Swords impaled his body tens of times over. However, such things weren't enough to win.
It's easy to deal a fatal blow with a sword. Oftentimes, seeing examples of people fighting despite being injured by swords is total bogus; such things simply don't happen. And if they do, then they are, by all accounts, the exception.
Yet, for Arthur, who was met with dozens of blades to the torso and arms, unarmored, he too, was the exception. The swords were launched out of him, and quickly healed up. Not with stamina, but with blood.
The evolved Arthur could do even more things now with blood. Previously, the most diverse thing he could manage was a liquid-like tentacle.
However, now, it was more than just that. Even complex structures like the arteries, veins, and even his own brain matter, could all be "replaced" with identical blood structures.
The Star Dragons, which shot down beams of light, scorching Arthur's body, were mesmerized, as was everyone else. Arthur did not dodge. He did not run, or cower. He took it dead on, without guarding, without evasion.
And he paid the price for it. By no means, was he that powerful physically, to be uninjured by their attacks.
Yet, his patchwork was too great. The blood had gained a mind of its own by now, so even if small parts of his brain were destroyed, as long as around 80% remained, it could be patched.
If he was skewered with blades, he would force it out and patch himself together, and leap up before swinging the cutlass and slaughter them.
Looking at it from the enemy's perspective, it was like seeing a bird, flying around and if it touched you, you died. And even if you smack it, even if you stab it or burn it or anything like that, it will continue to regenerate.
But that regeneration by no means lessened the pain.
"COME ON. TRY HARDER."
He was stabbed right through the eye by a dragon's claw, before several dragons leaped onto him and impaled him with their own claws, which were now able to get through due to him no longer having armor.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—"
The dragons tore at him, clawed at him, butchered and skewered him, pulling his inner organs apart with their claws and ripping him to bloody chunks which were unleashed upon the walls in a grotesque manner.
He cried, he wept, he screamed and agonized and burned himself. And though he was torn to pieces, the pain, the pain, it only grew worse due to the consistent assault upon his mind and soul.
"IT HURTS. IT HURTS, IT HURTS. KILL ME. NOW. HELP. ME."
But he would not die of it. He continued to hack away and butcher the dragons in return, stealing their blood and using it to patch up his living corpse.
"GREAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Being butchered, butchering. Being butchered, butchering.
Arthur mounted and began to slice away at the dragon's corpse, before several other dragons made their mark. Members of the Plague family, parts of the Disease Dragons, all introduced several illnesses into his body.
Yet, he would always end up having the afflicted parts ripped off, before patching them up, making them immune to any ailment he'd been given.
He was animalistic, entering a primal frenzy. When he saw a dragon, he would rush them down, stabbing them and lacerating them all over, immersing himself in a pit of blood and darkness, before moving onto the next.
Though they could heal, their wounds became harder and harder to regenerate, as a result of Arthur's evolution being inherently magical in nature, leading to things like healing being harder than usual after being struck by his cutlass.
He staggered and collapsed on the roof of a building, clawing at the ground and spurting blood from his eyes and ears.
"G-g-g-gaa, aaah, jk, juu, ugh, uu, aaaaaaaaa… mie, me, m-mi,mind, afor, hurt…"
His begging for death was a cry for help. Not just to ease the mental pain, removing the burden of his own life which he'd grown to loathe and know its worthlessness, but also to ease the intense, intense physical pain he was in.
The Mind Dragon's assault continued. As long as he remained in that barrier, his mind would continue to deteriorate. Pain grew exponentially, and his steroid abuse affecting his hormones didn't make it any better.
To give perspective, it was like breaking your femurs, and then being puppeteered to play hopscotch.
So butchering was, by all means, a good strategy. It caused so much pain that it was very well possible that his mind would simply lose consciousness, to avoid dealing with the pain.
The dragons, seeing his weakness, rushed at him, 9 of them all at once attacking. Needless to say, though they gave it their best, tearing him apart and devouring him, spreading infections, scorching him from the inside out, and skewering him with blades, none of it was enough.
Arthur beheaded one, and just as the dragon regenerated, he stabbed them through the skull numerous times with the cutlass as he was attacked, healing and slaughtering the opponent.
Next, he sliced apart the next dragon's spinal cord, it being unable to heal properly, leading to total paralysis.
"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP! I'LL DIE, I'LL REALLY DIE! DON'T STOP! BUTCHER ME, IMPALE ME, EVISCERATE ME, DESTROY ME!! DON'T DO IT! STOP—!"
Such was his saying, as he began to stab the dragon repeatedly with a reverse grip from all over. The dragons continued their assault.
But yet, it wasn't seeming to kill him. It was unfair, and terrifying to the dragons who had gotten too close.
"Aaaaaaahhh, I'm so messed up, it hurts, it hurts, my mind is, wobbling all over the plaaaaace. Aaaaaaaaaahh… HAHA! AGHAHAHA!"
Continuing to stab until death.
He took the blood, before turning his sniffling, sobbing, snotty and smiling gaze towards the dragons.
They all shrunk back slightly at the blood-splattered man—no.
Those dragons, shortly after, were then cleaved apart with the cutlass, drained of their blood and left for dead. They were kicked away, and they fell down to the darkness, where they drowned.
Truly, he'd earned the name bestowed upon him from so long ago.
Among all of the dragons on this battlefield, he stood at the top, as the one singular unstoppable force, one that ignored damage, that ignored evasion, and slaughtered without mercy, hesitation or ceasing.
Without a doubt, among everyone present, he truly was "The Dragon."
…
'There's gotta be something that the Earth Dragons can do…! Think, think of everything that can be done to stop Arthur, and maybe even kill him…'
'What about the darkness? That should work… alright, I'll make sure Jack remains stuck as that woman, at least for now, until we can stop Arthur.'
'But right now, it'd be good to prioritize the Earth Dragons, since they're the most powerful, if I can convince them, then maybe we can end this stupid battle already!'
Damien flew into the tower through the window, finding a large amount of dragons inside of the room he was in. Immediately, they all were on guard, to which he held his hands into the air.
"Listen! I don't want to fight! I want to stop this whole thing!" Yelled Damien, to which an older woman walked over to him, perhaps as old as his mother, if not more.
"You're with Todd, aren't you? Why on Earth would you want to stop this? After all, everything seems to be working in your favor, right?"
Damien was hesitant to answer, yet he shook his head. "No, no no no, I'm technically with Todd, but I don't want us to continue fighting! Listen, right now, the Traitor, Arthur—Arthur, er, Graves, is rampaging. He's killing all of your allies, and if you don't step in now, you will all be killed."
Despite his ominous warnings, it seemed that not a single member of the King family was uneasy.
"What makes you think that? We're the strongest family in the world. Regardless of whatever those weaklings do, we'll be safe."
"No, no you won't," Damien insisted. He turned over, looking outside at the battlefield that plagued the city. Arthur was leaping from dragon to dragon, dismembering them and cutting them apart, slaughtering them one by one, continuously.
'The longer I take here, the worse off everyone's gonna be, and soon, soon…'
He turned back around, facing the entire family.
"Listen to me! All I'm asking is that you all join in, and take down Arthur Graves, at the minimum. Do that, and I'll try to get everyone to stop fighting! Wait, why don't you guys fight him already? Why have you just stayed within this place?"
The woman, getting tired of standing, sat down, looking up at him.
"We've stayed here because that's what Eugene said to do. He is the strongest, so we accept his orders. He'll handle everything."
Damien was taken aback by the blatant, well, laziness and dependency.
"WHAT!? How can you even, huh? Dude, your 'strongest' got blown up and I don't even know if he's alive or dead!"
The woman seemed to be uneasy, yet she quickly recovered. "I know my husband. He is still alive. And even if not, then we have no need for intervention. After all, isn't the Traitor doing our job for us?"
Damien's eyes widened, and he looked down with absolute confusion.
"W-what? What do you mean by that?"
"Those allied forces out there are only allies to each other. We have no involvement with them; it was their choice to ally together, and we have not accepted that. To be frank, if the Traitor is killing all of our enemies who have allied together, then that makes it easier for us."
She continued.
"After all, we've only let them live because not only is it a trouble to find them when you've got such a large continent, they also are aware of their own weakness, and have yet to make any significant attacks on us. Upon their death, all we must do is kill those weak American dragons, who piggyback off of the Traitor's work, as well as kill the Traitor himself."
"Y-you…"
No matter what, both sides had the same method of achieving their goals. No matter what, it seemed the African dragons were sure to die.
The only difference was in the victor between Arthur and the Earth Dragons.
"What are you stuttering and stumbling like a weakling for, child? What do you have to say?"
"I… I don't know."
Hanging his head down, Damien looked at his feet, unable to face the world.
'So many people, so many, so… they're all going to die.'
"Then leave."
Damien turned around, beginning to walk out. However, before he left, he came up with a plan. It was a plan that perhaps only he could pull off.
"No, I… I'll stay here and fight with you guys."
The woman narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Is that really so?"
Damien nodded his head, turning towards her and walking over. "Yeah. That Traitor is my brother. I betrayed him to try and kill him, but I failed. He'll be gunning for me when he arrives to try and kill you guys, so you guys can try to put an end to him."
The woman shrugged her shoulders, fairly neutral about it. "Well, if he's truly a powerful foe, then it'd be foolish to not accept help. Excessive arrogance leads to death."
Damien nodded his head, saying, "thank you," before walking around the room. He'd noticed a girl around his age upon entering, to which she was the main crux of the entire plan.
He approached her, and sat down next to her. She looked at him, seeming surprised. Damien turned over towards her, seeming surprised.
"Oh, sorry," he said nonchalantly, looking away from her and out towards the battlefield.
The war that raged was like a giant mass of darkness, as several dragons all flew and unleashed attacks, whether it be with their Dragon Art or their jaws, or even their claws.
"No, it's okay," said the girl, keeping her eyes on him.
It should be stated that Damien was quite a good-looking boy. He looked at her, and she looked away immediately, her face turning a bright pink.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, to which she smiled awkwardly and nodded her head. "That's good," he said in response, before asking for her name.
"Karen," she answered. "You?"
"Damien. Damien Assas. Uh…"
"What?" She looked at him, concerned as to what was bothering him. Damien clasped his hands together, looking at her with a begging expression.
"Listen, I really, really hate to ask you a favor, and I know this'll sound crazy, but can you please help me stop this war?" He pleaded.
"What? How?" She asked, caught off guard. "The main threat of this whole thing is Arthur—or rather, the Traitor, as you can probably smell. Listen, he's going to kill many dragons, and I just… I can't let him do that."
Her eyes widened for a moment. "Why? Why not? Isn't he killing both of our enemies?"
"I guess that's true, but I just, y'know… I don't want to see them die for no reason. After all, they are people too, aren't they?"
"Is… is that so?"
She thought about it for a moment. The idea that other dragons were still people was quite foreign, being raised to view them as enemies.
However, she herself grew up in the strongest family. She didn't exactly feel conflict between dragons, and the attacks on her family were very rare, and never consequential.
It was moreso implied than anything else in her family. Other than that, she'd grown up fairly normal.
It was a fairly easy belief to shake, though not shatter. On top of that, it went against what her more modern friends believed, so she already was skeptical.
It didn't hurt that Damien was quite the charmer.
"Yeah, it is so. So, if you'd be willing, can you talk to that woman for me? Please, all I ask is that Arthur Graves, the Traitor, is removed from this battlefield."
"Removed? Well, I guess—"
The door to the elevator opened, and Eugene walked in, covered in his own blood from the incredible damage he'd taken just a while prior.
Immediately, Karen got up, rushing over to him, as did many other members of the King family. "Settle down, settle down," Eugene said, going over to the couch and sitting down, looking at the view of the battle that raged on in the city.
'Crud, he's… no, this can be good.'
Damien rushed over, and Eugene seemed suspicious of him, standing up and forming a sword from the carpeted floor. Damien put his hands up, and Karen rushed over to his defence.
"No! Dad, this is Damien, he's on our side!" Eugene narrowed his eyes, before putting his sword away; it formed back into a carpet which flopped onto the floor.
"What are you here for? I saw you near Todd, in fact," Eugene said sternly. Damien bowed his head.
"Please, I want to help. I want this whole conflict to end, all I ask is that you help. Please, get Arthur Graves, the Traitor, off of the battlefield…! If he remains, then all of your enemies will be slaughtered, yes, but as will you all. He's become too powerful, sir, and I know you're not in the right physical state to be able to handle him, as well as Todd, and every other dragon left!"
Eugene listened. While he was the second strongest in the world, the right planning and sneak attacks were able to damage him greatly.
Not to mention, he was quite the family man. Taking on the burdens of the entire family to provide a happy, safe life for his children, whilst still keeping them tough for the inevitability of his death, and the following attacks by the other dragons, such was the man Eugene King was.
All of that was to say that, yes, he would do what he deemed best for the family.
That's why—
"Understood. Alice," he said seriously. "Yes?" His wife replied.
"Prepare the Cube."
She widened her eyes. To prepare the Cube was quite a drastic measure.
"Honey, are you sure? After all, drawing our Ace at such a time might incite their retaliation. And you know, that if it's used once, it will take at least an hour to recharge. That is a very dangerous decision to make, dear," she cautioned.
"I understand. However, just watching the fight that's going on out there, I believe that if I were to face him, it would be a difficult enough match that I cannot risk facing him and any potential allies he might gain all alone. I'll be waiting on the roof."
Alice nodded her head, and rushed away, preparing "the Cube."
"The Cube?" Damien asked. He was able to put together that the "cube" was likely their Bloodline Ace, which Jack had explained to him on the plane ride to Africa.
Eugene turned towards him and smiled lightheartedly, putting on an easy front for the teenager.
"Aha, yeah. That's just the name my family calls it. Its more official name is the Riftessaract."
"The… what?"
"You'll see what it does in a minute."
With that, the entire family seemed excited, rushing up to the roof in order to see the Cube in action. Damien was included among them, getting an even better view of the massacre unfolding outside.