Damien took in the scene in an instant.
The broken walls. The fires raging through the city. The bodies....adventurers and soldiers alike...scattered across the battlefield. The shadow army, battered and diminished, struggling to reform. And at the center of it all, the massive black dragon, his jaws clamped around Alcy's form.
He moved.
One moment he was standing at the gate. The next, he was face to face with Azi Dahaka, his fist already in motion. The impact sent the dragon's massive head snapping to the side. His jaws opened, releasing Alcy, who tumbled to the ground. The force of the blow carried Azi Dahaka's entire body through the air, crashing through the outer walls and into the forest beyond.
Damien landed beside Alcy, his eyes scanning her for injuries. She was alive—bruised, battered, but alive. He helped her to her feet, and she nodded weakly, gratitude flickering in her eyes.
He turned to face his companions.
"Ais," he said, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "You are with me."
He looked at the others....Riveria, Finn, Gareth, Tiona, Tione, and the rest. They stood ready, their weapons drawn, their eyes burning with the fire of battle.
"The rest of you," Damien continued, "destroy our enemies."
No more words were needed. No more instructions. They moved instantly, spreading across the battlefield like a wave of vengeance. The soldiers of the Three Nation Alliance had been expecting a weakened Orario. What they found instead was an army of legends, fresh from the depths of the dungeon, their power honed and their fury unleashed.
Tiona and Tione carved through the enemy ranks, their blades singing. Riveria's magic swept across the battlefield like a storm. Finn and Gareth led the charge, their weapons cutting down everything in their path.
The war had turned.
Damien and Ais moved through the forest, their footsteps silent on the broken ground. The trees were shattered, the earth scarred by Azi Dahaka's impact. The air was thick with smoke and the scent of burning wood.
Ais walked beside him, her face a mask of cold fury. Her golden eyes had shifted to a dark, smoldering purple, and her hands trembled....not with fear, but with barely restrained rage.
She had waited for this moment her entire life. The reason she had become an adventurer. The reason she had fought. The sole target of her vengeance.
Damien could feel the power radiating from her....the skill Avenger, activated and fully realized. It was consuming her, driving her, pushing her toward the edge.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, grounding her.
"Control it...." he said quietly. "Use it. Do not let it use you."
Ais nodded, her jaw tightening. The purple aura around her flickered, steadied, and strengthened.
Ahead, the forest opened into a clearing. Azi Dahaka stood in the center, his massive form dwarfing the trees around him. He was a western dragon in the truest sense....his wings spread wide, his tail lashing, his single healthy eye burning with ancient malice.
His size was staggering. One of his legs could easily trample buildings. His body covered a quarter of Orario's span. And yet, despite his massive form, he moved with a predator's grace.
He looked down at them, his black iris reflecting Ais's transformation.
"Mmmm..." His voice was deep, rumbling, almost amused. "I see it now. The Shadow Monarch is no longer a weak boy, but a full-fledged god." He tilted his head, his eye gleaming. "Is that not special? Suppose you and I share something, boy. I am not one of those dragons tied by the laws of the world. And you are not one of those gods tied by Ouranos."
He turned his gaze to Ais.
"But her... now that is unique. How often do you see a mixblood of a human and a spirit? And how often is that human blood of a hero... and that spirit blood of a queen?"
He laughed, the sound echoing through the forest.
"I can recognize that face anywhere." His voice dropped, becoming almost wistful. "Daughter of Albert and Aria..."
His scarred eye twitched.
"Even to this day, it still hurts." He touched the scar, his claw tracing the old wound. "That one attack by your father, his skill mixed with your mother's wind... oh, how could I forget it?"
His voice rose, becoming a roar that shook the very ground beneath them.
"AND TODAY, YOUR BLOODLINE ENDS!"
Damien's shadows coiled around him like a living second skin, dark and hungry. The new form did not require the sacrifice of his daggers...it came naturally now, a seamless extension of his will. Shadow armor wrapped around his body, a crown of darkness materializing above his head, and wings of pure shadow spread from his back.
He nodded at Ais...And then...They attacked as one.
Damien moved first, his shadow wings carrying him across the clearing in a blur of darkness. His daggers....Nyx and Nótt....gleamed with shadow energy as he drove them toward Azi Dahaka's chest. The dragon's single eye tracked him, but he was too fast, too sudden.
The blades connected.
And skidded off.
Damien's eyes widened. The impact had been perfect...timing, angle, force...all of it precise. And yet, his daggers had not even scratched the dragon's scales. They had left a faint white line, nothing more.
Ais followed.
Her sword carved an arc through the air, the dark purple energy of Avenger trailing behind it. She struck the same spot Damien had targeted, her blade screaming against the dragon's hide. Sparks flew. The ground shook.
But the scales held.
Azi Dahaka laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that shook the trees around them. "Is that all?" His voice was mocking, almost bored. "After all that buildup, I expected more."
Damien ignored him, his mind already racing. 'His scales are too thick. Too strong. We need to find a weak point...or create one'
He darted to the side, his wings carrying him above the dragon's massive head. Ais followed, her form a blur of purple and gold.
Azi Dahaka attacked.
His mouth opened, and a torrent of flame erupted from his throat....not the simple fire of a lesser dragon, but something ancient and hungry. The flames washed over the forest, consuming trees, rock, and earth alike. The heat was so intense that the air itself seemed to burn.
But Damien and Ais were already gone.
Damien's shadow wings carried him high above the flames, his eyes scanning for an opening. Ais circled below, her form weaving through the inferno like a phantom.
The dragon was massive. His body covered a quarter of Orario's span, and his movements, while fast, were still limited by his size. He could not turn quickly enough to track them both.
"Split up," Damien called. "Keep him turning!"
Ais nodded, her wings flaring as she dove toward the dragon's flank. Damien descended from above, his daggers aimed at the base of Azi Dahaka's skull.
The dragon spun, his tail lashing toward Ais. She dodged, twisting in midair, her sword carving a line across his tail. It did nothing.
Damien struck.
His daggers drove into the back of the dragon's neck, the same spot he had targeted before. This time, he put all his weight behind the blow.
The scales held.
Azi Dahaka's head whipped around, his eye blazing with irritation. He snapped his jaws, nearly catching Damien in his teeth. Damien retreated, his wings carrying him backward.
Ais attacked from below, her blade aimed at the dragon's underbelly. The Avenger's slash carved a dark arc through the air, striking the softer scales beneath his chest.
It did nothing.
But they had not stopped moving. They had not stopped attacking. And finally, their persistence bore fruit.
Damien landed on a fallen tree, his eyes fixed on the dragon's chest. "Ais. Together. Now."
She understood.
They moved in perfect synchronization....Damien from above, Ais from below. His Shadow Slash carved a line of darkness through the air. Her Avenger's Slash carved a line of purple energy.
The two attacks met on Azi Dahaka's chest, forming a massive X-shaped wound.
For the first time since his battle with Albert hundreds of years ago.... the One-Eyed Black Dragon bled.
Black ichor spilled from the wound, sizzling against the ground. Azi Dahaka's roar echoed across the forest, shaking the very foundations of the earth.
He stumbled back, his massive form crashing through the trees. The ground trembled beneath his weight.
Damien and Ais regrouped, landing side by side on a ridge overlooking the clearing. Both were breathing hard, their bodies straining from the effort.
"We can do this," Ais said, her voice steady despite the exertion.
Damien nodded. "Together."
He looked at the dragon, at the wound on his chest, at the black ichor dripping from his scales.
"We have him."
But Azi Dahaka was laughing.
The sound started low, a rumble in his chest that grew into a full-throated roar of amusement. He looked down at the wound on his chest, at the blood spilling from his scales, and he smiled.
"Finally," he said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "It's been so long....Since i felt the need....To fight."
His wings rose, spreading wide against the sky. darkening it....as a dark abyss began to form beneath him, rising from the ground to his chest. The air grew cold. The shadows deepened.
He opened his mouth.
Instead of fire, a beam of dark and white light emerged....a plasma of such intensity that it seemed to consume the very air around it. The speed was impossible. Neither Damien nor Ais could have predicted it.
The beam missed them.
Behind them, the forest vanished. A massive crater stretched across the landscape, its edges smoking, its depths glowing with residual heat. The laser had cut through the earth like a knife through butter, carving a trench that stretched for miles.
Damien turned to look at the city.
If that beam had been aimed just a little to the left, it would have flattened Orario.
He looked back at the dragon, his eyes narrowing.
Azi Dahaka smiled.
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