1.3
I managed to soften the next blow by stepping back, but was unable to avoid it entirely. The uppercut sent me flying but the fire on my skin flared, slowing my descent. I landed on my feet with more grace than I knew I possessed. I didn't stay on my feet long as another scaled fist pounded into my side. He followed it up with a ball of flame that swept over me like a warm breeze. Turned out the ParaWiki didn't lie. It was easy to see that Lung was getting stronger, but his speed was less physically apparent – at least until he moved. At least I was right about my Fire aspect rendering me immune to his flame attacks.
He was definitely getting bigger, judging by how small the truck behind him now seemed, but he didn't seem as gigantic as I might have expected. Following a suspicion, I looked down. 'Oh.' I was pretty sure the ground was further away than normal. I'd always been a bit on the tall side, but this was ridiculous. If I had to guess I was probably close to seven feet tall.
I blushed as I realized that all that remained of my clothes was a bit of ash by my feet. It was difficult to feel shame while channeling Fire, but complete nudity was still outside my comfort zone. Thankfully, it didn't appear that I had much to show. My form was still the same, but the details had been rubbed out by my transformation. There was no longer even a clear delineation between my skin and the flames. I noticed uncomfortably that Lung's partial transformation into a blue-green scaled dragon had left him similarly Ken-dolled. I sincerely hoped my transformation was reversible.
Lung attacked, and there was no more time for regrets or thoughts of the future. The gang members had all disappeared without noticing, leaving Lung with no more reason to hold back. There was nothing human about his movements now. Rather than punches, he came at me with sweeps of his claws, a fanged mouth opening to spout blue fire. I noted in amusement that it matched nicely with my now sea-green hue.
I ducked under flame-wreathed claws, moving as much by will as by muscles. In truth, I wasn't entirely sure I still had any flesh-and-blood muscles anymore. I could see beneath my skin various structures of differently-hued semi-solid flame that could constitute bone and muscle equivalents, but I couldn't be sure. Still, despite the numerous advantages my transformation gave me I was still coming up short against Lung. I could feel more and more power flowing into me, filling me with strength and flame, but that was only because Lung himself was growing more powerful. Was there no upper limit to his power? The pavement was literally bubbling beneath him. Of course, now that I bothered to notice, it felt a little soft beneath my feet as well.
I was taller than him now. Not because I was outgrowing him(though I certainly was well past the Amazon mark), but because he'd taken to all fours. From head to the tip of his tail he had to be pushing twenty feet in length. I was proud of my new height, proud of a lot of things really – Fire had a tendency to do that – but as I saw wings unfold from his back I did wonder if I was still out of his league. I barely dodged as knife-teeth thrust forward on his serpentine neck. It was the closest he'd come to damaging me since the first few strikes. Given how fast I seemed to heal I wasn't sure even a direct hit from his claws would kill me, but even with Fire clouding my judgment I wasn't eager to risk decapitation. I had to think of something, and quickly.
I frowned, or tried to. I had a feeling it came out as a moue of discontent over him not letting me enjoy the bonfire. Disregarding the danger, I swept in under his next attack to deliver a punishing blow to his ribs – punishing to me at least. I stared with more then a little apprehension at the mangled remains of my hand. My knuckles had been stripped away like shattered marble. Fear chipped away at my control of Fire but I forced it down. 'Heal, damn you!' Responding to my efforts my hand flared white-hot, healed hand revealed as the flare died down.
'Punching... definitely not the answer.' I wasn't sure what other options I had though. I could maneuver in short bursts ever so slightly faster than he could by firing off bursts of flame from my hands and feet, but if I tried to run I was sure he'd catch and devour me in seconds. Fighting as I was currently doing was useless as well. Physically hitting him hurt me more than him, and the fire I could conjure did nothing against dragon hide. If there were any other abilities to be had from the Fire aspect, I hadn't experimented enough with it enough to find out.
How long could this continue? Both of us growing more and more powerful, flames growing hotter and higher until the whole city could see us burn? It wouldn't be long before more than the tar would burn. Something had to be done. Perhaps I should have gone with Earth after all, but it was too late to change now. I'd die to the heat coming off of Lung if I relaxed the heat immunity of my current aspect for even a moment. But... was it possible to use more than one element at once? Previous attempts had ended with pounding headaches and hardly anything to show for it, but I hadn't had this sort of power at my fingertips back then. Well, it was hardly as if I had anything to lose.
Sending a steady fountain of flame at Lung's eyes to keep him blinded I searched inside myself for Earth. I was growing more slowly thanks to expending energy on the flame attack, but it was a necessary evil. It was a difficult task to keep my confidence, pride, and hunger, while simultaneously searching for solidity, momentum, eternity. Then, marvelously, I found it. A perfect mix of the emotions, more wonderful and terrible than I'd ever imagined.