AN: Hello again, K A Storm is here with a new story.
An important note, this fanfic is unrelated to my previous work 'Legend of Purgatory'. I decided to take a lot of time to read it again, and I don't really like how it turned out. So I decided to start over, but not entirely from scratch since I still used some of the stuff I have written. For those who have read 'Legend of Purgatory' might immediately recognize the names I have used. I decided to keep them since it would look dumb if I used their card names. It also give them a bit more character this way. I did rework their backgrounds a bit.
Before I forgot, a quick disclaimer, I don't own Future Card Buddyfight, and almost all characters that are present in this fic.
I will be writing down the comparison of characters on my profile. But you can ignore them if you like.
Update: Revised this chapter's AN.
Chapter 1: Black and White
Within Dragon World, there are many cities with various level of technology. This particular city has enough light to illuminate the streets. Right now, most inhabitants of Dragon World are sleeping, save for a few who work late or have jobs as night patrol. But unbeknownst to anyone, on one certain part of this big city, there has been an incident.
A red dragon lies on the ground with bruise marks all over his body. A dragon stands by silently; his face shows no expression or emotion. He simply turns away from the dragon, leaving him be.
A large white dragon walks among the streets in the city of Dravagan. He carries with him a curved blade and a trident as his weapons. His appearance resembles a humanoid dragon. Some of the dragons are born without wings, so they make use of magic to fly, he happens to be one of the 'wingless' as they call it. It is an insult to call a dragon 'wingless' though. At this time, the sun begins to rise as a new day is here.
This dragon's name is Phobos. He has just completed a job where he is on duty as a night patrol. Right now, he wears a heavy armor. Underneath it is an undergarment designed for humanoid dragons like him, which is a light pants with a place for the tail to stick out.
The outfit is designed with light materials to allow the user to wear additional protective armor without making the wearer uncomfortable. Phobos himself also happens to wear a pair of knee guard and gauntlets as additional armor.
The job itself usually doesn't pay much, but the client, which happens to be the owner of an inn, grants him a free room for the day as a payment instead of money as crimes such as thievery or burglary is still a common occurrences. The owner says that he wants someone 'intimidating', as he put it to do the job. Phobos is big enough to fit the bill, since by size, he is quite huge even for a white dragon. He considers it a lucky deal as the fare is quite expensive, not that he can't afford it as he has a lot of money.
As he walks back to the inn, he could hear sounds of blades, clashing against each other. 'Someone's fighting at this time?' That curiosity leads him to run towards the sounds where it comes from.
Upon arriving, he sees a white dragon pointing his sword against a large red dragon. The red dragon brandishes his sword at the smaller one, laughing, "A white dragon tries to challenge me, Randor the Ravager!?"
Phobos scowls at this arrogant dragon, but his eyes are on the white dragon, feeling surprise that there is another white dragon that knows the arts of battle, since white dragons are mostly known to act as mediators.
The smaller dragon doesn't react, one moment he is still standing, and the next moment he is gone. "What!? Where did he go!?" The criminal looks around his surroundings, the sudden rush of movement shocks Phobos as he has never seen anyone move so fast. The criminal doesn't see any signs of the dragon anywhere, his eyes land on Phobos as he looks around.
Phobos regains his composure as he came face to face with the criminal. Before any of them are able to react; the criminal lets out a loud scream as the smaller dragon reappears behind him, slashing the criminal's back with a wide thin sword. Randor can only feel pain as everything suddenly becomes black; the smaller dragon smacks him on the head, knocking him out.
Phobos claps his hand at the performance, "That is quite a show I must say. I have never seen a dragon that could move so fast," he gives the smaller dragon a look over. A white dragon wearing a black heavy armor with simple undergarments wielding a wide thin sword, his prominent features are alongside horn and a pair of wide wings. For a moment, Phobos freezes upon looking at the dragon's face. His face resembles someone important to him.
'What? No..., impossible...'
The dragon raises his sword towards Phobos, anticipating any threat. Phobos snaps back to reality, he reveals a small card from his pocket, a hunter's license. Upon seeing that, the dragon lowers his weapon, relaxing a bit.
"Let me help you carry him, consider this a small 'help', I've been quite entertained." He lifts the unconscious, bleeding red dragon over his right shoulder; his right hand glows a little, stopping the wound from bleeding further. The smaller dragon cleans sword before sheathing it.
Phobos holds out his hand, "Phobos."
The smaller dragon returns the handshake, "Demios."
With that, both of them head to the central hub for mercenaries for Demios to hand over the criminal and take his bounty with Phobos tags along.
"So, how long you have started?" Phobos tries to strike a conversation to get his fellow white dragon better.
"3 years. You?"
"Almost 5 years," Phobos chuckles before staring onto Demios, "Okay, let me cut the chase. Exactly why are you doing this job? As far as I know, there isn't another white dragon except me in this profession."
Demios glares at Phobos from the remark. Phobos mentally slaps himself for being direct in a rude way, "Err..., sorry. That was rude of me."
Demios doesn't respond. They continue to walk together in awkward silence. Phobos tries to break the silence again, "Sorry about earlier. I understand if you are offended by the way I talk. I have been known to be blunt, and came off as rude. I suppose I should rephrase my question then," Phobos pauses for a bit, "Why do you take up this profession anyway?"
Demios doesn't respond immediately before turns his head to Phobos, "The same reason as anyone else," he doesn't continue further. He simply returns his gaze forward, taking a deep breath before staying silent, clearly hiding something. Phobos takes that as a sign of 'not going to answer further', "I understand. Well then, let us go to turn in this criminal then."
A few minutes later, they arrive in front of a large white building, 'The Hunter's Union'. Located in the center of the city, this is the place where mercenaries, known as a Hunter come in to get a job, and get payment for it, although there are some non-hunting jobs for those who in need of quick cash that anyone can take.
The place just opens up, Demios heads towards the main counter as Phobos put the guy down and ties his body.
"I am here to turn this guy in," Demios points to the still unconscious red dragon. Phobos finishes tying the dragon as he is put on a cart, to be put in prison.
"Very well, your license please," the female receptionist happens to be a human, in her mid 30's. Humans are about as common as dragons, yet they are more of a citizen rather than warriors, but by no means they can't be one as there are dragon knights, in which a human who rides on dragons and fight alongside them. Demios hands over his license card he kept inside his pocket.
As he hands over the card, Phobos gets a glimpse of the card, written on it:
Name: Demios
Rank: C
'A rank C hunter? Why I never heard of him?' Phobos himself is a rank A hunter which he achieves after almost 5 years of struggling with this profession. Hunter ranks begin at E with the highest rank is S. In order to rank up, you need to accomplish a certain number of quests before taking a rank up exam, which involve battling a superior. With higher rank, means higher recognition and chances for quest given to you personally. Phobos takes out his card as he compares his own with Demios while the receptionist looks up the information on the criminal's data.
Name: Phobos
Rank: A
Phobos chuckles as he put away his card, reminiscing how time flies in those 5 years, though he looks solemn for a moment.
"Randor the Ravager, rank C Criminal. Here is your payment, two hundred Dracoins, "the receptionist hands over a pouch with coins inside. Dracoins are the currency in Dragon World. It is established as a way of efficient trading, since personal trading can be very complicated.
Demios silently takes the pouch, counting the contents, while the criminal, Randor is being taken away.
Phobos heads over beside Demios, he takes out a document regarding his night patrol. The receptionist hands him a slip, 'To the Owner of Hearth's Inn, from The Guild' is written on it. Phobos puts away the slip back in his pocket as Demios prepare to head off with Phobos follow suit.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Phobos asks Demios; both of them are descending the stairs to outside.
"Look for a new quest, and rest." Phobos nods in reply as they head to the sign board at the side of the building. Various hunters began to crowd the place; they are mostly armor dragons with colored scales, ranging from red, blue, black, and green from the most common seen to the rarest one. White dragons aren't known as a fighter, so two white armor dragons make quite a sight to most people. Although some look away from what seems to be contempt.
The sign board has various hunters looking at the top of the wanted list. Beside the list is the request board where the guild post the request from various residences in need of help.
Phobos looks at the poster; it is a silhouette of a dragon wielding a scythe in his left hand. The dragon has only his back visible and there is no indication as what kind of dragon this is.
Below the picture is written the details:
Wanted: '?'
Bounty: 1500 Dracoins
Rank: S
Crime: Wanted for various unprovoked assault on hunters based on various survivor testimonies. Known appearances are during the night at random locations. No other clues can be found regarding the identity this perpetrator. Photo is the only hint we have. Various sources claim this criminal is a powerful individual, proceed with caution.
Warning: Do not engage the target alone!
"A thousand and five hundred Dracoins!? With that much money anyone will be rich instantly," one of the male human exclaims in surprise.
"But rank S? This one must be pretty powerful. How many hunters it will take to bring him down?" a female red dragon around the same size as the human chimes in.
"Well, more hunters mean better chance, but also mean lesser prize as it is divided evenly." a large male blue dragon approaches the human and the female dragon.
It is quite amazing that someone manages to get a photo and still comes out alive. Most wanted poster usually drawn or describe in detail as taking a photograph is really risky and most who try either doesn't come out alive or their equipment is gone. That, and sometimes, the pay is not really worth it, a picture like this can only worth around fifty.
Phobos puts his hand on Demios's shoulder, "What do you think?"
"Searching for this criminal will take luck. I am curious though, who does something like this anyway?"
"Who knows," Phobos yawns, he hasn't gotten any sleep since his night patrol. "Hey, why don't we meet at Hearth's Inn? I'm staying there for the day, I will wait at 5 p.m." he turns around, "Well then, see you." Phobos left Demios as he ponders what to do next.
'Getting a room for me sounds like a good idea too' Demios walks to another signboard located across the wanted board. It is a map of the Dravagan, with the guild located at the center of the map.
The city itself is divided into 4 areas, with gates that circles around Hunter's Guild. From the guild, one can lead to the southeast and southwest section directly, while the northwest and northeast section requires them to walk around the building.
The northwest section is the 'Field of Wisdom'; the Dravagan's Library is in here, standing atop of a hill. Also includes various academies where humans or dragons attend to learn and practice various professions, including a fighting academy, most graduates becomes a hunter each with their own rumors and legends, sometimes.
The northeast section is the 'Industrial Area'; this is the place where electricity is generated to supply the city. They use water turbines since this section is also close to the waterfall. Although the water doesn't flow to the main section, the area outside the city makes it a good picnic spot.
The southwest section is the 'Residential Area', this area are mostly civilian's home. Many important buildings are also in here, from markets to hospital. High class families also live here, including the well known Halberd clan resides in this area.
The southeast section is the 'Hunter's Field', mainly serve as the place where hunters hang out or rest. This area includes many inns, shops, few smiths, and an arena.
The middle of all this is the Hunter's Guild, which serve as the city main hub where request get in, and also the place where hunters get their request.
Southeast section is also the place where the main gate is located. It is a large metal gate which serves as the entrance to Dravagan.
The place that Phobos mentions, Hearth's Inn, is close to the southeast gate. Without anything to do, Demios decide to check the Hearth's Inn, while looking at a clock on a pole. It is 7.12 a.m., there is still a lot of time until their meeting, but right now, getting a room to stay is the top priority as he doesn't want to have to pay for a more expensive room to stay for the night.
As he reaches the gate, which is essentially just an arch with the word 'Hunter's Field' etched on it, he could see the inn Phobos mentions. It is a large inn, which seems to double as a restaurant as there are tables outside the inn. However, it is still early, the restaurant is still closed. A plaque hangs by the door, 'One Night Stay: 75 Dracoins, one free breakfast included', is written on it.
"That's..., expensive..., and he stays in here?"
He turns around to see for a more affordable inn, despite he just getting money from the bounty, he can't be a spendthrift. Yet another thing worries him, cheaper inn means higher chance of the inn being full, and the services could be worse…
Across Hearth's Inn, there is another inn, it doesn't have much decoration, but the inn looks like another house from outside unless one takes a good look. A sign reads 'Familiar' is above the door, with the fee of 25 Dracoins for a single night.
"Sounds like a good place." Demios approach the inn, hoping to get a room.
The inside of the building has a lavender scent on the air. Comfort seems to be the priority in this inn at. The main counter is a few feet in front of him. The main entrance isn't really big as the place. The receptionist a female human, she bows as Demios approaches the counter.
"Welcome at Familiar, here is the place where you can rest and feel like in a home. One night is twenty five Dracoins, not including breakfast."
Demios counts five coins with a dragon mark on them and put them on the table. Bronze has one value; while Silver has five values of Dracoins, and gold has ten values of Dracoins. The coins he put down happen to be five silver coins.
The receptionist counts exactly twenty five Dracoins in value before handing Demios a key with number five written on it. "Here is your key for the night, the room is on your left, thank you and have a nice day."
Demios heads to the door with a plaque number five hanging from the door. Unlocking it, he sees a simple room with a bed, bathroom, and a table for two people or dragons. "Heh, a place to call home... Something that I won't have for myself so easily..." he says solemnly.
He takes off the armor he wears and set it down beside the bed. He set off an alarm to wake him up at 4.30 p.m. before heading off to sleep.
In a dark room, a dragon is looking at a poster that is put against a wall; the room is barely lit, a candle hangs from the wall beside the poster. It is the wanted poster. He shakes as he read it.
"No..." he shakes his head, "I can't let them catch me... Not with what they will do to me..." he takes a look at his left hand. A mark which represents a lock, restrained by a chain is visible, "As long as this mark, my curse exists..." he reaches out to the poster, revealing a white scaly hand, "And my little promise..." He tear down the poster, "No matter what, no one will find out that I am, even it means to throw away my real name..."
He grabs something from the wall, a scythe, and a helmet that he wears, while brandishing the weapon. "I have to stay alive, no one will be able to kill me, all for the promise I made..." his blue eyes shine through the helm.
Demios wakes up with a shock at the sound of an alarm ringing loudly. He quickly shut it down before calming himself, and berating himself for reacting like that. Humans have designs some sort of alarm to help everyone get up in time. The only problem is how loud it is. But that is the point; the loud noise forces you to get up.
Sighing, he takes a look at the clock, 4.30 p.m., the same time he set his alarm. Getting up from the bed, he decides to fresh himself up; Demios undress himself and take a shower. It is going to take a lot of willpower to stay awake for the night if he didn't prepare himself. Once done, he dries himself and wears a clean suit.
He makes himself a coffee from the table, all while commenting in his head with various stuff about how different human culture compared to them, though they are managing to adapt a lot since then. He has to admit, he doesn't know much about his own culture, no one speaks about it. The books regarding the history about the past claim that humans and dragons forge a treaty in order to survive, but left the details regarding the incident unanswered.
4.50 p.m. It took 20 minutes for him to drink coffee, all because he forgets that he can't stand hot stuff, thus he ends up waiting for the coffee to cool down.
Now, he is standing in front of Familiar in his black armor, sighing for his earlier idiocy. The sky above shows the sun slowly set down, night will come soon. Looking ahead, Hearth's Inn has many customers eat together in the restaurant; most of them are families, which aren't surprising as this place is located close to the Residential Area, making it easy to access.
Looking around, Demios catches sight of Phobos leaning his back against a wall beside the door. He is wearing the same set of armor he wears earlier. Phobos looks at Demios and he smiles, waving his hand. Demios approaches Phobos as he sees him nod at a customer.
"Hey Demios, you're early."
"Yeah, what are you doing? Working as a bouncer?"
"Well, sort of. Since the usual guy is sick, I agree to take his position for a while," he chuckles, before adding, "I got paid of course."
Just then, a large blue dragon came out of the door, carrying a small pouch and tosses them to Phobos, which he catches with ease, "Your payment Phobos."
"All right then, I'm out," both of them walks out into the open, "So, where should we start? The wanted poster makes it clear that this guy we are looking for is striking at random."
As they think of a possibility, a question pops up into Demios's mind.
"Phobos, just how accurate are the claims anyway?"
"Well, it depends. Unless we check for ourselves, we won't know for sure."
"You got involved?"
"Once, it was an incident of a false arrest. The guy that I arrested was freed and the quest giver was fined," he closes his eyes, "It was revealed that the quest giver has a grudge, so they set the victim up for a false crime. In the end, I was given restitution for all my trouble," he sighs, "It was embarrassing to get involved in the first place, but what can we say? You ask, we do the job, and we get paid. No question asked," Phobos chuckles nervously.
As they continue talking, someone shrieks loudly from the Residential Area.
"What was that!?" Demios looks ahead in alarm.
"Sounds like trouble, let's go!" Both of them run off to the source of the scream.
Upon arriving, they see a red dragon lay in a bloody mess. Lacerations wounds all over his body, two green dragons desperately try to patch the poor dragon up. Some pedestrian that look at the scene, step back in horror as they walk away quickly, trying to get the brutal image out of their minds.
Phobos and Demios step back as well, "Who could have done this…?"
Phobos takes a quick scan of the area. Nothing but resident house, but...
A movement from a left alley catches Phobos's eye. A suspicious figure wearing a cloak runs away upon having eye contact with Phobos, "Looks like that's our target, let's go!"
The path leads them to the slums, where poor residents live here with most of them are dragons. Unable to keep a good check on finances or having trouble with jobs places them here. Some of the dragons give both of them a dark look, definitely want to ambush them. Phobos and Demios stay together as they walk forward, careful not to trip.
Ahead is a large circular area which serves as a junction, a path to their right which leads to a different section of the residence, one on their left heads to the lowest area of the slums.
Suddenly the ground shakes as both of them stand at the center, dragons and humans surrounds them. All of them are thugs preparing to assault them.
"Well well, look who we have here, two little weak white dragons," Their leader, a tall black dragon wearing a red suit reveals himself. Phobos and Demios have their back on each other, while keeping their eyes on him. Demios feels anger at the word 'weak'.
"Hmph. No matter, both of you will die here, "he signals to his henchmen, "Get them."
Phobos and Demios unsheathe their weapons, preparing to take them on. A human jump at Demios, but he sidesteps and hammers his fist down at the human's back, slamming him to the ground and knocks him out.
A red dragon charges toward Phobos, wielding an axe. Phobos swings his sword to the left, creating a small arc which advances towards the dragon. The attack doesn't hinder him as he continues to rush forward. Still in the same position, Phobos makes an upper slash using the non-curved section, hitting the handle of the axe. The momentum knocks the dragon off as his weapon slip off his arms. Phobos quickly smashes the sword down, hitting him square in the head, knocking him out.
More of the enemies began their assault towards them; Demios spoke an arcane word as his right hand began to burn with fire, "Dragon Flame!"
The fire engulfs his body as an image of a fire dragon appears, breathing a wave of flame at the thugs, stopping them in their tracks. Phobos replaces his weapon with a trident, speaking an arcane sentence as his weapon glows white. He throws it forward; the weapon unleashes a force which sends the enemies flying away, with their backs hitting the wall, knocking them out, the trident returns to Phobos's hand after it hit a wall.
"Useless bunch of fools. Fine, I will take you two on myself," the black dragon steps forward.
"Sorry, but we don't have the time, I will scout ahead first." Demios spread his wings as he took off into the air. Phobos crouches as he holds his trident. With a leap, he ascends to the sky with incredible speed.
"Grrr... You are not getting away!" The leader spread his wings and gives chase, leaving the unconscious thugs.
As Phobos leap to the sky, he concentrates on floating as his body got lighter, a white veil surrounds his body, allowing him to fly. As he reunites with Demios, the leader appears in front of them, with an angry look.
"No one. No one ever escape from me! Hunter of the Dark, Valon!"
He reveals his weapon, a black twin blade. "Valon? I've heard of you. Rank A criminal with a bounty of 1200 Dracoins," Phobos notes in a neutral tone.
Valon looked a little angry, "And that newcomer got 1500. Higher than me!?" he snorts, "No matter. Once I am done with you two, he is next. Prepare yourself!"
Both of his weapons have essences of earth circulating the weapon. Phobos recognizes it as 'Elemental Enchantment'. By imbuing the weapon with the power of element, the user can unleash the power of nature at them. A commom ability, but difficult to master. Both dragons take a defensive stance towards whatever might happen.
Valon grunts as he raises his sword in an X position before making an X slash at them, sending rocks at both of them. Phobos and Demios try to guard with their weapon, but the rocks swarm their bodies, knocking them back and bruising their arms.
Valon points his sword at both of them, silently await their move.
Phobos and Demios recover from the pain as they recollect themselves. Valon prepares another X slash at them, his weapon essence of earth spins around the weapon at an incredible speed. Both Phobos and Demios split as Valon unleashes his earth attack once more; the elements forms a large rock that launch itself at them. They evade the rocks just in time as Phobos descends to the ground while Demios ascend higher.
Valon sheathe both of his swords as he spoke in arcane language. A spell circle appears above him, "Don't think that you can keep that spell up. Take this, Dragon Crush!"
An astral dragon emerges from the circle, ramming itself into Phobos. The veil around him breaks as he tries to shield himself. Without the veil, Phobos falls to the ground. "Phobos!" Demios prepares to dive down before he receives a punch to his face sends him staggering backwards.
"I told you, no one can escape from me," Valon draws his left sword once again while leering at Demios. He prepares his weapon once more as they clash.
Phobos falls back to the same junction, recovering his breath to recharge his energy. Standing up, he definitely knows that he had bruises all over his back from the fall, but a simple healing spell should do the trick.
As Phobos recovers himself from the fall, a movement left of him catches his attention. A dragon figure just takes a turn. He really wants to get to him, but he can't leave Demios. Around him, thugs began to wake up as they began to surround Phobos.
"You people really don't learn," Phobos sighs, equipping his trident and crouch down again.
"Get him!" The thugs try to swarm Phobos before he leap. But his eyes glow before they can get too close. Once again, he leaps to the air, the air brushes against him as he jumps a few feet above them.
Smirking, he held his trident while pointing downwards, chanting a spell line before throwing the trident to the ground, "I don't have time for you, so let me finish this quickly." The weapon began to emit a small white aura that quickly became larger before exploding, taking out the surrounding enemies while knocking out the farther ones. The weapon propels itself back to Phobos as he lands.
At that moment a sword falls on the ground, his eyes go wide as he picks it up. It is Demios's sword.
"No... Demios!" Wasting no more time, Phobos put away the sword as he leaps to the air, hoping he isn't too late.
Right after Phobos fall, Demios is currently trading blows with Valon. Their weapons continue clashing against each other, with Demios panting as he feels slightly overwhelmed.
"Not bad, for a weakling white," Valon smirks, making Demios growls in frustration.
"Stop calling me weak!" Demios prepare to bring his sword down.
"Too slow!" Valon slams his fist to Demios's torso, knocking him back. As he recovers, Valon has reduces their distance. Without time to react, he grabs Demios by the throat, holding him tightly.
Demios grunts in pain as his left hand holding Valon's arm, trying to make him let go. While the other hand tries to stab Valon in the close range, but he stabs Demios right hand, piercing the flesh beneath the scales, causing him to scream in pain as he drops his sword to the ground below.
"Look at you, pathetic white dragon tries to fight someone bigger than they could handle." Demios can't respond as he keeps struggling. He desperately tries to breathe as the grip on his throat become tighter. Valon grips the sword on his left hand, "Farewell, weak dragon," he is about to stab Demios as he feels a sudden pain in his back.
Phobos has seizes the chance and slashes Valon's back as he is about to stab Demios. Using the advantage, he grabs Valon's head and fall to the ground, slamming Valon's body with the help of his size.
To any human, a fall at this height will guarantee death. But dragons have tougher scales to help them survive such impacts. Unfortunately, Phobos's weight only serves to crush Valon immediately. The impact put him out immediately; fortunately no bones are broken in the process. He will have trouble moving for some time though. Phobos quickly ties him as Demios lands, holding his neck from the choking he suffers earlier, blood seeps from his right arm. He looks around and sees that the all of them are unconsious.
"You okay?"
"A little," Demios tries to convince himself that, but it is quite clear he is still a little shaken. He grunts in pain as he holds his right arm.
"Let me take a look at it," Phobos begins to inspect the injury. The sword pierces through the scales, but that's it. There are no signs of infection. Phobos softly speaks as his right hand glows a white light. The wound no longer bleeds, but it is still open.
Demios began to bandage his wound as he disinfects it, withstanding the pain.
Phobos lifts Valon on his back after closing up the slash he inflicts earlier before he gives Demios his sword back, "Here, you dropped this."
"Thanks," he put away his sword back to its sheath.
Phobos looks up to the sky, it's getting late. "Let's go back. It's dangerous for us to continue," he walks towards the path where they come from, the path without anyone unconscious as Demios follows behind him, looking back at the junction one last time.
Back in the Residential Area, the earlier commotion has disperses themselves. No one is in sight; perhaps in fear of the earlier incident befall them.
Both dragons continue to walk back to the guild in silence. Both of them have various things in their minds. To Phobos, fighting another rank A criminal is difficult, but manageable. But to Demios, this is his first time fighting one, and needless to say, Valon's earlier words haunt him.
'Look at you, pathetic white dragon'
Once they reach the guild, they immediately turn Valon in. They share the bounty of a thousand and two hundred Dracoins evenly among both of them. As they go outside, Phobos overhears a conversation.
It is two humans talking about the earlier incident.
"Hey, have you heard? Regarding the assault on the Residential Area?" One of them, a female asks the other.
"Yeah, I heard about it, the red dragon that got assaulted by this mysterious guy right?" The guy replies, pointing to the wanted poster.
"Actually, I hear something interesting,"
'Something interesting?' Phobos thinks to himself. He stops Demios from walking further by holding him by the shoulder.
"What is it?"
"Listen," Phobos motion Demios to stand beside him.
"According to the victim, this is the 2nd time he is attacked! By the same guy no less!" The female exclaims.
"Really!? Where did you know this?"
"I was restocking the medical stuff when I overhear him. Also, the victim is the one that shoot this photo," she points to the poster, "Most of the known victims are red dragons! Does this guy have a grudge against them or what?"
This sentence catches Phobos's attention. As much as he didn't like red dragons for being arrogant and prideful, he will never resort to such brutal way.
"That sounds creepy. But still, I guess we could count ourselves safe from him, right?"
Phobos pulls Demios and they walk away from the conversation.
Phobos has a lot to think regarding their target. First, it is a dragon. It is visible from the silhouette huge size. Two, he carries a scythe. That is an uncommon weapon to use. Three, he targets seems to be random but red dragons is the most victims. He might hate for red dragons, but for the rest…, he can't put his mind around it
As he thought about this, he sees that Demios looks down. He keeps his hands to his neck. He definitely feels down regarding how the earlier battle goes out. Both of them are now outside the guild, but they are behind the building. As they walk, Phobos has leads them to this location to talk quietly.
No one is around as the rest of the hunters are in front of the building, discussing about various stuff.
"That was your first beating isn't it?" Phobos's question snap him back to attention, "I can see it from your eyes."
Demios doesn't respond immediately, sighing before answering, "It's... more than that," he stop moving, "Sometimes; I wonder why I even in take this profession?"
Phobos stop upon that sentence; he never thought that Demios has quite a dislike for this job. But he is already rank C, something that is quite a feat for being here for a few years.
Phobos has a lot to think regarding their target. First, it is a dragon. It is visible from the silhouette huge size. Two, he carries a scythe. That is an uncommon weapon to use. Three, he targets seems to be random, but red dragons is the most victims. He might hate for red dragons, but for the rest…, he can't put his mind around it
As he thought about this, he sees that Demios looks down. He keeps his hands to his neck. He definitely feels down regarding how the earlier battle goes out. Both of them are now outside the guild, but they are behind the building. As they walk, Phobos leads them to this location to talk quietly.
No one is around as the rest of the hunters are in front of the building, discussing about various stuff.
"That was your first beating isn't it?" Phobos's question snap him back to attention, "I can see it from your eyes."
Demios doesn't respond immediately, sighing before answering, "It's..., more than that," he stop moving, "Sometimes; I wonder why I even in take this profession?"
Phobos stop upon that sentence; he never thought that Demios has quite a dislike for this job. But he is already rank C, something that is quite a feat for being here for a few years.
"You know," Demios begin, "I first take this profession because I'm tired. Tired of the way how us white dragon got seen as a weak dragon, only know how to mediate, how to play diplomat, doesn't know how to fight. Even green dragons got a better view since they could create potion or poison as a way to fight," he takes a breath, "I wasn't confident enough to take him, Valon alone. Because I am with you, I feel a little braver. After all, nearly everyone knows you," he looks away, "But, I was trashed. Just in a few moments, and nearly lost my life too," he closes his eyes next, "If he is already this hard, what about the other one? The rank S? Maybe he is right, maybe I'm weak." He clenches his fist, clearly have lose confidence at his own condition.
Phobos reacts by hitting his head, "Ow!"
"You are an idiot," Demios looks at Phobos, "You already here for 3 years and this is the first time you fight someone above your league right?" Demios silently nod, Phobos continues "Listen to me, you aren't weak. You are strong, we are strong. You are here because of you wanted to end this 'weak white' image we have." He takes a deep breath, "Look, do you think I am here never suffered? Never known defeat? No. I know defeat, and I know how bad it is to suffer, but I am alone and I am still here, a white dragon as a hunter for 5 years. Maybe we can't change being seen as weak immediately, but one day, we will change them. We will change the world. Do you believe me?"
Demios doesn't respond, yet he began to see why Phobos can convince him. He is alone on this business, and now he has another friend to go with. He sees him like a brother, someone important in his life.
"Yeah, I believe you." Demios smiles once more.
Phobos smiles as well, "Good, now let us find this guy and bring him in, together."
Both of them begin their walk to the Residential Area once more, though Phobos manages to confirm something as why he never heard of Demios before.
It is because the fact that he never challenge someone higher rank than him, so he never hear any news about him. Then again, hunters prefers to talk about bounties rather than talking about fellow hunters.
"How's your hand?"
"Doesn't feel hurt anymore," Phobos nods with this reply.
"We better prepare ourselves, this guy won't be taken down easily," Demios nod in confirmation as they continue the trek.
Night has fallen, it is now 8 p.m., and the clouds above cover the moon. Houses were now lit as they illuminate the streets. If there is one thing that human is capable of, is designing and making technologies. This makes them a great asset for technology development as dragons are mainly for other section, although there are some dragons working in the technology department as well.
"He won't appear like this, let's find a darker place." Phobos guide Demios to deeper area where electricity doesn't reach them. But there isn't any area without electricity, even after scouting the slums from the air.
"Damn. He might have hidden himself," Phobos mutters as he lands close to arch leading to Fields of Wisdom.
"Where he could be at this time…?"
As they ponder various possible locations, suddenly there is a scream. Phobos and Demios turn their heads at the source.
"Oh no..."
"It came from Fields of Wisdom. Let's go!"
Field of Wisdom is the place where humans and dragons come together to study. The place is quite dark as the academy is closed at night, making this place the perfect spot for an assault.
Demios chooses to fly ahead to scout the location, while Phobos run following Demios. Ahead, he saw what seems to be a red dragon backing away in fear from a larger dragon. Both of them are within the training grounds of Hunter Academy.
"Over there!"
With great speed, Demios fly in front of the red dragon as he fell down, the larger dragon preparing to strike its victim. Demios blocks the weapon immediately by slashing in the opposite way of the weapon that is upwards. The position is uncomfortable for Demios as he had to hold his weapon with two hands. He turns his face towards the dragon, "Go! Get away from here!" Demios shouts to the dragon. The small red dragon run away as Phobos enters the field.
Both Demios and the dragon clash as they step back, weapons points at each other.
"Who are you?" Phobos is curious at what kind of dragon who would brutalize one of their own kinds.
The dragon doesn't respond, instead he shoulder his scythe and pulls out a paper and a pen, scribbling something. Demios and Phobos has a dumbfound look as they just watch a criminal stop fighting to write as a way to communicate, 'Is he mute?' is the only thing that they could think of.
'Go ahead, take a guess.' This answer only irritates Phobos.
"Why are you doing this?" Demios asks as he wants to know his motive.
'I hate them. All they know is how to look down on others, insulting them. They deserved it, to be beaten down by a 'weaker dragon.' Is what he has written and shows it to them, then he scribble some more.
"Hey, as much as I hate one, brutalizing them isn't an answer," Phobos chimes in, only agreeing on the 'look down' part.
'It will grant them fear, so that they will stop looking down on us.'
"What it will accomplish!? Controlling through fear? All that you're doing is hurting the innocents!" Demiosshouts. He never has seen anyone act like they have some sort of vendetta.
'Oh? Then, what is to say about your own profession? Violence is the way of your job right?' Demios takes a step back in response.
"But what makes you think that violence is the only answers!?" Demios shout, yet his voice slightly trembles on the word 'violence'.
'How would you know? When all your life has is nothing but distrust and betrayal from those 'innocents'.' The air becomes tense with this sentence.
'All my life, everyone fears me, even my own kind. Even when I wanted to be accepted, all they do is using me. In the end, the only thing I have is...' his hand tremble as he shows the unfinished writing. He drop the paper and the pen as he stay still. Phobos and Demios share an uncomfortable look.
"All I have..." he suddenly speaks; his voice is deep, "is someone who accepts me for who I am, my friend," a pause, "AND THEY TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!" The dragon suddenly shouts, grabbing his scythe and rushes forward with incredible speed, catching both Demios and Phobos off guard.
Phobos receives a blow to his gut and Demios got a strike from the blunt section of the scythe on his chest. Phobos flies back a few feet while Demios staggers for a few steps.
"I hate them... I hate them all... They will pay... All of them..."
Phobos gets back to his feet as he closes in and punches the dragon in the chest, making the dragon step back. The clouds part away, the moon shines down on the dragon, revealing a white dragon. Demios and Phobos look in shock as they found that their enemy is a white dragon.
"Just when I thought there is only both of us known to be able to battle," Phobos utters in shock, "Well? Still not going to at least say your name?"
He doesn't reply. His notable feature is that he wears a helmet, hiding his face, but showing his blue eyes. His wings are also quite tattered. It is a wonder he can fly in such condition. His scythe gleam in the moonlight as he brandishes it, pointing the weapon to them. Phobos and Demios know this will be a hard battle.
The dragon begins by throwing his scythe, which Demios dodges by sidestepping. The dragon outstretches his right arm, making a return gesture.
The scythe that passes Demios suddenly spins back to its owner crashing into Demios's back as it brings him to the dragon. Phobos began to rush to the middle of trajectory, ramming his body into Demios and knocking them out of the path while the scythe returns to its owner.
Recollecting their composure; Phobos began to clash his weapon with the scythe. The curved blade of a scythe makes it impossible to block unless it is under certain circumstances. The dragon grunts as he use the weapon's pole to block the attack
As Phobos jumps back, the dragon spins around, hitting Phobos square in the chest with the blunt section. The impact sent him flying as he lands in the ground.
The dragon looks around, there is no sign of Demios, unless...
A drift behind him causes him to turn around and swing his scythe upwards. Phobos who just stands up sees the dragon have a somewhat panic expression.
Unfortunately, Demios is standing exactly where the dragon strike. The sudden blow causes him to drop his assault as the impact knocks him upwards. He lands in the ground below and tries to stand up again. But he is too slow; the dragon has swing down his scythe at Demios head, Demios leaps forward, ramming the dragon by the chest, knocking him down.
The dragon retaliates by kicking Demios away off him. Standing up, without looking behind, he thrust his scythe backwards. Phobos happens to be behind when the pole hit him, staggering him backwards as the dragon spread his wings and soar to the sky above.
"Stop right there!" Phobos crouches down, preparing to leap. Just before he can leap, his body has been surrounds by chains, binding themselves to his body. Phobos takes no heed as the extra weight cling to him. Still in the position, he jumps to the sky, preparing to strike the dragon.
But nothing happens, all that happen that Phobos just jumps normally, instead of leaping to the sky. "Huh?"Once again, he concentrates and tries to leap again, but with the same result, he still jumps a small height instead of leaping like earlier.
Demios spread his wings as well preparing to take off, but chains restricts his wings, then his body as he struggles to break free from the binds.
"What the, what is this!?"
He looks at Phobos, he tries casting a spell, but nothing happens as well. There is no source of these chains, as if they are some sort of mystical power.
"What is happening!?" Both dragons can't do anything as the dragon stares at them from above.
He outstretch both of his palms to Phobos and Demios before closing it. The chains began to squeeze both of them as they desperately try to break free from them. The dragon opens his palms as he raises his arms, clasping both hands.
The chains explode as Phobos and Demios screams. They lay in defeat on the ground; various sections of scales within their body suffer a burn mark.
The dragon stares at his enemies. He walks away from both of them, leaving them be.
"Stop!" Phobos shouts, as he tries to stand up. His entire body stings from the pain.
The dragon doesn't stop, he continues to walk, and ignoring the two dragons he just blew up.
Phobos grunts as he holds his left shoulder, blood began to seep from the scales. Demios is still unconscious; his body has blood on various sections. Realizing the urgency of their situation, Phobos lifts Demios by the shoulder as he trudge on to walk back to the Residential Area, hoping to get help before it's too late.
"Over there! There they are!"
Phobos looks ahead, a group consists of dragons and humans run towards them. Phobos drop to his knees as the burning pain becomes too intense. He closes his eyes, panting heavily as they release Demios from his grip and lay him in a stretcher. Phobos falls to the ground, slowly losing his consciousness.
"We need a healer immediately, both of them in critical condition!"
The last thing he sees is Demios still unconscious body...
Why do you continue this path?
This life of violence doesn't suit you; there is nothing for you on this path.
No, this is the only way I can go; this is the only life I have.
Do you honestly think you could change?
You can't, you will end up running away.
Like you have done before.
Demios woke up in cold sweat as he gasp, hands in his chest as he tries to calm his heart down, 'A nightmare...', he thought. He covers his eyes with his hands, taking breaths in repeatedly.
Once he calm himself down, he look at his surroundings. He is in some sort of a white room, a recovery room to be exact as only hospital has the scent of natural medicine. Looking over himself, he sees that his torso has been bandaged. Looking around, he saw Phobos sleeping to his left.
"What happened...?"
He tries to remember the earlier incident. He recalls that they were chasing over a criminal in Fields of Wisdom, and they fight against him, but the rest is blank.
Looking over himself, he realizes the truth. They have lost. He grips the blanket tightly, defeat always feels painful, and suffering two defeats in one day really doesn't help matters for Demios.
Phobos stirs awake, the first thing he did is waking up. To his right, he saw Demios gripping the blanket tightly. Realizing that he is still alive, and Demios is feeling down again, Phobos does the thing he could think of.
"Hey," he calls out. Demios turns around and saw Phobos has sit by the bed. His torso and hands has been bandaged as well.
"Take a deep breath and calm yourself down first," he continues. Demios did just that, but the feeling of failure is still there.
Phobos sighs, "We got lucky. If it had been a few minutes more, we might be dead," Demios can only nod, Phobos continues on, "You know, this is the first time I-, wait no, we tried to challenge a Rank S criminal," Phobos takes a deep breath, his face become solemn, "We got defeated, badly. And looks like no training could help us here..."
That doesn't make him feel better, but a sentence catches his attention, "Wait, you said 'no training could help us'," Demios pause, realizing the meaning of the sentence, "What's that supposed to mean!? Did you just saying that we will never win!?" He shouts, angry that Phobos feels that they can't beat him; at least that's what he believes.
"That dragon, there is something not normal about him. That power of his..., no dragons or humans could do something like that. We need to know more about it before we could fight against him again."
Demios slumps against the bed, sighing. "What can we do now...?"
"Right now, let us rest. We will think about it tomorrow..."
As Demios prepares to sleep, an important thing comes to his mind, "Say, Phobos? Who is going to pay for this?"
Phobos freezes in shock just before he sleeps; he completely forgot that they are sleeping in the hospital rooms, "Well, there goes my free room. Why don't we worry tomorrow?" With that, he sleeps with his back facing Demios.
"You have to be kidding me..." Demios mutters, but he falls asleep quickly as well.
A figure is reading a book about theory of various humans' technology and how it can be applied. "This is stupid," he throws the book away; "I'm not getting anywhere reading this 'theory' of them."
He turns around and takes a good look towards an object within this room. The object resembles a pod, but only in shape. This 'object' is nothing more than a frame of a pod.
"One day, I will complete this creation." he head closer to the pod, "The invention that could bring back someone from the brink of death, and prolongs the life of any beings," he stares at the pod, his right hand glows a soft green, "It will be, my greatest invention! My masterpiece!" he proclaims loudly, his voice echoes off the walls around him.
Though, he lowers his head immediately, "Why am I talking to myself?" He shakes his head, "All right, back to more research." He began by grabbing a random book from the shelves, only to realize that he had thrown most of the books from the shelves, leaving a mountain of books behind him.
"Oh no," he turn around to the mountain of books behind him, sighing in defeat, "It can't be helped," he takes out a piece of paper, "They better come through with this one..." after writing it down, he folds it in a letter, signed 'To Hunter's Guild'.
"There. Hopefully anyone who comes next didn't freak out," he turns to the mountain of books again, "Argh, better stop this habit or I will look ridiculous."
He heads to a door with a mailbox beside it. He puts the mail inside and raises the metal flag by the box. After that, he dozes off on the study desk he sat earlier. His hands glows a slight green in the process.
To be continued...
AN: So, how is it? Feel free to leave a feedback, or whether you have any questions.