100 Heads of Draconic Chaos

Akeya had, as almost always, a rather neutral expression on her face as she watched the rather unique scene of Clover Town being assaulted by lots and lots of dragons. They all looked roughly the same, in fact so much that the ninja was certain that they couldn't all be unique individuals. It wasn't that she found it impossible to believe that there could be a whole clan of golden wingless dragon, but having so many of them somehow reach Clover Town and start attacking it en masse without any kind of warning was stretching it. This disbelief was confirmed when she saw a multi-headed dragon split into several single-headed dragons. Akeya would like to have some more proof, but her best bet is that there are only a few dragons, and they simply possess the ability to divide themselves as many times as they have heads. Of course it could also be that it's only one dragon, although even at a glance Akeya could tell that if that was the case the real problem would start the moment that dragon reassembled itself.

The ninja was making these observations while standing on the steps leading to the humongous Guild Hall dominating the skyline of Clover Town like a small mountain. So far none of the dragons had approached the building, which is partially why it took so long for Akeya to get out of her room and get a grip on what was going on. As always she was clothed in such a way that the only thing visible were her green eyes, brown cloth covering every other part of her, the large plain cloak and hood in particular making sure that her form was hidden from sight. Normally she stood out, not because of her looking particularly impressive or beautiful but exactly because in a guild known for its attractive members this mage goes around making it difficult to even discern her gender. However this day it seemed most people were to busy either panicking or running towards the dragons to deal with them to remark upon such a trivial thing as appearance. Akeya certainly didn't mind this development, although she wasn't selfish enough to hope that the dragons would stay any longer than necessary.

While making her way down towards the town (and all the chaos ensuing in it) Akeya made note of all the mages already engaging the enemy. Not all of them were being very obvious about it, although as always Akeya had to look the other way when she saw the flashes that made her Guild Master's presence stand out like a beacon. Grumbling about the fact that the man had to make such a show with his light magic the ninja took out a strip of brown cloth and wrapped it around her eyes so she wouldn't constantly be blinded every time she looked in the wrong direction. It was still broad daylight, and with Akeya's eyesight she should not have to worry about not being able to see as long as the cloth stayed stretched. Now just to find out where she could be of most use. Curiously enough different dragons were using different breath attacks. She would have to make sure to avoid any dragons breathing light. Or at least not get caught by surprise by one.

Akeya's attention was caught when she saw at least one dragon attack the big tower, which might not be as massive as the Guild Hall but still was quite impressive due to its sheer height. If that fell down it could do a lot of damage to its surroundings, and while the ninja had already seen quite some citizens run away from the area where the dragons roamed it could still lead to casualties. Akeya began running in that direction when she saw somebody jump from the top of the tower, taking out the dragon with such an explosive punch that the sound of impact ringed through her ears for a while before she shook her head and regained focus. Apparently somebody strong had appeared, and had managed to defeat at least one dragon without doing something incredibly flashy. Akeya didn't know who it was, but she already felt like she might actually like this mage. It would probably be a good idea to meet them and group up, although Akeya didn't feel like deluding herself that she could do something like punching a dragon out without any effort. However maybe she could assassinate some of the dragons that would without a doubt flock around this new arrival...

Akeya's plan was somewhat rudely interrupted when she felt a large amount of magic heading her way, to which she responded by dashing behind a building and pressing herself against the wall. Where she had been walking just a moment ago a gout of flame filled the street, making the ninja very glad that she had chosen an abandoned route towards the tower. When the fire died out the pavement looked somewhat...melty...and more importantly one of the dragons (presumably the one who released the flame strike) was walking into the street, sniffing her out and not minding the heat it itself had created. Like all the others it lacked wings and had golden scales, although this one's eyes were bloody red.

"You can't hide from me human. Your stench fills the air, although you smell different from most of your kind. Are you one of those who believe they should hide their stench with artificial ones?"

Akeya frowned as she considered her options, trying to at least delay a confrontation by ducking into an alley and making her way to the back of the dragon. The tower is close enough that she could probably make a dash for it and hope that whoever defeated the other dragon was still there, or she could try to deal with this on her own. The dragon possessed no wings, so it could only travel on the ground or climb on top of buildings. It's large enough that it should have trouble turning around if suddenly assaulted from behind, and since it only has one head it should be about as weak as any of the dragons here would be. On the other hand, it already knew of her presence, and the idea of trying to take on a superior creature on her own when it already knows that she's here doesn't sound like a sensible thing to do. However if that mage was gone, running away would only make things worse.

The ninja sighed as she realized she didn't have much of a choice here. Neither option appeased her, but one of them required a lot more unknown factors than the other, making it less preferable. Akeya climbed on top of one of the buildings closing the alley in, once on the roof silently making her way towards where she could feel the magic that coursed through the dragon's veins. Sure enough it was following her scent, just about now reaching the entrance of the alley and filling it with flames after finding out that it wouldn't be able to enter it. It wouldn't be long before it would realize that she left the alley, which means Akeya had to act fast. Honestly she was lucky that this dragon seemed to believe it could take its time and be careless. Dashing forwards Akeya jumped off of the building and right on top of the dragon's neck, running towards its head while avoiding getting thrown off as the dragon started moving rather violently when it discovered its prey had made her way onto its back.

"What do you think you are doing, human? You should have run when I gave you the chance. Now you will only burn."

Not answering the ninja reached the dragon's head, grabbing one of its horns and positioning herself in front of the dragon's left eye. Not wasting any time she pulled back one hand, a katana made out of shadows appearing in her grasp. While the dragon was still busy trying to shake her off Akeya quickly brought her hand forward, burying her shadow weapon in the dragon's eye up to the hilt, far enough to reach its reptilian brain and pierce it.

The moment Akeya struck the dragon started screaming, a loud and frantic roaring that could be heard from quite far away, the creature thrashing as its most vital organ was pierced. Akeya stabbed it another time as the previously cocky dragon now was making desperate attempts at shaking off this pest that was killing it, its entire mind in a state of pain and tumult. Seeing that the dragon could still crush her with its wild and uncontrolled movements as it died Akeya jumped off and dashed to a safe distance, the dragon trying to send another gout of flame after her but finding itself unable to aim or even concentrate its flames, sending random sputters of flame in every direction. After several more minutes it finally died, at which point Akeya had already continued on her way towards the tower, dismissing her shadow blade as she put a bit more effort into keeping an eye on her surroundings this time. Hopefully the dragon's crying hadn't attracted more of its kin: the ninja wasn't sure she would be so lucky next time.

Akeya tensed when she heard somebody approaching, stepping towards the nearest wall while entering a crouch, ready to move forward and attack if it turned out to be necessary. The footsteps sounded like those of a human, or at least a humanoid, moving towards her own location with some speed, indicating that whoever the footsteps belonged to was in a hurry. The ninja hadn't seen any sign of there being dragons who could take a humanoid shape, so it would be a good guess to say that either somebody was running away and only going towards Akeya and her previous opponent by coincidence, or it had heard the dragon's dying screams and was purposefully seeking for the source. While Akeya expected to find an ally the fact that the town was under attack still made her prepared to quickly take care of anybody she couldn't trust.

When the person approaching the street Akeya was in finally came into sight (although it really only took a couple of minutes) the ninja quickly inspected her. The woman had a level of magic comparable to that of her Guild Master, and carried herself accordingly, apparently confident and unafraid even when suddenly facing a dead/dying dragon. Her scent was somewhat familiar, and her magic also made Akeya feel like she had encountered it before. Yet she was pretty sure she hadn't ever seen this woman before, and she couldn't immediately figure out what kind of magic the woman possessed. Either way Akeya quickly went into a less hostile stance, being fairly sure that if this person wanted her dead there was little she could do besides retreating. An assault would surely be deflected easily.

Hearing the greeting Akeya nodded, although she then quickly became somewhat puzzled at what followed the greeting. In the ninja's mind gears quickly started turning, figuring out a lot of things in one go. There aren't many reasons why one would ask about the location of a dragon when meeting somebody for the first time. The first explanation is that the one doing the asking is either an idiot or in a panicked/agitated state of mind. This woman didn't seem to be either of those. That left the explanation that somehow Akeya reminded her of a dragon, which meant that she had sharp enough senses to notice how the ninja was -at least partially by now- a dragon. Her mask and blindfold were still covering her face, so her eyes and teeth didn't reveal anything. Her hands and feet are covered with the usual brown wrappings, so her nails shouldn't be showing either. That left scent and magic signature. Even amongst mages there wouldn't be many who would be able to recognize Akeya's scent/magic as being similar to that of a dragon. This is partially because most mages don't know much about dragons personally. The ones that do and who would be seeking out a specific dragon are by vast majority Dragon Slayers, who -according to the records Akeya had read- learned their magic from a dragon.

While Akeya was considering all this -this being quite a lot to think of in one go- another set of dragons already started showing up, several small ones surrounding a very large one, which inexplicably had ten heads. Neglecting to answer the woman Akeya focused on the new adversaries, frowning at the thundering roars the dragons all let loose simultaneously. Hearing the suggestion of talking while fighting Akeya nodded curtly before diving towards the dragons, staying close to the wall and using the surrounding shadows to make herself hard to detect. The fact that the other woman did something similar managed to distract Akeya, who after some thinking decided to take that as confirmation that this woman was in fact the Shadow Dragon Slayer, who together with the Guild Master formed the Twin Dragons.

Reacting to that revelation, however, would have to wait. For now Akeya focused on avoiding the elemental barrage the dragons were sending down the street while getting closer, trying to aim for the ten-headed dragon. Once that one died the others should become a lot easier to take care of, and the longer it stayed alive the more havoc it could wreak. One dragon is already enough of a danger when set loose in a town. A dragon with ten heads is enough of a problem that Akeya felt glad to have somebody to work together with this time. While still trying to remain hidden in the shadows she gave the woman a short reply, whispering it in the hope that the woman's ears were also sharp enough to catch it.

"I do not know the dragon you seek. Focus on the matter at hand."

While Ayeseru apparently took upon herself the role of decoy and main offensive at the same time -and doing a very good job of it, seeing how she managed to draw the attention of all the dragons and at the same time still managed to reach one of the dragon heads- Akeya raced through the shadows towards the ten-headed dragon, while Ayeseru was already bouncing from the head that shot the beam of shadows getting in range of the main body herself. It wouldn't be a good idea to try and preserve her powers in this situation, so as soon as she was close enough Akeya's body quickly changed, her hands and feet turning into claws while wings and a tail sprouted from her back. Her head changed to that of a dragon, her entire body got covered in dark blue scales, and within seconds where before there had been a ninja girl there now was a dark blue dragonkin, jumping upwards towards the ten-headed dragon.

Reaching one of the throats -the one that connected the body to the head that had released blasts of light before- Akeya used her tail and wings to stay in place while starting to slash her way through the scaled flesh, determined to quickly open the veins so that the head which had the most troublesome element for both herself and her ally would quickly be put outside of the fight. Unfortunately as soon as she managed to cut open one of the arteries Akeya also felt a breath attack target her, forcing her to hope she did enough damage to at least finish off the head bearing the light element while she climbed onto the dragon's back and dodged a stream of flames. Once on the dragon's back she dug her claws into its scaled flesh before running towards its tail, her claws leaving several long wounds along the beast's back before she reached the tail and jumped off, now hiding in the dragon's own shadow while waiting for it to return its full focus to Ayeseru. The Shadow Dragon Slayer was a lot better at being the focus of the enemy's fury than Akeya herself, at least from what the dragonkin had been able to see so far. However seeing how her ally didn't feel like staying silent Akeya reluctantly answered the next question, slowly sneaking her way back to the ten-headed dragon's front so she could take another shot at cutting some throats.

"Family with the blood of dragons. Came out powerfully in my case."

At least her initial assault had managed to inflict some significant damage to the ten-headed adversary. If it had been one of the dragons with only one heads it would already have been finished off, the head capable of breathing light based attacks drooping while blood fell onto the ground underneath its neck, with more streaks of blood seeping out of the rows of claw marks Akeya left on its back while running from its heads to its tail. Unless something were to go wrong they should be able to wear it down and finish it off before turning to take down the other dragons.

While Ayaseru was busy avoiding the elemental assault all the present dragons were firing at her the female dragonkin did her best to stay undetected inside the shadow of the ten-headed dragon. She expected at least some amount of disbelief from the Shadow Dragon Slayer, although honestly at the moment she had more pressing matters to worry about than explaining her ancestry. Still, so far as Akeya knew her family was the only one who had kept the dragon blood flowing strongly, and even amongst her family she had been the first person in which the dragon blood had expressed itself strongly enough for it to be noticeable. Not surprising if anybody who heard her explanation would have trouble believing it.

The fact that Ayaseru just accepted the story without a second thought did in fact cause Akeya to blink for a moment before shrugging and continuing to sneak her way towards the dragon's set of necks. So far they hadn't appeared to notice her, mostly due to her dark blue scales blending in with the shadows as if one and the same thing.

"Family lives in mountains. Little contact with outside world."

Things became a bit more dangerous when Ayaseru also went in hiding by turning into a shadow and moving around a corner, making the dragons growl as they tried to find their two targets. The female dragonkin frowned in annoyance as she noted that the ten-headed dragon was now moving around restlessly, trying to catch her scent now that its original target had disappeared. Looks like the idea of quietly slitting their throats was no long an option. Irritated Akeya dashed away from the dragons, ignoring their roaring and attempts at sending more elemental strikes at her as she also dove behind a building, from there on moving to where she could sense Ayaseru's presence.

"Training sounds interesting, but should probably take care of the dragons first. As for seeing something cool, depends. How likely is it to get one of us killed, maimed, crippled, or knocked unconscious? Also, we should hurry."

That much was true. While using the buildings as cover had earned the two of them a momentary reprieve they couldn't hide from the dragons forever. In fact they were already heading towards the two females. without a second thought destroying the structures and buildings that proved to be in the way.