Visiting the Old Nest (Private w/Blood Plus)

There was no sight similar to a bored dragon. One eye remained lazily propped open as if vigilant for danger if not for the slightly glazed over demeanour of the glare; the other was slammed shut, closed for business, tired, asleep. The Sabertooth Guild Hall had an interesting infrastructure in the sense that it was two floors rather than one. Speaking of which, Ibara hung himself on the top floor, his body hanging lazily over one of the bannisters, threatening to tip himself onto the tables below where the rest of the guild resided. It was relatively quiet at the time, all of the mages he knew personally were out on jobs; inclusive of his partner, a fact he was rather salty about and he was determined to let the rest of the Guild know such a thing.

"Bet you guys wouldn't like it if your supposed team-mate just up and ditched you. He didn't even leave without a word of warning, no goodbye or see ya later. He just upped and left. Damnit.. he's such an idiot! If he regales us with tales of his adventures filled with life-threatening brawls and incessant challenges, don't be surprised if I silence him before he finishes his story."

The young dragon was talking to no one in particular, he simply presumed they were all listening. In truth, no one had really payed him any mind, as of late, it was pretty usual for Ibara to go on random tangents which no one really cared about. He was only eighteen after all, he yearned for action; for things to do. A young mind always needed to be occupied in order to be fulfilled otherwise... these were the consequences.

Nothing to fulfil himself with? That was a figment of a mere few seconds ago; Ibara's eyes shot open, revealing that wicked two-tonedness to them, a feature he'd developed through intense dragon slayer training. His ears pricked up like a feral animal while his nose reared to the air. He began sniffing and what he smelt.. this was the most distinctive smell he knew to be. The smell of his childhood. The smell that defined his life. The smell of his father.

He couldn't mistake it. Mages were often characterised by their smell; with some specific mages, you could even determine their magic simply through smelling them. To Dragon Slayers and other Dragon Slayers, their respective elements were often distinguishable through smell which was how Ibara recognised such a thing in the first place. There was no other person on earth that Ibara knew whom wielded Fire Dragon Slayer Magic other than the Grandmaster of such a thing himself. Igneel.

"IGNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL~" Ibara's body spontaneously combusted out of pure excitement. The young dragon couldn't really determine a reason for such a thing but it certainly sped him on his way. He disregarded his surroundings completely and bust straight through one of the Sabertooth walls to reach the main sector of the Guild Hall. The wall exploded on contact and there Ibara stood, still coated in flames, his eyes widened and gleaming; but what he saw wasn't the picturesque behemoth of a reptile he'd expected..

"Who the hell are you and why do you smell like him?" Like a saddened dog, Ibara's once pricked ears drooped, his eyes stopped glistening and his nose removed itself from the air. Everything about Ibara's body language screamed of an utter disheartened demeanour. Ibara gulped a few times to try and establish some sense of self-worth but what could he do? He was broken.

Words: 609

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

Ibara couldn't quite process what the woman was saying to him. All he heard was bullshit and he couldn't stand a second more. He was utterly livid with what the girl both proposed and said. Her obliviousness to Igneel's presence and entire existence shocked the young dragon to the very core. So much so that the flames that had once dimmed all over his body now exploded in rippling curls up towards the ceiling. The Sabertooth Guild Hall almost set a light at Ibara's expense, luckily he kept that much in check. That didn't stop his eyes glistening a cold and calculating stare after they came into view once Ibara raised his head for a second time. They both glistened in a menacing fashion, one yellow; the same yellow as his father's reptilian dragon eyes while the other remained a vicious red. Ibara didn't think he'd be able to speak, his knuckles were white with how tight he was clenching them although this was partially obscured due to the red, yellow and orange flames that seemed to lick over his hands.

"You've got guts. I'll give you that." Ibara's voice was expressionless and cold like no one had ever seen before. Usually Ibara's tone was flooded with emotion when he spoke, especially in an angered fashion but this time he was calm.. a deadly calm.. and then the young dragon spoke again. "...but that doesn't excuse your claims."

Ibara dropped his head again so it sagged against his chest once more. The young dragon felt that if he spoke further for such an endured period of time, he'd quite literally lash out. He clenched his fists further while body continued to emblazon itself with streaks of red and yellow. He turned away from her, his head low while his hair sagged over his once glistening eyes, covering them in an eerie shadow. He paced up and down the Guild Hall, leaving black, burnt footprints with each passing footstep. The only sound that echoed in the usually noisy common room was the hissing, singeing sound against the floor.

Finally he turned back, his features still obscured by the shaggy red hair that drooped from his forehead. "You've got the fire in ya.. That much is true. But you claim to not know my father in the slightest.. The King of the Fire Dragons.. Igneel..." The name reverberated around the teenager's head, only propelling his anger to it's fullest extent as he lashed out again in a burst of more emotional speech. His eyes watered liquid fire although he dared not drop a tear. "How dare you?! I'll knock you down right here and force you to say his name over and over and over until you somehow fix it into your damn skull! I won't let you leave until you tie a damn plaque over your chest.. exclaiming to the world that your magic was inherited by the greatest Fire Dragon that the world has ever known!"

The fire around Ibara wasn't just red but now shone a deep crimson. Haretsa, if looking close enough could even see a visage of Igneel in the background; his eyes glowing a deathly yellow, his scales shining a beautiful red while his wings unfurled themselves, his head frozen in a roaring-like posture. Naturally this would probably be one of the most impressive sights Hareta would have ever seen, an extract taken directly from Ibara's mind, the King of the Fire Dragons in full glory. Igneel radiated in Ibara's mighty magical presence. Clearly the young dragon was fired up and he wouldn't let the girl leave if she didn't do something about it.

Words: 357

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

The young dragon had clearly seen he'd struck a nerve upon the mentioning of his magic. It wasn't his style nor an element of his personality to press the matter further no matter how far his rage had been fuelled up to this point. His fists slowly unclenched themselves but this didn't prevent the visible veins from bulging out of his head while the flames continued to erupt around him. She'd conjured her own flames by now, similar when it came to properties in comparison to Ibara's but more fearsome in stature and height. It lacked the care of a Dragon, something easily noticeable to any Dragon Slayer whom was taught by their respective great Dragon which immediately provoked thought onto what Haretsa was saying earlier. Bad memories, what did such a notion imply. Ibara couldn't imagine anything but good memories when training with his mentor. What had provoked such a negative experience to the girl. Ibara wanted to get to the bottom of it but that didn't excuse his rage so naturally, he resort to the one thing he knew best, if you can't speak with your mouth -- "speak with ya' fists."

Ibara said that last part in the most calm and nonchalant of manners, it almost made him seem cool until he launched himself off the ground, sending several wooden splinters in a shower off behind him. Clearly Ibara wasn't being upfront about his attack, he ducked, dodged and weaved but his aim was simple. He approached Haretsa from an aerial position by that point, his entire body now ignited to the point of no return.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"

His words accentuated perfectly so they travelled to the ears of Haretsa from many metres above, Ibara began spiralling wildly downwards until he collided with her. Whether or not this collision was made possible was a decision that relied entirely on Haretsa's skill of interpretation. Could she deflect such a blow? Ibara was travelling at quite the speed now, his body now lost underneath a sea of flames which licked at his clothes and skin. His was a spiralling, drilling flamethrower. An unstoppable force.

Words: 787

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

Clearly Ibara had interpreted the simplicity of his counter-attack to be reversed back on him but what he hadn't accounted for was the strength at which it was performed. The young dragon simply didn't have time to react as he saw a fist cocked backwards, ready to explode directly onwards to his oncoming head which he had rather foolishly misplaced as his direct source of attack. The most vulnerable part of his body now on show, Ibara simply pushed forwards, increasing the velocity of his flames towards the explosive fist which now combined with his own crimson hues to create brilliant lights that shone around the guild hall. However, this was simply a match-up that the young dragon could not overcome.

In fact, her power was so great that despite Ibara's efforts in an attempt to dwarf her power with his own, she sent him flying backwards all at once in a flashing flurry of brilliant orange, propelling him backwards through the air and along the ceiling of the Sabertooth Guild Hall. There his body flew while he contemplated on what had even happened in that short occurrence of only a few seconds.

A gargantuan crashing sound was heard as the young dragon's back smashed into the opposing wall; wood splintered upon contact with him, bending around his body as he sank further and further into the wall. In fact he threatened to break through the wall until he eventually did, being thrown directly into the Sabertooth courtyard. Ibara assumed it was intentional, this was a much more spacious place to prove his point to her and he nodded briefly in the time that he flew.

Luckily the wood broke his fall as he sank to the ground, skidding across the cobbled floor that emblazoned the entirety of the area around him. His arms felt heavy and his legs almost too weak to move but his resistance against her burned brightly. Both eyes, not just one this time, glowed a deep yellow as if Igneel himself had overcome his body.

It was a juvenile mistake to think it had ended there; to think she had finished it with one blow. She wouldn't dally on such arrogance, she knew a fellow Dragon Slayer wouldn't go down without a fight and that's exactly what Ibara intended to do. He raised himself to his feet slowly just as Haretsa came shooting through the gap in the wall with an equally fast movement, almost indiscernible to the eye. Her leg struck out and with one blink; it was upon him, like when lightning strikes the ground. However the absence of flames was her mistake.

"This isn't over until you acknowledge him."

Ibara exclaimed as his hand moved up in a similar, fast-paced, incomprehensible movement. A large cracking sound was heard as Ibara's hand raised, the connection of Haretsa's leg being stopped dead in it's tracks against Ibara's hands before, he assumed, she'd retreat back again in order to divulge yet another attack.

However this was unimportant to the yellow-eyed dragon. He stood there, with the leg either blocked in mid-air against his hand or Haretsa now standing horizontally opposite him as his equal opponent. He closed his eyes slowly and thought to himself, his thoughts sent directly to Igneel.

"Not.. until you acknowledge him.." Ibara spoke between ragged gasps of absolute anger as his whole body suddenly ignited into an outburst of a crimson aurora. The flames burst at the cobbles at the ground, quite literally uprooting them from place. There he stood, proud as ever in the wake of his father's defence.

With the already pre-embursed flames augmenting his speed tenfold, he burst off the ground, sending rivulets of cobbles spraying on either side of him as he moved forwards. He moved slower than Haretsa, clearly; there was an outstanding difference in their strength, anyone could notice that, but it was Ibara's determination for the defence of his father which kept him striving onwards.

With only a millimetre in-between him and Haretsa, Ibara's knuckles on one outstretched fist all began to alight systematically. One by one, they reimbursed themselves with white-hot flames before he descended to the ground infront of Haretsa. Rather than making contact with her body directly, his fist touched the ground delicately. A strange concept considering his intention was to do direct damage. A small dawned on his face -- his look said otherwise.

"Fire Dragon's Fang Shot.."

A massive explosion of flames erupted from that minuscule connection to the ground. A monumental amount of force imploded from that one simple punch downwards, all reversing upwards in Haretsa's direction as if the punch itself had connected with her. This was Ibara's moment to do or die trying.

Words: 668

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

Ibara’s chest rose and fell heavily as he stood opposite Haretsa with a leakage of blood dripping from an orifice that had opened previously due to the female dragon slayer’s blow to his head. He didn’t care. Despite the severity of the wound and the already insetting light-headedness he was beginning to feel after having his head opened up without even a milliseconds notice, Ibara had already persevered to this battle, regardless of the pain; he was determined to show to Haretsa who Igneel was. He’d demonstrate that through his perseverance, his willpower, and his flames of emotion. Unlike most people in the modern world – Ibara would decide to let his fists do the talking, they were much more effective than his speech anyway.

The young dragon slayer breathed heavily deciding against charging head on as Haretsa criticized his stupidity although part of the tactical dragon knew why he hadn’t consumed the flames from her spell. She overpowered him, dominated him in every aspect of magical power, despite their shared affinitial element within their magic, consuming it would simply be too much for Ibara – despite how much he hated such a fact to be true, he wasn’t a total idiot, especially when it came to combat – this was something he was born to do and he was darn good at it. Without the ability to consume his element, that only left the option of blocking or dodging her incoming strikes. Both difficult tasks since she vastly outranked him in power-level as well, not to mention she’d only used the most simplistic of her spell arsenal judging by the way that she wasn’t fatigued at all, the female dragon slayer had a lot more up her sleeve than she let on, Ibara would have to think this one through if he were to have any chance at winning this. There was also the fact that she could consume his spells with absolute ease, if he were to overwhelm her, it would have to be with his physical strength, not his magical presence.

”This is just a scratch. I’m not letting up until you say that name ten times over…”

Ibara was pushing his luck to such a combatively superior opponent but this was about all he had. He spoke confidently and willingly despite knowing in the back of his mind that winning was an impossibility. He tried his best and his fists clenched at the thought of losing. He may lose this fight, terribly, but he wouldn’t let up until he wasn’t breathing any longer or Haretsa finally complied to his terms of ending the battle. She would remember the name. The King of the magic they both wielded. She had to.

”ROAR OF THE FIRE DRAGON…!”

His movements were spontaneous, like lightning itself, before even beginning the annunciation of his spell, Ibara had moved at blinding speeds towards the ground, keeping in mind his body was still ignited with a raging dragon’s inferno due to the aforementioned effects of his fiery scales, augmenting his speed terrifically. Within the space of only a few seconds, Ibara was crouched down just below Haretsa, his neck tilted and his hands clasped around his mouth to make an aiming cylinder directly directly at Haretsa’s head. However, he knew she’d be able to consume such a thing, even from this range, her power was tremendous and he was sure not to underestimate it twice. After the spell was released, Ibara jumped upwards with a full frontal punch following the release of fire from his mouth in an uppercut formation. Even if she were distracted with consuming the flames he released, his punch, now concealed by the flames he’d breathed out towards her would hopefully connect in time. His fist sweated with determination. This was a do-or-die moment, being within such a close vicinity to such a more dominating opponent was practically suicide for the weaker magician but Ibara was a reckless enthusiastic. He’d stop at nothing to make her say the name…

”Igneel…”

Words: 463

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

An overwhelming sense of pain overtook Ibara's main nervous drive as an explosion emanated from the point of contact on Haretsa's chin. He was sure that his punch had connected but why had she not suffered the consequences? Instead, his fist, now retracted several metres back from Haretsa; his body having skidded back from the explosion, now was smoked and charred around the knuckles where he had initially struck. She seemed unphased while her chin smoked from where Ibara had connected. Slowly, with his hands dragging restlessly against the floor, Ibara waved to his feet as the familiar feeling of fatigue began overcoming him, a sensation that was no doubt going to cross Ibara at some point.

As Ibara raised his hands to strike once more, he was brought to a halt by the shifting of Haretsa's stance. Her legs moved simultaneously, one moving infront and the other in the latter direction. Professionalism wreaked off her body, literal steam emanating off her person as she radiated with confidence and technique. Ibara gritted his slightly fanged teeth to the extent where his lip began to bleed with determination. He wasn't going to go down now, he took a step forward and his leg wobbled almost forcing him to stumble to his knees but the young dragon took it all in his stride and launched forwards. He had no guard, no defensive position, no real technique to his fight, he was a brawler through and through, resorting to his pure brutality and instinctive survivalistic nature to prevail in his battles and for the most part; this method succeeded for him but would it prevail against such a dominant fighter? Only a few more seconds would the young dragon for his answer, fists raised ahead of him, faking one punch to let the other launch forwards. His left and right hand moved simultaneously in order to provoke the female into blocking one while being struck with the other. As for the explosions that radiated off her skin, Ibara hoped he was fast enough to consume the explosion before it struck him, but would this even a possibility? Beforehand, it had all happened within a flash, not one second passed before Ibara had skidded back as a result of the force that had pushed him.

"You won't have to worry about me."

Ibara grinned with a fanged smile while having simultaneously launched his body forwards beforehand. His whole body wreaked of confidence despite his weaker disadvantage and he exuded raw ability that had only yet to be transformed into passionate skill. This battle was a question of whether he could perform this transformation in time to finally get his message across. His body moved forwards metaphorically moving towards his goal. He would make Haresta remember the name.

   Blazing red eyes kept themselves glued on her opponent as he rushed forward towards her. Ibara had a good technique for augmenting his speed that was similar to Haretsa's own; but the difference in how much the two had honed their respective techniques was apparent. That combined with Ibara's obvious lack of a true fighting style meant Haretsa had the upper hand in every respect for this fight. She had fought plenty of idiots in Talonia while she was growing up who fought in the same manner as Ibara; trying to rely on pure animal instincts to be wild, brutal, and unpredictable in a fight. However, Haretsa was able to beat every last one of them thanks to the training she received from that old man she had met one day. That man taught her a very unique type of martial art that was only slightly common in the country he hailed from; making it completely foreign to people from Fiore. She took this style and combined it with what she was already practicing at the time, blending the two into a deadly and unpredictable style of her own backed by the power of a dragon that flowed through her veins.

    Halting her movements so that her right arm was in front of her face as a guard with her left foot forward and right stretched out to the back; Haretsa waited as Ibara threw two punches at her simultaneously. With a quick burst of flames from her body, Haretsa propelled herself down and to the right; landing on the palm of her right hand as Ibara's fists went whizzing between her legs. With another swift burst, Haretsa locked her legs around Ibara's arms with an iron grip and began pivoting around on her hand; swinging Ibara around rapidly before launching the Dragon Slayer up into the air. Instead of pursuing him like she normally would, Haretsa merely pushed herself off of her hand and returned to her earlier stance; awaiting the airborne Slayer's next attack. "I really wish we were fighting somewhere else... then I could push him to my level without a problem. I don't wanna end up scorching Sabertooth's guild hall with all that though... this blockhead already ruined one of the walls..." Haretsa thought to herself. There were several ways she could think of to push Ibara beyond his current limits, but all of them involved a hell of a lot of fire and she didn't exactly want to cause poor relations between Infinity Hydra and Sabertooth. "Maybe I should just end this so we can go fight somewhere else...."

Words: 488

Tags: Haretsa Shikon

Ibara's world was turned on it's head as he found himself now opposing the female dragon slayer in a much different perspective than he perspected. With his body upside down and head facing towards the floor, he was quite literally upside-down in the air, his arms held infront of him, limp and threatening to break after just recovering from Haretsa's vice-like leg lock which had been responsible for putting him in this situation in the first place. However, the terrain in which he surrounded himself in would not stop him from prevailing in this fight or rather, getting his point across at the very least. With his limp hands managing to remain in check, he brought them backwards with an agonised gasp to form a cone-like shape around his mouth. Haretsa probably presumed he was going to use Fire Dragon's Roar again, a simple attack from above which was fast and from close-range. It would've been a savage move that wreaked with simplicity but he knew it wouldn't be effective of someone of her calibre and status. No, the young dragon was about to switch his up his style to a very new level.

Instead of aiming the cone-like flames that now began to bubble in the fiery dragon slayer's mouth downwards towards Haretsa as anyone with any basic combative skills would have interpreted; Ibara curled himself up, bringing his legs inwards so as to roll in mid-air so his face motioned towards the air rather than the ground. He then used the flames which now exploded in a cone-like shape out of his mouth as a jet-propelled attack which augmented his speed tenfold, much more than any normal fire expelled from his hands or feet would. Keeping one hand around his mouth to concentrate the flames in a inferno-propelled stream behind him, his eyes glanced backwards, his remaining arm pointing diagonally downwards so his elbow motioned towards Haretsa. She remained there in that same stance which had thrown Ibara into complacency once before, but the young dragon refused to let it happen again.

"Fire Dragon's Roar..."

Ibara's voice channeled through the empty guild hall, he regretted what he was about to do but he simply had to teach Haretsa what Igneel meant to him and his blows seemed to be the only way of getting through to her.

"...Augmented Dragon Elbow!"

Like a nuclear bomb, Ibara motioned downwards at breakneck speed, elbow faced forwards. Haretsa would have no choice but to dodge the attack and allow devastation of the Guild Hall or to somehow redirect the attack which seemed like a pretty impossible feat considering the mach speed that the young dragon continued at while the flames continued to propel him to further and further heights. This blow would decide it all. The blast would no doubt knockout Ibara but he didn't care, as long as this move drove his point him. She would remember the name.

 Gazing up at the seemingly helpless Dragon Slayer in the air, Haretsa was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw the red head do exactly what she wanted to see; innovate. Instead of blasting the flames he was gathering within his mouth directly at Haretsa, Ibara spun around in the air and launched the roar upwards; using the force of the move as a way to rocket himself down towards the ground with his elbow aimed directly at his opponent. Haretsa couldn’t help but be reminded of her training with Kite and Ardere at the foot of the Raging Volcano what felt like years ago now. However, now wasn’t the time to get caught up in memories as there was quite the problem currently rocketing down towards her.

  Knowing that dodging would result in some serious damage to the guild hall, Haretsa would have no choice but to meet Ibara’s assault head on. Switching up her stance to a regular standing position, Haretsa blasted out an incredible amount of flames from the back of her body as she caught Ibara’s elbow; attempting to counteract the velocity of his attack with the sheer difference in both magical and physical that she had over him. This proved to be no easy task however, as Ibara’s roar raged on into the sky’s continuing to push him down to the point where the tiles beneath her boots began to crack from the strain. This roar of Ibara’s was quite different from the one he had used on Haretsa earlier. This one was much stronger; likely fueled by the anger Ibara felt over Haretsa not knowing Igneel’s name and possibly even the fact of how much stronger she was than him. These emotions of his pushed his flames past his current boundaries into a realm much closer to Haretsa’s power and the Dragon Heiress couldn’t help but be impressed.

     Quickly redirecting her flames to propel out the left side of her body, Haretsa released her grip from Ibara’s elbow as she attempted a quick side step; or so it would seem. Just as quickly as she had before, Haretsa concentrated her flames to burst out from the right side of her body this time, launching her right arm forward to firmly grasp Ibara by the throat. Using her momentum and his own, the cream haired Dragon Slayer proceeded to drive her opponent down into the floor tiling below; making sure to keep her grip firm as to not send the poor fool careening through the platform and plunging to the earth below. Haretsa was able to keep the damage to a minimum, but this didn’t mean there wasn’t any. The area around where Ibara’s body impacted the platform was shattered with pieces of tile flying up all around the two Dragon Slayers. At least they didn’t detach the entire platform from the Guild Hall! Such was Haretsa’s reasoning anyway, as she looked down at Ibara with a pleased grin upon her face. ”Ya did alright, Red. I’m sure you made Igneel proud of you. But…” she stopped, releasing her grip from Ibara’s throat and standing up above him. ”You still need a lot more training… so if you want to make him really proud, then meet me at the base of the Raging Volcano in about… four months or so. Then I’ll show you what training with a REAL dragon is like because I won't have to be holding back all the time~” she mused in a somewhat cocky tone before making her way to the teleportation lacrima to leave. She knew Ibara would take those words to heart and use them as motivation to get as strong as he could in those four months; and Haretsa couldn’t wait. She had been doing quite a bit of research into a certain subject about the Raging Volcano for quite some time now and if her theory was correct, then Ibara would definitely be receiving some of the best training he could ever hope to achieve. Haretsa just needed a bit more time to prepare for that fated day.