Content Warning: This chapter includes suicidal thoughts.
It was too late to turn back now. Well, it actually wasn't – Raz could always pull out the smelling salts. But he had to face this dragon eventually, and the worst that could happen was dementistration (a self-reminder that became a repeated mantra in the face of such a terrifying opponent).
Raz pressed his shaking fingers to his temple and took up a combat stance. "Alright, dragon, let's dance!"
Melancholia's rumbling chuckle shook icicles loose from the castle walls and rolled into a feral snarl. "Foolish whelp! I will tear you apart!"
And then she swiped at him, moving forward with surprising speed, the sweep of her scythe-like claws only barely missing as Raz backflipped out of the way. He retaliated with a volley of psi-blasts that hardly seemed to faze her.
Doors in the castle courtyard swung open, and Melancholia's black knight Censors joined the fray. The snow made it difficult to fight, and they quickly closed in on him, forcing him to jump backwards away from them as he psi-punched and blasted his attackers. He took another step back to narrowly avoid a swing, and felt the cold stone walls of the castle behind him. Thinking fast, he pyrokinetically ignited all the Censors, now that they were gathered close around him.
This cleared the way just in time for him to see the dragon lunging like a viper. He cried out in surprise and alarm as he flung himself out of the way to the side. There was a deafening crash and a thud that shook the earth as Melancholia's head slammed directly into the castle wall. Raz once again barely scrambled away as chunks of stone rained down from the neglected construction. The dragon was not so fortunate, and she let out an unearthly screech as large stones pelted her head and neck.
Razputin was nearly blown off his feet by the force of the massive leathery wings beating as Melancholia lifted herself off the ground. On the bright side, this gale was also blowing away the snow that bogged him down. Bracing himself against the wind, Raz telekinetically grabbed a large chunk of stone and threw it at the dragon's chest, eliciting another horrendous shriek that echoed off the mountains for miles. She fell from the air gracelessly, the impact of her landing shaking more rubble loose, and it was only then that Razputin realized that he'd thrown the top of a spire, and it was lodged in the dragon's chest like a spear.
Melancholia reared back, howling, and clawed at the spire with her forelegs until she managed to dislodge it, leaving a glowing white gash in her chest. Instinctively, Raz shot a volley of psi-blasts at the gaping wound. With a deafening scream, Melancholia collapsed to the ground, her head bowed, wild-eyed and breathing hard.
Raz grinned ear to ear and pumped a fist in the air. "Yeah! Take that! You're not so tough now, are you, you overgrown liz—"
Melancholia's panting turned into a raspy snarl, and then into a vicious roar. "You think me so easily defeated?" she bellowed, hauling herself back up onto her feet. The smile vanished from the boy's face as the wound on her chest knit itself closed before his eyes.
He stood there, staring helplessly in shock as she stalked forward and loomed over him. Her voice sounded half-mad and thick with spittle as she snarled, "I was born of your heart's blood, Razputin Aquato! And only by spilling that very blood can you ever hope to escape me! My life is bound to yours!"
"What?! You think I'm gonna kill myself to get rid of you? Hell no!"
Melancholia lunged once more, swatting Raz to the ground and pinning him down under her talons. "And why not?" she asked, with a cruel smile.
"Whaddya mean 'why not'? I'm ten! I've got my whole life ahead of me!"
"Stupid child, you've already peaked! It's all downhill from here. It's been downhill ever since your psilirium resistance allowed you to locate Truman – the one and only thing of value you'll ever do!"
"But—"
"Silence!" Melancholia snarled, razor-sharp teeth flashing as she spoke, inches away from Raz's face. "Don't you understand? You are a liability! You altered Forsythe's mind, you played right into the mole's hands, and your recklessness nearly turned Maligula loose on the world! Maligula, whose legacy runs in your own blood!"
Raz just stared up at the dragon in wide-eyed silence.
She let out another low, crocodilian rumble. "Your family hates you, Razputin. The Psychonauts hate you. The only reason they're keeping you around is because of your inexplicable resistance to psilirium, and the moment a more qualified agent with the same trait is found, you'll be thrown out like the trash you are. All you have ahead of you is a long and painful path to following in your dear Nona's footsteps."
"I… I'm not going to…"
Glowing white eyes narrowed slightly, as if in thought. Then, with another devious smirk, Melancholia replied. "Hmm, perhaps not. You can, I suppose, take some comfort in the fact that you're too weak and incompetent to be such a threat. Maybe you'll only destroy a city or two, instead of a whole country."
The boy just let out a strangled whimper as the dragon moved one curved talon over his throat.
"I think we're done here," she said. The claw came down like a guillotine, unceremoniously removing Raz from the mental world.