A/N: Hello everyone! How are you enjoying patch 4.2? In my case, my FC has acquired a new, large plot and I've cleared a good chunk of the new content that's come out. Still workin' on Sigmascape V3, haha. I won't spoil any story details, although that could change for the side stories in between arcs.
To tryal-leaf: Thanks for your review as always! Hraesvelgr had been planned to be the 'boss' of the arc for a while now, and while he is sort of an odd choice, I like how it turned out. Jacques simply wanted something powerful that not even he knew of (being an entrepreneur), and the Ascian reeeally wants to get under Elway's skin, so you're definitely on the mark on that end. And, agreed on him keeping better track of his stuff, haha!
Now, onto the story!
Chapter 20
Atlas – Elway
The cocoon of light burst, revealing the primal copy of the great wyrm Hraesvelgr. His visage was similar, yet showed a few differences from the wyrm that Elway knew so well. Whereas the original's horns were curved, the primal's were straighter. Where his mouth should have been softer, resembling an old man's tired beard, the primal's mouth was jagged and menacing.
Overall, while his colors and wings stayed true, he resembled Nidhogg in the ferocity of his appearance. Was it due to Jacques not knowing Hraesvelgr properly, and only through texts? Elway wondered in his head, steeling himself to protect Weiss from being tempered. Or is it due to the Ascian lying to Jacques, telling him that Hraesvelgr is a wyrm of destruction, like his brother?
Either way it could now be suffered to live. Not to wreak havoc onto this world.
The primal roared, sending shockwaves that forced Elway and Weiss to brace themselves. The shockwave also blasted Jacques into the destroyed wall of the factory, instantly knocking out the company president.
A dark portal manifested, and the Ascian appeared once more, but in front of Jacques, placing a hand roughly on the unconscious body of the president and teleporting away just as swiftly. Elway scoffed at the two, they could wait.
Hraesvelgr, or rather the primal version of him, spread his wings as he roared, and took flight, once more sending out powerful waves of force that kept the two grounded. Elway grimaced, following the primal with his eyes, before Weiss shook him out of his focus.
"Elway… what WAS that?!" Weiss asked, voice shaking. "It was overwhelming…"
"A primal. I should have done more to prevent this." Elway shook his head, teeth grit in frustration. "I must go after it, immediately."
"Are you insane? You'll get killed!"
"This is my duty, Weiss." Elway's tone gave away his sheer anger. It was obvious that he was serious, and he would go, risk of death or no.
The sound of an approaching Bullhead interrupted their conversation. The ship landed messily, and through the doors burst out a tall, middle-aged man in a military uniform.
"General Ironwood!" Weiss exclaimed, running towards him. "Are you here because of what just happened?"
"We rushed here as soon as we saw the flash of light, and only caught a glimpse of… whatever that thing was, flying away!" Ironwood explained. "What are you doing here Ms. Schnee, and who's this?"
"I-It's a long story, but my father is behind this." Weiss tried to find her words. "I came here to stop him, and this…"
"My name is Elway. It's my job to stop that monstrosity." Elway cut in for her curtly.
"That… dragon," Ironwood guessed, still shaken, "is supposed to be stopped by you? Alone? What is it supposed to be?"
"You can worry about the how of it elsewhere, and some other time!" Elway claimed, running a hand through his hair in anger. "For now, lend me your ship."
Ironwood crossed his arms, regaining some of his composure.
"Why should I do that? How am I supposed to trust this random stranger who appeared in my city, claiming he can take on a dragon that huge by himself? Moreover, you may be putting Ms. Schnee in danger."
Weiss outstretched an arm to cover Elway, as if protecting him.
"Elway's not like that! I did this of my own will. And," Weiss looked over at Elway, whose surprised gaze made her feel a bit satisfied. "He's right. Please, General. WE will put an end to my father's designs."
Ironwood sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Fine. But only on the condition that I can question him when you return." Ironwood stretched an amicable, gloved hand out to Elway. "Deal?"
"As you wish." Elway took the hand firmly, noting the feel of steel beneath the glove.
"One more thing…" Weiss rushed back into the ruins of the factory quickly, coming out with the unconscious body of Whitley in her arms. "Can you take care of him for now? He's probably been at father's mercy since we've been gone."
Whitley stirred as she spoke, mumbling weakly.
"Someone… anyone, stop father…" Whitley blacked out just as he mumbled those words.
"Yes… of course." Ironwood took Whitley from Weiss' arms, and ordered his men off the ship. "Do you know how to pilot a Bullhead, Ms. Schnee?"
Weiss nodded at him, as if it was obvious.
"I promise we'll send support as soon as possible." Ironwood continued, bowing slightly to the two.
"Your concern is unnecessary. I won't need your support, and it is better to leave as many bystanders out of the way as possible." Elway retorted abruptly.
Atlas Mountains, Bullhead – Elway
Soon after departing from Atlas as quickly as possible on the Bullhead, the air between the two was tense. Elway stood behind Weiss as she piloted the ship quickly, following his directions as to where the wyrm went.
As they rocketed towards the direction Elway pointed out, the silhouette of the wyrm appeared into the distance, still obscured somewhat by the clouds.
"There. Quickly, now. I can't tell if it's trying to find something, or find solitude…" Elway advised as Weiss followed his orders. "Can you get me above and ahead of it?"
"It's possible, but it'll be rough." Weiss confirmed.
"I only need a moment. Thank you."
"Elway, I'm going too."
"Weiss, that's reckless. You don't know what this primal is capable of."
"Even so!" She shouted, not wanting to feel like a burden. "I can't sit here and do nothing. Part of this is my responsibility too, for not stopping my father. All those lives lost, I won't let anything like that happen again! So please, let me help!"
Elway shook his head at her thick-headedness. These children really were capable of becoming heroes, no doubt about it. He looked at her fiercely determined eyes and sighed, relenting.
"I only ask that you'll stay safe. I will engage the primal first, so you must keep yourself at a distance unless I order you to do otherwise. Is that clear?"
"Understood. I'm speeding up now." Weiss focused on the Bullhead controls as the ship sped up, slowly gaining altitude and gaining on the primal.
As the ship sped up, Elway clutched a blue soul crystal to his heart. The soul of a Dragoon. He couldn't have guessed that he would need it again so soon.
In a flash of light, his usual Scion Adventurer attire disappeared. As Weiss turned around, she saw Elway standing in a dark blue set of armor, resembling dragon's scales. The helmet was clearly modeled after a dragon, the visor not yet pulled down as she made eye contact with the adventurer. And on his back, instead of his usual axe, was a large, two-pronged spear of blue, a small tassel adorning it before the blade. Brionac.
Her jaw dropped, this was nothing like his casual, slightly insensitive demeanor. He was ready to kill.
"Are we ready, Weiss?" Elway's voice snapped her out of her stupor, as she noticed they were in the position he requested.
"Y-yeah." She nodded meekly. Was she really ready for this? Either way, she opened the door to the Bullhead as Elway looked out to find Hraesvelgr. "Don't die, okay?"
"Haha." Elway's usual smirk appeared on his face for just a moment, laughing at her sudden reclusiveness. "No promises." He teased. Elway pulled the visor down onto his face, the red eye markings on the helmet becoming apparent now. He vaulted himself onto the roof of the Bullhead, the wind rushing past his face.
Elway spotted Hraesvelgr's form flying throughout the air, and prepared himself, holding his spear perpendicular to the ship.
Prepare yourself, primal.
The roof of the Bullhead shook with a mighty force, as Elway Jumped, soaring through the sky and aiming for the flying wyrm. He began to descend at incredible speed towards to dragon, who barely noticed the dragoon. Elway brought his spear down with a battlecry, slamming it onto the back if the wyrm with a Spineshattering Dive. Hraesvelgr roared in pain in response, and tried to fling the dragoon off of its back.
The force of the attack disrupted the primal's flight, as it's frame weakened Elway drove his spear further into the primal, sending it crashing towards the ground at breakneck speeds. Elway fell with it, spear still embedded into Hraesvelgr, determined to drag it to the ground. They crashed to the ground in a spectacular uproar, sending chunks of earth and snow everywhere, clearly marking the landing area.
Elway took his spear out as the primal roared in pain once more, and whipped around on the ground to attack him. It locked onto Elway with its eyes, now assessing the threat. It roared to intimidate Elway, but he was undeterred. Elway simply held his spear with two hands in a battle stance silently, knowing that this was far from the true and wise Hraesvelgr.
This was no more than a beast.
The dragoon dashed forward, twirling his spear with his Impulse Driving him. He stabbed forth into the primal's neck, but was blasted back by a blast of holy energy from Hraesvelgr. The wyrm opened its mouth to send for a stream of light that aimed for Elway. Elway walked forward calmly and twirled his spear to block the blast, and spun around to Disembowel the primal's throat. The spear landed true, drawing forth a stream of blood. He followed up with a Chaos Thrust, slashing his foe and piercing the wounds to make the wound bleed even more.
Hraesvelgr's jaw came for him as he attacked once more, snapping at him, but it found no mark as Elway back flipped in an Elusive Jump, prepared for the attack.
An attack like that won't be nearly enough to be a decisive blow.
Elway roared, the sound of his bellows becoming akin to a wyrm, as he released his Blood of the Dragon, a blue illusionary wyrm surrounding him with a similarly blue aura. Hraesvelgr flew forward quickly, trying to spear him on its horns, but Elway responded by dodging to its flank, simultaneously uppercutting the wyrm's side with his spear and piercing through its hide, imitating a dragon's Fang and Claw.
Jumping once more, he brought his spear down onto the wyrm's head. The primal only roared again in response, this time stomping with a blast of holy magic added, causing the surrounding area to be bathed in an holy spell that blasted Elway, causing him to cry out in pain. Not yet deterred, he removed his spear, Elusive Jumping once more but throwing an aetherial copy of Brionac at the wyrm, a Piercing Talon.
Atlas Mountains – Weiss
Meanwhile, Weiss landed the Bullhead quickly and broke out in a sprint towards the battle.
"Please be okay, please be okay…" The girl muttered under her breath, anxiety gripping her heart.
She came up a valley in the middle of the mountain range, marred by the landing of Elway and the primal, Hraesvelgr. And in the distance, Elway fighting fiercely, spear to talon with the mighty wyrm.
"ELWAY!" She shouted, creating a glyph to rush over to their battle. She stepped off of it quickly, and created a summoning glyph close to Elway. The glyph spun and spun, before bursting with an explosion sounding like the breaking of glass. Out of the glyph came a large white knight, who kneeled before her. She commanded the knight to go, and it rushed forward at the dragon, swinging wildly. The knight slammed its weapon into the back of the wyrm, who roared in response.
Elway, now seeing the Weiss clearly, gave her a proud nod, though his helmet hid his smile. The knight continued to hack at the dragon as Elway took advantage of the wyrm's rage and Heavily Thrusted his spear into the face of Hraesvelgr, following it up with a True Thrust into the wyrm's eyes.
Weiss spun the chamber of Myrtenaster quickly, switching it to an ice cartridge. She activated the dust alongside a glyph, and created several icicles to launch at the primal. Each of the projectiles struck true, freezing several of the dragon's wings.
With that, Hraesvelgr spun around fiercely, whipping its tail around to blow back Elway and the knight, and break Weiss' focus. It flapped its wings multiple times to shake off the frost, and roared once more deafeningly, forcing the two combatants to cover their ears.
"Careful Weiss!" Elway shouted over the roar. "It's about to fly into the air!"
The primal jumped after shaking the ice off of its wings, and in its place, small clusters of holy light appeared in its place.
"Holy sprites. Weiss, take care of those!" Elway shouted, jumping up into the air after Hraesvelgr. The sprites seemed to lock onto her, slowly floating towards her with violent intent.
Weiss prepared Myrtenaster as her knight steadied itself once more. She spun the chamber of Myrtenaster, landing on lightning dust and creating a glyph under the knight. The glyph activated, speeding it up and she ordered it forward.
The holy sprites cast a few holy bursts of energy that battered against the knight, who stood stalwart in front of Weiss. It swung its massive sword out, hitting a sprite and shattering it instantly. Weiss followed up this action with a swift stab through another sprite, shouting furiously as she activated the lightning dust to send a bolt of lightning through the sprite.
Meanwhile, Elway was on the primal, spear pierced through and holding on while it tried to shake him off. Elway drove the spear further into Hraesvelgr, grunting as the violent thrashing grew worse. Elway Jumped once more using the primal as footing, and floated above the primal for a moment, before being consumed by his Blood of the Dragon. He let out an inhuman roar, and the blue aura exploded into life before surrounding his spear. He thrust downward, the aura becoming one with his strike and let out a huge Geirskogul, a mirage of a dragon rushing towards the primal and piercing through it, cutting its flight short. Hraesvelgr began to fall towards the ground as Elway swiftly followed, spear still at the ready.
Elway landed gracefully, a mist of snow being kicked up from his descent. Weiss rushed to his side, the knight behind them menacingly. Hraesvelgr laid on the floor, unmoving but not dissipated into aether.
"Is… is it over?" Weiss asked cautiously.
"Not yet."
True to Elway's words, Hraesvelgr's became consumed with light. A flash blinded the two, before a cold blast threw them both back. Elway gasped, his eyes detecting something… or someone, he would have never thought to see again.
There stood an Elezen woman in front of Hraesvelgr, her features icier than he remembered. Her skin was a pure white now, and her hair a frosty blue. But it was the visage of his friend. Or perhaps, the visage his friend tried to desperately to copy.
Ysayle, or Saint Shiva. Either way, Elway's features betrayed his despair.
Was her legend so closely tied to Hraesvelgr that she was summoned as well? Must fate mock me for my weakness again?!
Elway punched the snow-covered ground with a gauntlet-covered hand, face twisted in frustration. Weiss shook his shoulder, shouting something he couldn't hear while the newly arrived foe floated, and in a burst of light, touched the fallen Hraesvelgr. As they made contact, the two seemed to meld together, their aether combining.
In their place stood the primal form of Saint Shiva covered in a holy aura, now bestowed with a series of white wings. Shiva, and Hraesvelgr united once more.
Chapter 20 – Dragonsong
A/N: Oh boy, another cliffhanger. Sorry about that, it's just that this whole fight would have been very long if I didn't split it. Shiva appears due to being so closely tied to Hraesvelgr, and the real fight begins! Also, I apologize for the wait; it's been getting busier at university again. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter. Please leave a review!