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The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown

Book : Skelkor War

Chapter 8: Battle of Marangor

Beta:


"This is pretty good." Drau commented as she took a slice of the Scathebeast meat that the cooks had prepared for tonight's dinner. They had liberated a large ranch of the large, slug like herd animals a week or so ago and ever since her quartermaster had taken to supplementing their rations with its supplies. "I can see why the troops like it."

"I think the very fact that they have fresh meat at all is enough for them." Fluder, her Momon adjutant, said with a raised eyebrow. "I have it on good authority its a slight bit better than the combat rations they've been subsisting on before we took that ranch."

"On good authority?" Drau asked with a questioning look at the undead creature wearing the guise of an old man. "You haven't tried it for yourself?"

"While I can eat it if I feel the need. Such an occurrence has not arisen."

"Your loss then. This is quite good." Drau told him as she ate another slice of the meat.

"I'll trust you on the matter."

Drau rolled her eyes.

"Since you're not going to eat. How about you update me on our situation while I do?"

"Gladly, my Lady." The Momon said as he pulled a tablet computer out and synced it to the holographic projector set up at the center of the wooden table they both occupied in the cordoned off section of the command tent that had been allocated as Drau's office.

"The city of Kaluth within which we are encamped has been fully secured." Fluder reported pointing at a projection of the city. "The last of the Skelkor loyalists have been hunted down and neutralized. Furthermore, garrison forces from Felmid have began to arrive. We should be able to begin to move out by tomorrow."

"And the broader strategic situation?" Drau asked as she took a sip of wine. An excellent bottle that one of her commanders had liberated from the ruins of some Dragon's estate when they liberated the city and had gifted to her.

Fluder zoomed the image on the projector out to a national scale map of Skelkor. A map that Drau was pleased to see was a field of green liberated zones with only a smattering of red enemy controlled zones remaining.

"Lady Yorha and Lord Kuro's detachment reported in three hours ago that they've moved out from Ulavaar and en route to the rendezvous location. Similarly, the rebels in Lamrar have taken the city from the handful of Dragons that remained in the city thanks to the anti-Dragon arms we provided them and were distributed by Lord Demiurge's agents."

"And Neia's position?"

Fluder nodded and pointed to a marker on the map.

"Lady Neia's army is making good time since they liberated Pelandar two weeks ago. They should reach the rendezvous within the expected time frame." Fluder informed her while running a hand through his beard. "Overall, everything is going well."

"Too well," Drau said as she looked at the map with a frown. "While Gauwervyndhal might have just been avoiding battle out of fear of Father, I highly doubt the Empress Dragon would sit idly by as her Empire is taken from her even if it was by the will of a god."

"Agreed, my Lady." Fluder said with narrowed eyes. "The weak resistance she and her Dragons had put up so far is also worrisome. The heaviest resistance since the fall of Dearr and Arangyn we've faced was from that Saxer creature and the army of feral Necrofexes he left behind in the wake of his defeat."

"So you think the enemy is planning something as well?"

"There is no doubt of that. The question is what they intend."

"What indeed." Drau said with narrowed eyes.


Three weeks later, everyone had gathered inside a headquarters they'd established at their rendezvous point two days march from Marangor to discuss their plans to liberate the city. A number that included reinforcements in the form of a division's worth of Sacrificial Cherubs led by one of their number named Malthael and priests of Sebas Tian under the leadership of the sister of the cult's founder herself, Magepriest Norininya Veyron.

"Before we begin the actual planning, let me extend my thanks once again for the aid of your forces Lord Malthael, Lady Veryon."

"I think I speak for both of us, Lady Drau when I say we are happy to help see the Supreme One's will be done." The Magepriest said with Malthael nodding along in agreement.

"I hope this isn't too forward of me but would you two mind explaining what abilities, substantial I'm sure they must be, that you bring to our efforts?"

Lord Malthael and Magepriest Veryon exchanged a look with the Human nodding to the Angel to go first. Offering the Magepriest a grateful nod, the Angel turned to Drau and began explaining the capabilities of his kind.

"Ol kind has access de various spells aziazor Holy Ray od Holy Smite g effects aziazor de ds a people c Toril canse noan umd Radiant spells. Beyond ar ge t blans ah lesser version c ge qaal, tabaan victim's bab de 'die' lap ah capimao g order de cast a micalz amma Sacrificial Bind." (My kind has access to various spells like Holy Ray and Holy Smite with effects alike to what the people of Toril might be called Radiant spells. Beyond that we also possess a lesser version of our creator, Lord Victim's ability to 'die' for a period in order to cast the powerful spell Sacrificial Bind)."

It was fortunate that the Angel's strange Enochian language was automatically comprehensible by all beings, if not it would've been impossible to understand what he was saying. As it was, Drau felt a twinge of a headache just from hearing him speak at all.

"Do you have any healing spells?" Neia, who had taken charge of organizing their support units, asked the Angel.

"Cor cirp ge plosi (Some but not many)."

"Good enough." Neia said, before looking at Drau seriously. "They're rear liners no matter what, might as well have them use their healing to good use and attach them to the healing corps."

"Makes sense," Dray agreed with a nod. "Any issues with that Lord Malthael?"

"If ol may, ol trian aziazor de keep cor c ol kin g reserve ar ar par may noan available fafen a need de use Sacrificial Bind arises. If ge geh tol tied farzm supporting a healers, ge canse ge noan g ah pi de use ge greatest bab. (If I may, I would like to keep some of my kin in reserve so that they may be available should the need to use Sacrificial Bind arises. If we are all tied up supporting the healers, we might not be in a position to use our greatest ability.)"

"Agreed." Drau said without hesitation at the logical suggestion. "You can discuss with Neia about how many of your kin you want to attach to the healers and how many he'd like to keep on standby after this."

The fetal looking Angel bobbed its head in its version of an agreeing nod.

"I suppose it's my turn then." Magepriest Veryon said with a girlish giggle that betrayed her young age, though none faulted her for it. "Well, we priests of Lord Sebas are a diverse lot actually. Our Lord preaches that all have a duty to serve others in whatever way we can, so we take in people with all kinds of skills."

"How then do you think we should best deploy your men?" Drau asked with a frown.

"We're organized into various teams much like adventuring parties where our abilities and skills are balanced out." The young Magepriest said. "So deploying us as those would probably be best. Though how that will fit in with the rest of the army I wouldn't know."

You and me both. Drau thought with a frown.

"I recommend using them as rapid response units," Yorha suggested. "Adventurer parties are supposed to be versatile so having them play the role of problem solvers fits."

"That works," Taana chimed in with her support for the idea. "Just imagine us in their shoes Drau. Where would you place us? Exactly where Yorha suggested."

"Alright, you two have made your point." Drau said with a good natured shake of her head. "We'll go with that plan then. We'll scatter the Priests of Lord Sebas in their teams throughout our formations and have them act as rapid responders. Is that acceptable, Lady Veryon?"

"It is," the girl said with a nod. "You're more experienced with this than I am. I trust your judgement."

"If that's settled then let's-"

"I have a question for the Magepriest," Gaul said cutting Drau off.

"Yes?" The Veryon girl said in something that just barely managed to avoid coming across as a squeak.

"I saw some of your priests using what appeared to be YGGDRASIL system spells earlier when I was on the way here. Was my observation correct?"

"Oh yes!" The Magepriest said with a hasty nod. "All of us who receive the blessing of Lord Sebas and become his priests are granted the boon to transit to the YGGDRASIL system with any skills or spells we previously had access to converting as well."

"That's convenient," Kuro noted from where he rested on Yorha's shoulders. "It'll make things easier to keep track of."

"Yes," Veryon said with a happy nod. "Mana is a lot easier to manage than spell slots, especially with mana potions."

"Lucky," Taana said with a pout. "I'm still stuck on the old system."

"Maybe you should pray to Lord Ainz for a switch." Neia suggested. "Have you tried that?"

"I'm an idiot." The Shadar-kai said as she slapped her forehead in exasperation.

"I'm guessing you didn't?" Gaul teased as the rest of the party chuckled. Even Mathael and Veryon seemed amused.

"Alright, we'll leave Taana to rectify her mistake on her own later. For now, let's start on our planning."


Three days later and Yorha and Kuro were leading a contingent of their men as they set up siegeworks within striking distance of Marangor as part of what everyone was hoping would be the final offensive of the war.

"We're so close, yet they're not sortieing out to stop us?" Yorha commented with a frown as she stood on a small mound of earth and looked over the heads of her men working to build various fortifications to gaze at the massive concentric walls of Skelkor's capital. "What is the enemy thinking?"

"I dunno Yorha," Kuro replied from his usual spot on her shoulders. "But I have a feeling we're not going to like what they've cooked up."

Yorha hummed in agreement.

Their contemplative moment was interrupted when their adjutant, a Momon by the name of Caspond who had the human guise of a tall man with blue eyes and straight long blond hair who appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, came over.

"My Lady, my Lord, we just received word that the last units have moved into position and begun building their siegeworks."

"Uncontested?" Yorha asked with a frown.

"Yes, milady."

"Something is wrong here." Kuro noted. "Very wrong."

As if his words were a cue, and perhaps it was, the ground below where they stood shook for a moment and Yorha glanced down at it with narrowed eyes.

"Did you feel that?"

"I did," Caspond acknowledged with his brows furrowed. "You don't think-"

Yorha didn't wait for him to finish his sentence.

"Everyone!" She shouted at her men. "Prepare for subterranean breach!"

She'd barely given the order and her men were still just scrambling to react when three patches of earth right in the middle of their position collapsed into the ground like a set of sinkholes and from their depths emerged wingless Adult Brown Dragons that promptly unleashed their acidic breath weapon on everything within range reducing men and machines to little more than sand and dust.

"Caspond! Rally the men! Avoid a panic!" Yorha shouted as she leapt off the hill at the nearest Dragon. "We'll handle the Dragons."

"Yorha I've got the one behind us! Meet up at the last one!" Kuro shouted as he pushed off her shoulders, already pulling in biomass from the pocket dimension he stored the unused material whenever he didn't need it and shifting into his Brainstealer Dragon form.

"Beast Cutter," Yorha whispered as she cut the Brown Dragon she was facing almost in half with the skill's energy blade.

But even as its corpse collapsed to the ground, it was replaced by a slender and agile amethyst scaled Adult Purple Dragon which was wrapped in some kind of magical barrier that protected it from the direct sunlight that was its natural nemesis. The damnable Deep Dragon was probably readying its psychic breath weapon, from experience Yorha knew Dragons loved to open fights with their primary natural weapon. She didn't give it a chance however and used Sword Blitz to shoot herself across the pit from which it had emerged, decapitating it in the process.

Landing on the other side, she stabbed her Musashi into the ground and activated one of the new skills she learned from mastering the Sword Saint job class.

"Smashing Point!" She said invoking the skill and causing the lip of the tunnel the Dragons had emerged from to collapse and fill it in.

With this fire put out, Yorha looked up and spotted Kuro fighting a similar pair of opponents as she had. He was doing fine though, having already dealt with the Brown Dragon and was currently engaging in what looked like a duel with the Purple Dragon, so she quickly looked away for somewhere else which needed her help more. A short distance away from Kuro she saw the third emergence point and its Dragons being contained by a group of the Priests of Sebas, they were doing a good job but could use the assistance so Yorha ran towards them.

"Beast Cutter." She whispered as she took off the head of the Purple which had been using its psychic powers to sow confusion amidst the Priests of Sebas.

"Now!" Their leader, which Yorha belatedly realized was Magepriest Veryon herself, ordered her fellows. "Finish that Brown!"

"Ol trian assist. (I will assist)." A nearby Sacrificial Cherub said before it exploded in a shower of motes of blood red energy and a cry of "Sacrificial Bind".

The crimson energies formed into thick chains of raw magic that quickly snaked around the Brown and dragged it to the ground where the Priests of Sebas unleashed their full arsenals against it. It wasn't quite enough so Yorha added her own Nine-Head Dragon Flash to the mix and blitzing onto its bound head stabbed at nine vital points on its cranium. This tipped the scales and the Brown finally stilled.

"Thanks for the assist, Lady Yorha." Magepriest Veryon said with a grin. "That was a tough one."

Yorha offered her a smile in return as well. "Glad to help. But this is only the beginning."

The priestess looked confused for a moment before one of her comrades tugged on her arm and pointed towards Marangor. As Veryon turned, she paled.

Yorha couldn't blame her. She too had stilled for a moment as she herself turned and caught sight of the huge army of Dragons, hundreds of them, that were flying out of city towards them. There were enough of them that they almost blotted out the sun. It was a truly terrifying thing, though it did not fill Yorha with fear. Just defiance.

No matter what. You lot will be defeated today. She promised herself as she pointed her Musashi at the incoming Dragonic horde with murderous intent.


Even before Kuro finished his transformation into his Brainstealer form he let loose with the full force of its psychic might and ripped into the Brown Dragon. To his surprise, despite the many thousands of minds he'd consumed and the psychic strength they'd given him it was not enough to tear the fool Dragon's mind apart.

It did stagger him though and that was enough of an opening for Kuro to lash out with the tentacles around his mouth and wrap them around its neck. Immediately the monster's sand colored scales hissed and boiled away as his corrosive nature ate through them and its flesh beneath. The Dragon struggled, even unleashing its acid breath on him which to the super corrosive Blacklight Slime felt like little more than a gentle grizzle. It didn't take long at all for him to eat clean through the Dragon's neck.

He was a little distracted by the Brown's collapsing body and so missed as a purple scaled Dragon shimmied out the tunnel and slammed into him. The new Dragon began clawing at Kuro for a moment before with a shriek of pain it pulled away sharply, much of its body steaming from the contact with the Blacklight Slime's body.

"Fool," Kuro said aloud as it launched a spear of psychic energy into the monster's mind.

Despite its pain and surprise, the Purple Dragon actually managed a credible defense and soon the two landed, settling into a duel of minds.

Unlike the Purple who was struggling with all its will to keep going, Kuro had enough wherewithal even as he pressed the attack to do a few other things like use a telekinetic blast to seal the tunnel that his opponents had surfaced from and lash out at his enemy with his tentacles. The Purple tried to evade, but too much of its concentration was focused on keeping Kuro out of its mind and its attempts was lackluster and futile. Thus Kuro easily coiled his tentacles around the Purple's body and began dragging it towards him.

It could sense the Purple's panic then, as its flesh burned and it was dragged to its doom. Yet it still fought desperately to keep Kuro out of its mind. Not that its valiant efforts saved it as Kuro finished reeling the struggling Dragon in and smothered it, the Purple's concentration broke as it was overcome by its fear and the Slime dove into its mind with a vengeance, tearing every memory, thought and emotion to shreds. All whilst he happily smothered the Dragon's physical body with his own and started to consume him.

Kuro was elated at his victory and would have liked a moment or two to savor it, but sadly he did not get the chance. As with his focus on the immediate threat gone, he finally noticed the swarm of Dragons flying towards them.

"Well shit."


"Lord Gauldoth, I think we need more Zombie Dragons." Kelart said, looking at him with a frown as they both watched the sight of Skelkor's surviving Dragons flying out en masse to meet them in battle. "A lot more."

Gauldoth didn't bother dignifying that with a response, instead he began barking orders.

"Have our ZD squadrons shift positions to protect our AA! They'll be essential in this fight, we can't let them be taken out." Gauldoth shouted as he looked away from the incoming enemy army to their tactical display of his command tent. "And get our guns firing already!"

He'd barely given the order when the Sigurds and even the artillery units under his command began unloading their various anti-air ordinance at the enemy. He was pleased to note, this was followed only seconds later by the other commands likewise unleashing hell on the enemy who were dying in droves.

"They're using Wyrmlings and Young Dragons to screen the older, more powerful Dragons. " Gaul noted with a frown as he saw that the youngest of the enemy Dragons had disproportionately made up the majority of their recent kills.

Smart bastards. The necromancer grudgingly admitted.

"How long till they get within range of our forces?"

"Minutes," Kelart reported. "Should we have our necromancers raise the recently slain Dragons? They are within our range."

"Do that." Gaul said with a nod. "And have them harry and disrupt the enemy as much as possible."

Kelart immediately used Message to begin relaying that order, but Gaul ignored her to instead pick his targets.

I'll have to aim it to the rear of their formation. What luck that's exactly where the most dangerous enemies are. Gauldoth thought with a vicious smirk.

"Triplet, Maximize Magic: Meteor Fall!" Gaul cast, the bloodthirsty grin still plastered on his face.

At his invocation, three large meteors each at least twice as large as the biggest of the enemy Dragons began falling from the sky whilst surrounded by auras of shimmering light which blinded all onlookers temporarily. This was a minor inconvenience to many of their troops he was sure, but he didn't care. They would be grateful for the aftermath anyways.

Something he was sure of when the three meteors hit their targets, each an Ancient Dragon, and smashed them out of the sky before squashing them into the ground like the bugs that they were whereupon the meteors exploded. The blasts flattened everything they touched, which included much of Marangor unfortunately, and pulverized most else caught in their radius which included the bulk of the Dragons' slave armies that had just began pouring out of the city. They were joined by many of their masters as well who were impaled by hypersonic shards or boulders of rock thrown up by the blast.

With one spell, Gauldoth had devastated the Dragon army. Reducing it to a tenth of what it was before. Thus even as he staggered from the drain on his mana reserves and had to be caught by Kelart before he collapsed, he still sported a triumphant grin.

"Eat that, you slaving bastards."


"Arche! Don't slack off on the AA fire! Even after Gaul's spell there are still plenty of enemy Dragons still alive!" Taana ordered over the earbud comms unit she'd equipped as she lined up a shot with Zwing and channeling a Call Lightning Storm sent a supercharged lightning arrow through the side of an Adult Red Dragon and blasting a hole through the monster.

"Roger." Arche said, her usually soft, sweet voice strained by the rigors of combat. "Stay safe up there, Lady Taana."

"Yes ma'am." Taana shot back teasingly as she jinked out of the way of a frost breath shot at her by a Young White Dragon. It was already sporting a plethora of wounds so instead of taking it out with Zwing, Taana drew on one of the secondary effects of the Lord of the Sky spell she was using to fly and had bolts of lightning shoot out of the swirling cloud of black mist that surrounded her. They were more than enough, weak though they were by Taana's standards, to shock the White into temporary paralysis and leave it open for the fire of one of her Sigurds on the ground below to stitch it up.

Even as the White's body fell to the ground, Taana took a shot at an Adult Black attempting a strafing run on her troops with a Dragon Lightning enhanced arrow from Zwing that ripped an entire wing off the Black.

Thank goodness Lord Ainz answered my prayers. Taana thought as she readied another lightning arrow infused with the YGGDRASIL spell and this time sent it through the neck of the Black that finished it off, all whilst she absently danced through the air to avoid the flaming lances sent her way by a pack of Red Wyrmlings. If I was still running off spell slots, I'd have run out ages ago. Mana and cooldowns are just so much more efficient!

"Like so," Taana said to herself with a grin as she cast one of her spells which just finished cooling down. "Call Lightning Storm!"

Fifteen bolts of magically charged lightning fell down from the heavens and unerringly sought out all seven members of the pack of Reds harassing Taana and cooked them alive.

It was a beautiful sight in Taana's opinion, but she had little time to admire it. Pulling a mana potion out of her supply pouch at her hip, she popped its cork open with familiar ease and downed it to recharge her pool, she searched the skies once so crowded with enemy Dragons but now practically clear of them for her next targets and saw a mixed group duking it out with one of Gaul's ZD squadrons not far off.

"I'd reckon they'd appreciate an assist." Taana said to herself with a grin as she tossed the empty bottle aside and shot towards the aerial skirmish like a bolt of lightning.


"See! There is no need to fear!" Neia spoke with the full suite of her Evangelist powers through the sound system of her custom Hippo, her voice and its power carrying across the length and breadth of their lines. "The enemy is being turned back. By your bravery, by the strength of our champions, by the will of Ainz Ooal Gown, they have been turned back!"

With every word, the soldiers all around her began moving with increased confidence, fought with greater focus. Such was the phenomenal power of inspiration that was an Evangelist.

"Here come the Dragons' deluded slaves," Neia said pointing to the horizon where the first elements of the Dragons' ground armies who had survived Gaul's dramatic spell were coming into view. "Soldiers of Ainz Ooal Gown! Kill them! Kill all who stand in the way of our god!"

As Neia's troops mowed down the disorganized masses of the Skelkor's slave soldiers, she allowed herself a rueful shake of her head.

Gaul really did a number on them, huh? I'd pity them if they weren't trying to kill us. Though I have to wonder why they are still loyal to the Dragons even after all this?

The answer to that revealed itself moments into the slaughter as a dragon with rose-reddish scales suddenly rose from the ruins of Marangor and roared her defiance. It was gigantic. It had wings that were at least three hundred feet wide from wingtip to wingtip with a body that must have been at least eighty feet tall, only slightly less wide and a hundred and fifty feet long. A size that put even the biggest of the Ancient Dragons they'd fought so far to shame.

"That's a big Dragon." Neia heard Renner say in a shocked whisper through the open hatch of the command Hippo she was standing on.

"Do not fear!" Neia shouted to the suddenly shaken ranks of her army. "That Dragon might be massive! But we have a Dragon all our own who is mightier still! Look!"

At that she pointed in the direction of Drau's camp which was suddenly engulfed in a pillar of rainbow colored light.


Some time before the gigantic Dragon made its appearance, Drau stood with Fluder by her side as she reviewed the battle so far.

"So this is what she had planned?" Drau said as she shook her head in disappointment. "An attempt to destroy us all at one shot? I suppose there is an elegance to this simple plan if I squinted at it."

"It might be simple, my Lady." The elderly looking Momon said while running a hand through his long beard. "But effective. It did almost break our morale. If not for Lord Gauldoth's spell, I doubt we'd have held the line."

"True, hence the elegance to it." Drau acknowledged. "And if we did break here, the blow to our morale would be immense. Perhaps irrecoverably so."

"I wouldn't go that far." Fluder said with a shake of his head. "But it would have made things very difficult indeed."

"The enemy ground forces are just about to make contact with our lines." Drau noted as she gestured to the tactical display. "I wonder why they're still fighting though. Most of their Masters are dead."

"Yes, but the Em-"

"My Lady," an Elder Lich said as it hurried over in a state that could only be described as harried. This in spite of its undead nature usually preventing it from developing such behavior. "You need to see this!"

Frowning, Drau followed the Lich out of the tent with Fluder trailing behind her where it proceeded to point towards through the ruined walls of Marangor.

"What am I lo-"

Before she could even finish the sentence, Drau saw it. There was movement at the wrecked heart of the city. Huge chunks of stone were moving as if something truly massive was pushing up from underneath.

"What in the Nine Hells?" Drau said as she saw the moving pile of rubble suddenly explode upwards from some kind of magical blast and from the hole revealed by it, a gigantic Dragon with rose-reddish scales began to emerge.

"Gauwervyndhal." Drau said with absolute certainty.

"It would appear so," Fluder said with narrowed eyes as with a furious roar, the enormous Dragon Empress of Skelkor took to the air. "Defeating her won't be easy."

"No, it won't. But we won't lose here. I won't allow it." Drau said as she called on her shapeshifting job class and began the transformation into her true form.

A pillar of rainbow light descended on her camp and she floated into the air even as her body began to change. Her human shape disappeared and was replaced by that of a Dragon, equally as large if not slightly larger than Gauwervyndhal. Scales began pushing their way out of her flesh, each harder than adamantite and so small it appeared as if she had skin as smooth as a snake's. Each of these scales glowed with a bright light that combined together to give her the appearance of a rainbow aura.

"Gauwervyndhal!" Drau roared as her transformation completed a second later. "I challenge you to single combat!"

The infamous Dragon Empress looked at Drau in shock for a moment before giving her reply in the form of a breath of white hot flame.

Drau simply tanked the torrent of fire, her scales keeping her safe through the power of her Imperial Scales passive ability which negated the much of the power of incoming enemy attacks. She thus flew straight through the fiery breath and right in front of Gauwervyndhal's snout before she proceeded to whip her hard with her tail.

The startled Gauwervyndhal didn't even evade and was slammed into the ground by the hit, cratering it in the process.

Roaring in anger, the Dragon Empress surged to her feet even as a hundred different bolts of magic shot at Drau who simply ignored them and readied a breath weapon.

The spells splashed harmlessly against her scales, the insane levels of magical resistance granted to her by her Rainbow Scales passive ability negating the majority of them. The handful which did hit weren't a concern either, as they were heavily weakened by her Imperial Scales and the limited damage that she did sustain was almost immediately healed by her Primeval Regeneration.

"Impossible!" Gauwervyndhal roared in shock. "That was enough magic to wipe out an entire army! How could you just take it head on without even flinching!"

"Explosive Breath!" Drau hissed in lieu of a reply, breathing an immense explosive fireball that was the breath weapon of her Explosive Dragon form at her fellow female Dragon.

Her opponent perhaps sensing the danger of the attack or just acting on her legendary paranoia wisely chose to dodge rather than shield against it, leaping into the air.

This caused the fireball to impact the already battered city they were fighting over which was consumed in a powerful explosion that stained the world with a blinding white flash, caused a thunderous roar and unleashed a tremendous heat flare. The shockwave created by the blast blew the land apart and the rising dirt and sand formed a mushroom cloud in the air. Caught in the shockwave outside of the safety of fortified positions, much of Gauwervyndhal's surviving slave armies died and even Drau's friendly forces struggled to weather it under the protection of hastily thrown up magical barriers. She barely noticed though as most of her attention was focused on the Empress Dragon who had survived the titanic explosion and shockwave at the cost of a formidable set of magical protections that shattered before disintegrating.

That's her magical protection dealt with. Drau thought even as she thanked her Father for just how effective her Imperial and Rainbow Scales were at damage mitigation and the powerful healing abilities of Primeval Regeneration. Without this trio of defensive passive skills she'd likely be torn apart by her own attack without the innate resistance to the powerful Explosive Breath that her Explosive Dragon form did.

"To answer your earlier question," Drau said as she and her opponent warily circled each other in the air over Marangor. "I'm a Primeval Dragon Lord. In this, my true form, my scales are nigh impenetrable even to magic."

"Primeval Dragon Lord?" Gauwervyndha asked even as she breathed lightning at Drau who once more just weathered the attack and retaliated with the Chill Breath of her Frost Dragon form, intent on at least slowing down her opponent so she could finish her off.

But proving the necessity for such, Gauwervyndhal smoothly curved around her blast of cold and flew in close, her claws at the ready to rip and tear.

"There's no such thing!" The Empress Dragon roared as the two gigantic Dragons collided in mid air and began tearing into each other.

"Not on your world perhaps." Drau shouted back as she and Gauwervyndhal both fought to move their heads into a favorable position to unleash their breath weapons on each other, completely ignoring the deep gashes they were gouging in each other's flesh with their claws. Though Drau was doing better in that regard thanks to the nigh spontaneous healing of her Primeval Regeneration.

Finally Gauwervyndhal won the duel between their heads and breathed out a cloud of corrosive gas down Drau's back. The daughter of Ainz Ooal Gown was unfazed however, trusting in her trinity of defensive skills to deal with it and instead just chuckled.

"Checkmate, you idiot." The Primeval Prismatic Dragon Lord said as she bit down hard on the Empress Dragon's neck and yanked back with all her strength

The rose-reddish Dragon howled in agony and pulled back in agony, its scales suddenly rapidly shifting colors first to purple but then to every shade to ever grace the body of a Chromatic Dragon as she tore free of Drau's bite sans big chunk of her neck.

So she's a spawn of Tiamat. Drau realized. That explains a lot. Wonder how she ended up on Abeir?

Said spawn of the Queen of Evil Dragonkind in the meantime was hurriedly healing herself.

"Heal!" Gauwervyndhal cried out over and over again as her torn out throat began to close, while she tried to fly in evasive patterns.

The key word there was 'try'. She was so preoccupied with escaping death by healing her injury that she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Chill Breath." Drau hissed as she breathed a blast of freezing energy that proceeded to wash over the Empress Dragon who howled in pain even as the extremities of her limbs froze over slightly. The ice on her wings was especially damning as it slowed her movements.

She tried to respond by breathing fire on herself, her scales turning red as she did so but it was too little too late. Even as the first embers of her flaming breath left her mouth, Drau's own far deadlier breath weapon had leapt from hers.

"Soulbreaker Breath!" Drau said with grim finality as she launched the deadly soul destroying attack of her Elder Coffin Dragon form from her maw, its green beam lancing through Gauwervyndhal without the slightest resistance.

The moment it struck, the feared Empress Dragon's soul was ripped from her body. It was visible as a translucent rainbow colored specter for a moment before it shattered like a pane of glass and Gauwervyndhal died. With her death, her immense body fell towards the earth like a stone. It was heading right towards a cluster of friendly troops though, so Drau swooped down and caught the bulk in her claws.

Damned this is heavy. She thought even as her men below cheered at the sight and the remaining Skelkor loyalists stood frozen in shock. But maybe I can use this corpse to my advantage.

"Surrender!" Drau said to the slave soldiers. "Surrender and your lives will be spared."

There was silence for a moment before first one sword then another was discarded, until soon the sound of weapons being thrown down became deafening.

A couple of the Skelkor Dragons looked at Drau hopefully, but she just shot them a vicious grin.

"No surrender for you lot." Drau said as she prepared a breath weapon. "Laser Breath!"

This wasn't one of the breath weapons of one of her other Dragon forms, but a spur of the moment creation made possible by the Rainbow Breath skill that was the foundation of her breath weapon in this form. It allowed her to fire anything she could dream up. In this case, this was a laser beam that flew through the air like an eel through water cutting any Skelkor Dragon it found into pieces. She sadly couldn't keep the beam going for long before the skill went into cooldown but it had been long enough to kill many an enemy whilst making the message clear.

In a fearful panic, the other Dragons fled. Flying right into AA barrages or Taana's arrows in their bid to escape, not that Drau didn't join in on the fun. She had her fair share of fun too as she reused her Laser Breath the moment her skill cooled down to shoot them out of the sky alongside her allies. Even the Sacrificial Cherubs got in on the act, as they used their Sarcifical Bind skills to bind as many of the fleeing Dragons as they could.

It was largely thanks to their help that precious few managed to get away.

And that was how the Battle of Marangor ended with the slaughter of its former rulers. Just as Father willed it.


Done!

I hope that the climax of this 'book' was enjoyable. There's only an epilogue of sorts to it and then it's on to the final book of this story.

So what the hell is Drau? Well, I'll give slightly more of an explanation next chapter but basically she's Ainz's ultimate form of what he'd be like if he was a Dragon. Is it OP? Of course, this is the ultimate Dragon of the Overlord of OP himself.

Some of you might be wondering how is Gauwervyndhal a spawn of Tiamat and what is she doing on godless Aebir where she ruled Skelkor for ages even before the Spellplague dumped it back on Toril if she is? Well, this is an D&D inspired story so some mysteries will remain unresolved just like so many things in the canon universe are so I'll leave it up to your imagination. Just know that travel between Aebir and Toril while hard wasn't impossible.

Well that's it for now folks. So till next time adeus!