The second day of the confrontation between the practitioners and the serpent tide came with no fanfare.
No orders were given. No discussions were held. No one noticed as a certain young woman slipped back amongst the ranks of the contractors and adventurers. Everyone was too busy trying to stay alive.
Their full attentions sunk into the task of fighting back the tide of claw, tooth and scale that threatened to wipe them out.
*****
Edna had only woken up a few hours ago. She’d been lying on her side, with Billy lying next to her. She was covered in vomit and piss, he was covered in blood.
Her panicked cry woke him and he alarmed them both, by jolting upright and shouting.
“They’re here!”
Fortunately that wasn’t the case, his announcement an error, a panicked proclamation caused by his damaged consciousness pulling in data from further away than it was supposed to.
They had a few hours till the arrival of the festival of snakes. They used those hours to clean themselves up. Billy taught Edna how to use her new weapon system, literally pushing the information into her brain as an aetheric payload.
Then he etched another layer of protective wards onto her phone-band. Finishing his work by teleporting her back to the main camp with two messages.
The first was “Don’t die,” and the second was “I’m really sorry.”
He would respect her desire to stay and fight and not be put aside like a child or some helpless damsel.
However he couldn’t be keep her right by his side. First of all she’d do no good and actually inhibit his ability to fight. Second of all, he was fairly sure her odds of survival would go up the farther away from him she was.
Hopefully she’d understand.
Finally he sank to his knees dropping into a regenerative fugue state. Echoing susurrations, emanating out of his body as he was left alone in the camp, amidst his city of watchful, crystal towers.
*****
The soldiers of Jelani, were spread out in loose formations, trying to keep what little order would remain as the world went mad all around them.
They fired rifles that only material-layer fighters could handle. Their guns sounding and operating and kicking like cannons. Shooting bullets that were bigger than old world anti-tank rounds.
Barking like thunder as they tore through flesh and sand. Blowing brown scaled sand-flyers out of the skying. Taking down the sidewinding jotun-snakes that had somehow managed to make their way down to Meallan from the hoary north.
They could kill the little serpents and moderately sized demon-snakes with ease. The only problem was that there were too many of them.
Individual soldiers and contractors would fall if they allowed themselves to be distracted by the seemingly endless number of monsters headed their way.
Whole groups would fall if they happened to run afoul of the truly big individuals.
One squad of soldiers was squashed flat, their insides spraying over the sand as a massive viper steamrolled right over them.
Wyverns would dive bomb the subjugation force from above and wyrms would appear from below. Each of the lesser dragons’ attacks bringing a loss of human lives regardless of whether the attacker was killed during the exchange.
Edna did as the other elites did, winding her way through the battlefield. Any plans that had been made had already fallen through. Which was just as well, since she wasn’t there to hear them.
All that could be done now, was for her and others like her to move across the ranks of the regular soldiers. Helping out as best she could, delivering backup, first-aid, and support fire, where appropriate.
A little ways ahead of her, the Millennium-Strongman was doing right by his name. Using his bare fist and the twisted remains of his war axe to knock a whale-sized wyvern’s head from its shoulders.
Showering everyone nearby in a hot bloody rain.
She saw another group of similarly sized demon-snakes headed, in the direction of him and his squad. Quickly delivering a heavy dose of dissuasive cover fire to stop the demon-snakes’ assault.
Making them shy away as they were faced with the option of either going elsewhere or slithering through the thick curtain of forceful, sand melting, aetheric blasts.
“Many thanks frie-...Oh, so it’s you. Well, You’re a sight for sore eyes, sweet. Thought you ran off on us.” said Beau. Turning around to greet her, that far too dazzling smile of his spreading across his face as he went to check on his downed squad member.
“Uh, right…” said Edna. Not sure what else to say.
The man looked up at her and whistled.
“Now those...are some pretty guns.”
Edna looked behind her. Able to just barely see them when she craned her. They were her A.W.- first series. The weapons Billy made for her to use. Saying that they went just perfect with her primary ability.
If she’d waited for him to explain anything before slapping the control unit onto her wrist she might have had more explanation. Instead she was now forced to rely on the psychic impressions that had been placed in her mind.
The set of eight identical transmorphic firearms made of a certain alloy that could only be created with orichalcum, light aether and super concentrated nothingness. As to how she knew that, well that was just another bit of information that had been directly forced into her brain.
Edna continued firing those members of Beau’s squad who could fight continued fighting. Serpents were blown apart, frozen apart, frozen, torn to pieces. They died in droves but came in endless waves.
She fired a set of two massive rifles that sat in her hands, and was unaffected by recoil or the weight of the guns. In fact instead it seemed like she’d be lifted into the air at any moment. It felt like she should be firing from above.
Behind her back was an array of six identical auxiliary guns. Hanging, mounted in thin air. Filled with a subdued ambience. Colorless, a golden blank. Shifting to whatever she needed them to be. They were her angel wings.
A serpent snuck up behind her and before the Millennium-Strongman could even call out to her, three of her six auxiliaries firearms had swiveled to face it. Blowing apart the beast’s thorny face.
The AWs weren’t just guns. They were a part of her. They came bringing sight that wasn’t sight. Increasing her physical abilities by nearly a hundred-fold and giving her the worst kind of headache imaginable.
She looked to the horizon where a sandstorm hid the bolts of light that flickered repeatedly. Thinning the number beasts in the serpent tide down to something that the Jelani subjugation force could just barely handle.
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When all this was over Edna decided that she and Billy were going to need to sit down and have a long talk about this. She just hoped they both survived to be there.
“Really, what do I even call you, kid. Amazing? Annoying...Amazingly annoying? You better not let that thing kill you.” she grumbled to herself.
*****
Billy exited his regenerative catatonia shortly before ‘it’ appeared. He opened his eyes and when he looked up he was ‘it’ right above his head. Just hanging there. Not darkening the sky so much as it had occupied the sky. Outright replacing a fourth of it, with its own mass.
Turning one fourth of Monde’s sky into its body. A being so vast and powerful and beautiful that calling it a stupidly huge flying lizard was not only an oversimplification, it was just plainly incorrect.
Dragon’s weren’t even lizards actually and this dragon certainly wasn’t of that kind. It just so happened that there were similarities between the two.
Enough that occasionally dragons and breeds of reptilian magical beasts would have dalliances. Which was where the draconics and demon-snakes came from.
Looking at the being that floated above him, flying in lazy circles around where he sat, meditating, desperately trying to recover, Billy could only chuckle, a bitter smile spreading across his face.. Laughing at both himself and at the situation he’d somehow managed to land himself in.
“Nh….Well it’s taken me this far already...Karma, Fate, Luck...plot armor...Whatever. Let’s see if we make it through this time too.” he said. Standing up on shaky legs. Satisfied that he’d healed just enough that he could risk hurting himself all over again to see the coming fight through to the end.
The Emperor of the Golden Sky Slowly revolved around the little mortal that had managed to peak his interest.
There was a reason why Edna didn’t ask why he wouldn’t be escaping with her, should she choose to escape. Coming to the attention of the mighty and powerful was as much of a ‘blessing’ in this world as it was in any other.
Or rather, in Monde it was even more so. The folklore and fairytales of this land were filled with beautiful heroines, brave heroes and clever wisemen who’d seen their ends in just such a fashion.
Rather than talk about stories, one could simply look at the reality. The strongest of Monde’s beings generally didn’t pay attention to those who they deemed beneath them.
After all they too had people who lorded over them, to appease and hide from. Thus in this land the gods and lords were as feared as they were venerated. A powerful being paying attention to you meant you had something of interest to it.
And having something that interested an existence many times your better generally meant having your everything stripped away. Be it treasure, loved ones or one’s own life.
“Little one.” said the Dragon Emperor. His voice the dull rumble of thunder on a sunny day.
“Little?...Do I look little to you? I suppose I do but trusting appearances is never wise. I would think a being of your years would know better. ” said Billy. Craning his neck as he stared up at the being that swam through the sky, dominating the heavens.
Looking like a thermonuclear explosion given ego, a supernova given pride. Radiant and blinding and hot. Its gaze lit with the last embers of the big bang that birthed this universe.
“Hmph...Who are you? Who are you, that you dare to speak so with one such as I?” said the Dragon Emperor.
Billy felt a nervous sweat beading up on his brow. He didn’t have a choice here. Dragons were a lot like demons in that they were creatures of power, greed and pride. While you could be polite, being overly courteous would be seen as weakness.
Though they weren’t the oldest beings in the cosmic sea, their kind had been around for a fair amount of time. Appearing eons before the first men showed. These were creatures born to wrinkle the smoothness of entropy, and smooth over the crinkles of time.
They were made to erase realities, born to swallow stars. They were ostentatious, audacious. Supreme magnificent beings and near perfect in fulfilling their function and they were very aware of it.
Hence came the pride that each dragon bore. Hence the tyrannical air that the dragon emperor wore, bearing it as naturally as he bore those, golden orange scales of his.
“Who am I? Ah...I wonder.” said Billy, pretending to be unaffected by the creature's presence.
Doing a fair job of it as the beast growled, in displeasure. It’s tail winding and unwinding as it swam a little closer to where Billy stood, to get a better look.
“Godling, Which pantheon do you hail from? Which realm do you call claim to?” said the Dragon Emperor.
“Pantheon? Oh heavens no. I’m not a god. I’m far too old and far too wise to presume that title like others would. I know better. I know my place. No...I’m just an old soul. An aged sorcerer with a few tricks up his sleeve.” said Billy.
“Is that so? Hmph…How boring.” said the Dragon Emperor. Snorting, a great spout of flame flowing downwards towards Billy’s position.
It was hot enough that it should have melted through the core of the world, but it somehow didn’t.
Instead all the sand in the area was turned glass and molten slag, but Billy himself still managed to remain. Already moving. Already setting into action his eleventh hour, ass pull, final move.
Where he should have been erased, his body into ash, the ashes atomized, his soul scattered, he sat whole. Though not healthy.
A great amount of blood pouring from out all the orifices in his head. Before the dragon blew its flame he’d already set a fire. Igniting his soul and consuming his own shadow and the world that lay within. An unspeakably painful, heretical act. Like a bird gaining flight by eating its own wings.
The dragon blinked, its face contorting into whatever the equivalent of draconic frown would be.
“Curious...I cast my flame upon you and yet you still remain. Explain.”
Billy didn’t answer the beast and he didn’t explain, instead he simply chanted. Speaking the spell, that would make use of the power of his ancient soul and the shade conversion that was slowly taking place within it.
The dark starry eyed masses flying in and out of his being. Exploding deep inside his being and discharging a wildly energetic nothingness deep within his soul.
“Change the black to white. Paint the white black. Let loose the infinity within phantasmagoria...Open the gates to the never-ending dream.”
His intonations echoed, sounding lonely as they bled from out of his body. Long ago a single lesson was taught to Billy, on the subject of winning fights with tilted odds.
Fights where he was facing beings so far out of his league that they were better off being called erasures or exterminations. Long ago he learned the importance of knowing how to cheat.
From out of the young man’s body emerged a shadow. From out a shadow emerged a figure painted blank. See through, colorless, but leaving an iridescent indelible mark on the empty space.
From the boy, came a man in gray. A vaguely humanoid existence with its body covered in swirling gray-green patterns. It eyes the stars, infecting them, taking them, usurping their use to grant itself sight.
“You? You are no human! What manner of creature are you?!” said the dragon Emperor.
“Ah...My apologies. It seems I have been remiss. I am the one who stands on the line. Straddling the edge between sleep and the waking world. Between the real and the imaginary. Between fact and fiction. Truth and lies. Life and death. I am Asphodel. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
There was silence, and for a while the dragon simply floated about, churning a sunless sky as it stared at the creature that stood below him, dark tendril rooting it into this reality and all the neighboring ones.
“Interesting...Interesting...Interesting!”
“I don’t suppose we can settle this matter amicably?” said Billy. Hoping he wouldn’t have make use of the explosive power within his being. Just using it to make this stand alone, was a risk.
Actually making use of the power would mean a chance of eroding and possibly erasing his ego. Breaking everything that made William Maddoc, William Maddoc.
“Surely you jest...After you’ve gone and killed my kin?” said the dragon emperor.
Billy sighed.
“True….but isn’t it their own fault for being weak?” said Billy.
The ancient dragon chuckled, the sound reminiscent of mountains crumbling and sinking into the sea.
“True…It’s your own fault if you die. That’s the way this game is played. It’s rare to find someone who understands...Well said.”
“Then we have no quarrel then.” said Billy. Aware that he was reaching and sounding just a tad over-eager, but unable to help it.
His current mode of being akin to being a man made of sodium. Exposed to open air. The reaction between his current self and reality, a volatile one. Filled with fire, boiling blood and agony.
“Oh, true, but this little soiree was never about grudges or quarrels. If that was so, I’d have simply set this entire puny countryside on fire.” said the Dragon Empire.
“Ah…” said Billy. Not liking the way things seemed to be going. His thoughts moving in hyperspeed now that they were freed of the limitations of his mundane neural networking and mortal flesh.
Still failing to find a solution that’d keep him from having to try and fight this beast.
“Yes...This was never about hate. This was just boredom, but you...you are interesting.”
Billy sighed and in the next second he launched himself at the creature, barely evading another spout of bright, white, mountain melting, flame.
They danced around each, flying through the air, circle one another releasing bolts of energy that should have boiled the sky but didn’t. Moving fast enough that it should torn layers from the atmosphere.
Delivering blows that could be felt throughout the entire planet. Shaking the world from its ceiling to its foundation.
Beams came from out of Billy’s eyes, all the many millions of them. They were cold columns of force and light and nothingness that came down like judgement from the cosmic sea.
The dragon emperor roared enraged, wings flapping releasing winds that could swallow up a hurricane. Its bright breath scouring the sky clear of clouds. Its burning gaze tracking the dark being that darted about its immense personage.
Billy flew about, aware of each close call and near miss. Aware of the burning in his chest and the fact that each passing second meant an additional chance at losing himself.
He wasn’t even hurting this beast. Even though he was fighting with his best, even though he was fighting with the direct power of his soul, there was only so much his current self could bring to bear. All he could do was bide his time, waiting out the clock while his trap was readied.
“Puny thing!” roared the Dragon Emperor.
It opened its maw to release a blast of hot plasma that’d boil away at the very fabric of sky and erase anything it struck. Igniting the air around it, for miles around.
It was then that Billy struck, darting into the inferno and using it for cover.
Dark tendrils appeared like ivy growing from the sky. They wrapped around the dragon before it could even react. His snare was set and the dragon emperor fell headlong into the trap, the moment it tried to free itself.
The barbs of nothingness biting through its scale and hide. Filling its blood with a poisonous anti-life essence. Death distilled into aether and then weaponized as poison.
The Dragon Emperor’s struggles grew weaker and weaker, then finally Billy finished it off, sending a last bolt of force and nothingness through the beast’s skull.
He watched it fall and heard the world groan as it was forced to take on the behemoths unearthly mass. Then satisfied that he’d won and that for today at least, the day was saved and Edna would be safe he allowed himself to collapse.
Hoping the connection between his body and spirit was still strong enough for him to technically count amongst the living. Hoping that there was enough of his soul left for him to remain himself.