Contrary to what someone could think, killing for fun wasn't such a rare thing. It could safely be argued that it was a common feature of every intelligent species in the world, and even non-intelligent ones as well.
Most carnivorous animals tended to kill small prey just for entertainment. Often they did it for training, but sometimes the purpose was simply to play. This was due to their hunting instinct which led them to enjoy catching and killing prey, even if they didn't eat it. Herbivorous animals were less bloodthirsty, since they didn't have the instinct of hunters, but that didn't mean that even among them there weren't some who enjoyed beating other animals to death just for fun.
When a species reached a certain level of intelligence, things escalated. With intelligence came civilization, and with civilization the aforementioned species always tended to place less intelligent organisms below it, creating a vision with itself at the center of the world. It didn't take long before that species started treating other creatures like toys and hunting and killing them for the sole purpose of having fun. After all, basically all intelligent species in the world were derived from carnivorous animals, and therefore they retained the hunting instinct of their ancestors even though they no longer needed it. For this killing for sport was normal and indeed gave a lot of pleasure.
The world of Ramat, with all its countless intelligent races, was filled with examples of this behavior. While there were some races such as elves who abstained from the practice out of sheer morality, killing for amusement was considered a common thing. All races did this and no one would ever have judged others for such actions. Indeed, in many nations hunting was a renowned and appreciated sport.
However, the matter changed if those to be hunted for sport were other intelligent beings, or in any case creatures capable of thinking and speaking. In that case, the common mentality saw such an act as murder.
Of course, that didn't mean it was for everyone. Slavery was common in the world of Ramat and with it there were many individuals, especially rich or noble, who hoarded slaves and then hunted them as if they were beasts. During wars, soldiers continually killed each other without being punished or even feeling guilty. Then there were entire kingdoms that persecuted this or that other race and exterminate it within their borders. However, these were isolated and sometimes even secret episodes: the common ideal was that killing another intelligent and thinking being was murder, an aberrant thing.
Therefore the fairies could only feel disgust at Haku's words. Not only had that dragon killed an ogre, which was a horrendous act, but he had only done it because he wanted to have fun! In their eyes he was basically a serial killer. "What's up?" Haku grumbled as he saw their grip tightening on their weapons.
The two warrior fairies in front of him suddenly brimmed with mana. Haku felt it clearly and his survival instinct kicked in. The pressure he was receiving from them was really intense: his muscles were shaking and his skin was tingling. If Haku had met these fairies just a month earlier he surely wouldn't have been able to remain so impassive in front of them; fortunately his endurance and strength had greatly increased in that short period of time and he managed not to show his emotions even if his instinct for self-preservation was going crazy.
"So this is the power of a level gold warrior... we're not even fighting, yet I already know that in a battle I would lose. Just looking at them makes me want to run away. Very terrifying…" Haku thought. He was scared, very scared, but he couldn't reveal it; when he spoke his voice was extraordinarily calm. "Do you want to fight, by any chance?" he asked, in the same tone he would have had if he saw a spider waving its legs in an attempt to scare him.
"This is our last warning, dragon" Freyar warned him. Her eyelashes were dangerously arched and her expression were hard. Her grip on her staff had also become more intense. "Let us pass and we won't hurt you. Try to get in our way and we'll wipe you out"
Haku didn't move. "So you want to fight… that's fine. I agree" he said, then he turned his head slightly. "You two, how much longer do you plan to stay hidden? Come out. I don't know how you manage to stay invisible, but you can't fool my nose. For me it's like having you in front of my eyes"
The fairies were silent for a moment, apparently surprised that Haku had discovered the two ninjas lurking behind him. Evidently they were unaware of the dragons' extraordinary sense of smell. Not to mention that dragons also possessed superior senses that allowed them to perceive the electric field and the heat emitted by the bodies of living beings.
A few seconds passed, but eventually the two ninjas came out into the open. They were slightly shorter than the two warrior fairies and covered in tighter green colored clothes, probably to better blend into the forest. They had a bow, but they had slung it over their shoulders and were carrying short daggers instead; evidently after being discovered they had decided that using a long-range weapon was useless. "Mh. It's about time" Haku said seeing them appear. "Can I know your names too?"
"Lin and Tara" the two ninja fairies simply answered.
Now Haku was surrounded. In front of him were the two warriors and the druid and behind him were the two ninjas. "Thank you. And your names? You haven't introduced yourselves yet" he continued looking at the two warrior fairies.
"Buying time won't save your life, dragon" one of them said menacingly.
"Buying time? I have no intention of it" Haku replied. "I just like to know the names of the creatures I kill"
The fairies were more and more tense. "Who says you're going to kill us?"
"Oh, there's simply no chance of you defeating me" Haku replied. "So, your names? I would be very unhappy if I couldn't know the names of two of my victims"
The two warrior fairies looked at each other for a moment, then one of them said: "I am Sapha and she is Pleiades"
"Beautiful names. I'm almost disappointed to have known you so little" Haku said, then he moved as if he were a cat stretching itself. "Very well. If we have to fight, let's do it. Who will face me first? Choose freely, I have no preferences. Come all together if you want, you'll just save me the time of killing you one by one"
Sapha and Pleiades grit their teeth. Even though the one in front of them was only a baby dragon, and therefore he should have been quite weak, his attitude suggested that he was by no means an easy prey. The two fairies weren't stupid: it was clear that the dragon had some tricks up his sleeve. To be safer, they concentrated their mana and poured it into their arms: some of it went to strengthen their muscles, some increased the power of their weapons, and some created a shield of magical energy in their left hand. Lin and Tara too seemed intent on facing the dragon: they whispered something and their weapons suddenly became stronger and sharper, and the clothes they wore seemed to become as hard as an armor.
Any opponent at that point would have shown at least a modicum of interest. But on the contrary, Haku didn't seem worried at all. The dragon just scratched his chin boredly, as if he was observing a disappointing sight. "Have you finished?" he asked in a tired voice. "Perfect, then the first move is up to you. I hope you'll be more fun than that ogre"
The four fairies stared at him intently. It was clear as the sun in the sky that the dragon was planning something, but they couldn't figure out what he was up to. He looked like an ordinary baby dragon, with no particular magical abilities or physical strength. Could he just be arrogant? It was very unlikely...
In the end they made their choice. All four of them bent their bodies slightly and cast a quick glance at the druid, who stayed behind to protect the ambassador, and then all sprinted together towards Haku. After all, as the old saying goes, the best defense was the attack!
Haku stood still and felt his self-preservation instinct scream as he saw their swords approaching. He knew that if they hit him he would have died instantly. For a second he felt the air vanish from his lungs and his heart pounded. He had already felt it many times in his life, but the fear of dying always had a new flavor.
But the swords of the fairies never reached their target. Just a second after they started the attack, the heads of the four fairies exploded in a gush of blood. Haku was bathed in a cascade of that thick red liquid, but he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the swords and the daggers fall to the ground followed by the headless bodies of his four attackers.
What had obviously blown off the heads of the fairies were none other than the powerful jaws of Malchia, Jatara, Glausar and Kialandì, who had leapt from the treetops as soon as the moment was right. No sooner had the fairies focused their attention on Haku than the four dragons lurking in the bush had jumped out with a lightning movement and before the fairies knew it they had closed their mouths over their heads with such force that they shattered until they not even leave the bones.
Freyar almost fell to the ground at this scene. It had all happened so fast that her brain took a few seconds to process everything. The unthinkable had just happened: four dragons had appeared out of nowhere to help another! That didn't make sense at all! Dragons were known to be loners! They didn't cooperate!
Haku smiled wickedly. If it had been an ogre or any member of another race to introduce himself like he had done, the faeries would have understood immediately that it was an ambush. Anyone would immediately have assumed that there was someone else hiding nearby, ready to attack at the slightest distraction. But Haku had learned how to use the belief that dragons were loners to his advantage. It hadn't even occurred to the fairies that other dragons were hiding in the area, and so they hadn't kept their defenses up and they focused exclusively on Haku. This had meant that his sisters had plenty of time to position themselves in the right spot from which to attack while he stalled. When everyone was in the right place, their extraordinary speed and their powerful jaws had done the rest.
Before letting Sarpa go after they captured his son, weeks before, Haku had inquired well with him about how mana worked: the ogre had been rather cooperative and when he had hesitated it was enough to put a claw on his son's throat to make him speak. Sarpa wasn't a mage, but warriors like hunters could also use mana, so he could describe it well enough even if his knowledge was fragmented. Thanks to the information the ogre had given him, Haku was able to build his master plan.
The mana, like all forces, required an energy cost. Furthermore, to ensure that the effect didn't wear off immediately, it was necessary to constantly control it through the mind and through willpower to prevent it from being dispersed. Therefore no creature that had a minimum of common sense would have fortified its entire body if the enemy had been found just in front of it: it would have been much more difficult to maintain concentration and the waste of energy would have made that being tire much faster, risking only to give its opponent an advantage. Therefore, it was better to direct the mana only on the part of the body that was exposed to the enemy.
And in fact to fight him the fairies had fortified only the part of their bodies that faced him, but they had left their rear exposed, where their blind spot was also present. And without mana-based buffing, even the body of a warrior of level gold was nothing more than a pile of flesh and bone that a dragon's jaws could crush effortlessly.
Just as it had happened.