I growl and snap my wings closed as I rocket down at the half-breed, fangs snapping closed and missing the thing's neck by mere inches as it flies to the side. I catch myself on the ground, ignoring the screams and the crater in the ground in favor of whipping my head around to glare at the disgrace above me. Their wings flap to keep them in place as they look down on me with wide eyes and I feel my anger grow, instincts and true emotion blending together smoothly. The only thing that prevents me from launching myself at it immediately once again is the noise my small thing makes on my back.
I twist my neck around to look back and see them hunched down close to my back, their eyes squeezed shut as they hold tightly onto my scales. The flames within dim a bit, and I lower my head to nuzzle their own with my chin, causing her to open her eyes and look up at me. I give her a sheepish smile, "I apologize, Eri, for not warning you. Were you scared?"
She shakes her head slowly, though the whiteness of her hands latched onto my scales say otherwise. "I was just surprised…" It comes out almost as a whisper, though my strong ears of course have no problem picking up the words. I have to hold back a grimace, because it's very clear to me that she's very shaken up by the sudden movements, both the abrupt drop and the crash. I take a quick look around and my eyes light up when I see an ice cream store that avoided being damaged by flying debris.
"Do you want some ice cream?" She perks up immediately, the offering towards her massive sweet tooth garnering me an instant result in making her feel better. Though it's hard to say whether she likes sweets or apples more, and when you combine them to give her a caramel apple… Well, those need to be regulated to special events. If I don't put some restriction on them they'd be all she eats! Which is fine when she fully Awakens and gets her own Lair, but until then she needs to eat proper meals full of meat!
I pinch my teeth into the back of her dress and lift her up as she squeals in surprise and laughter, kicking her legs and wiggling as I gently set her in front of the store and nudge her towards the door with my snout. "Go ahead and get what you like, you have the card DAB gave us." Ora and Kami apparently didn't appreciate people showing up at their building and making a big deal (for some reason) about me telling them to go there to be paid for my meals, so instead they gave me a card tied to the allotment DAB provides for each dragon that is willing to accept them as underlings. I have to admit that it does cause people to be less stupid after I finish eating, and it also comes with the benefit of being able to hand it off to Eri so she can pay for stuff herself!
"Just try to keep it to one hundred thousand yen so Ora doesn't complain." Not that she's aware of her complaining, amusingly enough. Evidently the woman is prone to calling people to complain about random things when it's late at night. It's not limited to just how much money gets spent on me though, one of the things she complains that always makes me laugh is that some 'scaly brat' has more curves than her. No idea who that could be, but it's funny enough that I haven't said anything about her weekly calls to me.
"Yes Mom!" She's too excited to bother opening the door, instead just running through it, the shattered glass falling to the ground as she passes through. I suppose that answers the question I had earlier about her durability. Still, that was just glass, she might just be a little more durable. I'll have to test it later.
For now though, I turn my attention back to the half-breed, who's landed a hundred feet away from me, a scared but determined expression on its face. I have to suppress a shudder at the dullness of its scales. Though, now that I know what it is, I briefly wonder if it truly is just that it doesn't know how to care for itself or if merely being such a pathetic thing is enough to ruin the natural beauty we're supposed to exhibit.
I suppose it won't have to worry about that for long though.
The thing very visibly swallows before opening its mouth. "S-stop where y-you are, v-v-villain!" It would be cute how big it's trying to puff itself up if it wasn't, well, what it is. "You n-need to come in q-quietly and a-a-allow yourself to be detained!" Its legs are shaking, and when I bare my teeth at it it stumbles several steps backwards, nearly falling on its ass.
"You dare presume to order me?" My eyes narrow in a glare and I glory in the way it hunches in on itself. "You are bold, half-breed," its head flinches down at hearing the truth of its shame said aloud, "to so much as speak in the presence of your betters, much less try to tell me what to do." I start to leave the small crater, absentmindedly wiping my right hand clean of the wet sticky substance on the edge. I ignore the way the half-breed's eyes widen even more, but before I can berate the thing more for its actions its eyes narrow, and a glint of determination sparkles in them. It launches itself forward, hands and claws extended towards me.
I growl at the audacity and flap my wings to lift me above its futile show of defiance, reluctant to allow the thing to touch me. It lands on the edge of the crater, staring down at it for a long moment before it whips its head up to glare at me. I don't understand why it's so upset though, the only thing in there is a red puddle… Wait, that doesn't make sense. I glance back down at my claw, and only then realize that what I wiped off was blood. Whoops.
Still, landing on someone is far less of a concern than teaching the half-breed its place. I know for a fact that whoever I crushed wasn't part of my Hoard or someone I'd given a calling card to, so I honestly don't care about them. But the fact that the half-breed does makes me curious. Not enough to bother asking or anything, but if it angers them…
"Aww, is the little half-breed upset about the dead human?" I sneer down at it, noticing that most of the occupants of the street have long since abandoned it. Most, but not all, because humans are very much a race of idiots. The ones who've chosen to remain to observe the half-breed's lesson are clearly those on the lowest end of the gene pool. Humanity would definitely benefit from these ones being removed. "If you care so much for the pitiful creatures, then save them!"
I don't hesitate to turn my flames on the fools, emerald flames surging towards them and drawing their screams into the air. The half-breed roars in defiance and once again launches themselves, though this time its target is in front of the fools instead of me. It uses its body as a shield, taking the brunt of my flames as pain replaces the defiance in its screams. The fools quickly scramble away, and once again I don't care enough to pursue. Yes, they will continue to taint humanity - and likely the gene pool - with their idiocy, but should they or their blood display their foolishness in front of me again, I can simply dispose of them at that time.
The thing growls, flaring its wings, and I'm taken by surprise when the action manages to disperse my flames, though copious burns cover its body. I suppose even half-breeds aren't so pathetic that they can't deal with some half-hearted flames. Even those of an actual dragon. It even succeeds in pushing through the pain enough that it can fly from the ground up towards me, teeth bared and weaponized claws aimed at my chest.
I don't bother dodging, instead doing a simple twirl in the air to gather a bit of momentum before letting my tail whip down atop its head, slamming it back down to widen the crater. I wait for it to try and make another attempt at defying its place, but nothing happens as the dust cloud raised from its landing slowly disperses. I don't bother to lower myself to the half-breed's level, content to wait.
It's only when the cloud finally clears that I see the crumpled human form on the ground, its dress half burned from its body, that I snort and start my descent, shifting to my humanoid form as I do. I land lightly beside the half-breed and peer down at it with narrowed eyes before kicking a small piece of debris in its direction. It clatters by its head, but I fail to receive any kind of reaction. I let out an annoyed huff before walking next to it. "Are you alive?"
Still getting no reaction, I give a kick to its side, rolling the thing several feet away to land on its back, blood flowing from its head where my tail evidently broke something. Not enough to kill it (immediately) as shown by the loud groan and the blood it coughs up. It's clearly unconscious, though, so it's no longer in a condition to listen to my lecture. I consider putting it out of its misery, staring down at the disgrace with my arms crossed under my chest, fingers drumming against the pliable orbs they rest under.
It truly would be a kindness to end the half-breed's life here and now, but still I hesitate. Something niggles at the back of my mind, a vague memory trying to come to the surface…
"I suppose I should show them leniency, given how pathetic they are."
…Yes. Yes, now I remember. I had given my word to Ora and Kami that I'd be lenient to any half-breeds I came across. Admittedly I had no idea how powerful the urge to slaughter them would be when I made that promise, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a promise I made. If anything, this encounter has just proven the reason I made that promise in the first place.
The whole encounter has taken not even ten minutes from me informing Eri she could get ice cream. "Half-breeds truly are pathetic creatures," I murmur disappointedly, and I think I see the thing twitch but write it off as a subconscious reaction. I sniff disdainfully before shaking my head and turning my back to it. "Know that you live only by my mercy, half-breed. Do not squander it by trying to stand up to your betters again."
I begin my walk to the ice cream store, focusing my hearing and smiling when I hear my unicorn happily chattering at somebody. Unfortunately, focusing my hearing like that means that I don't hear noises as well from other directions. Which is why I'm taken by surprise when someone slams a metal-shod foot into my face.
I skid backwards for several feet, extending claws from my feet and letting them dig furrows into the concrete to help bring myself to a stop. Slowly, I turn my head straight and bring a hand up to my cheek, idly brushing my fingers against where it tingles. I turn to face the one who striked me and raise an eyebrow at the sight of a rabbit woman giving off an aura of bloodlust, her face twisted into a rictus of rage. "I felt that," I say, bemused. My words just seem to cause the rabbit woman's rage to grow.
"I," she starts slowly, articulating every word even as they're nearly smothered under the weight of her fury, "am going to kick your ass into the fucking ground."
I continue to stare at her, still trying to process what just happened. "I felt that." She's clearly stronger than she looks, as strong as that Rappa guy who was with Bastard when I first got Eri. My lips pull back into a wide smile and I let my scales spread over my limbs, claws extending as I bend my legs. "You," I announce with a feral grin baring my fangs, "are fun!"
I launch myself forward, limiting my strength somewhat to make sure the fight isn't over too soon, and bring my claws down in an overhead swing. The woman surprises me with her fast reflexes though, bending backwards as she extends her leg straight ahead to land a powerful kick to my stomach that has me legitimately flyingbackwards! I laugh as I flare my wings to catch myself, flapping them to throw myself at her again, this time in a cartwheel that has my leg arcing down towards her head. The woman spins on her heel and brings her own up in an impressive roundhouse to meet my attack.
Unfortunately for her, it seems we both underestimated how much strength I put into that attack. I feel her leg crack and bend under my own, the lower part of her leg bending in half as she's forced to the ground. She doesn't scream though, putting her hands firmly on the ground and spinning herself to bring her good leg into another swing towards my stomach. It makes contact and I let out a grunt, but with my feet on solid ground I avoid getting sent back again. That's all she can accomplish, though, as I grab the leg to hold her still and reach down to grab her head. Even as I lift it she continues to glare at me, fists slamming ineffectually at the arm holding her head, and if her quirk allowed her glares to have physical power I might actually have to worry.
I give her a sharp fanged grin. "I look forward to our next fight, Rabbit Woman."
Her glare intensifies. "The name's Mirko, bitch."
My grin widens. "Continue to gain strength, Mirko. Maybe you'll be able to actually hurt me next time." I slam her head into the ground, cratering it once again and causing cracks to spread across the concrete as her eyes roll up inside her head. I hum happily as I let her go and once again turn back to the ice cream store to grab Eri. This has been a surprisingly fun day, even with the half-breed showing up.
`~`
(The ice cream store)
Eri stares with her head tilted at the boy with a bird head. "A chicken?"
The boy sniffs, slowly bringing a bite of his ice cream to his mouth. He answers before taking a bite, keeping a wary eye on the broken door where he can hear the sounds of battle emanating from. "I am more likened to a crow, child of light."
She blinks at him and tilts her head to the other side. "Do you taste like chicken?"
The boy feels alarm bells ringing in his head as a shudder rolls down his spine. "…No."
"Oh…" The child looks extremely disappointed by his answer, so much so that he almost speaks up to say yes instead. Almost. Eri turns to the man at the register, asking hopefully, "Do you have apple ice cream?"
The man swallows before nodding mechanically, sweat dripping down his face. Eri smiles brightly at him. "I'll take that!"
Two minutes later she's seated across from the bird-headed boy, happily digging into her frozen treat. After dropping a rather… unnerving piece of information on him. "That's your mother fighting out there?" She nods, humming happily with a fresh scoop in her mouth. "…Why is she fighting a hero?"
Eri looks him in the eyes and scrunches up her nose. "Because they're nasty!"
The boy blinks at her, but before he can reply a dark form sprouts from his chest and stares at the girl, silent in their bafflement. The girl blinks at them, tilting her head to the side. "A ghost chicken?"