Dragonfire splashed over marble, incinerating the buffet table and the red carpet underfoot in a second. The last few stragglers screamed and threw themselves out the ballroom’s picture windows. One lady tripped. Fire licked at the bottom of her dress, quickly crawling up toward her body. She screamed and ran in panic.

Gideon gasped, horrified. “The buffet! My chicken wings… and those crunchy pastry triangle things with the cheese and spinach!”

Jet scowled. “Leo!”

Leo turned, his huge head swinging around. He caught sight of the woman and pursed his lips. A precise bolt of water splashed over her and snuffed the fire. With a final shriek, she tumbled out of the window and out of sight.

“Alright, that’s it. It was already bad enough that you’re a dragon, but now… now, it’s personal,” Gideon growled. He raised his tome. Lighting sparked from its pages, buzzing all around him. “Die, dragon, die!”

A bolt of lightning as wide around as Jet’s waist snapped from the book and smashed into the True Dragon. The True Dragon staggered back, startled, and sagged over, but only for a second. A moment later, he shook his head and climbed back to all fours.

“That tingled,” he laughed.

“That’s what your girlfriend said last night,” Gideon replied.

The True Dragon roared and lunged at Gideon. He threw himself aside, falling in a heap. Teeth clashed shut, closing on the end of his robes.

“Gotcha, bitch! Die, dragon!” Gideon set the tome against the dragon’s nose, the organ nearly as tall as he was, and fired off another bolt of lightning.

The dragon instinctively flinched away, shaking its head the same way a dog did when it sniffed something it didn’t like. “Ouch.”

“Even the mighty dragons can bleed!” Gideon shouted. His limbs trembled, though, and he struggled to maintain a hold on his tome. “Angel, baby, please—”

“Fifty extra silver to call me baby,” Angel replied. With a last shimmy of her hips, she threw mana at Gideon.

Gideon has this handled. Well… as handled as Gideon ever has anything. Jet sunk back into the shadows, darting from pillar to pillar as he looped around the True Dragon.

The True Dragon scowled at Gideon. He drew back his head for another bite.

A dagger slammed into the side of his head, wedging its way under a scale. The True Dragon growled, annoyed. Before he could pluck it free, Leo followed up with a jet of hyper-pressurized water. The True Dragon’s head knocked back, revealing the underside of his chin.

Instantly, Gideon hammered the True Dragon’s chin with a blast of lightning. He fell back, gasping for breath, he and Angel both temporarily out of commission.

“You—minions! Kill them!” the True Dragon howled, frustrated.

The other dragons leaped forward. Gideon caught his breath and thrust his tome out again, shooting lightning in bolts. Two dragons fell, then a third as Angel hopped forward.

Leo pounced on a fire dragon, and while he fought it, Ray snuck up and stuck it in the eye with a dagger. Screaming, the dragon shot fire off randomly, head spinning, and in its moment of distraction, Leo ducked his head and tore its neck out. He fell back, then, dripping blood.

Elly ran to his side, her staff already glowing with the power of an incantation. With a swish, the bright white light from her staff leaped to Leo’s wounds and closed them in moments.

The dragons fell back, startled. Although they vastly outnumbered the humans, although the humans barely held on, they… almost looked…

Are they panicking? Jet realized.

No… but it makes sense, doesn’t it? These things are predators. The ultimate predator. They’ve never faced a fight they couldn’t win. Their prey might scratch them, but it’s never seriously fought back. Never beaten them. Never killed. Aside from other dragons, what have they ever had to fear before? But now, a single dragon… as far as they know, and a bunch of puny humans, are mowing them down. They’ve never been in this situation before, have they? Where they’re the prey. Where their instincts scream for them to flee, even when they know they should fight.

We’ve taken them off-guard. They’re backpedaling for the moment, scared, surprised. The momentum won’t last forever, but we never planned on a drawn-out battle. The longer this goes, the more they get their feet back under them and fight back, the worse it is for us.

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We have to end this, fast.

Ray fell back. He glanced around, then sprinted away. From the other side of the dragons, Jet scowled. Fleeing? What about our plan?

Oh well. I’ll have to count on Gideon and Leo to be enough of a distraction. Jet took a deep breath.

He faced the rear of the dragons, now. The True Dragon’s broad back ascended to the top of the ballroom. Facing its rear, Jet finally realized how huge the True Dragon was. If I want to get Prince Alphonse, I’ll have to climb its back.

Nothing for it! He grit his teeth and charged.

Boots hit red scales, hot even through the soles of his feet. He pitched forward and grabbed on. His hands faintly sizzled. Jet flinched, wanting to let go, but forced himself to hold on. For Prince Alphonse. For the country!

“Little flea,” the True Dragon grumbled. He rose up on his hind legs and flapped his wings.

Jet leaped for the True Dragon’s spines. His hands latched around the man-length spine, barely able to hold on even with two hands. A strong wind buffeted him, catching his too-large jacket and pulling at his legs and hair. Jet held himself against the spine and grit his teeth, forcing his way through. His feet slipped. More and more of his weight came to rest on his hands.

The wind grew stronger. The True Dragon reached a claw over its shoulder and scratched at its back. The claw swiped at Jet, and he threw himself to the side. Narrowly, he dodged the claw, but his swing lifted his feet off the True Dragon’s back. He swung back and forth, hanging from his fingers alone. The True Dragon wiggled its back. Jet swayed wildly. His burned fingers began to slide down the spike, every slip painful. Tears leaked from his eyes from the pain and the wind, but he still held on.

“Ow!” the True Dragon snapped. He slammed back on all fours and stomped forward, biting at Gideon. Leo jumped in the way, batting Gideon aside. The True Dragon’s jaws closed around Leo’s side.

Blood spouted, staining Leo’s yellow and blue scales a lurid red. The dragon sagged back, bones visible through the wound. He let out a pained cry and fell back.

“Leo!” Jet shouted. He charged forward, racing up the True Dragon’s now lowered back. Get Prince Alphonse. I have to free the prince!

The True Dragon started to rear up again, but before he could, Gideon snapped out his hand and fired another few bolts of lightning into the True Dragon’s face. The True Dragon jolted, muscles shuddering under his scales.

Jet raced for Prince Alphonse, chasing up the dragon’s arm. The prince reached out as he approached, face pale.

“No!” the True Dragon roared. He shook his arm.

Jet lunged. He grabbed Prince Alphonse’s hand, and Prince Alphonse grabbed him back. He fell. His weight slammed into his arm, and Prince Alphonse grit his teeth.

“Let go!” the True Dragon snapped. He swung his arm back and forth.

Jet swung from Prince Alphonse’s grip. Sweat welled up on Prince Alphonse’s reddening face. He puffed his cheeks out and huffed a breath.

“Prince Alphonse, release me,” Jet said. I can’t hurt His Majesty. I’ll have to try again.

Prince Alphonse shook his head. “Get the dragon to release me!”

Jet stared, then grinned. He drew his sword in his free hand. Blue light coursed up the blade. Ha! I had it all backwards. “Right!”

He slashed at the True Dragon’s fingers. The True Dragon flinched, but didn’t let go. Instead, a laugh rumbled in his throat. “A little slash like that—”

Icicles burst out from under its scales, prying them open. The True Dragon howled in pain. Jet slashed again and again, pushing icicles out from behind its scales time and time again. Come on. Come on! Let go!

At last, the True Dragon roared. Its hand shook, then snapped open. Jet and Prince Alphonse fell from the sky. Jet grabbed Prince Alphonse close and slashed his sword at the ground. Blocks of ice stacked up, creating a sort of ramp. The two of them rolled down the ramp and over the marble floor, spinning slowly.

They slammed into Leo. Leo peeked down at them curiously, freshly healed scales still tender and soft. He snuffled at the two of them, one eye ridge cocked.

“We’re alright, Leo,” Jet reassured him.

Prince Alphonse stared. “That, that is—”

“He’s our friend,” Jet said, patting Leo’s cheek.

Leo huffed and nudged Jet, watching Prince Alphonse with wary eyes.

“O…oh,” Prince Alphonse said.

Jet snorted. “Actually, he’s afraid of humans. So don’t worry about him.”

“Really,” Prince Alphonse said, his voice a little strained.

Jet climbed to his feet, helping Prince Alphonse up. Oh, well. I can’t expect the prince to accept Leo in a moment. “Prince, retreat. We’ll handle this.”

“Can you?” Prince Alphonse asked.

Jet shook his head. “We have to.”

“Not alone.”

Ray stepped forward. At his shoulders stood the Royal Guard, in full dress uniform. Pale and tense, they lifted their weapons at the True Dragon nonetheless.

“Ray!” Prince Alphonse ran to his bodyguard’s side. The two reunited with a hug, a hug that continued, and continued…

Elly rushed over to Jet. She grabbed his hands and turned them over. She pressed her lips together, frowning at the sight of his red, blistering palms. With her other hand, she swung the staff over his hands. “Oh healing light, recover!”

The burning ache of Jet’s palms subsided. He clenched his hands, then looked at Elly. “Thank you.”

Elly nodded, smiling. “All is the High God’s will.”

“Ray, about those guards…” Jet turned, only to find the two still embracing. He stared for a second, then crossed his arms and cleared his throat pointedly.

Ray and Prince Alphonse awkwardly parted. The two looked at the floor like a couple of caught teens, all shy and sheepish.

Rolling his eyes, Jet stepped forward. “Support Gideon. All of you, whatever your job is usually… forget it. Your job is to support Gideon, however you can!”

“Support… who?” Ray asked.

“Me! I’m Gideon. Support me!” Gideon shouted, waving his hand.

“Who is he?” Prince Alphonse asked, putting a hand to his chin.

“Humanity’s Hope,” Jet said, deadpan, a note of exhaustion in his voice. “Quite possibly the only one who stands a chance against the True Dragon.”

Gideon beamed. “That’s me!”

“High God save us all,” Jet muttered under his breath.