CHAPTER 28: HAHAHA!!

The battlefield slowly transformed around them. The rain picked up making the ground a small pond and the trees bent from the wind as it got stronger and stronger.

Steam rose from the ground in spiraling columns that reached towards the sky. The steam was hot enough to burn flesh off a human’s body.

Spiralus dominated the battlefield like a god of destruction. It was over 20 meters tall. Each scale on the dragon’s scales were the size of a man. In between the two heads of the dragon was a large 10 foot red gem.

Alaric felt his heart beating frantically against his ribs like a caged animal desperate to escape.

It wasn’t every day a dragon came to your front door.

"Damn dragon, it just had to be a two headed dragon. Especially with Typhoon’s gem." Alaric snarled.

"What are you talking about Alaric??" Cassius said frantically.

"Look at his chest! That is Typhoon’s gem! He does not have fire affinity. The ground shouldn’t be heating up so much!"

Alaric’s armor was enchanted by the finest smiths in Elysium, but even that was starting to creek as his armor shifted.

Beneath the terror that he felt from facing such a mighty beast, was a sense of fury so pure, that it didn’t matter if it was a dragon or a god that stood before him.

No man, beast, or god would harm his son.

The left dragon head raised its head and glared down at the pitiful humans. "You will all die. Say your prayers."

The dragon grinned evilly as if they were already looking at dead bodies.

It’s voice was so loud, that it sounded like thunder had struck down next to one’s ear. Geysers erupted from the ground and shot up 30 feet in the air before crashing down with enough force to form craters in the ground.

The right head simply yawned from boredom. But, this small act had drastic consequences. The air itself became its weapon. Large gashes of wind cut trenches in the ground like a hot knife through butter.

Spiralus had control over the element that sustained life. Water that should nurture crops and quench thirst became a force that could crush a man just with its words.

Wind that should carry the song of birds and the laughter of children became a suffocating force that could steal the breath from a man.

"Cassius!" Alaric’s voice roared over the developing maelstrom. "Stay airborne! Don’t let it ground you!"

His words were nearly lost among the chaos, but Cassius heard them none the less. His wyvern shrieked in response, her powerful wings moving frantically against the strong wind currents.

The temperature fluctuated windy around Spiralus. Without appropriate gear one would succumb to thermal shock.

"This stupid dragon is controlling the weather!" Cassius shouted back, as golden light began forming around the palm of his hands. The light grew so bright, it looked like a miniature son had formed in his hand.

Sweat poured down his face, evaporating before it could fall off his chin. "We need to hit it hard and fast before..."

His words were cut off as the left dragon head reared back and its neck started to blow up like a balloon.

Its neck started to glow like bioluminescent blue moss. In the next moment, a concentrated torrent of water rubbed in from its mouth.

This wasn’t a simple water attack. This was liquid that was so compressed when it hit the ground it shattered the ground.

Alaric could tell that with one wrong move, it would be his end.

He mind raced on what to do next.

Do I block it? No, that wouldn’t work.

Dodge it? The attack was too wide and too fast. The only space he had to stand in was the earth that Adrian created because the water that had piled up by their feat had started to boil.

That left only one option.

When the dragon shot the next water blast, Alaric shouted across the battlefield.

"Mirror Force!"

This was one of the most difficult in his arsenal, record perfect time and precision. The darkness folded back into Alaric’s sword and in that moment, the water struck his sword.

Spiralus expected him to be at least harmed, but instead the exact opposite happened.

The force of the strike repelled back at Spiralus, destroying one of its scales off its body.

Before Alaric could recover, the air around him became as thin as the top of a mountain. His lungs burned as the air was sucked out of his lungs.

He had minutes before he would lose consciousness and shortly following that he would lose his life.

With a little amount of air he had left in his lungs he shouted "Shadow Burst!"

Tendrils of darkness erupted from his body like the roots of a tree. Each one struck the air around him.

If one was looking at Alaric right now, they would just see the frantic hope of a man about to die. But the tendrils of darkness were disrupting the wind allowing Alalric to breathe again.

From somewhere above the chaos, Cassius’s voice rang out like a war horn.

"Solar Flare!"

A miniature son bloomed between the dragon’s head. It was so hot that the rain that was pouring down above the dragon’s head evaporated.

The light was so intense that it left after images burned into the retinas of everyone within a mile.

Both of Spiralus’s heads recoiled from the light. Cassius used this opportunity to press his advantage.

Golden light wrapped his entire body in armor and when he spoke his voice carried the authority of divine judgment.

"Sancitying Lance!"

A spear of pure light condensed into the thickness of a giant ballista before falling down like a fallen star.

Swoosh!!!

The spear moved faster than the sound of speed. It punched a hole in the sound barrier. It struck Spiralus right between its two heads, leaving a smoking hole in its wake.

Scales began to fall off Spiralus and crashed into the ground.

For just one moment everyone had hope. Spiralus staggered backwards, its head swaying like they had just drunk way too much wine.

Then Spiralus laughed.

Hahaha!!

Hahaha!!

Both heads tilted back in unison and from their throats came a burst of energy that no one expected.

"Frozen Ice!"

The raindrops slowly froze and dropped as icicle shards. The boiling water beneath their feet cooled down and rose up to twenty feet deep.

One soldier got his foot caught in the water. His leg slowly began to freeze from his foot up to his thigh.

Adrian cut his leg off quickly before any more damage could be done.

But Spiralus wasn’t done.

It took a deep breath expanding its chest far beyond what one would be capable of. It exhaled a giant gust of wind that slowly transformed into a tornado.

"Hydro Tornado!"

The wind slowly lifted the frozen water from the ground. The tornado was throwing the icicle shards all throughout the battlefield injuring several soldiers.

Trees, boulders, and soldiers all alike were thrown frantically across the battlefield.

The tornado picked up speed and made its way to Alaric at an alarming pace. Moments before impact Adrian’s voice rang out.

"Stone Pillar!"