Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Round Two

Several light dragons attacked the group just as Azureath was being attacked by a pillar of light. Richie was forced to split up when a dragon was pursuing him. He managed to retaliate using a surprise attack that the light dragon pursuing him did not expect. Richie, using the knowledge gained from his intensive training, created a ball of condensed air on his palms that was swirling around and creating a loud wind sound. He turned around just as the dragon lunged on him, with the ball of condensed air hitting the dragon square in the chest. The force unleashed by the energy ball caused the dragon to be blown away despite of being twice Richie’s size. Not only that, but Richie could also see that the dragon was in pain, something he never thought would be possible for a light dragon.

But Richie did not linger. He knew the light dragon would recover soon, so he took this chance to ran further into the city. The city looked very dilapidated and in ruins while also taking forms that Richie could only associate with eldritch horror. The walls looked like they were swirling with living tentacles, with one in particular grossing him out due to it being made out of human, or possibly other races’, flesh. The mutants completed the horror.

He tried not to think about whether the pulsating, living flesh was his imagination or not. His first priority would be to regroup with the others. But then, as he started running towards where he came from, an unexpected attack hit him and threw him towards one of the buildings. The force of the impact caused the building he crashed into to fall over him.

The worst Richie got was a headache. Clearly, his dragonborn body could withstand such a beating. If he was human, he would need superpowers to survive that. Even so, the attack left him momentarily dazed.

He only recovered when he heard his assailant’s voice.

“Not to shabby, Richie Long,” said Ashaire. “Wouldn’t be fun if that kills you.”

“Ashaire….” Richie still held a grudge from the light dragon’s role in the destruction of his home Earth, and the fact that he gave him quite a beating that destroyed most of Dracokin. For Richie, meeting Ashaire again felt personal.

“The one and only,” said Ashaire smugly. Richie climbed out of the rubbles to find the white-scaled, blue-eyes light dragon, still in his dragonborn form, looking and smiling at him. His smug aura infuriated Ashaire even more.

“Man, I don’t know what to hate from you. Your ego or everything else,” said Richie.

“Hatred’s one thing, but how about you prove to me that you can justify it?” asked Ashaire. “That is, unless, you have been slacking off.”

“No thanks to you,” said Richie. “But at least tell me something. Why spare me? You showed me that you are still alive with a big hole in your chest, and I was so close to death. Why didn’t you finish the job? So, that you can torment me?”

“Torment? Nah, not my style. I am not that sadistic.”

“So, what’s your reason?”

“Who knows. Why don’t you fight for it? Got into a lot of trouble to be stationed in this mess of a city just to see how much you’ve grown. Seriously, are they doing this out of spite?”

“One of you did mess up your plans.”

“Personally, I don’t care. It’s not like we can perish. Ah, what do I know, anyway? Always have been the troublemaker, so I’m always out of their grand plan. You know what, let’s not think about that and have a little fun. How about that?”

“I am not entertained.”

“Try to be, or else this will be one short fight.”

Richie was not given any warnings when Ashaire dashed towards him, light sword forming on his right hand. The dragonborn’s reflexes were good enough for him to instantly conjure a sword construct to block the light sword. Ashaire smiled just as Richie noticed light beams forming behind the light dragonborn. He quickly retaliated with a forceful wind that not only push Ashaire away violently, but also interrupted his light beam.

Richie did not stop there. He had learned how to control his wind magic in a relatively short time, and he would use it the way he knew it. Controlling the air around his draconic paws enabled him to walk on the air like a wuxia warrior, though none of the grace and finesse. Rather, he used it to gain height advantage so he could strike Ashaire from above.

But he did not account on Ashaire’s own mastery of controlling the light beams, though Richie’s reflexes saved him from sustaining severe injuries. Richie could tell that Ashaire was going to attack from his blind spot, so he use a short air burst on the tip of his paw to push him aside just as several light beams went through the place he was in a second ago.

Ashaire was pleasantly surprised by this, especially when Richie managed to retaliate with a long-ranged wind attack that sliced through several rocks. Ashaire dodged them all and tried to return the favor, but before he could, Richie got to him, forcing him to defend himself.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about, Richie Long!” said Ashaire with excitement in his voice. “Let’s start our second round!”

Richie was unfazed by Ashaire’s rather excited response to their fight, especially since he knew the light dragonborn was both unpredictable and better in a fight. The Eastern dragonborn needed to be smart; clearly, exchanging magic attacks and clashing their swords would only end with him losing.

There were other ways to gain an upper hand with his elements, and he started doing that during the fight. Qeveriyt as a battleground was foreign and horrific, but Richie knew he could use them to his advantage, provided he knew what he was doing.

Knowing that he needed to distract Ashaire somehow, he returned to using his raw and unrefined combat skills which utilized the environment. Just like what he did in their first fight, Richie found an opening and grabbed Ashaire’s head and slammed it on his knee. It clearly stunned Ashaire, which gave Richie an opportunity for a follow up. Richie quickly grabbed the dragonborn’s head and brutally slamming it towards a nearby wall before electrocuting him with his thunder.

He knew it wasn’t enough to defeat Ashaire, but it was enough to distract him. Richie used this moment to get away and hide while Ashaire rubbed his snout. The light dragonborn felt the pain and the ringing in his head, but it wasn’t going to affect him that much unless Richie pulled the same deadly attack again, which would be a trouble due to having a light dragon property to it, courtesy of Zenithia. He soon realized that Richie was gone and was slightly disappointed when he thought his rival bailed on him. It was smart, but it was no fun.

Ashaire soon realized that Richie changed his attack plan when Ashaire looked around, searching for the dragonborn from the air. In a surprise attack from one of the buildings, Richie grabbed his opponent’s leg and pulled him through a rotten board that broke as he pulled Ashaire into the room. Without hesitating, Richie smacked Ashaire’s head with a pole hard enough that he knew it would instantly kill a regular human. Instead, Ashaire was only mildly stunned and found Richie standing on top of him. This time, Ashaire returned the favor by eschewing the use of his light beams and engaged Richie in close combat. Richie was caught by the light dragonborn’s retaliation when his legs tripped Richie before promptly putting him on a submission hold.

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Richie could feel his joints strained by Ashaire slowly pulling his locked arm. He never thought he would be put in a submission hold, or even expecting the light dragonborn to actually know grappling techniques.

The red dragonborn could not just tap out. He wasn’t in a combat sport. It was the matter of life and death for him. Knowing this, he must do whatever it took to break free, and he did just that. Concentrating, he flowed his mana to his trapped palm, creating a concentrated air that blasted Ashaire off with intense air pressure, freeing Richie. Before he could run away, however, Ashaire grabbed his tail and flung him across the room, injuring Richie as his back hit the brick wall.

“Not bad,” said Ashaire. “You already got a grasp on your wind. And here I thought you use it just to blow another hole in my chest.”

“I can still do that,” said Richie as he stood up. “And this time, it will kill you.”

“Didn’t Zenithia tell you that light dragons cannot be ‘killed’ by normal means? I think the right term will be to put me out of commission.”

“I still kill your current persona. The next time we meet, you won’t even remember me nor call yourself ‘Ashaire’.”

“I don’t think of it that way, but whatever you fancy, I guess. Well, that being said, I won’t make it easy for you this time, so surprise me.”

“You’re starting to creep me out, man,” said Richie while shaking his head. “Is it because you know I’m just a pushover?”

“If you are, I won’t even bother showing your Earth’s fate. Hell, we won’t even have this conversation, because if you are a pushover, you’re already dead. You survived your reality’s purge, and you gave yourself high potential to survive. And you think you’re a pushover? You’re too humble, Richie Long.”

“What? You’re giving me words of encouragement now? I thought we’re enemies.”

“You’re right. We’re enemies. That doesn’t mean I don’t care. In fact, I got into a lot of trouble because I spared you and your city.”

“Trouble?”

“Ah, I talk too much. Let’s just fight before those party poopers spoil everything.”

Richie became suspicious about Ashaire’s statement, but was unable to ponder about it when Ashaire resumed the fight with a barrage of light beams aimed towards Richie. This time, Ashaire was not holding back. The beams were faster and despite of Richie dodging them, some still struck his side, causing him immense pain. The wounds were immediately cauterized, leaving big chunk of flesh burned off by the light.

Ashaire did not relent. He immediately grabbed the distracted Richie’s neck, intending to snap it. Richie quickly flowed electricity through his hands, which repulsed Ashaire’s grab violently. Ashaire also winced due to the pain, also noticing that his arm was smoking and burned by the intense electricity.

Richie used this moment to twist his body, tail-whipping Ashaire. Once again, the red dragonborn showed his better understanding of his magic. The tail whip was imbued with electricity, along with enough strength to throw Ashaire towards a building and causing it to topple over him. He did not stop there, however. Now, that Ashaire was incapacitated, Richie formed a wind blade and enhance its sharpness. Due to his training, the wind blade he conjured could cut through rocks as if they were butter. His mastery of wind element was considered prodigal, though Richie knew it was tied to the light dragons and their Altered Reality.

Without hesitating, Richie found Ashaire’s head and thrusted the wind blade. Ashaire reacted and dodged Richie’s blade by mere inches, though the blade cut his draconic cheek. Ashaire was still trapped under the building, so Richie quickly tried attacking again. This time, Ashaire freed one of his hands and it caught the blade. While it went through his hand, the wind dispersed before it reached Ashaire’s eyes, surprising Richie. Ashaire, smiling, retaliated by forming a light blade from the hole of his hand, extending it long enough to reach Richie’s shoulder. Richie grunted in pain and tried to grab the light blade, but it was so hot that it penetrated his scales.

“You’re pretty good for someone who barely fought before,” said Ashaire.

“I won’t even be here if I don’t train myself to kill you,” said Richie as he struggled to get the light blade off his shoulder.

“Well, you’re both in luck and out of luck. In luck, because you’re good enough to best me, plus a little help. You’re out of luck, because I am not your typical light dragon.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“How did your wind blade disperse despite of your good control of wind magic? Let me give you a hint.”

Richie felt something strange on his shoulder, then a sharp pain all over his body, followed by his vision slowly turning white. He became aware that he was attacked by Ashaire, but he wasn’t sure how.

“Got the answer already? If not, let me tell you. Each light dragons have their own light. While they cannot be easily injured by many things, a powerful light source is harmful to them, thus the reason why only light dragons can injure another light dragon. Theoritically, that planet destroying laser you call a 'Death Star' is capable of causing harm, but the injury would be superficial, if it ever existed. Every light dragon has unique frequencies, many of which are beyond what you can easily perceive. That is both their greatest defense and their greatest weakness, provided you know what frequency they have. Now, you have Zenithia’s light. Do you want to tell me what that means?”

Richie, despite his pain, realized what Ashaire meant and said, “Oh…no. You…”

“Bingo,” said Ashaire with a deep, menacing tone in his voice. “All I need to do is to match my frequency with hers, and thus her light is canceled. Not only that, by matching her frequency with mine, I have control over her light, which is now slowly eating through your body and getting real close to your brain. By this point, I bet your vision is clouded, and you feel immense pain. You know how fast light travels, right? You don’t even know you’re already dead.”

Richie could not believe it. Of all the enemies he faced, he had one that was too powerful and too resourceful for him. Despite his hatred, and his desire for revenge, he couldn’t defeat Ashaire.

What a legendary dragonborn he was.

“Of course, that is one little secret that I freely tell you for a very good reason. I’m placing my bet on you, Richie Long. I never thought it’d pay off.”

All of the sudden, the pain was gone, and Richie gasped for air, forgetting to breathe due to the pain and his eyes clouded by Ashaire’s light. The blade impaling his shoulder was also gone, so Richie slumped to the side as Ashaire climbed out of the rubble and helped the dragonborn up.

“Didn’t see the twist coming, did ya?” said Ashaire. “I’d love to talk, but playtime’s really over. The real battle starts here.”

Richie, still dazed, noticed several pillars of light appeared in front of the two. He despaired when he saw a dozen or so light dragons appearing out of nowhere, just as Ashaire stood and faced them all, still in dragonborn form.

“Your little rebellion ends here, Ashaire,” said one of the light dragons. “You may think you’re out of suspicions when you reported Seraphor’s whereabouts, but we always know your heart does not belong with the Thread.”

“Your fault for letting me stay among the humans for hundreds of years. You think I wouldn’t start to grow attached with them? Not sure if that’s the wise thing to do, especially since you got three troublemakers, all hell bent on stopping you from eating this reality up.”

“Just what’s your fascination with this reality, anyway?”

“Much like how you’re interested in eating it, except I prefer to see why Seraphor chose to sacrifice his freedom just to save this reality. That, and I just don’t like greedy dragons.”

“Do you really think you can best all of us? The best you can do is give up.”

Ashaire scoffed before assuming a battle stance. “I like it when the odds are against me. Makes quite a story if I end up defeating all of you in this form.”

“Enough with your arrogance!” roared another light dragon. “You will not win! We will ensure it!”

“Then try, assholes.”

Richie, who by then was only listening on the conversation, deliberated whether he should get out of the way and escape or chose the insane option and help Ashaire. After a short deliberation, he decided to stand his ground, intending to know why Ashaire decided to ally himself with Richie, knowing full well that Richie and had a grudge.

Even so, Richie could also appreciate the ‘against all odds’ situation he was in. If he survived it, there was nothing short of praise from those involved. He just needed to make sure that Ashaire was the only one who knew that ‘light frequency’ trick he used, or else Richie would just be dead weight.

“You know what?” said Richie. “You’re one crazy fucker.”

“And you love it.”

“No, I’m not. And don’t put that out of context.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now then. Ready?”

“Would be lying if I say ‘yes’.”

“I’ll take that anyway.”

Richie groaned while Ashaire smugly smiled. The white-scaled dragonborn really got on his nerves for his smugness and arrogance. Richie couldn’t help but smile.

The two, facing dangerous enemies with an uncertain end, steeled themselves as the light dragons readied their light beam attack.

“Let’s get this party started!” declared Ashaire. "Come get some!"