Beastforged Bond

Dirk shot back into the sky, beating his mighty wings. I joined Merlin on the Brown Dragon’s back, my heart racing as the distance to the even larger Magma Dragon shrank. Lifesight showed me things I wasn’t sure I wanted to see, yet I witnessed it all.

“ADAM!!” Raffael Torch’s voice cut through the air. Anger flared up, and so did the searing hot flames that erupted from the Ruler of Fire and his enormous Soulkin.

“You lying swine! Kneel down before me and surrender the phoenix to me before it’s too late!!” he shouted, his eyes burning as they locked on me.

A spear made of crimson metal appeared in his hand and controlled the flames around him.

“Keep a cool head,” Merlin called out, barely loud enough for me to understand. “And don’t rely on phoenix fire. Hit him when he’s distracted.”

He had said the same before, so I only nodded as I prepared for the impact.

The Magma Dragon let out a guttural roar, muffling Dirk’s deep growl. Then they collided.

Globs of magma splashed onto the Brown Dragon’s thick scales, melting them as the temperature in the sky increased drastically. Dirk’s maw clamped around the Magma Dragon’s neck. He shook his head vigorously, tearing out a chunk of the molten stone covering it. The Magma Dragon let out a pained roar, but so did Dirk as the smell of burned flesh hit my nose.

Aureus used Soulfusion with me a moment before the impact. He lowered the gravitational pull on me while increasing Dirk’s weight before the dragons collided. The additional weight helped Dirk, but I was not too sure if it was enough.

The Earthheart’s dragonfly wings sprouted from my back and spread out wide as I leaped from Dirk’s back. I burst to the side, twisting my body to evade the dragon’s wings threatening to squash me like a fly, increasing the distance to the others a little. Then, before pulling Raffael Torch away from his dragon, I used Paralyze with the purest liquefied ether I’d saved for this very moment.

The Magma Dragon should have frozen in place, paralyzed even if only for a fraction of a second, yet it let out a growl and continued to fight.

Is that still not enough? I cursed, ready to use Paralyze again when Predator picked up on a threat. My front wings twisted, changing my trajectory instantaneously, while my hind wings flapped valiantly, shifting my position ever so slightly. When that wasn’t enough, fire erupted from my palm, forming a blazing hot Aegis shield.

The shield was a mere replica of Volix’s and nowhere near as powerful, but it absorbed the flames coming at me. The Ruler of Fire unleashed torrents of fire at me from a distance, his angry shouts reverberating through the surroundings, yet I only moved from side to side, conjuring a blazing Aegis shield from time to time.

The shields were nowhere near capable enough to absorb the power behind Raffael Torch’s fiery torrents, but they consumed the initial burst and stalled them long enough for me to push aside and escape the brunt of it.

“Are you afraid of me? Because you should be!” the Ruler of Fire thundered, his spear thrust toward Dirk’s wing. Merlin stepped in just in time, his body bulging as it erupted with power. He struck the flat side of Raffael’s spear with his fist, pushing it aside.

“Distracted?” Merlin provoked in a mocking tone. “If you keep going like that, you will never be able to get your hands on the Elemental Phoenix, old man.”

Raffael snarled and struck Merlin twice. When both attacks were blocked by a myriad of traits working in tandem, the Ruler of Fire roared in anger and transformed into a raging wildfire.

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The corner of Merlin’s lips curled upward, and he burst into action. But instead of attacking Raffael, Merlin retrieved a watermelon-sized orb. It was an object everyone present was familiar with–Raffael Torch especially, for he had used a very similar orb in the fight against the Elemental Phoenix.

If only it was the same.

The surrounding temperature dropped rapidly as the Solar Orb triggered. Raffael’s wildfire faded as his flames were sucked into the orb. But not only that. The Magma Dragon’s greatest defense cooled down as well. Its magma membrane lost some of its greatest properties as its heat and fire were consumed by the Solar Orb.

That was my cue. I appeared behind Raffael Torch with Blink. A blade infused with Nullblade burst forward and would have cut into the Ruler’s back if he hadn’t spun around in time.

“Fool!” he snarled, his eyes glowing vibrantly as they locked onto mine. My World rumbled and screamed as Raffael tried to claw his way into it. Wielding the spear in his only remaining hand, he slapped the blade from my hand effortlessly. Whether he realized it or not, Aureus’ wings closed in on the Ruler, touching him. And that was all I needed to rip through space once more.

Blink was triggered a dozen times, draining a considerable amount of ether, but it was more than worth it. Carrying an unwilling target through space held its own challenges, yet it worked as long as you were willing to sacrifice enough ether, and especially if your target didn’t know what was happening.

Too busy trying to tear my World apart, Raffael failed to recognize that he was no longer on the Magma Dragon’s back. We hovered a considerable distance from the brawling dragons until Aureus’ Gravity Aspect asserted itself over the Ruler.

My World was still screaming, but Fortress’s amplification prevailed. And even when it cracked, Sapsie reacted immediately, using some of the Pond of Life’s nectar to mend the damage.

“I sure hope you’re a little rusty,” I grumbled, cutting our eye contact and thus ending the Ruler’s attempt at prying into my World.

His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly, but he said nothing even when Merlin plunged the Solar Orb into the Magma Dragon’s chest, temporarily sealing all its fire-based traits.

Raffael was locked out from the Magma Dragon’s fiery traits, but Predator had not stopped warning me.

“Fool,” was all the Ruler said, grabbing my wrist and twisting it until it cracked.

Then he held me as we plunged to the ground.

***

Falling to the ground never got old. It was as annoying as ever, if not worse. The Ruler of Fire unsummoned his spear before grabbing my wrist, but I wasn’t entirely sure if getting stabbed wouldn’t have been better than having my wrist broken.

A set of appendages burst from my lower back when Nox and I triggered Soulfusion. The Ferronox Mantis’ scythes grew out of my lower back and shot forward, with a thick coat of Nullblade shrouding them. The scythes slashed across Raffael’s chest several times in quick succession, each strike digging deeper than the last.

Blood splattered onto my face, and a grim smile formed on my lips when the Ruler of Fire stared back at me in surprise. Clearly, he didn’t expect me or my Soulkins to be strong enough to injure him.

He released my wrist when the first scythe raked across his arm, leaving a shallow but dangerous gash. It was not enough to harm him seriously, but I harmed him anyway.

YES! We kill bad Ruler!!

Nox hissed excitedly in my head, his appendages surging forward once more. This time, however, the Ruler of Fire had summoned his spear once more. Flames oozed out of him, but they didn’t burn as fiercely as the Magma Dragon’s. Volix’s phoenix fire oozed out of me, consuming the Ruler’s flames, but the damage was already done.

Predator warned me, but Raffael’s flames obstructed my view. He moved in a blur, severing Nox’s scythe appendages while also leaving a deep gash across my chest. It was deep enough to expose my rib cage, and it hurt severely. However, it got worse than that when Raffael twisted mid-air and kicked me.

Aureus decreased the gravitational pull on Raffael momentarily to a minimum, hoping to weaken the impact, but the impact still landed hard. My rib cage creaked and groaned until several bones finally cracked.

The ground was getting close, so I used Blink to avoid worsening my injuries. Blink carried me straight to the ground, all while Sapsie used her authority over the Pond of Life to will its nectar out of my World and through my body.

Pyromantic Recovery was triggered as well, devouring the flames I had absorbed earlier, but my body was already worn and broken, and the real fight had yet to start.

Hurry up, Merlin!!