Jin saw this and a guttural chuckle escaped his lips. “Don’t take offence to that young one. You must learn how to curb your pride and not have it so easily pricked. An iron pride is much more tenacious than a fragile one.”
Long Cang blushed upon hearing this. His pride did take a small blow when he heard that he was unable to bear whatever karma a secret involving humans could bring.
Nevertheless, seeing as how Long Jin didn’t say anything more on the subject, he didn’t question it anymore, but now he knew that this wasn’t going to be as simple as he thought.
The more he continued with this ‘wish’ of Long Nuhuang’s, the more he found himself and these humans specifically, entangled in some twist of fate that was sealed the moment he agreed to her demand.
Long Huangdi was now back to not knowing what was going on. He knew that this Long Jin knew more than he let on, but there was no way for him to force the subject.
Realising this, he joined everyone else and turned his attention back to the fight.
Boom!
A powerful pressure descended all of a sudden as the wyrm stopped trying to escape and turned back around in a fit of supreme anger.
The embarrassment of being manhandled by a mere human transformed its fear into fury. Its aura and pressure rose as it went berserk and its previously plummeting aura stagnated before it began climbing.
“Seems like it’s gone berserk. About time…” Long Cang mumbled.
Long Nuhuang saw this and sneered. “Hmph! What is this? Your death throes? Don’t worry, I’ll tear off a few more pieces and have it be death.”
The wyrm roared, and its earlier injuries healed at an alarming rate. Even its eyes regenerated in the blink of an eye!
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Dragons and dragonkin possess extremely powerful physical bodies. In addition, their bodies were beyond tenacious.
Their regenerative abilities were among the top as well. As a result, even though the wyrm was at the bottom rung in the dragon race’s hierarchy, its physical body and latent potential were still leagues above the likes of regular magical beasts.
Nevertheless, Long Nuhuang didn’t flinch back in the face of this new development. She still held fast in its presence.
“Every one of you needs to get father back!” Long Cang roared at the other Long family members.
They heard Long Cang’s warning and considered that since their earlier battle with a similar beast ended up with them being grievously injured with the loss of a few brothers; they knew that they wouldn’t be able to render much help.
Worse still, was that this wyrm seemed to be slightly stronger at the moment than the one they fought.
With all this in mind, they gritted their teeth and backed off to a much safer distance. It wasn’t ‘safe’ by any means, but it was much better than before and they also wanted to be able to rush in if possible and if needed to take action.
Long Cang saw this and his draconic features upturned into a smirk, but he said nothing more.
Long Jin, even more so, didn’t pay them any attention whatsoever. He kept his gaze on Long Nuhuang.
The wyrm charged towards Long Nuhuang once more, its towering aura and draconic might pillared upwards as if it wanted to pierce the cave walls and into the sky.
Long Nuhuang welcomed the challenge and charged the draconic beast as well!
Bam!
The collision resulted in a blast that sent Long Nuhuang flying before she crashed into a faraway cave wall.
Long Huangdi was about to cry out before a small figure shot from the dust-filled crater in the wall.
The figure crashed into the wyrm, which sent it reeling back a few feet. It growled and brought its tail around for another strike.
Long Nuhuang retaliated by firing several punches in quick succession, shuddering and cancelling out the tail strike.
The shock from the attacks caused her to take a dozen steps back. Blood stained her robes and ran down her face, having her appear like a murderous goddess.
Shing! Shing!
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/675003430133039125/1069451705533612162/Cats4Life_full_body_tattoo_of_runic_inscriptions_on_a_womans_ba_ca6a5794-08fa-4333-b855-2097bc647579.png]
The strange markings on her body began circulating slowly, raising her power even higher!
Shu! Shu! Shu!
In response, the scales on the wyrm bristled wildly, and it opened its imposing jaws at the same time as the area around began trembling.
Long Jin’s draconic feature moved as if to signify a raise of his brow. “I didn’t think it was able to do this.”
“It must have experienced a breakthrough of some kind,” Long Cang commented.
Long Huangdi heard their conversations and no small amount of dread welled up within him. “Wait… what are you two ta-”
“Raaaarrrrgh!”
He was cut off by a deafening roar let loose by the wyrm as a shockwave compressed into a breath attack ejected from its mouth.
Long Nuhuang's eyes widened in shock and she dodged at the last second and the attack struck right where she was.
The attack destroyed the area and beyond to devastating effect. It tore through the earth like paper and zoomed right into the sea of magma, spawning a new generation of waves!
“Damn!” Long Nuhuang breathed out in astonishment at the catastrophe wrought by that last attack.
The wyrm snorted in anger that its attack missed and its scales bristled once again, causing a feeling of dread to sprout in Long Nuhuang anew.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Long Nuhuang made to close the distance between her and the wyrm as fast as she could.
She knew that if she ran from here, if she tried to create distance between her and her foe, that would be the end of her. This beast would be better acclimated to using this new attack of its, and it would land on her.
It would land on her to no good end, and she knew it.
There was no need to guess what her fate would be after that.
As she neared the massive beast, she saw a slight bulge rising up the throat of the wyrm at an alarming rate.
Her heart caught in her own throat when she saw this.
Dum…
Suddenly, the strange markings all over began fading, and she felt her strength betray her in turn.
“No! Not now!” She despaired when she realised this.
Suddenly, a voice rang out in her head and she looked around suspiciously at the stands but none of the observers there made any move to indicate they said anything.
She then gritted her teeth and steeled her heart to undertake something she was told to NEVER do in her time here.
After the plan was divulged, the voice told her that no matter what; she needed to kill this wyrm or it would end her despite all costs, even the most severe and permanent of them, and this time it would succeed.
She knew enough about these creatures to know that they rarely exaggerated themselves. If the surety in the voice she heard was anything to go by, then there was a way to end this quickly before she was left powerless to the mercy of a thing she was sure held none of it.
She abruptly changed the direction of her charge and the wyrm noticed this and wondered where she was going.
Suddenly, it became too clear and even Lon Jin bristled in anger.
“Impudent!”
Long Nuhuang was heading for the wyrm’s reverse scale!
“Stop!”
Long Nuhuang heard Long Jin’s cry, but she deafened herself to it. She headed straight for under the wyrm’s throat where a scale stood out in defiance with its shape and direction.
It looked almost new and soft… vulnerable… weak!
A malicious smile split her face when these words came to mind. They were the words that sparked Long Jin’s ire, and they were the words that caused the wyrm to buck up in shock when it saw what she aimed for.
An instinctive anger overtook it, and she knew it was now or never!
The last vestiges of her strength were leaving her, but before it did, she would make use of its tenure! She would have it work for the time it took up residence in her body!
She lunged for the spot on the throat harbouring the reverse scale, and the wyrm made a move to lunge back but the swelling of its diaphragm halted its movement, causing it to lurch instead.
“Now!”
The pause, the hesitation wrought by an attack meant to end her, instead gifted her the wyrm’s long neck, or rather its under-chin.
T’was a gift she accepted with open arms.
“Aaarraagh!”
She roared as she circulated her energy and liberated a barrage of strikes against the reverse scale!
B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Bang!
Fists, knees, head, elbows, palms, kicks and all else rained down on it with reckless abandon!
Pling!
A satisfying cracking sound rang out that forced a smile on Long Nuhuang’s lips. The reverse scale fractured, and bright, nearly glistening red blood flowed freely.
The wyrm roared from a place of apex anger, but Long Nuhuang forced herself to forego the feeling of mortal danger that caused every instinct within her to scream their protest!
The reverse scale shattered and the wyrm’s energy plummeted once more, but not before the blast it conjured earlier made its way past the area where the gaping wound caused by the desecration of its reverse scale lay.
Long Nuhuang only saw for a split second the swelling of that point before the wound tore open and the wyrm’s head exploded.
The markings faded from Long Nuhuang’s body and the ebbing of her strength perfectly matched the wyrm’s passage from life, since it was all but gone.
Silence reigned for a long time after this until it was broken by something most unkind.
“Human die for me!” A roar of anger rang out as Long Nuhuang looked upward to see First Claw Long Jin with killing intent blaring descending upon her to destroy her entirely!