Noboru darted back, skidding across icy rocks as a giant claw slammed down where he had been standing.
Its single nail stretched far longer than any man could realistically imagine, and high above, the dragon's head rose into the clouded sky, beak-like mouth parting to unleash a whirlwind of ice and mist that blocked out the moon for a moment. Hail rained down across its light blue, shimmering scales as its body coiled around the mountain's upper ridges, vast enough that the peaks themselves seemed equal beside it.
As Noboru craned his neck to take in the colossal figure towering overhead, the others hurried to regroup behind him, staring upward in stunned silence. The Frost Serpent's dark blue eyes, twitched as they locked onto Noboru, then shifted to the carcass of the dying creature at their feet. The dragon lifted its head and released a screech of pure rage that rolled down the slopes like an avalanche of sound. They understood there and then, the dragon had not slain these creatures. But it as sure as hell had come to avenge them.
"You... insignificant worms," the dragon hissed, its voice a deep, rolling thunder that vibrated through their bones and frosted their breath in mid-air. "You dare trespass into my domain, slaughtering the guardians of these heights? The yetis, the frost wolves, my kin in spirit, protectors of the eternal ice. And now you come for me, time and time again, one of the last eternals? Humanity's greed knows no bounds, devouring all in its path like a plague upon the world."
The group stood rooted for a heartbeat, weapons half-raised. Markus tightened his grip on his sword, ice already creeping along the blade. Domanic shifted, fine grains trickling from his fingertips as his sandy body readied itself. Sarah's palms flickered with heat as fire laced her arms, Jamie cupped his hands to channel sound, Killerblade's skin glistened with the first beads of poison sweat, why did the dragon have to come now before the actual heroes arrived is what she thought, and Amber stood at the rear, fingers twitching uselessly as she tried—and failed—to grasp the threads of reality.
Noboru stepped forward, speed thrumming in his limbs like a drug, "We didn't kill them! We're here to—"
"Lies!" the dragon roared, the single word shaking snow from distant ledges. Its beak snapped shut with a crack that echoed for miles. "I smell the blood on your hands, the echoes of screams in the wind. Mankind curses the earth with its hubris, trampling the sacred, claiming dominion over what it cannot comprehend. You shall pay for your sins, and I shall be the harbinger of winter's wrath upon your wretched souls!"
The colossal claw swept down again, sweeping across a swath of ground wide enough to crush an building. Noboru blurred into motion, his speed carrying him in a streak as he grasped Sarah and Jamie by their collars and yanked them clear. The claw gouged a trench deep into the ground, hurling boulders and ice shards skyward.
"Scatter!" Noboru shouted over the roar of displaced air. He released them and shot toward the dragon's forelimb, aiming for the gap beneath a giant scale.
Markus rolled to his feet, sword flashing. "On me! Form up!" He drove his free hand forward. A towering wall of jagged ice surged from the ground, thick and high enough to block the dragon's immediate follow-through. The barrier shuddered under the impact of another claw strike but held just long enough for the others to hop back.
The dragon recoiled slightly, eyes narrowing. "Foolish mimicry of my essence," it snarled. "You wield ice as a child plays with toys. I am the storm incarnate!"
It drew in a breath that pulled the wind itself toward its jaw, then exhaled a torrent of freezing mist. The temperature plunged violently; hailstones battered down like artillery. Killerblade darted forward grinding wildly as she repeatedly slashes at the boulder like chunks of ice that fell down upon them.
Domanic dissolved into a swirling cloud of sand, unhindered by the chill. "I've got the flanks!" He reformed his right arm into a massive, hammer-shaped mass of compacted grains and charged the dragon's exposed underbelly. The blow landed with a resonant crack against a single scale, sending a weak tremor up the beast's length. The dragon's tail lashed out in response, sweeping in arc. Domanic scattered into loose sand, letting the tail pass through him harmlessly, then coalesced again to strike the around the same spot, weak damage, but an annoying distraction.
Noboru exploited the opening, racing up the dragon's forelimb in a blur of motion. He leaped from scale to scale, each one broad enough to stand on comfortably, dodging the spines of ice. "Eyes! Go for the eyes!" he called down. His fists hammered at the joint where wing met shoulder in a rapid barrage; chips of a scale flew free, but the dragon twisted violently, nearly flinging him into open air.
Sarah hurled fireballs that exploded against the colossal hide in bursts of steam. The heat softened patches of ice, but penetration was shallow. "It's working a little—keep the pressure on!"
Jamie clapped his hands sharply. A focused sound burst lanced upward, striking the dragon's ear slit and forcing it to shake its head in disorientation. "Balance disrupted—hit it hard!"
Amber concentrated, muttering, "Just... make something slip, anything favorable." A single loose rock vibrated but nothing more. She bit her lip, useless frustration mounting as the battle raged.
The Frost Serpent spread its wings and beat them once. The resulting force of wind hurled the group backward. Markus reacted instantly, raising ice anchors from the ground to root their feet in place. "Hold!" Then he charged, sword slashing at the nearest forelimb. Ice raced along the cut, sealing it, but a spray of frozen blood arced outward, crystallizing mid-flight.
"You dare wound me with your splinter of a tool?" the dragon screeched. "Humanity's arrogance will be your tomb!" It slammed its claw down toward Markus. He dove aside, but the shockwave sent him skidding.
Noboru blurred in, hauling Markus clear. "Too close. Coordinate!"
Domanic extended tendrils of sand, wrapping them around the base of the dragon's tail in an attempt to anchor it. "Pulling, now!" The beast thrashed, scales grinding against sand, but Domanic held, buying a single second.
Killerblade sprinted forward, leaped onto the thrashing tail, and drove both swords into a joint. She dragged the blades along her sweat-slicked forearms, coating them in a paralysing venom before twisting them deeper. The dragon hissed as numbness spread.
It countered by flash-freezing the poisoned section and shattering it away like brittle glass. The tail regrew slowly in a sheen of new ice. Freed, the beast reared back and dove, beak wide to engulf Sarah.
Jamie unleashed a deafening disruption wave. The sonic impact staggered the dragon mid-descent; it veered and crashed into a snow shelf, sending an avalanche cascading down the slope.
The fight wore on. Noboru darted around the head, delivering rapid strikes. Markus hurled ice spears that embedded shallowly in the thick neck. Domanic shifted forms constantly—blade arms, hammers, tendrils—chipping away wherever he could reach. Sarah's flames clashed with mist in explosive clouds of steam. Killerblade poisoned wounds in quick, daring strikes before retreating. Jamie's sound bursts kept the dragon reeling.
"You fight like rats in a trap," the dragon mocked. "Cursed be your kind—may eternal winter claim your bones!"
Exhaustion crept in. The dragon's sheer mass and endless ice made every blow feel futile. A wing sweep sent Sarah and Jamie tumbling into snowbanks, bruised and winded. Killerblade took a swing from it's tail sending her into the side of a larger boulder causing her to fall and clutch the ground wheezing. Amber dodged desperately, her probability attempts yielding only trivial near-misses.
Noboru panted, speed faltering. "Markus, Pin it down!"
Markus slammed his sword into the ground and poured everything into one surge. Towering pillars of ice erupted around the dragon's legs and lower coils, locking the colossal form in place. "All on me—now!"
Domanic reinforced the ice with layers of compacted sand. The dragon strained, cracks spiderwebbing outward, but the group hammered every opening.
Then the Frost Serpent broke free with apocalyptic force. Its claw descended in a killing arc—directly toward Amber, who stood frozen in place. "Amber—move!" Markus bellowed.
She couldn't. In the final instant, Markus lunged forward, shoving her aside with his shoulder while thrusting his other hand upward. A thick pillar of ice erupted beneath her, hurling her clear. The dragon's palm slammed down on Markus instead, crushing him into the frozen earth. His sword spun free, clattering across the ice.
"Markus!" Noboru's scream cut through the wind as time seemed to freeze.
The others lay scattered—Sarah clutching cracked ribs, Jamie dazed, Killerblade limping, Domanic half-reformed from scattered grains. Amber scrambled up, unharmed but trembling. "I couldn't... I couldn't do anything..."
The dragon pressed down harder, grinding Markus beneath its immense weight. "Pathetic savior," it sneered. "Your ice is but a shadow of mine."
From beneath the palm came a choked groan. Markus, blood streaming from his mouth, clenched his fist. Ice surged around his hand, coalescing into a jagged, gleaming sword of pure frost. He screamed violently cursing with a final, defiant thrust upward, he drove the blade into the soft under-flesh of the palm. The blade extended violently, birthing a colossal pillar of ice that shot straight through the dragon's arm and torso, spearing upward from within.
The beast howled, body convulsing as the impalement tore through vital organs. Domanic whirled into a storm of sand, clearing a path through falling debris and hail. "Noboru—now!"
Killerblade dashed forward slicing at the last remnants with a violent grin helping clear the path. Noboru spotted Markus's original sword lying in the snow. He snatched it in a blur, his last reserves igniting. He sprinted up the massive ice pillar—feet flashing across its frozen surface—straight toward the gaping wound in the dragon's chest. The beast thrashed, scales shattering, but momentum carried him.
He leaped of the ice swinging his arm as he burst through the other side of the dragon slicing it's heart in two. The brilliant light of the moon coming in to his view as he reached out his free hand as if to grab it. From the ground the others snapped their heads to see him, a still moment.
A final, shuddering crack rippled through the colossal frame. Scales crumbled to glittering dust; the immense body unraveled into swirling snow and mist. Noboru fell as the light of the moon died, sword slipping through his fingers, but Domanic's sandy tendril shot out, catching him and easing him to the ground.
As the last remnants of the Frost Serpent faded into the wind, its fading head turned slowly toward the bloodied, bruised Markus still laying bloodied but alive. The dragon's dimming eyes held a glint of something almost solemn.
"Wielder of ice... you protected your own, even against an unstoppable force. Be born as one of my kin in your next life."
Then it was gone.