"ROAR!"
Despite the sound being directed to the skies, everything and everyone around suffered from it.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Throughout the Salvatore School, all windows shattered.
Inside the school, there wasn't a single person cowering under the sheer fear the roar put them in. They tried to cover their ears to the best of their abilities, with some witches thinking fast of casting a spell to temporarily make them deaf. Compared to sensing the pain brought by their eardrums threatening to be torn, losing one of their senses for a short moment was nothing.
"Everybody, move!" Alaric did his best to move the students to a safer place, but some of them couldn't listen to him now.
He couldn't blame them either. It didn't matter if they were vampires, witcher or werewolves, most of them were still kids who were just unfortunate to have their lives become what they are now.
They weren't prepared to face such a situation. Even Alaric wasn't ready for what was happening despite his decades surviving through the supernatural.
What do I do?! He asked himself, knowing the responsibility of the well-being of all these students were on his hands while they lived under his roof.
Just then, Alaric saw Hope enter the library, not suffering from the same problem as the other supernatural beings with enhanced hearing thanks to her control over her senses.
She noticed the problem everyone was facing and knew she had to act.
Inside the library, Hope turned around to face the direction where the school entrance was. She raised both her arms and reached them out while magic coalesced in her hands.
"Anima mea et Mundus cooperentur ad huius domus defensionem. Ignis, Aqua, Ventus neque Terra eam nec incolas eius laedant!"
From her hands, the magic expanded rapidly. It stopped just outside the building's walls, taking the shape of a dome that protected the main building.
When the spell had fully actualized, the students noticed the literal deafening roar had stopped.
As people lowered their hands from their ears and some of them helped those who suffered the most from the sound attack, Alaric approached Hope with quick steps.
"I assume you are responsible for the sound stopping."
"Yes." Hope nodded, looking around. "It will be better to move everyone deeper into the building, things are getting ugly out there."
Those words didn't only attract Alaric's attention, but everyone else's as well.
"Where is John?" Alaric asked solemnly.
"Fighting the dragon." Hope replied.
A very brief silence followed Hope's words.
"A, a dragon?" Josie blurted out, not having a clear understanding of the situation outside. Just when she was about to see what was happening, the windows exploded and the professors ordered everyone to retreat.
The only things she was aware of was that a fight was taking place in the parking lot and that John was involved, with her seeing him flying through the walls before making the way back almost completely naked.
Beyond that, she knew nothing since no one had time to explain.
Towards Josie's doubt, Hope nodded. "I saw it, even if for a moment." She turned to Alaric. "The woman, she transformed into a huge dragon. What you just heard was her screaming."
"It sounded more like she was announcing the end of the world." A vampire – Kaleb – commented. There were faint traces of blood running from his ears.
"If you saw her… you wouldn't doubt the possibility." Hope sighed. "John is fighting her, preventing her from getting what she wants."
Alaric raised an eyebrow. "Wants? She wants something from us?"
"That's what John said. Honestly, I couldn't understand what they were saying. But apparently, she wanted two things from us."
"What?"
"First of all, the dagger you asked him to study. That was one of her demands." Hope said.
"Then why not give it to her?" Lizzie chimed in, her question sounding very reasonable. "Was it worth burning down the entire parking lot for an old knife?"
Despite understanding Lizzie's words, Hope still showed a bit of impatience in her expression. "It was obviously because of her second demand." She turned to Alaric once again. "She… demanded one of the students."
That statement brought the entire library to silence. Neither the students, professors or other members of the school knew what to say in regards to that demand.
Meanwhile, Hope did her best to not look at Landon in one of the corners of the library with Rafael. The last thing she needed now was to put a target on someone so others could throw him at the mouth of a literal dragon.
But as Hope feared, others had thoughts contrary to hers. And even if they were not courageous enough to speak to them, someone mustered a little bit of courage to speak.
"Shouldn't we… you know…" Caleb muttered, everyone knowing what he meant.
However, before any more voices could rise, Alaric put a foot forward. "If anyone here raises that idea again, I will make sure they are never welcomed in this school again." He said strongly, looking at his own student with disapproving eyes. "The world is already full of those who would throw their friends away in any unfavorable circumstances. The last thing we need is more of them."
"Y-yes." Caleb stuttered, taking a step back.
Just when silence ruled the library again after Alaric's words, everyone suddenly felt the building shake a little. Some lost their balance and fell while others remained standing.
"Is that…" Alaric turned to Hope.
With a worried expression, Hope nodded. "Yes, it began."
…
It would be insolent to think that just because of a bigger body, the dragon wouldn't be as fast. Quite the contrary.
When it raised its paw up high, it descended extremely fast upon John, with the wind around split apart by its claws.
Was it possible to evade? Sure. But now, John had no plans to duck a fade.
Boom!
When the claw met the crossed arms, the burned ground beneath John's feet didn't resist. It broke and sank as it completely collapsed while cracks appeared all around.
Feeling the weight on his forearms, there was a bit of a smile on John's lips. "That's it!"
Mustering strength from every single one of his muscles, from his legs to his hands, John pushed the claw forward with a bit of a grunt. But he didn't stop there.
As soon as a bit of space was given to him, he rocketed himself up and his fist connected with the dragon's jaw, breaking some scales.
The boiling blood cascading from the injury could burn anything green in a matter of seconds. Still, it did nothing to his skin.
Just when his fist hit the dragon, John quickly held his right arm and leg up high as a claw came rushing to his side.
Bang!
The strength behind it threw him far, with him only braking in the air dozens of meters away.
He didn't have time to prepare himself as the dragon ran towards him, with its every step making the ground shake and leaving burned prints of its paw on the ground.
Bzz…
Here it comes. John thought when he felt the hair on his neck stand up, with him immediately raising his arm to the sky.
From the clouded skies, a lightning bolt fell right on top of the young man's open palm. The electricity ran through his skin, with small lightning bolts surging on his eyes.
Parts of the energy from the lightning bolt were gathered on John's right hand, with him gathering what he could of the energy in a small electromagnetic confinement field.
In less than a second, the lightning which fell from the skies and passed through the countless raindrops was now gathered in a small container smaller than an adult's finger.
The mere sight of the brightful object amidst the rain sent chills across the dragon's scales as it glowed brighter than the sun.
The instinct of fear wasn't something a mighty and prideful creature ignored, quite the contrary. It just made it even more cautious and puzzled by the threat.
When the young man took a throwing stance, the alarms in the dragon's mind screamed.
With a powerful flap of its wings, the dragon set flight to the skies and raised a great cloud of dust in consequence.
Whoosh!
The very next moment, the dust that could engulf a house was dispersed as the brightful object – resembling a bullet – passed through it.
The air around it expanded violently, and every drop of water nearby evaporated from the tremendous heat radiating from the projectile.
It traveled for dozens of meters until it hit one of the last standing parts of the wall surrounding the school grounds.
Upon contact, the concrete vaporized and the energy concentrated in the projectile exploded. The wall that stretched for a few meters shattered completely into smaller pieces, with them all flying outwards at fast speeds.
Giving a brief look at the destruction, what terrified the dragon wasn't the explosion. What scared it was the fact that the stone melted so fast it could barely watch the process.
Even if it was confident in its scales to fend off normal lightning and attacks from creatures of ancient times, the dragon couldn't underestimate the young man and its ways to control nature's forces.
Boom…! Boom…!
Listening to the lightning bolts dancing in the skies above, a cautious look took over the dragon's eyes. I must be careful.
"Roar!"
From up above, the dragon turned its nose down and dived down. By closing its wings, its falling speed was even faster.
Still feeling his hand slightly numb, John backed away from where the dragon would fall.
However, instead of falling face-first on the ground, the dragon abruptly opened its wings and made a maneuver in the air that drew a reaction of surprise from its opponent.
Was that…
Boom!
Before John could properly think of what he thought of having seen, the dragon's back legs landed firmly on the ground. It raised a thick cloud of dust that could almost hide the red glow surging in between its fangs.
Then, at the next moment, that same red glow shot forward. It scattered away the dust and evaporated the rain in its path as it approached its target.
With the air around him shattering, John moved away from his current location in an attempt to avoid the attack.
However, to his disappointment, the dragon locked its eyes on him and kept breathing a torrent of crimson flames wherever he passed, burning everything in its way.
The forest that surrounded the school was the main victim of the fire. The trees burned and leaves turned to cinders as the fire couldn't be put away by the rain.
Noticing the destruction and damage the surroundings were suffering, John frowned.
By taking a risk, he took a sharp turn around the torrent of fire in the direction of where it was coming from.
As the dragon saw her opponent closing in, successfully sustaining the heat near him, it closed its maws and stopped its attack.
By noticing the fire halting its destruction, John briefly thought the dragon would engage him in a physical brawl due to how close he was getting to it. And by thinking that way, he would suffer.
It was quick, fast and marvelously executed. When he noticed them, he didn't have time to react. And thus, a deep gash stretched across his chest, tainting his clothes on his own blood.
"Urgh!" Despite grunting in pain, John still had to pay attention to the fight.
The attack made him lose balance and almost shot forward into the incoming obsidian, sharp claws of the dragon.
To his luck, he successfully dodged them just in time by flying under them before shooting up to the skies, with his blood cascading from the wound.
That was unexpected. John thought, pressing his hand on the wound. I was an idiot. I should've imagined it could use magic by how it made that maneuver to land. He bit his lips, trying to heal his wound.
However, despite moving fast enough to put most planes to shame, John still couldn't escape completely.
Feeling the hair on his neck stand, he looked down. By seeing dozens of the same wind blade that cut his chest open approaching rapidly, John frowned.
Shit… John thought, the gold of his eyes intensifying as he exerted his influence over the magic around to the fullest.
"Fulmen!"
Boom! Boom! *Thunder!*
Following the young man's shout, the skies cried even louder. Lightning traveled across the dark clouds and the rain thickened, fighting against the fire that spread across the woods.
Upside down in the air, John observed as dozens of lightning bolts descended from the clouds, dispersing the wind blades that could cut steel when they met.
Due to the magic intertwined with the wind, the lightning bolts that clashed with them were gone as well. However, those who remained continued moving downwards, with them arching in their trajectories in order to reach the dragon.
To shield itself from nature's wrath, the dragon spread its wings and moved them forward, using them as shields.
The lightning bolts met the obsidian scales. Sparks flew and a sound similar to that of a hammer hitting steel echoed through the still expanding wasteland.
When the last lightning fell, the dragon opened its wings to their fullest.
"ROAR!"
To announce its survival from the attacks empowered by nature's wrath, the dragon roared proudly to the skies.
With drops of his own blood falling on his forehead, John felt his hair flowing in accordance to the shockwave created by the dragon's bellow.
I should've expected it wouldn't be this easy. John thought, staring back at the dragon who looked at him like waiting for him to act. "Sem brincadeiras agora." He announced to himself, feeling his very soul shake.
Despite not understanding the young man's words, the dragon could comprehend the meaning behind them.
"Show me more, young man! Be my first entertainment after a thousand years!" It mellowed, its voice deep and yet graceful. "Convince me why the likes of you were given the gift of freedom and mine the eternal punishment!"
The response from John didn't come through words, but through actions.
With him as the center, every current and particle of magic converged towards him.
The amount of magic moving was so dense it transcended the visual barrier, allowing every living being who did not share the same sight as John to faintly see in the material plane the traces of magic moving around him.
But his control over magic wasn't the only thing John decided to flex.
Lightning flowed strongly and orderly between every water drop that hasn't reached the ground, creating a web of electricity across a small area between the sky and the land.
The once peaceful scenery, with a sea of green canopies stretching as far as the sight could go and a clear sky, was nowhere seen. Now, it was a scenery directly from the apocalypse. The lands were burning and it seemed like the eye of an angel had opened in the sky.
Despite the madness around him, John remained calm. Right now, there was only a single moment he had even been more serene and focused.
That's it… Grasp this feeling… He muttered internally, eyes locked on the dragon.
With what seemed like a smirk stretching across its scaled face, the dragon clapped its wings setting to the sky and flying amidst the countless lightning bolts.
Whoosh!
While the dragon moved up, John dived down.
In the space between them, fire met electricity – magic met magic – and their clash echoed throughout, announcing to the world a fight between titans of power.
…
"Dorian…" Alaric called out his friend and colleague, his eyes set at the horizon through the barrier.
"Yeah?"
"Are you seeing it?"
"Yeah." Dorian replied, a little lackadaisically. "Hard not to see what seems like the end of the world."
In response, Alaric was quiet. For some time, he just watched his student fight the literal dragon. Right now, that was all he could do: Watch. He couldn't even do something mundane like putting away the fire that was consuming the surroundings.
"What are you thinking?" Dorian asked.
"How useless I am." Alaric said, honestly. "And you?"
"About the same." Dorian responded. "But what can we do? We are humans, there is a limit to what we can do. And that–" He pointed to the fight. "is not something we can intervene. So, whatever you are feeling, discard it. It's just worthless to think of it."
Alaric thought briefly of Dorian's words. "If only the students weren't here…"
"It would probably not work." Dorian said, looking at Alaric. "If you did what I'm thinking of, then how do you expect John to deal with something of that size? It would only kill us all."
"Tsk, you are right." Alaric nodded.
"What do we do in case the worst happens?"
That earned a long silence from Alaric, long enough for a dozen clashes to be exchanged by the two fighters, with the dragon roaring as it felt a lightning bolt go through one of its wings.
"We give it the dagger and the student." Alaric whispered, thanking for the fact the students had been moved deeper into the school. "If John can't handle it… I'm not sacrificing hundreds for a single person."
Dorian nodded. "It's the right thing." He said, not disagreeing with the idea.
"Then, why do I feel like the worst sinner by thinking of doing it?"
"Because life sucks in moments like this."
"I guess you are right." Alaric nodded. "Anyways, after this is over, we have work to do. No matter the result, there will be a hundred things we'll have to deal with."
"The headache is already coming."
As the two adults talked between themselves, the only other person who hadn't retreated into the underground and internal levels of the school – and not for lack of people asking – watched the fight with more anxiety in her heart than she had felt in a long time.
Every time she saw blood spill from the sky or claws cutting through the air, Hope felt like her heart would jump out of her mouth due to how worried she was.
At every second, she debated with herself if she should go help – if she should do anything that could alleviate some pressure on John. However, remembering his words from earlier, Hope tried to calm herself down.
"Everything will work out fine. He isn't crazy to die here." Hope muttered, wiping some tears that had gathered by the corner of her eyes out of worry. "I will kill him if he does so, he knows that."
Despite her fear, Hope didn't look away from the fight at any moment. If there was something she wouldn't do was not look at the person she loved fighting, even more so if he did it for a reason.
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