Interlude 1; sapients
How do you kill a dragon? A question that has been plaguing sapients for nearly as long as they have existed. Yet, no matter what new weapons they develop, spells they discover, time they dedicate to research and experimentation, they can't kill a dragon. They've gotten close before; the spear of rebellion is a widespread symbol due to it's unique history of making a dragon bleed.
Why is it so hard to kill a dragon? There's 3 main reasons. First, dragon hide and scales are incredibly thick, dense, and durable. A traditional weapon would barely make a dent, and higher-power weaponry is as effective as a paper cut is to you. The second reason is scale; the average adult dragon is over 30 meters tall and twice as long. The average sapient is less than 3 meters. It's like if a rat tried to kill a gorilla. The third reason is healing. Even without using healing magic, dragons can heal most injuries given enough time and mana. A dragon with healing magic cannot be killed by mundane wounds as long as they have mana and are conscious.
So it's physically impossible for a normal sapient to inflict a lethal wound on a dragon. In that case, how about using methods that don't require major wounds. The first idea was to use poisons. So then, what poison is strong enough to kill, or at least paralyze, a dragon? None that we know of. This is because it's impossible to test for; to a sapient, there's no difference between a poison that can kill a dragon and a poison that only causes stomach pain. Both would instantly kill a sapient. The only way to know for certain the effectiveness of a poison would be to use it on a dragon, which is itself a near-impossible task. Plus, deadly poisons are expensive and have short shelf-lives, making it a terrible long-term investment.
The next idea people had was powerful magic. With enough people simultaneously casting the same spell at a single target, they could theoretically overwhelm even a dragon. It worked against most other massive monsters like krakens and hydras. Surely it would work with dragons, right? Theoretically, yes. Realistically, no. It was attempted three times, first with 120 spell casters, then with 800, and finally with 2344. It wasn't anywhere near strong enough. Several famous mathematicians over the centuries have made calculations based on those two attempts and concluded that the minimum simultaneous spell casts you needed to get past a dragon's own defences was at least 700000, or more realistically, 1 million. For reference, the biggest cities on each continent only have around 500000 people each, and only 25% know offensive magic, and less than half of that are trained to use stronger offensive magic. It'd take 16 capital cities worth of spell casters to harm a dragon, not even kill it.
The next idea was to focus all resources on a single individual until they are capable of defeating dragons. This was obviously done because of the 'dragon slayer' of Nuvil, who in just 100 years killed over 300 dragons.The project was short-lived due to just that; sapients have short lives. What point was there in investing a generation's worth of resources on a single person, only for them to die in a few decades, or less if they get killed. Unfortunately, not even dragons have found a way to extend a lifespan.
The last, most recent idea is to make a super-weapon. The weapon had to fulfill five requirements. First, it had to pierce past all of a dragon's defences, both magical and physical. Second, it had to have a long range, in order to target flying dragons. Third, it had to deal significant damage with each attack, whether it be in size, or in severity. Fourth, it had to be mobile enough to be used whenever and wherever necessary. And finally, most importantly, it had to be reusable. No such weapon has ever been made yet.
But we're getting close. Let me reveal the secret weapon that has been under development for well over a century. The 'Kristopher's Fire' three stage artillery piece. First, a ballistic projectile is rapidly propelled by an explosion out of a nearly pure adamantite barrel. A pre-set fuse causes it to detonate after a certain amount of time, or on collision, whichever happens first. The explosion spreads flaming sticky gel in a large area. If the dragon is close enough, the gel should stick to the dragon, but the fire is too cold to do any damage.
The second stage is a special harpoon projectile, propelled by glorified firework rockets. The rockets are enchanted to go for the hottest object, which should be the gel stuck on the dragon. Several harpoons are fired at once, in the hopes of even one sticking into the dragon long enough for the third stage to activate.
The third stage is attached to the harpoons. They are containers filled with 'boom 3.2', an incredibly strong yet stable explosive powder. While it has more energy per volume than even 'boom 3.1', it requires exceptionally high temperatures to actually explode. Luckily, the flaming gel should be hot enough to cause detonation.
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To be honest, we don't know if the third stage's explosion is enough to hurt a dragon. But at the very least, it should push the harpoons deeper than any previous weapon has gone before, which would be an achievement in its own way. Best of all (in my opinion), all of its components are light or small enough to be transported quickly and discreetly. I hope that it will replace the severely outdated ballistas that most cities have.
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Interlude 2; angels
How did I kill Lapis? Well, technically, I didn't. Or rather, I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. Back then, compared to other angels, I was extremely weak. my spells were less than half the strength of my peers, I never trained my muscles, and don't get me started on my mind palace. When I encountered Lapis, I was already injured, tired, and had no way to hurt her. The only reason I survived was because I hid eyes inside of an eye, something that most angels wouldn't even try due to the agonizing pain and unnecessary cost.
How did angels kill dragons normally? Well, that's a complicated topic. Let me divide it into three main parts; physical, magical, and mental.
Physically speaking, the average angel was stronger than the average dragon. Of course, angels don't have any limbs to capitalize on this advantage. The best an angel can do is use their tail to restrict blood flow, which then puts the angel in a fairly vulnerable position. Of course, average means that half are stronger. The strongest angels could break bones and crush organs with a single swing of their tail.
What do you mean you're not impressed? You can do that too? Again, I said average. You and Vildra are way above average. How do you not realize that punching through a mountain is not normal?
Anyways, back on topic. Only a small number of angels would try and kill a dragon physically. And you are living proof of why. On a related note, the only reason dragons aren't stronger is because demons aren't dumb enough to make an army that's stronger than themselves. That's literally the only reason. Yeah, demons aren't exactly the smartest.
Now, magically speaking, dragons used to be severely restricted. This gave angels a major advantage. An angel can cast a spell for each eye they have, and the power depended on skill rather than mana. Dragons can only cast one spell at a time, and the power depends on how much mana you used. And best of all, each angel had their own unique spell, which got stronger the less people knew about it. This meant that even small, weak angels like me had at least one spell that was much more powerful than anything a dragon should've had access to. At least, that's how it used to be.
Yeah, 'manipulate memory' was the signature spell of Amnestasia. That's where the term 'amnesia' comes from. Ironically, the spell made itself stronger by erasing it's own existence. Sucks that you don't know how she learned that. And no, I won't tell you about my spell, but I will tell you Vildra knows it.
Now, for the most part, angels could take down a dragon with their magic. Demons hated that. So they started making dragon scales resistant to magic. It partially worked, in that they made dragon scales resistant to everything. That was enough to make weaker angels like me completely powerless against a dragon. The only way we could harm them was sacrificing an eye for a strong spell, which in my opinion is just stupid.
We still had one weapon though; pure angel mana was supposed to be effective against organic matter, including dragons' everythings. This turned out to only work half the time. Lapis, Vildra, and even you proved that, at least in some cases, angel mana doesn't work at all. Honestly, if I had encountered any other dragon, I probably would've been able to at least hurt them. Fuck fate.
Finally, mental. Aka killing a dragon in a mind palace. Short answer, you don't. The mind palace of an angel was a beautiful, well, palace. The kind of place that you'd want to live in for all eternity. So when an angel traps a dragon into that mind palace, and they lose all of their memories, then all they know is that wonderful palace. They have no reason to fight back. And then the angel kicks the dragon out in a cage in a cave somewhere or something. This is usually enough to mentally and emotionally destroy a dragon. It is when a dragon is at their most emotionally vulnerable state that an angel can 'kill' them. A simple deal; 'a soul for happiness.' In other words, they take the dragon's soul and leave the brain in an illusory palace, at which point it dies within a few seconds because no soul.
That was the normal way. I couldn't do that. My mind palace is way too small and barren; it was the grasslands where I was born, rather than any palace. I only have space for a single dragon at a time. My solution was to turn it into an inescapable prison. That snow constantly regrows, so for most dragons, it'd take thousands of years to dig out and escape (if they can even remember to keep digging). Optimistically, I'd be stronger by the time they do escape, and they'd have long forgotten about me. And it worked... at least for Lapis.
Hm? Oh, this? Well... that's a complicated loophole. Long story short, if you give an angel in your mind palace permission, then they basically become a minor god within that mind palace. Omniscience, infinite eyes, and plenty of mana. This is a second way angels could kill dragons within a mind palace. The only reason it wasn't used is because no angel is dumb enough to stay in another angel's mind palace. It was a competitive world where any sign of weakness could get you killed.
Honestly, the demons did a good job. They made dragons almost unkillable by angels. If the war had lasted a decade longer, they would've won. Too bad they tried to tame Leviamuth. 'Immuntiy to fire' is meaningless in the face of 'the molten titan'.