"I will not bother to explain my cause any further with you, I've observed you Kurosaki children to be an unruly, stubborn lot." Kamai spoke in a harsh tone to his new opponent.
"Best news I've heard all day, I've wanted you to shut the Hell up since the first day I met you." Karin snarled back easily even as she gripped her claws tightly so her shaking wasn't noticeable.
"And I have wanted you and the young King dead for far longer, so it seems neither of us are getting what we want yet."
"Bummer."
"Karin, how can you stand so strong against his power?" Miyuki questioned, down on her knees with a shake in her voice. She had never been at the mercy of Kamai's power before, always his ally and loyal follower before she learned the truth, but she knew how strong it was. Perhaps that knowledge only made her fear worse?
"Because I'm super pissed off right now!" Karin replied, her fire flaring stronger to match her scowl.
"Wyverns always were known for being extra aggressive when backed into a corner." Kamai noted aloud. "Let's see if that attitude serves you well in this fight, better than it did for your king."
"Oh it will, because unlike Toshiro I don't put up with anyone's bullshit!"
She charged forward, ignoring how fast her heart was beating and telling her to flee far away and lashing out viciously instead. Kamai's blade blocked her strikes with ease, but he looked more invested than he had before. He was interested to see how well rage could be used against his power. How long would she last? He wanted to push her to her limits before he snuffed her out, to find out just how strong the human chosen by the king really was.
Above them the storms continued to rage as the dragons continued their assault on the traitor. Kenpachi was basically controlling the fight from the back of his dragon partner, clashing head on with a creature that could crush him in her paw, if only she could catch him without getting her scales sliced off. It was no wonder he had defeated Lyrah completely by himself, he was cutting through her diamond-hard armor like it was nothing.
"Yo snake-lady." Zaraki called out with a sadistic grin, Kazara turning towards him with a snarl at the insulting name. "I'm going to try something out on you really quick."
"I would rather you be silenced right now, insufferable ape." Kazara thrust her tail through the air to smack him and Wardin out of the sky as she had other dragons.
"Nah, my zanpaktou finally started making sense after all these years, I'd feel bad telling it to shut up now." With a foreboding laugh, Zaraki lifted his blade above him. "Drink, Nozarashi!"
The great burst of yellow energy stopped the advance of the Storm Dragon's tail, the raw power of a zanpaktou that was long ignored finally getting to awaken surprising Kazara with its intensity. She paused for a moment despite the threat of the other dragons around her to take in the new blade Kenpachi was ready to unleash upon her. It was ridiculously huge, built like a great war axe with the blade elongated more like a cleaver, the handle wrapped in cloth with a tassel decorating the top of the blade. She could only assume its purpose was adding on even more ridiculous amounts of raw power to the man's attacks. If his jagged, busted katana could harm her armor, then this massive weapon of war would likely take off a limb just like the other dragons could.
Not willing to get close enough to test that theory, Kazara bared her teeth before opening her mouth to set off a breath of lightning. Wardin opened his jaws to reply before pausing as his partner tapped his shoulder.
"Let me go first, buddy, I'm testing this thing to its limits." The eager, bloodthirsty smile on Kenpachi's face told the dragon all he needed to know.
"I'll hold steady then." Wardin grinned, fangs gleaming with eagerness to see the result of this next clash of power.
The other dragons shuddered and backed off quickly, not wanting to be anywhere in range of Kazara's strike or Zaraki's retaliation.
Thunder rumbled in the sky as crimson lightning flowed over the Storm Dragon's body, gathering up in her antlers in a second ball of electricity as she gathered the first in her jaws. Zaraki just waited patiently with his giant blade perched on his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.
"Myndrӕl, if she lets off an attack like that she'll take out half the city." Shadow warned the Dragon King.
"I've seen these Soul Reapers do amazing things we never could." Myndrӕl responded, keeping most of his focus on the inevitable clash. "She's not aiming towards the palace where everyone is evacuated and towns can be rebuilt with time. Let's let Sir Zaraki have this fight, we will step in if he fails."
"If that's your decision then I'd like to help my partner down below."
"Be careful not to get killed, your partner is fighting the shadow sister."
"I don't want him getting killed either." Leaving the conversation there, Shadow dove down below to assist Kadin in his fight. Seeing this, two other dragons followed, heading towards different people, neither of them familiar, soon followed by Laseiltha as she returned to her partner to help as a healer. A small Fire-Flora dragon hurried down towards Momo and helped move her away from the fight since she was still recovering from being almost choked to death, unable to get away as her limbs shook in terror. On the other side of the battlefield, a rare mixed dragon of Light-Dark landed near Kisuke and asked how he could assist. If Kazara wasn't busy facing off with Kenpachi she would have given them scornful glares for picking human partners.
The lightning she gathered was let loose, the two spheres arcing towards one another to create a single devastating beam of electricity directed right at Wardin and his mount. Neither dragon nor soul moved other than Kenpachi lifting his blade off his shoulder.
As he let out a huge war cry, Kenpachi swung his zanpaktou in front of him. The air rippled with power, a screeching sound echoing as the beam seemed to shimmer out of place. It reached where Wardin hovered in the air only to pass on either side of him, barely touching the tips of his wings. Being a Lightning dragon, a light touch of electricity did him no harm. The beam devastated a chunk of the city behind them, but it didn't touch the battlefield or the Soul Reaper riding a dragon.
The Storm Dragon, however, did not get off so lucky. Her roar of pain thundered in the air as crimson completely soaked her golden scales. Her left arm and remaining fin had been completely severed from her body and part of her tail had been in the cross fire from the way she had to twist in the air to stay up. The lost limbs fell below and blood rained down like a horror story. Her armor had done absolutely nothing to save her from Nozarashi's power.
"Kazara!" Korla called out in surprise at seeing the mighty dragon wounded so badly. Her distraction allowed Soi Fon to land a hit, forcing her to shift into a new form before the assassin could strike twice and poison her. Her shape-shifting was the only thing that kept Soi Fon's marks from piling up onto her body.
Kamai paused in his fight briefly with Karin as well, daring a look of concern at the Storm Dragon. She was not supposed to lose, considered extremely dangerous even to her own kind, a species that should have the power and stamina to outmatch Captain-level Soul Reapers. Could one Kenpachi really be so strong? He could not go help her, however, as he was fending off Karin and Miyuki, the latter rejoining the fight with the former's courage to guide her.
After all, demons can heal anything as long as their crystal heart remained whole.
Writhing in the air with fury – albeit a bit clumsily with no balancing fins and an injured tail – Kazara began attacking any living thing near her indiscriminately. The dragons present that were old enough to remember when Kazara was one of them recognized the behavior as the same berserk rage she went into when she decided to crush all the eggs and hatchlings on sight after losing her own. The air grew heavy and twisted with her gravity element and lightning was flying around at random, making it risky to fly. Her jaws clamped down on one of the dragons that got too close, the horrible sound of bones snapping making several dragons retreat in terror. Infiro lit his scales ablaze and charged her, his claws scraping her scales in an attempt to knock her out of the sky as she twisted around to try and bite him.
"We have to find where her heart is before she takes out more of us." Ahvain snapped to the other dragons. "There should be a crystal somewhere. Until it's smashed she won't stop."
"It's hard to get to her heart when she claws at everything that gets too close." A dragon argued as he motioned with his head to Infiro struggling to keep Kazara's jaws away from his neck while trying to go after her own.
"It might not be in the same place our hearts normally are."
"That's even harder!" A different dragon whined.
"Obviously you just start cutting her to pieces!" Kenpachi cackled, close enough to hear the dragons, readying his sword for another strike.
"What about her mask!?" Noxis called out. "The red armor on her face!? It's the only spot she bothered putting armor on despite her scales!"
Despite the berserk nature of her attacks, Kazara seemed to notice the Fire-Lightning dragon's remark and suddenly came twisting through the air towards him. Noxis let out a frightened shriek but was saved as Aberon and Tӕlaf both slammed into the Storm Dragon's side and kept her jaws from snapping up their companion. Unbalanced as she was, Kazara had a hard time recovering from the shove, leaving her hopelessly open to attack. Zaraki took the chance gladly with another devastating strike. The Storm Dragon was finally grounded as her side was split open from the strike, smashing through buildings as she crashed to the earth. In the struggle to get back to her feet she lost her head armor. Sure enough, as Noxis had deduced, a bright electric yellow gem glistened on her forehead, a perfect diamond of a gem that would have added to her regal appearance before she took so much damage.
Weak spot revealed, the dragons now had a target, and with righteous fury they descended upon the wounded Kazara. Her teeth were bared and she fought back with the strength of a hundred dragons, but missing a limb and no way to get back off the ground she had no means of escape and no advantage. Even if she could hold them back with her deadly storms, it was only a matter of time. The terrifying hatchling killer had been reduced to a cornered beast fighting a losing battle. Once her gem was hit, she was done for.
"Tch, she wasn't that strong." Zaraki huffed.
"To be fair, all the dragons were involved, her attention was divided." Wardin replied. "I know that's less fun but we have a history with her that we weren't about to ignore, just like how you went after that shadow of the fire fox without hesitation."
"Yeah, I get it." Still sounding annoyed, Kenpachi turned from the fighting dragons and leapt down below to return to where his fellow Soul Reapers were still fighting.
Myndrӕl flew over to the grounded Storm Dragon, no longer needing to hold up a blizzard and going straight for her gem.
"This is the price you paid for destroying an entire generation." He growled at her as she turned his way with fangs bared. "You weren't the only dragon to not have a hatchling make it, you had no right to take away the living hatchlings from other mothers!"
She didn't argue back, just let off a roar of fury as lightning shot from her mouth at the Dragon King. He avoided it and reached her position, his talons reaching for her gem. While she couldn't fly, she was still agile, keeping her head away from his attacks and rearing up to claw back at him. Electricity stung his nerves as her barrier activated again and caught him in its range, but he didn't retreat. His teeth met her neck when she twisted her head away to protect her gem, so he just clamped down harder, his longer limbs shoving her back to the earth. Her longer body thrashed around and her tail smashed into his body with the force of a speeding truck, but while he flinched in pain he held her still. She couldn't move her head as long as he kept her pinned. Hopefully one of the other dragons got the hint.
With the speed of a comet, Dyrilӕn took the opportunity for herself and landed with talons forward right on the Storm Dragon's head. One paw clawed at her eye, the other smashed through the crystal on her forehead. The attack on the eye was more payback for hurting her mate, Dyrilӕn's expression full of fury.
Kazara screeched in pain, scales sparking dangerously.
"Move!" Hasyl called out to the Ice and Fire pair. "She'll take you down with her!"
The two dragons needed no further prompting, removing fangs and claws from the dying dragon and hurrying to fly away. But there quickly became a problem. Kazara had injured Myndrӕl's wing with the attack from her tail, meaning he could not take to the skies to get away. All the rubble from the fight made simply running away difficult. Seeing this, two of the Lightning dragons hurried down to protect him, one being Wardin and the other a wild dragon who was still prepared to defend her king.
When Kazara's electricity burst off her body like an EMP wave, the two dragons absorbed most of it that came their way and let bounce off them elsewhere, leaving Myndrӕl shock free and safe. They kept guard in case there was more, but they could already see the Storm Dragon's body going still and beginning to disperse as most demons did.
They had finally defeated one of the remaining living Demon Lords.
Dragons without partners took a moment to relax and celebrate the defeat of the hatchling killer, but those with partners knew the battle was far from over. Most of them began to immediately head over to the battlefield to assist if possible, wondering how much help they could be without getting in the way of the Soul Reapers' powers. A few curious wild dragons followed, either eager to help as well or interested in a specific fighter. Myndrӕl stayed put with a scowl since his injured wing would be a hindrance, looking to the palace with worry. His partner was still out cold, he needed to get up there in case he had to protect Toshiro.
"As thanks for letting me witness the end of my nightmares finally die, I would be willing to help you protect your king." The Earth dragon mother who had eagerly led the wild dragons to battle stepped up next to the two Lightning dragons and bowed her head to Myndrӕl.
"Don't you have a hatchling to take care of?" He replied.
"My little Halith and the other hatchlings are safe with the Elders. As long as this battle rages on in our home they will not be safe, and if we lose the Soul King we lose them too."
"I agree. We're here now, so let's finish it." The Lightning dragon added in, a lithe almost cat-like body colored black with stripes of electric blue down her long neck, back and legs, paws and underbelly a bright yellow. There was a crest of golden feathers atop her head that gave way to golden colored spines down her back, a large golden horn on her forehead. The webbing of her wings was a bright electric yellow while the spade on the end of her tail and the long whiskers on her muzzle with the same blue as her stripes.
"Then do what you can, but make sure you can go home to your hatchlings."
"Oh I don't have that responsibility, but I'd like to stay alive all the same." The Lightning female snickered before taking to the sky, the Earth mother close behind her but heading to the palace instead to keep guard in Myndrӕl's place. Dyrilӕn stuck around with him as Wardin and the other dragons went to join the fight as well.
While the dragons were taking care of their mortal enemy, the Soul Reapers had managed to finally take out the two phantom sisters that Korla had created. With those gone, however, it seemed that Korla was able to bring out more formidable wraiths for her shadow army, leaving most of them to deal with those instead of hurrying to help against Korla herself. Sylfie and her daughter both ended up needing to retreat as Ralӕn became heavily injured, so Kyoraku and Nanao quickly managed to take their place against the archer while Ichigo got past to help his sister and the others face off against Kamai himself. Their conditions were deteriorating as the fight continued, but as the dragons appeared at their partners' sides, new ones joining beside them, they gained enough hope to continue on.
I wanted to have this up on Christmas eve but I got a nasty case of food poisoning (purely my own fault, unfortunately, I ate food that I left out) and had no energy lol. Made it for Christmas night though haha. One Demon Lord left and then their Master.