Chapter 15

The two dragons rushed against each other at great speeds, both of them half running, half flying. Veering slightly to the sides, they both threw a punch against the other, the fists colliding to a sound like thunder.

The clash lasted only for a fraction of a second, as the dragons' momentum carried them past each other, yet they quickly came about, turning to make another pass at each other, and another, and another. Each time, their punches roared as thunder, the shockwaves displacing dirt, dust and smaller rocks for metres.

And this was only the beginning.

Diving against each other again, they both came to a violent stop as they locked hands and pushed against each other, just like the first time they had met, the ground cracking under the forces exerted.

This time, however, it was Tyroth who broke the stalemate, by headbutting Vulstrun, returning the favour from their first meeting. He then followed up with a strong punch into Vulstrun's guts, which allowed Tyroth to grab the golden dragon by an arm, and that flowed into throwing him over himself and slamming him hard into the ground.

Despite having the air knocked out of him, Vulstrun quickly rolled out of the way before Tyroth's next attack could connect, an overhead slam with both of his fists that created a small crater in the rocky island.

Vulstrun countered with a quick punch, hitting Tyroth in the face, but the red dragon quickly followed suit, and struck back with the same, and soon the two found themselves throwing punch after punch, each increasing in strength, until Vulstrun instead grabbed Tyroth by the face, lifting and slamming him into the ground.

Sharp pain struck Vulstrun's abdomen, as Tyroth countered by kicking the golden dragon with both feet, sending him flying for quite some distance. Leaping back to his feet, Tyroth drew his sword and charged at his foe, the blade erupting in flames.

But Vulstrun wasn't without a weapon of his own, from the dark clouds above, a lightning bolt shot down into his waiting hands, forming into a blade of pure electricity. Just by aiming it towards Tyroth, he fired lightning bolts at the red dragon, forcing him to take evasive actions.

Sidestepping as best he could, Tyroth barely avoided the first five bolts, but the sixth struck him hard in the chest, leaving Tyroth with a numbing sensation in his entire body, and a nasty wound on his chest. But the numbness soon passed, and the wound vanished, and he kept pushing through it all, even as another bolt found its mark upon him.

Charging his mana into the palm of his free hand, a concentrated ball of fire formed, and he threw it at Vulstrun. The fiery projectile exploded upon impact with the golden dragon's chest, pushing him backwards several metres before he found his footing again.

By that point, Tyroth had already closed the distance between them, his burning blade coming at Vulstrun with all of the red dragon's might. Blood splattered across the ground as Vulstrun was cut along his side, having just barely blocked the majority of the force behind the attack with his own lightning blade.

Pushing back, he managed to get enough breathing room to counter with his own weapon, and soon the two swords, one of burning steel and one of pure electricity, clashed violently as the two warriors exchanged blow after blow. Raging flames and arcing sparks erupted every time the blades collided, and both fighters got several cuts whenever their opponent managed to get through their guard, yet even the deepest cuts upon either of them healed quickly.

Once again, the two found themselves pushing against each others' weapons, staring into the other's eyes, seeing that neither would give anything less than their all.

Suddenly, Vulstrun's blade exploded into a cascade of electricity, stunning Tyroth for the briefest of moments as it coursed through his body, but that was all the time Vulstrun needed. Punching his counterpart in the face, the golden dragon quickly wrestled Ryujin out of Tyroth's hands, and threw it will as much strength he could, sending it flying into the night, before finally landing in the dark waters of the lake, sinking to the bottom.

But Vulstrun didn't wait for confirmation before resuming his battle, as soon as he had thrown the blade, he struck Tyroth across the face and upper body several times again, just as the red dragon had recovered from the previous blow, and with a final blow, Tyroth was sent flying.

It took only a few seconds for him to land on his back, but it felt far longer, and far too long to be inactive during a battle as critical as this one.

Once Tyroth got the chance, he quickly got back onto his feet, spitting out a small amount of blood. During the seconds Tyroth were flying, however, Vulstrun had picked up a boulder the size of a small car and thrown it at him.

The hurled boulder nearly upon him, Tyroth didn't even try to avoid it, instead he charged his fist with mana, and with a single punch shattered the massive rock into thousands of tiny fragments. They were soon engulfed in flames, as Tyroth unleashed a torrential breath attack, the force behind it turning the fragments into burning shrapnel.

Taken by surprise by the counter attack, Vulstrun held up his arms in front of his face and folded his wings onto his back, taking the attack head on. When the fire had passed, the ground was almost red hot, and Vulstrun was covered in and equally hot rock shards, all of which quickly started to be pushed out of his flesh and fall to the ground.

Lowering his arms, he saw that Tyroth was once again running towards him, this time with one hand glowing red. Leaping into the air, Tyroth flapped his wings once to give him the extra speed he wanted, diving against Vulstrun like a meteor, mana encased fist first.

Just in the nick of time, Vulstrun jumped out of the way of the attack, it now instead connecting with the ground. A massive cloud of dirt and dust was kicked up into the air, and as it cleared, Tyroth was standing in the middle of a newly made crater, nearly two metres deep and over six metres wide.

Seeing that Vulstrun was nowhere nearby, however, his eyes quickly searched the battlefield and soon found his target in the air. The golden dragon had used the shockwave to help launch himself, and now he circled above, electricity starting to arc all over his body.

Engulfing himself entirely in flames, Tyroth's powerful legs launched him upwards, jets of fire from the soles of his feet propelling him even faster. At the same time, Vulstrun dived downwards, and the two collided mid-air like two forces of nature, fire and lightning exploding like primal fireworks.

The battlefield now having been elevated into the skies above, was no less violent, as the two dragons kept attacking each other relentlessly. Whenever they clashed, and explosion of their respective elements followed, lighting up the night, while streaks of fire and bolts of lightning were fired whenever they found themselves at a distance, some missing their marks, but several striking them.

Flying against each other again, Vulstrun this time did a quick adjustment to his course, rolling over and passing underneath Tyroth just as the two would have collided. Extending his clawed hand, he raked the red dragon's chest and stomach, leaving deep, bleeding gashes.

Tyroth gritted his teeth and broke off from his opponent, holding his wounds as they healed. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Vulstrun had turned around and was heading straight towards him.

The fire around his body all began to flow and coalesce into a dozen small, but intense balls of fire on his wing membranes, six on each wing. With a mighty flap of his wings, he sent all of them flying towards the lightning wielding dragon.

While none of the fireballs actually hit their target, that wasn't necessary, as they all exploded in his vicinity, completely engulfing him and more. Through the fire and smoke, Vulstrun fell towards the ground.

He opened his eyes, electricity crackling from them, and with one thrust of his arm, a powerful lightning bolt was fired, and struck Tyroth with all its might, causing him to fall as well.

By that time, Vulstrun had caught himself and soared through the air once again, his eyes set on his target, and he reached him just as Tyroth had managed to regain control, tackling the red dragon hard, digging his claws into his sides and biting down on his neck as a feral dog.

Tyroth yelled in pain, and fire once again covered his body, quickly building in intensity until it exploded outwards, forcibly pushing away the golden dragon, but not without his claws and teeth causing even more damage.

Not even waiting for his wounds to heal, Tyroth instantly took after Vulstrun, whom had already recovered and was again flapping his wings to gain more altitude.

They both continued to climb higher and higher, both still throwing any attack at each other that they could.

Slashes, punches, kicks, tail swipes, all empowered by magical flames and lightning and in near constant barrages whenever the two closed the distance.

Despite their inhuman healing abilities, they were dishing out damage faster than either of them could heal, and their injuries were starting to add up, just as their strength was starting to vane, yet neither gave as much as a millimetre. They continued to push themselves harder and further past their limits.

Sooner or later, one, or both, of them had to yield.

Tyroth came at Vulstrun with a flaming axe kick, striking him on the head, yet Vulstrun used the force to strike back with a lightning infused tail strike, hitting Tyroth square in the chest.

Foot long claws of pure fire formed around Tyroth's hands as he retaliated, and drove them both into Vulstrun's stomach, causing the golden dragon to roar out in pain, and with that roar came a strong breath of fire.

While the fire didn't hurt Tyroth in the slightest, it did catch him off guard and block his vision for a brief moment, and that was all Vulstrun needed. Holding out his arms to the dark clouds high above, several lightning bolts came crashing down on the two. Now the tables had turned, for while Tyroth was immune to fire based damage, it was Vulstrun who was immune to lightning.

Even as he fell, with smoke trailing from his body, Tyroth still refused to give up. Creating new fire jets on the soles of his feet, he rocketed back upwards, this time with intense flames covering his right fist.

Seeing his foe return once again, Vulstrun followed suit, electricity crackling all over his body before arcing to his own right fist, and he flew downwards on a direct collision course with Tyroth.

The two elemental punches collided, resulting in a colossal explosion that lit up the night sky like a sun, if only for a few brief seconds.

Even as the explosion faded, the two dragons kept pushing their fists against each other.

This time, though, Vulstrun was quick enough to strike with his other hand, jabbing his clawed fingers into Tyroth's chest and striking his heart with the tip of the claws. Even as Tyroth was reeling from the hit, Vulstrun didn't let up and sent a massive bolt of electricity through the red dragon's heart.

As Tyroth began to fall backwards, Vulstrun finished off his onslaught by raising both of his fists above his head, and bringing them down with all the might he could muster, smashing into Tyroth's head.

Tyroth fell again, this time bordering on unconsciousness and with his strength nearly gone, there was very little he could do. His thoughts instantly went to the possibility of going berserk, overwhelm Vulstrun that way. Become a more powerful monster than him.

But would that even be enough? Or would it even be too much?

In the end, what choice did he have?

He had no answer to that, and for a split second, he lost consciousness, but when he opened his eyes, it was with renewed will and power.

With mighty flaps of his wings, he regained control and started flying upwards again.

Magical fire coalesced in his mouth, and with a mighty roar he unleashed it all.

"DOV! RII! SLEN! LAAS!"

The fire erupted from his mouth taking the form of two dragons, only for the fire to transform into flesh and blood as the fire dragons became real, and Tyroth knew them both well.

Lokdrogyol, the Fiery Skylord of Nirn.

Thaenia Gentleheart, the last Guardian Dragon of Earth.

They roared.

"I LIVE ONCE MORE!"

"AS DO I!"

With Tyroth having used every skill he knows, Vulstrun's ferocity and electrical powers still held up against him. The battle has been hard fought so far, and it's not even over yet.

Now, it turns from a one-on-one into a three-on-one.

Note: The words Tyroth roared at the end are in the dragon tongue.

They read as follows:
Dov = dragons
Rii = essence/soul
Slen = flesh
Laas = life