Ep 120. Scream All You’d Like. (2)
For a few minutes, Ilias watched in silence at the unfolding spectacle.
‘What the heck…did I really not need to come after all?’
Thunderous noises ruptured the air every time Raizel struck at the emperor. A series of shielding spells were being cast in between them, only to shatter like thin glass one after the other.
“What’s wrong?! Can’t keep up?!”
“…”
As the youngling’s strikes came to outspeed the emperor’s casting, her fist once again found its target’s flesh, burying itself deep into the emperor’s stomach.
With a revolting grunt, the emperor’s half-formed spells faded from his broken concentration. Raizel immediately seized the moment to grab hold of the emperor’s collar, instantly driving him into the ground.
“…Heh.”
A thin smile curved the steel dragon’s lips as she neared victory all on her own. Her heart raced at the thought of completing her revenge, of greeting Serenis with news of her triumph.
That is, until what should’ve been her last strike was stopped inches before Lavnore’s eyes.
A single finger held her trembling fist in place. The emperor’s lips curved into a demeaning smile as he met the steel dragon’s gaze.
“You just thought you could win, didn’t you?”
A small, black ember flared to life at Lavnore’s fingertip, letting out a small sizzling noise upon the metal surface it was touching.
Raizel grit her teeth. Instead of backing out, the youngling only forced her limb further and further – she was, in all literal sense, inches away from a one-sided victory.
But Ilias forced her friend back, snatching Raizel by her waist and throwing themselves away from the emperor’s tiny flame.
“Ilias! What’re you doing?!”
“What do you think I’m doing?!”
Moments after the younglings retreated, the black ember burst upwards in a torrent of pitch-black fire.
The incinerated air hissed in its burnt, sizzling state. Bits of fire still danced midair as Lavnore raised himself back to his feet, whisking off the dirt on his clothes.
As his glowing fingertips hovered over his body, what damage Raizel thought she’d inflicted disappeared without a trace.
“…That was…”
Ilias audibly gulped as she watched the last bits of fire disappear from the air.
The emperor was human. Of that, she was certain.
But the black flames he’d just summoned were not his own. That was her father’s magic.
“A good king ought to entertain children at times, even if they’re not his subjects…”
Trailing off, Lavnore redirected his gaze towards the red dragon who’d snatched her friend to safety.
Grinning, the emperor pointed upwards. Sharp winds condensed into a small, orb-like flux, levitating above Lavnore’s head.
When he lowered his arm, the collection of winds were released towards Ilias as invisible razors. Even as the spells came upon her, Ilias couldn’t sense anything but faint sounds of the air being sliced.
The spell only became evident when Raizel rushed to step in front of her. The blades of wind clashed against the steel dragon, dispersing into thin strands of air once more.
“Ah, as expected from a steel kin – how moving. Perhaps a different element will pose a better challenge for you.”
When Lavnore next raised his hand into the air, bolts of lightning crackled around the black ember levitating above his palm. The spell was soon released as another torrent of black flames, guided by streaks of lightning coating its outer layer.
“Raizel, move!”
“I know!”
As the two younglings threw themselves off from the spell’s course, the torrent of magic brushed past them harmlessly for a brief moment.
But instead of flying off into the distance, the streaks of lightning guided the torrential flames back towards their target. Abruptly altering its course midway, the joint spell struck at Raizel from behind with an explosive sound.
“Raizel!”
Summoning her own orange flames, Ilias tried what she could to deflect her father’s magic with her own. But by the time the black flames dissipated from Raizel’s body, the youngling was painfully gripping at her back, parts molten from the extreme temperature.
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“My. I wasn’t expecting you to survive in that form.”
Lavnore leisurely stood in the distance, studying the damage his spell had inflicted upon Raizel.
The steel dragon was kneeling on one knee, immobilized from the searing pain; although the red was relatively unharmed, she didn’t seem keen on moving away from her injured friend.
Nodding his head, the emperor snapped his fingers, grinning towards Raizel in specific.
“But no matter how strong your body is, it loses its meaning without a proper foothold. Unless you happen to have wings?”
Following his mocking laughter, the ground beneath the two younglings began to churn. The earth began to give away as their foot sank deeper into what had become a large pool of mud, threatening to swallow them whole.
Raizel bit her lips. She could hardly swim in water, much less a bog of mud; and with the barrier Lavnore had placed, Ilias was helpless to fly out.
Instead of an explanation, Raizel struck at her own wrist to tear off the metal of her own arm. Clenching her teeth, the youngling then proceeded to tear out a long strand of metallic bone from within.
“?! Raizel, what’re you doing?!”
“Shut up and grab me!”
When Ilias reluctantly grabbed her burnt friend, Raizel lashed out the strand of metal, striking at solid ground outside of the quicksand. She then jerked on it as hard as she could, throwing both herself and Ilias out of the sinking ground and into the air.
Lavnore crossed his arms, musing at the youngling’s method of escape. A wry smile curved the emperor’s lips, fire and lightning once again crackling to life above his shoulder.
“Interesting escape. However…without your wings, you dragons are nothing but practice targets in the air.”
Once again, a torrent of fire and lightning was released towards the younglings. But Raizel defiantly glared back at the emperor, grabbing hold of Ilias with her only functioning arm.
“Who said I don’t have wings?!”
Almost instantly, shades of metal sprouted forth from Raizel’s back to form a giant pair of gleaming wings – the only spell she’d ever practiced so hard in her entire life. Her wings then slapped the air to move the two dragons out of the spell’s trajectory.
“Hmph.”
Even as Raizel made her desperate dodge, the emperor’s spell was already altering its course to strike at her again. And the steel dragon had no available way of protecting herself or striking back at the emperor on her own.
So instead, Raizel proceeded to throw her friend at Lavnore.
Ilias coated herself in flames, becoming a small meteor headed directly towards their enemy. If she could attack Lavnore and break his concentration, then there was still a possibility that his spell would fizzle out before striking Raizel.
But Lavnore merely smiled at the sight.
“Cute. Very cute.”
A giant, golden spell circle formed behind Lavnore. As Ilias came upon him, she was met by giant, scaled talons that sprang forth from his magic.
A glowing form of a golden dragon emerged from within the spell circle, growling at the youngling that had attacked its summoner.
‘…Ephea!’
Try as she might, Ilias found herself unable to break through the golden dragon’s hand in her reduced form.
With a trembling roar, Ephea’s image flung Ilias back towards Raizel. As the two younglings collided, Lavnore’s torrent of fire and lightning also joined them midair, striking both dragons in a massive explosion.
Soon, both crashed back unto the ground, burnt and molten. Raizel’s wings had long dissipated.
The image of the golden dragon faded behind him as Lavnore plucked out a blue pill to throw into his mouth. After gulping it down, he leisurely approached the two collapsed younglings.
“Have you learned yet, children? The dragonkin have nothing over mankind. Your kin merely live in an illusion of superiority.”
Lavnore came to a stop a small distance away from the two dragons. When neither seemed capable of answering, he raised his hand into the air yet again, preparing a third wave of the black dragon’s flames.
“Curse your own weakness. This is mankind’s era, and the dragonkin will learn to live by it.”
“…”
“…”
Raizel weakly opened her eyes. In her blurry vision, the emperor’s crackling spell came to view.
Lightning chases her. And the black flames melt her.
‘…That’s cheating, dammit.’
But nonetheless, the steel dragon clawed back to her feet, reflexively stepping in front of her collapsed friend. Ilias likewise tried to get up to her feet, but to no avail.
The emperor’s eyes slightly widened in surprise. Despite the lack of focus in her eyes, Raizel was still somehow managing to stand between him and the red dragon behind her.
“Admirable.”
With a final comment, Lavnore released the spell towards the youngling. A thunderous noise would follow in the explosion’s wake, incinerating the steel dragon to bits.
But instead, he heard nothing but weak fizzling noises.
“…?”
When his torrent of fire cleared away, Lavnore no longer saw a steel dragon standing before him. He was instead looking at a wall of earth and dirt, charred black but otherwise still firm and standing.
‘…An earth spell? From steel and red?’
An awkward cough drew the emperor’s attention. When he darted his eyes over to the left, Lavnore could see a rather familiar figure, walking towards the younglings with pocketed hands.
“Hm. As I thought, a battle of elements is highly unfair for dragons. I guess that’s only to be expected given that they only wield one…’
Karas came to a stop besides the two dragons, locking eyes with the Akeian emperor.
Lavnore first widened his eyes in surprise, studying the suited, poker-faced crow figure. A ridiculed grin twisted the emperor’s expression, and soon, his eyes were narrowing in disbelief and anger.
“…And who do we have here? I was wondering why Heritch was still absent. I didn’t think you were alive, Xar.”
“And I didn’t think you’d still be alive. Yet, here we are.”
A short laughter escaped the emperor’s lips. The unexpected reunion was neither expected nor welcomed.
“You sided with dragons? I expected you to find better allies after betraying the empire.”
“…In all honesty, they’re much better than you.”
“Hah! Very well. If you’re with them, I suppose I can no longer afford to play around. But I must say – your choice of allies is rather imprudent, old friend.”
Lavnore took a small step forth towards the professor. Fragments of blinding light glimmered above his head, forming a brilliant crystal of pure white.
“If you wished to challenge me, you should’ve brought a deity with you.”
“…A deity, huh?”
‘I do believe I’ve met that criterion already, but…’
Finally noticing someone’s absence, Karas scanned around the vicinity. Serenis was nowhere to be found; he could only spot the two younglings, torn and burnt as they struggled to remain conscious.
Facing the two younglings, Karas quietly voiced his concern.
“Where’s…has Serenis gone elsewhere?”
“…Someone attacked her…”
“She’ll be back. I know she will.”
Hearing both replies, Karas nodded his head in silence, turning back to face the Akeian emperor. He then unpocketed his hands, holding one out as five elements of magic formed a harmonious spiral above his palm.
“I suppose we can try and hold our ground. Until our ‘deity’ comes to rescue us.”
In a burst of white and rainbow lights, the two spells soon collided midair, each threatening to swallow the other. The massive burst of mana tensed the air around them, warping the reality they stood upon into a chaotic flux of magic.
But one soul remained unaffected by the storm of mana. A single, lonely soul of a dead deity, floating about by the professor’s side as he watched the spectacle of magic unfold.
“Uh, hello? You do have a deity. Literally right here.”
The dead do not speak. Most of the time.
At least no one else could hear the Reaper’s commentary besides Karas.