Lucky Souls
Author's Prelude: If you can't tell, this first bit is a scene from the future. What's happening in it? Dunno, that's for you to find out.
Chapter 15: The Dragon God
The abhorrence she felt rattle her bones did nothing to curve her sympathy, in fact the vengeful woman felt nothing but disdain for her own actions, but knew that no amount of seedy conscience could stay her blade now.
She had come too far, she had lost too much, she had sacrificed everything in the pursuit of this single moment, and the white hot fear present in her victim's eyes only whet her appetite for blood more.
She wished for those who had wronged her to feel the pain she felt, for those who destroyed everything she held dear to be destroyed in turn, and she would pass her anguish along to them in spades.
The cries of rage hurled in her direction only pushed her further, deeper into the blackest pit her mind found itself within, there was no turning back.
She lifted her colossal blade, the sword of the Dragon God tightly with her blistered hands, ready to end everything in one fell slash of revenge. Her eyes clenched shut in fear, to take a life willingly in anger was something she herself could not fathom, but it had to be done.
The blade swung hastily, and a sharp wail rung throughout the depraved valley.
"I really wish I had never found that stupid sword."
"I can't believe I'm actually gonna find it! The sword of the Dragon God, almost within my hands! How big do you think it is? Ooh, ooh, what do you think it looks like? Do you think it can really cleave through stone like they say? Oh that'd be so damn cool!" Patty gushed enthusiastically, her mind ignorant to any danger in the group's immediate future.
The almighty drake seemed almost inconsequential to getting her hands on this weapon, the stone-wrought tool she had feverishly searched nigh half of her life in pursuit of. Would it really be as they say? Would she achieve fame and fortune on an incalculable scale? Her mind was aflutter with such thoughts, beaming back and forth to herself with giggles and snickers, the rest of the group could do nothing but allow her a moment to settle.
"How old is she again?" Misao whispered in disbelief, earning a light chuckle from Tsukasa who could only admire her eccentric companion with a gentle sigh.
Konata certainly had her own air of aberrant behavior, but Patty just seemed so much chirpier, more excitable by even the most inappreciable of things, the two were alike in this way it seemed.
"Patty, I don't mean to sound rude, but you're not gonna act like this when we actually find this monster, are you?" Kagami cautiously asked, praying to the divines the barmy woman wouldn't be their undoing with her antics.
"Hey now, hey now! I know when to be serious, and I promise I will be when we're trading blows with this sucker, but until then…Dragon Sword! Dragon Sword! Dragon Sword!" The archer bursted out in a storm of absent-minded giggles, springing herself literally around the room with joy as she seized the moment in every way she could fathom.
She wanted to remember how the brimstone lathered air filled her nostrils with displeasure, how the smoky environment stung upon her eyes, she wanted to recall every drop of sweat, blood and tears she had ever expunged up until this moment.
"Dragon Sword!" Konata mumbled incoherently, only adding to the flame of battiness in her delirium.
"Not you too…" Kagami moaned in displeasure, just in time for an earth-shattering roar to tear down the beguiling atmosphere and stop the timid adventurer's hearts on queue.
"Looks like tiny already knows we're here, figures." The drudge complained wearily, she grew tired of constantly being on the losing side in these situations, just once it would be a nice change of pace if they had some sort of advantage.
"Everyone, I don't mean to sound despondent, but this will truly be a creature the likes of which we've never seen, we must be at our best." Miyuki cautioned to her allies, but annealing themselves before such an insurmountable threat was distressing to say the least. While their hearts were stoned with bravery, this did nothing to shy the sweat from their faces, or the gentle chatter of their feet, most of them weren't warriors, the art of battle was as alien to them as Boletaria itself.
"What're we gonna do about sunshine, here? I'd rather she not be slurring abuse my way in the heat of battle, if I got killed because of her I don't think my soul would ever be able to find peace." Misao dejectedly enquired, noticing the wrinkle that furrowed the bluenette's carrier, as much as she detested the way the drudge treated her friend, she was right.
"Point taken at any rate, I can't very well carry her when the fighting starts." Kagami muttered, eyeing a nearby series of patterned vases aligned in an almost ceremonial fashion. It wasn't a perfect hiding spot, but it would have to do, and heaving her friend skyward, the lilac knight carefully set her within the immense jar, delicately wrapping the girl within her tattered waist cloth gingerly, she couldn't help but notice Konata's skin was crisp and pasty, time was definitely of the essence.
"Will Kona-Chan be alright?" Tsukasa hoped, what if some wandering beast found their slumbering companion? They couldn't very well rush to her aide when they had their own campaign to finish.
"She should be, I don't think even the most wicked things lurk way down here." Misao noted at their surroundings, decrepit and lonely, this place was primeval in a way beyond life itself. Insects didn't skitter feverishly upon the ground, the very dust within the air seemed to cling to nothing, and of course the ever present colorless fog loomed stilly all around, a constant reminder of the otherworldly place they found themselves in.
"Come on, she's fine! Let's just do this thing already, the longer we drag it out the more nervous we'll be! Best to raise your fists when the adrenaline is good and pumpin'!" Patty suggested with an odd urgency in her tone, yet it was entirely understandable to her companions, how long had she sought this weapon?
Misao turned to her in a huff of arrogance at the comment plainly. "You're entirely too eager to die. Mark my words that gusto will get you killed someday, tone it down." Misao apathetically muttered, why did it seem she of all people was the voice of reason among the group?
The house of the dragon god chattered beneath their feet yet again at the call of the creatures booming roar, it grew impatient it seemed, how long had it been since the drake had faced a worthy opponent in combat? Here it lay in the deepest trenches of the world, sealed away from all who could abuse its power, just waiting for the opportunity to be released.
Thanks to the bumbling archer Patricia though, the demon had just the opportunity it had waited everlasting centuries for. With the Old One consuming the world within the fog, perhaps it could take the time to enjoy its newfound freedom, barring all masters and goals of its superiors.
The clinching halls around them seemed to grow more compact the further they ventured into the wyvern's temple, the walls were wrought of marble and nigh featureless, this seemed less of an homage to a god and more like a prison.
A magnificent archway assailed their vision, crafted from a dull and rusted iron tinged the color of blood, the feeble cage surely wasn't the cause of the imprisonment, there had to be more. The group's humble mage carefully assessed the situation before them.
"Markings on the bars, they don't appear to be any manner of scripture though…it seems to be an incantation." Miyuki pointed out, feeling a humming radiance flutter within her palm as she knowingly glossed the door with her hand.
"A spell? For what, to keep the Dragon God in? Or to keep people out?" Kagami questioned to the thinking mage, who could only shake her head at the inquiry, whatever the purpose of the gate those who created it willed a single purpose upon it, isolation.
"Can you remove the seal?" Misao wondered hopefully, knowing it would be a real shame if they had come all this way just to be halted in their journey by a door.
Placid were the tremors which rumbled from the doorway, an otherworldly fixation of magic placed upon its bars, but nothing too difficult for their expert mage to handle. A flick of her wrist was all it took, and with her gesture the bars blushed a bright orange before melting into a goopy puddle.
The workings of her companions arts set Patty only slightly on edge, but she couldn't be deterred now, not when the sword was nigh in her grasp, the second that blade was in her hands her life would change for the better, this she knew.
"Come everyone, it's time I had a little date with destiny." Patty snickered with the sunniest of grins, she wouldn't allow the fear of this beasts might to vex her, she could only match its raw strength with her own brave disposition, Misao was right, the time for fooling around was surely over.
Proceeding with caution was cardinal against this foe, their minds would have to be clear, their bodies agile and alert, a blade in the hand and a foot in the grave, as always.
The audacious adventurer's advanced into the candidly enormous chamber, a goliath cave carved throughout the very earth itself in a circular fashion. The ceiling was laden with stalagmites frozen to amber states, glowing a dull red in the reflection of the endless lake of lava beneath them.
Here it was that the inner sanctum of the temple stood, abandoned and anile, withered away by age to the point where the stone walls themselves seemed to melt away, the expertly crafted pillars and altars crushed to dust in heaps of ruin, and yet there were no signs of battle, or that life had ever even existed here.
Mighty siege machines seemed to defend the area from seemingly nothing at all, the beast the group had come for was nowhere in sight, the area was completely devoid of life.
"So, where the hell is he?" Misao muttered in disbelief, running to a crumbling balcony to ascertain a better view of the situation that presented itself, and yet all she could see were the destroyed ruins of the temple, and the sea of magma that reached ever onward.
"More importantly where is the sword?" Patty moaned in despair, erratically fidgeting in a nervous stance as she scanned for anything with even a semblance of a blade.
"Do you think maybe the Monumental was wrong…?" Tsukasa wondered to herself more than anyone, but knew such a thing was likely not possible, for a being that witnessed all things, not to mention the power of foresight, it would be odd if it had managed to steer them in the wrong direction.
A fierce boom was her answer, followed by a deathly violent earthquake that toppled the very structures over their heads. They wasted no time in skittishly removing themselves from the immediate area, clumsily dodging tiny rubble that fell all around them like a hailstorm, until they were awarded a fresh view of their situation as they exited the altar.
A calamitous whirlpool beset upon the cistern of lava instantly, thrashing destructively against the cavern walls and dissolving the temple around the lake into a crimson pulp. Downward the magma sunk in a spiral, collapsing inward to form an almost crevice within the very residue itself, as if heralding a great tremor far below.
This couldn't be closer to the truth the girls noticed, as a stone-like horn suddenly crushed outward powerfully from the surface of the lava, callously disregarding the inhumanly intense heat which clung to its form.
The massive horn was paired with another equal in size, at least a kilometer in length, protruding menacingly from a caved in and scaly head, a sharp disc wrapping itself around the base of the appearing creatures skull.
Its head was lizard-like in appearance, long and muzzled, scaly and offering a delicate sheen to the texture. The monsters face beheld many eyes, literally hundreds, ruby red and glowing which encompassed the upper half of the beasts face. The quaking jaw of the demon gently twitched, opening slightly to reveal a set of jagged and rotten teeth, each at least the size of a diminutive tree. Within the maw lay another, and another, seemingly dozens of mouths imprinted within one another in one gullet, each baring their own set of gangly teeth.
The very scales that covered its body were glistening with precious jewels, crested blades buried deeply in its flesh, and a plethora of coins and all manner of treasures, the beast glistened under the glow of the magma, a domineering blast of light akin to the sun itself.
The neck of the hydra pressed its body up further, raising the mighty beast hundreds of feet upwards, the broiling lava that caked its flesh slipping like beads of sweat off of the hide. The beast's body was hidden beneath the lake of lava, but if its head was nearly the size of a humble castle, how enormous could its entire form possibly be?
The daunting demon gave the group no time to admire the ghoulishly beautiful scene before them, the rise of a god, instead deciding to buck backwards and explode fiercely with a blustering roar, which permeated a gust of wind so intense it riddled the entire area with destruction, toppling adroitly crafted buildings and splitting crags within the earth.
"Holy shit, move!" Misao screeched commandingly, shepherding her flock of adventurer's away from the affected area of the gale blast just in time, feeling the crunch of stone slapping against stone all around her as the temple was riddled with holes.
The weary ground at their feet gave way, tumbling inwards down a vertical incline and sending the bumbling girls falling downward roughly, clacking against the level below them painfully in a heap of groans and stone-make rubble.
"Oh my god, you gotta be kiddin' me…" The drudge grumbled once more, pressing herself upwards in a flash and assisting her collapsed companions in standing before the drake had the bright idea of attempting a second assault.
"The Dragon God!" Patty peeped out a little too excitedly for anyone's tastes, to which Misao could only jab her harshly in the shoulder.
"Ya think? Come on, move it!" The servant ordered to her companions, she couldn't fail again; she had to do everything in her power to make sure these foolish women survived, and every trick at her disposal to make sure the colossus fell.
The group huddled themselves in a nearby caved in structure, watching horrifyingly as the Dragon God aimlessly breathed outward hellishly upon another expanse, disintegrating solid stone to dust akin to blowing out the flickering flame of a candle.
Kagami couldn't help but shake her head in sheer hopelessness. "There is no damn way, what're we supposed to do? He's a thousand feet tall!" Kagami hopelessly breathed out, her flighty twin collapsed in fear within her amiable hold.
"I admit I certainly didn't expect this, but everything has a weakness, isn't that what they always say? They managed to seal this monstrosity away, which means they must've…well, they had the bigger teeth in that situation." Misao explained knowingly, peeking her head delicately from the rubble to assess the demon, which was still busy mindlessly destroying anything it saw fit.
Glancing upwards to the high-tech siege machines above, the slave hatched an idea, she used the motto of using a rock to crush another, and for such a case in which you find the rock is impervious to your efforts, seek a larger rock.
"The war machines, I'm sure they're not there for show. We need to reach them any way we can. Takara-San, do you think you'd be able to give 'em a little kick start?" The calculating drudge questioned, knowing full well the group's powerful mage wouldn't let them down. "Alright, then all we need is a little distraction…" At her ramblings, Misao couldn't help but hear the faint tickle of an all too familiar voice fluttering in her ear, but that simply wasn't possible, such a voice would mean damnation to the entire plan.
Gritting her teeth achingly, she cautiously prepared herself for what she was about to see as she leaned over the annihilated balcony, she almost vomited at the sight.
There she was, that little blue-haired menace, cranky and awake like a toddler from her nap, flailing her arms mindlessly and hooting with the unrefined grace of an owl. The Dragon God couldn't help but overhear the impetuous challenge, and with an almost prideful stance of its own, turned its attention toward the insulting little worm who dared to confront its might.
"Hey! Yeah you, ugly! Aren't you that dragon guy? I've been lookin' for you…" Boisterous as ever was the azure knight's call, slurred and sloppy and riddled with fatigue from the deadly toxin that ran its course within her.
"No, no, no. I'm not seeing this, I'm hallucinating surely, please god somebody tell me that they don't see that little moron down there…" Misao muttered in complete disbelief, clenching her frigid body even harder when frightened gasps escaped her companions.
"Konata!" Kagami screeched in horror, not even having the time to stand up before she was brutally yanked downwards once more.
"Don't be an idiot!" Her guide barked at her, which did nothing to stay the pained thrashing the woman trapped in her arms brought about.
"I'm not just gonna let that thing kill her!" Kagami hollered back at her captor, feeling a steady release on her form at her protests.
"I said don't be an idiot! Did you forget why I'm here? Hotcakes down there isn't going to die, not on my watch." Misao adjured confidently, unclasping her spear and directing it in the direction of the siege machines. "Takara-San, take little Hiiragi and Patty with you, you'll no doubt their help. Do anything you can to get those things running, alright?" The guide issued to her underlings, facing the older Hiiragi twin with a courageous air about her, knowing she wouldn't allow herself to go anywhere but to the flying aid of the bluenette.
"Thank you." Kagami muttered shamefully, tearing her blade from its scabbard and readying herself in any way she could. "Good luck you guys, keep them safe Miyuki." The request was bothersome, but she knew if anybody could keep the two in check it'd be the demure sorceress.
Giving her companions a stalwart farewell nod, Kagami directed her attention on the bumbling fool she regrettably called a friend far below her, cackling frenziedly at a creature who saw fit to claim godhood. The beast huffed a putrid bellow of fume from its many maws, thrashing the bluenette backwards violently without warning into a nearby wall, it almost seemed as if it was playing with its food.
"No time, that thing might actually kill her, hop on." Misao motioned to her sweat-caked back, bending down slightly to allow the older Hiiragi to climb upon her.
"What?" Kagami breathed bunglingly, losing her footing sloppily when the slave bucked her shamelessly onto her surprisingly strong shoulders, meeting her rider's gaze with an awkward curl of the lip.
"Hold on tight." Misao cautioned, snickering at the girlish peep her traveler coughed out as she steadily gripped her exposed thigh's for leverage.
Without hesitation the twosome were suddenly rocketed into the air, hurling themselves dozens of feet skyward at inhuman speeds, Kagami couldn't help but squeak out a banshee yelp, readying herself for the death that would no doubt take her when they splattered across the temple on impact.
Yet no such fate came to them, with the fluttering grace of a roosting eagle, Misao delicately and nigh motionlessly landed upon a crusty platform below with an agile plop, so soft the ground itself didn't even seem to notice her ghostly tread.
"A-A-And you c-called me inhuman, j-just what the hell are you a-anyway?" Kagami shakily asked her somewhat otherworldly companion as she released herself from the firm hold upon her oily back.
"That's…well, story for another time I guess, your blushing damsel is in distress and she comes first." Misao warned, pronging her spear and staring down the gargantuan lizard at her front, the thought of how such an otherworldly beast even came into being flashed through her thoughts, just how ancient was it? Had it perpetually existed since the dawn of time without explanation like the Old One? Was it perhaps a spawn created from the Old One's power? Was it evolution that made it this way? Here it lurked in the deepest trenches of the world, alone and forever sealed away, the last or only of its kind, the fiend seemed almost pitiable in this way.
"You're kinda tough, but I've fought a dragon before y'know, and he was way more badass than you." Konata bubbled out confidently, wearily crawling to her feet as a pasty glob of blood trickled down her field of vision. Within her obscured sight she suddenly beheld her tsundere, battle ready and sword drawn defending her, it almost seemed like a fantasy.
"What did I tell you about me protecting you this time, idiot! You always do this…I…I'm not defenseless you know!" Kagami roared at her beaten friend, steeling her blade at the looming Dragon God without fear as she heard the azure knight giggle exasperatingly.
"That's how it works though Kagamin…the beautiful princess never saves the daring knight…what kinda messed up fairy tales you readin'?" Konata steadily spoke into a declining whisper, the poison was affecting her system far more than she knew, each word was more strenuous than the last, it exhausted her just to speak.
When the bluenette fell unconscious once more, Kagami couldn't help but thank fate for that save, she'd never heard her friend speak in such a way before, when Konata had spoken of her in such ways, like calling her beautiful, she couldn't help but nod it off to perverted childish banter, and to the wily little woman it probably was, but to her it did nothing but stick a needle in her heart every time.
"Watch over her, I'll distract it until Miyuki can get those machines running." Kagami brazenly ordered, tightening her grip upon her sword's handle until her skin blistered at the touch.
"Are you stupid?" The slave laughed out, nonetheless heaving the unconscious poisoned woman onto her shoulders and preparing to run off, she couldn't help but have the slightest tinge of confidence in Kagami at that moment, the air of courage about her was nearly intoxicating.
"Incredibly, but love breeds stupidity." Her voice was hardened with courage, and yet it meekly quivered with fear like a child, her friend Konata was always foolishly risking her life for the sake of others, she would give up everything if it meant protecting somebody she didn't even know.
Could Kagami claim the same bravery and selflessness? Probably not now that she thought about it, she wasn't a coward, but she wasn't heroic either. She wasn't selfish, but she didn't go out of her way to assist those she knew nothing about, or held no debt to. Konata was bright and kind, exuberant and fun, she couldn't claim to be any of these things, at least not as much as she.
Konata wasn't just her friend; she wasn't just some girlish crush either, despite what she showed outwardly to the woman, she held the upmost respect for her in every way. She was almost an idol to the lilac knight; the purest representation of what a human being could be, never letting the woes of life crush her into despair, never allowing anyone around her to be anything but smiling.
"I said go god damn it! I don't plan on dying, not now…not until…just go alright!" Kagami hollered once more, practically feeling the stress of the sigh the slave huffed out in response.
"Please make good on that, if you die I'm out of a job." With those final words, Misao suddenly vanished with the aid of a powerful leap, rocketing herself and the slumbering Konata upwards into the hovering temple.
Almost mockingly the Dragon God loomed before her, sensing the aura of challenge radiating from its tiny opponent, it almost seemed as if it wished for her to make the first move, knowing victory for the warrior was impossible at any rate.
"You're a real bastard…you knew I was dead the second I turned my blade upon you, didn't you? Well, at least you had the courtesy to spare Konata. So come on, let's just finish this already!" Kagami thundered courageously, a hot line of tears suddenly jetting from her dampened gaze, she couldn't help it, she just didn't welcome death as warmly as her dear friend.
Her rush at the monster was sloppy, and yet experienced, it breathed a fiery plume her way which she expertly dodged, collapsing her sword in between the scaly hide of the beast's humongous chin and stretching the bloody flesh violently.
The Dragon God bucked upwards, pulling Kagami still hanging helplessly to her sword with it, swooshing her to and fro as she desperately attempted to hold on to the beast to no avail.
A jolting roar as fierce as could be exploded from the gullet of the fiend, sending cycling shockwaves in every direction and destroying literally everything in sight, toppling buildings as if they were nothing.
The blast yanked Kagami from her painful hold, sending her on a curving aimless path into a solid stone wall forcefully and painfully. An atrocious pain suddenly riddled her burning back as she woozily stood once more, she couldn't help but wonder why it hadn't killed her outright, she really wasn't human anymore it seemed.
That probably didn't discount her from the clutch of death however; she likely just had more normal breathing room than average person, which was all she needed to be a successful scarecrow. A cause of disorder was rightly needed too; the towering reptile had already begun to attract its attention towards her companions on high. To distract however, one had to be something enticing, something worth disregarding everything to engage pursuit towards, and if there was one thing she ever learned from Konata, it was how to get someone's attention.
"H-Hey…uh, hey ugly!" Kagami barked at her colossal foe, a shaky boast begetting an even more faltering cackle of pride. "Yeah you! I uh…damn it what does she always say? Oh forget it." She muddled confusedly, clasping a jagged rock in her palm and hurling it brashly at the demon's face, amazingly, it lodged itself on target into one if it's many eyes, practically popping it like a balloon into a bloody mess across the beast's face.
A disgruntled roar of minor annoyance was all that bellowed from the demon, but Kagami had its attention. What an insult it must have been to the Dragon God she brooded, of all the ways warriors across the ages had tried to end the beast, never once had one probably thought to chuck a rock at its copious field of eyes.
The drake thrashed upwards violently, bursting with rage as it crushed its stone-crested skull across the forgotten temple, trampling it into dust and hoping to take the inciter along with it.
The lilac knight expelled herself from the heat of the destruction, but her pursuer wasted no time in halting the carnage to assault its miniscule foe. A crushing blast of whipping air suddenly exploded the staircase Kagami had attempted to climb into fulminations of grimy dust, followed by the archway she had turned to in hopes of escape, the demon was surely toying with her.
She turned to face it, deciding a full on charge to fake out the monster, but it learned her patterns just as she learned it's. The beast fell suddenly, collapsing itself upon the ground mere inches in front of the agile warrior, composing shockwaves of cutting air which would have lifted her clean off her feet once more if not for a protruding rock being her savior.
Gravely she held onto the stone, blankly staring into the expansive maw of many mouths swirling into a vortex of teeth at her front, pasty mucus globs sloshing in between the sets of teeth at the tumultuous roar, this human was indeed different from the others it seemed, the Dragon God's old tactics wouldn't work on this new age warrior.
The gusting roar halted, and almost immediately Kagami released the boulder she had been clasped upon and rushed herself hurriedly under the chin of the mighty dragon, gulping only slightly when she noticed the entire underbelly of the head was laden with blood-tipped pointy little protrusions, quite the deadly defense.
She was quick, but the beast covered far more ground, it collapsed once more, attempting to crush the puny morsel beneath its scaly blubber. Kagami saw this, and immediately took cover within a crumbling crevice the dust below her had so thankfully provided, screaming shamelessly when the God crushed itself directly over her hiding hole.
"Please tell me you have some fraction of a fraction of an idea of what you're doing." Patty moaned hopelessly, eyeing the nervous little mage as she worked tirelessly to revive the dead machine.
"I wish I could say I did, but this technology is so unique. We have siege machines where we come from as well but they're not nearly this advanced. Ours are comprised of simple tug and spring mechanisms, these are more…magical in nature." The mage explained hopelessly, again attempting to charge the slumbering machine with a heavy blast of electricity, but it remained dormant.
"Yuki-Chan, can't we do anything? The others are…" Tsukasa couldn't help but grieve helplessly, gazing out at the rampaging monster of a dragon below, eliminating everything in sight, she couldn't help but worry that it had already disposed of her dear friends, yet how the beast still raged tirelessly set her mind somewhat at ease.
"I know it's just…these machines seem to have been made specifically for somebody, likely the ancient race within the mines. They're locked so they can only be activated by one of them, but..." Miyuki sighed delicately, musing that even with her expansive knowledge of the magical arts she could do nothing to work this seemingly very simple machine.
"I pray these things are working, Hiiragi isn't going to last long down there." A voice suddenly chimed in, the bearer of which was a very grimy looking Misao, a bundle of blue-haired mess draped over her shoulder effortlessly.
"Onee-Chan is down there alone!" Tsukasa nearly screeched in fright, thoughtlessly attempting to fly to her aid before she felt a rigid grip take hold of her tearing collar.
"Hey now, your sister is tough, you go down there and play hero and you'll only get in her way." Misao warned wisely, clutching an arm affectionately around the downtrodden Tsukasa at her blunt comment. "Come on now, Miyuki needs your help up here, alright?" The slave smiled tenderly, brushing past afflicted woman and setting the ill Konata upon the ground with a childish grunt of despair. "So that's a no go on these weapons, eh?" Misao asked as she surveyed the tightly crafted machines, they resembled something akin to a massive crossbow, yet they were steeled with heavy iron shells and missing the bow string, instead the end pronged into three trident-like protrusions, each one having a hole carved into the end.
"I'm afraid so, they were designed to be used only by the ancient races of Boletaria, and since there are none that live, it will not function." Miyuki explained downwardly, pressing her glasses firmly into the bridge of her nose in a vain effort to spike some improvised plan.
"You don't say." The drudge mumbled, setting herself behind the robust machine and coolly running a hand across its glossy marbled surface, she couldn't help but glint when a shuddering vibration fizzled throughout her arm in reaction to her touch.
The spark gave way to life, and the machine suddenly began to shake gently as the ancient symbols carved upon its shell gave off a dull glow. Misao cocked her head with a knowing smile before she turned her gaze to the astonished faces before her.
"How did you…what was…huh?" Miyuki stumbled out plainly, trying to grasp any measure of sense within the situation she could.
"Story for another time, Hiiragi needs our help." Misao ordered as she motioned for the stunned markswoman Patty to fetch one of the magical bolts which adorned a pile of supplies next to the cannon.
Ducking behind the nearest collapsed pile of smoldering rubble she could find, Kagami breathlessly hardened her resolve, the beast would likely never tire and she didn't count on such a miracle happening, but on that end she wished at least something would, procuring any scrap of luck would be enough to save her hide at this moment.
The broken down house around her suddenly gave way, and almost too dramatically she catapulted herself from the wreckage in a tumbling roll, glancing upwards at the towering monstrosity that wished so desperately to destroy her.
"I thought you were tough! The so called God of the Dragons, right? Then how come all I see before me is a big, noisy gecko!" Kagami lashed out with all her muster, shivering with fright at the sheer animosity that seeped from her tormentor, it was hard to believe a mindless soul-devouring demon could have its feelings hurt, but this seemed to be the case.
Kagami stood valiantly once more, all too ready to make another break for it, when she noticed a feverish niggling feeling sparking throughout her lower body. It felt complacent with its existence, growing and surging throughout her muddied veins, she knew all too late what was overcoming her.
A bolt of pain suddenly exploded throughout her leg, and the shrill shriek of pain that exploded from deep within her echoed hauntingly throughout the dead city. She collapsed in a shaking heap upon the ground, grasping knowingly at her pulsating limb.
Was she out of time already? There was absolutely no way such misfortune could greet her now, she had done so well to fight against this plague, and yet it seemed it had finally overpowered her.
Her quaking gaze fell upon her afflicted leg, which was now mysteriously glowing a hot gold, radiating an almost foggy ash like substance which seemed to consume her slowly but surely.
Better she meet her death than join the legions of the skulking husks though, and so she prayed that the Dragon God swiftly end her.
A howling shudder rang throughout the area, yet it did not stem from the god of dragons. A whistling arrow as thick around as a great tree suddenly pierced deeply into the face of the colossus, nearly knocking it over onto its side in the process.
Like air escaping a deflating balloon, a legion of glimmering white auras suddenly erupted from the torn hide of the scaly dragon, in her deafened and nigh blind state due to the sheer pain, Kagami noticed that in appearance they were vaguely akin to souls.
Another arrow of equal mass suddenly flew into her vision from the city above, splitting through the already present one completely and crushing the two pronged bolts in even deeper, collapsing the area of skin around the god's jaw-line and nearly severing it, sending globs of torn flesh and darkened maroon blood splattering in every aimless direction.
The Dragon God jerked intensely, shaking off the pain and ignoring its combatant in favor of a more potent threat. It expunged a blast of whirling fire in the direction of the aggressors, but found that its fiery attack was futile when it collided with a strange magical barrier around the area.
"I won't be able to hold this for very long…" Miyuki muttered out painfully, shuttering in disgust when she found the quaky tears that leaked from her eyes were blood, such a spell was taking an alarming toll upon her body it seemed.
"Yuki-Chan!" Tsukasa hopelessly bellowed, holding onto her pained friend with vigor as she searched her busy brain for anything she could do to assist her.
"Wait, I just remembered…Tsukasa, there's an herb in my lower pocket, it was given to me by a friend, fish it out." Miyuki shuddered out in between several hard breaths, peeping lightly when she felt her friends cold hand graze within the tender area for the aforementioned herbs, and upon finding them, she took them thankfully. "Thank you Tsukasa…and thank you, Shiraishi-San." Miyuki whispered, ingesting the reinvigorating plants and feeling the strength of twenty suddenly invade her body, they really were potent.
Firing off another sharp arrow into the dragon's body, Misao grumbled wordlessly to herself, turning to the others with a dim yet mocking expression.
"I don't mean to kill the mood but this isn't working, it'll only be a matter of time until he either gets bored chewing on Hiiragi's more than likely dead body or he blows us to smithereens, we need an idea fast." The drudge ordered to her troupe, squeezing on the makeshift trigger of the machine harshly and holding herself upon it as it bucked from the powerful shot.
Standing idly by up until this moment, Patty admired the haunting scene below of the vengeful god, she didn't come this far just to get killed, that sword had eluded her for too long, and she knew just what to do.
"Have you heard the jolly tale, of knights with swords, hardened in mail, who searched high and low and near and far, for their very own lucky star. Some found riches, some found fame, some found love and others vain. But what they sought most still eluded, it riddled their minds, made them secluded. A sword of wishes, wrought in stone, a lucky star of their very own." Patty recited emotionlessly, her gently shut eyes ignorant to the chaos around her in that moment.
"What the hell are you talking about!" Misao nigh yelled in confusion, trying her best to drown out the archer's random poetic instance and concentrate on the Dragon God who so aggressively sought to end them.
"Deep within the crusted Earth, lay an ancient city since the planet's birth. Here he loomed, the God of drakes, his sinned existence mankind's mistake. Sealed away from the earth above, the wishful sword granted god's love. Gone forever in a flash of awe, the sword was hidden in the dragon's maw." Patty finished knowingly, brushing past the busy slave and climbing herself nimbly upon the top of the vibrating machine as it slung an arrow once more.
"What are you doing?" Misao breathed out brokenly, unclenching the grasp as to not accidentally kill the foolish little girl who apparently had considered it to be playtime.
"The sword is in its mouth! I need you to fire me at the Dragon God with this thing, alright?" The excited archer asked as she explained her devious plan, Misao couldn't even manage to entertain a laugh at the proposal, it was just too stupid to fathom.
"I'm not even going to address you; in fact I'm going to just pretend you didn't ask me to do something incredibly stupid. Why don't you go play somewhere else and let the adults get killed by this stupid dragon!" Misao roared in a mocking rage, but Patty wouldn't be deterred, in fact she had already begun to climb inside the collapsed hole within the cannon.
"I wasn't really asking! But come on, trust me! I've done plenty stuff stupider than this. Well, maybe not this stupid, but I've been around the block." Patty reminisced bubbly, ignoring all protests from her fiery little companion and readying herself for what would likely be the most exhilarating instance in her entire life.
"I'm not going to shoot you at the colossal demon, Patricia. I can't even believe I'm arguing about this…get out before you hurt yourself!" The slave barked the order once more, but it fell on deaf ears and was met only with a wily giggle of anticipation.
"Oh, that's alright, I actually squeezed the trigger before I even hopped in here. Sayonara!" Patty fearlessly parted to her companions, wrapping her nubile body around the shaft of the giant arrow within the machine and clenching harshly, this was surely going to be one wild ride.
The arrow suddenly rocketed from the ticking machine with a thud, and the markswoman's blurred vision was clouded with teary residue as she flew at inhuman speeds through the air, an abstract painting of burnt oranges and dull browns muddily swirling themselves throughout her line of vision as the arrow twirled like a top.
She belched harshly, and with it came a pasty green substance that seemed to litter itself everywhere as she spun mercilessly, and unfortunately all over her person as the vomit defied gravity.
"Oh come on!" She cried hopelessly at her misfortune, clenching her eyes as the arrow she grasped to so tightly crunched cleanly through the Dragon God's quaking jaw and directly into its ocean of maws.
Slobbering pink flesh everywhere coated in sticky saliva was all that assaulted her vision, that and rows upon rows of teeth, a forest of them surrounding the jaw of each mouth that collapsed into the next.
There it lay as the stories told directly in the eye of the swirling vortex of gullets, the sword of the dragon god. It was at least the size of a grown man, the handle was crafted carefully with crusty yellow dragon bones and bloody scales; the blade itself was completely made of stone, cracked and slathered in entrails from its millennia of use.
"Ma? Pa? I found it." Patty whispered solemnly to herself, crawling through the vibrating and wavy gums inside the gullet of the massive drake.
"Everyone, I'm sorry but…I've done all I can." Miyuki slithered out in between gasps, hacking up a dangerous amount of thick blood before falling belly down to the dust.
"Yuki-Chan!" Tsukasa cried out in agony, lifting her friends head steadily into her lap and rubbing her face for any semblance the girl might be alright.
"Oh no, move! Move! Move!" Misao screeched as she looked upward towards the glistening magical barrier around them, which slowly but surely evaporated into a fume of steam which clouded the area.
The drudge turned tail, curling the unconscious Konata within her hold and yanking on Tsukasa's collar to make with the escaping. Tsukasa herself dragged Miyuki callously on the ground, perpetually apologizing for each grazing rock that jutted against the slumbering sorceress' sleeping form.
The explosion of fire behind them erupted into a tornado of heavy winds, lifting the entire group into the air like dainty feathers and sending them flying downward into the canyon that was the city.
"Oh screw you, play fair why don'tcha!" Misao hollered at their aggressor in mid-air, hurling her spear sideways in the direction of her falling compatriots and nailing her target directly, literally. Her floating spear punctured the hem of Tsukasa's baggy shirt expertly, sending her flying helplessly into a wall and sticking her there safely, Misao couldn't help but smirk lightly at the scene even during such a hectic instance.
With her now free hands she clasped the arms of the two sleeping souls below her, gingerly hoisting the women upon her back and sticking the grossly impossible landing without fault.
The rush of adrenaline however, nearly made her collapse over in exhaustion, dropping the dead weight of her sleeping troupe with a heaving sigh.
"Man, you guys really are gonna be the death of me…" Misao started as she looked back at her companions, only to be struck with horror when one Konata Izumi seemed to be missing from the heap of colorful hair spread across the mud. "No way." She breathed out, glancing in every direction the eye could perceive until she dawned upon the escaping woman, sluggishly working her way towards the approaching drake.
"Sorry, sorry! Needed a little refresher…but now that I'm wide awake and charged to the bone with energy, you're going down!" Konata hooted and hollered in an almost intoxicated tone, alerting the Dragon God post haste as she haughtily clanked her sword upon the ground in an issue of rematch.
"God damn it, Izumi!" Misao screamed in terror, leaping upwards from her collapsed state and charging with fervor towards the fool of a girl who dared to challenge a god.
She was too late to stop it; the Dragon God belched a colossal glowing orb of fire, one last effort to rid the world of the warriors who tread upon sinned lands.
A twirling jab of inhuman might suddenly crushed itself into Konata's back in the form if Misao's gangly leg, sending the bluenette flying clear out of the danger zone and crashing through some aimless collection of trash.
"The things I do for you, Mephistopheles." Misao muttered, her body littered with fear as she was consumed wholly by the crackling essence of fire all around her.
Her body melted under its intense touch, she wearily glanced upon her singing flesh as it was dissolved down the bone, and she clenched her eyes silently shut with knowing fear, how many times had she experienced this out of body phenomenon? Just how many times was she expected to die before she was allowed to rest?
Misao's body was literally torn to pieces, bones and flesh and hair riddling the immediate area in a pancake of sopping mess, entrails and shards of nameless things decorating the battlefield in a crimson streak.
Still hanging helplessly on the wall nearby, the horrified scream that exploded from Tsukasa's gullet could've deafened the entire world, a monsoon of salty tears leaked from her eyes at the disgusting sight.
In the aftermath of the blazing eruption of power, the battlefield was completely silent apart from the hollow sobs of the younger Hiiragi twin, and the smoldering snap of flame begetting black smoke.
Konata lay wordlessly upon the musty ground within the wreckage, her ears affright with the hollers of a sniveling Tsukasa, her body aflame with rupturing pain perforating her insides, and a silent despair crusting her heart at the thought of being so helpless. Her body was fractured, and her mind was completely shut off to the world, whatever danger her friends were in she could do nothing now but wait it out.
"Misao! Misao! Misao! No, oh my god…Misao!" Tsukasa screeched in agony, blubbering with tears and dampening sweat as she hung like a trophy upon a wall, practically seeing the essence of victory sparking within the god's thousand eyes, it knew it had won, it knew it would win from the very beginning and yet decided to give these warriors some chance at a victory, how smug she mused.
In her abysmal despair, the weeping Tsukasa couldn't help but notice a most peculiar sight. The cracked bones, the torn flesh, the bloated and exploded organs that once claimed to be some semblance of a human being suddenly began to twitch violently.
The very pools of blood upon the ground seemed to dance to some unknown melody, wrapping themselves in a velveteen casing around the littered muscle and sinew, filling deflating organs that barred blood, slipping between severed bones and connecting them together like pieces to a puzzle.
At first she thought sheer grief and shock had drove her temporarily insane, but she knew this was no fantasy, the messy puddle that was Misao seemed to be reforming itself, recreating something.
All the bones of the skeleton snapped and clicked together until the hellish frame stood on its own feet as if alive, embracing the floating bits of skin and muscle which sought to sew themselves into its shattered form.
A fleshy blanket twirled around the skeleton, sacs of organs and blood within, clinging themselves desperately to their owner as they molded the body into perfection.
The body before her was as naked as the day it was born, soft, petite and female and caked in a light sweat, the gaping hole of a neck suddenly sprouted tanned flesh, developing into an orb-like shape, a head, which sprouted a messy tuft of chocolate brown hair upon its top.
The shreds of fabric and clothing even began clinging to her unwashed form, draping her body and hiding her nakedness from the world, clothing the body once more utterly and affectionately.
Tsukasa couldn't help but silently watch the spectacle in sheer awe, her heart hammering violently in her chest when the figure suddenly turned to her, completely restored, her golden eyes listlessly jutting themselves in the sobbing woman's direction.
"M-Misao…?" Tsukasa shakily muttered in dizzying confusion, not even fully understanding what it was what she was seeing.
The fully resurrected Misao only placed a steady finger to her pursing lips issuing Tsukasa's silence on the matter, apparently whatever she had just beheld was something neither she or anyone else was never meant to see.
From seemingly nowhere an intense eruption of light exploded from the skull of the Dragon God, ignorant to the emotional display before it and ushering in a blinding glare that consumed the entire area.
The massive drake's head seemed to cave in upon itself bloodily, gullet upon gullet sinking into the next as the dragon literally fell apart in a gruesome display. At the base of the column of the opaque glow protruded a mighty blade, literally tearing itself through the beasts flesh and into the open air from within.
Hastily the sword split open a massive crevice within the already punctured skull of the Dragon God, blowing off gangly pieces of flesh in every direction as the bearer of the blade suddenly rocketed in mid air away from the carnage, completely covered head to toe in the demonic red blood.
The figure delicately planted herself upon the cusp of the cliff behind her, turning to the toppling colossus and letting out a victorious howl to alert the gods themselves of her feat.
The Dragon God lumbered slightly before falling down lifelessly into the ocean of lava it came from, crafting massive tidal waves of the thick citrus substance in every direction like a child splashing in a lake.
Sinking like a punctured ship at sea, the incredible life form, the one and only Dragon God, a sin crafted from man-kind and an offspring of the Old One itself, met its untimely end, slowly but surely being consumed by the lake of fire from whence it came.
A few last spurting gurgles of tortured pain fluttered from its maw before it too was consumed by the magma, the tale of the sword of wishes it seemed, had come full circle, and gripping the hefty blade skyward with untold strength, Patricia knew she had found her very own lucky star.
"Oh, I thought you were dead." Misao nonchalantly called out to the approaching woman completely caked in a bloody essence, the sword of the Dragon God dragged behind her childishly.
"Sorry to gets your hopes up, but I told you I had a plan all along!" The archer cheeked out with a giggle, raising her hand for a triumphant high five and bursting out with a series of joyful snickers when the usually dry Misao happily obliged.
"Um…I don't mean to interrupt but uh…can somebody possibly, I mean if Miyuki and the others are alright first…I mean, please get me down!" Tsukasa called out with a whimper as she still helplessly dangled above the ground.
Shaking her head gently with a sigh, Misao did her best to shepherd up her flock, un-stapling the helpless Tsukasa from the wall, stirring the unconscious Miyuki from her sleep, and ruggedly dragging the hearty little devil that was Konata back to their collective by her hair as punishment for being such a nuisance.
"W-Where's Onee-Chan?" Tsukasa noticed disturbingly as she surveyed their group to find it short one member, but Misao wouldn't allow her mind to falter, the younger Hiiragi twin wouldn't grow strong like she needed to be if she constantly fretted.
"Calm down, I'm sure she's fine, let me go look for her." Misao gently persuaded, rolling her eyes as Tsukasa mumbled and whimpered and jittered about like a puppy. Patty couldn't help but laugh maniacally as the slave wandered out of sight, the excitement she felt was palpable.
"Yeah you do that, and in the mean time I'll be happy to present to the rest of you…the sword of wishes! The sword of the Dragon God!" Patty nearly exploded in a heap of excited grunts as she revealed her newfound blade to her group, who could do nothing but rub their heads sheepishly and congratulate her on the unusual achievement.
"I'm so happy for you, Patty!" Tsukasa giggled excitedly as possible, beholding the demonic weapon with a sense of wonder, it truly was a sight to behold.
"Yeah, you did good kid…not as good as me, but you were at least a B+!" Konata muttered lazily, wrenching out her best thumbs up and crinkled grin she could in her barely-conscious state.
"Izumi-San, you need to conserve your energy." Miyuki reprimanded hastily, trying her best to hold onto the struggling woman who wanted nothing more than to lather every inch of the Dragon God's sword with her astute observations and attention.
Far off in the distance, beyond which any of the groups waking eyes could ever hope to see, stood a duo of lonely figures who had observed the entire instance of chaos, their arrival, and the destruction of the Dragon God at their hands.
Not only this, but the group had been observed by these individuals since they had first entered Boletaria, the kind saint had told her knight they were special, they weren't like the others, they could succeed where everyone else had failed.
"Who are they, m'lady?" The knight asked despairingly, prepared to do what must be done should her lady will it upon her.
"I don't know, but they are a threat. I don't want to have to kill them, but…if they succeed in their quest they shall bring about only pain to this world." The gentle saint whispered emotionlessly, holding back a crushing lump within her throat and fighting the stingy tears that threatened her mercilessly.
"Do not cry for them m'lady, they are undeserving of your pity. If they seek to harm you I will not allow them to succeed, this I swear to you." The knight brazenly boasted, affectionately clasping an armored hand upon the miniscule red-haired woman, stroking her shoulder with a loving finger, so cold and yet so warmly.
"I know you will my brave knight."
Author's Note: This was one bastard of a chapter to write. I knew what I wanted in it and I even fleshed out every single scene, and amazingly I didn't re-write it once, which is a first for any chapter in this damned story. If you're wondering why my chapters seemingly take so long to get out (One week, usually), I can break down how I write them. Immediately after I post a chapter on the site, I go straight to work on the next one with an idea still fresh in my mind, I write until my mind blocks, and then I stop. I leave the word document open for DAYS ON END and go back to it every time I get a new idea, sometimes this results in me binging and writing the whole thing and sometimes I write it bit by bit over the course of several days. I know this seems like a very stupid way to write but it's how I do it. I get bursts of inspiration not long stints of them; maybe I'll try to rework how I go about writing in order to get chapters out faster. Plus, in all honesty my copy of Tales of Xillia just arrived in the mail and I'm crunching through this beast of a game, so it's been hogging all my time. (There's even implied yuri in it! AWESOME!)
P.S. : Reviewkthxlol.