I don't own anything. All characters and all rights belong to Ichiei Ishibumi*
M for mature topics. No children allowed. *
The Broken Boosted Gear
By Try Another Time
Thunder against thunder, the sky above Shangri-La was crowded with battles, but few could compare to two deities who share an element clashing against each other.
The red-headed Thor examined his adversary Raijin, his gaze filled with a mix of curiosity and disdain. "Many of us were bestowed with the power to command thunder, but few possess the unique blend of your appearance and combat style. I would say it's an honor to meet you, Raijin, but this encounter is far from pleasant. Your people have transgressed a boundary that should have remained inviolable."
A wrathful, red-skinned deity lowered his head in a gesture of deference. "I apologize for the path I've chosen, and I'm prepared to face its repercussions." His visage was far from appealing, resembling more a grotesque demon immortalized in human art. A pair of horns adorned his face, crackling with continuous sparks, and a set of interconnected drums revolved on his back.
A pair of clouds covered his feet, while wooden drumsticks seemed to be his only weapon in his hands.
Thor shakes his head. "Your apology means none, for you and your brethren came to terrorize a land that never sought to damage your realm. What sort of reason can one have to choose violence after all we saw so carelessly? Have you forgotten what war is? What does it mean? Its consequences?"
Raijin's eyes observed the denizens of Shangri-La with shame and regret. "If only time could be turned back, I would have done anything to change the fate that befell my brethren. I would have heard the advice of others, yet I didn't, and now only fighting can bring me peace and atonement." Raijin raises his sticks before hitting two drums.
A series of lightning strikes appeared from nowhere before trying to impact the land below. Thor saw this and lifted his hammer to disrupt the path of the attacks by attracting it before consuming it as if it were another meal.
"You dare to try to attack my home?" Thor questions Raijin with a face full of disgust.
Raijin smirks. "An Asgardian calling the Underworld home is surprising, but I would admit that I intend to destroy your 'home' if you can't give me what I seek. Kill me or kill you; fight me with everything you got, Thor. Offer this fellow god of yours a battle worthy of legend, for it is my wish to die fighting."
"Madness." Thor is disgusted by such words. "You came to meet your demise at my hands? What sort of suicidal wish is that? Have you lost your way? Your attachment to life? What sort of thing can lead to such an existence devoid of hope and dreams?"
Raijin chuckles. "Are you trying to say that you have forgotten that event? Have you forgotten those we lost? You might have moved on, but I lost everything I care for, and so did my brethren. I have nothing to lose, and so will you unless you take this seriously." The Shinto god raises his drumsticks once more before he starts to play his tune.
*The only thing I know for real (Instrumental)- Metal Gear Revengeance OST*
With each hit, massive lighting strikes descend upon Thor, shaped like blades that surprisingly make him bleed.
"I was cut? Lighting cut me?" The Asgardian doesn't wait for another one to hit him to know that this fight won't be so easy.
As he flies to evade the electric blades, he looks for an opening to strike Raijin with his hammer. Once, he sees one dashing forward with tremendous speed, ready to smite his opponent down, but at the last moment, Raijin dissipates into clouds.
"One who lacks the will to kill can never smite me, Thor. Your eyes show me that your intention is not to kill but defeat, which is not what I seek." Raijin explains as he appears behind Thor before delivering a swift kick across his face. "I seek a destroyer, and you don't fit the bill."
Thor is sent flying several meters away before he recovers. "The Thor that you seek died long ago. I'm never going to be a mindless killer ever again. I'm done being the Slayer of Giants."
"Then you-" Raijin doesn't get to finish as the back of his head is hit by a heavy object. His body is sent packing into the ground surrounding the outside of Shangri-La.
"Sorry, but I prefer if my father remains this way and not be a killer without a heart as he was known," a woman riding on top of a large goat says as she lifts her own hammer. "Sorry, Dad. I was just ensuring the others were okay with fighting without me."
"Thrud, good hit." Thor then caresses the area where he was hit. There was a lot of blood as if claws had hit him. "He won't hold back."
Thrud shrugs her shoulders. "As long as we face him together, we can achieve victory. Your orders?"
"Defeat… I don't think we should kill Raijin or any of these Shinto forces…. Their actions come from a place of grief and guilt. I… can see some of me in him. The guilt he likely feels now was part of me once, and it took time to get over it. I hope we can reach him." Thor says as his eyes are drawn towards Raijin.
Thrud does the same. "I'm following your lead, Dad. If you think it can be done, I'm willing to give it a try. I just hope the others have an easier time than us."
As soon as those words escaped her mouth, the sound of several explosions, followed by the appearance of a large flaming fox, told her everything she needed to know.
"We can only hope," Thor said as he remained focused on his target.
An electric halo appeared behind father and daughter before they went after their opponent. The clash between thunders from different pantheons was just getting started.
Back with Ddraig.
Ddraig felt threatened as he was pushed against the ropes once more. His body was slowly being eaten from within; his powers had been weakened to pathetic levels, and now he was injured as two spears remained buried deep within his chest. Each one seemed to be coated with a particular disgusting anti-dragon poison as it seeped into his bloodstream, but Ascalon was already acting to protect him.
Ddraig felt how his blood was being sucked away by the many tendrils which stretched around his body while being purified within the actual blade, which started to eject any unwanted substance from the edge of the blade. The sensation was far from pleasing, but he was used to having the accursed sword around his insides like a parasite that sought to feast on a small amount of his blood in terms of dragons while keeping him safe.
And now that same parasite would show how effective it was as those same tendrils attached themselves to many of his nerve terminals before forcing his muscles and limbs to obey and do what they were supposed to do.
Like a puppeteer, Ascalon started to help his owner.
His trident tail stretched before cutting the spears in half with a quick swing. The hunters click their tongues in annoyance as they back away before discarding their broken weapons for new ones that they had hidden along the path.
Ddraig wasted no time using this slight boost to push back against the centaur and even deviate the ax with his raw strength.
The centaur seemed surprised, reacting quickly and getting away before Ascalon could split his chest in half. "Not even such an effective weapon can quickly bring you down, but time is on our side. I can see that you are already feeling its effects. Tell me, how does it feel to be consumed by Samael's Breath? Does it hurt? Do you wish to stop it? I can easily remove that head of yours and offer you a quick death, although your soul will also perish. This marks your end."
Several arrows and projectiles are shot towards the Welsh Dragon as the leader points his ax at him. Ddraig tries his best to evade most, but his movements remain rough, and some land on some parts of his body.
Ddraig coughs even more blood as Samael's Breath keeps devouring him from within. Yet this insane amount of pain can't shake his will to continue as he lifts his head while glaring at the hunters. "I will never understand your ancestors and clan of hunters. Your people sought us first as they kept coming to hunt us down. It wasn't us who started this; I might have stolen books and knowledge from many realms, precious treasures even, but I never burned a village to the ground, nor did I feast on the corpses of any 'victims.' I lived a far from pure life, but you hunters keep killing even dragons that haven't killed anyone."
The hunters' leader shakes his head while a smile creeps its way beneath the protective suit. "Creatures that defy the gods, ageless beings who can destroy any who oppose them, your race shouldn't have been born as you defy any laws of creation. That which can't be controlled has no place in Yggdrasil!"
Many years ago. In an unknown location.
Dragon Hunters have always been nomads isolated from any society and forsaken by any deity. These outcasts left their homelands and races while joining forces with those who understood their ideals and goals.
"Death to all dragons."
That was the main idea that united them, as they saw the very existence of dragons as an act that defied any other creation.
Ageless, powerful beyond usual standards, unruly heretics that bowed to no deity, they couldn't just overlook them, especially when many of them had lost some family members to failed hunts.
"Your brother died. He and his team haven't returned. I told him that it was a suicidal delusion. The Welsh Dragon can't be defeated."
"That foolish father of yours got himself and his team killed. Who is foolish enough to go to Earth to hunt Tiamat and expect to return in one piece?"
"Your mother was insane. Nobody who claimed that they would slay Albion had ever survived. Only fools hunt dragons; no amount of praise and wealth can be worth it."
Like those, many others share similar experiences as years went by and more fools across the realms went on to lose their lives while seeking to achieve the impossible.
To slay one of the first-gen dragons born within Gaia's garden.
Those same hunts led many of those who remained behind to seek vengeance, to put their entire being into achieving the goal that no other had achieved while also seeking to eliminate any dragon regardless of where they came from or who created them.
Hate so deep that their very descendants would be taught to carry it with them no matter how many years went by or if the very gods told them to stop.
Within this environment, the latest generation of hunters was raised under the same unwavering ideologies.
"Put your back into it, Ago. You can't lead your generation if you can't even defeat me." A female centaur said as she wielded a double-headed ax. Her eyes seemed devoid of mercy and only driven by a deep feeling of hatred.
Her opponent, a much younger centaur with deep blue eyes, caramel-colored eyes and deep black locks of hair, stood up. His body was filled with many scars his training had caused. "... I'm ready." He was hungry, bloodied, and injured, yet he couldn't just walk off.
Not when his "team" was watching him from the sidelines with visible fear, as they would soon get their own turn against the same sparring partner. Everyone always faced her in combat, but regardless of how many years it went by, the training remained as scary as it was the first time.
"Once more from the top." The older centaur said as she rushed forward. Her movements were fast, and with each swing of her weapon, one could tell she wasn't holding back as her attacks pushed 'Ago' to the edge. She was teaching him how to fight against a dragon, and she would make sure he understood the lesson just as she did, and so did her ancestors before her.
What followed was far from pretty as Ago was pummeled to the ground time after time with inhuman levels of violence that no normal child would be able to endure.
"One must fight until the very end, Ago. The dragons aren't going to give you time for you to take a breath or cure yourself. You must fight until the dragon is dead. You can only rest when the kill is confirmed. This is the way of our people. Get up, Ago; I won't allow my child to be a useless pile of meat. Get up on this instant and fight." The older centaur said as she kept stomping on the unconscious body of her son.
The pain and screams forced the young and pitiful Ago to awake once more as his mother wouldn't offer him any mercy. The child was forced to grab his ax and push himself away from his elder as he had to face her once more.
His "team" turned to him with fear in their eyes as they couldn't make sense of how he was still alive after such a brutal assault.
"Good. Let us start once more from the top. Dragons won't let you escape, so don't you dare hope for mercy, Ago. Until all dragons are dead, our clan can't stop training and hunting. Dead to all dragons." Ago's mother said before she went on the offensive once more.
"Dead…. to …. All…. dragons." His mind could only repeat the same sentence as he faced his mother again.
This gruesome regime continued for several years until it came to an end as Ago and his generation were left alone after a particular event in which all the other adults perished.
They were never offered the ability to seek different futures. They were only taught how to kill dragons and hate them and their descendants as much as their ancestors. A cycle of hatred in which they were raised as pawns of a system might never find an end.
Back with Ddraig and Ago's team.
The Welsh Dragon continued to engage the hunters. Arrows, spears, and other smaller projectiles were fired in his direction from all angles and sides while Ago and three others engaged him in closer quarters. One blocked his swings with a large shield, likely made from the bones of many lesser dragons, while Ago and the other two used any chance to inflict as much damage as possible.
The ones in the bag continued to shoot, creating openings for those in the vanguard while cutting Ddraig's choices close to zero. His body leans against the wall with a tired expression on his face.
The Welsh Dragon couldn't help but feel the same dread he did when the last hunters came for him and his host. The groups were largely different in size, as they were triple the hunters back then, but now they had such disgusting weapons on their side, plus their own tools, which were far from effective.
Each cut felt agonizing; each shot made him bleed even more; the anti-dragon coating that they used on their weapons wasn't helping him either, as his senses felt duller with each second.
"Damn it…. This has to be the worst matchup ever. If only I could use crimson flames, I—" Ddraig had to stop himself from thinking about using the flames. He knew the risk involved in using a power that could go rampant. It would eliminate the hunters, Susanoo, and the entire realm, including those inside.
"Old man!" He could almost hear his daughter's voice in the distance as he exchanged attacks with the hunters. He feared what would happen if these same hunters were to go after Shangri La and his family; such a possibility shook him to the core. The fear of losing them was beyond unbearable, and all the pain he was currently enduring was something he didn't want them to face.
"Damn it all to hell!" Ddraig raised his sword again as he saw no other way but to fight and eliminate the threat before him. "Ascalon! Rip through them!" The teeth started to rotate, confusing the hunters, who had no knowledge of Ascalon. Ddraig gritted his teeth as he felt the sword drinking more of his blood to power itself up. He lunged forward like a wild beast before descending upon the hunter who held the shield. "Why can't your people stop hunting us down?"
The hunters in the back shoot their projectiles against Ddraig, but the dragon takes the impacts head-on without concern for his well-being.
Ascalon descends upon the large shield. The hunter expected the shield to work, but his expectations were cut short as Ascalon cut straight through it. A tail lunges forward through the broken shield before it grabs the hunter by the leg and slams his body against the hard stone of the steps.
One could hear how each impact quickly broke his bones and limbs as Ddraig growled like a mad beast.
"How many more centuries do we have to endure your damn crusade? How many more of our kin must you slay to satisfy your stupid ideals?" The Welsh Dragon asks.
The hunters are taken a bit by surprise as they see the brutality with which Ddraig has attacked one team member.
"Attack!" Ago screams as he tries to engage Ddraig once more, but the dragon stops him by throwing the unconscious body of his ally at him. As he catches his ally, he can feel his heartbeat and sense his breathing, which makes him raise an eyebrow. However, his concern has to wait as Ddraig isn't done.
The Welsh Dragon engages the two spear-wielders who try to pin him from the front and back, but their intentions are as clear as water to him. The dragon points his mouth to the ground before releasing a stream of normal flames, which spread across the ground.
The flames are flashy, and they blind all hunters for a moment.
"Why does your clan continue to chase after something that would end in your demise? Would you only understand if I go on a crusade to eliminate every single child before they can wield a spear or sword?"
A hunter screams as Ddraig breaks both of her arms. The hunter falls to the ground while screaming in pain, yet her suit remains intact.
The other hunters feel a sense of undeniable fear as Ddraig's eyes turn to them while he stands on top of their injured ally.
"Sis-" The second spear wielder doesn't get to finish their sentence as Ddraig rushes for them and grabs hold of their neck.
"You keep repeating the same mistakes as you endanger your brethren by choosing to seek us out. You know damn well that we remain isolated and in peace. Yes, I'm far from a saint, but you keep hunting other of my kin as if they were the plague. Why can you change? Why must you continue to test my limits?" Ddraig asks before he slams the hunter's head into the ground.
The impact is brutal, yet one can see the restraint behind the attack as the hunter seems to be breathing after its body falls motionless into the ground. The injuries were brutal, but each one seemed to be precise enough not to kill their target.
The remaining hunters start to show fear as their previous advantage seems nowhere to be found.
"Why must your kin seek war instead of peace? Why must you push me into being something I wish not to be without a necessary reason? Does it bring you joy as I'm forced to kill all of you? Why can't you change?" Ddraig asks the hunters as he takes a few steps forward. His eyes are filled with anger, and his body is covered in arrows, broken blades, and spears. He remains poisoned, yet he seems to have the high ground, as each step makes the hunters afraid of taking a step forward.
Here he was, the dragon who buried their elders under a mountain, the same one who took so many of their ancestors down. Even when he was pushed against the wall, he remained a dangerous prey to hunt down.
"... Monster… You and your kin are—" Ago didn't get to finish as he received a devastating punch that knocked him down, followed by a series of precise attacks on the rest of his body.
The hunter loses consciousness for a mere 20 seconds before he recovers, but it is already over by then. As he moves his head, the rest of his body remains motionless as if Ddraig had damaged something important.
His eyes saw the rest of his team in no better shape. Most were unconscious, while a few were in too much pain to move an inch. Yet, the one thing that grabbed his attention was the one behind him, who was kneeling while grabbing his chest as if he couldn't breathe.
"You should have died. You killed my ancestors, my mother. I blame you for everything!" Ago screams as he tries to force his body to move.
"... I have no time for this," Ddraig says as he stands up, only to receive another series of arrows to his chest. The dragon coughs even more blood after a few seconds yet he remains on his two legs.
"We're not the only ones, you fool. We're many. You might have taken our parents, our elders, and our veterans, but we remain strong." Ago claims as dozens of other hunters appear to try to finish the job. "This will be your end."
Ddraig shakes his head as he can't understand why they continue to test his patience, yet he remains fearless as he raises Ascalon at the new batch of hunters. "Come at me. I will not die by your hands!"
5 minutes later.
Ago couldn't believe what he had seen. His entire clan had been defeated by one single dying dragon and now he was just walking away. He couldn't muster not even a single comment as his clan humiliation continued.
Yet someone else had the will to speak.
"Mo…nster….. You dare…. To escape us?" A voice called out.
Ago looked around until he saw one of the many hunters that he Ddraig had defeated who was trying his hardest to stand up.
Ddraig looks at the dozens of dragon hunters who are unconscious and broken around him. "... I… won't take no lives today," Ddraig replies as he pulls Ascalon from the ground and continues forward. "He…. awaits me….that Shinto fool."
The dragon hunter coughs blood within his suit as he tries to get up. "Your…. kin are a mistake in creation. You offer nothing. You only know destruction. You killed our ancestors, and now you dare to run away? You think that letting us live is going to change anything?"
The dragon stops for a moment. As he faces the hunter he can only feel pity. "... I'm no saint, but it is up to my fellow dragons to decide their place amongst creation, not yours or anybody else. I know what I did, and I'm sorry, but I can't give you what you want. We made our choices, your ancestors and me. It is up to all of you to let go and seek a new path or drown yourself in the endless cycle of your so-called "Blessed Hunt." I… can't stop here." Ddraig says before he continues to drag his broken body towards the top.
"Stop! Face me. Give my damn fight, you bastard!" The dragon hunter screamed, but Ddraig continued while ignoring his pleas.
No hunters had been killed and to the surprise of every single one of them, not a single suit was damaged.
Ago could only remain in silence as he started to hear the soft crying of many fellow hunters who were humiliated to a new level.
For the first time, they were shown mercy by their prey.
Ddraig's POV.
As he got away from the hunters, Ereshkigal's hands started to offer support as she tried to stop the bleeding and removed some of the projectiles embedded in his body.
"Damn it. They really did a number on you. I…. don't have the tools to heal all this damage. Ddraig, maybe we should turn back." Ereshkigal says as she considers his state.
The Welsh Dragon shakes his head. "Just do what you can. I'll survive this."
The goddess didn't seem so confident about it as her eyes which remained inside the shadow could clearly see how much damage he had received in just a couple of minutes.
"Why didn't you kill them? This gas was their job. Don't you feel angry?" The goddess asks as she pulls a broken spear from his torso before she stops the bleeding with some of the supplies she has.
"... Killing them won't stop this. I killed their parents, their ancestors, I have so much blood in my hands that no amount of blessings can't ever cleanse. I truly want to stop them but killing won't end it; there are likely children who are waiting for their return somewhere out there. If I do, the cycle will continue and it might get worse. They have that gas and if it ever reaches Shangri-La…. I won't forgive myself." Ddraig admits as he pushes on.
"... We'll find the producer. That gas shouldn't exist. I will trap some of the hunters and-" She stops as one of his hands grabs a hold of hers.
"Don't." Ddraig pleads with her. "I need you. I won't last long if you're not on my side."
The goddess felt the weight of such words. The Welsh Dragon, the one she still had a grudge against, was trusting her with his life. Maybe it was destiny who brought them to this point but she knew that no other could do it. "Very well. I'll try to heal you as much as possible. Don't die on me, Ddraig."
The dragon smiles. "That's the goal."
And so he continues as he strives to reach the top and stop this madness before they reach a point of no return.
Drops of rain continued to pour down on the Welsh Dragon as the awaited duel was closely approaching.
Will the rain ever stop?