Chapter 18 Dragon's Wrath
To EndlessFun99: Your wish is my command, enjoy. ;-)
In the city of Lescatie, in the lower levels of the castle, Mimil the former Magical Girl and Wilmarina former hero of the Noscrim faction along with a small army of a hundred mamono gathered in a large room where they wait for the completion of the dimension teleportation spell. Before Druella left to aid Scarlet in her latest siege attempt, she put Wilmarina and Mimil in charge to discover what happened to the expedition team after they crossed the portal.
Mimil asks one of the members of the Sabbath, "How is the spell going along?"
The reddish-brown hair Baphomet replies, "We are halfway completing the spell ma'am, just a few more moments and it'll be ready."
"Very good." Mimil walks over to Wilmarina and asks, "Are you and your troops ready when we cross?"
Wilmarina responds in confidence, "Yes, we are ready for anything that this new frontier can throw at us. I am surprised however that you want to come with us instead of being here and waiting for Lady Druella."
Mimil cheerfully explains, "Are you kidding me?! A whole new world we recently discover that also has a great many big brothers there. Who knows what other secrets and magic it has maybe even a way to help the Demon Lord with her current problem."
Wilmarina nods her head at Mimil's answer before saying, "It sure is a great opportunity to expand our knowledge and power but it could also hold dangers we've never seen before."
Mimil waves off at Wilmarina's last bit and says, "Whatever threat there is no match for us, we can easily deal with any problem that arises besides what the worse can happen."
As the two chat away, the Sabbath members have started to form the portal, however…
Back at the town where the first mamono force appeared, a floating platform hovers above the town, keeping watch of the area below. A few of the Dark Guard are stationed there, directed by an individual of enormous power and centuries of battle experience. His clothing has the same color palette as the other members but with a metallic pattern of a skeleton and additional features like a spike-tip metal tail, fingers covered by Iron Reaver Finger Claws, and a pair of hovering wing constructs behind his back. His face is covered by a metal mask shaped like a dragon skull combine with his clothes giving him an appearance of a dragon.
"Choryrth!" a guard speaks out from the science station getting the targeted person's attention. Choryrth walks over to the guardsmen and then said guardsmen reports, "I detect an anonymous reading at least one and a half miles away from this town and it's getting stronger. Highly possible a dimensional breach in progress, sir."
Choryrth in a deep bestial voice says, "Let us go and take a closer look at the site then. Transport just the two of us for now."
"Yes sir!" The two vanishes from the platform and reappear where the disturbance is, near the edge of a familiar forest. The guardsmen speak up, "The formation of a portal should be somewhere in front of us."
Choryrth looks around until he notices bending in light so he stretches out his left claw and feels a foreign power building in an expanding point. "Found it and they are indeed trying to cross into this world again."
"Shall we alert the commander about this development?" the guardsmen looks at Choryrth and waits.
Choryrth thinks for a second then comes up with a plan as he orders, "Yes and I want you to alert the Commander that I've engaged the enemy before they could invade again. I'll take them all on by myself and with luck eliminate their ability to jump dimensions, permanently."
The guardsmen looks at Choryrth with slight concern but simply nod. He watches Choryrth raise his right claw and a flow of glowing particles flow into the bending point thus finishing the portal connection. Choryrth's claws erupt in flames and his 'wings' expand out and light up then he launches himself into the portal with great speed. The lonely guard watches Choryrth disappear inside the portal and stands there for a moment before he transports himself back to the platform to prepare an interesting report for the commander.
Back at Lescatie, the portal is fully formed and stable for all to see with many hardly containing their excitement but a number of the spellcaster working on the portal are confused. One of them mentally talks to themselves, 'That's odd, we weren't done yet.'
Mimil congrats the same Baphomet earlier before, "Alright nice jobs girls!"
The Baphomet looks back at Mimil and says, "Thanks but I don't know how we finished the last part of the spell so quickly? We still needed a moment or two before we could complete it."
Mimil looks perplexed and as she was about to say something but someone yells out, "There something coming out of the portal!"
All present look towards the portal in time as Choryrth emerges from the portal and flies to the ceiling of the room and shouts, "Beware vermin, death visits you all today!"
He points the palms of his hands at the gathered mamono force and a torrent of fire gushes out towards them. A few of the quicker ones along with those in the back ducked into cover while the rest are coated in flames. Screams of agony fill the room as Choryrth rampages throughout the room setting it all aflame. Few members of the Sabbath ceased managing the portal either by dodging the firebolts heading their way or they simply panic and running away. Only the reddish-brown Baphomet was still keeping the portal open but she too had to abandon it as a stream of fire came at her. She erected a barrier around herself to shield herself from the raging flames that enveloped her.
Wilmarina and Mimil having a hard time stopping Choryrth's attack due to fire everywhere and now smoking filling up the room, making things hard to see where the arsonist is at. Another problem they were facing is that the heat is starting to be unbearable so they had to do something quickly.
Wilmarina shouts, "Mimil, do you see him!?"
"No, he's moving too fast among the smoke, can't track him properly!" Mimil shouts back. She keeps on looking for Choryrth until she spots him near the back of the room and seems like he is gathering a large amount of energy.
"Over there, in the very back!" Mimil points and shouts Wilmarina looks at the point and sees him too. Wilmarina's eyes widen at the ball of energy he has already gathered as Choryrth stares back at them.
"Oh no, he is preparing something big. GET READY!" Wilmarina yells as she and Mimil brace themselves for the coming attack. To their surprise Choryrth doesn't aim at them instead he aims at the ceiling and fires the ball of purple sparking energy. Boom, boom, and more booms can be heard along with someone screaming then Choryrth flies into the hole leaving Wilmarina, Mimil, and whoever is left alive in the burning room.
"Where is he going!?" Mimil asks as she and Wilmarina exit the room and goes up a flight of stairs.
"I don't know but we have to stop him before he can cause any more death and destruction," Wilmarina says in a worried tone.
Choryrth blasted a hole all the way to the top and ascends far above the tallest castle tower as he starts to survey the city, seeing the entire layout of Lescatie and its few districts. Seeing he'll be needing help, he instantly opens two large portals one to each of his sides and waits. The citizens that are out enjoying a midnight walk or finishing errands notice the portals and a person between them as they wonder if there was going to be a light show tonight. Choryrth didn't have to wait long for his reinforcements as two gigantic silvery skeletal dragons exited the portals and fly around him. The dragons bounded by his mind thus were able to receive telepathic commands as he orders them without talking to attack certain zones of the city. One dragon attacks the outer zone of the city which is the slums and poor district including the entrances. The second dragon attacks the middle zone that holds the commercial district and those who can afford to be out of the slums live there. Choryrth himself targets the central zone that has the castle and important facilities to the city's longevity and defense.
The two dragons dive towards the ground with great speed and then level off before crashing into any houses as they spew fire at everything below them. People start screaming and scramble to safety, waking those who have fallen asleep to quickly get confused and scared about what's happening right outside their windows. The whole city will no doubt be awakened and quickly understand that they are being attacked by the trio.
Choryrth turns his attention back on the castle and starts his attack by shooting balls of explosive energy at random parts of the castle. Archers making their way to any position to retaliate at the attackers while mages, witches, and other spellcasters start chanting their spells to stop this destruction. The rest of the defenders rush to save the civilians and put out the fires before they can consume the city.
Inside the castle, the Roper Queen Francisca Mistel Lescatie screams and struggles as she suffers from Choryrth's attacks since her great many and lengthy tentacles expand throughout the castles so whenever a part of the castle gets hit or collapse, some of the tentacles get crushed, burned or both. She tries to ignore the excruciating pain as she tries to save her servants and friends from harm but due to Choryrth's random attacks and the pain slowing her down so she can't react fast enough to save a maid or a soldier from being crushed to death by falling debris. Her husband tries to ease her pain any way he can and also help her stay focused in her rescue attempts. Maids running franticly all over the castle putting out fires and saving their own while avoiding the troops trying to get their station desperately.
Mimil and Wilmarina finally get outside near the garden area then hear a voice, "OVER HERE!" They look to the owner of the voice and see Merse waving them over to her and her party of Dullahans knights.
"The hel is going on?! Who is that guy blasting us?! Where did he come from?!" Merse asking questions rapidly at the two which they didn't really want to answer since all this is their fault.
Mimil tries to answer, "H-he c-c-came ff-from/He came through the portal we were about to use." Wilmarina answers for Mimil and Merse looks at them both in disbelief and anger.
"So, it was you TWO WHO BROUGHT HIM HERE?!" Merse barely containing her rage and the Dullahans are speechless.
"A-actually he sssomehow got here by h-himself so we d-didn't/DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE MIMIL!" Merse's yell causes Mimil to 'Eep' and quickly shouts her mouth as she looks at the ground like a child being reprimanded by a parent.
"Merse please, Lady Druella wanted to know what happened to the expedient force we sent nearly three weeks ago. I believe we have our answer to what befalls them now that he is here." Wilmarina explains as she points to Choryrth.
Merse somewhat cools down and says, "Alright fine but what are we going to d/BOOM!" A very nearby explosion interrupts Merse as the greenhouse they are crouching next to, its backside gets hit showering the group with dust, dirt, and flower petals. They all look up to the sky and watch Choryrth dodging all the arrows and magic spells aiming at him while he sends his own back at them with great success.
"Where are the Dragon Knights?" A Dullahan lets out a question with fear building in her heart.
"There they are!" Wilmarina points to a small group of five wing-beings ascending towards Choryrth.
"About damn time they moved their arrogant asses," Merse says in a condescending tone.
All the archers and spellcasters halt their attacks to avoid hitting one of their own as the group confronts the aerial foe. The leading Dragon Knight followed by two more dragons and two wyverns quickly reached Choryrth and shouts her demands, "Stop your attack now or we'll restrain you to the point we will break your bones. We will not kill you but we'll have no problem making you a cripple for life. " The other two dragons and wyverns surround him, waiting to attack him either by order to engage or Choryrth making a hostile move.
"What is your name?" Choryrth asks the lead knight in a monotone voice.
"I'm Tiffany, leader of the Oder of Fire Knights. I ask what your name is since we seem to be introducing each other. " Tiffany says with pride and the other fellow knights' smirk.
"My name is Choryrth, The Dragon Lord and member of the Dark Guard." Choryrth's reply causes some of the knights to raise an eyebrow at his title which makes Tiffany ask, "You're a Dragon Lord? I didn't believe someone like you can be called one. No matter, I'll show you that we dragons can't be lorded upon."
"You have no idea what and who you are facing dragon but all will be clear once I'm done here," Choryrth says coldly and sends a telepathic command to the dragon attacking the slums to start attacking the center zone since he'll be busy with these five mamono. Choryrth spew flames out of his claws toward the flanking dragons causing them to block it then the two wyverns charge him from behind. They stretch out their talons intending on grabbing him but to their shock, he grabs their talons and thrusts straight into the air then whirs them around before launching them into the smoke-blinded dragons. Both of them successfully hit while Tiffany soars towards Choryrth with her great sword out and slashes at him from bottom to top. Choryrth flies to the side, dodging it then brings his right hand out at her but she slaps it away before a stream of fire could reach her. The other four get themselves recomposed and rush to join the fight.
Back on the ground, the two dragons spreading destruction and fires everywhere with the slums not being attended to as the majority of the guards were too busy trying to save the commercial district. Leaving the poor to fend for themselves as they try to save what little they have or rescue one of their neighbors from a fiery death. Wildfires becoming too strong to stop forcing the people to migrate into the commercial district which was becoming a huge hindrance to the city guard. Taverns, potion shops, love inns, and all manner of businesses are being lost to the dragon's relentless assault along with many lives.
In the Central District, the redirected dragon starts targeting the grand churches and barracks even some parts of the castle. Merse, Mimil, Wilmarina, and the group of Dullahans make their way to the walls to drive away the skeletal monster.
Merse starts to shout out orders, "Mimil, go to one of the guard towers and see what you can do to bring that damn dragon! Wilmarina do you know where Amanomiya is at?"
"Unfortunately, no, I don't where she is at." Wilmarina answers, Merse not wanting to hear that then says, "Go find Sasha then, she is most likely in her new church. We need her here and now."
"Alright, I'll go find her!" Wilmarina takes to the sky and flies to the church that Druella gave to Sasha as a reward for helping her in taking this city from the Order. Wilmarina didn't have to fly far since the church is basically right next to the castle and she already sees Sasha ushering people into her church. Wilmarina lands a few yards away in front of the church entrance and Sasha sees her and yells, "Wilmarina wha/RRRROOOAAARRR" A loud roar overcomes Sasha's voice as Wilmarina turns around and sees the dragon flying over her and unleashes a forceful stream of flames into the church which then explodes resulting the church being obliterated. Wilmarina gets thrown onto her back harshly by the force as she slowly lifts her head, ringing in her ears as she tries to focus on what's happening in front of her. She wobbly gets up and tries to see where Sasha is at, barely hearing the screams of those who are on fire or loved ones calling out for those who just died. She then notices a body similar to Sasha so she slowly walks over to the body and already she sees a small puddle of blood growing around the body. Wilmarina sees the body had been pierced by multiple wood shrapnel all over, she kneels down and gently turns the victim's head and! Wilmarina's heart starts pounding hard, tears threatening to flow down, her hands tremble and her breathing staggers until her screams join all the others for the loss of a loved one.
Outside the city, Primera and a few packs of werewolves are investigating a rumor of a possible Order surprise attack in the forest but in reality, it was a lost caravan that somehow followed the wrong path. Primera and most of the werewolves headed back to the city but left a few of their sisters to "help" the lost group before guiding them to Lescatie. Primera and the packs chatted amount themselves as they calmly walked back until they all hear a distant roar.
One of the werewolves asks, "Did you all hear that too?" Many of them nodded or said yes while Primera started to smell a trace of smoke.
"Everyone get to the city NOW!" Primera orders as she runs on all fours her gut feeling beginning to fill with dread. The rest of them quickly joined her then the smell of smoke growing more and more stronger as they get closer.
"HEY, look up there, there's a brawl in the sky!" Someone shouts out which makes the rest stop and look up too. They all see a group of dragon knights getting their scaly asses handed to them by the mysterious flying person. Many wonder who is this person and why are he/she is dressed like a dragon' but their thoughts are interrupted by a far louder roar.
"To Lescatie NOW!" Primera's yell reminded them to get moving. They resume the rush back home and as they leave the tree line, they see the main entrance has been reduced to a smoldering rubble with many charred corpses littering the grounds. They entered the city and the damages they saw rather than imagined is far worse as whole blocks of houses burning up in entirety with more charred corpses everywhere.
"By the Fallen God, how did this happen?" A very young werewolf was on the verge of tears as this was her first time seeing a dead body or in this case bodies.
"I don't why but I can guess who did this." Primera points at Choryrth then suddenly someone shouts, "Isn't that a dragon over there?" They all look at an older werewolf then followed her point to the skeletal dragon attacking the guards on the walls.
"Impossible!" Primera is speechless at the sight of the flying monster as it reduces a guard tower to rubble with some of the guards still inside then it resumes attacking the district.
"How are we suppose to fight something like that?" A werewolf asks aloud which no one answers back.
Primera snaps out of her fear and speaks up, "I-I don't think we can but we can do something for the survivors. Find anyone who is trapped or lost and take them to the shelters. I'm going to find Wilmarina at the castle, hopefully, she's there." The packs split up to find people in need and Primera heads straight to the castle as fast as she can.
Merse and Mimil directed the archers and spellcasters at the dragon that started attacking the churches and other highly important buildings.
"Mimil what do you think is effective against that flying monstrosity?" Merse asks Mimil.
"Lighting and wind spells seem to have no effect even the demon sliver arrows are just bouncing off it. The only thing that seems to somewhat work are firebolts, don't know if it's weak against fire or the force of impact, maybe both?" Mimil listed off her observations while avoiding the debris flying all other the place.
Merse looks out for the dragon and sees it heading right towards them and was about to have everyone run for cover but she sees a black simmering blip rocketing towards the dragon. The thing hits the dragon's joint connecting the left wing to the back which makes the wing to seize up and bring the dragon crashing down. The dragon hits the ground head first then rolls onto its back and skids into three small buildings. Everyone watches in amazement even the brawl in the sky stopped as they had to see what just happened.
Choryrth was starting to be concerned if somehow they manage to take down one of his prized creations. He sends out a telepathic signal to the down dragon and gets a grumble signal back, 'Hmmm, one of the crystals must be dislodged from that sudden landing.'
"Well looks like my friends took down one of your dragons, so much for being a 'Dragon Lord' huh?" A Wyvern says in a mocking tone.
Choryrth simply looks towards her and does nothing else other than sent a telepathic message to the other dragon. The dragon which successfully destroyed the majority of the commercial district heads towards the down dragon.
Tiffany readies her blade and shouts, "Stand down Choryrth and face the judgment of Lady Druella for your terrible crimes and your dragons too."
"Assuming she is still alive." Choryrth words caught them off guard as if he was simply stating facts.
Tiffany says, "Of course, she is alive for she is/Sieging Highland City right now with her forces along with a Succubus named Scarlet and her forces too." Choryrth finished Tiffany's sentence that made all of the mamono faces' in shock.
"Yes, we're aware of her plans and we have already set up a trap for her and her army but we'll see if she escapes with her life." Choryrth continues to talk while down at the disabled dragon, many heavily armed guards approaching it slowly ready to run if it raises back up. They get closer and get a much better look at the dragon, small indent lines all over the skull with a circle symbol in the center, teeth colored like iron, no organs or eyes and lastly very small pink crystals dotted all over the entire skeleton. A single Dullahan knight was one step away before she can touch the snout of the dragon but a loud roar stops her.
"GET OUT OF THERE!" Merse yells at them as some of them have spotted the flying dragon diving at them. They ran back as fast as they can with some of them purposely dropping their weapons to run even faster. The incoming dragon spews a line of fire between the entrenched mamono and the downed dragon however some of the guards running back including the one Dullahan who almost touch the other dragon were enveloped by the fire. Screams and pleas for help lasted less than a minute before they became silent. The other dragon walks to the other and seemly exhales a blackish-green mist at its head then a few seconds later the disabled dragon rises.
"That's not fair, that's not fair." A lizardman fearfully chants as the rest of the guards including Mimil and Merse who didn't want to believe their eyes. The now operational dragon flexes its wings but the left one barely moves. The other dragon moves closer to the unmovable wing then notices a long sword embedded in the ball joint, it exhales the same-colored mist at the sword and the sword slowly comes out. Once the sword pulls completely out and falls to the ground, the two dragons lift off.
"Tch!" Tiffany was very displeased seeing that one dragon is back up and flying but her focus is back on Choryrth as he seems to be preparing to attack. The rest of her group gets ready as well to bring this fight to its conclusion. In reality….
'We're done here.' Choryrth opens up two large portals behind him and the two dragons enter.
"Oh no you don't, get back here!" Tiffany yells as Choryrth enters one of the portals but Choryrth had a parting gift in his claws which he turns to face them and fires off one last bolt of energy. The bolt flies past them barely while Choryrth disappears in the portal then the portals themselves vanish as for that energy bolt. It hits the tallest tower of the castle in the mid-point and the explosion cuts all the way through. The top half of the tower falls towards the main part of the castle.
Inside the castle, Queen Francisca fainted a few minutes ago due to exhaustion and the sheer amount of pain she had to endure but her husband is currently cradling her. A loud noise from above catches his attention and sees a chunk of the ceiling coming down directly at them. By quick instinct and reflex, he throws Francisca out of the way just in time as the ceiling crashes down on just him. All the maids in and near the throne room come running to Francisca in a panic state with those who watched the whole thing runs toward Francisca's husband. They come up to the pile and see his hand sticking out of the rabble and blood slowly emerging into everyone's view. A few start digging and removing the pile in hopes that he is still alive but when they remove the last piece, their hopes are shattered and tears slowly run down their faces.
Outside of the city, on a clear hilltop, a trio of mamono suddenly appeared out of nowhere as they tend to one who is very badly hurt. For they escaped a battle they couldn't win even their best was easily defeated and nearly executed before being rescued. And now they see what has become one of their most invaluable cities reduce to ruins as screams and raging fires fill the silence but they couldn't hear them as shock and disbelief overwhelm them.
Lescatie burns and a dark age has begun for the mamono races.