Deep within the cold north, within the large Germanic and Nord settlements, there are tales about a powerful Fire Giant, the supreme king of the realm of Fire Giants, the predecessor of every Fire Giant to exist.
His name was Surt, and he was he ruler of Muspellheim; the realm of fire.
It was said that on the day the gods waged war against one another, Ragnarök, Surt had killed the god of fertility with his sword, the mighty Surtsverð.
With the sword, Surt planned to burn down the world to give way for the next world. And even though he was stopped before he could finish the job, he still destroyed five heavens, and it took countless years to rebuild them.
*****
Fire Giants weren't known to be very sociable and usually spent their entire lives in Muspellheim, doing whatever.
But Pyro's very existence shattered the illusion people saw when they thought of Fire Giants. A shame his opponent didn't know his origins.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Pyro asked curiously as he rose a hand, causing the large fire giant construct behind him to mimic his movements and lift its sword.
The lady took a step back and braced for impact, as she could tell that this young man before her wasn't normal.
Pyro calmly brought his hand down, and the construct behind him immediately swung its sword down at the woman.
"Shit!"
She cursed and jumped back to avoid the attack. But as she jumped through the air, she suddenly felt something a presence behind her.
"What's wrong? Weren't you the one claiming I was weak?"
She swung her arm behind her at the sound of the voice behind her, but was met with nothing but smoke.
"By the way, your opponent isn't me alone, an ally of mine has recently joined the fight." Pyro said as he appeared on a different rooftop.
Beside him was a man in a large, black cloak with tattered ends. This was Ritcher Shadowmark of Guild Ouranos. The man gave the lady a quick bow, before slowly fading out of existence.
"A teleporter? No wonder you were able to escape my ‹Dragon's Breath›." The lady, who had revealed that she was a Dragon, stopped running and began to smile in a mysterious manner.
Pyro pretended as if he didn't notice the change in her disposition and just answered her question. "He is indeed a teleporter, but he only arrived a moment ago therefore, he wasn't responsible for my evasion of your attack; I'm just that fast."
"A respectable speed you've got there." She said and suddenly threw a punch to her left side, just as Ritcher materialized there.
BANG!
The black-clad man went through a few walls before being buried underneath a pile of debris.
"There, now it's back to two of us."
"Indeed." Pyro said and rose his hand. "Two of us, against you."
At that moment, Pyro's Fire Giant construct who had been neglected this whole time, swung its sword horizontally at the Dragon.
"Weak." The Dragon chuckled, and as her body became more Dragon-like, she stretched out a hand and halted the advancement of the giant sword.
The ground around her exploded and her legs sunk into the ground, however she remained unharmed.
For the first time this night, Pyro's expression changed. His eyebrows rose slightly and he narrowed his eyes. "Interesting."
"Now..." The Dragon said and snatched the sword from the construct's hands with a mighty tug, not even giving a damn about the fire it was made from. She aimed the sword at Pyro and threw it forward like a javelin.
With the speed at which the sword shot forward, it would arrive even quicker than her earlier ‹Dragon's Breath› did, and that attack was pointblank.
Pyro sighed and looked downcast for a moment. "What a drag."
*****
As Eric and Ultio watched as fire began to spread across Lont, they immediately saw a familiar figure flying towards them at supersonic speeds. The figure destroyed countless buildings as it approached them, slowly losing momentum.
Crack!
The figure smashed into the hard wall behind them and slowly peeled themselves off of the wall, then wiped a small trail of blood from the corner of their mouth.
"Gentlemen." Pyro said with a slight nod as he staggered slightly after leaving the large, human-shaped imprint in the wall.
Eric winced slightly after noting the man's current state. "You good?"
"Negative, I'm about to pass out from blunt force trauma; after all, I did just fly through an entire town before smashing into a wall. But do not worry, I'll be up in a couple of minutes." Pyro pointed out, before leaning his back against the wall and sliding down. "Sorry to burden you two, but can you-"
"Say no more, we'll help." Eric got to his feet and began to lazily perform some stretches.
Pyro nodded at him before lowering his head and gently falling unconscious.
Eric nudged Ultio slightly.
The white haired oddity was sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. It almost seemed as though he was a monk who was establishing a spiritual connection with his patron god.
At this moment, countless tiny black marks were currently roaming around Ultio's body. These black marks originated from his 'curse', and they had expanded like this, because Ultio was currently trying to break the curse.
The only reason why Eric wasn't bothered by this, was because he had witnessed it a few times before and Ultio had explained it to him after the first time.
"Yo let's go. Some innocent people are about to be killed."
"I do not see how that is my problem, Mister Midas." Ultio quipped almost instantly, still refusing to open his eyes.
At that moment, something large and heavy collided with the building the three gentlemen were perched on– the inn two of them resided temporarily– and knocked down more than half of the building, causing the building to slowly topple over as it collapsed at an even slower pace.
The one responsible for this was none other than the Dragon, who had tossed Pyro's flaming construct at the building. As soon as it had destroyed the building's foundation, the construct dissipated as its summoner was unconscious and thus, could not sustain it. It was even a wonder how it managed to stay for this long after Pyro went unconscious.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"It concerns us already, doesn't it?"
Eric nodded slightly and stretched out his arm, summoning Needle into his waiting hand.
A black and blue shadow suddenly shot out of Ultio's shadow and blurred through the entire building in an instant, carrying everyone out safely, before returning and transferring Pyro to the nearest rooftop; which just so happened to be the roof of the inn the pyromancer was lodged at.
"Alright, Hermes has evacuated the building, you're free to attack. I'll be nearby and act as a tactician, while you, Hermes and Brute attack." Ultio said and weakly got to his feet.
The building rumbled once more as it began toppling even faster than before as gravity took its hold on it.
"We should leave."
"We should definitely leave."
*****
The Dragon calmly walked through the streets of Lont, casually punching the city guards that dared to stand in her way.
She remained unopposed, until she was blocked by a large black shadow with light blue runes all over its body.
"Interesting." She muttered and suddenly appeared before the shadow before swinging her fist right at its face.
Suddenly, the scene in front of Brute changed as he found himself standing beside his master on the roof of a nearby house.
A few cracks slowly spread from a corner of Ultio's mouth as the tiny markings on his body became more restless because he used his power.
"Interesting. I can't believe I just saved your afterlife, Mister Burek." Ultio said with an amused smirk, ignoring the slow destruction of his body that had begun from his lips.
BAM!
The Dragon's fist hit the regular shadow's fist with such force that it immediately dissipated, never to be reformed, as Ultio wouldn't risk using his power on such an insignificant servant.
As soon as the shadow dissipated, even more cracks appeared around Ultio's mouth and some even began to appear on his right shoulder.
"Hi."
The Dragon turned around and found the blind Eric Midas standing behind her, leaning against a wall with one hand holding on to Needle and the other buried in a pocket.
"Leave immediately." The Dragon said with narrowed eyes, all traces of her previous playfulness had disappeared.
Eric sighed and took a step forward. "Sorry, but I have to stop you." He said simply, before dashing right at her.
She took a step back and leaned away from Eric's thrust with Needle, and punched him in the gut.
Eric was sent reeling back, but contrary to the Dragon's expectations, he actually didn't die immediately like a normal person would have.
"Huh, that was a punch." Eric said with a chuckle and tossed Needle at the Dragon as he gripped the 'thread' attached to the pommel of the sword.
The Dragon leaned back to avoid the attack, before straightening back unhurriedly, only to find that Eric drew the weapon back using the 'thread' in his hands, then kicked it at her again just as she was getting back up.
She lazily rose her forearm to block the attack, as black scales covered her skin underneath her clothes.
But a second later, her eyes widened in shock as she found herself staring at Needle's tip, which was just a centimetre away from her nose.
The sword had pierced right through her forearm like it was paper!
"Blood..." She muttered and stuck out her tongue and lightly licked a drop of her blood from the tip of the sword. "Interesting sword."
Eric remained silent as his focused reached a hundred percent. Just now, he had felt the woman's aura crank up to eleven, as she had finally become serious.
As Eric expected, she was no slouch. As soon as she finished speaking, she appeared before Eric and buried her knee into his gut, sending him flying upward.
Blood spurted out of Eric's mouth as he flew up into the sky and his lips twisted to for a crooked smile. "Sweet mother of- That was a hit!"
Just as she prepared to leap up to Eric, a heavy object descended from right above her head. She took a step back and avoided Brute's surprise attack.
"Finally returned!" She said darkly and grabbed Brute's head, before smashing him into the ground multiple times and stabbing a hand tipped with talons into his chest.
Black blood covered her hands, almost indistinguishable from her black scales, as she punched the living and undead out of Brute's shadowy body.
Just as that moment, she felt something try to cut her from behind. But when she looked, she didn't find anything, so she shrugged and went back to punching Brute.
But just as she turned to face Brute, she found herself staring at Hermes.
"Hello." The Shadow said, before raining hundreds of punches on the Dragon's face, before retreating with Brute.
At this point, Ultio's eyes were already getting unfocused and the small trail of cracks that was growing at the corner of his lips had reached his ear.
"Fuck, I believe, is the term I'm meant to use in this situation." He said with a small chuckle.
Meanwhile, Eric had finally landed and went back on the offensive like he wasn't just sent a few dozen metres into the air by a knee to the gut.
"You're tough. But still weak." The Dragon said with a low growl as she dodged a thrust from Needle and swiped her claws at Eric's face.
Eric displayed his unnatural dodging capability and leaned back to avoid the attack, while balanced entirely on the toes of a single foot. "Can you shut up for one moment, I'm thinking of how to end you."
"Interesting creature." The Dragon said with a wild laugh and delivered a rising kick to Eric's chin, sending him flying into the air once more.
This time, however, the Dragon found herself following Eric into the air as she discovered a sort of 'thread' wrapped around her ankle.
"What are you doing, Mister Midas? She's a Dragon for Hermes' sake, she can fly." Ultio said plainly, seeing that Eric decided to engage with the Dragon in the air.
As he predicted, the Dragon immediately unfurled two black pairs of wings from her back as soon as Eric pulled her in for an attack. Needle could injure her, so she wasn't taking any chances.
"I can easily attack you in the air, dumbass. You're at a total disadvantage here, you're just like easy bait for me." The Dragon said disdainfully as she stretched out her hand towards Eric's face.
"That's the big idea!" Eric grinned as an inferno suddenly came to life nearby.
A giant flame construct of a Fire Giant with large horns shaped like a crown appeared beside the two who were in the air. This construct was larger than the last one and its sword was much bigger and heavier.
It also seemed to possess some intellect as it narrowed its eyes and let out an enraged roar while it brought down its sword on the Dragon.
"I'm back." Pyro said as he landed on the rooftop Ultio was perched on.
"Welcome, Mister..." Ultio trailed off, waiting for the man's introduction.
"Muspel. Pyrodeus Muspel."
Ultio nodded slightly, as Pyro took a seat beside him.
"Do you know how to defeat this Dragon?" Pyro asked Ultio as he finally noticed the weakened state the man was in.
Ultio nodded. "However, I will need you to also join the fight properly."
"Why?"
"Because I need you to make her shift into her Full Dragon Form."
Dragons, as supreme beings possessed immense power and talent. They were also incredibly prideful in nature, and preferred to walk around and fight in their humanoid form, as they considered it to be a sign of weakness to be forced to fight in their Full Dragon Form.
Pyro opened his mouth to object and voice his complaints. But in the end, he remained silent and just nodded his head, as he didn't have a better idea.
He got to his feet and took off his glasses, which had been broken after he collided with the wall earlier. He lightly tapped the ornate earring in his right earlobe and sighed.
"Seems like I'll have to use this." He muttered as he rubbed the sword-shaped earring.
At this moment, Ultio spoke up from beside him. "You don't have to. Just go onto the battlefield and frustrate her. She seems pretty carefree and playful, but she's a Dragon, she has her pride."
A light suddenly flashed in Pyro's eyes and he smiled slightly as he remembered a phrase he had told the Dragon, which enraged her earlier.
"I understand." He said with a small smirk.
Unfortunately, at this point, a loud pained roar suddenly filled the night. And it came from Eric.
The Dragon had grabbed his right arm, with which he held Needle, and broke it at the elbow.
"Now, I've solved this problem, it's time to the next-"
As soon as she let go of Eric's arm and was about to turn around, Eric let go of Needle and snatched it with his left hand.
A dark grin covered his face, as he revealed that his cry of pain from earlier was fake. "Hey lady, I'm ambidextrous."
To punctuate his sentence, Eric stabbed Needle into the woman's chest, right below her sternum.
A loud Dragon cry resounded in the night sky. The Dragon grabbed Eric's hand and crushed all the bones in it, before smashing the back of her hand into his jaw, sending him flying, leaving his sword lodged within her torso.
"You fucking... Gahh!" With much difficulty, she managed to pull the Phantasm out of her torso, before throwing at Eric, intending to use his own weapon against him. However, the blade disappeared before it stabbed into him, and reappeared within his mangled left hand.
A small chuckle escaped Eric's mouth as he fell unconscious, leaving the rest to Pyro and Ultio.
"I'll kill-" The Dragon got interrupted, as the Fire Giant smashed his sword into the ground, causing it to erupt and send the Dragon flying into the air.
Her wings sprouted once again and she stretched her hand towards the construct as her expression became cold.
"Hermes." Ultio said with his eyes fixed on the Dragon as red energy gathered at her outstretched hand.
The Shadow, who had been sneakily delivering messages from Ultio to Eric, running across the battlefield so fast that he was invisible, sighed.
An instant later, he was in the air swinging his sword at the Dragon.
"Fuck off!" She said and grabbed Hermes' head with her outstretched hand, intending to blast Hermes and the Fire Giant all at once.
Just as the light energy coalesced, Brute suddenly appeared in her grip, switching places with Hermes.
"What...?"
BRIIIIING!
The Dragon's words were drowned out as the red light suddenly died down and a powerful blast of red, concentrated energy shot out of her hand, annihilating Brute in an instant and shooting towards the Fire Giant.
The construct, possessing some intelligence, knew that dodging would be impossible with its size and the attack's speed, so it rose its sword and forcefully blocked the attack.
However, its size reduced by half after receiving the attack directly, and the everywhere around it had been turned into a level ground without the slightest trace of the building and structures that were there a moment ago.
The Dragon rose her hand and prepared for another attack, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Miss Dragon."
She turned to find Pyro standing beside someone she didn't recognise. The way he stood so casually enraged her slightly, but she didn't say anything, as her eyes were fixed on the face of the man beside him.
That man was beautiful!
He seemed to be in extremely fatigued, but the Dragon could say with confidence that he didn't look any worse than the male characters in the Dragon erotica novels she read when she was younger.
She forced herself to look away immediately, as she felt a nosebleed coming on. So she turned to Pyro hurriedly in order to fuel her rage, but she found herself stealing glances at the white haired man.
"I would like to say, that as a Dragon, it is quite pitiful for you to lack skills." Pyro said. He had noticed that even though she had gotten serious, the Dragon had only used two skills in total, other than her partial Dragon transformation.
"Huh?"
"It's sad. I thought Dragons were meant to be all powerful."
"Huh?!"
The heavenly man beside Pyro finally spoke at this point. "He's saying that you aren't as majestic as he thought, and your Dragon form probably sucks."
At this moment, something within the Dragon snapped. Hearing such words from the mouths of two handsome men, especially when she seemed to be taking a liking to one, did exactly what they wanted it to do.
It made her pissed.
Really pissed.
"REALLY?! THEN FEAST YOUR EYES ON THE FORM OF A TRUE DRAGON!" She roared as her eyes immediately turned red and a powerful aura exploded from her, destroying everything within a fifty metre radius around her.
As the smoke and debris cleared, a large, black Dragon* with gold markings gently levitated in place of the Dragon from earlier.
[A/N: Dragon here refers to a Flood Dragon. Flood Dragons are wingless Dragons, or Eastern Dragons, and they resemble very large snakes with feet and whiskers.]
"THIS IS THE TRUE FORM OF A DRAGON! FEAST YOUR EYES AND WORSHIP THIS QUEEN BEFORE I SEND YOU TO YOUR MAKER!" As she spoke, gold energy gathered right in front of her mouth which remained closed even as she spoke.
"Dragons are so fascinating. They even speak within the mind of others... Truly amazing." Ultio said with excitement in his voice, even as his face remained cold and dead.
"That doesn't matter. Now, we need to get ready." Pyro said as he took a defensive stance. He immediately dispelled his construct, who had been sent into a dazed state from the Dragon's attack, in order to recover some of his mana back.
Ultio chuckled and placed a hand on his face as his laughter became even louder. "I apologize. It's just... Ha, nevermind." Ultio said and lifted his head to face the Dragon that had already successfully gathered energy.
Pyro didn't mind and just lightly patted Ultio's shoulder. "Well, if this is the end... Then, it was an honour fighting with you, Mister Ultio."
"Technically, you didn't fight alongside me, as I actually didn't fight," Ultio pointed out with a small chuckle. Then his expression turned cold and a dark smirk grew on his face. "Besides, this isn't the end."
Just as this moment, the energy gathered in front of the Dragon disappeared, and Pyro actually thought she had stopped the attack. But, before he could react, she opened her mouth slightly and once again, a blast of concentrated energy shot out of her mouth, painting the night sky gold, this time.
The smoke and dust cleared, and the only traces of Lont, were the few broken buildings just outside the fifty metre range of the Dragon.
Although her body in his form was a few kilometres in length, she was high enough in the sky that it didn't contribute to the destruction of Lont. Though it did contribute to the darkness over Lont, as she was so large that she blocking out the moonlight.
Other than the few broken buildings, all that was left was sand, which made it seem like those buildings were ruins from millions of years ago, standing alone, surrounded by the sands of the desert.
At this moment, the Dragon returned to her humanoid form and gazed upon the destroyed Lont with a cold gaze. As she snorted and was about to leave, she heard a voice that almost made her go insane.
"There's always a bigger fish. I said this earlier, Miss Dragon, but you didn't listen, now you'll suffer the consequences."
The Dragon turned towards the direction of Pyro's voice, but when she turned, she found herself staring right at the handsome man that accompanied the one she didn't like.
He looked so weak and sickly now, that she felt like taking him up in her arms and carrying him to a doctor. Some strands of his hair messily fell forward and covered parts of his face, his body moved in such a weird and mechanical way, and his breathing was laboured.
But before she could even react, the man suddenly stabbed his hand forward.
She was about to tell him how futile it was to attack her, when she suddenly froze.
A haze of red slowly appeared on her face and spread down to her neck. Her eyes turned red and became slitted like in her true form. She panted heavily as she tried to hold something back, but in the end she failed. And failed miserably.
The silence of the night that came from the destruction of an entire town was broken at that moment.
Furthermore, it was broke by a very exquisite sound.
A loud moan.