Event 29: Dragonslayer

"Dids't thou know? Only one remains living with the title of 'Dragonslayer.' Such a title is given only outside war; when a dragon is faced in combat and defeated in by ones own self."

Hawkeye Gough paused, his knife making the only audible sounds to Seiko and Jinta as he whittled. For Gough, however, even the heartbeats of his guests filled the silence.

"In such times, there remains but one true dragon. One so powerful even mighty Anor Londo dared not provoke his ire. Black Dragon Kalameet is the last. Ahh, dragonslaying... Knighthood's highest calling."

Gough paused again. Out of respect, Seiko and Jinta stayed quiet. They'd never get the honor of hearing a Knight of Gwyn again after leaving for their own time.

Gough continued, some lost vigor within seeping into his voice. "The dragons shall never be forgotten. We knights fought valiantly, but for every one of them, we lost three score of our own. Exhilaration, pride, hatred, rage. The dragons teased out our dearest emotions. Thou will understand, one day. At thy twilight, old thoughts return, in great waves of nostalgia..."

Another pause.

"To be fair, even in our prime, one of Gwyn's own Knights could not face such a beast alone. Kalameet is such that surely even a duo would deserve the title for his defeat. Yet, still, how could you fight without your opponent within reach? Here I sit, retired and blind; of little help to thee, I'm afraid..."

Gough stopped whittling, pausing once more for a moment.

"But," he said with a false sigh, "Only say the word and I shall ground him for thee to hunt. 'Tis only fair for one such as Kalameet..."

Seiko and Jinta looked at each other. Clearly Gough was mad with age. Or was he? Such a legend would never disgrace himself by making false promises. Since Seiko and Jinta had already decided to fight Kalameet, Jinta spoke on their behalf.

"Any help you offer would be greatly appreciated. We had intended on fighting Kalameet one way or another regardless. At least this way we may live long enough to succeed."

"Hahaha! Good, good. What is bravery without a dash of recklessness! I have taken a liking to thee. And I owe thee for thy service to Artorias. Now watch... And see how Gough hunts dragons...!"

The giant, resin stuffed into his helmet where his eyes had been taken from him so early, fumbled gently for his bow. Knowing about where it was, Gough quickly closed his hand around it, pulling an arrow from the pile next to him. He gingerly nocked the arrow, memory guiding his hands through a task performed countless times. With reverence he raised the bow, calmly drawing in a breath and listening. Firing seemingly at random, Gough loosed his arrow. Seiko and Jinta, watching as the arrow flew to an empty patch of sky, held their tongues in disbelief. Perhaps he was mad after all... Or so the thoughts went across their minds until the arrow met a black streak. Kalameet had been flying, emerging right into the arrow's path. The arrow tore through one of his leathery wings and slammed into his back, snapping the wing and sending him spiraling into a gorge. Both Seiko and Jinta stood in pure slack-jawed awe.

"Haha!" yelled Gough, "Yes, a truer shot was never loosed! That bat will be grounded for a good spell! The rest is in thine hands, humans. I await good tidings from thy battle. I shall listen from here... Show us, once more, the legendary battles between man and dragon...!"

"We will... And we will make sure your name lives at least as long as that of the dragons'. Your shot won't have been in vain," said Jinta. Seiko bowed, even knowing he couldn't hear such an action. It just felt wrong not to. The duo turned and headed down the ladder from whence they'd come, making their way out of the coliseum toward the gorge where Kalameet surely waited. On the way, across a stone bridge, Chester's bag and candles sat alone. Neither Jinta nor Seiko said a word about it, simply continuing down some stairs carved into the cliff that led down to a small stream. It was Jinta who first noticed the hounds along the stream, warning Seiko to watch behind them. Fierce though they were, the hounds had little knowledge of what a sword was, simply charging to their death one after the other. It wasn't long at all until Jinta and Seiko reached another cliff. This was surely the gorge they were looking for, but Kalameet was nowhere to be seen. A wooden ladder seemed to be the only safe way down, so Jinta volunteered to go down first. Once at the bottom, Jinta could see a few burned corpses here and there, a chest half hidden by a waterfall, but still no black dragon. Seiko walked away from the ladder, looking around, just as confused.

When both were about to raise questions, Kalameet finally appeared, approaching from far down the gorge to the right. The moment the dragon saw the little humans who'd come after him, Kalameet bounded forward, not so much as roaring. Kalameet wasn't a dragon who needed to waste time with intimidation, and that fact placed worries in Jinta's heart. Seiko, on the other hand, lit a flame in her left hand and met the dragon's charge. Kalameet breathed black fire, skidding to a stop and letting the gout wash over Seiko. Seiko sliced up with her left hand, summoning a pillar of blue flame to part her enemy's attack. Jinta was catching up now, greatsword and shield drawn. Kalameet lowered like a lion ready to pounce and lunged, snapping at Seiko who dodged aside and slashed. Her sword bit into the side of Kalameet's head, drawing blood in a shallow cut. She ended up near Kalameet's right leg, only to have him swing the left one at her as he lifted his head. Seiko only had time to raise her sword and brace as she was sent flipping into the air, landing in a shallow puddle and rolling over.

Jinta reached Kalameet as his guard was down, slashing at the dragon's nose and slicing right through, his bastard sword streaking white. Kalameet opened his mouth to spray black flames, but Jinta rolled forward under the stream. Thinking he was safe, Jinta slashed up at Kalameet's belly, only to have his target rise out of his reach. Kalameet jumped, flapped his only working wing, and sprayed fire straight down at Jinta. Seiko appeared, tackling Jinta aside and thrusting a hand up to use Fire Surge. Blue and black flame met as Kalameet began to lose momentum and fall back to the ground, ready to crush Seiko. She poured extra strength into her Fire Surge, then rolled away. Up and running, Seiko could feel the heat of a wave of fire chasing her, but it dissipated before reaching her. Kalameet hit the ground and swept his head from Seiko to Jinta, spewing fire all the way. Jinta knelt, putting his shield up. Heat washed over him as he was sent scraping along the rock floor by the physical force of Kalameet's black flames. Seiko, once again, had to expend a lot of stamina summoning a pillar of blue flames to part Kalameet's attack. She'd improved by leaps and bounds over time, but this much Pyromancy in such a short time would ruin her in minutes.

"How are we going to kill this thing...?!" wondered Jinta aloud, swiping his shield down to rid it of a few black embers before raising it again and watching Kalameet closely. There had to be a weak spot. The only two things Jinta could see that might be vulnerable were Kalameet's tail and his single eye. Now to get to Seiko and relay that...

Kalameet snapped at Jinta several times, each time his teeth met shield and sword, unable to close around the Paladin. Rearing up, Kalameet basically sat and dribbled flame on Jinta from above. Jinta ducked, again bracing on one knee, and raised his shield over his head. When the heat cut off suddenly and Kalameet finally roared for the first time, Jinta first took the opportunity to back off before looking at his opponent again. Seiko had steam issuing from her skin, her coat was dropped on the rocks, and she'd sliced clean through Kalameet's tail. The tail hit the rock and thrashed for a few seconds before going limp and beginning to dissolve. The bones within looked to be made of black volcanic glass.

"Obsidian bones? Black fire? This thing truly is something only legends could kill!" said Jinta, marveling at his opponent. Of course, now that just left telling Seiko about Kalameet's eye since she'd figured out the tail on her own. Seiko had turned off Power Within, her breathing growing labored. She'd shed the coat to get rid of wind resistance, and had used Power Within to be fast enough to save Jinta. Now, however, Kalameet was turning to attack her, his head snaking around before the rest of his body could turn. If Jinta couldn't get to her and heal her soon, she'd be at her limit. And without her, Jinta doubted he could do the damage needed to bring down such a thing.

"Seiko! Get to me!" he yelled out, charging to Kalameet's side and slicing up and down twice, his sword raking across Kalameet's black ribs. Seiko breathed in as Kalameet exhaled black napalm, literally spitting it at her. She mimicked Jinta, rolling under the attack and coming to her feet right in front of Kalameet. An almost black fog burst from her mouth as Seiko expended the last of her Pyromancy to use Toxic Mist, another she'd wanted to try. Kalameet thrashed as he breathed in after his attack, no choice but to inhale the putrid air. No telling how long the poison would take to kill something so large, or if Kalameet would even be affected by it, but regardless it had been Seiko's last attack. As Kalameet thrashed she ran under him to get to Jinta. As soon as he saw her exploit the opening, he'd drawn his talisman and started reciting Soothing Sunlight, releasing it as soon as she was close enough.

"Fight Black Flame with Black Flame! I'll back you up!" said Jinta. If they could knock Kalameet over, Jinta could get at his eye and blind him.

Seiko adjusted her stance as if she were getting ready to pull on massive shackles, black flames dancing on her fingers. She slammed her sword into the ground to use both hands on Pyromancy, ripping her arms in from being spread. With the ripping motion, Seiko pulled black flames from nothing, slamming the streams together on Kalameet's forelegs as he came down on them from thrashing. Kalameet's legs didn't break, but the shock to his flesh from the heat and physical force sent him forward onto his chin, his stump of a tail up in the air now. Jinta dashed forward as Seiko sagged, pulling her sword from the ground and backing off. Jumping, Jinta aimed to slash right through Kalameet's eye. Something unseen slammed into Jinta like the overpressure from his Force miracle, knocking him from the air and sending him crashing to the ground near Seiko.

"What...?! Did you see what happened?!" said Jinta, dazed but rising to his feet.

Seiko shook her head. Whatever had hit Jinta had been invisible to her too.

"I need to save Soothing Sunlight. This might take a while. Bountiful Sunlight might work better. Hold still!"

Jinta recited the miracle, focusing and relying on Seiko to alert him if Kalameet recovered too soon. Bountiful Sunlight had a similar effect to Soothing Sunlight, but it took several minutes for the full effects to be felt. It was a gradual heal rather than an instant one, but it would allow Jinta and Seiko to keep fighting while being damaged without risking death. The miracle rushed from Jinta in gold light, giving himself and Seiko a soft glow of sunlight.

"Any ideas? He's recovering!" said Jinta after putting his talisman away and drawing his shield again.

"Chaos Storm," offered Seiko.

"I really don't think Pyromancy is working here. We're fighting a dragon who breathes black fire. You'd think his hide would resist his own attacks, if not his organs as well. His bones look like they're made of volcanic glass. We're going to have to forget magical attacks and stick to mundane ones. You're under Bountiful Sunlight now, try Power Within!"

Seiko got a look of sudden recognition. Power Within slowly sapped strength, but Bountiful Sunlight slowly recovered strength. It would be balance as long as she didn't get hit too hard. She nodded and pushed a flame into her chest, steam rising from her skin again. She was glad Jinta hadn't asked her to use her flame aura. That, at least, was beyond her control for some reason. Just as Seiko felt Power Within fully take effect, Kalameet was up stomping his forelegs to ensure they had feeling and full motion before charging at his two attackers. Seiko ran at him, leaping up as he lunged down to bite. She landed on his back, probably five meters in the air, and with powerful swings slashed into both of his wings, snapping the shaft off of Gough's arrow and making sure Kalameet couldn't repeat his vertical attack.

Without a tail to swat her from his back, Kalameet focused on crushing Jinta for the moment, since Jinta had stood his ground. Figuring biting wouldn't work, Kalameet swung his head like a club from side to side, trying to bludgeon Jinta. Jinta blocked the first strike, but he was bowled over and had to roll to his feet, too late to block the second strike. Jinta was smacked toward the shallow lake under a waterfall in the shadow of the gorge, near the treasure chest he'd spotted earlier. Seiko flipped over of Kalameet and landed between the dragon and Jinta, giving Jinta time to get to his feet, soaked. Kalameet wasn't having it, and charged forward, jumping over them both and spinning. The waterfall split over his tail-stump as he rotated from his rush, breathing black fire as he spun around. Jinta tried to block but was tripped by his feet being up to his ankles in water, falling on his back in the water. At least it cooled him down after the wash of heat. Seiko jumped clean over the attack and charged Kalameet, practically ignoring the water that tugged at her boots. Where she ran through, water turned to mist.

Jinta got up again, leaning forward to drain the accumulated water from his helmet and blinking to clear his eyes. He felt heavy from the water that had soaked his clothes. Some was even in his gold boots. And he couldn't see a thing through the heavy mist Seiko had left behind. Kalameet roared again, sounding injured again. The mist began to clear as Kalameet jumped back over Jinta, away from the waterfall and back to open ground. Without looking back, since Seiko was surely fine, Jinta rushed out of the water and put up his shield. Sure enough, Seiko ran past him in a blur of fair skin, black cloth, flowing hair, and a rush of steam. With her being so aggressive, Bountiful Sunlight must have fully taken effect at last. No doubt if she pressed the attack, Seiko could kill Kalameet.

The dragon sprayed fire at her to slow her down, waiting until she had no choice but to use Pyromancy to split his attack again. As she did, Kalameet struck like a snake, thrusting his head right through her blue flames and biting at her. Seiko flinched in surprise and raised her sword to block. Kalameet bit down on the sword and pulled up, flinging Seiko into the air. She righted herself and hurled a fireball at Kalameet, trying to blind him so she could land safely. After all the Pyromancy, still Kalameet was able to ignore the strike. Jinta was right about Kalameet's resistance to fire. Seiko expected the dragon to try and snap her out of the air, but the dragon's mouth was closed as it stretched its head toward her.

A high-pitched squeal went out, like someone scraping a sword over a metal wheel. It gave Jinta a headache, forcing him to stop rushing at Kalameet and flinch. Seiko stopped midair, hanging in front of Kalameet's head. The dragon's single eye glowed a reddish orange and the sound stopped. Jinta looked up, beginning to feel relieved that the sound had stopped... Only to see Seiko's sword slam point-first into the rocks as it fell from her hand. Kalameet settled onto his forelegs, staring at Seiko as she floated before him, stretched out and defenseless. Then, all at once, Seiko's bones snapped in odd directions and blood sprayed from where they broke her skin. It was over before she could even cry out in pain...

Event 30: Walk By Faith coming soon...

Author Note: Event 30 is already written. Withholding it until tomorrow. The end is upon us.