Alric

Drakeblood Helm, Fallen Knight Armor, Drakeblood Gauntlets, Fallen Knight Trousers. Dragonslayer's Axe, Dragon Crest Shield, Sunlight Talisman. Morne's Ring, Ring of the Sun's Firstborn, Chloranthy Ring, Sage's Ring.

Alric rose from the bonfire. He was in a new land for sure, given that the wide expanse of grass and rocks, and some sort of city in the distance, was completely unfamiliar to him.

The city was the most logical place to go to, but before he could set off, a dreadfully familiar roar filled the air. Turning, Alric clearly saw the dark shape of a black wyvern soaring through the air.

Hopefully, this one might ignore him. Or it wasn't hostile.

The dragon turned and flew right towards him. Even from this distance Alric saw killing intent gleaming in it's eyes.

Wishful thinking.

(Old Dragonslayer Theme)

Well, at the very least Alric hoped he could make a good weapon out of its tail. Exchanging his shield for his Talisman, Alric drew a Lightning Arrow and let loose at the creature's belly.

He hit right on the mark. Though his attack did only minimal damage, the black dragon seemed to be shocked that it hurt it at all.

Alric grinned. An overconfident dragon almost made for an amusing hunt.

He fired three more arrows, searing the dragon's wings and bringing it closer. He tried to land a fourth, but the dragon unexpectedly rolled in the air and reared back to roast him.

Alric pulled his shield in his right hand, the enchanted metal easily blocking the flames, and ran towards the dragon. The beast loudly laughed at him, shouting something in an unknown tongue before landing to get physical. Alric only grinned.

Before he got close, he suddenly pulled his shield back and hurled a Sunlight Spear directly into the dragon's face. It screeched in pain, briefly clawing at its eyes, and Alric used that opportunity to close in and strike with his axe. The Mirrah steel surprisingly didn't cut very deep, but the Lightning charred the dragon's scales and flesh with ease.

It snapped at him once, then backwards, but Alric rolled under both attacks. This dragon was...magnificent. Clearly it was only a wyvern-a far inferior descendant-but it's scales were as hard as those on the Arch-Dragon Midir. Its unique red eyes burned with hatred, it's breath heavy but slow and controlled. This dragon was no stranger to combat, but it didn't fight with just primal savagery.

No, there was intelligence in its actions. A mind to guide it. Alric almost felt guilty having to slay it, but a Dragonslayer he was and would always be.

Turning his thought back to the fight, Alric rolled under yet another snap and threw another Sunlight Spear at its neck. He was positioned the side of the massive dragon, so hitting the broad side of it was no trouble.

As the power of Lord Gwyn charred its scales once again, the dragon suddenly spoke, in a deep male voice. "What power is this?! No mortal in this realm has ever charred a dovah's scales! Who are you?!"

Alric masked his shock carefully and brought out his shield once more, this time exchanging his weapon for his Talisman.

"I am no mortal." he responded evenly. "And I am not of this realm."

With that, he charged forward, sliding under the dragon's head, firing a Lightning Arrow into it neck, then rolled to its left side and slammed down a Lightning Stake. In response the dragon briefly took to the air to create distance once again.

"No…" it said. "You are no joor. What are you?"

Alric held out an Ember and crushed it, feeling the strength of fire filling him. "I am only Ash. I have been once destroyed by fire, and now it is only my strength."

The dragon laughed. "If fire will not kill you, then perhaps the other elements will!"

It shouted to the sky, causing many flaming rocks to begin falling, each threatening to crush the Ashen One into dust.

In response, Alric raised his Talisman and invoked the Oath of Sunlight to briefly heighten his strength. Then he empowered his Dragonslayer's Axe with more powerful Lightning than it already contained, took out his shield, and charged again.

The dragon breathed a wave of ice that could've frozen a giant, but with the combined power of the Embers and the Oath of Sunlight, Alric easily ignored it and swung overhead. He barely clipped the dragon's scales, then was nearly torn in half when the dragon bit down on him and threw him into a small stream.

Alric blinked, seeing stars, then shook his head and took a quick swig from his Estus Flask. It wasn't enough to fully heal him, but it provided enough mobility to roll away from a falling meteor. Getting to his feet he drank again, then swore loudly as he heard beating wings closing from multiple directions.

Great, more dragons.

Thankfully these ones seemed more interested in the fight than killing him, so Alric had just enough time to focus a Greater Lighting Spear and throw it. The black dragon took to the air and avoided it, then started circling Alric, breathing fire to enclose him. Not that it mattered much, a closer battle was what he was looking for. The meteors stopped falling, but the sky remained covered in dark clouds, an orange light shining behind them casting the battlefield in a frightening glow.

The dragon circled back and shouted again, but instead of an attack its speed seemed to increase drastically.

Alric blinked. Damn, that complicated things. The dragon attempted to crush him as it landed, but he just barely dove out of the way. Unfortunately his sloppy evasion left him open to a swing from its tail that nearly sent him into fire. But he was an Undead, an Ashen Undead at that, and such pain was merely a distraction he ignored.

Alric had somehow lost his shield and he didn't know where, but he would find it after he killed this monster.

It stalked towards him, clearly thinking that the battle was won. "I know not where you came from or what your true nature is, Ash, but know that I am Alduin! First born of Akatosh! My blood is divine and my power unending! You think yourself great to challenge me, but you will die, and I will live on forever!"

A dragon god? What a strange world. But Alric had killed deities before, and although this Alduin was powerful it had yet to fully match Darkeater Midir. And even then, Alric had slain that dragon as well.

He said nothing, but drew another Lightning Arrow and fired. Predictably, Alduin was able to dodge it and snapped forward with an even colder frost in its mouth. Interesting. And perfect. Instead of attempting to dodge the attack. Alric pulled back and readied another Sunlight Spear. At the last moment, Alduin's eyes widened, realizing his mistake.

But it was too late. Alric slammed the spear down Alduin's throat, then sidestepped and buried his axe in the dragon's eye.

(Darkeater Midir phase 2)

Alduin roared, the force of it blasting Alric back like the Wrath of the Gods, and he barely took a swig of his Ashen Estus with trembling hands.

Now, he saw, the fight wasn't over. Not by a long shot. Alduin was only just beginning to feel the damage Alric had inflicted, but he would no longer hold back. This fight had become truly deadly, the dragons circling around them had been whipped into a frenzy, roaring and shouting and fighting one another.

Alduin charged him wildly, breathing a huge spout of even more intense flames than before that actually burned Alric. Dimly aware of the fact the cloth on his armor was now on fire, Alric ignored it in favor of another chug of Estus. Alduin snarled at the realization that Estus was healing his foe, and charged again with incredible speed.

Alric rolled under him, throwing yet another Sunlight Spear that caused considerable damage to the dragon's tail: It had actually blown off the scales at the base of it and melted the flesh underneath down to charred bone.

For the first time since this battle began, Alric grinned. He had an idea, one that didn't seem too bad.

Alric feigned readying another spear, only this time when Alduin charged Alric timed his roll so he would be positioned right next to Alduin's tail. Raising his Talisman, Alric summoned a great Lightning Stake and brought it down on the spot where the Sunlight Spear had hit.

The resulting explosion fully detached the rest of the tail, sending a heap of blood, gore, and bone everywhere as Alduin screamed in agony. Alric was also sent flying, but became aware of a new weight in his bag. Scrambling under a rock to hide from Alduin's gaze he quickly inspected his new prize.

Dragonbone Greatsword

A massive ultra greatsword carved from the tail of the deific dragon Alduin. It's blade is unbreakable and sharper than any other in history.

Weapon Art: Alduin's Wrath

Hold the sword aloft to summon a brief storm of meteors from the sky.

What a treasure! Alric had sadly only ever found dragon weapons before, but now he could finally say he had created one himself!

Stuffing the incredible weapon back into his bag, Alric dove out of cover just in time for the rock to explode as Alduin crashed through it. In the blink of an eye Alduin spun around and once again breathed flames hot enough to partially melt Alric's armor.

He just barely refrained from screaming and blindly grabbed something off the ground and used it to shield himself from the fire. When he realized he wasn't dead yet, Alric looked at what he had grabbed only to find it was indeed his shield!

Alduin only pressed forward with his hellfire, but Alric lightly chuckled and downed the last of his Estus and Ashen Estus. He didn't know how close Alduin was to death, but surely a few good attacks would put him down.

The Dragonslayer suddenly rolled out of the flames, and before Alduin could follow him performed one miracle he never hoped he would have to: Vow of Silence.

The purple orb dropped, and both dragon and undead stumbled as their divine powers were abruptly cut off.

Alric recovered first, rushing forward and slashing at Alduin with his axe. Now that his scales were properly weakened, the Dragonslayer Axe cut deep into Alduin's flesh, drawing a fresh spout of blood with each swing. The black dragon tried to turn, but without his powers he had become much slower, and Alric could effortlessly avoid his head.

As Alric slashed mercilessly, Alduin stumbled as he just barely kept his balance. The blood loss from losing his tail had drained most of his stamina, and with the loss of focus Alduin lost the adrenaline from his berserk rage. Just as he slumped to the ground and Alric prepared his final swing, Alduin noticed the purple ring around Alric vanish, and immediately his power rushed back.

"Gaan Lah Haas!"

Alric's grip on his weapon slacked as what remained of his life force was brutally ripped out of him and into Alduin. He dropped both his shield and axe on the ground and fell to his knees, then slumped forward and died. The embers faded from his armor and his body slowly dissolved into souls.

(Music stop)

Alduin brought himself up and watched his foe's body begin to vanish. He was only barely holding on to life, blood pouring from his mouth and wounds, the stump of his where his tail used to be burning. But he was alive. It would take a long time to recover from this, months or maybe even a year, but Alduin gladly inhaled the thousands of souls his opponent left behind to keep him alive long enough to return to Sovngarde.

Whatever that creature was, Ash it called itself, had clearly been either alive for a long, long time, or had slain an entire kingdom in it's short life. Either way, it was undoubtedly the deadliest foe Alduin had ever encountered. Even though only a Dovah could take his soul, this creature's divine powers had no difficulty harming the son of Akatosh himself. Perhaps even, that creature could actually contend with the Daedra themselves.

Either way, it was dead now, and Alduin thankfully wouldn't have to find out.

Odahviing landed beside him, his expressed caught peculiarly between shock, terror, and concern for his lord.

"Alduin...are you-"

His question was cut off by Alduin violently expelling dark blood from his mouth. The black dragon raised his head and only looked at Odahviing tiredly, emotionally spent.

"It is no use asking if I am "alright", but I'm not going to die now. I don't know that thing truly was, but it was no mere mortal. That power it contained…"

Alduin shook his head.

"It will take me many months to recover from this. For the first three, I will not be able to keep the younger drakes in line. That is up to you."

With that, Alduin slowly took the air and limped back towards Skuldafn.

Alric may be an experienced dragonslayer, but faith alone can't win every battle. Most of his armor was too weak to properly withstand true dragonfire, and his over reliance on miracles made him predictable, even if they were devastating against Alduin. Add in that several times he stopped to converse with Alduin instead of attacking or healing simply allowed his opponent to plan their next attack.