Akai was getting used to riding a horse. Captain Halido was still upset that Akai just vanished, but forgave him over the trip back to King's City. The captain did recognize that Akai killed the dragon without actually getting into a fight. He couldn't say that any other man could accomplish this.
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On the way back, Akai gently patted the horse. "Good girl. Good girl. Or boy. Whatever gender you prefer." Akai said as he stroked the horse's hair with a gently smile.
Captain Halido watched as he rode his horse and said "I'm glad you're getting the hang of that horse. You know, I was thinking, that maybe you can join us. You know your way around dragons and you learn quickly. I think you would make an excellent dragonslayer. We'll just have to work on your discipline and not going off on your own, but other than that, I think you have a real shot with us."
Akai listened as he smiled to the horse. "Sorry, I'm not interested." he replied.
"That's a shame. Maybe, I'll ask later after your done spoiling the horse."
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Akai may look like he is enjoying himself, but his mind wandered back to the green dragon that he killed. He believed that he prevented another massacre from happening. Akai thought about what would have happened if he didn't kill the dragon when he did. He thought back to the burning bodies near Troll's cave. So many died because he couldn't take one life. As consequence, a whole town was destroyed killing who knows how many. He believed he made the right choice in killing Drent, even if he has to carry the burden of sacrificing that one life to save Taple Town.
He looked around at the dragonslayers around him. None of them had to fight the dragon. None of them had to die fighting it. He no longer regretted taking it's life, but it gave him another question.
Akai thought that it would take a much longer time for that degeneration to occur, but the age gap between Drent and Jezeboyah were huge. Akai pondered on why and how this happened. He knew that all dragons have animal urges, but they can be controlled. He only recently discovered that over time that control will weaken to the point where the dragon would give in to its urges.
He came up to the conclusion, while riding his way back to King's City, that all dragons will eventually lose control over themselves. He was aware of himself, as well. He didn't have full control over his feelings and he can lose control at times.
Since, none of the ancient dragons believed in him, he had to figure these problems out by himself. He sighed as he pondered these questions.
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The dragonslayers almost reached King's City, but as they got up the hill, Captain Halido noticed smoke coming near the gate. He halted his men's advance. Akai's senses perked up. A dragon was nearby.
"An attack?" Captain Halido asked himself as he took out a pair of binoculars from his pouch.
Halido looked through the binoculars and saw a dragon attacking the main gate. He noticed wagons and merchants being burned alive. He saw a dragon on the ground breathing fire against the city soldiers, mercenaries, adventurers, and fellow dragonslayers.
"A dragon attack! Everybody get ready. We're going to charge at it!" Captain Halido ordered as he put away his binoculars.
"Another dragon?" Akai whispered to himself.
Captain Halido and the dragonslayers charged towards the dragon. Akai charged too, but his horse was not following his orders. "Not now. Why'd you have to act like this now!?" Akai yelled at the horse while the other dragonslayers charged forward. They took out their crossbows and started raining bolts of arrows at the dragon.
It was a brown dragon with scars covering it's entire body. The dragon breathed fire at the dragonslayers charging at him. The dragonslayers dodged the flames and surrounded the dragon while continuously firing bolts at the dragon. Most of the bolt were being deflected off the dragon scales, but some of them hit in between and into its flesh.
Akai was able to regain control of his horse and charged forward with his sword unsheathed. He noticed the wagon ahead of him. Two of the dragonslayers were setting up the giant crossbow.
Akai charged past them and into the fight.
The brown dragon fired flames around itself and burned some of the dragonslayers and their horses. Akai moved forward and saw some of the dragonslayers trying to extinguish the fires. Akai jumped off of his horse and landed on both of his feet.
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He looked at the brown dragon as their eyes locked. It began to shoot fire from its mouth and at that moment, Akai charged forward. In that instant, the dragon stopped itself from breathing fire and whipped Akai with his tail. Akai didn't expect this and tried to take the hit with his gauntlets. The gauntlets shattered on collision.
Akai was pushed back but stayed on his feet. The brown dragon continued to be barraged by bolts and saw that more soldiers from the city were being sent out to attack. The dragon began to flap its wings causing the other dragonslayers to be pushed back by the force of its wings. Some of the horses fell over. Captain Halido continued to shoot arrows at the dragon, but the arrows wouldn't hit their targets. Akai gripped his teeth and held onto the ground with his feet.
As the brown dragon got into the air, a giant arrow bolt struck the dragon in its right wing.
Akai looked back and saw the giant crossbow being operated on by the dragonslayers. The brown dragon fell to the ground, but still resisted. Now, that the dragon was on the ground, the dragonslayers operating the giant crossbow couldn't risk shooting their own men. The brown dragon got itself up and shot a ball of fire straight at the giant crossbow. The two dragonslayers near it tried to escape but were destroyed in the blast.
It flailed it's tail and arms at the remaining dragonslayers.
The dragon looked at Captain Halido and was about to bite down on the captain. Halido continued shooting arrows at the dragon, but it seemed to have no effect. The captain rolled away from the dragon as it bit down at nothing. Akai sprinted towards the brown dragon while it was distracted. Akai slashed at the dragon's tail and cut it clean off. The dragon roared in pain and spat fire all across the fields. Akai dodged out of the way from the falling fire. Captain Halido did the same.
The captain ran out of bolts and unsheathed his blade. The captain ran towards the pained dragon and went for the dragon's neck. The dragon noticed and jumped out of the way. As he jumped, the dragon stared at the captain and began to open its mouth. It started to blast fire towards the captain.
Halido's eyes turned to fear. He had no time to react and as he closed his eyes, he didn't feel the fire touching him. He was surrounded by the fire, but none of it touched. Akai's eyes widened. He looked back and saw the witch casting magic. The witch's chains were broken free, but as Akai watched, the chains that imprisoned her were being twisted around her and fashioned into a dress. The chains turned red and forged a barrier around her like thorns on a rose. Her mask was still attached, but her eyes could be seen through it. The runes on her melted into the ground. Her mask turned from pale white to black in seconds.
The witch casted some sort of defensive barrier around the captain protecting him from the flames.
The brown dragon stopped its fire and looked towards the witch.
The dragon began moving towards the witch, but in an instant, lightning obliterated the dragon's face. The witch casted heavy strokes of lightning from her hands towards the brown dragon. Akai watched as the dragon was being cooked alive by the electricity. The brown dragon staggered back, but wasn't deterred. As the other dragonslayers and city soldiers continued firing at the dragon with their crossbows and the witch was shooting lightning magic from her hands and fingertips, Captain Halido took his blade and slashed at the dragon's arms' and leg's tendons. The witch's lightning magic ceased and Akai jumped towards the dragon, took his blade, and stabbed it in the mouth. The dragon flailed its body in pain. Blood spurted all around its body.
"Curse you, humans. Curse you all to hell." The dragon screamed as Akai was forcing his blade through to it's brain.
Akai looked at the dragon's eyes and quietly asked, "Why did you attack these people?"
"Curse you." The dragon said one more time.
Akai thrust his blade deeper and the brown dragon perished.
Akai got up covered in the dragon's blood and gave a deep breath in and out. As soon as he finished, he heard the other dragonslayers and city soldiers cheer for him. They clapped and hollered as Akai watched around him.
Akai looked back at the dragon. "It didn't look like it had the same degeneration that Jezeboyah had," Akai whispered to himself without anybody else hearing his comment.
He looked at Captain Halido and he noticed his battle stance was still readied. He was aiming towards the witch. Akai also readied himself against the witch as he turned around toward her. She didn't move, but she was no longer chained up. As their battle stances were readied against the witch, the cheers stopped and the remaining dragonslayers realized that the witch was free. The city soldiers were the last to realize, but the ones that were sent out also readied their weapons against the witch. The dragonslayers aimed their crossbows at her.
"I didn't call for you to use magic. You broke out of those magical runes. How?" Captain Halido inquired to the witch as both the captain and Akai were slowly approaching closer to her.
"I wish to speak to Akai over there." The witch said as she pointed to Akai. Akai kept a stern face.
"Why did you protect the captain if you were free? You could have escaped." Akai said.
"I could have escaped, yes. But I didn't. I think of this as a favor." The witch replied.
"Have you met this witch?" Captain Halido turned to Akai.
"No." Akai said as he stared at her. The witch's gaze could be seen through the small eye holes the mask had. Nobody could tell what emotion she was conveying.
As the two got closer to her, she gave no sign of resistance.
Captain Halido took out enchanted handcuffs and placed them on the witch.
"If that makes you feel better." the witch said. The handcuffs were enchanted to cancel out the wearers own magical abilities, but Akai knew that if she broke out of those before, she can do it again.
She wasn't giving any struggle. Akai and Halido pushed her back into the city while the other dragonslayers kept their weapons drawn in case the witch tried to do anything. As Akai walked into the city, he noticed the same smell of burning flesh that he experienced at Butterton Town. This dragon wanted to fight humans, but he didn't have a degenerating mind. It could communicate unlike Jezeboyah. The brown dragon seemed to hate humans, but Akai didn't know the reason why. His eyes turned to rage for a moment, but kept himself under control.
Akai and Halido walked into the city and back to the Den of Dragonslayers with the witch in hand.