Thunder broke the sky open, a single silhouette against the glistening moon. Its head was like a camel's, and on the top were the antlers of a stag. A mane that resembled a horse's flowed on top of its head. On its snout, the whiskers of a catfish, its eyes like those of a demon, its scales as dark as the night. Its body was like a serpent's, with four short legs, resembling a tiger's paws, three claws at the end like an eagle's.
Its laughter echoed throughout the forest, its voice as deafening as the thunder it basked in
"Through the throes of heaven, and the woes of man, I, the great dragon Eun Yong, have arrived."
Clouds gathered, covering the heavens. A torrent of rain fell, splattering the ground with water.
Rain. A power that was granted to a type of dragon.
I frowned. The Imugi's vain attempt to ascend succeeded.
It had become a Mir, a true dragon. My eyes trailed towards his talons, which had three. For spirit dragons, the number of claws was important. Three signified the lowest class, the commoners of dragon kind.
I focused on it, the text appeared with updated information.
[Eun Yong, The Mir Who Defied The Heavens Lvl.25]
I glanced at the deer worshipers who still moved robotically, before looking back at the Mir.
With a wave of its leg, the clouds cleared as it formed a giant sword of water, gripping it tightly in its clawed, tiger-like paws. "Where are you, little bear?" It asked menacingly as it slithered through the rain, its giant body undulating like it was swimming. The Mir's red eyes gleamed as it scanned the ants on the ground, looking for the Bear.
My vassals looked at each other and nodded. Hathor turned towards me, "My lord, I have failed to bring you his head, but please give us some more time." His head bowed, as his ears twitched.
Niles looked at me as Hathor spoke, his head slowly nodding, while Leah gave me a reassuring smile.
[My patience is running thin. And your failure to bring it down allowed it to become something more.] It didn't help that just the Mir's presence brought out such a nasty feeling of ire.
[You have until I can't tolerate its presence any longer.]
Niles gave me a grin, his foot stomped on the ground, and a pillar of the earth shot him up.
"I have failed you, my Lord." Hathor's ears drooped, and his head touched the ground. "But I will not fail twice." He raised his head and glared at the Mir in the sky.
He howled towards the moon, his silver moon orbs flushed with resolve, his front paws clenching the ground tightly. He kicked off the ground and skated towards Niles, a dagger of ice forming in his snout.
[They will fail.] My sister spoke for the first time since the battle began. I turned to look at her. Her golden eyes were narrowed, and her lower lip trembled with rage. I could feel the fury of her flames beside me. Her red scales that shimmered glowed, along with the other scales of the different elements around her collar.
Her foot tapped anxiously on the stone floor.
I didn't bother asking what she meant, as even the weakest dragon was still too far from them to reach.
[Then we will save them.] I too was feeling anger, my blood boiled, and my heart thumped. I was not an angry person. But this hate was too much to overcome on my own. It came from deep inside my soul, I felt it even more distinctly when I grasped what faith was.
[That thing cannot be allowed to live.] She continued, turning to look at me. Her eyes begged for assurance.
[It will die.] I had to hold it in; anger was not a strength but a weakness. My hot breath became more balanced. My clenched hands relaxed, and I let out a sigh, smoke leaving my mouth.
I reached out my hand, softly patting her head.
Her narrowed eyes softened, but she quickly turned and glared at the Mir.
I, in turn, looked towards the fight,
Niles reached the dragon, who was heading towards him, his fist pulled back, the exaggerated size of the serpent's jaw disappeared, replaced by the snout of a camel. His fist, encased in rocks, hit the dragon's cheek. Hathor attempted to cut the dragon's belly open.
Crunch! His gauntlet crumbled into nothingness, the Mir did not react or flinch; instead, his mouth curved upwards into a grin, his short beard swayed with his laughter. "Did you think that you could injure a dragon's scale?" While he shook with laughter, his legs did not rest; the sword of water was actively preventing Hathor from advancing.
The smile on Niles' face froze, his body flailing as he plummeted to the ground. His wife caught him in the air, and under her feet lay fire, which propelled her forward. "We have to stop meeting this way." Her voice was playful, but her eyes were serious. He stayed silent but flashed her a smile.
"Not this time." The dragon summoned the rain, and in a torrent of water that mimicked a dragon's breath, it coalesced. Her eyes widened, while her eyebrows furrowed, she held Niles in a singular hand and punched the beam with flames on her fist.
The blue budding flames on her fist made the water evaporate, but the torrent's energy pushed her backwards, disrupting her balance.
Niles looked at his wife's feet, his eyes distant.
"Let go." He spoke; his eyes focused with a faint smile on his face.
"I don't have time for jokes." She replied with gritted teeth, her hand desperately swatting the water away.
"Trust me."
"Fine." She let go of him, he fell for a bit before flames flickered beneath his feet, his platinum scales along his collar glowed. He stabilized in the air, a wide grin on his face, as he boisterously laughed.
It seemed the bear was finally using my power granted to him.
Hathor was fighting the water sword to a standstill, never advancing or retreating. He let go of the dagger in his mouth and focused on his speed, skating through the air, ice creating a trail behind him. The sword cleaved the air above his head. He ducked under the swing, and the sword, about to swipe him again, turned, its hilt twisting in the air. Hathor touched the sword running along the edge, his paws turning the sword into Ice. He launched himself towards the belly. The recoil caused the sword to cut its leg.
The Mir hissed in pain.
Hathor clenched his jaw, biting the belly of the Mir with all his strength. "WORTHLESS DOG!" With the expression of his hate, the rain intensified. His legs grabbed a hold of Hathor, attempting to wrench him off.
With his focus shifted, the beam was extinguished. Leah sighed in relief, her head turning towards Niles. Her eyes widened, and her mouth formed an o. She started laughing playfully. "Finally using the superior element?" She flashed him a smirk before turning back towards the Mir, the flames beneath her feet combusting, springing her forward.
"Wait, how do I do that?" He looked at her with envy in his eyes, "Ah screw it" He recklessly tried to imitate Hathor, who walked with ice beneath his feet.
He summoned rocks to his feet, using them to hold him steady. He wobbly stood on the pieces of earth and used them to go towards the Mir, each of his steps sending rocks flying towards the ground.
"Let go, you mutt!" The Mir roared, before looking at Leah, who was zooming towards him. On her fist, blue flames danced. "Don't you know? Water beats fire." He sent a wave of water towards her, redirecting the rain to focus her. She merely smiled in response. "Not my lord's fire." Her flame grew brighter until blue flames completely engulfed her arms, evaporating the water coming towards her.
"Impossible." The Mir looked at her incredulously, and her fist reached his face. He spat out some blood, his cheek singed. "And Earth Beats water." Niles punched him from the left, the gauntlet of Earth reinforced by flames, cracking the scales on his cheek.
Its face was full of shock, it couldn't believe it had been injured.
Its eyes became blank, the rain intensified, drilling into the ground as it splattered. Thunder streaked across the night sky, illuminating the black dragon.
Its face broke into a frown, "IMPUDENT MORTALS!" It screamed," YOU DARE DEFY THIS DRAGON GOD!" A wave of faith knocked everyone off, they were all flung to the ground.
Its talon pointed forward: "Death awaits you all." A giant tower of water formed behind him, like a massive wave coming from the ocean.
My ears twitched, I could hear some noise from the cave, and I quickly turned. The deer, who were otherwise quiet, finally reacted.
The noise came from the shrine maiden, "god." The deer's muttered in unison, "god." They stood up and knelt, tears running down their eyes, an empty smile on their lips, "god has arrived". "Praise the lord of water, Praise the lord of the North." They continued to cry, their eyes blankly staring into the sky. "Praise the Lord of Salvation."
I could see the Mir gathering their faith.
Huh.
The words escaped my lips.
god? This abomination? Do not make me laugh.
Laughter escaped my lips, and for the first time since my arrival in this world, I completely lost it.
My sister turned and looked at me, her face tilted. But her worried look didn't stop me, not when I could see the same rage in her eyes.
Evil Heresy Malevolency, I didn't know why I vehemently detested it. Yet the feelings wouldn't be much different even if I weren't being influenced.
I focused on the faith I sensed last time; this time, I attempted to use it like I used mana.
My fingers grabbed the air, and the faith he gathered shifted. I wrestled it from his control. I didn't know how I was doing it, but instinctively, I was purifying it, and from a malevolent force, it was slowly gaining benevolence. The same place where my hatred was coming from helped me gain control of the faith.
[You have learned to use faith]
[Part of your divinity has been unsealed!]
The text once again came, and I ignored it and focused on taking his faith away. The last time it used faith, it transformed into a Mir. I would not allow it to gain further power.
[Cease!] I growled and roared, my voice reaching the Heavens. My roar seemed to break the deer out of their trance.
They blinked rapidly, their smiles quickly turning into frowns. The faith they were sending stopped. They looked around in confusion before their eyes landed on me and my sister. "Please save us." They immediately began to plead.
"I beg, save us from that demon."
"It ate my child."
"Forced us to worship it."
I rose slowly, my wings creating currents with the force. I used some of the faith to project my voice, "You are safe. Await true salvation." My voice, like a heavenly choir, echoed through the cave.
My sister nodded, flying beside me.
[You are no Dragon, and you are no god.] I roared as I launched myself towards the Mir. I could hear the wind break around me, I sped through the air like a bullet, my hands holding still, gathering the tangible faith.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" The water behind it stopped gathering, it stood there like a wall. Its demon eyes narrowed, before charging towards us.
I didn't know how to effectively use faith, seeing how he used it to ascend and use it like a fake Yeouiju. I gained an idea.
A Mir's heavenly orb was like a wishing well, granting it a status akin to a lesser god. I gathered the faith I purified and wrapped it around myself and my sister.
As much as I wanted to believe we could beat this lesser creature. We were too small.
Even if it wasn't a true Mir, it was still a Mir, and we were merely baby dragons. Something I could fix temporarily with faith.
[You have used and cast Gigantification Lvl.5] I could feel the faith slowly dissipating and running like a meter. We would have to kill this thing fast.
My body grew exponentially, to what our adult forms would be like. My body bulged and expanded until I was the size of a three-story house. I turned to look at my sister.
She was slightly smaller, only the size of a two-story house. From the scales that represented the other elements along her collar sprouted heads, all looking at me with confusion.
[With this, we can even the playing field.] My sister and I charged to meet the Mir head-on.