Chapter 25: Penglog the Bone Dragon
"Bloodtox?" Asked Issei, clearly unsure of what it was.
"It's a poison..." coughed Adrian, "that specifically targets...the Blacklight Virus!" Mira then charged at Adrian again, this time he is unable to block or defend himself, so Issei jumped in the way instead. He was smashed in the abdomen with Miras' bo staff, and launched into the ceiling, crashing to the floor.
"Awe shit!" Muttered Calvin, readying his hands, walking forward, and sending several shots of electricity at Mira, who dodged every shot like an acrobat, and charged him when she got close enough. He held his forearms in front of himself, blocking a strike from hee staff, but of course, it still hurt like hell, and she managed to slip her staff behind his arms, nailing him in the face and sending him crashing to the floor on his rear. Mira then readied her staff, aiming for another strike, but her staff collided with the serpentine blade of Soul Reaver, being held by a defensive Katrina.
"You wish for a fight that much? How would you like to fight the Goddess of War?"
"That's enough!" Called Rias, who rusbed to Adrian to help him stand as he was losing consciousness, "Grayfia, tell my brother I agree to the Rating Game!" The remaining ORC members gasped, with Wesker actually removing his glasses, and Damon cracking his neck.
"I will inform him immediately," said Grayfia, and Riser, Yubelluna and Mira rejoined the rest of House Phoenix.
"Riser..." Adrian wheezed, attempting to stand on his own two feet, and barely managing to do so, "...trust me...when I say this...you...have already lost this game!" He finished his sentence with a bellow, and Riser simply laughed as he and his house vanished in a plume of flame. With House Phoenix gone, Adrian was finally able to breath again, his lungs healing up almost instantly. He walked to the window, looking out as the rest of the ORC helped Issei and Calvin. "Rias?" The red haired she-devil looked to Adrian, "I want you to tell me right now, just how badly do you want to win this game and beat Riser?" Rias looked at Adrian, stunned that he would even ask that,
"I want to make sure I don't have to marry him!" She said, almost sounding hurt.
"Good, because now I have a reason to give it my all," he turned to face the ORC, "but I can't do it on my own." I will need help from all of you, even you Grayfia." The gray haired woman looked at Adrian curiously,
"MY help?"
"Yes," said Adrian, "do you have access to a rule book for rating games? Is there even such a thing?" Grayfia held her hands out, forming a medium sized magic circle, and in her hands appeared a brown leather bound book, about as as large as a school textbook, and twice as thick. He took the book, "Thank you, do you also have access to records of all the rating games Riser participated in? How he won, who participated, info on his peerage, anything that can be useful. Because I don't know about you, but I don't want to see Rias walking down the aisle to Riser as his bride." Grayfia stared at Adrian, and snapped her fingers, another magic circle appearing over the book Adrian was holding, and a REALLY tall stack of papers appeared over the book, with Adrian barely managing to hold it all together, so he piled the book and papers on the coffee table, "Thank you Grayfia."
"If that is all," said Grayfia, "I must inform Sirzechs about the arrangement." She then vanished from sight in a magic circle, leaving the ORC to themselves.
"One last thing, Rias," said Adrian, turning to his love interest, "the millisecond you know where the game will take place, I will need to know."
Several hours later...
Everyone was starting to head home, with only Adrian remaining at the clubhouse, a cup of coffee on his left, a candle at his right, the rulebook for rating games in front of him, and bags under his eyes. He just finished reading the part where each house in each rating game could use two outside items when he was slowly beginning to nod off to sleep.
He blinked several times when he suddenly found himself on the black sand beach again, this time feeling like it was more real than a dream like before. He looked up, seeing the black skeletal dragon once again, only now, he could see it was clearly smiling.
"Surprised to see me?" It said.
"Half surprised," he said, "so who are you exactly?"
"I am Penglog, the Bone Dragon. Or the Reaper Dragon, the Black Dragon, the Death Dragon, the list goes on. But I always preferred the Bone Dragon because it seemed most fitting," it answered.
"So are you an emperor dragon? Like Isseis' Red Dragon?"
"Like Ddraig? Fuck no. Being a Heavenly Dragon isn't my style. I prefer drinking wine and hoarding women in my free time, so I was the one and only Hellbound Dragon." It chuckled, "Of course, being the only one of my kind was a double edged sword, many wanted me around for my power, others wanted me dead because of my power. Needless to say, the one who DID try to kill me didn't get the job done."
"You mean you didn't always look like a skeleton dragon?" Asked Adrian.
"No. But I got used to it," said Penglog. "Anyway, like Ddraig, I became a sacred gear, only, I chose to only possess a specific person who has escaped death like I have." Adrian clenched his fist,
"How do you mean 'escape death?' Adrian Michaels died back in New York, giving rise to me...his Blacklight imposter."
"Oh really? Is that what your father told you? Because he can't accept your powers?" Adrian began to feel his blood boil at the mention of his father,
"Now how the hell did you know-?"
"I'm inside your head, Adrian," interrupted Penglog, "I know The Dark Knight is your favorite movie, I know burgers with pickles, barbeque sauce and ranch is your favorite food, I know you want both Rias on top of Asia while you-!"
"Hey hey, knock it off!" Shouted Adrian, already having had enough of the Bone Dragon. Penglog was already laughing,
"Awe, did I make the Devil Virus angry?" He asked mockingly. He didn't wait for an answer and continued, "Good. Get angry, you'll need it for when you duke it out with Riser." Adrian grew curious, but far from relaxed,
"Go on."
"I saw everything earlier man, and I hate him just as much as you do. So I want to help you, but I can only do so if you allow me to." Adrian looked down in thought,
"You'll help me..."
"In any situation. I will always be there when you need me, but I suppose the drawback is that I will also be there when you don't."
"Care to elaborate?"
"You know how your Sacred Gear appears in the form of a gauntlet?" Asked Penglog, "Well, if you accept me, I will forever live inside the actual gauntlet, which, in turn, is part of your arm." Adrian looked down at his left arm, flexing his fingers nervously,
"Will I still be able to control my arm?" He asked hesitantly,
"Oh sure, only I will be able to be heard in the real world, instead of just in your dreams." Adrian hesitated, and sighed,
"Okay, fine." Penglog began to glow, and turned into a bright red energy, flowing straight into Adrians left arm, making him shout into the air...
Adrian woke with a start, seeing it was still dark outside, and his coffee was still hot.
"Adrian? Can you hear me?" Adrian looked down at his left arm, seeing a red glow where the gemstones from his Sacred Gear should be.
"Yeah...I can hear you...Penglog." He could feel the dragon smile in his arm,
"Good, now lets head outside, I want to teach you a couple of tricks for your rating game."