Chapter 50: The Scourge Draconis
Long, long ago in the deepest, furthest reaches of the known universe, a planet roared to life with the fires and stones of hell. It came to be known as one of the first birthplaces of the ferocious dragons, the mightiest of the mythical creatures.
None know the planet's name but the dragons who inhabit it, for its said merely uttering the name turns one's breath to white flame and burns their innards to ash.
It is a land of ferocity, where only the toughest, roughest and strongest live to eat another meal. Blood and fire spew from the molten cracks as the magma devours the weak and frail.
Dragons fought daily for supremacy. But at the top of the food chain stood the mightiest of all...The Scourge Draconis, He of Indominance.
Existing beyond power, beyond magic, beyond fear, he ruled over all and turned the weak into dust beneath his heel, where they would then be swallowed up through his nostrils.
None could challenge him. Not only cause they lacked the strength, but also the will for what would come after...
But as the saying goes, there is always a bigger fish. And he was but a stepping stone for the true hero of this legend...
The land of the hellfire knew not the feel of human flesh until one fateful day, when a spaceship crash landed upon the outer realms, where the weakest of dragons cowered from the Scourge's watchful eyes.
It was a space-faring woman who had landed upon their domain. A woman who, by all accounts, should have collapsed from the weight of fear, let along burned up from contact with the planet.
Yet she stood to greet the ferocious dragons with an iron eye, for she had already escaped death once. Her colony, as she called it, had met its end to an asteroid field.
One of the dragons, feeling emotions he knew nothing of, took the woman in and kept her safe. Their bond was formed from a healthy dosage of intrigue on both sides, as they shared their knowledge of each other's worlds over the coming months.
She could survive off the meat on this world, but if she were to be discovered by the Scourge's entourage then her fate would be sealed. Yet by a miracle, the kind dragon kept her presence a secret from the inner circle.
And then came another miracle, as the woman managed to bear the dragon's child...A half-breed, as they'd call her, would come to be named Priscilla after the woman's mother.
Priscilla grew like her mother, but wore the scales and horns of her father. She survived this harsh world for ten years, learning how to control her different abilities, including becoming a giant dragon of her own. She even learned karate from her mother, though the father stumbled when he attempted to try it himself.
But it was not to last.
The Scourge Draconis made his rounds, seeking a "challenge" from the outer realms. As he got his fill of murder in, Priscilla rose against her parents' wishes and attacked the Scourge, only to be batted aside by accident.
Yet the Scourge noticed what had happened, and finally learned the truth of union between dragon and human.
Priscilla's father jumped to her aid and bit and chewed away at the Scourge's flesh. But the Scourge laughed, and impaled him through the chest in one blow. While his entourage feasted upon her father's body, Priscilla roared with rage and attacked the Scourge again in her dragon form.
Still, she was no threat, and the Scourge tossed her aside once more. He then plucked her mother from the ground, and devoured her without a second thought.
He then crushed Priscilla's chest underfoot, laughing into the black and crimson night sky as he walked away.
But Priscilla survived. The depths of her rage held off the cold hand of Death, and she swore vengeance upon the Scourge Draconis.
For the next decade she crawled through the hellish lands beyond her home, feasting off the feral wildlife and barely scraping victories against stronger dragons just to survive.
Her strength grew, as did her rage, as she slowly tore a path towards the Scourge Draconis' front steps.
When she arrived her body was a specter of blood, with only her figure cluing the Scourge in as to who she was. But his memory of that passing moment was faint, all he could remember was the succulent taste of "that woman".
Priscilla's roar rocked the Scourge's castle to the ground as the two engaged in feral combat. For seven days and seven nights, the dragons of the world gathered to witness the bloodshed between these mighty dragons. Scales, claws and fangs were ripped asunder from their bleeding bodies, as the hellfire of the world chanted their names.
Entire volcanoes were raised from the ground around where they fought.
In the end though, Priscilla's strength overcame the Scourge Draconis. Yet as the tyrant king laid on his back, he uttered a terrifying laugh.
He mocked this half-breed, for though she stands triumphant, she cannot truly win over him unless she devours him entirely. That is the curse of the Scourge Draconis.
"I know."
She first ripped a claw from his feet and watched him scream as she ate it. She plucked off one small piece at a time, devouring muscle, bone and organs alike. The Scourge Draconis screamed, and screamed. Never stopping, for she saved his lungs for last.
She was done after five hours, the power of the Scourge Draconic now her's to command.
She returned to the castle's former entrance and was met with the bows of millions of dragons. In this moment of levity brought forth by victory, Priscilla commanded these dragons not as one of them, but as a human.
They would no longer be a society of war and bloodshed, but a peaceful one, so that no more of the "weak" would be trampled over. She declared that if there were any issues with her decree, they could dare to claim her head.
And so the world became a little less hellish...for a time anyways.
Everything changed when the slavers attacked. Priscilla's mother had been a part of their group, and they had finally gotten a hold of the faint signal her escape pod was emitting.
Without any knowledge of technology, the dragons were overwhelmed by the slavers and captured. Even Priscilla could only manage to shoot down a few of their ships before suffering the same fate as well.
As a half-breed she held the greatest value of all. She screamed and flailed in captivity while they shocked her, chained her, and kept her just fed enough.
Eventually her time in captivity led to, if you'd believe it, a stroke of good fortune.
She was brought to a place called "Casino Neptune", where they attempted to sell her as an attraction to the owner for a large sum,
The owner beat up the slavers and freed Priscilla. But in the rage of the moment, Priscilla rampaged through the casino, only being brought down by her own exhaustion. Yet the owner survived all that and helped her calm down.
After Priscilla had calmed down, the two talked for a long while, leading to Neptune, the owner, vowing to aid the grief-stricken dragon.
She worked alongside a partner of hers, Gravitus, to completely and utterly dismantle the slavers operation and kill all their members to send a message to those who'd continue the trade.
Neptune brought the head of the organization back to Priscilla, who devoured it without hesitation, and then broke down in tears.
Gravitus approached Priscilla with a message...Once the dragons had been freed, he decided to share some of his technology with them to help with their chances of survival should another organization boldly decide to invade.
In a humbling move, Priscilla forced her gratitude upon Gravitus. But she knew she could not return to her home now. She had been a terrible leader, and that shame would be her chains forever.
Neptune offered her a home at her Casino, and even a job as a bouncer. Priscilla accepted as a means of repaying the debt owed.
But that respect swiftly turned to love, as did Neptune's curiosity towards this bewitching dragon do the same. The two confessed their love together and were married not long after. Begrudgingly, Priscilla returned to her home world at Neptune's behest, because she wanted to know more about where she grew up.
Life for her has changed immensely since those struggling days of old, but at the core of her burning soul she is still the one, the only, Scourge Draconis...
"Another day, same old idiots..." Sighed Priscilla, making the rounds in the casino. Behind her laid a pile of unconscious aliens who had tried to cheat some money out of the poker table.
She puffed a ring of smoke and tucked her hands into her pants, "At least its a short round today..."
She glanced up at the clock atop the dice-ridden pole. Fifteen more minutes and she doesn't have to work the rest of the day.
The smell of gold. The sound of dice clacking. What was intoxicating to the masses was invigorating to her.
She glanced to the right and saw there was an empty seat at the blackjack table.
"Hmmm..." She shrugged and stepped down to join them with a few spare chips she snagged off her victims.
"I'm in." She said to the server, a nine-foot tall limbless, blindfolded telekinetic life form known around here as "Psy Ik".
"****?" It uttered with its pulsating flesh jaw.
"Yeah sure." She tossed in a few more chips and was handed her first card, a King of Diamonds.
Second deal gave her a 4 of Spades. Dealer drops a 8 of Spades atop their down card.
A look around the table showed her having the second lowest hand thus far. Two players stuck to 19 points.
She tapped her card with a claw and was dealt another 4, this time of Hearts.
"18 points..." Not enough to win the table...yet. Picking up the chips here would net her a quick lunch before she headed out for the day.
Visions of fried Torqu'a burgers slathered in cheese brought her mouth to drool, and she readily tapped her claw five times over.
One more card...a 7 of Diamonds. She's over. Done. A three-day old veggie and ham sandwich awaited her in the fridge.
"Peh...!" She huffed an ember, lightly hammered the table, then pulled away to go elsewhere.
All's quiet in Silver Section B, and C, and D too. The burly bouncers tip their hats and mutter "Boss" respectfully by her passing.
"No harm in cutting out early." She said with five minutes on the clock.
Rounding about to the bottom floor, she made her way to the train station and coolly whipped her custom made pink-gold VIP card over the scanner.
"Heh," She smirked, "Still got it..."
The bullet tram came down the middle chute and she hopped in, taking a straight shot up to their abode between stations.
A quick trip down the quiet hallway and she arrived in front of a blank wall. She took out one claw and glided it gently across the center. Part of the wall pulled back slightly and then opened vertically to allow her in.
She had unbuttoned most of her shirt by the time she rounded into the first door in the next hall, containing bright, florescent platinum walls.
Her darling Belle laid on their diamond shaped bed undressed of her tuxedo and pants with book in hand. Roughly translated to "The Whims of Your Two Hearts", it was her latest joy acquired from their recent vacation on Planet Cortodo.
Priscilla threw her suit onto a wall hook and stopped briefly before a mirror to look at herself. She leaned in and stared at the top of her head, then took her hands to the hair and ruffled it up so it'd look like a wild bush.
She smiled and puffed smoke from her nostrils.
Then she crossed in front of the dozens of pictures on the wall of her and her darling to get to the closet, a dangerous domain bigger than a dragon's keep.
Thrusting open the doors exposed ALL the clothes they've acquired over the years from many worlds. But she had an ideal in mind. Today she was feeling...wild.
First, these pants had to go.
After they were tossed to the side and she was left bare in bra and panties, she leaned into the closet and started thumbing over the hangers for a style to fit her mood.
She tried on a pair of shambled jeans with a chained belt. Then a leather set of pants with gold flames flowing down to her ankles.
But what got her feeling really hot in the loins was a comfortable set of short shorts, whose bottom was practically grinding her womanhood.
With a gentle purr she settled on that and flicked through the shirts next. She liked a variety of these shirts, especially the crop tops. But for today, she settled on a sleeveless, thin strap shirt hanging loosely above her midriff.
As she pulled the black one off she suddenly felt a pair of arms ensnaring her hips slowly like the coil of a snake.
"Mmmm..." Moaned her darling soothingly, "Stay. Let us spend the day together."
She attacked from two fronts. First by rubbing her stiffening nipples against her backside, then by gliding the silky smooth touch of her fingers down into her shorts.
Priscilla trembled, biting her lower lip with great fervor as she fought back, calling her tail out to wrap around Belle's lithe frame and pull her away.
Priscilla turned around and left her darling leaning atop her muscular tail with both palms. Gazing into her eyes, she said, "You're such a puppy dog Belle..."
Belle curled her lower lip into a pout and whimpered as her eyes took on a dazzling gleam.
Priscilla gently tossed her back onto the bed with her tail and chuckled, "I'll have plenty of energy for tonight."
"Ho hum~" Belle remarked as she fell onto the bed and crossed her legs.
Priscilla then finished clothing herself with the addition of a white jacket vest with a fiery symbol for "Dragon" on the back.
"I'm off." She said on her way to the door.
"Have fun on your day off dear." Belle cheerfully waved her off.
Once a year Priscilla chooses to have a day off to go visit her old home and unwind some of her tense nerves. Sometimes she prefers to go it alone. Not today though.
"There's the pink terror!"
It was the sound of Belle's older sister Noel, AKA Aurian Jupiter, AKA The One Punch Crime Fighter, AKA...Well, you get the idea.
She's a very tough gal and backs it up with confidence. Its very attractive. Somewhat. Slightly. That's all, seriously.
And today she'll be accompanying her on her day off. She's still wearing the old shorts and bra combo alongside the scarf her sister had knitted for her. Hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it...
The two crossed blows with the crack of their wrists real quick and grinned.
"Ready to lose again, amazon?"
"Hah, you wish! You're going down, Silverfang!"
Noel had parked her ride outside another of the building's hidden compartments. The ride through space would be taking up most of the day, at least six hours total there and back.
They talked recent events, some concerns briefly arising due to Gravitus demise yet again. The Casino was under no threat of attack, but it was a shame that Gravitus died without the debt being repaid...
Mew Whiter, the Elemental Overlord...His name came up in conversation at one point. Word has spread that he was responsible for Gravitus' demise. Doubtful. The Neo Drive wielder, Kairi was it? She probably did it.
Still, that put a target on his Earth's back and someday a bullet would fire through it. He'll have to handle that fight himself, she had no intention of coming to his aid unless Belle requested it.
Otherwise the talk boiled down mostly to a one-sided mention of Noel's recent exploits. Criminals and riff-raff alike sure do love to take advantage of chaos, don't they? The Casino has been a breeding ground for that kind of scum. But they just wind up feeding their funds to her and Belle. At least that keeps some of the wealthier warmongers in check...
It was a good time passer.
Then came the familiar sight of her fiery birthplace in the distance, glowing brightly like a red sun. The ship dove through the black smoke clouds and towards the spewing craters of magma, which led towards a river of lava.
Following that river to a thick, molten moat surrounding a large, metal castle armed with turrets, Noel parked the ship on supposedly solid ground.
There they walked out towards the castle with steam hissing off the bottom of their bare feet. The gate bridge slammed down hard before their toes, and out walked four mighty dragons.
Each stood on all fours at twenty feet tall and thirty feet long. The scales of their neck opened as they breathed, while the gem-like surfaces of their faces glowed red with flames. One had horns curved back towards their necks, another had them coiled up thick like rams horns. Their wings were lively, the membranes charred with an ashen coat.
They crossed the bridge and stood in an arch before the two, growling beneath their breath. A fifth dragon, slightly bigger than the others, walked onto the bridge, leaving his footprints smoldering in the metal. His body glistened with silver, his scales as black as death.
Once he stood before the two, his breath manifested as a thick black smog and his protruding fangs formed a grin.
Priscilla eyed the dragon with her pupils sinking into a paper thin slit, while Noel rolled her right arm in a couple circles.
"Heh..." The dragon raised its front right claw and nudged Priscilla in her chest.
"Welcome back, squirt." The deep-voiced beast said affectionately before flattening his claw out in front of her.
"Come on, give old Yunhelm a hi-five!"
"Heh!" Priscilla smirked and slapped her hand hard against the dragon's claw, with Jupiter following up.
Yunhelm stumbled a couple steps back and him along with the other four reared their heads back in laughter, "Hahaha! Splendid!"
The four dragons leaped and clapped their claws against the ground in an uproar.
"Same old dumbasses..." Priscilla murmured with a smile.
Yunhelm turned towards the castle and remarked, "Come! Preparations have already been made inside..."
They walked into the spacious courtyard and found a few other dragons loitering about. One dragged in a massive wooden barrel leaking wine with the help of a rope in his mouth.
"Ungh...! Our finest wine, stamped down and aged for a year...!" The dragon grunted as he let the barrel go in the center of the courtyard.
Priscilla glanced at Noel with a leer, "Are you ready?"
Noel looked back with a cockier leer, "Am I never?"
A few minutes later the two were laid back atop a pair of dragons with a glass of wine overflowing in their hand. They clinked their glasses together and looked up into the sky.
The turret artillery was fired off and the dragons took turns trying to blow them up with fireballs.
"You missed again...!" Laughed Yunhelm towards a floating, limbless yellow dragon.
"Ha! You try then, you old curmudgeon..."
"Gladly...!" Yunhelm's mouth glowed bright gold and the moment the turret burst, he launched his fireball straight in its path.
A metallic explosion of gold filled the away, crackling away like dim fireworks. Yunhelm reared his front legs and stamped them down, the rest of the dragons roaring for his triumph.
Priscilla wound up spilling most of her drink into her mouth and gobbled it down, smacking the bottom of the glass onto the dragon's scales, "Watch your step you silverback little bitch!"
"Heh," The mighty dragon stalled still, "Still as sharp-tongued as ever. But I bet your claws are too dull from playing bouncer to a bunch of wimps...!"
"Oooooo!" Bellowed the other dragons.
Priscilla stood up and smashed the glass upon the dragon's back, licking up the scattered wine with a sweep of her tongue.
"Man the railgun..." She muttered cockily.
The mightiest of weapons was aimed towards the horizon and manned by three of the dragons. Priscilla took a claw to her tongue and glided it down to the tip as it salivated with a thick, raunchy venom.
Her fingertips crackled with electricity, but she only aimed one towards the sky.
"Venom Spark..." She muttered, snapping her fingers right before the railgun fired.
A purple bolt of lightning shot through the air and cut the railgun blast permanently in half, then blew a mile-wide hole through the cloudy sky.
Priscilla calmly blew the smoke off her fingertip and sat back down on Yunhelm's trembling scales.
"Heh, She is the mightiest still..." The dragon muttered, falling upon his belly to rest.
"Bold of you to say that while I'M here." Noel commented.
Priscilla gave her a passing glance and watched as she stood and stretched her rippling arms up high.
"Mmmm...Feast your eyes on these guns!" She said, pulling her fists back so hard the air made a powerful whipping sound.
The railgun was charged again, much to the chagrin of the exhausted dragons, and fired in the same direction.
Noel cracked her fists forward at full power and the energy from the railgun was carried skyward along a bubble of pure pressure. When it hit the clouds the hole rippled a little wider.
Noel put her fists down and sat with a cheeky smile, soaking in the awed gasps of the other dragons.
Noel smirked. Priscilla threw out a pout and drank another glass of wine horded at her side.
They later feasted upon part of a massive worm's corpse. A gift from the "squirmy one", as Yunhelm called him.
Priscilla and Noel packed in the pounds until their bellies barely started to churn in anger...Then picked up the pace even further.
When the carcass was emptied Priscilla bellowed a belch like thunder and patted her bulging belly. She then turned to Noel and said, "Race you to the volcano."
Noel stirred her right leg in the air and grinned, "You're on."
The other dragons joined in for a romp through the cracking fire plains stretching miles beyond the castle. They stampeded past other dragons that decided to join them, but all lagged far behind.
Priscilla enjoyed a comfortable lead until a shadow dropped in front of her, uprooting most of the ground on impact.
Noel blew aside the smoke with her arm and her legs were now twice their size. She flashed a grin then leaped far, far off in the lead.
"Heh...! I don't lose to humans!" Priscilla leaped after her, her body swallowed up in rose-colored flames.
Then she crashed down at a size and shape comparable to her peers. Her snout was rectangular, her horns stuck up sharp and proudly as a crown, while her hair stretched as a mane down her neck. Her body spread two pairs of wings with dark red membranes, and with a feral roar she stampeded after Noel at double her normal pace.
It was neck and neck to the bitter end and the winner was undecided between their observers. But Priscilla had absolutely won. Totally.
At the base of this volcano was a thick lack of lava. As the larger dragons dipped their toes into the edge, Priscilla and Noel stripped nude and sank their lower bodies into it.
The sixth barrel of wine was cracked open and split among the crowd, as tales of maritime spread amongst them.
"So you two, what's kept you busy lately?" Yunhelm inquired.
Noel basked in the lava and stretched her arms along the edge, "You know the deal. Bad guys cause trouble, I knock 'em out."
"Ah come on, there's gotta be something special you got involved in lately." One of the other dragons nudged her in the shoulder.
"Hmm, though you mention it..." Noel tapped her fingers along the ground and raised her head back, "There was a thing involving monsters a whole while back."
"Monsters eh? Like what?"
"I dunno, some things with wings, a giant mummy, a worm in a trenchcoat?" Noel shrugged her shoulders and huffed boastfully, "They all went down so fast I didn't commit them to memory."
"What about you Priscilla? Join in the fun?" Yunhelm guffawed.
Priscilla took a sip of her wine and murmured, "Those foul beasts weren't worth the time..."
"Curse my profession sometimes...!" She growled internally.
Noel looked her way and nudged her with her glass, "My sis keeps you busy doesn't she?"
"..." Priscilla shoved her glass off and blushed.
Yunhelm slapped the edge of the lake and laughed, "If you're the Scourge Draconis, then your wife is surely the Scourge Magus!"
"Ha ha ha...!" Noel downed another cup of wine and her face started looking red, "Good ol' Belle...Successful, pretty, married..."
She sank deeper into the lava and her eyes looked a little glazed over, "And you're so cool Priscilla. Nothing ever gets you down..."
"Look at me...!" She spat out a hiccup, "Ain't got a job anymore, or a home...! I'm just a big orange muscular loser...!"
She raised her glass up high and shouted, "Yaaaaaaaaay!"
The dragons laughed around her, save Priscilla, who quietly took another sip from her glass.
"I'm envious of you Noel. You've kicked ass harder than anyone I know and made many friends. Your sister gushes about you more than she does me sometimes..." She closed her eyes and sighed, "I have captured Belle's heart, but you'll always have what's more precious...a bond of family."
"Heh...and what's that gotta do with anything...?" Noel said, slurring her words.
Priscilla took another sip of her glass, "She won't remember this anyways..."
After a long soak Noel was starting to lose consciousness from the wine indulging, so Priscilla picked her up, clothed her, and took it upon herself to carry her back to the ship on foot.
The dragons sent her off with a beautiful display of fireballs exploding in the sky. Those idiots may have changed over time, but they still love showing their power...
One lonely, quiet trip later, she had returned home feeling quite satisfied with herself.
She lugged Noel all the way to their private room, where Belle sat on the edge in a thin night gown. But when Priscilla stepped through the door she sprung up and looked hardly fazed.
"She lost again?" Belle said, gliding a magic soaked hand over her sister's body.
"Yes." Priscilla laid Noel onto the bed.
"We'll let her stay the night." She then remarked.
"Will we?" Belle said with a playful smile, then sat beside her fainted sister to rub her head.
"Poor Noel...These last few months have been rough. You were fired from the galactic patrol? Why didn't you tell me that?"
Noel groaned and moved in her sleep. Belle continued to apply a gentle touch to help her relax, her smile staying wide.
"You'll tough it out. You always have."
Priscilla stepped aside for the moment to change her clothes out for the night. In her lonesome she closed her eyes and huffed out a little steam.
"The Scourge Draconis carries the weight of suffering...But it should be a power to help, not hurt," She glanced warmly behind at her darling caring for her sister and smiled, "I was suffering once...But I'm happy now. I wouldn't exchange this happiness for anything."
Next Time: Two-of-a-kind