[Nightmare Incarnate: The Beginning] The Twin Dragon's Bane

Ibara HP: 100% ϟ Ibara MP: 92% ϟ Spells Used: 1

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" “

Ibara had realised this fight was aimless from the very beginning. Although the figure had shown signs of retaliating through attacks such as moving trees, similar to the occurrence both Klein and Ibara had experienced before they were separated. As well as forces which worked against his body to either push him away or pull him towards the figure (the latter of which he particularly disliked). However, this did not deter Ibara's courage nor falter his fighting spirit, in fact, he fought harder and more vigorously than ever. Trees splintered at mere contact with Ibara's fist and he expertly dodged random flying objects which attempted to dissuade him physically from fighting any longer. Although, Ibara's muscles began to tire against an opponent that did not relent at any point. It seemed like it could go on for an indefinite period of time, it's attacks were never-ending, unrelenting and ruthless. The only thing keeping Ibara going at this point was Igneel's words which reverberated and echoed in his head.

"If you don't believe in your own ability, how do you expect to defend those who do?“

Ibara's thoughts drifted to Klein whom was most likely as lost as he was, or worse, in a similar predicament to him. This inspired the young fire wizard to keep fighting. If he was to defend his friend, this was one simple obstacle that he had to overcome, and he WOULD overcome it, there was no choice in the matter.

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Fire Dragon's Iron Fist (USED)
Cooldown: 1 Post
Mana Drain: 100 - 10 = 90%
Mana Regeneration: 90 + 2 = 92%

Klein HP: 100% ϟ Klein MP: 100% ϟ Spells Used: N/A N/A

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The fog continued to close in on Klein as he quickly walked through the forest. but this time he wasn't as deathly afraid as he was a few moments ago. The sight of Ibara's flames in the distance filled Klein with comfort and courage. Klein no longer heard anymore strange noises and mysterious forces were not toying with him. Atleast not for now. But there was also the question as to what it was that Ibara was fighting. Could it have been the same thing that killed the Rune Knights? The thought made Klein dread for his freind and he began running to reach him. The flames were getting closer and closer. Klein did not let up his speed. He finally broke through the fog that was in-between himself and his freind. He finally saw what his freind was fighting, and it was..... nothing. "Ibara? Are you alright there? Dont tell me this place has finally gotten to you..."

Klein's Reaction:

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Ibara HP: 100% ϟ Ibara MP: 94% ϟ Spells Used: 1

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" “

He really didn't know much further he could push. How much longer he could strive in a vain attempt to continue his search for his friend. The stamina that this creature possessed was limitless without comparison. It was as if.. the creature wasn't even real to begin with...

A light bulb flashed over Ibara's head while his movements came to a stop in the mist.

His brief realisation of what he'd been doing all this time came to an ultimate stop when a tree flew past him and shattered on his body. The impact was enough to strike him off his feet while his head landed hard on the dark grass below. Luckily damage was narrowly avoidable and, unfortunately, this unavoidable strike caused him to wonder on what was actually going on here. If this creature was non-existent, then how was it able to pull off strikes like that? If it really was a figment of his imagination, what was really happening? For all he knew, he could be standing absolutely still in reality. Luckily, there was one man present to bring him back down to Earthland.

"Ibara? Are you alright there? Don't tell me this place has finally gotten to you..“ the voice repeated itself several times over in his head before Ibara was finally washed away back to the real world. Upon his realisation, Ibara slowly realised what he'd been doing all this time. There he was, in a similar position of motionless apathy shortly before the non-existent paranormal strikes had begun to occur. It was indeed a figment of his imagination for the mist had vanished, the trees were all intact and Ibara's body had withstood absolutely no damage at all.

"I'm fine. Let's keep moving.“ Ibara wanted to dismiss the idea that this forest's traumatic aura had finally infiltrated his mind as quickly as possible. He shook his head vigorously and ploughed through a nearby set of trees. It was there that he came face-to-face with something entirely real, entirely dangerous and entirely terrifying. It's figure was humanoid, for the most part, similar to the apparition Ibara had spotted in the mist. The only thing that separated it from the average human was it's long claws, dark, piercing yellow eyes, it's terrifying height at 2.5 metres and the fact that it had absolutely no other features at all because it was clad in a suit of shadow, an outfit of absolute black.

"In answer to your previous question, Klein, I think this place is really starting to get to me.“ There, the final showdown would begin, it was do or die, fight or flight. Klein and Ibara, the two young Slayers now prepared to fight for their life or risk failing their very first mission. The question was whether Ibara had enough willpower for the both of them since they were both clearly on their last sets of legs.

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Mana Regeneration: 92 + 2 = 94%
BOSS APPEARS!

Klein HP: 90% ϟ Klein MP: 90% ϟ Spells Used: White Dragon Palm

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Ibara began walking forward in front of Klein. He was shaking his head, almost like he was denying to himself what had just happened. Klein figured he would have done the same thing if he thought he was fighting something that turned out to be nothing in the end. They walked forward a bit and then Ibara stopped in front of him and tensed up. Klein looked past him to see what was happening, and there was a shadowy figure just a few meters away. It had shadowy tentacles coming out of its back. Klein was struck with fear at the sight of it. This was it. The thing that had been tormenting them that whole time. The thing that killed the Rune Knights.

But Klein's immediate concern was that it was within striking distance of his freind. Klein yelled, "Ibara, get down!" With that Ibara ducked slightly and Klein leaped over his back and straight at the figure. "White Dragon Palm!" Klein yelled as his palm became buried in the figures face. A spiral of holy light spewed forth and knocked The figure back. The figure rolled along the ground a bit from the momentum it was knocked back at. But not a moment later it regained its balance and stood on its legs once again. In a lightning quick motion, the figure lashed at Klein with one of its tentacles. He tried to dodge, but the attack was too quick, and his arm was lashed. Blood began dripping from the wound and Klein backed up a few meters to gain some distance.

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Ibara HP: 100% ϟ Ibara MP: 84% ϟ Spells Used: 2

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" “

Everything that occured in the last two seconds whooshed over Ibara's head like a magical steam train. It was a lot to take in, especially after the predicaments that had occurred only a few minutes prior to the experience they had now found themselves in.

Ibara turned behind him to notice Klein already engaged in combat with the monster. Something he hadn't identified prior to coming face-to-face with it was the fact that it had tentacles to use as weapons, only another disadvantage that both slayers had to live with.

This demon, humanoid thing clearly knew and exploited that fact as it took Klein's White Dragon Palm head on, absorbing it's blow so that it could push the counteract and narrowly miss a stab which drew blood on Klein nonetheless. However, this young, fiery dragon slayer had had enough sitting on the sidelines. He'd had enough of fighting imaginary monsters to ultimately seal an imaginary job. Right now, all he wanted to do was protect his friend.

"WINGBEAT OF THE FIRE DRAGON!“ Ibara screamed as both of his arms lit up from shoulder to the tips of his fingers. Both his eyes now, rather than just the one, glowed a bright luminous yellow which almost shrouded the area in a thick light which penetrated and battled the shadows around them. All of a sudden, Ibara rushed forwards and intercepted the tentacle that had previously struck Klein at it's epicentre. Without a second to spare, Ibara had already passed it and had sliced the long, cylindrical body-part in half. Flames traveled up the remaining length of the tentacle which had remained attached to the monster, now seemingly lifeless and without movement, to strike at the monster directly. The shadowy, dark figure was lit up, counteracting it's blackness with a mixture of red and orange.

The monster was set a blaze and it was now time for the two young slayers to push the counter-attack.

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XXX

Klein HP: 90% ϟ Klein MP: 72% ϟ Spells Used: White Dragon Gauntlets / White Dragon Talon

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Klein winced in pain as the monster's tentacle burrowed into his arm. But before the tentacle even managed to go back to its owner, Ibara had lashed out his own fiery fury and cut it off. Setting the creature ablaze in the process. Klein soon after, ran forward saying, "White Dragon Gauntlets." and the entirety of both of his arms became encased in holy dragon light with the power to cut through the darkness that manifested in this being of evil. He ran at the being until he could see his red eyes that screamed of pain and suffering, and punched it underhanded in the stomach. The light encasing his hands burrowed deep into the creature and sent it flying upwards slightly. Pressing the advantage further Klein kicked upwards at the creature yelling, "White Dragon Talon!". the attack sent the creature flying up even further. Atleast 7 meters. Klein hoped that Ibara would follow up on the opportunity granted to him for a fiery finishing move.

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100th post WHOOO

Ibara HP: 100% ϟ Ibara MP: 0% ϟ Spells Used: 4

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" “

Ibara admired Klein's ability to fight. In fact, he stood there quite astounded at some of the moves his compatriot managed to pull off despite the damage to his arm prior. However, Ibara's mind slowly reverted from gawking to a realisation that his partner had set up almost the perfect opportunity for him to finalise this fight once and for all. It didn't take a genius to realise that this monster was far superior to them both in skill and stature, in fact, it was simply toying with them which was evident through it's moves. It's foreboding magic level oozed out of it's body too which only served as further evidence that these two were far out of their depth here. Ibara could only hope that his final attack would serve as a devastating enough blow to reel the monster home.

Although the fire that had extended up both Ibara's arms had now extinguished, his fiery temper still emblazoned deep within him. So much so in fact that instead of the entirety of both his arms, it was now his right fist, his stronger hand, which was now covered in an inferno befitting a dragon itself.

"Time to finish this. Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!“ Ibara screamed as he felt an overwhelming and considerable drainage to his magic levels. He almost collapsed, he was clearly reaching the pinnacle of his exhaustion by now.

With one fiery fist equipped and ready to unleash, Ibara ran at his partner Klein as if attempting to strike down his own partner. However, with only a metre distance now between the two, Ibara used Klein's shoulder to lift himself upwards while simultaneously his foot touched the same place where his hand once was. As a boost, Ibara leaped acrobatically off Klein's shoulder and raced off into the air. The monster was now a considerable height above them both now and Ibara figured that if he were going to reach his target, he'd need a little aid.

"Inferno Wings of the Fire Dragon!“ Ibara screamed while having just recently leaped off his friend's shoulder. Fire burst out into strenuous columns of blazing orange from the soles of Ibara's feet which enabled his ascent into the air and easier job. However, this wasn't an entirely positive outcome as the exhaustion levels of the young mage only became more tedious. This was only the beginning seeing as the monster was only elevating itself further in the air in an attempt to escape Ibara's clutches. However, the Dragon Slayer persevered and pushed on. To Klein, he only looked like a little red speck in the sky now, granted the light produced by his flames served as a relatively easy signal to behold.

"Let's end this together, monster.“ Ibara was now face-to-face with it. It's demonic eyes almost pinned him in the air, holding him in a suspension of fierce trauma but nothing could stop him now. Ibara drew his emblazoned fist, far behind his shoulder and unleashed it in one, single sky-rocketing punch aimed directly at the monster's face. The connection and impact of the spell created an explosion so boisterous and visible, that even Klein could easily recognise it from the ground. Mist spurted from every orifice of the demon and it seemingly vanished, as if it were pulverised by the very punch Ibara wielded to protect his friend. Pages of paper spurted out from where the demon once was and Ibara gritted his teeth, clinging onto them with the only moving part of his body that he had left, his mouth.

His exhaustion had reached it's pinnacle as Ibara now plummeted back to the lake below him. His eyes closed and he simply passed out at that point.

"There was nothing left to do, he'd safely fought alongside and protected his friend while simultaneously completing the job. Now he could sit back and let fate do the rest." he thought to himself.

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XXX

Klein HP: 90% ϟ Klein MP: 100% ϟ Spells Used: N/A N/A

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Klein stood on the ground watching Ibara's aerial engagement with the creature. He was dumbfounded at the loud, bright, and explosive finality of Ibara's final attack. He was truly a mage worthy of the title of a dragon slayer, and that of a Sabertooth wizard. After the final strike, the creature dissipated in the air. It was faint, but Klein could still feel a trace of the beings dark presence still in the air. The veil that was the fog of the forest began to lift and the sun broke through the storm clouds in the sky. With the sun shining so brightly, Klein sucked up the light in the air in order to refuel himself after that exhausting fight. Oddly enough, papers began falling from the sky. Before Klein could go and pick them up to investigate, he realized that Ibara was falling from the sky as well.

Klein began running forward yelling to his freind, "Ibara! Hang on!" Klein then launched concentrated light from his feet to propel himself towards his falling freind. Just before he landed in the lake below, Klein caught him out of the air by catching him on his shoulder. Klein's feet stopped spewing light, but his momentum carried them the rest of the way back to the bank. Klein and Ibara both landed on their sides. "That was close..." Klein muttered. "But that was absolutely incredible what you did! You completely annihilated that thing." Before Klein could continue, he noiced that his freind was unconscious. "Hm. Well i suppose you deserve your rest after that show." Klein picked Ibara up and slung him over his shoulder. He went to go pick up the papers that fell from the sky before. "I can read these later" He thought. At that moment all he wanted to do was get out of there. He walked out of the forest with his freind over his shoulder. "Igneel would be proud" he said.

[Exit]

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Mission accomplished!