The dragon flew in the direction of Tytania, moving the rubble with the strength of the wings, and when they were in front of her they looked straight into her eyes. The fairy queen couldn't help but tremble: the dragon's gaze was terrifying. It seemed that flames danced in the eyes of the beast and that their anger had taken on a consistency, as if it had become tangible.
The dragon let out a snort, and in that snort Tytania could feel a murderous rage and a desire to kill; yet, when the monster spoke, their voice was calm. "You seem to be a little stronger than these pathetic weaklings… or maybe your weapon is? Well, it doesn't matter. You are the first one able to scratch me today. Tell me your name, so I'll know who I killed"
Tytania gulped, unsure of what to do. She knew dragons were a very resentful species, so if by some miracle she would have survived that day and the dragon would have known her name, they could track her down. However, she also knew that dragons stalked their prey using their higher senses, not asking around for information. She could afford to risk it. "My name is Tytania, queen of the fairy people"
The dragon nodded. "Very well, Tytania. I am Neytiri, queen of my territory, and soon I will also be the one that will annihilate you"
"Wait... so this dragon is a female?" Tytania was able to think after hearing the word 'queen', but she didn't have time to ask further questions: the air around the dragon warmed and a globe of flames appeared in the center of her chest. Tytania didn't know what it was, but she knew she mustn't be there when it exploded. She grabbed one of her portable gates and broke it, teleporting her and her guards away.
Just in time! An instant later, the globe of flame was hurled to where she had previously stood; as it struck, a ball of fire so hot that it looked like a small sun appeared in its place, incinerating everything inside. Due to its heat the ball emitted such a strong dazzling light that anything within a kilometer radius that still wasn't burning began to burn. The air around the fireball heated up and pressurized and generated a new shock wave that swept away everything nearby.
Tytania wasted no time: taking advantage of the fact that the dragon now had her back to her, she raised the spear she was holding and hurled it at the beast. The fairy queen wasn't exactly a warrior, and normally she wouldn't have been able to throw a spear that far; but as if it was animated by a life of its own, the relic crossed the sky without ever slowing down and without ever changing its trajectory, as if the friction of the air didn't exist, and it struck the side of the dragon. As it collided with the hard scales, it emitted a strong light similar to an explosion.
Normally, the relic's strength would have been powerful enough to wipe out at least a thousand enemies with a single blow. But against the dragon, all it was able to do was leave another slight wound. Despite all its magic, the spear was barely able to break the surface scales, which fell to the ground followed by a few large drops of blood.
Neytiri growled in fury; the wound was no more than a small cut to her, but she was furious at having let herself be hit again. To be hurt by such pathetic little creatures was an affront to her dignity as a dragon. Now she was really furious, and she wanted at all costs to eradicate that tiny fairy queen from the world.
Tytania inspired thoroughly. Using the relic, even if only for a short time, was making her debilitated. As long as she had it in her hands she didn't feel it, but as soon as she had thrown it away she had felt how rapidly her energies were declining. She didn't have much time before the constant expenditure of energy killed her. "Even if I kept hitting her a hundred times, I wouldn't hurt her" she thought looking at the dragon. "That skin is too thick, the relic is barely able to scratch the scales. I have to try another way…"
Tytania raised her hand and she summoned the spear with her mind. Since from the istant she'd first touched it, a strange kind of bond seemed to have formed between her and the relic, through which she could control it as if it were a part of her body. The spear detached itself from the dragon's skin and returned to Tytania. As soon as she grabbed her again, the fairy queen felt the strength return to her body again, but she knew that it was only an illusion due to the relic's power and that in reality she was continuing to lose energy.
"Listen to me" she said to the guards behind her. "We have to try to decrease that dragon's power. The nullification runes didn't work when the skin is protected by the scales, but if we exploit the openings created with the relic we could be able to weaken the dragon, or at least decrease her absurd power a little. Therefore, as soon as I command you, go and get all the nullifying runes that are still intact and then aim them at the dragon's wounds. Do you understand everything?"
Her guards nodded, indicating that they understood. They were clearly terrified, but they would have done their job. No matter what monstrosity befalls them, they won't disobey the queen.
Neytiri opened her jaws again, but what formed inside wasn't fire this time; on the contrary, it was a jet of water that was fired at supersonic speed towards Tytania. This attack was much faster than the previous one, and the queen just had the time to use another portable gate to prevent the jet of water from hitting her; however not all the guards managed to get close to the minimum radius to be teleported, and so three of them were hit by the water. As soon as the liquid touched them, their bodies shattered into thousands of small pieces that were carried away by the current. The jet of water hit the ground with unprecedented violence, generating an earthquake so powerful that the ground split in several places, and then the water transformed into a tidal wave at least five meters high which overwhelmed everything within a few kilometer radius.
"Damn! She's also a dragon with two domains…" Tytania thought, sweating heavily. She knew she had no chance of winning: even with the weapons and magic bestowed by the gods, it would take at least three or four legendary levels to slay even just a single-domain dragon. This dragon, in contrast, had two domains, and Tytania wasn't a legendary level but she barely reached level gold. Even though she held a weapon imbued with light magic in her hand, she had no chance of actually hurting the beast. She could only play smart and try to outsmart her. "Go get the nullifying runes! Now!" she shouted, and the guards immediately flew off to find what she had ordered them to find.
Neytiri spun around and several blades of water were shot in multiple directions, hitting several of the guards. Tytania knew she had to distract the dragon. She lifted the relic and hurled it again at the beast. This time, however, Neytiri was ready and a wall of water formed between her and the spear, pinning the weapon in midair. "I never fall into the same trap more than once!" the dragon roared, and a jet of fire emerged from her mouth aimed at Tytania, who used a portable gate to teleport away.
However, the fairy queen had achieved her goal: her guards had managed to collect some of the few nullification runes that remained intact and taking advantage of the dragon's distraction, they aimed them at her wounds. This time the light didn't bounce off the scales, but it struck the beast's skin. Neytiri growled as she felt some of her mana vanish. But again, that was no different than just making her a big annoyance and pissing her off.
If an ogre, a fairy, or any other newcomer were struck by the nullifying rune, the light would have passed through them until all the mana in their mana core was stripped away, because their bodies were very small and easy to pass through for a light powerful enough. But the dragons' bodies were enormous: even if Tytania with the relic had managed to create an opening between the scales, there were still several dozen layers of skin, flesh and muscle before reaching the heart and consequently the mana core. Therefore, the mana that was stripped away from Neytiri was only the most superficial. A minimal loss for her.
That last desperate defense of the fairies had practically no effect. On the contrary, it marked the end of almost all of them. Previously, when Neytiri attacked, the guards could count on the queen and her portable gates to save them; but now they were far from Tytania and to use the nullification runes they had exposed themselves. Neytiri summoned a whirlwind of fire that split into many pieces, which struck all the guards as if they were flaming arrows. Within seconds, all of them were completely torn to shreds. The only one who survived was Tytania, who used another portable gate to teleport away.
The queen drifted away, trying to think of what to do. Now she had just one portable gate left and she had used every strategy she could think of. She had no allies left and she couldn't hope to defeat or even slow the dragon on her own.
Therefore she was left with only one choice: to use the last portable gate she had left to get out of there, and hope that the time it had bought for Fridya had been enough to carry at least some of their people away.
She raised her hand and summoned the relic. She certainly couldn't leave without it. The golden spear swung back to her hands. But suddenly, a tentacle of water emerged from a crack in the ground and wrapped around her arm. Tytania screamed in surprise and tried to free herself, but a second tentacle emerged from another crack and pinned her other arm.
"This time you won't escape me!" Neytiri roared as she opened her jaws and prepared to roast her. Tytania realized that it must have been the dragon that created those tentacles using the water from previous attacks that had leaked into the cracks created by the earthquakes.
She had to hurry. Using all of her concentration she took control of the relic and moved it against the tentacles. The spear struck and shattered them, freeing her. Tytania grabbed the relic and tried to activate the portable gate, but suddenly the world went black.
Her vision blurred for an instant and she felt her breath catch; a trickle of blood came out of her mouth. Her strength left completely and she fell to the floor, desperately fighting for breath, but her internal organs had completely given out. "No! Not now!" she screamed in her mind, wanting to cry. She almost succeeded! She had resisted up to that moment, and right now the relic had to decide to betray her had decided to completely exhaust her energies? It almost felt like a joke!
Neytiri also looked disappointed. She stopped her attack and looked at her smugly. "I can't believe it..." she grumbled. "Seriously? You fought a dragon, and yet you won't die because of me, but because weren't you able to handle your own power? Pff. I admit it sounds funny, but it's also really sad"
Tytania could barely hear the dragon's words. Her vision and hearing were dulling and her consciousness was slowly sinking into oblivion. But Neytiri wasn't going to stop taunting her: "What were you hoping to achieve with your futile attempt? Time for your subjects? I am a dragon, you silly! My nose will track down every single survivor of your people, and I will have no peace until I exterminate them all... so a matter of half a day, more or less"
Tytania could no longer move. Her mind was almost dead now. She wanted to say something to the dragon, anything, to show him that she couldn't bend her… but her body wouldn't let her. And in a sense, that would have been false. The dragon's words had been like arrows to her soul: knowing that her people would have been doomed despite her death made her despair much more than knowing that she was dying.
The last thing she heard before falling into oblivion was a roar, and the last thing she saw before her eyes closed completely was a great light forming in the sky.