The Slayer's Challenge: Ibara & Duchess Rae Havoc

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It was common for the young dragon to sit outside the Sabertooth Guild Hall; his back propped up against to look over the city that it shrouded down below. Clouds whipped by and the wind would silence any whom attempted to speak at such a volatile altitude. The silence relaxed Ibara to no end, he could just sit there, forever watching and waiting. This was probably the most odd characteristic about Ibara in general, his natural liking for silence. His father (or whom he considered as such), Igneel, shared such a habit. The two of them would sometimes sit together, the young dragon mounted atop his older counterpart on mountains that peaked the highest of clouds in the most simplistic of silences.

Silence was never meant to last forever though. In fact, there was a more honest reason as to why Ibara secluded himself like this at this particular point in time. Over the past few weeks, he'd been receiving mental messages, soft echoes, constantly repeated words.

"The Sky Tower.. The Sky Tower.."

These words wouldn't drop from Ibara's cerebrum. They remained singed into the depths of his mind; something about that place held significance to him. He didn't know what it was or why it was there. All he knew was that he simply was meant to go, hence why he now stood outside the Sabertooth gates with a large backpack strung over his back. He was inches away from the teleportation lacrima before taking one meagre step forwards and disappearing in a shower of evanescent light.

The young dragon despised the abruptness of wherever the teleportation lacrima would drop him off. It could range from throwing him into a lava-filled volcano (which had actually happened only a few weeks before) or casually dropping him off on a frozen fjord with absolutely no life on it whatsoever (another occasional event which Ibara was forced to experience). Regardless of the circumstance, Ibara was thankful that the teleportation lacrima had been a little more lenient in terms of where he had been dropped off exactly; however that wasn't to say he was grateful.

He found himself standing face-first against a carriage, seemingly vacant, without swarms of crowding people now around him from every angle. A huge contrast compared to the quietness of the outer-rims of the Sabertooth Guild. Naturally, Ibara exploded.

"Get out of my face! Sheesh, all I want is some peace and quiet, finally I decide to pick myself up off my lazy ass and this is what I get?" Although the young dragon didn't mean to bare his fangs at the onlookers, the occasional one snapped a few pictures; such a tangent would definitely make the headlines. Ibara pressed his hands against the carriage and pushed outwards, accidentally toppling the thing over; he clearly didn't account for the light weight due to it lacking any passengers. With an apologetic hand-gesture to the now infuriated carriage-driver, Ibara glanced away and walked towards the Sky Tower doors. A few onlookers opened their mouths in hesitant objections but clearly they didn't want to mess with a fiery Dragon Slayer on their day out and so the doors slammed shut behind him.

The air was cold inside the tower; so cold in fact it caused Ibara to shiver, an unnatural occurrence due to his bizarrely heated body. He glanced around him, it seemed empty aside from one silhouetted figure just ahead of him. By the look of her stature, she too had just walked inside; Ibara immediately assumed she was the inhabitant of the carriage from earlier. He raised a hand in objection but she clearly looked deep in thought, besides, socializing wasn't the young dragon's forté anyway. So he simply stood although the door slamming shut behind him which created reverberating echoes around the empty tower was a very clear indication to his arrival.

"Shit." Ibara cursed his intrusiveness. Clearly he couldn't escape this one.

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Ibara remained steadfast for several seconds as she turned around. Her eyes were captivating; the transition between reptile and human held the young dragon's gaze for several seconds. Ibara's figure quavered for a second, his reminiscent thought of his fear for snakes slowly rising from the depths of his brain. Luckily the feeling faded as the woman's eyes did and slowly she got to speaking.

"Excuse me, are you here for this too?" It took the young wizard several seconds to reply. He was still captivated by those mesmerising eyes; whether it was out of fear or admiration was a thought beyond anyone's reach. Slowly but surely, Ibara's eyes returned to focus, his heterochromia iridis now prominent and glowing in unison together. A combination between both human and dragon. "Here for what exactly..?" Come to think of it, why exactly was the young dragon here? He remembered the echoing, reverberating voices that constantly resounded within his head. The never-ending speech which announced this location several times over. But that only brought the question that the young woman had only emphasized - why was he here?

Questions weren't usually answered so easily for Ibara. There was always some long and tedious puzzle behind every answer but it was as if this question wanted to be solved. There was a sky platform only a few metres behind the Duchess, she was facing Ibara at the time and didn't notice such a spectacle but in a few short seconds, it illuminated a deep blue, a signalling like motion. It's movement was suddenly triggered and it began moving upwards while a signature exclamation mark popped up over the young dragon's head.

"You're gonna have to forgive me for this.." A small twitch of sparks flickered and ascended up from Ibara's feet. In the blink of an eye, the young dragon had burst off the spot, whisking past the Duchess and grabbing her arm simultaneously. Using his momentum and her steadfastness to his advantage, he slung her forwards with him and together, they fell forwards onto the moving skywards platform. He did his best not to land on top of her so instead, he delicately dropped her forwards on the platform while he slowed himself to a stop. Sadly he didn't calculate for the momentum he'd lose for doing so. Instead of landing atop the platform like any regular person; instead, he hung off the edge by only a fingertip. A sound was looming above them, flapping wings, large beating wings. This wasn't the young dragon's concern -- he decided to desperately hang for his life instead.

"A little help.. Besides, I don't think you'll be able to handle what's above us alone.. trust me." Ibara was a young dragon himself. Naturally he could recognise the sound of a dragon's wings and the reverberating echo above him definitely characterized such a clip. "Ngh.. Quickly!" The platform was moving faster now, as if sensing the connection that Ibara had developed. His fingers were slipping, his grip weakening. It wasn't just his life he was worried about either, that thing above them radiated with power, a resistance unknown to any Dragon Slayer. It worried Ibara to his very core.

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Ibara's arm was at breaking point, his bones were to snap at any second, his muscles couldn't physically handle the pressure. He glanced over to the Duchess for a fourth.. or was it a fifth time. She stood there.. smirking. Clearly she was bemused by the young dragon's sense of peril. Ibara's eyes furrowed and he opened his mouth to shout but his voice was drowned out as the beating wings grew louder. With one final break, Ibara's fingers slip and for a few short seconds, he was held in mid-air suspense, flames propelling from hsi feet in an attempt to raise him back towards the platform. His attempts delayed the fall somewhat just as the Duchess scooped down to grab him and pull him up with surprising strength that even Ibara hadn't interpreted -- he was usually a pretty good judge of character, even when it came to superhuman and unnatural strength.

"You're pretty strong..~" Ibara was silenced as the Duchess closed the distance between them, her breath spreading on Ibara's facial features while she simply silenced him through a simple glare. There it was again, that swift transition from female to snake, that deadly gaze that held Ibara in place so tightly. It wasn't just the young dragon's rather juvenile fear of snakes that kept him paralysed for fear of his life but the woman radiated a sense of dominance.. a sense of heirarchial mannerisms -- royalty. Ibara could only assume such, it was evident in the way she carried herself that she was someone of higher importance; that wasn't even to mention the carriage that had been vacant outside? Could she have been the one that arrived in such a vehicle? A question for another time. She spoke openly for a time. Words that silenced Ibara.

Being who he was, the young dragon intended to fire back with an equally fiery comment but that's when the skyward elevator came to an abrupt halt. Almost throwing Ibara in the exact same direction from whence he came. Luckily, he regained his balance but as of that moment -- Ibara wished he had toppled over the edge. The Duchess had already gone ahead and mounted the dragon that now stood, tall and proud, infront of Ibara. He thought she was crazy but hey, who was to stop her? Ibara was equally crazy when it came to these circumstances but someone of his own kin (so to speak) in a place like this? Proclaiming that he should simply climb aboard and they'd be whooshed away to some obscure place? It wasn't happening until Ibara had answers. He took a step off the sky platform in a slightly intimidated manner before beginning to speak.

"You've got to be kidding me. I'm here because a voice told me to, that's it. I don't know why am I here, what I'm doing.. who you are and who she is!" Ibara paused for breath before continuing his frustrated tangent. "So now you expect to just up and get on your back to go to god knows where with a girl whom I know nothing about. You better start explaining yourself fast.. or I'm outta here."

Ibara felt guilty for acting in such a way, it was clearly unnecessary to move with such hostility, especially against a dragon. These creatures were rare finds and usually Ibara would have been drooling at the very sight but something about this one dragon in particular threw him off, whether it was the strange blue markings that adorned it's body or the fact that it was so nonchalant and commanding in it's respects -- Ibara didn't have an answer. Luckily the dragon spoke up before Ibara really lost his temper.

"Child of Igneel, you speak with the same passion as the King of the Fire Dragons himself. It is admirable but do not question my authority. Everything will be revealed in due time. For now.. please.. come with me." The dragon spoke calmly but with authority. Ibara stood there, absolutely speechless. How did this creature determine Ibara was Igneel's son?! So quickly too, it wasn't like Ibara was flaunting his magic to the world as of yet. He stopped and stared at the Duchess, his look of bewilderment being shared with her for a moment. However, without another word, he simply got on the Dragon's back, saddling up close to the Duchess to stop them both from falling and nodded.

"Alright, but I want answers.. soon." The dragon inclined his head downward in what looked to be a nod before taking off from the ground. As if on cue, an opening to the sky tower branched outwards, revealing the sky above. Ibara gulped and as a trio, the three shot up towards the sky, the dazzling crystals that adorned the dragon now shining bright as it refracted from the sun. They ascended directly upwards but what else could be above them other than more.. and more sky? Ibara was cut short as a small platform soon began to fade into view.

"W-what.. is that?" Ibara's voice was filled with awe and shock -- most likely similarly empathized by the Duchess who sat only an inch infront of him.

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The ride was comfortable -- surprisingly. With experience of riding along a dragon's spine, he thought it would be anything but, however, the dragon defied most laws of flying that had been indoctrinated into Ibara's mind from a young age and glided peacefully skywards towards the silhouetted platform that the young dragon had noticed earlier. The clouds parted on either side of them only to have the dragon flick the pair of mages off it's back and set off in a completely opposite direction.

"Hey where the hell do you think you're~" Ibara didn't get a chance to finish before a completely unfamiliar voice sounded it, resounding and booming from behind him, so strong in fact, it was almost enough to knock the young dragon off the sky-bound platform and send him plummeting back towards the ground below -- a similar situation to before actually. The voice silenced Ibara and he turned around to face it while listening to the behemothic beauty of a new dragon which stood, tall and proud infront of him.

"I, Xiuhcoatl, have called both of you here to test the strengths of humans." Ibara laughed at the irony of the statement, attracting both the gaze of the extremely powerful dragon and that of his partner. Clearly he had spoken out of turn and it was time for him to silence himself once more. He shook his head and grumbled before glancing back to his feet. "I'll put you through nine challenges, If you survive them, I'll reward you handsomely." Ibara caught onto the words.. challenges. Challenges?! This is why he'd come out all the way to the Sky Tower for.. risked his life not once but twice over.. for the sake of a few trivial challenges?!

The Duchess had begun introducing herself only a few moments prior to Xiuhcoatl finishing his short announcement. He was clearly prepared to perform yet another trick up his sleeve, his body had already begun moving as Ibara, rather rudely, moved aside from the Duchess in order to confront the gargantuan directly. "Listen, buddy.. your compatriot over there promised me answers!"

Rather than giving Ibara the answers he desired, Xiuhcoatl shrugged the young dragon off and responded in a more than convincing tone. "Have a nice fall." The sky-platform disappeared from underneath the two mages all of a sudden and there they began their descent downwards.. falling.. falling.. falling.

Only a few moments later, Ibara had expected to be speared atop the Sky Tower's spire which had originally only been a few hundred metres below them. What he found was himself falling and falling, further and further, while the Duchess had come to an abrupt halt on solid rocky ground metres above him. Why was it that Ibara continued to fall?

The young dragon glanced down again to see a wave of red and orange looming below him.. was that.. lava?! Right he was. Ibara plunged into a very sensual feeling of familiarity. Delving himself into the liquidated flames. If it weren't for his natural affinity with the substance, not to mention his unnatural body temperature and invincibility to fire in general, he would've been burnt to a crisp upon the very contact. He could hear that characterized monarchial voice from above.. was she screaming or only nonchalantly concerned for his safety? The young dragon was out of view from her.. only for a few seconds though.

The lava began bubbling underneath him.. A geyser ready to explode.. and explode it did. A plume of lava sent Ibara rocketing towards the air, this wave of liquid red supporting his bottom perfectly. There he appeared on a geyser of flames, gazing down at the Duchess that had only just now phased into view.. Did she look worried, relieved? Ibara couldn't quite tell because he'd ascended to quite the remarkable height. He grinned down to her.

"He calls this a challenge? This ain't no challenge.. this is fun!" Ibara shouted, performing a miniature surfing position atop the wave of flames that now began to cascade back towards the rocks. His clothes were charred and shredded, revealing parts of his relatively toned body, ravaged by scars from his childhood. He dropped to perch by his newfound partner.

"What happens next? Also.. I'm sorry about before. I thought Xiuhcoatl would have some answers as to where Igneel went.. I didn't mean to shrug you off before.. I'm Ibara by the way, son of Igneel." Ibara said to her, glancing at his feet and blushing slightly with the embarrassment of it all. He'd mustered up a lot of courage to do just that -- it didn't help that he was half-naked in the act of doing so.

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Ibara glanced at him at his aforementioned destination. A few short minutes had passed since his unnatural explosive entrance from a sudden lava plume only to find himself scooting to his partner's side, his gaze directed in her direction. She proclaimed it was nice to meet him in the most nonchalant of fashions - a strange occurance really, to say something so casual in a situation like this. She was interesting, intriguing, admirable and courageous. All qualities that Ibara admired in a person. He watched her as she set off forwards, her destination was set, a red hovering and glowing lacrima rose on the horizon on the other side of this lava explosion field. Some holes were easier to determine than others but one wrong move, one slip up could leave any ordinary human burnt to a crisp. The young dragon was concerned for the Duchess' safety for some reason, and he was determined to keep her body intact.

"Watch your step.. I really don't think you'll be as resistant to these holes as I am." Ibara glanced at her once more, he had been looking away for several seconds prior but the sight that met his eyes now was one of complete and utter bewilderment.. The transition that had taken place which had taken only a few moments to exact was astounding. Her back had shifted, showing a pair of dark wings, outlined in muscle tone by lines of red which Ibara had assumed was her blood stream protruding out through her extra pair of limbs. She'd maintained her humanoid form but Ibara couldn't exactly say the differences weren't clear. He realised he was sitting there gobsmacked for a few moments as she got further and further away, the only thing about her visible now was the occasional beating of a wing, sending a wave of wind flying into his face. In fact, if a wave of fire hadn't slapped him right in the jaw and sent him sprawling on the ground, he probably never would have recovered from the shock that was delivered to him..

".. Alright. When I catch up with you, we seriously need to talk." Ibara said to himself, getting to his feet only to maintain a light jog in order to maintain a slow enough velocity to dodge the incoming blasts of fire that seemed to emanate from every side of his body. Every now and then, plumes of lava would explode upwards, illuminating his face for a few short seconds before travelling back to the dark abyss from which they came. Ibara realised the patterns of these explosions were systematic. They were getting larger and larger, further and further away. Something was building but he didn't quite know what..

Ibara would have to wait until he had both the pace and control to catch up with her once more. For now he could only jog and watch in a completely awestruck fashion, attempting to formulate some kind've idea to what she actually was. The wings weren't even dragon-like, they were more demonic in nature.. What was she..

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The heat was immense even for a Fire Dragon Slayer like Ibara. The young dragon even rivalled the heat to the place of his training, the innards of a volcano - a worthy but rather frightening comparison. He glanced around himself, lava plumes continued to raise themselves sky-high; they were relentless and innumerable. They persisted and persisted, raising the very temperature of the air by one degree every second. Even Ibara wasn't fairing too well in such intolerbale heat, he dreaded to think how his partner was feeling.

He watched her as she moved on ahead, her pace was slowing and her ability to fly was hindered by the excessive heat. She dropped to the ground as Ibara ran up to help her. He raised an eyebrow inquisitively towards her which was his way of asking if she was alright. She responded with that same hardy attitude that he had come to admire, claiming she was okay despite the overly extreme circumstances that such a challenge brought.

The horizon was hazy, the red lacrima now a simple blur in the distance. If Ibara hadn't identified it's distance away from the two beforehand, he would've actually considered whether it was getting further and further away. The young dragon assumed this was one of Xiuhcoatl's demoralising tactics, and aim to get them to quit but Ibara refused to give up. He gritted his teeth, kicked at the ground and continued his jog after the flying Duchess.

"Are you alright? Maybe we should slow down.. y'know.. I'll keep the flames at bay."

She ignored him and continued to fly at a pace which was too fast for what Ibara considered reasonable. She was literally straining and desecrating her body by refusing such essential needs. She glanced back once more at him, Ibara identified the worry in her gaze but.. her face slowly contorted from worry to a look of absolute panic. Her speed increased tenfold, something Ibara would've considered suicide if he too hadn't realised what was occurring behind him.

"Crap.. H-HEY~"

Ibara's voice was cut off as the Duchess silenced him, throwing both her arms under his own and dragged him off the ground. Her strength and durability despite the conditions were incredulous.. The young dragon didn't know how she managed. She persevered her, an impressive feat but Ibara figured they had to drop eventually. Her speed was slowing, it was hard enough for her to manage her own speed but to carry the two of them with a wave equal to a tsunami only the properties were rendered from water's opposite on their backs? The feat was impossible. He had to say it..

"We.. won't be able to fit through.."

Ibara glanced at the two pillars of lava that had recently erupted from the ground. She'd noticed already and was desperately trying to motion herself into a position where enabling the two of them to go through would be somewhat reasonable. Sure, Ibara could manage if she just threw him through the pillar but then he'd still be left with the bone-crushing wave of fire below which would call him on impact alone.. No, a tactic Ibara would have to pursue was far more suicidal than such a notion.

"You're gonna have to drop me.."

Ibara didn't look back -- he figured what her gaze was like and could feel it piercing into the back of his head. But without letting her think it over for even a second, he placed his hand calmly on her stomach and pushed outwards. As a Dragon Slayer, his physical capabilities were already enhanced to a much superior level than that of any ordinary human male. He managed to wrench himself free of her grasp and he launched himself into a free fall.

Falling.. falling.. falling. His body tumbled and turned as he tried to find some way of levelling him out. He managed by spreading both his arms and legs out ahead of him so his chest was vertical to the ground.

"Here goes nothing."

A few seconds passed by. The ground got closer.

"Please don't mess this up."

Only a few inches away now.

"Inferno Wings of the Fire Dragon!" Two gargantuan dragon wings expelled themselves from Ibara's shoulder blades. They were similar in size to that of the Duchess' wings only the properties were far different. The wings were coated in flames, not a single speck of scales could be visible through the crimson roaring that the flames produced. Ibara shot off like a bullet, inches from the ground. his hair singed upon contact with the lava wave below.

Metre by metre, he got closer and closer, passing the two columns by simply decasting and recasting his wings, shooting through them, his arms now by his sides and his legs crossed together. He reached one hand out in one last desperate clinch -- his posture representing much like a superman pose.

"Al.. most.. there.."

The wave increased in speed and moved an inch from Ibara's foot, if he didn't touch it now, he'd be gone. His finger reached out and the scenes shifted, an array of white light bursting from the crystal as his fingertip made the connection.

"Thank you.. Igneel.." Ibara breathed a sigh of relief as the light washed over him.

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The last sensations of inexplicable heat began to fade while the healing, cleansing light washed over Ibara in an instance. He struggled to look around; his eyes still hindered and blinded by what had occurred. His breathing was heavy and his breaths ragged, despite the little hindrance to his mana, those wings had utilised a great amount of physical exertion in order to create and he was now finally starting to feel the effects of that. Speaking of which, his bottom was planted firmly on the ground, the wings now dissipated from each over-extended shoulder blade. He rubbed himself sorely and took a moment to blink a few times; slowly adjusting himself to the surroundings.

A rocky plain with nothing else in sight. Even the sky was grey, filled with an empty cesspool of nothingness, the only eye-catching feature was the stony ground, filled with loose pebbles and the occasional boulder that littered the field. Ibara's eyes inverted whimsically, he glanced towards the sky again as if expecting Xiuhcoatl's voice to boom out of it but.. to no surprise -- nothing.

He took the momentary lapse of absolute silence and inactivity to glance at his partner. Over the shout course of the jog, his admiration for her had grown to quite the extent although he refused to let that show. He watched her for a few short moments. She seemed fine after the ordeal, no signs of physical detriments adorned her body and, unlike Ibara, remained standing upright with that same questioning gaze on her face, the gaze that brought Ibara back to reality. This entire time, he hadn't noticed one of his hands was occupied by an object. A glass of water. Xiuhcoatl spoke out.

"Survive fifteen minutes without spilling a drop of water from this glass."

"What kind've a challenge is that?!" Ibara retorted back to the voice that emanated from seemingly nowhere. He spoke too soon. He glanced over at the Duchess at the last second to see her react in a very similar way. A wave of confusion passed over the young dragon's head.

Rocks, rocks rocks. They were flying from absolutely everywhere. Ibara was an agile young man but that wasn't to say he was gentle. This challenge relied on both of those features to be used in absolute conjunction with eachother. This was simply a trait that Ibara did not possess. Rocks came from every angle, some almost took out his legs weren't it for the clever misplacement of his feet while others rocketed towards his head which simply collided off his skull. They were smaller than most, not big enough to do any severe damage nor to knock the glass out of his hand..

"Can you read my mind or something?!"

The young dragon shouted towards the air. As the thought of these small, detrimental yet non-threatening rocks passed through his brain, a boulder, the size of a microwave in girth and height rocketed towards Ibara at the most terrifying of speeds. Ibara couldn't react.. no.. he wouldn't have the time.

"3.. 2.. 1.."

Ibara counted down the time until his fate was sealed. A clang was heard as if the young dragon's head was made of metal or there was simply an absence of a brain. Small trickles of blood dashed from Ibara's crimson hairline. The dragon was down and out, the glass smashed over his chest. It was up to the Duchess from here. Failure wasn't an option for her.

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Only a few seconds had drifted by when Ibara had assumed he'd drifted back into a state of complete and utter unconsciousness. His vision was blank for those very few moments between transition. He didn't know what to say or do because he quite literally could hear absolutely nothing. Pitched silence. However his senses weren't completely abstained from him. The slight tremulous riveting could be held as if he were still connected to his body, still drifting along on that barren wasteland of ever-flying, dangerous rocks that he'd only recently been struck with moments ago.

The thought got him thinking. Was his partner okay? Had she been delivered the same fate? Could this mean an end to their challenge? Ibara implored himself not to think such a thing. Besides, Xiuhcoatl had mentioned something about the challenges being endless until completion, could this mean failure wasn't an option? That they would persist at the challenges until they either gave up physically or simply died as a result of them.

Speaking of death, Ibara was surprised he wasn't dead right now. As far as he was concerned, he'd been struck by a rock, bigger than his head, directly on the forehead. It had rocketed through his skull and had caused minor bleeding, why wasn't he in heaven right now? Perhaps the challenge prevented such a thing, again, Ibara implored himself to not think like this. It only brought to question whether he was alive or not? Besides, where even was he? He was deprived of all senses until only a few seconds later.

Everything snapped back to life again although not in the way he expected it. Rather than being sent directly back into the thick of things with rocks flying everywhere while he desperately clawed at every possible angle in order to avoid them; instead he found himself above the carnage - looking down on his former teammate, the Duchess, whom had derived a rather clever strategy when it came to dealing with the challenge at hand. Ibara swore to himself, why didn't he think of such a thing?

He chuckled for a moment, admiring her intuitiveness before snapping back to reality. He needed to establish a few things. Where was he, why was he here and why wasn't he down there. The answer was simple, he'd been eliminated from the challenge for now. He assumed that if the Duchess were to slip up before an opportunity to pass the challenge had arrived, then he'd be sent straight back into the ascendant rocky void.

Ibara swiped some hair out of his face and pocketed his hands. He laid his back rather nonchalantly against the bubble that he now found himself in, motioned high above the action that went on down below. He whistled and breathed a sigh to himself. He wanted to help his partner in this challenge but it was his own stupidity that got him into the situation initially anyway. The young dragon made a mental note to apologise to the Duchess later for his rather slight incompetence. For now, he'd just have to sit and watch.

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Royal blood. There was something about it that filled Ibara with absolute indignation. He marvelled at the Duchess' strategy below her as well as his revelation to her rather destructive side when she began blasting rocks aside with massive shadow balls they she had begun conjuring from her hands. In fact, by the way she moved, Ibara could spot some similarities in her magic with his. Her style, her movement, her physicality; some of it did show vague signs of a relation to Ibara's. He decided to dismiss the notion on the grounds that he noticed a twinkle on the horizon; a twinkle that then superseded and evolved into a vast, immersive yet expansive wave of light that washed over the two mages in an instant.

Considering the young dragon's natural elevated status in the previous challenge, Ibara had expected to drop from an equally high distance down next to the Duchess to find himself immersed within another challenge. Instead, he came face-to-face with a task that had ascended him to even greater altitudes than from whence he came, something that shocked him to no end and almost made him feel sick when deciding to glance around him. In fact, this wasn't the only shocking news when he came to and finally recovered from the daze that the light had put in him. He found himself barely a millimetre away from the Duchess; their bodies barely touching against eachother atop this invisible skywalk. Ibara disregarded the surroundings as his face turned as red as his flames.

"S-sorry.. I didn't mean to.. this wasn't.. intention."

Ibara spoke in quick, interspersed gaps which made his sentence pretty inaudible, only causing his face to inflame to an even higher degree than it already was. He decided that it'd be best to back away from the Duchess. It was arguable to say that the majority of his embarrassment stemmed from the fact that he was put into a situation where a girl that he'd come to greatly admire (perhaps even fancy at a later) stage was put within a millimetre of him; but considering his attitude, he definitely went with deciding not to exploit the situation. Instead, he turned away with a flushed motion and glanced around him for a second time.

For a moment, it looked like he was standing on nothing except the air itself. Not until the sun shone directly down on them, revealing a channel of pathways ahead like a glass floor that was translucent to the naked eye. As the paths were revealed, they disappeared as quick as they came; accompanied by the voice of the great dragon himself.

"Most humans of your particular gender would've snatched at a similar situation, Ibara-san."

The dragon chuckled while Ibara growled and skulked towards the beginning of the pathway.

"Moving on; I present you with your next challenge. Navigate to the end of the invisible maze. There are twists and turns in this particular puzzle that will catch you off guard, I will not be surprised if you fail. Many have yet to overcome such a hurdle.."

"What an ass.. shall we get going?" Ibara glanced back to his partner, the rosiness of his cheeks finally beginning to settle down. He'd resumed a rather chilled stance, hands pocketed while he turned his head away from the Duchess and back to the path again. A gulp resided in his throat while his red hair blew out of his eyes and into the heavy wind that passed.

"This won't be no walk in the park.. but we'll get it done."

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"It'll take a lot more than a little breeze to keep me down."

Ibara gritted his teeth as he shouted through the deluging gust into seemingly open air. His statement was, in fact, quite contradictory to the predicament. If it weren't for the Duchess' outstretching arm and her remarkable strength now in play, Ibara would quite literally be sent flying into yet another cesspool of failure for yet another challenge. Ibara was determined not to follow the similar occurrence of the last challenge, this is one that he'd definitely succeed.

He glanced around him as the wind continued to blow, watching the sunlight every now and then which would gleam off the pathway which was, every so often, laid out infront of them with the faintest of clues. If it weren't for these specific flashes which Ibara presumed were intentional, this challenge would be quite literally impossible. Nevertheless, he let the Duchess lead the way, her massive sword keeping the both of them intact as they inched across the never-ending chasm of nothingness in hopes they'd succeed and make it to the end of this eternal invisibility.

What were they to do other than to trust their gut? Everytime they moved together and everytime they found themselves stopping, waiting for the next clue of sunlight before being blasted by another F-5 wind blast that could topple a cow if it so chose to.

Ibara was a dangerous, foolhardy male at times. His thoughts wandered to other things while his partner did her best to brace the hardest of the gusts on her own. What would happen if they were to fall off? Was their safety guaranteed should they fall to their deaths? Would it be similar to before; suspended above their fellow challenger to see whether they would succeed or fail? The young dragon had no answers nor did he request one as another blast of wind lunged at him.

This particular throw-off happened to target him directly for some reason; Ibara cursed at the invisible dragon as he took the blow pretty heavily, unlatching himself accidentally from the Duchess' arm, his feet digging against the invisible floor. Ibara threw himself downwards, clawing his hands into the pathway below in an attempt to simply grasp onto whatever hold he could. He was a strong one and found his hands tearing into the pathway below them to create little hand-holds for himself. If it weren't for this display of rather exquisite intuitiveness from the young dragon; this would be yet another challenge failed.

"Don't let me drag you down, I'll catch up."

Ibara pointed onwards and looked up for a moment. He did his best to pull a smile, something he didn't do very often in order to urge her forwards. His slightly empowered canines exposed through his white set of teeth. Although at great risk, he pulled one hand-up for a few moments, away from his handhold to throw her a thumbs up; an act of self-deprivation to show that he had the situation handled. He wouldn't let her fail this challenge at his expense. Besides, he wanted to show her he wasn't all useless for reasons he decided not to disclose. His cheeks blushed at the thought.

"Damnit." Ibara cursed as his face rose to the colour of his hair once more.

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The wind slowed to a falsely premised halt and everything went silent. Wind tousled Ibara's rather messy hair, throwing it upwards and back over his forehead, giving him a rather different yet more defined look as it exposed a little more of his features than he'd of liked to disclose. His hands were bloody and rather brutalized after the feats he'd attempted to accomplish simply to claw on for his dear life. Clearly the platform was made out of some magically-reinforced glass and with the connection to his skin, it didn't end well for him. Ibara grimaced before the Duchess began to speak, she commented on Ibara's earlier comment about his burdening of her progress. She wasn't inclined to agree and for that, Ibara smirked and rose to his feet; perhaps a grave mistake in the not-to-distant future.

"I figured you might say that..."

And with a hesitant pause before the smirk faded and the hair slowly drooped over his eyes once more.

"Thanks, that means somethin'."

Although this momentary display of what any heartless fellow would deem to be compassion was little to go-by, it was just about as much as Ibara could muster. He was a socially awkward fellow with very little conversational skills to display, this was about as far as it went most-of-the time without him exploding in an emotional yet erratic discourse. He tousled his hair back into it's original position and began striding ahead as the Duchess spoke to him again.

"A D-Dragon.. huh? Never been called one of those before; I wish I was. No, only born and raised by one, y'know? Besides.. I don't think I meet the height requirements.."

Ibara drooped his shoulders. Being a dragon.. the thought had passed him by many-a-time. To be classified as one of their majestic, great and powerful species would have been a dream come true for the somewhat young dragon. He did his best to empathize their beings through the spells he was taught by none other than a King of such a kind but he could never strive any closer. The Duchess spoke again, interrupting his thoughts with some extremely bewildering news.

"A.. D-Demon? Don't they.. eat people?"

Ibara's eyes crinkled as the wind began to slowly whip up. Clearly a torrenting gale was incoming and if they didn't act fast, the two would be blown to smitherines. Their clothes were already enarmored with torrential flusters of air which billowed through every orifice of their bodies. It struck them from every angle -- threatening to throw them off this challenge for one.. final time.. No. Ibara wasn't going to fail this. He stood tall and proud and turned back to his partner with an aurora of sly confidence; a conscience that wasn't present with him beforehand.

"It's as you said; if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun."

Flames erupted from his feet and off he burst in a bulleting motion past his partner. Ibara braced his body in a downwards fashion as if he were aiming to career off into the vast expanse of sky below him but no. His body met no contact, instead of a shroud of overwhelming light; similar to the past two instances overthrew him into the void of nothingness once more. Three challenges down.