Dragons.
Beasts with too much power and not enough brain cells to see the consequences, that's all they are and yet they seem to be placed on a certain pedestal by the common folk. Kids play with dragon toys, nobles keep them captive as status symbols, Civilians often think they are 'quite cool' the argument boiling down to 'it would be so fun to ride one into the sky'.
Disgusting. No one that's seen a dragon in action or even the aftermath holds anything but fear and hatred for one. Dragon toys stuck between teeths, noble mansions being razed to the ground by 'domesticated' dragons, villages left as simple scorch marks for simply having the gall to exist between two dragons fighting. Civilians with grand ambitions nursing injured dragons to health only to be eaten as dessert by the end of it all, there was no shortage of things one had to prepare themselves to see when they chose to specifically hunt dragons.
Which is why the puddle of blood in front of me was so pitiful.
Fenrir and Circe had been with me since morning. Both of them were quite new to the business and had been rather vocal about their claims of having killed multiple dragons. Yet they were quick to back out when asked for any proof only showing off a sword made of a dragon's tooth, but I doubted it had been slain by them.
I hated the weak that tried to act strong.
We had been searching for a particularly stealthy dragon, one that had made the mountains near the pathways between two kingdoms a home, and was very clear about the reason for this decision by killing most if not all travelers. Sadly this was the only path between the two kingdoms, this I was called to help with the extermination of the giant pain in the ass.
"idiots" I couldn't help but let it slip out of my mouth as I put down the extra firewood I had gone to get. The blood splashing against my bare feet wasn't a very good experience but I wouldn't exactly die from it would I. I picked up the oh so cherished dragon tooth sword they had and examined it. It was quite well made honestly, made me wonder who it had originally been made by and who had killed the dragon itself, this singular tooth was the size of a claymore, just imaging the size of the dragon slain to make this sword made my blood boil, wonder where these two got it from…I doubt anyone would possibly leave it to them thinking they had great potential right?
Admittedly they had been new and I had specifically chosen them due to their loud and boisterous attitude. I may or may not have also poured some dragon mating hormones around the camp to lure out the dragon in question, but I had hoped they'd last at least a few minutes… I was quite close too, I didn't hear any screams or cries of help either.
I put the sword away in the weapons pocket, it was a fine addition to my collection, before dropping down to the splash marks. It was quite the work to put all the guts and flesh to the side, but I could finally see under all the blood and gore. A single print…so that's why there were no screams, they were probably getting it on and got squished by the dragon, would explain why they were so close, and why the sword was on a pedestal and not broken along with them. I looked around, there were no other prints aside from this single print, no matter how hard I searched and there was no loud thud to alert me of it either. I had simply come back after thinking I failed this time.
By that logic the dragon must also have been stealthy enough to simply grab the two distracted idiots and gamble them up whole. From what I see there was not even a single attempt made to eat them. Why would it-
"heh" I gave a dry laugh, my lips didn't turn up in the slightest and my eyes were opened wide as always the deep Ruby eyes seemingly on a lookout for all eternity. The fucking animal was playing with me wasn't it, I took out my trusty sword, a nodachi as long as myself, it's edge burned a blistering white and the blade itself glowed as though it had just been taken out of the forge. The fucker is still close isn't he, the scent was masked by the blood and gore and the dragon hormones I'd sprayed but I could smell it now the disgusting scent of gore and shit and fire that dragons carried. I looked up at the sky, it was a dark night and the lack of stars made it perfect for the dragon too-
"wasn't it the full moon today though…" my instincts screamed at me to dodge as I backed away only for a pitch black claw to slam down right where I had been seconds before, muscle memory kicked in and I slashed my sword at the nails,declawing it completely, the scales were too tough to hit with the sword, not to mention fire didn't work on those scales…at least not one that was hot as mine was currently. The best bet was to declaw a hand and rid it of some of its greatest weapons.
The dragon didn't even let out a cry out, my head looked back up as I gulped a single droplet of sweat running down my forehead as I took in the size required to completely take over the night sky above my head. I took a simple stance, stances may not be effective but imagine the disgrace a dragon feels when it gets killed by a fire wielding swordsman that's doing stances. Yes, It was indeed a conscious decision to use fire against fire.
Nothing is completely fireproof, or rather, nothing is completely heat proof, if the temperature is high enough dragon scales can be melted off and the screams when it happens are like music to the ears. That's how dragon armor is made in fact.
The dragon opened its eyes, two large green slit pupils looked down on me before a voice boomed as I got ready to take the second stance "How amusing" the shrill voice was grating on the ears, it was a female it seems, no wonder the mating hormones didn't work to get it unnerved. "Using fire against our kind? Are you dumb? Or have you been fighting scaleless dragons? I simply can't find another reason you would be alive this long if that were not the case." It seems to recognize me from somewhere, hmmm…odd, I don't leave dragons alive for there to be rumors about me, it would be counterintuitive if they came to recognize the face of death.
Admittedly this one was rather big, if I had to put it into terms of common understanding, it was as though I was hunting for an elephant and had come across a mammoth face to face and was now required to fight it rather than shoot it with a bow, using a sword that would bounce off of it fur, not a very favorable scenario for me was it.
Yet my heart did a backflip, a frontflip and then a jumpstart as the blood pumping seemed to go on overdrive, I could feel it boil inside me as I took a knee, before jumping, my feet expelling intense heat leaving the sand on the ground glasses as I flew well past the dragon. "Running away? I won't let you!" The dragon cried out some nonsense I couldn't quite grasp, but I could hear the sudden unfurling of wings and the wind that iit created, ti quickly turned the fire on my feet of as I charged my sword with it instead, the whit fire running down the blade and the edge of it as I free falled down towards the dragon that had started to take flight, it was incredible to know such a large body could even move on its own but the sudden shine and the feel of the quanta in the air made me rethink. It's too large, it needs to use quanta to make sure it doesn't implode on its own weight, that's good, that's one weakness.
It was slow, too slow, there's a reason it could only come out at night, its pitch black scales were almost impossible to see in the night sky, annoyingly the scales seemed to reflect the stars as well, that's weakness number two, wish it had more but two is enough.
My feet let out another burst of White flames as I changed trajectory landing right on the filthy back of the giant dragon. Leaving two smoldering scars on the scales of the dragon I felt my lips upturn slightly for the first time in ages, it had been so long since I heard these beasts scream in pain. The dragon didn't cry out though, I felt my smile become upside down quite quickly and my eyes narrowed in anger, why was this shit stain not screaming?! I didn't have much time to wonder when it's maws quickly came in to wrap it's mouths around me, I jumped again, making sure to leave as many soldering foot prints as I could on it, a normal dragon hunter would be distraught to see the scales destroyed, they'd say I was ruining merchandise, I say "FUCK THAT"
I sent a slash of white fire at it from above sending one first before sending another and another until it was essentially raining fire, almost every flame made contact yet it didn't make a single sound, I could genuinely feel my blood pressure rising It seemed to be in some pain though, that was enough…"LAEVATEIN!!"A single slash, running down the length of the dragon was sent, ofcourse it wouldn't be able to penetrate straight though instead it melted the scales on the back with flames that were almost 15000 degrees by now, using the remaining quanta I had left I charged my feet once more, charging straight at its exposed heart coming out of the other side, landing on the ground I looked up, I closed my eyes as I felt the blood pour on my body.
I opened my eyes again, the Ruby Red of my eyes and my current predicament… the blood had drenched me completely everything from my white hair to my black boots had changed colors to a deep crimson. For some reason I felt hollow still, the normal satisfaction of killing a dragon was nowhere to be found, it as though I had only killed a puppet made of scales but that isn't possible, there's no reason to simulate an entire inner organ system for a puppet, my expression fell back to a monotonous one, the joy I felt had quickly dissipated into nothingness, the boiling blood and my heart on an overdrive had only served to cause my body to feel as though I was being cooked from the inside out.
I coughed into my hands, I tried to walk away only to fall on my knees, I am definitely out of quanta…I barely got back on my feet only to drop down again, I tried to fight down the bile, only for the contents of my stomach to be completely released and…was that my blood? I collapsed under my arms, this didn't make sense there's no way running out of quanta could've done this, it's not as if I had over exhausted my body either, this wasn't the first time I had completed been drained of quanta and the dragon had been too slow to land any hits on me let alone leave any surprise hits unless it had shot out scales at me.
"Fucking Finally" that ear grating voice sounded out again, though it lacked the rumble it had earlier, I tried to get up only to feel a searing pain on my sides, I turned on my back despite my body's plea's against the descision. My face became strained as I looked down at the large wound besides my stomach, the clothing had been torn off leaving only a large gash that went straight through the back. The agonizing pain as I lied on my back, it felt as though the pain still came from inside me, means my guts were hanging out from my back and I had made the mistake of lying on top of them. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at that. 'Most of my liver is gone thankfully it seems my intestines weren't cut off…well some of them weren't…' I sat back up, the wet squelch of my guts flapping on my back wasn't lost no matter how much I wished I hadn't felt that. 'I'll live' I took out Laev from my pockets again, using it to cauterize my wound, having to push your own guts back into your body is something I don't wish upon my worst enemy. Suddenly my mind went back to the dragon that had caused this. 'well…'
As I tried to get up, the searing pain of my sides was nowhere lost, infact it had gotten worse but atleast I wouldn't bleed out now. It was while I am asking trying to get back up at when I felt my lungs deflate, I could feel my sternum cracking under the pressure from what could only be a fist. I kept my grip on the sword still as I got flung back into a tree. I coughed out loud again, If I focused I could almost feel my lungs start to flood with blood. 'will I survive?' I never had to make a question like that. Never. No dragon had caused me this much fucking problem. My eyes rose up to look at the prey that had managed to cause me so much trouble. My teeth may as well have shattered from how hard I was gritting them, in front of me was not the beast I expected but a slender dark skinned woman with bluish hair and striking grey slitted eyes that seemed to glow like the stars themselves. Some other may have used words such as beautiful, sexy, good looking or whatever else but not me, it wasn't a beauty, it was simply an animal trying to pass for a sub par human, a dog's fur may be beautiful and it may have mannerisms like it's master but that doesn't make it any less of an animal. Just because the dragon looks human doesn't mean it is.
I could feel my blood boil again, it looked back at me with something akin to pity in its eyes, "your probably wondering 'how could I have been beat this bad?' aren't you" not really if I die it's my own fault for being weak.
"The big dragon was my husband you see" As she said that the large dragon seemed to rise again, slowly but surely, the blood on the ground seemed to rise up into the air and the torn off skin was slowly repaired, the scales though were unable to do so, atleast the ones on the back, turns out it's quite hard to regenerate something that's already melted off. I couldn't help the smile that came on to my face as I chuckled at the sight only to feel my lungs flare up again as I coughed another bloody fit.what could this possibly be though, revival magic? Not possible there was no large surge of quanta. Time manipulation? No quanta refused to work that way, restoration then perhaps? But wouldn't that mean it was an object rather than a living being-
"It's a corpse…" I let out from my mouth, it was quite obvious now that I think about it, how else could something not have a reaction to its outed skin being melted off, and the quanta around its joints must've been there to assist the real dragon to puppeteer it, what a horrid thought. "bingo" it let out a laugh at my expense, swaying it's hips to the side as though attempting to act sultry, what the hell was up with that. "My husband sadly passed quite a long time ago, thankfully he's still been working hard to protect his family" it gained a small smile as it spoke.
The corpse seemed to float just above the ground, as it got restored that explained the lack of foot prints despite its ridiculous size. "should I eat you?" It seemed to wonder as it placed it's slit eyes at me, I felt my heart tighten at the prospect of being killed right here."Mmm guess not your gonna die soon anyway, the fun of eating humans to feel then squirm on my tongue you wouldn't be much fun." She laughed as she turned around again, making sure to sway her hips again for some reason, it was more akin to a cat walking than a dragon.
I tried to call out to it again, but only managed a sickening cough, the grip on my sword seemed to losen, even as I felt my own life seemingly try and slip away I kept an iron grip on it as I took a knee trying to stand up again, 'Yeah…i'll live' I could feel my quanta reserves fill up, it wasn't normal but I wasn't one to say no to a miracle, I could feel the quanta in the very atmosphere rush into my body and I could feel that it was even overflowing somewhat. The dragon seems to have sensed it too as it stopped in its tracks, looking back to see me standing up again.
I took a deep breath as I took a formless stance, my sword was at my side seemingly not in any position to attack. I opened my eyes as I stared at the female dragon my ruby eyes glowing from the overcharge of quanta as my sword itself burst into an inferno of white flames rather than simply being coated in fire like earlier, it seems the dragon could feel what was about to happen now and used the corpse dragon as a shield.
That direction…it's north…thats where the dragon is.
I don't like that direction.
You know what.
Fuck everything in that direction.
I sent forward the final slash, the fire burned like the sun itself and the entire area was bathed in simply a white light as it passed straight through the corpse dragon and also straight through the female dragon.
I took a step only to almost fall over yet again, it was getting annoying at this point. I had run out of every bit of quanta again and it doesn't seem like my quanta is recharging anymore…did I damage them permanently or something? No point in worrying about that right now, putting Laevateinn back into the pocket I took out the dragon tooth sword. It would be a little difficult to work with the weight but i should be fine within a month.
There was some kind of wheezing coming from the dragon, I took a step towards it and I heard a short scream, I walked up to where the female dragon lied limp and broken on the ground, still in human from, it seems she had tried to escape to the sky only to have her legs completely burned off and the wound already cauterized from the heat of the slash infact she was still burning down there, heh, must be painfull.
I held the claymore up high, as I got ready to bring it down on her head, aiming to end her misery even if it was quite hilarious. "No-NO wait! Let me tell you something!!" I tilted my head "I-i can regenerate pretty quick, if you just cut off thee part that's cauterized I can get my body back the-then you can use me-" I laughed out loud before cutting her off. "you helped me learn something today so let me tell you this." I said as I got ready to bring it down "I have no interest in fucking animals"
"wai-" she would never be able to continue as she got beheaded by me, I took a deep breath as I smiled, there it was, that feeling of doing something good for the world, the high of ridding the world of another monster, it was quite addictive to say the least.
My smile fell off again, and just like that it was gone the high I had suffered this much damage for, I took out a cigarette from my pocket, putting it in my mouth before sitting down using the still burning body of the dragon as a light to light up the ciggerate only to cough out blood again, almost forgot I needed to get my whole body to healer…asap…I stood up using the dragon tooth sword as a crutch as I took another drag of the cigarette even as I felt the pain of the heat in my already d amaged lungs. I looked behind at the burning corpse of the two dragons and scoffed. Before making my way back to the closest kingdom. I'll have to bring the officials back here soon to get my reward.
I hated dragons so much.