Sky Kingdom.
Home of the Fae.
In the halls of the white palace of Fae, a female maid dressed in light coloured attire moved through, pushing a trolley which had a porcelain tea pot and tea cup on it, both on top of porcelain dishes. Walking up to a pair of giant doors, the maid stopped, before knocking on the doors lightly. Then, she opened them. "Pardon your Highness, I have brought your noon tea."
On the other side of the doors, was a royal looking bedroom, with a large balcony, which was open. Pushing the trolley inside, the maid looked outside the balcony, where her queen was standing, looking out at the sea of clouds that surrounded the Sky Kingdom.
"Your Highness?"
"Ah.." The queen looked at her maid over her right shoulder, her arms crossed. "My apologies Maya. You can leave the tea right over there." The woman pointed with her black talon-like hands to a small table by the entrance of the balcony. The maid nodded, picking up the tea cup from her trolley and placing it onto the table, before picking up the teapot and pouring some tea in it.
"It's rather rare to see you gazing at the world below these days. Has something occurred in the world below, your Highness?"
The woman remained silent, simply chuckling a bit to herself, smiling. "Who can say～"
Fire Princes domain.
The hall before the 'Boss' room.
The skeletal dragon roared loudly, before swinging its tail, destroying the pillars in the room. Avy dashed across the room, outpacing the tail for a bit, before quickly falling to the ground, sliding forward a bit, the tail of the beast flying over her. Then, she quickly leapt back onto her feet, flipping around and dashing towards the beast. The dragon let out a low growl, before charging up its flames again, the fire spinning around its anchored heart, before traveling up its 'throat' and into its skull.
After covering a bit of distance, she leapt high into the air, before pulling her arms back.
Fae Light arts, Reflection.
She threw her arms back in front of her, light gathering in the palms of her hand, before forming into a shield for a second. The dragon fired its flames at the woman, however as soon as the flames connected with her shield, they were redirected – bouncing off and then as if being bent backwards, flew back towards the dragon crashing into it and forcing it to stumble back a bit, groaning lightly, smoke coughing out of its skull.
Though fire had basically no effect on the beast and left no damage, it was still capable of delivering a bit of force. Landing back onto the ground, Avy closed the distance between her and the dragon in an instant, before throwing a punch at the beast.
The dragon tried to block the strike using its tail, however, the woman quickly reacted, kicking the tail back before landing the punch directly onto its skull, sending the dragon back a bit, tumbling to the ground. Then, before it could recover, Avy landed onto it, kicking and breaking off bits and pieces of the dragon's ribcage and spine, while making her way over to the head. Once at it, she leapt up a bit, before crashing down onto the dragon's skull with a strong stomp — so strong, it cracked the dragon's skull a bit.
Fae Nature arts, Mountain Stomp.
Then, she leapt away, landing not too far from the dragon, before flipping around to look at it. The beast grumbled a bit, before slowly rising up. The spots Avy had damaged or shattered quickly healed, causing her to click her tongue. "Even if some of my strength is back, this thing regenerates way too fast for me to do any real damage. The worst part is that I can't exactly stay too close to it for too long, as the heat radiating around its body is immense… Especially the heat that I feel when I make contact with it."
Avy complained a bit in her mind, before looking around. Then, she dashed away as the dragon recovered fully, roaring loudly — its mere voice was enough to shake the entire dungeon and cause small rubble and fragments to fall from the ceiling and walls. Then, the beast looked around, seemingly searching for Avy, before locking onto her.
Then, the monster moved forward a bit, before lifting its tail up high and sending it crashing down towards Avy. "M-Miss! Above you–!" Vic exclaimed, causing Avy to quickly flip her gaze above her, before sharpening her eyes. Then, she quickly stopped her dash, before catching the tail — stopping it for a second.
For a few moments, she struggled, then, after pulling back her right arm and gripping it tightly into a fist, she smashed it into the tail, releasing a powerful gust of wind that went through the tail, causing it to shatter moments after.
Fae Grand arts, Titans strike.
Then, she leapt up, quickly landing on what remained of the dragon's tail as it began to reconstruct itself. Avy dashed across the tail, the dragon trying to use its claws to grab her, before flicking its tail upwards – sending Avy up into the air. Avy spun around in the air for a moment, before pulling her arms close to her chest, charging up a small white orb, taking in a deep breath, before lifting it above her head and then flicking it down towards the dragon.
Fae Light arts, Sunbeam.
Almost instantly, a strong beam was fired down at the dragon — traveling so fast, it looked like it had simply 'appeared' out of thin air and pierced the dragon. The beast groaned a bit, however before it could retaliate, Avy quickly threw her arms back, creating many, many more orbs of light behind her. Then, in the following split second, she sent all of them down at the dragon.
Fae Light arts, Sunbeam crash.
The beams instantly pierced through the dragon's rotting body, one even grazing the heart that was fixed inside its ribcage. The beast's eyes widened before narrowing greatly. Then, it unleashed its most powerful roar yet, which knocked Avy back – causing her to crash into the wall before falling down onto the ground.
After the roar, a massive wave of heat spread through the room.
Almost immediately, everyone in the room started to sweat. "T-This heat… It feels like I just jumped into a volcano…" Gustav commented, looking at the beast. Its body regenerated, while the heat in the room increased more and more, vision of the people in the room starting to become 'wavy'.
Avy breathed heavily for a moment, before dashing towards the group and falling to the ground next to them. Vic looked at her. "Y-You alright..?"
"Y-Yeah… This heat wave though… It may cause problems…" Avy replied, holding her throat a bit before slowly rising up to her feet. The dragon glared at the group, all of them feeling a shiver run down their spines. Somehow, with the immense heat now spread across the room, the dragon looked even more terrifying than before.
Vic bit their lip, before standing up and lifting their wand in the air above them. "Flow–!" For a second, water formed in the air above the group, however it evaporated near instantly, causing Vic's eyes to widen a bit. Then, they tried again. "F-Flow!"
Once more, the water above them formed for a split second, before evaporating instantly. "D-Damnit… It's too hot… I c-can't create any water…"
Avy stared at the rogue for a moment, before quickly grabbing their wrist. Vic looked at Avy in confusion. "Miss—?"
"D-Do as I… As I-I say!" Avy pushed out, breathing heavily as her vision blurred slightly. The heat was becoming unbearable. Vic nodded, before Avy lifted her other arm into the air above them. "C-Create water… a-again!" Vic stared at Avy dumbfounded for a moment, however, chose to trust her anyway, focusing magical energy at the tip of the wand. "F-Flow…!"
As water began to form, Avy quickly narrowed her eyes, before expanding her magical energy from her body. Then, she pushed it into Vic's body, the magical energy traveling through their body before gathering at the tip, fueling the water – ensuring it doesn't evaporate instantly.
Then, she closed her eyes.
Fae Nature arts, Freezing wind.
Chilling wind surrounded the group, cooling them down for a moment as well as freezing the water near instantly. Vic looked at Avy in confusion. "J-Just keep casting the spell..! C-Create more… a-and more water!"
Vic shed a sweat, nodding before focusing more.
"Flow…!" More and more water formed around the ice above them, freezing near instantly as well. The dragon watched the group for a few moments, before coughing out a bit of smoke. Flames began to spiral around its heart again.
"I-I think the thing is about to fire at us again…! W-Whatever you are doing right now, do it f-faster!"
Avy and Vic kept the continuous cycle for a few more seconds, with Vic forming more and more water, while Avy froze it near instantaneously using the chilling wind surrounding them. However, they were running out of time. The immense heat beyond the cold wind surrounding them began to push through, warming up the wind, all the while the dragon charged its flames.
"M-Miss Avy!" Gustav shouted, while Rodrigo and Cecilia remained behind them, Rodrigo still tightly holding Cecilia, who was still trembling in fear. The dragon's flames traveled up into its skull once more, before it pulled back and then fired its beam towards them.
Vic finally collapsed, Avy letting go of their wrist.
"T-That's it… I can't a-anymore…" Vic breathed heavily, exhausted. Avy smiled. "It's alright… thanks to you, I can now do what I wanted to do."
Then, she caused the wind around them to dissipate, before smashing the giant ice block she and Vic formed against the ground. As the immense heat in the room quickly enveloped them again and the fire beam of the dragon approached, Avy crouched down, placing her hand against the ground — taking in a deep breath.
Opening her eyes, they shone blue for a second.
Then, the shattered pieces of the ice block that had begun to melt already, suddenly stopped melting before rapidly flying into the air and quickly spinning around the group.
As the fire beam connected, it was blocked by what was now a giant ice tornado surrounding the group. For a few seconds, the dragon kept up the flames, pushing its beam more and more towards them — however, in the ice tornado created by Avy, her silhouetted 'shone' for a moment through it, before the tornado expanded across the room in an instant, extinguishing the flames of the dragon and pushing it back a bit.
The immense heat that the dragon had radiated across the room lowered — becoming more tolerable, while small icicles floated in the air around the room. Vic, Gustav and Rodrigo all stared in disbelief. "What is this…?" Vic thought. Avy exhaled, landing back onto the ground, before stepping towards the dragon who glared at Avy with immense rage in its eyes. "What's wrong? Don't tell me a little 'cold weather' was enough to waver that fire burning in you." Avy stated, glaring back at the dragon with a cold gaze.
The beast increased the intensity of the heat it radiated from itself, slowly increasing the temperature of the room again – however Avy quickly countered, using the icicles floating around the room to quickly lower the temperature again, the icicles exploding into cold air, which quickly spread across the room.
Vic reached up and grabbed hold of one of the icicles in the room, examining it. "This isn't magic… It's something more powerful and deeply connected to frost than magic…" The rogue commented to themselves in their mind, before looking at Avy with a slight sweat. "Who is this woman…?"
The dragon roared once more, before several spheres of flames formed in the air around it. Then, a barrage of flaming arrows flew out of the spheres, all of which were directed towards Avy, who simply let out a small exhale, before gathering the icicles in the air around her and forming a large battle axe made of ice.
Then, she leapt towards the dragon.
Dodging and bashing her way through the flaming arrows the dragon was firing, Avy's eyes shone a consistent blue colour as she closed the distance between her and the dragon in mere seconds, leaping into the air above the dragon once she was close enough.
Then, with a single swift slash of the axe, she sliced apart the flame spheres the beast had created. The dragon narrowed its eyes, before quickly charging up its fire breath again and firing it at Avy near instantly. Avy lifted the ice axe above her, before smashing down at the beam, cutting through it with the blade of the axe as she fell closer and closer to the dragon.
However, once she was close enough, the dragon quickly reacted, using its tail to knock her away into a wall, before charging at her and bashing its head in the same spot.
Luckily, Avy had managed to slip down – avoiding the charge the dragon did, before landing back onto the ground and leaping at the dragon's legs, using the axe to slash them apart. The dragon pulled its skull out of the wall, its body regenerating once more before it looked down at Avy, who dashed away. "Come on! That regeneration is cheating!"
Avy commented, flipping around before throwing the axe at the dragon in a spinning motion – the weapon crashing into the dragon's skull, pushing it back for a bit, before Avy leapt up and above the dragon, landing onto its skull. Then, she dashed down its spine, rapidly smashing its spines and ribs once more, this time using the ice in the air around her to quickly freeze the spots she smashed. Perhaps if she froze them – the creature wouldn't be able to regenerate.
However, after she landed back onto solid ground, she was shocked and disappointed to find that not even that strategy worked, as the ice she used to 'block' the spots she smashed into pieces was melted in mere seconds by the dragon's heat, before regenerating.
"New plan I guess…" She thought, dashing to the side.
"This is a stalemate…" Gustav commented, watching from afar. Vic nodded. "Despite her strength, the dragon's regeneration is too powerful. Even if she does considerable damage, none of it ends up being permanent, as the beast simply shakes it off." Gustav swore to himself, punching the ground beneath him. "Damnit… Then what, is all of this simply stalling the inevitable?"
Vic shrugged. "I-I don't know… Let me think, maybe there's something we can do to prevent the regeneration…" Vic began brainstorming while Gustav side-eyed him for a moment, before looking back at the action. The heat wave problem was somewhat stalled at the moment, however if Avy doesn't find a way to kill the thing and soon, they're all toast. Literally.
Gustav looked around a bit, before his eyes accidentally fell onto the heart that was secured inside the beast's ribcage via chains. His eyes widened for a second. "Hold on…" He said, Vic looked at him with a confused gaze. "What? Think of something?"
"No, not really… but look. The heart in the ribcage. It's damaged."
Vic threw their gaze over at the dragon and Avy who were exchanging blows, their eyes quickly locking onto the dragon's heart. And after a moment, they manage to spot what Gustav was talking about — it was just a graze, a scrape, you could say, however there indeed was damage on the heart. Damage that had not healed.
Then it clicked.
"That's it! The heart! It's the only thing the dragon wasn't able to heal with its regenerative abilities! Miss must have somehow damaged the heart earlier with an attack! The heat wave that the dragon unleashed must have been its rage at the heart being damaged, even if it was slightly." Gustav shed a sweat, before looking down, thinking for a bit, looking back at Vic after a moment. "That means that the heart…"
"Must be the thing keeping it alive." Vic quickly tried to rise up to their feet, however quickly collapsed back down, groaning. "Stay down, you're exhausted. I'll let Miss Avy know." Gustav stated, before standing up and taking in a deep breath. Then, he dashed towards the action, intending to close the distance just a little bit, so that Avy would be able to hear him.
Avy shed a sweat, dodging the fire beams fired by the dragon, before blocking a strike from its tail with a newly created ice battle axe. She struggled to push it back for a bit, before dislodging herself from it, falling down and allowing the tail to crash into the ceiling. Rubble and debris fell from the ceiling down after Avy, however she quickly used the axe to smash it apart, before smoothly landing onto the ground. She breathed a bit heavily. "Damnit… reaching my limit here… Upkeeping the frost domain is difficult after all this time…"
The dragon glared at Avy, growling lightly, before coughing up black smoke again — a signal that it was preparing to fire another very powerful flame beam. Avy grit her teeth, before dashing towards the dragon.
"Miss Avy—!"
She suddenly stopped, throwing her look at who had called her.
Gustav was a lot closer than the others now. "What are you doing!? Get back to the—!"
"The heart! Aim for the heart in its—" Before Gustav could finish, the dragon's tail flung at him, smashing into the man, cracking his armour, before it shattered and he coughed up blood. Gustav was sent flying into the wall next to the doors, smashing into it. "Gustav!"
Rodrigo shouted for his friend.
Then, the dragon quickly charged up the beam of flames, the fire entering its skull before it fired it at Avy. The woman quickly leapt up, dodging the flames before intensifying the cold air, extinguishing the flames and causing the dragon to cough. "That idiot… He better did not get himself killed by doing that!" Avy thought, before exhaling.
"Still… That was helpful. Thank you, Gustav!" Then, Avy spun the axe around a bit, landing onto the ceiling before propelling her from it and dashing down at the dragon. The beast tried to intercept her with its tail and then claws, however Avy dodged them with ease, smashing one of the claws with her axe, before falling inside the ribcage, right up close to the beating heart that was held in place with chains.
Then, in one swift movement, she smashed her axe into the heart, cutting into it, however the thing proved too tough to fully cut through. Still, the dragon clearly reacted, its eyes narrowing again, before it let out an ear-piercing roar. Then, flames quickly filled its ribcage, causing Avy to quickly fly out of the ribcage, landing not too far away. Looking back at the dragon, the ribcage was now engulfed in a permanent fire – clearly an attempt to protect the heart.
The dragon glared at Avy with a rage filled gaze.
Seems that one move, had pissed it off more than anything else.
Avy smiled. "So that is your 'weakness' huh… Good to know." Then, she dashed towards the dragon — however, before she could close much distance, the dragon intercepted her with its tail, knocking her into the pillars in the room, before smashing her into the wall. Then, it dragged her through the wall for a bit, smashing her into another part of the wall, moving its tail back a bit – allowing her to fall to the ground, before smashing her into the ground with it.
Avy coughed up a bit of blood, slowly pushing herself up — her body trembling greatly, before she wiped the blood that spilled from her mouth. "I can see why they told us not to go challenge it… Even with the frost domain and more of my original strength, this thing is kicking my ass…" The dragon charged up flames inside its ribcage, before several spheres of flames formed around it. Then, together with the spheres, the beast fired off its fire beam at Avy, the spheres shooting out their own beams.
Avy quickly leapt out of the way, before stumbling up to her feet and quickly running, trying to avoid the beams – sliding under the smashed pillars, before leaping behind some debris. The flames quickly engulfed it — rushing past her. However, she could already feel the debris behind her heating up. The flames were hot enough to even 'melt' through stone… Insanity.
Gritting her teeth, she looked around, searching for a way to escape.
The fight couldn't drag on any longer. She had to finish this now. One strike. That's all she needs, one powerful, clean strike against the heart and it'll be over. But how… How was she supposed to do it?
"Miss!" Vic shouted.
Avy looked at the rogue, as they lifted their wand, using the last bits of their strength to create a magic circle in the air. Avy immediately recognised the circle. "A boost… That might just work.." Exhaling, Avy leapt out of her hiding spot, right as the flames of the dragon forced their way through the debris she was hiding behind.
Then, quickly dashing across the room, she took in a deep breath. "Please work…!" Leaping into the air, she expanded a pair of wings, a smile growing across her face. The dragon ceased its flames, coughing black smoke, the other flame beams also stopping before dissipating into a black smoke cloud.
Avy smashed through the boosting magic circle, her body shining a bright green colour. Then, using her wings, she glided across the room a bit, before dashing towards the dragon — soaring above it. The beast finished its coughing, flicking its head up towards Avy, before flame spheres formed around it. Then, fire balls began to fire from them towards Avy.
"One… clean… strike… That's all I need…" Avy narrowed her eyes, her focus falling onto the ribcage that was filled with flames. Exhaling, she pulled her arms back. "Father… please… grant me your strength…" She thought, before the icicles across the room began to fly towards her. The cold air throughout the room followed after the icicles a moment later. The combo of the two quickly gathered at her hands, forming together to shape a bigger and bigger axe. Within seconds, the frost domain was dissipated, now gathered together into the axe she held in her hands.
The temperature of the room quickly skyrocketed again – the heat wave produced by the dragon intensified rapidly. Vic shed a sweat, coughing, before pulling off her mask, a bit of blood hair falling out from under their hood. Sweat dripped from Vic's face. "Go Miss… finish this…" Vic commented, looking at the two beings in the not so far distance, their vision blurry.
The dragon coughed up a bit of smoke, before quickly charging up a massive flame beam, clearly intending to incinerate Avy before she got the chance to strike. As Avy approached closer and closer to the dragon, the heat around it began to scorch her feathers, as well as slightly burn at her clothes.
"I have to… I have to do this! For their sake… For…" Her eyes ignited with blue colour. "For Faofa's sake!" She exclaimed in her mind, before lifting the giant axe in her hands up above her head, the axe finishing to form.
For a few moments, it looked as if the whole world slowed down.
The room was filled with dead silence — the only thing echoing across it, being the dragon's heartbeat. As the dragon fired its beam, it engulfed Avy completely, however the woman pushed through the flames, her feathers and clothes singed, her skin charred – but her eyes filled with determination.
Approaching the ribcage, once she got close, she swung the axe with as much force as she could.
Wendigo King arts, Frostbite.
The axe smashed through the ribcage of the dragon, easily cleaving through the flames… and then the heart — splitting it in half and destroying the chains that held it in place. The heartbeat stopped, before the organ exploded into blood. The dragon's eyes widened for a moment, before they narrowed and then rolled into the back of its skull.
The heat wave across the room was quickly replaced by an immense cold wind force, which extinguished the fire in it, as well as pushed Vic back against the doors for a moment.
Vic looked at the scene in shock.
The dragon stumbled, before falling to the ground, its body falling apart – the bones and bits of flesh that once made it up, crashing onto the ground. Blood stained the ground as well, as the entire room trembled.
The giant axe in Avy's arms shattered, the boost cast by Vic also disappearing. "I… I did it…" She commented, her vision blurring for a second, before her eyes closed. The spark that she had felt ignite in her chest went out and the strength she felt disappeared once more. Avy fell towards the ground, her body, clothes and feathers charred and singed by the flames of the dragon. Before she hit the ground, Rodrigo quickly leapt up and caught her. "I got you Miss!" He stated, landing back down, before standing up and looking at the defeated beast. The man shed a sweat, before looking at Avy and chuckling to himself. "Whoever this woman is… Is insane…"
He commented in his mind.
Click.
Looking back, the doors that had shut earlier suddenly opened, before Gidou and Lyrra rushed inside. "Is everyone okay?!" Gidou exclaimed, looking around the place. A thin layer of snow and ice covered the entire room. Vic was on their knees exhausted, while a man whose armour was shattered was heavily injured and a woman who was clearly scarred sat by the door.
Employees of the guild rushed inside.
"Tend to the wounded first!" Gidou ordered, the workers quickly approaching Gustav and Vic, however Vic simply denied their help, stating that they were fine. Gidou and Lyrra moved towards Rodrigo, who moved towards them. "Is she alright?"
Rodrigo shook his head. "I don't know… She tanked quite a bit of the flames from that thing." Rodrigo looked at the defeated dragon, while Gidou shed a sweat, Lyrra looking rather surprised, before crossing her arms. "She took down that thing? By herself?" Rodrigo nodded.
"Impressive if you ask me…" Lyrra stated, while Gidou exhaled.
"We'll learn the full details later. Get the woman some aid right now." Rodrigo nodded, moving to carry Avy past Gidou and Lyrra, however before they could move away, Avy gripped onto Rodrigo's shirt, causing him to stop. "...R-Riyo…" She pushed out, falling unconscious again.
"Oh right— Guildmaster, there is one more person who may be in danger." Gidou looked at Rodrigo. "Where?"
"We don't know. When we entered the room, the floor below us suddenly opened like a trap. The man quickly pushed us aside, however he himself fell down. Then, the floor closed and a magic seal appeared over it." Gidou's eyes widened, while Lyrra exhaled. "A trap…? Impossible.." Gidou sighed, before nodding. "Thank you for telling me. I'll try everything I can to find him. You all follow the workers out of the dungeon. That is an order."
"Of course, Guildmaster."
Rodrigo flipped around, before quickly moving away.
"Incredible eh? Someone so small and scrawny was able to take down the Scorched Skeleton dragon of ancient Ordial. It's not an everyday occurrence you know." Lyrra stated, looking at the scattered parts of the dragon. Gidou remained silent, exhaling lightly. "That woman… She isn't normal. Certainly not one of the newbie adventurers… Once we get out of here, I'll have to make sure I get them in my office." Gidou thought, before exhaling and crouching down, placing his right hand onto the ground.
Past the thin layer of snow and ice, he was able to feel a slight warmth from the ground. "There indeed is a seal on the ground… A barrier so to say." Gidou commented. Lyrra smiled. "Want me to shatter it?"
"No. The barrier is trapped. If you try to break it, the barrier will erupt and bring the whole dungeon down." Lyrra shed a sweat. "You serious…? Man, who put up such a barrier…" The beastsword exhaled heavily.
Gidou looked away and at the ground again. Then he looked at the doors which were behind the dragon's body. Standing up, he adjusted his clothes a bit. "Come on, let's find a way down."
"Right, right～" Lyrra responded, before the two of them quickly moved past the dragons corpse and into the room that was originally the 'final' room, where the dragon resided.
Sky Kingdom.
Home of the Fae.
Sipping her tea, a wide smile spread across the queen's face. Maya looked at her with a slightly confused gaze. "Did something good happen in the world below, your Highness?"
"Mmm…" The queen placed the tea cup to the side, getting up from her seat before walking up to the edge of the balcony, crossing her arms under her chest. Gazing out at the sea of clouds, she chuckled, the gentle wind blowing against her. "I suppose you could say so…" Then, she looked at her maid.
"Maya, go and prepare a quill and paper for me. I have a letter to write." The maid bowed towards the queen. "As you wish, your Highness." Then, she turned around and left, pushing the trolley with her.
The queen gazed out at the sea of clouds for a moment more.
"Not bag my sweetpea… Though, I would have preferred if you had used mama's abilities rather than papas to defeat that dragon…" She chuckled, opening her eyes, which shone a gentle blue colour.
Queen of the Skies, also known as the Owl Empress — Oprass.
Turning around, she pushed one of her hands up to her chin, before throwing a slight gaze back out at the sea of clouds. "And that determination to meet with the one who freed you… I hope that he is worthy of such affection."
"Your Highness, I have prepared the quill and paper as per your request." Maya interrupted Oprass' thoughts. The Owl empress smiled, before walking back inside her bedroom.