Spark's [Celestial Healing] was activated. A cool current surged beneath his skin. Knitting the damage from the dragon's tail. The bruising agony quickly receded. Replaced by a dull ache that he barely registered.
His Draconic Werelion form was built for this. For absorbing punishment like it was nothing. And the healing crestmagic spell made him even harder to harm.
The now-one-eyed charcoal-scaled beast before him roared again. A sound that vibrated through the very cobblestones. Its fury was a palpable thing. A wave of ancient malice.
Spark's [King Disposition] flared in automatic response. A shield against the dragon's despair-inducing aura. He felt the mental assault wash over him. A crushing weight designed to paralyze lesser beings.
But it splintered against his impenetrable innate will. He was immune to its intimidation. But the physical threat remained.
He moved before the dragon could fully recover its balance. A blur of muscle and scaled fur. The single good eye of the beast tried to track him. But its movements were still hampered by its wound.
Spark dropped his Hellfire Rifle back to his Technomind Space on the move. It was time for melee clash. Close quarter was also his specialty.
He re-activated [Elemental Coating - Water]. His massive claws were shimmering with a vibrant, cerulean glow. The air around them grew heavy. A subtle mist forming from the sheer density of the water magic infused into them.
He leaped, powered by coiling muscles of his legs. Ones that made his movements unnaturally fast. Almost like a teleportation.
The dragon tried to snap its jaws shut. But Spark was already past its head. Aiming for a weak point he'd observed.
His water-coated claws tore into the dragon's neck. At lighter colored scales which seemed to be a recovering old wound.
A loud crash. The claws managed to tear the weaker scales. Gouging its neck deep.
The water magic played its role. It was compressed and solidified by the impact. Acted like a blunt, hyper-dense energy, softening the scales, and pulverizing muscle and bone beneath them.
A wet, tearing sound echoed as he ripped a chunk of flesh from its throat. Black blood, thick and reeking of sulfur, gushed out . Coating his claws and arm.
The dragon shuddered. A rattling, choked roar escaping its mangled throat. It thrashed wildly. Its sheer bulk itself was a dangerous weapon.
Spark, still clinging to its neck, felt the impact of its body against the ground. As it bashed the ground and rolled. He dug his claws deeper. Using the [Draconic Bones] of his own structure to withstand the jarring impacts. His grip held.
He had to end this. He had blinded one of its eyes and gouged its neck. But this beast was still too dangerous.
He twisted his body. Straddling its wildly thrashing neck. Pulling his Hellfire Rifle again from his Technomind Space. No time to reload with a special bullet. Energy bullets would have to work.
He aimed for the exposed, gushing wound he had just created. Point blank range. He fired. A volley of hellfire energy blasts was impacting the ruined neck tissue.
Each shot exploded with a sickening wet bang. Cooking the exposed flesh. Burning and cauterizing as it tore deeper.
The dragon's thrashing intensified. A death throe. It attempted to roar one last time. A choked, gurgling sound that ended abruptly. As it slumped down.
Its immense head crashed to the ground. Shaking the earth. Splintering cobblestones. Steam rose from its neck. Where the hellfire had done its work.
Spark jumped and landed lightly beside the fallen monster. His chest was heaving, his muscles were screaming. He didn't relax. One down. Hundreds more to go.
Around him, the sight of battle was bleak. Other nobles fought fiercely. Clad in their finery and armed with various magical implements. They were a powerful force. But, they were being systematically torn apart.
A nobleman in gleaming mechanical plate armor was swatted aside like a fly. His body crumpled against a ruined building. A soulcraft sorceress, desperately chanting, was incinerated by a dragon's breath attack. Before she could finish her spell.
The dragons were pretty much unstoppable. Their scaly hides were shrugging off most attacks. Their sharp claws and scorching breath proved extremely lethal.
Despair clung to the air. Thick and suffocating. Even as the nobles fought with the desperation of cornered animals. Their struggles seemed... hopeless.
Then, a metallic clang echoed from the city walls. Spark turned his head sharply.
Massive cannons, previously unseen, swung into position. They looked crude. Almost primitive. Yet their muzzles glowed with arcane energy. With a series of thunderous roars, they fired.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
They were not solid shot. The 'cannonballs' were not even fast, or hard. Instead, they were fragile, spherical glass projectiles. They soared through the air. Trailing faint, shimmering lines.
Spark immediately realized what they were. These weren't ordinary cannonballs. They were... Dragonbane Bombs.
They struck the ground, the nobles, and the dragons themselves with hollow impacts. No explosive blast. No immediate devastation.
Instead, they shattered. Releasing a thick, yellowish-green smoke that billowed outwards. The smoke had an oddly sweet smell. Like burnt sugar mixed with something metallic.
It wasn't unpleasant. But it was pervasive. Clinging to the air. Seeping into every crevice.
The dragons' roars faltered. One beast, mid-flight, suddenly swerved. Nearly crashing into another. Its movements grew sluggish.
Another, about to unleash a torrent of flame, coughed. And only a weak sputter of smoke emerged.
The majestic ferocity that had been their hallmark began to wane. Their eyes were once burning with predatory intelligence. They seemed to glaze over now.
The Dragonbane smoke was working.
Spark felt the shift immediately. The immense pressure the dragons exerted was gone. The sheer unstoppable power was lessened. It was like a heavy blanket had been lifted from the battlefield. He could breathe easier. Move more freely.
"Now!" A noble warrior roared. His voice was an echoing roar that carried over the diminished roars of the dragons. "They're weakened! Push them!"
Spark lunged again. A primal engine of destruction. The charcoal-scaled dragon he had just felled was a testament to his raw power. But now, the playing field had shifted.
He targeted a medium-sized green dragon that was stumbling. Its movements were clumsy. The coiling muscles in his legs propelled him forward. Turning him into a streaking shadow. He was on the beast in an instant. Leaping onto its back.
Its scales should be tough as steel. But now, they felt pliable. Almost soft. He sunk his claws in. Tearing through the softened hide with brutal ease. The dragon shrieked. A high-pitched sound of pain and confusion.
Spark didn't hesitate. He jammed his [Elemental Coating - Water] infused fist into its weakened neck. Straight through the scales and muscle. A sickening crunch echoed as bone splintered. He twisted. Tearing out its windpipe.
The green dragon convulsed, gargling on its own blood, and crashed down, lifeless.
Around him, the nobles were spurred by the sudden advantage and Spark's unyielding ferocity. They found new hope and courage.
Spells that had barely singed scales now burned deep. Swords that had bounced off scaled body now penetrated easily. Arrows, tipped with crude magic, pierced vulnerable spots. The tide had turned. If only for a moment.
"Focus on their eyes! Their joints! Their throats!" A command from who know whop ripped through the chaos.
Spark ignored it. And moved from dragon to dragon. A whirlwind of claws and muscle. A blue dragon was attempting a clumsy charge. It found its huge head snapped sideways by a powerful kick from Spark's Draconic Werelion form.
His [Draconic Bones] lending him impossible force to the blow. The beast roared in agony. Spark was on it instantly, his hellfire rifle spitting rounds into its eye until it stopped twitching.
He faced a red, serpentine dragon that tried to coil around him. But its movements were slow. Almost drunken.
Spark wasn't trapped. He activated [Devil Contract (Time Stop)]. The world froze. The massive, scaled coil, moments from crushing him, hung motionless. He had three seconds.
He moved. A blur within stillness. He aimed for its exposed underside. A vulnerable area usually protected by its posture. His claw, coated with [Elemental Coating - Water], ripped through the softened scales like paper.
He tore open its belly. Exposing glowing internal organs. He fired his hellfire rifle into the gaping wound. Not once. But thrice. Blasting the energy rounds into its vital organs.
He jumped backward and reloaded mid-motion. Pulling a new clip from his Spatial Belt as he danced out of the frozen coil.
Time resumed.
The red dragon convulsed. A wave of fire was failing to materialize from its mouth. Its body sagged. Its insides were burning with hellfire. It thrashed weakly. Its lifeblood pouring onto the cobblestones... Then it went still.
This was a massacre now. A brutal reversal. Dragons that had seemed invincible were now vulnerable. Stumbling. Confused. Several more fell.
A black dragon which was already wounded before the smoke, collapsed under the combined assault of a unit of armored nobles. Their mechanical axes had finally slain it.
A brown earth-dragon found its rocky hide no longer impenetrable. It was brought down by a barrage of focused spells.
Spark killed another. A massive white frost dragon. He flew with his [Dragon Wings] crestmagic spell. Landed on the flying dragon's back.
And tore off one of its wings mid-flight. Sending it plummeting to the ground. Where he then stomped its head into a bloody crater.
He was now covered in dragons' blood. A fearsome, triumphant figure amidst the carnage.
The sheer ferocity of his attacks, combined with the weakening effects of the Dragonbane smoke, broke the nearby dragons' morale.
Some tried to retreat. Clumsily flapping their wings. Only to be brought down by the relentless bombardment of Dragonbane Bombs from the city walls. Or the barrage of spells from the motivated nobles.
Victory. It felt within grasp. The air was still thick with the sweet, metallic scent of the smoke.
But then, the ground trembled. Not from the dragons fallen from their escaping flight. But from the aura of something far more immense.
A shadow fell over the battlefield. Larger and deeper than any of the dragons there. The sun was already struggling through the smog and smoke. It seemed to dim even further.
A majestic roar ripped through the air. Deeper than thunder. More ancient than mountains. It wasn't the shriek of a wounded beast. Or the challenge of a lesser dragon. It was the sound of undisputed dominion.
From overhead, came a dragon unlike any other. Descending from the smoke-laden sky. It was colossal. Much more enormous compared to all others on the field.
Its scales were a dark, obsidian black. Shimmering like polished stone. Its wings were vast and leathery. Spanned like storm clouds. Its eyes glowed with chilling, malevolent intelligence.
And upon its massive head, lay not horns. But a crown-like set of intricate antlers. Twisted and arcane. Marking it as royalty among the dragons.
The Dragon King...