The Crimson Dragon was a strong opponent for the crew of Eden's Zero. It was clear that it was a very feared beast on this planet for a reason. Every attack from this behemoth was incredibly powerful. The Crimson Dragon inhaled, releasing a gigantic crimson blast towards the crew. They were all able to avoid it, but they watched as it flew off into the horizon and nearly split the ocean in two for a moment or so. Rebecca was sweating. Everyone was already bruised in some way from fighting this monster, but this wasn't enough for them to give up, far from it. "G-Geez...!"
"I'll make you pay for getting in my way!" The Crimson Dragon roared while lifting a claw up, aiming to bring it down on Cynthia. She was able to avoid with a quick flip.
"You've had your way far too long on this planet!" Cynthia said as her cheeks puffed out, wisps of red flames appearing along the outside of her mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" She exhaled a strong torrent of flames that struck the Crimson Dragon directly in the chest. Due to the properties of her Ether Gear, this was an extremely effective attack.
"GAAH!" The Crimson Dragon roared in pain before spinning around, its tail slamming into Cynthia to knock her down. She hit the sand with a hard thud, and the Crimson Dragon followed up by trying to crush her again with his claw. But before he could, he was stopped by Shiki's fist, holding him in a deadlock. "You!"
"You're not hurting anyone else!" Shiki said with narrowed eyes, using his gravity to propell himself forward and knock the Crimson Dragon back. With this stagger, he 'flew' forward while rearing his fist back. "Magimech Attack: Gravity Fist!" He swung forward, slamming it into the Crimson Dragon's face. The Dragon's head recoiled just a bit, but it turned and smirked at Shiki. "...!" The Crimson Dragon then let out another roar of raw ether that caught Shiki, throwing him backwards with some good amage to boot.
"Shiki!" Rebecca gasped. Shiki hit the ground hard, but he was okay.
"This thing is a pain in the ass." Weisz grunted.
"But we mustn't give up!" Homura said while raising her sword. "If we strike it at once, we should gain the advantage!"
"Homuran is right, we have the numbers!" Kleene nodded. She and Jinn used their wind to push against the Crimson Dragon. It was keeping it still, somewhat, but the mighty Dragon had no intentions of kowtowing to a bunch of humans.
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are! Because you'll all be crushed under my foot!" The Crimson Dragon then flew into the air, his wings closing around his body. There were numbers glints of red lights that looked like stars in the night sky above. "Crimson Rain!" And those lights then came crashing down on the crew of Eden's Zero.
"INCOMING!" Geno exclaimed. They didn't have much a defense for this except to just dodge. The Crimson Rain exploded on the shoreline while catching everyone in its wake.
"Gah!" Rebecca entered her Overdrive, using her speed to desperately try and avoid this onslaught from above. A lot of sand was being kicked in her way and she was doing everything she could to try and dodge.
"Shit..." Blair cursed while bringing her arms up to defend. This assault was really never going to end at this rate! "We gotta do something. Shiki!"
"Huh?" Shiki looked over at Blair.
"Use your Gravity! We're gonna suck up that attack and throw it right back!" Blair said as her Therion arm began to glow. She did eat Ziggy's gravity on Delta Ridge, so she was using that same principal to her advantage, an orb of gravity appearing within her palm.
"Right!" Shiki grinned. Blair was willing to work with him? That alone said a lot about how far she'd come, but there was more on that later. With Satan's Gravity, Shiki and Blair pushed into the sky, their arms reared back as spheres of gravity coalesced into one. "Magimech Attack: Gravity Cannon!" He threw the enlarged sphere of gravity along with Blair, watching as it flew through the air towards the Crimson Dragon. The sphere of gravity drew in the Crimson Rain, and its pull was so strong that it was even drawing the Crimson Dragon in.
"W-What...?!" The Crimson Dragon snarled, trying to resist the pull of the Gravity Cannon. "This gravity...!"
"IT'S GONNA CRUSH YOU!" Shiki said while focusing gravity around the Crimson Dragon. "Gravity Center!" Since the dragon was airborne, Shiki changed the center of gravity to force it to plummet to the ground. But since the Gravity Cannon was in the midst of it, the Crimson Dragon collided into this highly explosive sphere, causing an explosion in the air. The Crismon Rain stopped and the Crimson Dragon fell harshly on the ground.
"Grrrr...!" Snarling, the Crimson Dragon slowly picked itself up.
"Tears Wave!" Laguna made his move, using the nearby ocean for aid. The water came flying forward, a tidal wave crashing down on the Crimson Dragon. His size prevented him from being pushed around, but he did feel the impact of the water regardless.
"Did you think that would hurt me!?" The Crimson Dragon forced a smirk while looking at Laguna.
"No, but I'm sure they will." Laguna said calmly.
"They!?" The Crimson Dragon then looked up, only to see Weisz and Geno above it.
"Electric Impulse!" Both Weisz and Geno exclaimed. The fired off two strong spheres of electricity. Since the Crimson Dragon was soaked, these spheres caused a powerful electrical current that coursed through the dragons body, causing it to roar in pain once more and freeze it in place. "Homura! Rebecca! Your turn!" Geno shouted.
Those two weren't going to miss their chance. Homura ran forward, entering her Overdrive with Rebecca right behind her. "Warrior Maid Single Sword Attack..." Homura pushed off the same, merging her two swords into a gigantic greatsword. "DRAGON FLASH!" In one swift motion, she slashed the chest of the Crimson Dragon while soaring past it for a direct hit.
"Full Power Happy Shot!" Rebecca followed up fast, unleashing a gigantic burst of ether from her Happy Shotgun, which landed and exploded on the Crimson Dragon's face.
"And to wrap this up! AEROBLAST!" Jinn and Kleene merged their wind together, creating a gigantic wind force that knocked the Crimson Dragon down. There was a small tremor from the impact as everyone landed and panted heavily. "Did that work?" Jinn asked tenatively.
"Hah..." The Crimson Dragon laughed and slowly picked itself up. "That did some damage, sure. But did you forget? I am a Dragon!" The Crimson Dragon said while standing tall. It showed signs of damage, but defeat? Far from it.
"Hermit, what is this thing?" Geno asked. "No way it's just a dragon..."
"It's not. Based on your scans, it's an android modified to be a dragon! That's why it can talk." Hermit reported.
"So how the hell are we gonna get rid of this thing?" Sister asked.
"Cynthia has to deal the final blow, or Blair has to eat it." Hermit said. "Those are the only two options to stop this thing for good! Otherwise, you'll never be able to do enough damage to destroy it!"
"I was planning on eating this thing anyway." Blair scoffed.
"How were you..." Cynthia asked, but she then shook her head. Blair was very strange, and also slightly familiar in some way, but those were questions for later. "Okay! I just need an opening, but I won't stand around for one either!" She then sprinted ahead and leap into the air, the temperature around her skyrocketing. Her appearance changed as draconic wings appeared on her back, her eyes turned a slight reptilian shape, and red scales appeared on her body. "Overdrive!"
"She can do it too!?" Rebecca's eyes were wide.
Cynthia flew towards the Crimson Dragon while rearing her fist back, and the dragon did the same. Their fists collided in the air, a shockwave booming out from the impact. Cynthia recoiled and flew back just slightly, where the Crimson Dragon attempted to grab her with its free hand. But it was stopped by Blair grabbing onto it with her Therion arm. "I don't think so. Let's see how you like being eaten!"
"W-What...!?" The Crimson Dragon was trying to shake Blair off, feeling its power being drained away rapidly by the woman clinging to him. "RELEASE ME!" He snarled, opening his mouth to try and fire a blast at Blair to force her to release. But as his mouth opened, Weisz was already in front of it.
"MORTOR CANNON!" Weisz threw his arm forward, a gigantic blast of fire exploding in the Crimson Dragon's mouth. This explosion forced the Crimson Dragon to stagger back with Blair still draining it. "Yeah, I bet that doesn't feel good, does it! You're about to pay for everything you've done to these people!"
The Crimson Dragon spun around, swatting Weisz to the ground with its tail. His Arsenal Armor cracked from the impact, but it was able to withstand it due to landing on the soft sand. "Gah! Silence!" He then tried to raise his other hand, but Shiki jumped on that immediately. Literally.
"Gravity Comet!" Shiki landed on the Crimson Dragon's hand from above. With his increased center of gravity, he crushed in into the sand. His weight was immense, and since the Crimson Dragon's power was rapidly waning, he couldn't muster the strength to fend it off.
"Tears Arrow!" From a distance, Laguna fired off multiple arrows of water that pierced the Crimson Dragon. Even if they didn't have Dragon Effective ether outside of Cynthia's usage, they could still pile of the damage, and every little bit counted.
"Megabuster!" Geno fired off a powerful blast of ether into the Crimson Dragon's chest, which exploded on impact. This blast also short circuited most of the Crimson Dragon's motor functions, completely preventing it from moving.
Jinn, Rebecca, Homura, and Kleene all followed suit. Jinn flew forward, entering his overdrive as he aimed a harsh blow. "Skymech Ninjutsu Attack: Great Cross Slash!" He swung an arm down, an X shaped blade of wind flying forward and piercing the Crimson Dragon, the indentation of the X appearing on the ground beneath him. Kleene used this to follow up.
Kleene entered her Overdrive and lifted her hand into the sky. "Variable Cyclone!" A powerful whirlwind erupted from underneath the Crimson Dragon, the blue winds Kleene could command shredding into it and breaking apart some of its armor.
"Kitsune Perfect Circle Strike!"
"High Leaper Kick!"
Rebecca and Homura attacked in unison. Rebecca's high speed kick slammed into the face of the Crimson Dragon, while Homura's sword attack sliced it right in the middle, creating a noticeable gash as a result. The Dragon howled as it could feel his strength and power rapidly dropping. "Just one more push! Cynthia, finish it!" Rebecca shouted.
"I'm on it!" Cynthia said while flying forward.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" The Crimson Dragon snarled in defiance as he once again let loose another Crimson Rain. This was its final gambit, as the crimson beams that descended on the sky were far more dangerous than before. Each beam was stronger than the last, causing multiple explosions on the shore.
"Shit!" Blair cursed as one of these explosions hit her and knocked her off. The same was with Shiki, as the party was being bombarded by this unending onslaught.
"Guys!" Hermit shouted in worry. "This is bad..."
"They'll be fine! They better not die down there!" Sister grit her teeth. She, Hermit, Mosco, and Pino could only watch and try to maneuver the ship away from the never ending bombardment.
Geno was doing his best to shield everyone with his single shield, but it could only withstand so much damage before he was blown back as well. "Ngh! It can't move! This is desperation!"
"You can do it, Cynthia!" Shiki said while focusing his gravity on Cynthia to fling her forward!
Cynthia was hit by a blast, bleeding and bruised, but her eyes burned strongly with determination. "I WILL do it!" She declared, using Shiki's gravity to her advantage. She was weaving through the blasts that landed on the ground, red flames blazing around her entire body. "The people of this planet have been so nice to me. They gave me a place to work, food to eat, all while I was alone for these last few years. You've tortured them for so long, but it ends right here, RIGHT NOW! FIRE DRAGON'S ROARING IMPACT!" The flames around Cynthia's body manifested into an elongated dragon, and with her own roar, she flew straight through the Crimson Dragon. She slammed into its chest and flew out from the other side. It all happened in slow motion for everyone else watching. Cynthia landed on the ground with a harsh tumble, grimacing from the impact.
The Crimson Dragon was still standing, but his expression was that of shock. "N-No...this can't be...I was defeated...by humans...?" The Dragon slowly tipped over, but before it could fully fall, its lifespan ended with a grand explosion. Everyone had to shield their eyes from the explosion, but when the light from that died down...the Crimson Dragon was truly no more. The planet of Seven was freed from the abuse of its religion.
"We did it!" Kleene jumped for joy.
"Of course we did! But damn, that did hurt." Weisz said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"No kidding." Jinn felt the same way. Even his O-tech joints were going to be stiff after that kind of heavy fight.
"Whew..." Laguna let out a heavy exhale. Fighting a dragon wasn't exactly his plan for the day, but he was smiling. The fact they managed was more than enough for him.
"Nice work, everyone!" Hermit grinned. She let out a sigh of relief as well.
"And what were you worried for?" Sister said with a cheeky grin. "We'll land the ship in a second. You guys really know how to keep me busy." Sister was going to have her hands full with recovery duty. But it was fine, it was her job after all.
"Excellent work, everyone!" Pino cheered.
"Perfect!" Mosco added.
"What a pain in the ass that was." Blair rolled her eyes. But she also groaned to herself. Even after eating a substantial amount of the Crimson Dragon's ether, she was still...hungry. She was able to hide it better, but the hunger pangs were still residing inside of her. Could nothing really satiate her lust for ether as a Therion...?
"Victory was assured. Even if it was rough for a moment." Homura never had any doubt.
"Thanks, guys." Cynthia turned to the crew of the Eden's Zero. "I would never have been able to do this without your help. I'm pretty glad the stars aligned and you guys came here! Even if you were looking for me, eheh..."
"Even if we didn't know you were here, we would've helped anyway." Rebecca said with her own smile. "That's just what we do!"
"But I'm glad we found you anyway." Geno said as he and Omega split off for the time being. Even though Geno took the damage, they both shared it. They were both going to be sore.
"And now that we've found you...there's something important we have to ask you." Shiki said while stepping to Cynthia. In the background, the people of Seven were slowly coming to crowd around and see what happened. The Crimson Dragon was no more, and the shock of it was clear on their faces. Still, Shiki had to ask something of Cynthia, since it was also part of the reason they came to Seven to begin with. "Will you join our crew?"