DWMA's forces stood assembled outside of the enormous tree of life on the island of Xanadu. The twin shaman weapons, Fire and Thunder sat in front of the tree, legs crossed and hands held in a pose of meditation. Their eyes were closed in concentration as they chanted sacred mantras quietly. Behind them, Killik watched over them closely. Behind him, Ox paced nervously while his weapon partner Harvar stood with arms crossed. Jackie and Kim each stood leaning against a smaller tree trunk, each of them nervously casting glances between them. The portal that had led to the land of gods closed shortly after Kid and his group passed through. They didn't know why or how and now it was up to the twins to somehow reopen the portal so they could join their comrades in battle.
"How much longer will this take?" Ox asked impatiently.
"I don't know." Killik replied stoically.
"What do you mean you don't know? Haven't you been doing this on your secret mission for Kid?" Ox asked incredulously. Killik turned to look at him with a frustrated frown.
"Our objective then was to close the portals, not open them back up. I have no idea how long this will take." Killik answered with some snark.
"But it's already been a half hour! What if we've already lost? What if they need our help?" Ox asked pulling at his hair in frustration. Harvar walked up behind him and put a hand on his meister's shoulder.
"Ox you have to calm down. Stressing about this won't solve anything." Harvar placated him. "We don't have a choice except to wait. As soon as the portal opens up again we can head in. Until then it doesn't do us any good to fret. We should just be prepared." Harvar spoke sagely. Ox sighed in resignation, knowing his weapon partner was right, as usual.
They all glanced to where the portal had stood previously, hopes and nightmares playing simultaneously through their heads.
On the other side of the portal, Maka was fighting valiantly against the monster known as Lung. He had transformed his hands into wickedly sharp claws and was swiping and lunging at the scythe meister. Maka was deftly avoiding the strikes, using Soul's pole arm as a vault to keep distance between her and the manic villain. She twirled his weapon form around herself, savagely landing blows against Lung whenever he left an opening. It was too easy, Lung had almost no defensive reflexes, leaving him wide open to attack. However, the more attacks he took the more wild and vicious he seemed to become. It was almost as if he relished in the pain and bloodshed inflicted upon him. Soul's scythe blade swung into him like the force of a train, but the attacks only left deep gashes in Lung's body. His monsterous form would soon heal the damage and Lung would be back on the attack in just a few moments.
"Any bright ideas Maka?" Soul asked as they retreated once more.
"We've already tried Witch Hunter and it had barely any effect." Maka replied. She braced for impact as Lung came rushing in.
She blocked the impact by deflecting with Soul's pole arm. She shoved Lung away again and spun around. She aimed her scythe for Lung's neck but at the last moment Lung brought up his clawed hand and grabbed the blade, preventing it from impacting. He smiled devilishly at Maka who grimaced at his expression.
"What's the matter toots? Giving up already? We just got started!" He shouted as he slashed at her again with his claws. Maka backflipped out of the way, carving a huge slice up Lung's body as she did. She landed several feet away.
"So what do we do?" Soul asked again. Maka regarded Lung as he dipped one of his fingers into the already healing scar. He laughed maniacally as he let the blood drip from his fingers into his mouth. Her eyes scanned his form and landed on the medallion of pain hanging from his chest.
"We only need to get the medallion away from him. That's our only objective." Maka said already formulating a plan.
"So you're saying we don't need to necessarily beat him, just take away his medallion." Soul confirmed. Maka nodded. She drew upon the madness of her own medallion. Immediately it began filling her head with battle strategies and attack plans.
"If we got the Medallion of Pain, we could use it's powers along with my own to defeat him." Maka explained. She lunged forward at her opponent. She reached him just as his wound was finished recovering. Her scythe blade swooped from underneath and impaled Lung in the side. Lung coughed up blood before kicking the weapon away from him. Maka refused to relent however. She spun back around him and aimed her blade at his shoulder, intending to sever it at the joint. But Lung dropped low and kicked out at her. The kick landed squarely in her stomach and sent her tumbling backwards.
"Now we're starting to talk!" Lung said as he stalked forward, holding his gaping wound. "You're aiming for my vital spots now. That's good! I haven't felt this alive in years!" Lung shouted.
"No matter how hard we hit him he just keeps getting back up." Soul observed.
"The medallion just keeps telling me to hit his vital points but he recovers too fast. If only I actually knew what he was." Maka pondered for a second. She shook the thought from her head. The only thing that mattered was getting the medallion away from him. "It doesn't matter. Like I said, we just need to get the medallion." Maka reiterated. Across from her Lung began to laugh.
"You want this medallion huh?!" He said holding up the glinting metal. "Well too bad, you're gonna have to pry it from my cold dead claws! I've waited too long to get my revenge against Shinigami for what he did to my people!" Lung called.
"We told you already Lung! Kid would never have allowed anything to happen to your people. If you just listened to us we could help you." Maka tried to reason with him. But Lung shook his head and clutched the medallion again.
"It's too late! Deva promised me revenge on Shinigami! I'm not giving up until I see that happen." Lung retorted. He leapt forward and midair morphed his arm into a large pincer. He swiped down at Maka, his pincers enlcosing around the air where she once stood.
"Kid doesn't even know who your people were! I'm sure if you just told us he would give you whatever you wanted!" Maka called out, avoiding the last strike. Lung paused, an expression of anger and disgust written on his face.
"You wanna know what I am? I already told you I'm the ancestor of every monster on earth! But if that's not enough then I'll show you! I'll show you… my true form!" Lung shouted out. He hunched over himself, shivering and shuddering as his body began it's transformation.
Maka and Soul stood aside and watched Lung's body begin to morph again. The medallion of knowledge assaulted her brain with all the information that she already knew about Lung. The so-called progenitor of every other monster species. He had an abnormally long lifespan, incredible shape-shifting abilities like that of a vampire. The apparent healing factor of the werewolves. Maka's mind raced as she went down the whole list of possible answers until the medallion finally supplied her with the correct answer.
"Of course! There's only one thing he could be!" Maka said aloud.
They watched as Lung's body began to grow to enormous size, at least 3 stories tall. His black leather and denim clothes absorbed into his black skin. Scales began to form along his body which lengthened into a serpentine form. His limbs grew claws on each digit, ferocious and white as ivory. Wings sprouted from his back and a thin purple membrane spread between the spires of bone. His piercings morphed into white horn like protrusions. His face elongated into a ferocious snout filled with sharp teeth. Thin black whiskers erupted alongside his nose. His eyes glowed violet and his pupils slit. Violet fins erupted along his spine and ran down the length of his back. His transformation seemingly complete, Lung threw his arms out to the side and roared to the sky.
"A Dragon…" Maka said
Lung's serpentine neck twisted and curled in the air, observing its prey like a predator about to strike. His body coiled and his enormous feet stomped on the ground, leaving craters in his wake. He inhaled deeply, the surrounding air swirling into his massive gullet. His chest puffed with the intake of air and his body swelled to even greater size. Then suddenly he exhaled a torrent of flame. The fire spread out and raced towards Maka. The scythe meister tried running away but the gout of fire was too quick on her heels. She turned around and faced the flames head on. She spun Soul around in her arms, rapidly revolving him. The flames deflected against the shield of wind she created in front of her, being displaced around her.
As the massive stream of fire died down she stood in the center of a patch of scorched earth. Lung stood in front of her, his massive reptilian body looming over her ready for the next attack.
"You should give up while you can! You are no match for the power of an almighty dragon!" Lung called out.
"We've beaten worse opponents than you!" Maka replied in earnest, head tilted upwards to meet the gaze of the massive beast. Lung's smile revealed his toothy maw of sharp teeth. He laughed, the sound rumbling due to his size.
"Hahaha! Then I will take even more pleasure when I torture you and tear you limb from limb! Then you will know the true meaning of pain! Just like I do!" Lung said. He lashed out with one of his enormous claws. But Maka swiftly jumped over the hand.
She quickly ascended up Lung's arm, climbing with Soul in hand until she reached his shoulder. She swiped Soul's blade across his face and Lung reeled back in surprise. His tail whipped around to whack Maka away. The scythe meister had just enough time to guard against the impact before being sent flying away. She recovered to her feet quickly and faced Lung once more.
"Look man, we already told you we didn't have anything to do with what happened to your people! We don't even know what happened!" Soul called out from his weapon form.
"And I already told you! You fucking humans hunted us to near extinction!" Lung retorted with rage. His voice bellowed and shook the earth around them. "Your people lived in fear of us and decided rather than coexisting, you would just kill us all off! That's why we had to go into hiding." Lung roared back, his draconic muscles quaking with each word.
"He's right." Maka spoke up. "Every culture in history had stories of dragons. In some of them, they were wicked monsters. In other cultures, dragons were seen as wise and benevolent. But in all of the stories, the dragons were depicted as being an extremely prideful race." Maka explained, her eyes aglow with the power of the medallion of Knowledge.
"As we should be! We're better than you! I'm better than you! And I'll prove it!" Lung roared before taking off into the skies with his massive wings. He circled once in the air before diving down at Maka and Soul on the ground. With an earth shattering punch Lung sent boulders flying into the air. Maka alighted on one of the pieces of rubble, the blade of her scythe gleaming in the light. Lung breathed a fireball in her direction. The scorching orb of heat shot towards her at incredible speeds. She jumped out of the way just in time.
With a swing of her scythe, Maka sliced a huge gash in Lung's violet underbelly. Lung reared backwards before snapping his jaws shut around Maka. But the scythe meister narrowly avoided certain doom by using Soul to prop open the literal jaws of death. She jumped backwards and Lung's open mouth shut closed on nothing but air. Maka landed on the ground in a battle ready stance.
"Stand still so I can squash you, you fucking brat!" Lung roared. His tail swiftly twirled around, a hundred pounds of scales, muscle and bone heading straight for them. But Maka jumped into the air, Soul's angelic wings propelling her into the air directly towards Lung's face. She dragged Soul's blade along Lung's face. Enraged, Lung breathed another gout of smoke and flames while swatting wildly at the air. But Maka circled around his head like a fly. She was suddenly knocked from the air as Lung twisted his neck and batted her with one of his horns. She spiralled down to the ground and landed in a tripod position, one hand dragging along the ground.
"Face it you fuckers! You'll never be a match for a dragon!" Lung taunted them. Maka smirked, eyes hidden by her bangs.
"We might not have been able to handle you before, but this time I've got a special trick just for you." Maka shouted defiantly. She spun Soul around and planted his pole in the waxy ground. Lung laughed, the sound rumbling and echoing like thunder.
"I'd like to see you try bitch!" Lung taunted again. Maka smirked once more and reached out with her resonance link to Soul.
"Resonate with me Soul." She called out to him. Soul's reflection appeared on his blade, nodding. Their souls pushed and pulled on each other, amplifying their power together. Maka began spinning Soul's weapon form around her. She quickly built up speed as her arms deftly moved the scythe around her in rapid rotation. A large blue sphere surrounded them, lifting dust into the air and growing in size every second. From their resonance link Soul called out to Maka.
"Maka, what are you doing?" He asked confused. He had never felt them resonate like this before. He didn't have to wait long for his answer.
"Something that hasn't been attempted in centuries." She replied back. Her eyes glowed blue and her pupils dilated as lines of text scrolled rapidly across her eyes. She could feel the madness of Knowledge permeate her being. It gave her the information about the secret technique she was about to perform.
With a sudden stop, Maka held the scythe still in front of her. Soul's blade glowed and swelled to enormous size. Lung actually had to cover his eyes from how intense the shining of their resonance was. At last the light died down, revealing a glowing iridescent blade shaped like a talon with large spiked protrusions coming off the inside and outside of the blade. Soul's central eye motif morphed into that of a slitted eye. Maka stood with the newly formed scythe proudly.
"Dragon Hunter!" She shouted.
She jumped into the air towards Lung. The enormous dragon shot another blast of fire at her. Maka somersaulted over the scorching fireball, hurtling closer and closer to Lung. The dragon crossed his arms and wings in front of him to guard. With a mighty swing, Maka brought the sharp blade across the dragon's body with a sharp slicing sound. Immediately a red gash erupted with blood diagonally down Lung's body. He shouted in surprise but the worst was yet to come. A million more cuts exploded from the initial swing, spreading out from the initial cut like cracks in glass. The swirling blades engulfed Lung's body like a hurricane of swords. Deep gulleys were carved into the dragon's seemingly invincible body, bleeding and gushing blood. The wind surrounded Lung's body lifting him up and tossing him backwards. He skidded across the ground, leaving a canyon in his wake, all the while a million invisible blades continued to cut into him.
At last, his gargantuan body skidded to a stop. A deep valley carved into the soft ground around him. His breath was ragged as he recovered from the attack. Viscous blood poured out from his many wounds, staining the white ground around him red. He shakily tried to lift himself up from his position on his back. However, with each movement the gashes on his body throbbed and swelled painfully. At last he trembled and collapsed back to the ground, still breathing heavily.
Soul and Maka approached cautiously. Lung seemed to be knocked out cold. Soul transformed back to his human form as they continued to approach the still form of the dragon. Maka pointed upwards at the medallion of pain sitting upon Lung's chest. It appeared tiny against his enormous form but still glowed distinctly in the light. Soul and Maka jumped atop the beast's underbelly, racing towards the medallion.
"Maka look out!" Soul yelled in warning. The pair jumped apart just as Lung's massive claw swiped down on to himself. The duo stared up at the now conscious dragon with defiance. He stared at them with tired eyes but despite the bloody wounds littering his body he still found the energy to growl angrily.
"No, I won't… let you get this." Lung spoke. He placed an oversized claw atop the bronze metal. A wicked wind picked up around them as Lung called upon the medallion's madness. His violet soul swelled and twisted as the madness permeated into it.
"I will use this medallion to crush you!" Lung called out. Soul and Maka could only stare in horror as they watched Lung's body change again. Only this time his dragon form began to seemingly melt. They could feel the madness of pain even on their own skin. Lung's body morphed and swelled into a twisted ball of ebony and violet. The scales disappeared to be replaced by random patches of skin, fur, and bone. Multiple eyes and mouths developed across the writhing orb, opening and closing at random. His limbs continuously switched forms between claws and tentacles. The sickening mass of flesh let out a tremendous roar of pain.
In just a few seconds Lung had morphed from a dragon into some kind of shape shifting monstrosity. The creature lashed out at the weapon-meister pair. Separated as they were the duo had no choice but to avoid the attacks on their own. Maka dodged the lashing strikes of tentacles and multiple limbs easily. Soul had a more difficult time. He desperately needed to get back to Maka so he could defend his meister. But the enormous mass of black ichor kept them separate at every turn.
Finally Soul tripped up and found himself dangling by his foot as one of the beast's tentacles wrapped itself around his leg.
"Soul!" Maka yelled out in concern. But the momentary distraction caused her to also be captured by one of the tentacle appendages.
"Maka!" Soul called out. He reached out with his free arm before he became engulfed by the inky black flesh. His last vision of her was Maka clawing her away fruitlessly at the blackness enveloping her. She called his name once more before he was completely swallowed.
"No! No! Maka!" Soul yelled in a panic. He produced blades across his body and cut away at the black tendrils that encircled him. He thrashed his limbs in desperation. But every time it seemed he would break free more of the tendrils would grasp at him. It was as if a crushing weight was squeezing him down. He felt as though his body was simultaneously being compressed and ripped apart. He could faintly recognize the madness from the medallion of pain creeping into his body. But he didn't care about any of that. All he cared about was getting back to his meister.
"This… is nothing." Soul muttered even as he could feel jolts of electrifying pain run all across his body. Nothing he did seemed to set him free. His breathing became more and more erratic as the pressure closed in around him. The most primal part of his brain was screaming at every fiber of his being to run, thrash, attack, anything to get away from the pain he was experiencing. But Soul stilled himself. He fought against all those instincts and took in a deep hissing breath.
"I can't believe I have to call on him again, after all these years." Soul whispered out. He distantly felt the sensations around him fade away as he retreated into his soul. The blackness surrounding him shifted in form. It was no longer a swirling mass intent on crushing him, but rather a familiar still blackness. In the distance a rectangle of light opened up to reveal a familiar black and crimson room in his mind. At the opening stood a familiar red imp dressed in black. Soul floated closer to the threshold until he passed through and his familiar pinstripe suit appeared on his body. He glanced down at the Imp who smiled with a grin full of sharp teeth up at him.
"Good to see you again Soul." The Imp said. Soul smirked and scoffed before making his way over to the familiar sight of the piano.
"Let's do this." Soul spoke aloud as his fingers alighted on the keyboard.
Outside, the tentacle that had enveloped Soul suddenly burst in an explosion of light. Lung let loose a gurgling scream of agony as his multiple eyes flicked over to the destroyed limb. Maka, her head just barely keeping above the tide of blackness also looked over. There floating in the air was Soul Eater Evans. His pinstriped suit throwing wisps of red and black into the air. His body was bisected diagonally by a swirling oval vortex. In its center a swirling pattern of concentric rings stared out like an eye. Sharp points protruded out from Soul's limbs and body. His eyes glowed an unnatural red color and he stared back at the monstrosity holding his meister. Maka stared at him in awe even as the tendrils of flesh receded from her.
"How?" Lung managed to question through his multiple mouths.
Soul raised his arm, a long scythe blade erupted from his wrist, piano keys dangling and creating a haunting melody. He swiped his arm out at Lung. A slash of light fired out at Lung, severing the tentacle holding up Soul.
"Aaaaagggghhh!" Lung cried out in pain. His amorphous body retreated away from Soul. Maka still held tightly in his grip.
Soul continued to strike out at Lung with his weapon arm. His attacks creating deep gouges in the monster's flesh. Lung screamed aloud with each strike. His screams of anguish gurgling with blood. He attempted to retaliate by crushing Soul with his tendrils. However the force of Soul's own wavelength and madness kept the creature at bay as he floated ever closer to the monstrosity. At last Soul severed the arm that had captured Maka. The meister fell to the ground with the dead limb and landed gracefully. She looked up to see Soul floating closer to Lung.
"I don't understand! I have the Medallion of Pain! How are you stronger than me!" Lung demanded, his voice emanating from the many mouths across his body.
Soul held out a hand, his eyes still glassy. Lung looked down to see the Medallion begin to lift from him and float upwards to Soul. Lung's eyes widened in shock as the Medallion was drawn to Soul. At last it flew free from his body and into the grasp of Soul. A pulse of energy shot through Soul at the contact.
"You want to know why?" Soul asked ominously. "It's because you only care about yourself and your own worldview. I would do anything for Maka, suffer through anything for her. That is why the Medallion chose me. Because in the depths of agony I held onto something more important than myself." Soul said glaring down.
Lung's eyes quivered and his body trembled. With the Medallion gone his body began to shrink back down to his human form. His appearance returned to normal but his body was still covered with the cuts and damage from their fierce battle. He fell unconcious onto the ground, his eyes closed in exhaustion.
Soul floated to the ground, the medallion still in hand. A flash of light emanated from him and his form also returned to normal. He stood over Lung proudly before his own body was overtaken by exhaustion and he nearly collapsed himself. Thankfully Maka rushed over and caught him before he could fall to the ground. He smiled tiredly at her. Maka returned the smile with a kiss on the lips.
"That was pretty impressive." She commented.
"Thanks but, I think, I need… just a few… minutes." Soul commented as the pain overtook him and he went unconcious himself. Maka looked around at the rest of the battlefield, hoping that her friends could manage without her and Soul for a few minutes.