We didn't need to go meet the dragons. They were all converging on our location. To help them, I flashed an Illusion spell high up in the sky with the Holy Symbol of the Matriarch. They roared in anger and approached at full speed, already aware it was futile to try and burn the Empire. Everyone there would be safe for a hundred years.
I hoped this conflict would end before that.
Four creatures stood with me. Three humans and a fairy. We would all die. But we would die together, as a family.
"Are you two twin sisters," the [Emperor]... former Emperor asked.
I noticed I was still Rania. "Yes. This is Mona, my twin sister and your daughter."
He laughed and shook his head. "I'm sorry for being such a terrible father. I blame the burden of being the [Emperor]. I did many terrible things but I'm glad you survived."
Mona's breath caught and she choked as she sniffled. All her life she feared being found out, caught, and killed. Madge grabbed her gauntlet and soothed her.
"It's fine, Mona. Everything is in the past now. Isn't there something you want to tell your father?"
She stared at the man. "I hate you. You were the [Emperor]. If the [Emperor] can't fight a stupid prophecy, what good is he?" She vented as tears rolled down her cheek.
"No King rules alone," he shook his head but didn't avoid her hurt gaze. "I accept your hatred. When this is over, I'll take any punishment you want. I already died once!" He joked and chuckled sardonically.
Above the swarm of dragons flew the Brood-Bitch. Her gaze didn't leave me for a second and I joked to myself that she wanted to make sure I would not slink out and stealth.
"Let's go. Time to kill some dragons. Don't stray too far away from me," I said as I let four tails out and stretched them to their maximum length. With all the Perks combined, they could extend up to sixteen times my body length. "And definitely don't stay away from the tail protecting you.
We all extended our white wings and flew up.
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The dragons were eager for retribution. To them, I was a villain who expelled them from most of Auvanini, a good chunk of the Scorched Continent, and all southern Pekothas. They were forcibly relocated and left behind their treasure troves, their homes. For seven hundred centuries they became nomads, beggars in lands not their own and their Goddess made sure to stoke those flames and instill suicidal fervor on them.
When they saw me, the end all be all of their plights, they discarded any rational thought. A raging swarm of dragons, most of the young and brash persuasions dashed ahead of the swarm to meet us.
As they entered my sensing range, I could see they had spells to protect them from Force magic. As the five of us flew to meet them, I decided to inaugurate one of my newest Perks.
I drew the [Unicorn King Spear] and threw it forward and up. "{Rain of the Chasing Stars}!" I shouted. The spear shot as it accelerated and curved up, flying out into the stratosphere as it broke the sound barrier and became a second sun in the sky above. Then it exploded and rained down in a thousand shards, falling stars that accelerated vertiginously as they rained vengeance for the burnt fiefs of the eastern Empire upon the dragons. Each dragon was struck for billions of damage and instantly vanished. Even though the falling stars struck everything in a circle almost nine hundred meters in diameter, only two dozen dragons were killed. This Perk obviously sacrificed the weapon. However, I needed only a thought to bring my heirloom back to my hand.
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I found myself unable to harvest the souls of my kills as the spirits of the slain dragons were drawn to their goddess. More power to her. The other dragons were enraged at the loss of their youth. The Broodmother drank of their burning anger masked as righteousness and converted that into Faith to fuel her. In her madness, she would throw away her own subjects' lives if that was what it took to kill me. They activated acceleration Perks and spells as another batch detached from the swarm. The dragons were individualistic and the only one who could coordinate them didn't mind tossing them out. Once I was dealt with, she would have all the time in the world, literally, to rebuild the dragon species.
Maybe that was her plan. Every dragon in front of me was a sacrifice on the altar of battle to make her power grow. She intended to do something and it had to do with the lunar conjunction of tonight. My only hope to stop whatever she was planning was to kill her before nightfall.
Good luck with that.
The atmosphere was cataclysmic and maddening. I could sense the roiling waves of mana as the dragons approached and charged their throats. They flew in tight formation, preparing to attack in tandem and combine their powers.
I swapped spears and used my attack again. The mundane weapon flew to the sky as {Rain of the Chasing Stars} activated. The dragons cast overlapping shields of Force magic above them and blocked most of the Chasing Stars. I could see their derision as my attack failed to kill all but one unlucky wyrm. That's when I accelerated toward them. Twenty dragons breathed in unison, their flames combining into a maelstrom of magical plasma. It was so blindingly hot it shone a pure white. As the billowing flames reached me, I drew my trusty heirloom and struck.
> > Tsunami-Splitting Kata
The spear split the flames as I kept moving forward, plowing through the incoming flames and praying my friends streaming behind me like ribbons in the wind were safe from the infernal heat. I felt like in the big bang, the flames of creation soaring all around me as I tunneled toward our doom. I wrapped my tails around my family and stealthed, covering for them.
The flames ended, the dragons either believing us dead or unable to maintain the attack. As I regained sight of them, I struck.
> > Flash Blink Step
>
> > Wrath of the Unicorn King
It felt as if the spear was dragging me along as I shifted between both dimensions several times and moved forward with breakneck velocity. Now the energy cone was inverted as blinding light came from the spear. The twenty dragons who breathed on us were torn asunder as my ultimate charge attack ripped through them. At the endpoint of my charge, I found myself surrounded by dragons who readied to breathe from all angles.
> > Dance of the Dragon Daisy (each attack hits fifteen enemies)
>
> > Dragon Pierces the Moon (2x damage on thrusts, plus range)
>
> > Spear Blink (Spear uses a portal to strike up to 435 meters away)
>
> > Scourge of the Nine Tassels (1d9 extra minor slashes)
>
> > Phantom Lancer (summons 1 phantom per 100 Proficiency)
>
> > Zephyr Lance (Spear attacks extend 60 cm, dealing extra damage)
>
> > Combination Strike (Stab and slash in tandem, using the worst armor value, plus extra damage)
The [Unicorn King Spear] split into seven copies, one real, six phantoms. I stabbed with each of them as a hundred and five portals opened around me and these seven spears went into fifteen directions each, traveling across dimensions to hit dragons a quarter of a mile away from me. In a fluid motion, I slashed as the tassels made of braided unicorn mane cut their flesh. For each strike, the survivors suffered two Attribute Points of extra damage. Most died, however.
This close, I managed to keep a few souls from joining their goddess but it was a tough tug of war.
The other dragons parted away from us as small figures flew in our direction. I froze in shock. How far could their depravity go?
With small human-sized dragon wings, we met the half-dragon zombified versions of Lily, Alloralla, Lakerta, Rosewise, Arista, Snowdrop, and Apricot. All of them stark naked.
"You will die by your own hand, Anomaly!" The Broodmother's voice echoed in the sky.