His voice was deep and raspy, but I sensed a hint of madness as he jeered at us. With his hunched back, he appeared to stand at around 5' 10". At a glance, his thin and wrinkly body appeared weak, but I could sense that there was immense strength hidden in his wiry body. He moved his hands behind his back gracefully, and stepped forward, his simple gray robes shifting slightly with the wind.
Naturally, as I appraised the man, my eyes eventually met his. Or at least, my eyes met whatever it was that I was looking at. My heart palpitated when my gaze met his "eyes" and the environment felt as if it grew 10 degrees colder.
In the place where his eyes should've been I instead saw completely blackened voids with lightning flowing through them. I couldn't tell if his eye sockets had been hollowed out or if they had been filled with some bizarre and mysterious darkness.
His smile grew when he noticed my wariness and he poised himself to attack us. However, just before he did, Raya interjected with a question.
Raya: [In all this time I've spent running away from you, I'd always had one question on my mind. Just one thing that didn't make sense about your actions. For old time's sake, or perhaps as a reward for being the strongest Drogo of my generation, may I ask you this question?]
The old man's eyes narrowed. I had no idea what Raya was talking about, but it seemed that Kael Drogo might've had a clue. In that moment I realized that I'd never really tried to understand the man standing before me. But from what little Raya told me about her past, it was clear that he was the one responsible for most of her misery.
Kael Drogo: [Hmph, with how many of you that pig of a son of mine pumped out, it was inevitable that at least one of you would be passable... You might've even been decent if that stupid brother of yours hadn't sullied your head. Unfortunate, but don't think yourself irreplaceable.]
Though the man's words were harsh, he wasn't trying to kill us for the moment. Raya seemed to take this as permission to ask the question she wanted to ask.
Raya: [Why start this war? Why would you willingly become Lagrimas's little bitch and let him use you for his machinations? The proud dragon I knew wouldn't bow to anyone, let alone some whale from down south.]
Whether or not Raya's jab at Kael offended him or not was unknown because the man had no reaction to Raya's question. It was like he was bored with the conversation. Nevertheless, he answered:
Kael Drogo: [I'll answer this question not out of any familiar love, but because in my eyes you're already good as dead. And it would be a sad thing for a strong warrior's final request were to be thrown away, no matter how stupid of a question it is.]
Raya snorted at that, but didn't say anything as Kael Drogo continued.
Kael Drogo: [Simply put, the world will be seeing some major changes in the coming years. I want to put this family into a position where we can best capitalize on the coming Cataclysm. To do that, we need power. The agreement that I have with Lagrimas is one of mutual cooperation. We'll be done with one another once the Royals go back home with their tails between their legs.]
Thinking about the ramifications of what Kael Drogo had said had to be put on hold because he had disappeared after finishing speaking.
Raya intercepted a gray colored blur before it could reach me.
He's fast, much faster than me.
As I sprinted in, I pulled out hundreds of blood soaked bandages that had been wrapped around my arms and torso and threw them at Kael Drogo. Alone, a single blood soaked bandage couldn't do much, but the bandages coiled and tangled on top of one another to form three giant tendrils which pincered Kael simultaneously.
This, along with Raya's ongoing onslaught made it so that Kael Drogo was completely surrounded.
Don't underestimate me!
As the tendrils neared their target, it looked like Kael wouldn't be able to dodge and would get impaled, but the old man's grin simply grew even more maniacal. He took a step away from Raya, and simply swiped his hand backwards through the air, exploding the tendril that was about the pierce his back. Against all reason, every drop of blood that had exploded out of the tendril missed him.
I took the opportunity to place my hand on Raya's back and heal every scratch that had hit her. Though she had only been fighting against Kael for a few seconds, her body already had small cuts in several places.
The wounds closed up instantly, and Raya raised her sword to the sky.
Lightning bolts cascaded down from the heavens one after another. Kael Drogo narrowly avoided each as he backed away from us.
The tendrils would simply get fried by lightning if I sent them to attack now, so I reclaimed the blood stored in them and stepped in front of Raya, swinging my blood blade horizontally. After a half second delay, a thin layer of blood that spanned the entire clearing magically appeared three feet above the ground.
Since Kael Drogo had been religiously avoiding all of my blood related attacks, I figured I might try this spell. Blood Blanket didn't do much any damage since I normally used it to set up other attacks, but Kael Drogo didn't know that.
As expected, Kael jumped into the air to avoid the blood. Raya took off after him while encasing herself in a ball of electricity.
After a brief exchange midair, Raya came crashing back down in a crater a few meters away. I dashed in to hopefully provide her some healing, but suddenly Kael Drogo appeared in front of me.
So he wants to take care of me first.
Time slowed down as I looked up at his vicious grin. But I only had enough time to register that my life could end within the next second. Instinctively, I threw a punch at his face.
Catching it with one hand, Kael smiled at me for a brief moment. All the skin, muscle, and bone in my arm turned to shredded meat. But it wasn't like I had expected to hurt him with a simple punch.
I willed all of the blood that had previously belonged to my arm to continue moving forward and explode in Kael's face. A few drops reached him, but he disappeared before it could accumulate to any meaningful amount.
Reappearing behind me, he waved his hand and large chunks of my flesh were torn off. I exploded the torn off chunks before I could completely lose my connection with them. Not a drop landed on him. He raised his arm and more flesh was ripped away from me. I managed to dodge partially, avoiding instant death while also willing the newly torn off chunks to explode. It missed him again, but Kael took a half step back to avoid the blood, allowing me a brief moment to heal myself.
And so I continued to dance on the tip of a dagger.
With every wave of his arms, pieces of my flesh were torn off, exploded my me, and then regrown once more. Kael refused to be touched by any of the blood, making him unable to finish me off for good. But, in the mere two seconds that I'd been fighting him alone, I'd been torn apart dozens of times. Had I the mental capacity to think, I would've been screaming internally for Raya to hurry up.
Luckily, Raya did eventually return to take over the role of directly facing Kael Drogo. In the brief respite this allowed me, I shaped some blood into an outline of my right arm, then regrew a new arm in an instant. I then realized that in my earlier panic I'd let the Blood Blanket fall to the ground, painting it with a fresh coating of blood, but making it impossible for me to use.
Recreating my blood sword, I jumped back in. The three of us reached a deadlock for what felt like hours. Kael Drogo would land attacks on Raya and I often, which I would then heal instantly. Whenever Kael Drogo targeted me, Raya would protect me well enough that Kael Drogo couldn't find any openings to instantly kill me.
Normally, just fighting against Raya and I in this manner would damage our opponent. Every time a part of me was cut open, blood would splash in many directions. Kael could dodge the droplets, but a small amount of blood would turn into mist, which would be breathed in. It wasn't a quantity that I could detonate, but it still had corrosive properties that would eventually damage his respiratory system.
Raya could similarly apply damage over time. Every time her sword met an opponent's weapon, a small amount of electricity would pass into them. This would add up over time and cause the opponent to feel numb, cause muscle spasms, or even give them a heart attack.
But for some reason the blood mist inhaled by Kael didn't seem to affect him at all. Similarly, he didn't seem to be affected by Raya's electricity.
Only direct attacks could do anything.
Upon reaching this conclusion I jumped into the air and fired ten Piercing Shots from my fingertips.
Kael took a few steps back to dodge.
Kael clearly was still hiding much of his strength and wasn't anywhere close to bottoming out his mana reserves. So, at this rate, I would run out of mana first and get myself killed, leaving Raya on her own, at which point we would lose.
Adam: [Beyond the spring lies a fountain of delusion...]
So I began chanting my trump card.
Raya, wanting to protest but understanding the situation we were in, used ranged lightning attacks to keep Kael from coming too close.
Adam: [...You, the sovereign who arrests my dreams. Me, the subject of your tyranny, asks for your forgiveness and an end to the times...]
Kael's smile faltered for a moment before returning with vigor. He muttered something and gray scales appeared all over his body. His teeth turned razor sharp and his muscles bulged, morphing him into a disgusting dragon-like form. From his completely blackened eyes, a blue liquid bled out.
As Kael roared and charged straight at us he was struck by Raya's lightning several times. I kept chanting as fast as I could.
Adam: [...Swallow Sinners and Heretics alike with red torrent...]
The monsterified Kael was intercepted by Ryuzu's Fang. He tried to break through but was stopped momentarily by a wall of electricity.
Adam: [...And create a world where we might find true peace in drowning] -Floodof the Unliving
I lost consciousness as my mouth unhinged unnaturally, vomiting out thousands of gallons of blood that flooded the immediate surroundings.
In my dream, I took control over the flood of crimson, shielding myself and Raya in a bubble while subjecting Kael Drogo to the tons of weight at my disposal.
He took to the sky to evade the flood, but hundreds of tendrils sprouted from it and pulled him back down. After resisting for a moment, Kael Drogo curled up tightly into a ball and allowed himself to get submerged.
???: [Usurp the Dragon, seize the Claw, rebel against inevitable Fate incarnate] -Soul Eclipse
-------[ True Tempest of the Gray ]-------
Falling, once more
The strength to overcome the heavens
The power to resist the pull of hell
Manifested the hourglass, flipped
The land of dragons, reborn
But falling, not floating nor flying