I found myself back at the large patch of dirt, the ground still wet and muddied from last night's rain. This time though, I wasn’t alone. It was hard to deny the fact I was still more than a little nervous though… I almost wanted to run away again and come back with even more help… But the fact remained that the only real way of killing it was through magic or dark magic. Its constitution was so high I doubt even my brother's arrows would have left a dent… Besides… With just Lu there, I was able to fully use my magic to its full potential.
“Siya. If you're ready, I’ll call him out.”
“Right…” I gripped my sword, pulling it from its scabbard and throwing the sheath to the side to lose the extra weight. “Go ahead…”
She nodded and stepped to the center, raising her blackened arm and closing her hand to a fist, opening up the same black hole-like portal that swallowed light. She stepped back, and after a moment sure enough he came walking through.
“Very well then… I will fight you together.” He dropped the massive pillar he was carrying and turned back to the abyss, suddenly a chain sprang forth and wrapped around his arm. Then he reached in with his other hand and pulled out a curved blade that was so black I couldn’t tell where the edge was, just that it was thick, and much larger than mine.
“Are you sure about this? Rafi?”
“Hm? Oh, this guy? Yeah, we can take him.”
‘So confident… Then again… In this body, I can’t help but feel just as bold… Even if that is just the dragon screaming at me because I’m secretly afraid…’ “Ok… Let’s do this then…”
The demon let out a deep breath and finished dragging the black metal chains from the abyss before the gate closed, a massive spiked head dangling from the last link. Dead silence fell over the arena for no more than three seconds and in a flash, everything began at all once.
He whipped the chain towards me as he blocked a slash from Rafi’s moonlight blade, which she sadly could only use at about half its original length since she was in Lu’s body. And in a sense, I couldn’t use dark magic… I could hardly break the chain like I did when fighting the ghoul.
‘Two ways to kill a demon… Destroy both hearts… Or cut off its head… Probably both… Just to make sure.’ There was no way I could win in a contest of strength, so after parrying the chain with my sword I sent a wave of ice across the ground and froze him up to his waist. Rafi swung again to force open his guard, but the ice didn’t even slow him down, cracking and shattering as he moved right through it.
‘Come on…’ I sent another wave of ice along the chain, freezing his arm and stopping the links from moving freely, then I dashed in giving Rafi a chance to take a breath as I slammed my sword into its side, barely breaking the skin.
Stolen novel; please report.
He just laughed as I ducked under his arm and backed away. ‘This… Isn’t going to work…’
“You’re dragon is no dark eater! You may as well run away again. Flee like a coward and let my magic sap your puny strength.”
I felt my legs start to shake. But again the contradiction forced me to stand strong, unable to flee even if I wanted to… Besides, Lu and Rafi were there. I couldn’t leave them behind. ‘There has to be something I haven't thought of yet… Like… Maybe instead of being so careful… I let the dragon fight how it wants to… Then I can focus internally, waiting for the right time to change forms… If I change forms my body will go numb though… So I’ll only have a moment to strike it…’ I thought back to when I first fought the dragon, and it rampaged recklessly, breaking its own wings. ‘This is… A really bad idea isn’t it…’
Rafi suddenly took a heavy hit barely blocking, as he swung with both hands, sending her own blade into her shoulder upon deflection and making the soul force explode outward as if the sword had ruptured, instead of hitting her, coming back like a flickering flame. ‘Well… I don’t have any better ideas… And no time either.’ I took a deep breath and focused my mind inwardly, letting the dragon almost completely take control of my body. It was no surprise that the first thing it did was breathe fire…
My chest and lungs burned as I gripped my shirt so tightly my claws tore into it and every breath began to echo with deep rumbling. The fire raged and shot out like focused lasers, turning the mud to a dark brown glass that spiked around us and charring the demon's skin from grey to black as it melted to the chains around his arms. My chest only burned more with every second as I continued, going further, and further, clutching my chest tighter and nearly ripping my shirt off from the intense burning as I clawed at my swollen lungs. It didn’t stop though. Taking in air through my skin and letting it out, a constant stream of intense fire continued to pour like water from a firehouse.
‘This feels… So good!’ Like a runner's high… Or an injury coupled with the sweet taste of winning a sporting match, the pain was confused and overshadowed by a strange sense of calm and joy. Finally, it stopped. I thought I would be gasping for air, but instead, it was the opposite. I felt high on oxygen like I simply didn’t need to breathe anymore. My whole body felt light, and as the dragon shook out my limbs, getting used to it, I felt myself suddenly start to grin widely as I became even faster.
‘So strong…’
Without a moment's hesitation, my body turned itself into a massive whip, flinging my greatsword like a javelin and sticking it into the demon's shoulder. It was only deep enough to barely stay in, but still much further than I got. The moment the sword left my hand I heard a sudden boom as my feet took off, my claws digging into the glass like spikes as I rushed across the plane and tore into his side with my bare hands.
It growled in pain as it turned to hit me, but with my senses sharper than ever before, even without my ability it was as if time was moving in slow motion. “AND WHO SAYS I’M NOT A DARK EATER!” The dragon screamed with my mouth, unfamiliar words that seemed to charge him. With blind rage I ripped into his neck with my teeth and sucked out his blood, making me want to gag… But I controlled myself and ironically, didn’t take back control of my body. ‘That’s going to stain my teeth… Isn’t it…’
He grabbed me and threw me away, tearing a small chunk of his neck with me as I flew back. As gross as it tasted… Somehow it made me feel even better, and I was able to breathe fire again, although not nearly as long as the first few times. The flame swirled with a black tint that burned the demon even deeper than before and he finally screamed in pain.
It was certainly more effective… But Lu’s body wasn’t fast enough to take advantage of any openings, and as much as I had hurt him… He was really just in pain, not really taking any significant damage. While the black flame was cool… Dragons and demons didn’t mix… And after the euphoria wore off from breathing fire my stomach started to feel like it was eating me from the inside… ‘I knew this was a bad idea…’
Although incredibly painful, it did weaken the dragon's soul enough for me to be able to revert forms whenever I needed to. So it wasn’t necessarily all bad… ‘Now we just need to find a way to catch him off guard… Or whittle him down until we take him by force…’