Chapter 89: Azi Dahaka vs The Punisher
Gao and Drum were continued to listen Troubadour song and waited for the answer, which they got when Demios came back.
They weren't expecting Azi Dahaka to come himself with other dragons behind him and his buddy Kyoya.
Drum frowned, but Troubadour made sure Azi didn't see Drum anger and said, "If you are here. I guess you've accepted the challenge my king."
"Yes. we didn't have any big fight since we came here and against those pirates, which wasn't really impressive," Azi Dahaka replied. He looked around and commented, "He's not here."
"I'll bring you to my house. He's waiting there for the answer," Gao replied. He looked around and said, "And you are getting a lot of attention."
The Purgatory Knights noticed it. They were numerous and people weren't feeling comfortable with that many darkness dragons in the same place and especially with Deimos being the only one still in his real form.
"We will follow you through the sky," Demios said, taking flight with the other's following him.
They followed Gao as he guided them to his house. Drum wasn't really feeling alright with that many darkness dragons around and above him. His instincts activated and told him to get ready for a battle, but managed to control himself since the darkness dragon he hated the most wasn't there. Also, Azi Dahaka who tried something against Gao was a little too close of his partner for his liking.
"What's going on here?" someone asked over them.
Gao immediately recognised Tasuku who was on Jackknife back. He climbed down and his buddy turned in his mini form.
"Tasuku! What are you doing here?" Gao asked.
"I came here because we heard there were a lot of dragons without buddies by their side," Tasuku answered.
Kyoya answered the question Tasuku asked before the blue haired boy repeated himself, "Azi Dahaka accepted a challenge sent by The Punisher."
"The Punisher wants to finish the fight they started during that war right?" Jackknife asked.
"Yes," Drum replied.
The great dragon turned toward Tasuku and said, "Maybe we should watch the fight Tasuku. Just in case things go out of control," This is an epic fight that we are about to witness.
"With this many dragons, we should remain close," Tasuku agreed.
"This is awesome," Gao joyfully said.
As they returned home and the two boys talked together while Azi and Kyoya listened, the three-headed dragon thought, Three of the most powerful humans are here. None of them awoke their true potential and especially with Drum and Jackknife wasting it. He stopped thinking when they were at the entrance.
When they entered in the house, it wasn't long before the Punisher and Azi Dahaka were face to face.
Halberd, the rest of the Mikado family, Tenbu and Halberd were watching the two dragons who simply gazed at each other's. Everyone, including the Purgatory Knights expected them to say something, but they went right to the point.
The Punisher gave the card to Gao and said, "Use the spellcard. We will fight with everything we have in a safe place. If this is too much maybe your friend can help you channelling the spell."
Gao took the card and Tasuku also grabbed it, "Let's do this together Gao."
"Yes," he replied.
They both used their power to cast the spellcard and in a matter of seconds, they weren't at the entrance of the Mikado's house.
Everyone looked around them and saw they were in a very large colosseum. By large, it was very large. It was red with many dragon statues proudly standing up with their weapons in the air all around the arena where the two dragons will fight very soon.
The Punisher turned toward them and said, "You might sit outside of here. We are going all out very soon."
The dragons and the humans went away and sat outside the arena of the colosseum. They watched the two dragons and wondered what they would look like in their real form.
When Azi took his real form, he was a giant dark dragon, but looked the same as his larger form.
At the other side, The Punisher did the same. His real form was slightly taller than Azi Dahaka with his muscles even more buffed up, he was ready to crush anything with his body. It seemed that he was a dragon made of muscles only. Everyone could hear the muscles moving as the dragon slowly breathed. His face looked bestial and ferocious in his real form instead of his more humanoid face in his mini form.
The two giant dragons watched at each other's. They cracked their bones and their muscles without saying anything for a while. Eventually, the two dragons were ready to start the battle.
"Azi Dahaka. Before we start the fight, there are two things I have to say," The Punisher started.
Azi nodded and said with excitement in his voice, "Go on."
"This first thing is that I've been waiting for this for a long time. A battle that made me feels so alive with the uncertainty of the victorious dragon," The Punisher said with his large smile.
Azi replied, "We'll admit, it was intense. The second thing?"
"We go all out from the beginning. This isn't an endurance fight or a battlefield," The Punisher said.
"So no warm up. We like it," Azi Dahaka replied with a large grin.
"Do you have anything to say?" The Punisher Asked.
"Nothing except that We'll enjoy fighting for real after a long time," the darkness dragon king replied.
The two dragons watched each other's.
"Once you are ready, make the first move," The Punisher said.
Azi Dahaka eyes shined and the darkness dragon charged. He summoned dark energy on his claw and made them longer than before. He slashed toward The Punisher who side jumped to his right and let the claws passed behind him. The dragon charged and readied his fist. The Punisher cut the distance and dodged Azi punch and countered with everything he got. His fist crushed the middle head of the dark dragon and crushed his face. The fist dug on the dragon face and the sound of the bones cracking by the impact. As the fist retreated, Blood came out of the darkness dragon nostrils and fangs felt of his mouth.
The middle head of Azi felt backward and didn't move, completely knocked out.
"Hey!" the two other heads yelled.
"I knocked him out in one hit," The Punisher said.
The two heads faced him and grunted furiously to what he did.
Meanwhile, the other's watched the battle. It wasn't far, but Drum yelled, "Take that Azi! The Punisher will defeat you without any problem!"
Demios chuckled, "The battle only begun red dragon. He just knocked one of the head. Azi can still fight efficiently."
Tenbu scratched his beard while Drum replied to Demios that it wasn't the case, "Depending on Azi strategy, he can still win."
Jackknife nodded, "It's still only the beginning."
"But still. That punch was really intense," Gao said, impressed by the power of The Punisher
"It is a good strategy to aim the middle head," Troubadour commented.
"What do you mean?" Tasuku asked.
The Punisher lightly smiled as he cracked his hands, "Now I get an advantage over you Azi Dahaka."
The dark dragon charged and tried attacking The Punisher. None of them used their power and tried to take advantage over the others in their assault.
"You're middle head is the thinker and the planner of long term strategy. Without him, you can only fight with your instincts and you cannot use your greatest attack," The Punisher concluded.
Azi Dahaka knew it was the case. His middle head was the thinker and planner between the three heads and without him, they were limited in strategy, We have to hold up as long as we can until he comes back.
Azi predicted another punch coming at his left face and dodged it just in time. He tried finding a way to fight back The Punisher, but couldn't do anything.
The Punisher dodged another punch and spun around himself. He kicked Azi chest and sent him crashing away from him.
Azi painfully grunted, he stood up and coughed lightly. He glared at the dragon charging at him. Azi dodged to The Punisher left and grabbed his tail. He pulled The Punisher tail and violently hit the back of the dragon. He heard the sound of the spine twisting, but not breaking.
He then let the dragon passed near him and punched his stomach, sending him away.
Azi chuckled when he massaged his hand, "Still got an iron gut."
The Punisher coughed painfully and stood up with a mark of bruise on his stomach, "Of course. That's why I don't need armor."
The spectators were now quietly watching the match. The duel between the titans was too great to even let a sound out. They silently picked their side and hoped for that dragon to be victorious.
Azi frowned and his two heads thought, We need to defeat him. After so long, we cannot let this battle end up with us losing. Not after everything we've been through.
They saw a fist targeting the right head, but they blocked it and clenched their hand around The Punisher fist. They used everything and tried to break the bones of his hand. The red dragon noticed it and used his other fist to punch the left head. Azi reacted the same way, but the punch was a trick as it opened up at the last second and grabbed the hand of Azi. The Punisher did like the darkness dragon and tried to crush the three headed dragon hand.
Everyone heard the sound of the bones moving under the scales as it resisted the great amount of pressure they had to support.
"Do you feel that?" The Punisher asked.
"What do you mean?" Azi asked.
"How much alive we are?" The Punisher elaborated.
Azi chuckled and replied, "Yes. We are."
The two head opened their mouth as they yelled, "Twin Chaos!" before a ball of darkness formed in their mouth. The breathed it out and it exploded on The Punisher head.
The Punisher released his grip and opened his mouth, "This is going to burn!" magma came out of his mouth and hit the darkness dragon chest.
Azi yelled in agony as the magna burned his scales. Azi breathed darkness on his body and the magma felt on the ground and stopped burning his scales. His chest armor melted and combined with his melted scales.
"This is going to take a while to heal," Azi commented.
The two dragons prepared to continue the fight. Azi frowned as he gazed toward The Punisher, but his frowned disappeared when a small smile appeared on their two faces.
The Punisher wondered why he smiled and checked on the middle head, now bedding toward the back and didn't show any sign of movement. He knew he still had the advantage, but he couldn't be sure when the middle head would be up and ready to plan his path to victory.
The red dragon charged and his fists ignited. Azi blocked the fists with his own, covered by darkness that devoured the flame before it reached his scales. A mist of punch and kicks came from the two dragons while they breathed fire or darkness from time to time. The two dragons had to make sure they weren't hit. Even if they were both hit around twice, it was still powerful attacks that caused much more damage than anyone else could see on their scales.
The Punisher punched Azi, chest and made the darkness dragon to cough blood out of their mouth. Azi countered and slashed the right shoulder and the chest of The Punisher with his claws. Their dark red blood felt on the ground and the painfully grumbled as they gazed at each other's.
The Punisher carefully observed Azi and saw the darkness dragon still smiling, I do not like it. My guts are telling me that Azi is planning something, but he lets nothing appearing. He is a darkness dragon who can hide his intentions really well.
Azi chuckled before raising his claw and taunting him to attack. The Punisher didn't care for his taunt. He frowned and waited for Azi to act first.
"What is it?" Azi grinned, "Are you scared of us?"
The Punisher didn't react to the provocation, but held his hand forward him and invited Azi to attack him.
The darkness dragon didn't care for his provocation.
The spectators wondered what was going on. The two titan dragons weren't fighting and they wondered why they were both trying to make the other one taking the offensive.
"What's going on?" Hanako asked as she looked at the two dragons taunting at each other's.
Demios chuckled and replied, "They know that it will be dangerous to have the first strike. So they want the other one to charge first."
Halberd nodded and commented, "The Punisher is patient. He will not be provoked that easily."
Kyoya added his thought, "And neither Azi Dahaka will. The situation will force The Punisher to act first."
The Punisher knew that the middle head of Azi Dahaka would regain consciousness pretty soon and had no choice, but took the offensive. As he charge, he noticed that Azi grin was never subsiding. He started to wonder if Azi planned something, but the middle head was still remaining motionless. When he was closed, saw how the middle head moved as if the head had some resilience. He realised that something was wrong, but was already close to the darkness dragon when he was suddenly hit on his leg and lost his balance. He raised his head and saw the darkness dragon facing him, with his three heads at him.
"You figure it out too late that I was back," the middle head said. The three head said together, "Time to finish you!" Their heads, hands and between the mouth of his armor charged darkness energy.
The Punisher sighed when he realised he has been tricked by the darkness dragon. He crossed his arms and hoped to minimise the damage.
"Erasure Of History!" Azi Dahaka yelled.
He violently hit The Punisher with his ultimate attack. The red dragon was covered with darkness. Once the attack subsided, The Punisher was on the ground and painfully grumbled. He painfully breathed with his hands over his chest, "I-I lo...st," he lightly smiled.
Everyone were quiet as they witnessed Azi Dahaka victory.
Drum mouth was opened when he whispered, "That... powerful," I can't even compete against that and The Punisher lost against him!
"Azi Dahaka was really good to hide the fact that his middle head was conscious and planning this," Tenbu grumbled, Azi middle head regained consciousness and decided to fake his state. The Punisher wasn't aware of it and charged because it was a race against time. Azi made sure he couldn't escape in time and end this with his most powerful attack.
Kyoya smiled as he saw the great power of his buddy. It was impressive and never thought Azi was that powerful.
Tasuku thought about it and was glad that they fought in this arena and not in the real world. They would have greatly damaged the city with that attack only.
As the arena disappeared, they were back in the house, but the two warriors were back in their mini form and healed up thanks to the healing spellcards. After the match, everyone gave their thought about the match.
The Purgatory Knights bowed to their ruler and said that they knew he would have been victorious from the start while the others were checking if The Punisher was really fine.
"I'm good," The Punisher replied with a smile. He painfully stood up, "Azi Dahaka. You are an extremely powerful dragon. I enjoy this battle against you, even if I lost it."
Azi Dahaka smiled, "It was an intense battle. We didn't have those for a long time," The middle head cracked his jaw, checking if it was at the right place. If The Punisher didn't fall for it, we might had won, but with greater wounds.
Everyone talked for a while, but Drum was in his thought. He was the only one who knew that Azi Dahaka was planning something and didn't know what to do, Azi Dahaka is so powerful. He defeated The Punisher! Only my father can defeat him, but he won't challenge that darkness dragon or we might end up in another war. I have no proof of his intention and I cannot tell Gao about it. He thinks he's not a bad dragon, he checked on Gao and asked how he planned all this with some excitement. He also noticed Demios trying to talk with Tasuku while Jackknife kept an eye on the leader of the Purgatory Knight, but ignored it for his more important matter, I have to stop Azi, but I cannot fight him. It's impossible to do this alone and if he wants, he can invade the Earth by himself. I cannot do anything. I'm not strong enough, no matter how much I'll train with dad... It will surely be too late.
Drum sighed at his depressed thought. He gazed at Azi Dahaka and frowned, Even so. I will stop you and whatever your plan is.
Eventually, the darkness dragon left the house with a satisfying smile. The family watched them leaving while Drum looked at the floor, still in his mind.
AC: This is the end of chapter 89.
Next chapter: The Ordinary Day of Shido and Gallows.
After this: Drum Warning.