Ikari keeps his eyes on the dragon, its one of the biggest monsters he has ever seen, it has mixture of scarlet and black skin with a huge scar over its right eye. The monster is steaming with anger; Ikari keeps his cool as Star stays beside him.
Ikari examines his surroundings; the dragon has led them into an open plain.
"We're at the disadvantage here." Ikari says to the girl, quickly adverting his eyes at the beast, whos getting more and more angry by just looking at the two.
Star looks at the boy.
"You recall what I told you right?" He asks.
"Just stay calm..." She says to herself.
Suddenly the dragon roars again, the roar is so powerful that it pushes the pair back. Ikari is able to hold his ground, but Star begins to struggle and lose her footing, the boy grabs her arm to help her but the dragon takes advantage of this and swoops in at him. Ikari quickly slings Star out of the way before he barely avoids the attack. Star pulls herself up and looks at Ikari who's already in a defensive stance.
"Listen if we stay paired up it will only force us to stay defensive." He says.
"You split apart, and I'll be the distraction for now." He continues.
"B-bu-" Shes cut off.
"I'll be fine, just go!" He yells.
Star nods and begins to quickly dash away.
The boy turns to face the dragon, but hes met with the dragon's talon striking him in his side which sends him flying, the boy lands on his feet and begins to slide, desperately trying to control the momentum of the attack. Dust forms from the boy's sliding, he finally gathers himself and stands still, trying to decide where the dragon will attack next.
Suddenly the beast flies out of the dust and swings his talon at Ikari, he quickly rolls out of the way and gathers himself. He runs at the dragon who slams his talon into the ground, but the boy side steps attack;The boy turns to face the dragon, but hes met with the dragon's talon hitting him in his side which sends him flying, the boy lands on his feet and begins to slide, trying to control the momentum of the attack. The dragon swings his tail at Ikari which hits hip which sends him flying once again, he hits the ground and continues to roll from the momentum of the attack.
The boy pulls himself up as bloodlust's aura surrounds him.
"Bloodlust... Stage one!"He says to himself as he enters bloodlust's trance. His appearance changes and his dagger emits the same dark red aura.
The dragon flies at the blood lusted fiend, he dodges the beast and dashes to his side then slams his dagger in the beast's hip. The dragon roars in pain as it begins to fly higher into the air, taking Ikari with itself.
The boy holds on to his weapon as the rage infested dragon flies higher and faster making it harder for Ikari to hold on.
Star finally gets to a vantage spot, but then she sees Ikari and the dragon in the air.
"Ikari!" She yells.
"D-damn it!" Ikari thinks to himself. He suddenly gets an idea.
"I-I never used it before, though. Dammit! I cant be thinking like that, this is the only chance i have at surviving this." He says to himself.
The boy takes a deep breath as he lets go of the dagger handle, letting himself fall. Ikari carefully closes his eyes and begins to concentrate.
"N-No!" The girl yells, she quickly hops down from the vantage spot and begins to run as fast as she can to catch Ikari.
Ikari suddenly exposes his eyes and yells.
"Phoenix Technique; Wings Of Will" Suddenly, fire bursts out of his back and begins to take form of wings. Ikari quickly catches himself and begins to hover.
Star stares in disbelief at the scene.
"Just... What is he?" She says to herself.
He points his hand at his dagger which flies out of the dragon's hip and straight into the boys hand.
"Ikari! You are you okay?!" Star yells.
The boy disregards her and focuses on the scarlet and black dragon.
"I have to end this quickly, If I run out of magic the wings will go away..." He says to himself.
The fierce dragon roars at the boy but his time, he doesn't move.
The boy throws his dagger at the mythical monster and begins to fly towards it, the wings emitting a glowing fire behind him.
The dagger flies into the dragon's bad eye, it roars in pain but doesn't possess much time before Ikari punches him, the punch is so devastating that even Star could hear it.
The punch sends the monster flying towards the ground but it regains its momentum and flys towards Ikari.
The dragon swipes its talon at him, but Ikari catches it with ease.
Star continues to stare at disbelief.
He levels his hand at the dagger as it flies out of the dragons eye, he catches his dagger and points it at the talon.
"CrossSlash!" Yells the boy, he slashes his dagger downwards which cuts the talon clean off. The dragon roars in pain as the talon crashes into the ground which causes a storm of dust.
Star tries blocking the dust away from her.
Ikari quickly flys onto the mythical monster back and begins to slam his dagger into its nape repeatedly. The dragon continues to roar into pain and it begins to go to its last resort.
Ikari continues stabbing the dragon as it begins flying towards the ground nose first. It gets closer and closer to the ground and before Ikari can notice, it plunges them both into the earth, The boy gets sent flying off the monster, he slams into the ground multiple times before he finally stops.
The wings of will disappear from the boys back as he's knocked unconscious for a moment.
The dust completely settles, Star opens her eyes again only to see the monster of a dragon emitting an aura as it slowly creeps towards Ikari.
Ikari slowly stirs awake and tries to get up but falls to one knee. The dragon's creep turns into a run and then the run turns into a fly.
"T-that aura..." Ikari says, completely stunned.
The monster flies towards The boy, all he can do is merely watch as the dragon gets closer and closer. But suddenly the dragon stops, it tries to fly towards him but it can't, it tries striking him but once again it can't move. It roars in frustration.
Ikari notices a shadow that takes form of a hand grabbing onto the dragon's leg, he looks beyond the dragon and sees Star holding onto the shadow with every once of energy she has.
"G-Go Ikari! Finish it!" She says while struggling.
Ikari nods and slowly gets up.
"I only have just enough magic to use this move..." He says as he recovers his dagger
"This is my ultimate move." He says coldly while pointing his dagger at the dragon.
Suddenly, the dragon becomes more unresponsive as if someone was absorbing its energy.
Ikari's dagger begins forming a pure white aura from the tip. It becomes clear to Star that Ikari is slowly extracting the dragon's energy into his blade.
The dragon collapses onto the ground as Ikari points the dagger closer to it.
"WINDCUTTER" The boy screams, the tip of his dagger begins to produce a beam of the dragon's own energy, the beam explodes out of the dagger and flies towards the dragon who is quickly engulfed by the beam.
The beam echos throughout the plain as the dragon turns to ash, completely overwhelmed by the energy.
The beam ultimately disappears. Star lets go of her shadow hand and falls down to her knees, exhausted.
"T-that ability..." She says exhaustedly.
Ikari drops his dagger and falls on his back, the bloodlust aura fades away as his appearance changes back to normal.
"Im never fighting a dragon again..." He says completely drained.
Star gets up and walks over to Ikari
"Are you okay?" She asks, looking down at him.
"A couple of minor injuries, though Im mostly just exhausted..." He suggests not moving a muscle.
Star holds out her hand and helps the boy up, the two examine each other, both have wounds and dirt all over them. Both of their clothes are completely trashed too, rips and permanent stains are everywhere.
Star cracks up at Ikari's appearance before laughing. The boy disregards her and looks at the ashes of the dragon.
"That aura it admitted, it felt the same as the leader of the group." He says.
Star stops laughing and looks at Ikari with confusion.
"But how?" She asks.
"I don't really know... I mean the leader is a half dragon so maybe he could corrupt dragons with his power, but that's just a hypothesis..." He says.
"Im too tired to think about it..." He says gently.
"Yeah we should probably get back to town." She replies.
"Do you still have the materials?" He asks.
She checks around but freezes when she doesn't discover anything.
"Uhh... I guess I might of lost them whenever the dragon picked me up." She chuckles nervously.
"You've got to be kidding me..." He says under his breath.
"All of that was for nothing?!" He yells in frustration, Star smiles and chuckles nervously again.
"Relax, she'll probably find some way to make it up to us." She says.
Ikari continues to rant while Star laughs at the angered boy. After a while Ikari cools down.
"Cmon lets head back." Star says with the smile.
The boy groans and nods his head as the pair begin to leisurely and exhaustedly walk back to Sebastian's Omen.
After like fifteen minutes of walking, The boy speaks up.
"Hey Star?" He asks.
"Whats up?" She replies.
"I just want to... I want to say thank you, for what you did back there." He says, clearly embarrassed.
"Well you saved me too, so I guess I had to pay you back!" She says joyfully.
Ikari looks at her for moment before nodding his head as they continue walking.
The rest of the journey is peaceful, although it does take hours for them just to get back to the town, by the time they get back its already midnight.
"We should really get horses..." Ikari sighs.
"I agree..." Star sighs as well.
The two walk to Heatwakers and enters the store.
Hina walks around the corner.
"Sorry were clos-" Shes cut off whenever she sees the state of Ikari and Star.
"What happened to you two?" She asks.
"A big angry dragon." Star says.
Hina eyes widen at her words.
"Im so sorry! I didn't know one would be out! They're supposed to be sleeping at this time of year! Im sorry!" She panics.
"Hin-" Star is cut off by Hina's continuous apologies.
"She looks as if she's about to cry..." Ikari thinks to himself.
"HINA!" Star yells. Hina suddenly shuts up and looks at her.
"Its fine, we're still alive are we not?" She says with a smile.
Hina looks around before nodding.
"Did y'all acquire the materials?" She asks.
"We had them, but when the dragon attacked we lost them." Ikari says.
Hina frowns.
"Well I need some way to show that im sorry to y'all..." She says while looking down.
She thinks for a minute before snapping her fingers and looking up with a smile.
"How about, I'll let y'all stay here tonight and tomorrow, I'll give you both some money to get new clothes and something to eat." She says.
"And Ikari, while you guys are out doing that I'll see if I can't fix up your dagger and maybe upgrade it a bit." She continues with a smile.
"Are you sure thats okay?" Star asks.
"Please, its the least I can do after you both risked your lives over some materials." She says.
Star looks as if shes about to cry before running and hugging Hina.
"Thank you! Thank you! You've always been to nice to me!" Star yells happily.
The two girls continue hugging each other as Ikari watches, he sighs at the sight.
"Im just happy that you both are safe." Hina yells happily.
Ikari looks on unimpressed before speaking up.
"Where can I sleep?" Asks Ikari.
Hina looks at the him.
"Well I only have two beds, mine and my fathers, but we do have a couch." She replies.
"You and Star can have the beds." He says.
"Thank you Ikari." Star says with a smile.
The boy nods and walks to the back of the shop and lays down on the couch.
"Is everything okay with him?" Hina asks Star.
"Its just that... Something is disturbing him right now." She replies with a frown.
Hina nods and the pair continues to talk for a bit before they also decide to go to bed.
Ikari lays down and stares at the ceiling, completely exhausted.
"There has to be a clue in Tranquil..." he says to himself.
Visions of his mom and dad suddenly come into his mind, he grips his fist.
"I Promise..." He says to himself.
The boy begins to slowly drift asleep.