"This city is... In total ruins..." Squire whispered her eyes wide with horror. "You... You called this an awakening?"
"Yeah." Davi nodded. "Or at least the Count called it that. Basically hundreds of Dragons all show up for a person and... Well its not important." He said shaking his head.
The city they were entering wasn't an impressive city. It wasn't even on their destination. It had simply been on the side of the road. The city of Primula. The walls had been torn down and the buildings toppled over. At the gate many carriages could be seen which were being loaded up with people many men in cloaks getting them on.
"Halt." A man announced jumping in front of Squire's carriage when he saw she was about to enter the city. He was a young man in his early or late twenties with blonde hair tied back into a pony tail and light blue eyes. His face was shaved clean and he wore chain mail armor with his cloak over one shoulder. In both hands he held daggers. "I am Venara Silverwind, Guild member of the Wandering Coin." He announced. "I'm sorry but I can't let either of you go any further." He stated shaking his head. "The city is being evacuated-"
"Demon issue right?" Squire cut in holding up her own guild flag. "I am Squire of the Guild Phoenix Flight."
Venara let out a small intake of air when he saw the flag. "Phoenix Flight? Of course. You are all highly respected Guild members. Your Guild specializes in hunting demons unlike the other ten Guilds."
"Thats right." Squire nodded. "Please allow us to pass. We're here to help."
"Of course." Venara nodded. "Allow me to tell you what happened. Our Squad leader is Khinn. He is the Vice Captain of the Wandering Coin, our Guild. We were a small Squad of about ten or so. We lost two members leaving us down to eight and four more were injured. We had been out on a simple quest to hunt down a rouge wizard with bone magic. During it though Khinn felt dark magic coming from this city... We showed up but... But so many people died... There were so many demons... We jumped in to fight and saved as many as we could but one of the demons changed-"
"It changed?" Davi asked his eyes shooting open as he set up. "Changed how?"
Venara jumped having not noticed the silent Davi. He stared at the boy for a moment with wide eyes. "Sir? Wait... You look familiar. Have we-"
"Venara this isn't the time." Davi said shaking his head.
"You know my name-"
"Not the time! I assume Khinn is near the thing? Take me there."
"R... Right." Venara nodded. "Khinn told me and everyone else to get out of the city. We're escorting the people now. He's the only on there right now. He thought maybe the thing would blow up at first so he ordered us all to leave. I'll take you to him."
Squire and Davi hopped off of their ride and followed Venara into the city. It was mostly torn down. Many buildings and craters lined everywhere. There weren't any bodies though as Dragons broke a person down to nothing but energy to eat them and a Dragon itself turned to dust when they died. There was plenty of blood spatters though...
They neared a massive crater in the ground and Davi cursed when he saw the strange black ball of swirling energy that was in the center of it. Khinn, the weird lizard man, also stood down there slamming his sword into it over and over again but it kept bouncing off.
"Shit." Davi cursed. "Its what I thought it was." He hissed out.
Khinn stopped when he heard the voice. He turned around looking at Venara and Squire but his eyes soon settled on Davi. "D... Davi?"
"Khinn. Get away from that thing and come over here." Davi urged.
Khinn nodded jumping out of the crater and landing next to Davi. He stared at the white haired teen. Then much to Squire and Venaras thoughts he wrapped his arms around Davi pulling him into a tight hug. "You're alive!" He yelled out with wide eyes as Davi choked. "I... I thought all of you... Why is your hair white? And whats up with your eye-"
"C... Complicated." Davi gasped out moving himself out of Khinns arms and back onto the ground. He looked around for a moment before spotting a weapon store which was mostly broken down. He walked over to it grabbing a long sword and a glaive which he tossed to Squire. "Here. You'll need that." He said pulling his sword out with his right hand.
"Whats happening?" Squire asked frowning. "I've never seen you freak out so much? Whats up with that egg thingy."
"Its what happens when a Dragon eats enough people." Davi cursed. "Dragons used to be wear and when they were spotted they were taken out. But now... That damn Count was released and he was able to turn nearly everyone into Dragons. Or demons as people call them. Every day a person is turned from what I learned. When a Dragon kills a person it eats them. And when it eats enough it-"
'Crack.'
The sound made everyone go silent.
"Shit."
Davi jumped forward throwing his left hand out as a massive beam of black spiraling energy exploded from the black shadow ball. It slammed forward but Davi's bandages came undone showing his hand which devoured the attack before it could hurt them. More energy blasted out going out in all directions and splitting the buildings apart as the shadow began to expand and grow getting larger many cracks slowly creeping across it. Seconds later a hand reached out as a form began to emerge out of the egg.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it." Davi hissed out. "Okay listen up because we might be screwed. The Count of the Old world infects a person with a Dragon Blight this turns them into a Dragon. As a Dragon they always look like that metal skeleton form and will have any magical power they had when they were alive. They also have the ability to create bladed weapons and guns on their body that can fire beams of mana. They're a pure weapon. Upon killing enough people and absorbing enough energy one can evolve. It requires a lot of energy though. When they level up all bets are off. Not only does their form change they get a massive power up and gain a new power so whatever this thing just became we have to be careful. Level 1s a re strong but dumb. They're like a machine who just needs to kill. Level 2s though. They gain a sense of self. They lose all aspects of who they used to be when they were alive and instead turn fully into the monster. They no longer can use the magic they once had but they can still transform back into that human form though all memories as a human are fully wiped. They also gain a new power but this isn't magic and something else as it doesn't need an incantation. We're basically screwed if this thing gets lucky and has a good power-"
The ball of shadows burst sending out a wave of black energy orbs which crashed around them throwing them all back. It also released the figure finally dropping them to the floor.
Davi hadn't been kidding when he said they look different also.
This thing wasn't a skeleton.
In fact...
It looked almost human.
Almost.
Its form was off though.
It had the shape of a human but its arms and legs were far to lanky. Like they had been stretched out. It also now had skin. Its skin however was a silvery plastic color. Far to pale to be that of a humans. It was now dressed in what seemed to be a black business suit but the clothing wasn't made out of a solid material. Instead it seemed to be made out of darkness. More liquid like then a solid flowing over his body. His hair was pure black also seeming to be made out of darkness and flowed down his back. A single black bird wing rose out of his left shoulder blade and both his hands were pitch black and covered in razor sharp claws. His eyes were a deep shade of black now, and it stood at eight feet tall. Its face twisted into a smile showing off rows of fanged and jagged teeth as it stared at Davi and the group.
Khinn, Venara, Squire, and Davi, all stared at it in silence as the beast cocked its head at them all.
"Oh boy..." Was all that Davi managed to get out before the fighting began.
The beasts wing came out as it blasted forward at a high speed shattering the sound barrier.
"Row Animal Body-Shift Wings!" Venara screamed out his back bursting out with bat wings which flapped out as he grabbed Squire and Khinn flying to the side with them and dodging the attack. Davi was left behind however since Venara only had two arms.
Davi swung his long sword out slamming it into the clawed hands of the beast. In a single strike his blade actually bent back and even began to crack from the sheer force of the attack. It didn't snap though. He raised his left arm up his left eye closing as his right one ignited with a red glow. In a burst his left arm changed to its Long-Caliber form the blade expanding out as he sliced it down only for the Dragon to swirl around dodging the attack and back handing him across the city block with a single strike.
Davi tumbled through the ground using his actual sword to stop his fall which proved to be to much snapping the blade in half and leaving him with just the handle as he gasped and set back up.
"Oh this is just my luck." The Dragon announced speaking in a strange distorted way as it rubbed its hands together. "I just leveled up and now a Marked one stands before me. If I can kill you I can level up again!"
"A... Again?" Davi asked with wide eyes.
"Oh? Did you not know. There are three levels of Dragons." The beast smirked making Davi's blood run cold. "Typically it requires about one thousand powerful Arcane Hunter souls for us to level up to level two and about ten thousand powerful Arcane Hunter Souls for a level two to evolve to a level three. In short after a Dragon kills about eleven thousand strong people it evolves. But a Marked one... You guys are worth about ten thousand souls give or take. You lot have been touched by our lords. One of the Devils. They left a piece behind inside of you. A magical eye that can follow the butterfly of destiny and fate. If we eat you we can consume that which was left behind allowing us to instantly level up at least one stage. Thats why you marked are created. As food for us. Of course its quiet rare one of you are made. Thankfully despite being worth so many souls you lot aren't typically that strong either." It grinned.
"Why is the Count making you all." Davi yelled out.
"Oh. You want to know that? Well it's simple. To create a new world."
"What-"
The Dragon spun around slicing out with its claws and blocking the strike from Squire who came flying in. Squire swung out with her Glaive attempting to use her long arms and longer weapon to her advantage but the creature didn't seem to care as its arms actually grew longer and it slammed out clawing at her. Squire raised her glaive up using it to block the hit but the force was still strong enough to send her flying back.
"You're fight is with me." Davi yelled coming at the beast from behind as he swung out with his transformed arm as well as his broken sword hilt weaving out a barrage of attacks at the beast from both sides as hard as he could. It spun around blocking them both with its arms as it grinned. "Do you're best and hit me with everything you've got." Davi said giving a smirk and showing his fanged teeth. "Who knows you might get lucky and get a hit in!" He yelled slamming his arm past its grip and smashing the sword hilt into the top of its head.
The Dragon stumbled back letting out a loud growl as it glared at him. It raised both its arms up firing out a wave of hundreds of those black orbs showing off its power. The black orbs slammed into Davi making him yell out as he was thrown back and sent flying across the ground. Seconds later though it was the beast who hissed in pain as Squire was back on her feet and slashed out with her glaive slamming it into the creatures side and leaving a large scar on it. It whipped around back handing her across the street once more.
It didn't have any time to react though as Venara came crashing down. "Vil Body-Morph Tiger-Claws!" He hollered his arms glowing and becoming large tiger like arms with claws jutting out of them as his wings vanished. He hit the ground and turned it into a roll slashing out with his arms and landing out a barrage of cuts onto the beast as he hit it over and over again. His attack left tiny cuts that likely made the beast more mad then angry as seconds later it rammed its hand into the top of his head slamming him down.
It didn't stop there though as it began to kick him over and over again bashing its foot in Venara's chest and likely breaking several bones. It seemed to really go all in on Venara slamming him down over and over again as it gritted its teeth. "I'm getting sick of all of you getting in my way." It hissed out smashing its foot down into the mans stomach as he spat up vomit and blood. "All of you just die!" Its next kick sent Venara high into the air and he crashed down face first. "Now then... Weren't there four of you-"
A burst of lightning broke out as Khinn appeared behind the Dragon slamming his hand out. "This will waste all my mana but. Full Thunder-God Burst." Khinn announced unleashing a hail of lightning which smashed into the Dragon slamming him into the ground at a high speed.
In a massive blue blast the city shook as the ground was reduced to a large crater...
"H... He's strong." Squire said with wide eyes. "I see how hes in charge of a Squad."
"D... Damn it." Davi hissed out grabbing his eye.
"What?" Squire asked turning to him. Both her and him were downed and sitting on the sidelines.
"I... It wasn't enough." Davi hissed.
"What!"
From the smoke cloud the Dragon jumped stabbing its claws right through Khinns stomach...