Arthur was on his way to the address listed on the note.
He arrived, finding it to be a small, humble coffee shop. Arthur entered, seeing Raiden sitting alone. Raiden waved him over, and Arthur went over to him, sitting down.
"Yeesh, you're still in that hospital gown. Isn't your butt out or something?" Raiden asked as he took a sip.
"No, I've still got shorts on," Arthur answered, placing his hands on the table.
"Ah, got it, got it. So, how're you feeling? Ready to fight?"
"I guess," Arthur muttered quietly. To which, Raiden shouted "great!"
Such an event caused there to be a few stares to the out-of-place-looking man, who looked at them and snickered. He looked over at Arthur, pointing at them with his thumb.
"Well? Ya gonna take their blood?" He asked. Arthur shook his head.
"I can't imagine it would be worth much," Arthur answered.
"Fair enough, fair enough," Raiden said in response. To which, he then pointed his finger into the air, generating electricity from the tip.
"What're you…"
His words would not be continued, as Raiden yelled over him.
"I've heard of your goal, to kill a whole bunch of dragons! So that's why I'm making you an offer!" He exclaimed with a smile. "If you win, I'll join you. I'm sure I'll be of some help, especially since you're gonna have to go to Africa eventually. That place is really dangerous, and where most dragons live. But if I win, I'm gonna kill you!"
It wasn't really that bad of a deal. To the current Arthur, it might even be considered a win-win.
So, he accepted the offer with a nod of his head before Raiden got on his phone, and sent a text. Just a few moments later, a group of dragons from the Zeus family entered, with three buckets of blood and both the Dragon and the Dragonslayer.
With a weapon and a group of unknown individuals entering a coffee shop, naturally the people began to get afraid.
To which, Raiden blasted a bolt of lightning across the place, striking a cup and exploding it.
"Pipe down y'all, let me speak in turn, and I'll let you live, okay everyone?"
"The heck're you doing…?"
Raiden flashed a smile and grabbed his halberd, before tossing the Dragon over to Arthur. Arthur caught it, looking at the three buckets of blood.
"Y'know, the blood's a gift from the Zeus family. Feel free to use it to make the Dragon stronger. Or not, I'm not your mama," Raiden tittered, wielding his halberd over his shoulder.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Cause you just got out of the hospital. I had to cut off a couple of my sibling's limbs for it, so be grateful. Plus, it'll make the Dragon even stronger, once I kill you and take it for my own."
Arthur went over and dipped his cutlass, now given the name "The Dragon," into one bucket, soaking up the blood and making it even stronger. Then, he did the same with the other buckets, increasing the capabilities of the blade.
Then, to which, he shattered it to bits. This was nothing new, it was simply how Blood Armory changed things.
However—
"The heck are you doing, man…!?" Raiden marveled, seeing all of that blood go into Arthur's body.
"Just copying what that bastard's shown me, and making it even better." Such was Arthur's answer, as red tendrils appeared from his back.
They were all quite thin, perhaps around the same girth as a water bottle, but by no means were they weak.
He formed two of them for now, and with his hospital gown, they easily popped out. Then, a mask of blood formed over his face, as he didn't want to frighten the humans any more than he likely already had.
"Huh… well, goodness, what an… idea, I guess," Raiden whispered, wielding his halberd properly.
This idea was the one he'd gotten while thinking of ways to improve before he fell asleep.
The reason for opting to use fluid-like, yet still potent tendrils was quite simple. As they were a creation of Blood Armory, they weren't connected to his body as limbs. So, when Arthur ran out of stamina, they could be used to fight from a distance, whilst he recovered.
After all, his lack of stamina was his main issue in their first fight, other than his submission. He'd already fought against a couple relatively powerful dragons, so when it came time for the main course, he was really helpless.
While they might not be as powerful as the Dragon due to being more extended than the cutlass, with this new amount of blood and his evolution, they were powerful regardless, able to be suitable against untransformed dragons.
"Okay, I'll allow it. If you win, my family will support you. I'll tell you the reasons why after, assuming you win. But also, once I kill you, please make sure to make the Dragon, as I'd really love to have it."
"Alrighty, only as long as you make sure not to harm my family, my old friends, or Rachel and her sisters."
"The pinkies? Alrighty, I can do that," Raiden shrugged as the fight unofficially began.
Without hesitation, he lunged forward, and the fluid-like tentacles launched at him, the main goal to impale. To which, Raiden took cover behind a human, causing the tentacles to move outside of a straight line in order to reach him.
Raiden was able to use that slight diversion to get in closer, dodging the tentacles by rolling under and jumping up to implant the halberd into his chest. Yet, those tentacles were kicked back suddenly and made a shorter length of only 8 feet at full extension from Arthur's back in comparison to the 20 from earlier, attempting to get the halberd out of Raiden's hands.
This allowed them to be used at closer range, as well—
"Hgyah! Tchu, tchu!"
Just two, quick, hasty swings from the halberd severed those relatively unstructured tentacles, before Raiden rushed forward to finish the job.
However, as stated just moments ago, the tentacles went from 20 feet to 8. Two 20 foot long tentacles to two 8 foot long tentacles.
Naturally, there were more.
Sprouting from his back, hidden from Raiden's sight before, two tentacles wrapped around the Dragonslayer before Raiden could react, as he'd not expected there to be more.
These tentacles wrapped around the halberd successfully, as the other ones gathered their cut off parts and went back in, allowing that now excess blood to be used to enlarge the tentacles used to keep hold of the Dragonslayer.
Now, Arthur had two, even more powerful tentacles, one of them wielding the Dragonslayer, and the other being free to join Arthur in his fight.
"Ah, you really—"
He tried to get words in, as usual. However, this wasn't a fight where words were allowed, so Arthur rushed him down, getting in two free punches to the jaw on Raiden, who was still trying to speak, and had his eyes on his stolen halberd.
The blows landed nicely, and Raiden backed up, grabbing a cup of hot coffee and chucked it at Arthur.
The cup shattered, covering his mask in it. However, it was successful in taking his eyes out, as the burning hot coffee was enough to damage a sensitive area, even for a dragon.
Raiden crouched down to a position similar to that of a sprinter, before bursting off of the wooden floor, breaking it as he sprinted and jumped, delivering a superman punch for the ages.
Arthur's head was slammed down to the ground, embedded in it before Raiden attempted to grab the Dragonslayer from the tentacle.
Yet, when he tried, he found that the tentacle was stronger than he'd expected.
After all, Arthur's weapons, when they get to a certain point, were stronger than he is. This tentacle was no different, being composed of the blood of many different dragons, including those from the Zeus family.
When he tried to damage the tentacle itself, whether it be with punches, elbows, or trying to rip it, he couldn't break it or weaken it significantly.
It was like trying to rip open a plastic bottle of water with your bare hands without bending it or having a punctured point already.
So, when Arthur escaped, he could maneuver the other tentacle, which wrapped around Raiden's legs and pulled him backwards.
He leaned forward, being pulled from behind, and he caught himself with his hands, though the tentacle wielding the halberd, as if it were a third or fourth arm, swung the halberd down at Raiden himself.
The axe blow was intended to land directly on the spinal cord, completely destroying it and paralyzing Raiden.
'The more that needs to be healed, the more expensive it is. So, naturally, bones and organs are both a hefty price.'
However, such an action caused Raiden to make use of his Dragon Art: Roaring Vessel of Storms.
Blasting lightning from his body, Raiden disabled Arthur this time. The lightning traveled through the blood, and as the blood was attached to his body, it surged through his body.
Arthur collapsed to the ground, unable to move momentarily. Raiden healed his wound and got up, grabbing the Dragonslayer and walking over to Arthur with powerful footsteps.
"Y'know," Raiden started. "If I wasn't a counter to you, and a good one at that, you probably would've killed me. But that's how fighting is."
Arthur looked at Raiden, unable to move despite his efforts. To which, Raiden grinned and stabbed Arthur with the spear point of the halberd in the shoulder.
Electricity surged through the weapon, shocking Arthur even more from the inside. Once it stopped, the spear was taken out of him, and Arthur gave up on movement.
"Arthur," Raiden stated. "Make the Dragon again. I've won."
Arthur's eyes loosened, and he did as instructed. The tentacles, surging with lightning, were shattered apart to tiny fragments, before finally coming together to form the Dragon.
…
"Thanks, thanks man! Honestly, thinking a little harder, it might be better to keep you alive, so you can continuously strengthen my weapons. Actually, fuck it! I know I said I'd kill you, but lowkey, how about I let you live—"
BANG.
The loud noise, definitely that of a gunshot, struck the ears of all the people present. The humans, out of fear of the dragons, all huddled away to a corner.
Raiden turned away, seeing one of his cousins who came to deliver the blood, clutching their throat.
"The heck? Hey, Leo, what's wr—"
An explosion occurred inside of the throat of this "Leo." Leo's throat exploded, though not blowing his head off. It expanded his throat to such an extent that it stretched and tore in certain areas, blood spurting down.
Raiden looked around, seeing an open window where, what he could only assume to be a bullet, broke through.
"Guns?! No, dragons won't use guns, whoever does would—"
BANG.
He saw another family member, who rushed over to try and see what happened to Leo, die.
They'd taken the shot to the head, and the bullet, which couldn't fully pass through his body, stayed stuck in his head. And then, the bullet seemingly exploded, destroying his brain and killing them instantly.
"Shit, what's—"
The door to the cafe burst open, to which a woman with brown hair rushed in, aiming a shotgun for his chest. It was all so sudden that Raiden couldn't react, to which he took a shotgun blast to the chest.
While being a dragon prevented the blast from completely destroying him like it would a human, there was no doubt the wound was fatal. Guns were really scary, naturally.
His entire torso was ravaged, yet still attached, folding in on itself at certain points, hanging off at certain points, expelling blood violently.
Raiden dropped the weapons, and rushed to the backroom of the cafe. He grabbed his chest, tripping over his own feet in pain, collapsing to the ground and hurling up blood.
The anatomy of a dragon was identical to that of a human, when they took the form of one. The shotgun blast to the chest had splattered his heart and his lungs, causing blood to overflow from his lungs, leading to what would certainly be death.
Yet, it took 5-15 seconds to pass out from having your bloodflow cut off from your heart. Everything that had transpired, from the blast to immediately dropping the weapons and running away, had taken 4 seconds.
Instantly, he healed his wounds, though the blood still overflowed in him, so he wasn't safe. He would drown if he didn't cough, spit, vomit, expel all of that blood from within his body.
He heard another loud bang, and the screaming of more people, as a woman had rushed in with a shotgun and just presumably killed a bunch of people.
He crawled away, continuing to try and expel the blood from his lungs by coughing and doing anything he could. In the back of the coffee shop, he dragged his body with his limbs and legs, before hiding against the corner and holding his chest as he recovered.
'What was that, what was that, what was that!?'
He was a warrior.
But unless one had absolutely zero regard for their life, getting shot in the chest with a shotgun was bound to frighten anyone.
Raiden slowly went to the door, hiding behind the wall next to it as he listened.
"Everyone, you're okay! You're okay, you're okay!"
Such was the loud, but seemingly gentle voice of a woman, presumably the one who shot him.
With just a few moments between certain death, and now being mostly okay, though extremely exhausted and frightened, he rationalized.
'No dragon is willing to pick up a firearm, at least without it being special. The person who presumably sniped everyone, they're likely the dragon, as there was an explosion after their bullet hit.'
'So the person who shot me didn't explode the bullets that entered, so they're human… probably.'
So, he rushed out, seeing the woman holding Arthur. He kicked off the ground, breaking the wood as he rushed to kill the woman before Arthur could escape.
However—
…
Arthur, seeing Raiden rushing towards his mother with intent to kill, forced his body to get up, as it had recovered.
He grabbed the Dragon, standing up and swinging the sword upwards at Raiden's extended arm, severing it from his body.
The arm flew up and blood spurted.
"AHHH!"
Raiden screamed from his slice, yet he persisted anyways, to which Arthur slashed him across the chest and downwards diagonally, slicing open Raiden's body with ease due to the sheer strength of the Dragon.
Raiden grit his teeth, backing away as his mother grabbed the shotgun, before Raiden pointed it downwards.
"Arthur, what're you…"
"It's fine."
Raiden reeled, remaining standing after everything. He held what was still attached to his arm, looking at Arthur with narrowed eyes as he exhaustedly panted. Arthur pointed the cutlass at his throat directly, staring into his eyes.
"Two things. First, you said you were going to spare me before you were attacked, so I'll give you more time. Second, you said there were reasons your family would help me. Why is that?"
Raiden, not wasting time with any arrogant teasing or extreme fear, began his explanation.
"I admire those who pursue strength. You violated the second taboo for greater power, and even took steroids, something no dragon had done prior due to the suicidal connotation. So, I convinced them all to help you if you proved your strength over me, as a way to kill many of our competition and prove our superiority."
Arthur listened, before withdrawing his cutlass.
"Heal your wounds. Unless you give me a reason to, I won't attack you."
Raiden healed his arm, but not in a normal way. He made his right arm, the one that had been severed, just a stub. This cost less stamina than fully regenerating the arm, and could be fixed later. Then, he healed his torso wounds, ending up out of stamina.
He immediately collapsed, too tired to stand, looking up at Arthur who shattered the Dragon, absorbing it into his body.
He looked at his mom, who was on her phone.
"Who're you texting?"
"Your father. He's the one that sniped them. Apparently, one of the hobbies he picked up while away was hunting, so he's pretty good."
Arthur turned towards Raiden, walking over to him and crouching down.
"Well, you seem to pride yourself on being a warrior, so I'll give you the option. I defeated you, not with my own strength, but with the help of my family. In doing so, the lives of your own family have been lost—my mom and dad executed everyone else."
He continued.
"I can't bring back your dead family, and I defeated you in a way unlike a warrior. How do you feel?"
In other words,
"Knowing all that, will you still join me?"