CHAPTER 182: VS. THE DRAGON

A vortex of clouds, dense and suffocating, swirled with a malevolent intent.

Asahi and Aletha scanned the swirling vortex below, straining their eyes against the gloom. The silence of the surrounding peaks was a deceptive thing, broken only by the ceaseless howl of the wind. Yet, beneath that cacophony, Asahi and Aletha sensed a profound stillness, an unnatural quietude that was far more unsettling than any roar or storm.

It was the silence that precedes the thunder, the hushed anticipation of terror.

Then, from the churning heart of the maelstrom, a distinct shadow began to detach itself. It was not a mere trick of the light, no vagary of the tempest that raged around them. This was a form, distinct and deliberate, separating itself from the chaos. The bruised hues of twilight that painted the approaching entity were unmistakable, even from this distance.

Asahi and Aletha’s heart hammered against their ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the silence.

"Who... what is that?" Aletha said as recollections dawned on her.

The legends, the legends from Alai’s father, the ones dismissed for so long, were true. The beast was real. And it was descending, a harbinger of destruction, upon his solitary watch.

The shadow solidified, resolving into a shape of terrifying, unearthly majesty.

The dragon revealed itself not with a thunderous arrival, but with a silent, chilling emergence from the oppressive clouds. Its scales, a mesmerizing tapestry of deep black and vibrant blue, seemed to absorb the meager light that dared to penetrate the gloom, leaving it a creature of shadow and power. A low growl, like the distant, ominous rumble of a mountain in the throes of an earthquake, emanated from its form, a sound that vibrated through the very stone beneath Asahi and Aletha’s feet, a primal tremor that resonated deep within their bones.

The dragon’s eyes, twin pools of molten azure, burned with an inner fire, sharp and predatory, fixed upon him with an ancient, implacable gaze.

"Tell me, why are you here?" Said the figure with its mouths closed.

With a crackle that split the very air, a sound like the snapping of a thousand icy whips, the dragon vanished.

It was not a gradual retreat, nor a soaring flight into the clouds. It was a sudden, disorienting teleportation, a blink-and-you-miss-it disappearance that left behind only a phantom shimmer of cobalt light, an afterimage burned into Asahi and Aletha’s vision.

"W-Where did it go?" Asahi said as he clutched his steel blade.

"I... don’t know."

They spun on their heels, their senses on high alert, every fiber of their being straining to track the impossibly fast movement. The dragon’s ability to flicker in and out of existence, to tear through the fabric of space itself, made it a terrifyingly elusive foe. It was a blur of raw, untamed power that defied conventional combat, a phantom of death that danced just beyond their reach.

The chaos of its movement mirrored the storm raging around them, a symphony of elemental fury orchestrated by the dragon itself. Asahi kept his grip tight on his blade, its familiar weight a grounding anchor in the swirling disorientation. He knew that to face such a creature, he needed to anticipate the impossible, to prepare for that which defied understanding.

Before Asahi and Aletha could fully reorient themselves, before the phantom shimmer of cobalt had even fully faded, the dragon reappeared. It materialized mere yards away, its massive form exuding an aura of raw, crackling electricity that made the hairs on their arms stand on end. Its claws, each as long as Asahi’s arm, were extended, gleaming and sharp, shimmering with contained power, ready to rend and tear.

"There it is!" Aletha said. "Go after it!"

The sudden, jarring appearance from nowhere was more than just a tactical maneuver.

The dragon’s attack was immediate, a brutal, unhesitating exhibition of its aerial prowess. It lunged, not with a roar, but with a silent, deadly intent, its immense jaws opening wide.

Upon this, frequent flashes of Adeline intruded into Aletha’s vision. Her dark hair, her vivid blue eyes; all of her flashed into her very being.

The dragon unleashed its signature attack, a torrent of electrified breath that turned the very air into a weapon. The atmosphere crackled with an unseen energy, and a blinding arc of azure lightning erupted from the dragon’s maw, a searing inferno that engulfed the battlements where Asahi and Aletha had just stood.

The ancient stone beneath their feet, moments before a solid, unyielding foundation, glowed with an intense heat, turning molten under the dragon’s fiery, electrifying assault. The heat was so intense, so pervasive, that it scorched Asahi and Aletha’s exposed skin even through the protective layers of their flesh.

Aletha reacted instantly, a lifetime of training kicking in. She dove behind a crumbling parapet, the stone groaning under the sheer force of the dragon’s breath.

The heat washed over her, intense and suffocating, the air vibrating with residual energy.

The sheer destructive force of the dragon’s breath was awe-inspiring, a terrifying spectacle.

He remained low, pressed against the warm stone, observing the dragon’s movements through the hazy, superheated air and the lingering scent of ozone. The Dragon, its attack spent for the moment, coiled itself in the air, its powerful wings beating slowly, its gaze still locked on Aletha’s position.

As the searing torrent of lightning subsided, Asahi saw his opportunity. It was a fleeting window, a brief lull in the dragon’s offensive, and he seized it with every ounce of his being. He lunged forward, clutched his blade, and formed a silver arc against the beast’s dark, shimmering hide. Sparks flew like a thousand tiny stars as the blade met the energized scales, a jarring, metallic clang echoing across the desolate peak.

It was a desperate, deadly dance, a furious exchange of blows and parries, a near-fatal waltz between man and myth. Then Aletha, gathering her energy, charged head first to its neck, cleaving it through its very flesh. Each parry sent jolts of raw, crackling energy up Aletha’s arm, testing the very limits of her endurance and the strength of their blades.

The dragon’s scales, imbued with the very essence of lightning, offered a formidable resistance, but the sword, forged in an age of magic, fought back with an ancient fury of its own. They needed to find a weakness, a chink in the dragon’s otherwise impenetrable armor, before the fleeting moment of opportunity vanished.

The dragon unleashed a deafening roar, a sound that seemed to originate not just from its throat, but from the very heart of the mountain itself. The sonic vibrations rippled through Asahi and Aletha’s bones, a physical force that threatened to dislodge their grip on their weapons, shattering his very composure.

It was a primal sound of pure rage and power, a clear, undeniable assertion of dominance over its domain, a challenge to the solitary mortal who dared to trespass.

"Tell me again, why have you come here?!"

The sheer volume and intensity of the roar were disorienting, a weapon in itself, designed to shatter Asahi and Aletha’s focus and break their spirit before the physical assault even began. Asahi gritted his teeth, clamping his jaw shut against the bone-jarring vibrations, his eyes never leaving the dragon.

With a flick of its colossal tail, a limb of pure, muscled might, The Dragon slammed into the ancient stone of the citadel. Shockwaves surged through the battlements, sending chunks of granite and debris raining down on Asahi, forcing him to shield his head with his Telos’ shield.

The massive impact threatened to shatter the very foundations of the Citadel, the ancient fortress groaning under the onslaught.

The dragon’s physical might was as terrifying as its elemental powers, capable of bringing down the formidable fortress with sheer, brute force. Asahi and Aletha braced themselves, feeling the tremor run through their boots, the ground beneath them shifting and groaning.

This was not just a battle of skill and magic, but a test of endurance against the raw, unyielding power of nature.

The dragon continued its relentless assault, each teleportation a disorienting blur of cobalt light and crackling energy. Asahi struggled to anticipate its movements, his vision strained by the constant, jarring shifts in its location. Aletha, as being as it was, tried to clutch her blade, hoping not to be blown in the wind.

Asahi pressed his advantage, ducking under a sweeping claw that could have cleaved him in two and driving his blade into the dragon’s flank. The impact was jarring, sending a cascade of blue sparks into the air as the ancient steel bit deep into the dragon’s hide.

A hiss of pain, sharp and reedy, escaped the Dragon, a sound that seemed almost incongruous from such a gargantuan creature. The resistance of the enchanted scales was immense.

Amidst the furious onslaught, the relentless flurry of attacks and evasions, Aletha perceived a fleeting vulnerability. The dragon’s incandescent aura, the crackling energy that perpetually wreathed its form, flickered erratically, a momentary lapse in its charged defense.

It was an infinitesimal opening, a split second where the overwhelming power of Ignis might be momentarily countered by human tenacity and skill. It was born perhaps of the pain from the blades wound, or a momentary exertion of its immense power.

This was the critical juncture, the chance he had been fighting for, the sliver of opportunity that separated survival from annihilation. He knew he had to seize it, or all would be lost.

With their blades buried deep in its flank, The Dragon let out a shriek of pure agony, a sound that pierced the howling wind and echoed across the desolate peaks.

The vibrant azure lightning that had crackled around its form with such terrifying intensity flickered erratically, diminishing with each passing second.

The dragon stumbled in the air, its powerful legs buckling slightly under the unexpected pain, its magnificent form listing precariously. The raw, untamed energy that had defined its terrifying presence began to wane, revealing a more primal, wounded creature beneath the terrifying display of power. The shimmering scales seemed to lose some of their luster, the vibrant hues of twilight dimming ever so slightly. And the sight... of dark armor unveiled beneath the flesh of the monster.

It was at this moment that a realization dawned in Aletha.

"That dragon... "

* * * * * * *

Dark hair and blue eyes. That and the sight of a green-haired boy, were all that can be seen. It seemed to them that they had prepared to leave the shore. But before that, the girl asked him a deep question.

"What is your true wish?"

"You should go first." Sergil asked with a half-shy chuckle.

"Really? My wish?" She blushed for a moment, recollecting her times with Sergil and more. "My wish is to see the entire world from high in the clouds."

"Really, that’s your wish?" He added with a confused look on his face.

"HEY! I wasn’t finished!" She said, "I said that and..."

The girl twiddled her thumbs, mumbling. "To be with you."

. . .

Suddenly, memories of all kinds flooded back to Aletha.

From the moment Sergil had been in shorelines with Adeline, to growing up in the old capital. From the time of the wedding and the confusing relationship behind Kali; To the wilderness and wish granting. All of this, mixed in with the sounds of dragon’s screams, caused Aletha to figure.

"Where did that dragon come from?" She stammered beneath her breath.

Then it was at this moment that the mystery would be revealed to Aletha.

. . .

(0 years before the War of the Wish)

The sky was tainted in darkness and crimson. A funnel of clouds encircled the rising peak.

Sergil, watching as a luminescent figure descended quickly from the heavens, clutched his blade as he saw Adeline, the woman that he had been partnered with, get surrounded by strands. Then, after seeing the angel-like being wrap poor Adeline in threads of light, the soft but deceptive voice of the angel muttered.

"I see you have your deepest wishes." It said, "Your love life and peacefulness and perfection. Yes I see this. I see everything. And you are the perfect candidate... for weakness in this world."

"Just what do you think you’re doing with my Adeline?!" Sergil screamed as he was forced to the ground by the ’angel’. "Get away from her! Get AWAY from her now!"

The ’angel’ did nothing but the complete opposite.

"This world shall know nothing but pain." It responded with a half-chuckle. "It was a mistake coming here. Why on earth did the Prism choose this world as its candidate? It’s... unnatural."

At that second, the angel opened their third eye, quickly summoning a golden light to detach Adeline from Sergil.

Then, they threw Adeline like a puppet and juggled her body like some sort of sick magical trick. Afterward, the angel marked their presence on her, surrounded the being in blue strands, and transformed her inside and out.

From flesh and bone, arose black fangs and wings. A tail was seen mutating on the screaming human/creature. Her boiling eyes of fury changed from a roaring azure to a silent cyan. This plus her new body of black, urged Sergil to scream out of frustration and guilt.

"ADELINE!" He grieved, "What did you do to Adeline?!"

It was at that instant, the dragon roared its first roar.

Everything hammered in suddenly as a new peak arose.

After one last retort, the angel-like being pierced its golden eyes at Sergil and hummed a tone.

"Ah yes, the angels will definitely sing out their last songs to this decrepit world." It replied as it flashed and teleported back to the heavens. "Now her eyes have been opened. Look at this world and be grateful that she’s transformed. It is a gift to the soon-coming king."

Suddenly, another angel came into being as they watched Sergil collapse out of weakness and anger.

"Soon she shall taste the sweetness of flight and love." Said a man with blonde hair and gray eyes. "Yes. Make her soar!"

Then, the vision all of a sudden crumbled and shattered back to the present.

. . .

Asahi and Aletha fought with the weight of the entire kingdom resting upon their shoulders. Asahi had not a clue what happened, but Aletha did. And she refused to attack.

Beyond the swirling, oppressive clouds that concealed the lands below, lay a world vulnerable to someone else’s destructive power.

Every blow struck, every desperate dodge, every wall made, was a defense of countless lives, of hearths and homes, of the very fabric of this nation.

The fate of his people hung precariously in the balance, resting entirely upon the outcome of this solitary duel waged on the peak of Linuxinina. This profound realization, this immense responsibility, hardened their resolve and sharpened their focus, lending an almost supernatural clarity to their senses.

"Adeline, Sergil" Aletha mumbled. "What happened to you?"

Wounded and cornered, The Dragon became even more unpredictable, her movements less precise, more fueled by sheer, primal desperation. Her teleportation became erratic, manifesting as brief, easily tracked shimmers of cobalt light rather than seamless disappearances.

The dragon unleashed bursts of electrified breath with less control, the arcs of lightning wider and more scattered, less focused than the devastatingly precise blasts it had unleashed earlier.

However, unveiled in the flesh of the creature, Asahi and Aletha discovered a metal blade attached to its monstrous cyan heart. Not just that, but a shield and armor as well. It wasn’t that it was a monster that concerned them, but the fact that this monster, in truth, wasn’t a monster at all.

It now came in this instance, that the dragon they have been fighting and trying to defeat was not a beast, but a human transformed; Adeline.

"Asahi, stop!" Aletha shrieked out to him.

"What? We’re almost done." Asahi added as he struggled to remember the past.

"That dragon isn’t a dragon." Aletha said with regret and remorse for Adeline. "It’s... a human. A transformed human."

"A transformed human?" Asahi muttered with clueless eyes. "So, you’re telling me this dragon is a human?"

Aletha nodded in agreement to his words. Asahi gave a slight sneer at the dragon and shrugged his shoulders.

They thought of killing and slaying the being full center.

But then, both Asahi and Aletha’s memories flickered back and forth, remembering everything leading to this moment. A stream of recollections flowed downward to Asahi’s mind, remembering the shoreline and the wedding, then to the tragic memory of Adeline’s transformation and The War of The Wish; the Prism and the peak.

They were utterly speechless, giving in to the silence that came afterward. After recollecting the fragmented memories of the dragon, Aletha and Asahi tried to show mercy to Adeline.

If they were ever to spare this creature, they first need to come up with a plan.

Gathering all his remaining strength, his muscles screaming in protest, Asahi prepared for his final, decisive assault. To weaken the dragon, all they had to do is hit the center of its throat.

Then, at a sudden pace, he channeled the power of his sword, the flames on his blade flaring with an intense, white light, a beacon against the encroaching gloom. The sky and mountain opened and inflated up like a balloon, unveiling an entire city embedded to the rock.

"Aletha, I see it!" Asahi shouted as the entire mountain shattered.

A pulsating warmth had resonated inside the dragon.

Now that they both saw a final opening, a fleeting gap in the dragon’s flailing, desperate defenses, they charged at it, trying to scare it away. This was the culmination of the battle, the single, decisive strike meant to end Adeline. But just before they could slash their swords.

"Sergil!" Aletha screamed as the dragon paused its attack. In return, Adeline closed its glowing jaw and heard her question again. "Do you remember Sergil?"

All came to stop the moment she uttered that name.

The dragon reeled back and roared, flapping its wings in certain motions, trying to talk. At first, it was about to hit them with a blue beam. But after hearing that name, it caused her to stop fully.

"Yes." She replied, her deep feminine voice echoing across the peak. "I remember that name fondly."

Asahi and Aletha dropped their swords, kneeling down, trying to hear the dragon speaking inside their minds.

"Yes. My one true love. My sacred apple of my eye." Adeline said as she lowered her wings. "Sergil... my destined partner."

After all the pain they went through, the dragon calmed down, not a sign of her previous violence present in her speech.

Seeing that the dragon had finally calmed down, Aletha gulped for a moment, seeing the dragon sigh.

Then, with the confidence he could muster, Asahi asked.

"Sergil?" He said. "Who is this... Sergil?"

Adeline lowered her wings and calmed down her vibrating scales. The wind and the vortex slowly ceased on its own, as the tremoring voice of Adeline resounded inside both their minds.

"He was once the King of Linuxinia." Adeline replied as her gooey mouth stayed shut. "I have always been watching this peak, looking for my love. But now, only finding The Sealed Beatific and the castle he used to reside in, I couldn’t help but to search for my love."

As Adeline slowly flapped her wings, the transformed dragon showed Asahi and Aletha the wreckage of the unearthed castle.

The long battle they commenced didn’t situate in a victory; but a draw, leaving absolutely zero traces of pure wreckage, and everyone unscathed.

The Battle against Adeline had come to a deep close.