Chereads / Dark Crow Rising / Chapter 287 - Incline 22: Nin

Chapter 287 - Incline 22: Nin

"STOP IT!" I would yell at this beast as my fist sent him flying across melted streets. Our first few blows had already completely demolished this city and barely anything was still standing. Each blow we would then exchange did nothing but tear up the ground. I was trying to stop him but he was catching on!

"This isn't your home, is it?" It would ask as it took notice over how little I reacted to the city burning. How much apathy I displayed towards how this creature killed so many just by flying by the city. The city was on fire long before we started fighting like this. It only made it clear why I needed to stop it finding my home.

And, why would I even answer a question like that!? He was already so much faster than me so if I gave him any hints then I would be too late. My home would be a molten mess like this, its people would be ash and my magic would destroy even that. You could barely even tell a city once existed here!

"I'll kill you just like your precious Salahma..." I lied with a stern display of my teeth. Only to get a smug smile from him back as he showed his. Along with those claws he so happily swung about in the air.

"No you won't, weakling... I felt how you took my magic for your own needs. You were never going to beat me even in that cage!" he taunted just before he rocketed straight down at me. A blow that would see us dig into rapidly excavated earth before I went flying off. I still did not know how to fight at all and I had no sense of direction. So before I had even gotten my bearings, I was being assaulted by a fire spell.

Yet, despite my fears of fire magic that Salahma gave me. It was quickly becoming apparent that this wyvern didn't have her strength, it could not beat me. His blows were definitely there, but I barely felt them. Only a dull pain existed, one that would bruise later but largely be ignored.

With more confidence in me now as a result of this understanding. I would try jumping for him and narrowly missing him each time. His taunts only made me angrier until I finally grabbed him when he got too cocky. And I would drag him down from the sky and back down to the burning earth below.

The explosion this made, however, would interfere with my attempts to battle him further. Its shockwaves sent me flying and I was soon in his grip once more. Receiving a faceful of fire while I was still in his claws until I pried them off of me. Tearing off a scale or two in the process before I fell to the ground with a booming thud.

Growling into the sky as my magic destroyed the fields and forests around me. And as he charged again, I jumped onto him and held onto him until we crashed again. Decimating a small town in the blink of an eye. We would both roar at each other as he freed himself.

Harmlessly swinging at each other until one of us got the upper hand. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was him. Either way, no real damage was done to either of us. We just destroyed what was around us more often than not.

I did also try going for his horns as it sort of worked on Salahma. But he would just laugh in my face as I tore them out slightly. Unfortunately, I would lose my grip on them when his curled up fist went up into my jaw. My many needle-like teeth tore into my tongue in the process as they were forced to bite down.

"AH!" I would let out as blood was also spat out. And while I clutched my mouth, the wyvern clutched its head.

"Come on, tell me where your home is, osibindah!" It demanded as an answer. Something that would only be answered when I grabbed his head after a sudden dash. And to return a favour, I curled up my free claw and punched his face. Listening to his pain before I tossed him aside.

"I need to vice him...?" I asked myself before our bodies collided again. I had actually hurt him while I held on to his body during the attack. But any attacks we got in that sent the other flying did nothing. Perhaps it was because our magic was destroying anything that might break our flight?

It was quickly becoming the case as even he was moving away from tosses and grappling. Instead, he was grabbing onto whatever he could in an effort to slash me open with burning bone. I would try to avoid what I could, but with both of us trying to hold the other steady... It was a difficult thing to do.

And he soon got sick of the fighting that went nowhere. So he just flew off and headed to the next city. Something that made my heart pound far more than those claws tearing away at me. I would try to chase him, but all this debris was slowing me down.

"MY SPELL!?" I would yell mid-sprint before I slung my arm back. Sending it out in a downwards arc while casting my newly evolved spell. Just barely missing the wyvern at first, but getting just a bit off of him. Something that shocked him enough to drop down closer to me.

When he did drop, I would leap up. I caught him and spun around in the air until I landed a solid blow on its chest. Something that made the air part around us and then the grassy fields below. A mighty boom would signal our return to the ground and I would keep at it.

Savagely lashing out at the reptile until it suddenly exploded with power. A display of magic that would blind me and leave me open to his own counter-attack. And I would be smacked about and lose a few carapace plates in the process. However, the burns he would leave seared most of my injuries shut.

But all this fighting quickly got them open again. I was also soon able to tear off a horn and use it like a dagger. One that would be briefly lodged into its leg before he grabbed my head with his foot. He would rocket us into the sky before he rapidly spun around and around.

"I HOPE SALAHMA'S SOUL KILLS YOU IN THE MISTS!" this wyvern told me as he let go of my head. Sending me crashing into the ground with no means to get back at him. And I would be left alone in a smouldering crater as he flew off. I could only hope it wasn't in the direction of Tobaballe as well...

And when I finally got out of the crater, I came face to face with another friend I had abandoned...

"Nin, what's going on!?" Vadei asked me as she and Einervaene rushed up to me. I would not answer them, though, instead, I just panicked and tried to figure out where the wyvern went.

"Everything is burning..." Einervaene rather stupidly pointed out. Something that set me off for some reason.

"A DAMN WYVERN IS ON A RAMPAGE!" I so obviously pointed out with an enraged roar before my magic blew up the area around us. And my rage would pass on to Vadei as it had sent her flying. Were it not for Einervaene as well, she would be quite the distance away.

"Do you mind!?" Vadei asked as she came up to me with a glare in her eyes. Einervaene, however, looked at me with worry and wide eyes.

"A wyvern!? Like the one-" she began to say before I interrupted her with lots of nodding.

"I think it might be the one that caused her to chase after Heiya and Paps." I then said as I remember a few things Salahma told me. Something about how those two stole one of her underlings... Now if only it wasn't one that burned the land into such a devastated form...

"Have you seen Larishazza?" I was then asked before I tried to run off towards the wyvern.

"Lari...? She's in the mountains where that cloud is." I would tell whoever asked as I started running again. Briefly looking at the remnants of that explosion from before until I focused entirely on the wyvern.