"I thank you for arriving with such haste." Kirio greeted the Japanese Soul Reapers as they dismounted from their dragons below the palace. "We would not normally need to call for help from the Soul Societies, but having lost two of our own and the Soul King in perilous condition, we have little choice."
"However we can help, ma'am." Shunsui said with a bow as he and his Lieutenant stood next to Yamamoto, the three of them at the head of the large group. "It'd be a shame if we didn't accept the chance to save our little king when the time came."
Each of the other Captains stepped forward as well to offer their greetings and promises to help; Soi Fon, Rose, Unohana, Shinji, Byakuya, Komamura, Kensei, Kadin, Mayuri and Rukia had all been quick to respond, with only Kenpachi hanging back in disinterest, turning to look at the lonely dragon standing next to his own. Grendir may no longer have a partner, but he was still ready for a fight, so he stuck by the large dragon Wardin and refused to back down and cower with the other dragons at the Nest.
Behind their Captains were the majority of the Lieutenants, with only Squads Two, Three, Four, and Seven leaving theirs behind, Squad Thirteen currently lacking one with Rukia's recent promotion and no time to appoint a successor. All of the Visoreds were present as well, not quite as used to the realm but capable all the same, along with Yoruichi and Kisuke.
"This was everyone we could gather on short notice without leaving us completely defenseless below." Yamamoto reported.
"I pray it will be enough, our enemy is just as few in number." Kirio replied gravely, clearly not sure if they had the advantage. Some wondered if the last remaining Solar Sisters and their master were really so strong.
"How is Sh – um, Lord Hitsugaya?" Momo dared speak up, worried as she held the pendant she was gifted years ago tight in her hands. It no longer functioned properly since it was not one of the spells Ruala had made to last in her absence, so the anxious woman had no clue about her adopted brother's condition. Despite that, no one could convince her to throw it away.
"Improving, but there's no telling when he will be able to wake."
"The weather stopped freaking out, I thought that meant he was healed." Renji frowned.
"Physically, yes, but it seems he needs more time internally before he can join us. Until then, we must defend him."
"Anything from the dragons?" Shadow questioned, sitting behind his partner while Kadin tried to avoid glancing at the forested kingdom.
"Nothing yet, you may join Dyrilӕn and Myndrӕl in trying if you wish."
"They don't have partners to defend, I don't think there's anything we can do." Noxis spoke to the Dark dragon with a frown. "Even we would have preferred to hide in the wilds if we didn't have partners, they won't want to fight in a war that doesn't involve them."
"But it does involve them, Dethmaiyn is putting our home at risk." Ahvain argued back with a hiss.
"I agree, but there is another place to go. We might be used to the Nest now, but the wilds are where we used to live, and as hard as it was I'm sure they prefer that over a war."
"We'll see about that." Determined, Ahvain puffed up her chest and lifted into the sky, slithering her way towards the mountain. With a quick promise to return soon, Tӕlaf and Shadow followed her.
"Cowards are cowards, they're wasting time." Wardin snorted. "As soon as those demons show up I'll smash them."
His partner grinned wickedly in agreement.
"If you would all follow me; I will take you inside to brief you on the situation while you rest." Kirio caught their attention again as the dragons settled down.
The large group of Soul Reapers followed the Royal Guard into the palace, glancing around at the messengers flitting past them in the buildings in a hurry. No doubt every Commander had their subordinates running frantically around in preparation. It wasn't much quieter inside, families sheltering inside the maze of floors where they would be harder to find without knowing the correct pattern of stairs, their own guards on watch in case they were found by accident. The realm was already in a panic.
"I guess these guys aren't used to raids." Shunsui noted aloud as they reached their destination floor.
"Normally no one can possibly make it up here without the King's Key or permission to use the Tenchuren." Kirio explained. "The dragons are an exception since they are such powerful souls and for many centuries have called this realm their home. Their time spent in this land gave their wings the ability to travel between realms on their own."
"Well Dethmaiyn has none of those things, so how do you expect him to get up here?" Rangiku questioned, wondering what secret Kamai knew about to have the Royal Families evacuating.
"He actually does have one of those things…" Kadin replied instead with a frown. The others looked at him with demands for answers.
Someone else cut in to answer before he could.
"He has a dragon." The voice was Sylfie's. They had stepped into the meeting room and she was waiting for them there, along with her daughters, Miyuki and the Kurosaki siblings, though Shimmer was still absent from Yuzu's side. "He doesn't have one as a partner, but he convinced one to join his cause."
"He has a dragon?" Rukia looked concerned. "That changes things quite a bit."
"Apparently one of the last two Solar Five Sisters used to be a dragon." Sylfie continued. "Miyuki tells me that she can revert back to her dragon state when unleashing her full demon powers. The demon powers might still hinder her progress into the realm, but she will be able to carry up the other Demon Lord and her Dark Master."
"She used to be a strong dragon, too." Karin added in. "The Elder dragon Lilianna was nearby and she told us of a nasty rogue dragon from the wilds they called the Storm dragon. She was a Lightning-Gravity dragon so that let her manipulate all kinds of atmospheric effects into horrible storms, and once she went demon she could use blood magic like the other sisters."
"A truly deadly combination, I'd be interested to test the limits of her ability." Mayuri mused aloud, fascinated.
"We won't be testing anything with the king's life at risk." Senjumaru snapped as she stepped into the room, causing the scientist to flinch. "The other sister is a problem as well. A true shadow demon, she can still make an army of wraiths just like she did before and that would be a problem here. We would be instantly outnumbered. Not to mention her own demon form is a shape-shifter."
"She prides herself on being able to turn into people's worst fears, since she wanted to follow in Lord Kamai's footsteps." Miyuki spoke up. "Once she's in that form, the only thing you can damage is her demon heart, which she moves around at will. Lady Kazara has the raw power of a storm, but Lady Korla will be able to manipulate the battlefield to protect herself. When they fight together, one can provide the pure strength to kill and the other puts their opponent off balance."
"Add to all that their master's ability to amplify your fears and twist your own thoughts against you and his own impressive skill with spells of both Magik and Kido and the three of them make up for the lack of an army." Senjumaru concluded. "We're lucky to have Lady Hitsugaya's input on their abilities and the fact that they can in fact travel here, otherwise we would have been completely unprepared."
"That explains the reason you called us here with such haste." Yamamoto stroked his beard as he spoke.
"Yes. So let us speak quickly."
As the Reapers discussed strategy, using what information they could get from Miyuki – though even she admitted there might be some skills she didn't know about – their dragon king stood on watch above the palace with the other dragons.
"Can't you just tell the dragons to help?" Noxis asked the Ice-Water dragon. "You are the Dragon King now, you should be able to order them to help."
"If they still see themselves as wild dragons than my orders mean nothing." Myndrӕl replied with a sigh. He had already tried exactly that. "As far as they're concerned I'm a human-loving traitor and all I care about is giving my life away to a weaker species and not protecting my own kin. Some of them offered support but had excuses to retreat with the others. If they don't have a partner, they don't feel like a war is worth it."
"I would have said the same once." Grendir said with a scowl. "If I hadn't met Ikkaku, then even telling me that the enemy had a dragon on their side wouldn't have made me follow you. Our kin have been forced to survive on our own for so long that the idea of fighting for anyone but yourself would have been preposterous."
"Which I understand." Myndrӕl nodded to him. "That's why I won't force the dragons to fight. Without a partner, they just won't understand. If Ahvain and the others can convince some of them then great, but we will likely be protecting our partners on our own."
"Are you going to go back to the wilds?" Hasyl, Byakuya's partner, turned to Grendir in question.
"I may have lost my partner but you won't see me backing out now." The Wind-Earth drake snarled. "I won't go back to the wilds until all of those pathetic Demon Lords are nothing but dust."
"We'll certainly be pushed to the limit if we're fighting the Storm Dragon." Noxis frowned. "I've heard about her, she was a violent dragon that went after other hatchlings when her own never hatched. She thought someone had harmed her egg, since she thought a child of a dragon as powerful as herself definitely should have hatched. The Lightning Keeper had to work with the other Keepers to chase her away."
"If that's what happened then no wonder Kamai was able to convince her to join him." Dyrilӕn scowled. "But she seemed less violent and more stone-cold killer now."
"Probably training." Wardin had been uninterested in the conversation until now. "I'll take her on myself if you little hatchlings are too scared."
"Hatchlings my tail!" Aberon puffed up, baring his teeth at the big dinosaur-like dragon. "If anything I'll take her down first."
"Seriously?" The old Fire drake Infiro sighed as the two dragons growled and rustled their scales. "Weren't you two listening? She held her own against several of the Keepers, the most powerful of our kind in each element. We can't fight her one on one, especially if we don't want her hitting our partners with her storms."
"Infiro is right, we have to keep her in the sky with us." Dyrilӕn agreed. "Karin is letting me know what the Soul Reapers are planning. If we can keep the demon dragon busy, they can deal with the shadow users."
"Then don't get in my way." Wardin snorted at her. The fire dragoness bristled and growled and her mate turned a glare on him, but neither made the Lightning dragon even flinch. He was as hard-headed as his partner and not even the Dragon King's anger would change his mind.
The growls ceased as they felt a strange static in the air. Those of the Lightning element recognized it first; a dragon of their element was in the area. Scales rattled and fur bristled as the dragons on the palace roof turned their focus away from one another and out past the mainland.
'The dragon is here… and likely not alone.' Dyrilӕn quickly warned her partner, sensing sudden alarm and hoping the Soul Reapers could get ready quickly. Considering Aberon and the other dragons bonded enough to use telepathy had done the same, Karin's sudden warning outburst was not much of a surprise.
"I shall call the other dragons back." Laseiltha, Unohana's dragon partner, took off towards the Nest. Any dragon not willing to participate needed to leave immediately, as she doubted a dragon willing to kill hatchlings would leave the place alone.
Myndrӕl stepped to the edge of the palace roof and held his wings out slightly in a threatening display, trying to figure out where the Demon Lord would be coming from. As soon as she breached the clouds he would be after her. He wasn't going to let her trespass on his home and threaten his partner.
A section of the clouds began to darken and twist, a heavy feeling in the air a signature of Gravity types at work. Their enemy was already taking control of the air. The static created sparks in the clouds, practically giving away her position, but the dragons were not stupid enough to charge in head first, not into a gathering storm. They had to wait until she was in open air.
The Soul Reapers exited the palace back onto the main city just as a large creature broke through the clouds. Kazara had been tall in her human form, and it seemed that was in relation to her dragon form, because she was easily bigger than any of the dragons waiting to fight her. Her body was long, fitting more of an Eastern dragon in physique with shorter legs far apart on her body. Her scales shimmered in gold with scarlet along its edges, eyes of dark ruby focusing on the dragons first. The armor plating of her belly was edged with electric blue as well as some of the scales on her legs, which faded from the bright gold to a more bronze tone, her talons pitch black. There was a crest of scarlet feathers on her head and at the end of her tail and an impressive set of blood red horns branched like antlers on her head, two pairs in fact. Her face had an armored mask of dark, blood red but they could still see her teeth as she bared them at her enemies. She had no wings but instead large fin like appendages of scarlet membrane that she could flare at her shoulders, using them to move through the air with impressive agility.
They might have considered the golden dragon beautiful if not for the master she served and the intense killing intent they could feel around them. The air echoed with an angry roar and a flash of blue left the top of the palace. Kazara let out an angry snarl and twisted forward to meet him. The other dragons took off and circled around the fighters, landing on top of other buildings and waiting with fangs bared for a chance to claw the demon dragon's throat. There was a sound of crashing bodies as Ice and Lightning met midair. With Kazara's lithe body, she managed to twist away and shove Myndrӕl down to the ground before moving a safer distance away and flying down to land. As she did so, her scales glittered with magic and she began to shrink, returning to human form. By the time Myndrӕl was back on his feet next to the Soul Reapers, she stood as a Demon Lord next to two other figures, one stepping out in front of her.
"That's quite the welcome party." Kamai's voice carried just far enough they could hear him clearly. Some of the Reapers that had yet to see their enemy mastermind were surprised how annoyed he looked, expecting him to be calm and cunning, much like Aizen had been. "My first time stepping foot back home in decades and a dragon tries to snap my head off. How unpleasant."
"You're lucky I missed." Myndrӕl snarled. He had done no damage to Kazara because he had gone straight for Kamai himself sitting on her back. Unfortunately, that let her get around him and push him away with her snake-like agility.
There was a tense stillness in the air as each side waited for the other to make a move, the two sisters glaring at the dragons in challenge while following Kamai as he dared walk closer to the soldiers for ease of communication.
"You are not welcome here." Sylfie said firmly, her harsh tone uncommon to hear, her royal blood making itself known by the authority she held in just her voice. "Not after everything you've done."
"I understand your resentment of me, Lady Sylfie, and I sincerely apologize for how things have turned out for your family." Kamai replied, and for a moment they thought perhaps he did truly sympathize for the woman whose family he had completely destroyed alongside the Hitsugaya bloodline. Then a wicked grin crossed his face. "If only your sister hadn't betrayed me I would have left you well enough alone."
"You betrayed her!" Ralӕn spoke up this time with a snarl. "Maybe if you weren't so insecure and didn't use your disgusting abilities on her-"
"Disgusting?" Kamai narrowed his eyes at her, shimmers snaking through the air the only warning that his powers were now active. "Oh sweet child, there's no need to speak so callously about something you fear. Better to embrace it."
"I don't fear you."
"An neither do we." Kadin had a harsh glare aimed at the Dark Master. "Coming back here was a mistake, Kamai. This will be your last fight."
"Oh I'm sure it will be." The hiss in his tone suggested he did not think he would be the loser, and the sneer on the girls behind him made it clear they thought themselves victorious as well.
There was a silent pause as his gaze settled on the petite figure of Miyuki. Her eyes had turned amber to match her familiar and she was staring right back at him. But there was no admiration there anymore, no loyalty or trust. Only resentment and betrayal. She no longer had any intention of returning to the man who raised her. She had chosen her family. A sadness entered Kamai's gaze before he quickly hid it away in the depths of his heart. To see that look again, just like her mother's… he felt as if his true curse was to never have his love returned.
Once that brief moment was over, he took a step back as Korla raised her hand up. The shadows twisted in a familiar writhing fury as wraiths rose from the ground and charged the gathering of Soul Reapers.
The sounds of fighting could be heard up into the palace where the Royal Families cowered and hid. Isolated in his room with only Yuzu and Shimmer to keep him company, still deep in sleep, the Soul King's hand twitched ever so slightly. Time was running out.
Just a few more weeks in the semester, it's definitely difficult to make sure I get enough studying in and working on these every now and then. I hope Kazara's dragon form is as cool as I think it is. I might also take a brief break because I want to design a few more dragons for characters that don't have one yet, as well as choreograph how I want these fights to go.