"You're giving up?" I asked. It was supposed to be mocking, but even I truly wanted to know if she was. Would've made things a whole lot easier for me, anyways. So there was a hint of me being genuine there.
She spat right on the wood. I propped up my legs on the lazy-boy-chair that I found while I was waiting for her to regain her senses.
"N-never…" Cloudjumper slowly got up, her wings forming over her body before spreading out entirely from one side of the room to the other. My eyes widened, she has such large wings. Wingspan must be around the size of a fighter jet.
Then, her gauntlet hand pointed at me. "You…" She snarled, growled after. Fangs flashing—yeah that's not a good sign. I sighed and slowly got off the chair.
Put the book down that I was reading, and looked right back at her. "Say, we can all forget about this and—"
"No…!"
She lowered herself, and with a large beat of her wing, she shot out directly at me. So fast that I barely had any time to react. Her hands clutched onto my cloak and pushed me backwards from the hole we both entered from.
Out of the house, wind rushed my ears. My tattered cloak fluttered along with the wind. She held her fist and threw one, before I caught it, and threw her around ahead of me. She descended faster on the ground with a large thud.
I remained above, dust kicked up, but there was a red light shining from all of it. Didn't look safe, and sounds like a trap—
It caught my attention, or not the light itself, a humming sensation. In my horns, [Dragon's Authority].
I moved just to the right, slightly. I didn't even get the chance to see how fast Cloudjumper moved. I turned around, and she was above me, panting heavily. Her gauntlet outlined with red mana before slowly fading away.
Then, I felt something drip on my cheek. I grabbed two fingers, and pressed against it. When I looked at it directly.
It was blood.
My own blood.
I was slightly shaken, this was the first time I've ever seen my own blood. Red, as usual—or not, really. I'm a Dragonoid can't be comparing everything to a human now. But even the sight of it was dangerous.
Might've been the biggest reality check so far. That…I'm real. And I can bleed if someone really pushed me to the edge.
"What? Cat's got your tongue?" Cloudjumper mocked in return, her gauntlet hand carried some of it, but she only shook it away with a single wave. Smiling harder than she was a moment ago. Seems like just at the sight of blood is enough to get her going.
It was a minor cut, but still, bleeding. But still, at her speed that she went. I didn't even notice her passing by me.
Just…just how fast did she go? There's no telling how many more times she could abuse this. If it wasn't for [Dragon's Authority] warning me in advance…I would've been a kebab. Cloudjumper wouldn't have hesitated to spear me right then and there.
But even that's why I think she's slightly shocked I managed to barely dodge it.
I sigh. I didn't want to do this. But it looks like I have no choice. We are far away from Royalia, into the mountainside. If anything, the mountains can probably take the hit for this.
Wait, on second thought, should I even endanger the mountains? They are home to plenty of animals and resources. Even their being and presence means a lot to the islands.
Whatever, whatever. I'm still brimming with massive amounts of mana and strength. Feels like I could explode at any given moment. If anything, I need to use it now.
I chuckle, "No, no. Nice trick you did there, though,"
"Now, it's my turn."
A grin forms on my face as I smack a fist into my open palm hand. Then, with immense speed, I zipped across the air, arriving right before Cloudjumper with a ready-charged fist. She looked surprised, shocked.
I was too fast for her to catch on, it looks like. With my fist, it was coated in black flames. Infernal Magic. Thrusting my fist forward to connect to her chin, landing a powerful uppercut.
A massive blow, Cloudjumper was sent upwards into the upper regions of the sky, past the mountaintop as it felt like even from that punch alone the area shook. No, the mountain couldn't have shook, right? Maybe I'm imagining that.
I continued forward, zipping across the air leaving a silver trail of mana. I led in with a kick towards her body again, flipping and flying through the sky yet again as I landed another hook that sent her crashing right into the mountains.
She broke through one, and then got embedded into the other. With this, a faint silver aura surrounded my body. I'm going to Supercharge this next magic skill. Its effect will be devastating.
I flew after her shortly, arriving as her body was stuck within the mountain. I wanted to laugh, or something inside me wanted to laugh, but I figured it was best not to.
Shaking my head, I spoke. "...and to think that you thought you had me beat earlier. Funny, isn't it?"
Cloudjumper groaned. Muttering something I couldn't hear even with my pointed ears. I brushed it off, though.
Floating around, I kicked my legs up, rotating upside down. "You see, a part of me wants to finish you off right here. Procedure, habit…I guess. But there's another part of me that hopes you understand how this all started, really."
"You work for Sultan, right? Like a…knight—-yeah, he called you knight. So, thing is, he's not the best person to be around. Koga has already made his choice…but Cloudjumper, I think you could be different."
What am I even talking about? Am I making an excuse for Cloudjumper just because she's a dragon like me?
Yes.
Am I ashamed?
No.
I waited for her response, but it didn't come. Her head was held low, I couldn't see her eyes. Her armor has some dents within it, but nothing broke off entirely. I have to remember that by extension, that's connected to Cloudjumper as well.
I didn't want to break it, so really it was more of a struggle trying to hold back…what I'm already trying to hold back.
And even then…I still don't feel satisfied. I haven't went all-out yet. I was planning on supercharging my next magic skill…but it doesn't look like I need that. The silver outline aura around my body waned down.
"And…yeah, I am Ryuuzen Valeflame. Don't know if Sultan briefed you on that earlier. A big deal, really. I'm the…Sovereign of Calamity and Strife. I know, you probably don't believe me either just as much as everyone else does, but—"
"...chain."
"Huh?"
Cloudjumper's voice came without warning. Chain. A single word. What did that mean?
I analyzed her closely. A faint trace of golden aura around her fingertips. Her fingers would twitch randomly, suddenly…no…no, that wasn't random.
It almost looked…
Orchestrated.
I received a stronger humming sensation from my horns this time, it rang so loudly that it took everything within me not to pull the horns out myself. My eyes tracked everywhere, and below us, there was nothing but lush forest.
And…
A golden light.
It was faster than I expected, [Dragon's Authority] tried to help me, but my speed was too slow. I tried to slip away, but it latched onto my ankle, pulling me down and onto the ground with a large thud.
A crater formed from the impact, I coughed slightly, twice in pain. The golden chain, glowing even within the dust latched itsef from my ankle to my legs, and to the rest of my body. I tried to get free, but I just struggled even more.
Grunting didn't add much to my cause, either. Grabbing the chain itself felt like I was pushing against my own strength—it wasn't working.
When it was all said and done, the chains wrapped around my body entirely. Restricting every limb, including my tail. Cloudjumper descended, with a keen smile on her face as if she's just seen her opponent lose.
Well, because.
He did.
Now, I'm here, stuck on the ground, wrapped around in chains. Guessing, this had to be a S-ranked artifact. But nothing comes to my mind right now as to how Cloudjumper got her hands on it.
It requires precise mana dexterity. Her mumbling and muttering must've been the constant chanting to even get the chains to work, it sounds like.
Which…actually makes more sense.
And not to help these things are not made out of any other material, no. Just one look at it, and you could already tell.
It's the same material that's made within my horns.
Dragotanium.
The hardest material in the game.
I'm binded by literally my own material.
Sigh…why did I have to drop my guard…?