"Revenge?" Mourtas began to laugh, "really? What happened to all your idealistic bullshit?" His laughter became obnoxiously loud, "How amusing it is, to see all those precious ideals you held so close dissipate in the shadows of your own hatred for me. Isn't it strange how something like revenge… can make you change so much?"
"I haven't changed." Dagon spoke, turning his eyes back to Mourtas, "I've grown."
"Grown?" another laugh left Mourtas's mouth, "Really now? Oh, how funny.. you don't even realize it, but you have become just like me.."
"I will never be like you!" Dagon roared.
"Really? Take a long, hard look around you, just as your serpent told you to! Look at this! The blood, the mayhem! This is a massacre! You murdered all these innocent dragons! They were forced against their will to fight you, and you slaughtered them all!"
Dagon faltered for a moment. His eyes began to dance across the landscape, taking in the blood soaked land and the countless, unrecognizable corpses strewn across the crimson tundra.
"These red stains will never wash away." Mourtas said coldly with a grin, "They will forever haunt you."
Dagon turned his eyes back to Mourtas. His eyes narrowed. "Well then. I will not let their deaths be in vein… I will follow through on my conviction.. and kill you."
"Oh, will you, now?" Mourtas asked, and then, black smoke coated his entire body and his hand rose, clasping Dagon's sword and pushing it away. His body could no longer be seen within the shadows, instead, he was enshrouded in a cloak of darkness like armor. Menacing eyes of purple shone from within the shadows and black spikes rose from his body. It was as though the shadows had taken a solid form and created an armor about his body.
*CRRREAK*
The sound of bending metal came. Dagon turned and saw that Zickarys too had been covered in this sort of black armor, purple luminescent energy running through it while spikes formed about his shoulders, spine, wings, and tail. His talons grew longer, and his horned grew larger.
Sephtis spun about to face Zickarys, but the black dragon moved too fast for Sephtis to react and, in a single moment, Sephtis was pinned beneath Zickarys's talons.
"Damn you! Let him go-"
"You should focus on the enemy in front of you." Came Mourtas's cold voice, and then Dagon felt his uncle's fist crash into the side of his face with so much force that it shattered the Mercury armor and sent Dagon hurtling and spiraling vertically through the air before crashing into a mercury spike. The impact had knocked the air out of his lungs.
Dagon glared up through his shattered helmet at Mourtas's dark figure as the man strode slowly towards him.
"Funny, isn't it, how fast the tide of a battle can change so drastically. One moment, you have me pinned and you've annihilated my entire army. The next, you are down and helpless." Mourtas spoke, a sword of shadow growing from his hand. He held it out so the tip was just barely touching Dagon's throat. "And now you sit in the very same predicament you had me in."
Dagon sneered, then, he focused his essence into his Drakeagen, attempting to send magical power to Sephtis.
Mourtas's blade quickly flicked through the air, coiling the necklace about the blade before flying to the side, cutting the string and tossing the Drakeagen, sending it clacking across the ground. Within a moment, his sword was back at Dagon's throat.
"Without that stone, you cannot send magic essence to your dragon." Mourtas spoke. "You are utterly helpless here, dear nephew."
The Mercury armor began to fall away from Sephtis's body and down to the blood-soaked earth, leaving the dragon defenseless.
"Do you realize now how foolish it was to come here? You honestly thought you could take me and my entire army on all on your own?"
"I managed to wipe out your entire army… you have nothing left." Dagon growled.
Mourtas shrugged. "True. You wiped out these forces, and I must say, I am impressed. I never imagined you'd get so strong. In truth, you may be strong enough to defeat me. But you faltered. You hesitated. And because of that, you are now at my mercy. Oh, and I'm not concerned about my army. There are plenty more pawns for my use where those fools came from."
"You… dare to call us dragons… pawns?!" Sephtis growled.
"Silence, worm!" Zickarys roared, lifting Sephtis's head before crashing it into the ground with a thunderous tremor.
Dagon's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, still sheathed at his side. He was pouring the last of his magical essence into it, in hopes of one last attack.
"That will be of no use to you." Mourtas said coldly. "Trust me. It would be pointless. You have nothing left, no option. You either die here, or become my slave. What's your choice?"
Dagon's grip tightened on his sword.
'Damnit!' He cursed. 'What am I supposed to do..? I screwed up… I was so blinded by hate and rage that I acted carelessly… and now this is the result. But… I can't escape this! This rage.. it still consumes me! All I can see is red..'
Dagon closed his eyes, bowing his head as his armor began to dissipate.
"That's a good lad." Mourtas grinned, lowered his blade slightly. As soon as he did, Dagon leapt from the ground, drawing his sword. But it was pointless. In one smooth motion, Mourtas's hand flew through the air, backhanding Dagon across the face. The force of the strike was strong enough to send out a shockwave, and Dagon's head twisted violently and his entire body spun through the air before slamming to the ground, where he lay unconscious.
"Zickarys." Mourtas spoke, "Knock out that viper. Then throw both of them into the cages. We've still got a ways to go before we reach the Citadel of Kings."