'I have to test my aura and new spell, also I need to fully understand my newfound Force sense and the limits of my Telekinesis. Also, I should monitor my dragons more and make sure they're eating as much as possible, I will have the beasts in the forest around us go instincts if I have to…', Ali thought as he sat down on Abeloth's back.
"Master, I have finally obtained my Fire ball breath attack.", Abeloth said to Ali who opened his eyes with interest.
"Explain", Ali replied.
"Well, it's a basic technique of every Fire dragon, all my older brothers can do it in addition to a multitude of other techniques with their control over fire far beyond me. Fire ball allows me to concentrate the flames inside before firing it off in one go. I used it in the forest, should I show you?", Abeloth said.
"That is good news, I'll have you show me later, we have intruders to deal with first.", Ali looked to the side where Eldora was spinning and suddenly snapping her wings open parting the clouds around her, she repeated the movement over and over again.
"And what are you doing?", Ali asked, he didn't need to raise his voice as their connections made them speak in each other's mind.
"Master I am attempting to learn Wind blade, similar to Abeloth's fire ball…But I need more time it seems…", Eldora sounded rushed as if she didn't wish to be behind Abeloth.
"Slow down", Ali said analysing her movement.
"What?", Eldora was confused.
"You're diving too fast and accumulating too much air pressure so you lose control when you open up, slow down and perfect the movement first then you can start adding more air pressure slowly, keep repeating the form until it is ingrained into your body. Do as I tell you", Ali explained and made sure to make it an order to calm down the anxious dragon.
"Thank you master", Eldora said as she started doing what Ali said.
"You keep doing that, we're going down", Ali said as he tapped Abeloth's back twice as the giant dove down breaking through the clouds.
'The feeling of the clouds hitting me in the face is incredible…', Ali thought as he enjoyed flying on his dragon. He even thought of just having Eldora glide in the air with him on his back at night so he could sleep better.
Below in the valley where the war had fallen down yesterday, all that was left from the tens of knights and the two camps was the burned ground and craters from all the fighting. All the corpses and weapons were gone, and the camps were nowhere to be seen. All thanks to Shadow's bottomless hunger and Miles's drones, which picked up anything useful and blew up everything else, leaving behind no evidence. Miles did take many corpses of aura users to experiment with and test.
In the valley, five men stood with sharp eyes, looking around. Their hands were on their weapons as their battle senses were on high alert…
The barbarian at the front sniffed the air with a smile. This was his environment; this habitat was war and death.
"Yesterday, they fought and died yesterday…Many from what I can see…", the barbarian said, touching the burnt soil.
"I can sense traces of level four aura, weak level four but the fourth level nonetheless…", the blonde with the great sword said nonchalantly as he sat down on the burnt soil and laid back on his back.
"Fuck it, we missed the job", he said lazily, closing his eyes.
"It was supposed to be in five days' time. What happened?", the smallest of them nearly cried at the thought of losing their contract and all the gold.
"May the holy flame bless their souls, O poor men who died in endless conflict…", the large priest started praying.
"Hey, this fire…", the barbarian smelled the burnt soil, and the tattoos on his body activated, shining a deep blue. Seeing that the rest of them turned serious and narrowed their eyes.
"What is it…", the man with very weak presence asked.
"This….It can't be…", the barbarian let the soil fall between his fingers as he stood up and looked at the sky…He knew this smell very well from when he was young fighting in the border skirmishes between the barbarians and the empire…
"Dragon Fire", the barbarian said and the lazy swordsman stood up immediately, "fuck", he whispered as he knew that the barbarians knew dragons nearly as much as the empire, they suffered from their destruction the most after all.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
They all looked up where Abeloth's gigantic body broke through the clouds and dove down towards the other end of the valley they stood in, all five of them watched Abeloth land powerfully in the valley with his giant body digging into the soil and his head lowering for a man to jump down.
The swordsman reached for his great sword and a fantastic yellow glow burst from his sword, like a second skin over the sword, the moment his hand held the handle through the aura a massive shockwave burst backwards.
The small thief hid up on the hill while the others prepared for battle, they were a strange group of men who would often fight amongst themselves. They were part of many of the civil wars where lords would appoint them a leader but none of them survived…
"A dragon rider…", the barbarian said venomously as he held his axes and took them out of his belt creating a deep trench in the soil as his hair started glowing and flying up in the air, his muscles growing tighter and larger.
The stealthy one and the priest didn't react as much as the other two as they watched Ali walk towards them…
'That's some strong aura, stronger than Thomas Nolan and that wolf from the demi-humans, both of them are strong and the two behind them are most likely similar in strength. That boy is weak…', Ali thought as he continued walking forward.
Once he was twenty metres from them he stopped as any closer and the fight would begin immediately, anything more than twenty metres was too close in this world.
"What are you five doing in my territory?", Ali asked.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The soil around Ali instantly sank and created a giant crater around him from the Force he unleashed….
'I can't sense any strong aura from him, maybe he's a mage…But Dragon Riders can do both or maybe he's using Dragon Arts…Fuck this is bad…', the swordsman thought as he looked at the giant Dragon with its neck straight up looking down on them from above, the heat was reaching them from so far away.
"I can answer your questions but understand I have to stay here for my safety.", shouted the small orange-haired boy on top of the hill.
Ali looked up at him with his black eyes, he was looking away from two powerful warriors so close to him…
'Is he trying me?', the barbarian nearly exploded forward but felt the priest's heavy hand on his shoulder.
"We are here for a contract from Lord Cinder, Edwin Cinder. To fight for him in the war against House Nolan. We were promised gold…That is the truth.", the boy said to Ali, his voice loud from atop the hill.
Ali looked back at the other four, he could feel the small weapons all over the lean man's body, he just sensed the threat of the weapons which could be thrown at him any moment.
"House Cinder and House Nolan are no more, this is all my land now.", Ali said and all of them were even more anxious.
'Did he kill them all on his own?', that was their thought looking at Ali.
"Well we would ask that you forgive us for this mistake and allow us to leave your land.", the boy said, he had a smooth tongue, he knew what to say and wasn't scared to say it.
"You said you were here for gold. Does that mean you're looking for work?", Ali asked.
"Yes my lord", the boy was about to continue but the stealthy warrior walked forward past the barbarian and spoke up.
"What do you propose?", he asked Ali.
"I have work for you, gold is not a problem", Ali said as he snapped his fingers and a pouch full of gold coins appeared in his hand, he held it upside down and opened the pouch letting the gold coins fall.
Seeing the gold, the boy on the hill immediately rushed down to join the group. They all were infatuated by their shine, except for the priest who was the first to notice that the coins were floating in the air right now.
"You're a mage", the orange haired boy said, noticing the coins floating and then flying back into the pouch.
"Sort of", Ali said, sending the pouch back into his inventory.
"I'm not working for a Dragon Rider…Over my dead body", the barbarian said, looking at Ali.
"Ignore that idiot, my lord. I will work for you.", the boy said with a sleazy smile.
Ali ignored the kid and spoke up, "How about we make this fun?", Ali said with a smirk.
"I will challenge every single one of you four into a fight specialising in your forte. If you win, you get a pouch of gold and walk away…", Ali's words shocked them. They had to fight for years and accomplish great war feats to get coin like that, but he was just giving it away.
"And if we lose?", the swordsman asked.
"You enter my servitude and you still get paid with gold.", Ali said, and their eyes narrowed. They didn't like that. They were a free-spirited group after all, with many lords attempting to recruit them. Some even tried with force, but they all paid dearly.
"No", the barbarian said, sheathing his two axes with blue enchantments and turning around. "Let's go", he said to the rest of the group, but they didn't move.
"I heard barbarians loved to fight and would never cower from a challenge, but I see the rumours were lies", Ali said with a mocking tone, and the barbarian froze. A vein nearly popped on his forehead.
"You want a fight?", the barbarian turned around menacingly.
"I agree. My forte is the sword, and I don't believe you can beat me", the blonde said with a bored face, but it was just his natural look.
"I will test your martial arts", the priest said with a smile and closed his eyes, going back to his prayers.
"If the others lose, I'll join", the lean one said. His eyes were focused on Ali's shadow. Something was bothering him in Ali's shadow.
"I can count coins pretty well", the orange-haired one said while rubbing the back of his head.
"I'll start with the barbarian", Ali said as he took a step forward, breaking the twenty metres.
The blue-haired barbarian turned around and took out his axes…
"You and I, a battle of axes. I will not use magic or aura or my dragon. Only my body. How about that?", Ali said as he took off his white coat and held his hand out.
"I accept, no aura or magic", the barbarian said as he threw one of his two axes to Ali, and the two stood opposite each other. The rest of them jumped back and made space for the two.
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