On Wings of Fire and Ice (Decayuss/Solo)

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

The first and only word that had come to mind in the description of how the Nephalem currently felt was...calm. Following that word came a string of synonymous or similar terms: peaceful, serene, tranquil, and at peace. A cool breeze passed itself through his jet black locks and over the rest of his body, sending a small rush of a sweetened fresh air to fill his corrupted lungs. It seemed as though all of the problems within his known world--or even currently within his life--had faded away at the powerful therapeutic energy generated through his current connection with his surroundings. Day to day he spent his life in the wilderness and outside of city life, but it was on rare occasions such as these was he truly able to relax and enjoy a primal instinct of enjoying the simplicity of it all. No saving a town, no lives on the line, and no being a hero. It was merely himself alongside the life around him. Of course what they say just had to have been true in this scenario: all good things come to an end. Interrupted by the calming surroundings by a sudden noise emitted from inside of his clothing, the Nephalem's eyes shot wide open almost in shock. Upon realizing that it was merely the long-range communications Lacrima he kept on hand with him at all times--in case the Council was in need for him to perform some heroic deed--a bit of disappointing flew within him.

He did not dislike the Council, far from it. Nor did he always hate it when they gave him a job they wished to have completed; it was just that not all of them were the best. Once in a while he did get one that was noteworthy of his skills, but the amount of those could be counted in one palm of his hand. Now fortunately for him, this would be one of those times that the objective of the Council would prove to be challenging for him. But unfortunately, he was not aware of it, and answered the Council's call with a rather sour attitude. Removing the Lacrima from out of his pockets, he clicked on the Lacrima's vision with a press of his thumb. From out of the Lacrima, an image of one of the Council's officials was created before him utilizing high technology and light-based Magic. At the same time, the communications was two way; he could see them, but they could also see him. And the most apparent thing upon looking at Deniel would more than likely be the unhappy expression he carried on his face. Unhappy was probably an understatement to his facial expression, for his brows furrowed themselves into a scowl and his lips dared not even to form even the faintest of grins or smiles. Only one word escaped his lips, and only one was necessary to convey his disappointment:


Though the one on the other side obviously noticed that Deniel was upset, both he and the Council knew by now that regardless of whatever mood or mindset the Nephalem was in, they would always get away with contacting him. "Greetings, Mister Thormun. I hope I am not intruding on anything important." Though calming himself and being able to enjoy a peaceful moment was more than likely not to be seen as anything important, Deniel thought of it so. Regardless, he did not say a word, and let his face convey everything that he was thinking. After a moment or so of awkward silence, realizing that Deniel wasn't going to respond to his inquiry, the male on the other side of the communications Lacrima responded: "Well, we have a situation. Perhaps the most serious one so far." Though he wasn't exactly about to believe the words of the Official right away, at the very least he managed to garner more of Deniel's attention. "Continue..." he stated quietly, with his eyes narrowing at the projection that reduced the size of the man to just a few inches. "The Royal Castle has been invaded by dragons. All attempts at ceasing their activities have resulted in the deaths of many of our warriors. We would like a God of Ishval to handle the situation."

Immediately Deniel leaped down from where he had been initially located, up on a tree branch. Within his hand he carried the Lacrima, so on the other side it appeared as though he was falling for a mere second or two. "Hah! A dragon? Think I'm scared of those little reptiles?" From the tree branch Deniel was down on the ground, with his black cloak draped over his body once more, save for his hand extended to hold out the lacrima in front of him. "You will find that their size is more than you anticipate. Regardless, if you have no fear of them, that should further enhance your capabilities of completing the mission. I trust you will not fail us?" Rolling his eyes at the mere possibility that dragons could defeat him, Deniel only returned with a sarcastic comment: "If I fail you, you'll never hear from me again. I'll be dead." A few moments of awkward silence passed between the two, in which it was Deniel's turn this time to respond to himself and break it: "Yeah, I'll kill em'! Jeez."


Following the conversation, silence descended upon the Nephalem and his surroundings. Once again a very slight breeze of wind that brushed its hair to the direction that it had been traveling to, east, and he was left alone in the serenity of nature. Unfortunately this dream of relaxation and tranquility had come to a sudden end. In a way he could have sat here, or up in his tree once more, for as long as he wanted. Though he was not compelled, nor did he have the will, to do so. Lives were at stake with every moment those dragons were compelled to run free and rampant throughout the city and the Royal Castle. The question as to how he would manage to defeat these enormous creatures brought itself to mind; certainly a dragon wouldn't be too challenging for him to defeat or kill...but save the city at the same time? He might end up destroying it further when fighting the dragon. "Tch. What a pain..." Before the fighting even started, before he decided on a plan, before he even got to the location, and before he even took a step...there were already troubles and complications in this job. "Nidhogg, where's the royal castle located?" Opening up his cloak slightly, held firm at his side was a black katana concealed beneath his cloak, and also blending in slightly with his same colored clothing. "Northern Fiore, north side of the mountains...between Beanstalk Village and Mysterious Canyon."

Closing his red eyes and sketching a map of Fiore within his mind, giving his current location first and imagining the distance between himself and distant landmarks and objects, he tried to imagine which way he should go. As the map was drawn out within his own mind, he took the very first few steps of his journey to his destination. Judging on his own current position in Fiore, the walk itself would not prove to be much of a distant journey. Fortunately. The calculations of it would be if it was a walk, however; with so many lives immediately at stake, Deniel had no intentions of making sure that he took his sweet time to the journey. Though at the same time he assured and promised himself he would not waste a single Take Over for merely getting there. Some way or another, he had a hunch that every ounce of strength was a necessity for this. One method that would not drain any Magical energy--or much physical prowess--was running. Ironic seeing as running drained the energy of most people, and that was not saying that the Nephalem's energy was not drained in the slightest, but he had such an enormous quantity that running could be seen as power walking in some perspectives. Or in other words, he could run for an enormous amount of time given that he didn't result to his top speed.

After only a few minutes of running through the grassy plains of Fiore, the thought of what exactly these dragons were capable of had processed to the Nephalem's mind. It was a fact of all things true that knowing your enemy was an essential key to victory. Aware that more information was a necessity, the Nephalem reached inside one of his pockets and pulled out the Communications Lacrima used to contact the Council. This was probably the third time that he used it to contact them rather than the other way around...he could probably surprise them. Pressing his thumb down into the Lacrima itself, there were a couple of moments of no reaction, until at last the projection of the same man from earlier had come up. "Yes, Mister Thormun?" From his side the man could see that Deniel was running, based on his bodily motions, but not much else. "Is there any information the Council can give me in regards to these dragons? Where they came from? What type they are? Size? Strength? Anything?" At first the man behind the screen merely chuckled, finding it slightly amusing that Deniel had called them back. This was primarily because earlier he anticipated Deniel would, in search of information, yet the true irony had yet to unveil itself. "Unfortunately Mister Thormun, there is not much the Council may provide. Many of our forces we send in do not return alive. And those who do could not see much, nor do they want to describe it. My suggestion would be to ask survivors in the Royal Castle. If any."

Prior to even allowing Deniel to respond, or even say a good-bye himself, the Nephalem was hung up on.

Notes: Word Count: 1,666/17,850 (I did that on purpose. Heheh.)

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"I see," Deniel whispered to himself along his path shortly after being hung up. Putting the Lacrima back where it belonged, it was no mystery that he was all alone on this mission; there would be no job partner, there would be no source of information, and there would be no cavalry. It would only be him, his mind, and his blade against a city practically infested with dragons. What the council member had said was coming true...this was the most serious situation yet. What made it so dire was the fact that the dragons had already taken over. If Deniel had been informed of an invasion and defenses would be prepared, then the course of the mission would drastically be different; not only would it be easier, but perhaps he would have not even needed to get involved. Unfortunately the tides were turned on his expectations and he would be fighting on the offensive, whilst the dragons would be the defensive. Initially he had not the faintest clue how to perceive this...a good or a bad thing? Unable to decipher it alone, he decided to ask his sword for advice, the one source that he had always done so. "Nidhogg, think we can do it?" From within his cloak, the sheathed blade temporarily awoken, as it only did so when called on for verbal aid or combat use. "You said it yourself: you'll kill them. And I trust you'll follow up with your word." Though not necessarily taking in comfort from the response bequeath upon him by Nidhogg, he took it for what it was. And just as usual, faith in himself and his powers as a Nephalem would more often than not result in a victory of some magnitude or another.

"Dragons...have we ever faced them before?" He was not doubting his ability to defeat them this time, but interrogating to see if he could know whether or not he had done such a task before. In all of the kinds of creatures and monsters he killed for bounties, fame, or even women at times...he couldn't remember a specific one unless given more details by his blade. "We have not, actually." He didn't think so. Though it didn't hurt anyone--not even himself--to confirm that he had never faced a dragon before. It was quite intriguing, and even left  a satisfying feeling inside of himself. It had been so long since he was given a fresh, new experience. "Good thing. A first time for everything, I suppose." This sense of a new kind of journey rather than one he had seen before filled him with determination, and excitement. What kind of obstacles and opponents would he find out at every corner for this job? Abruptly, and unintentionally, the speed of his running had swiftly picked itself up. Around him the grassy planes of Fiore passed by slowly, giving him a glimpse of the distant shadows of the mountains in the horizon, as well as what might lay beyond and inside of them. The sun was clear over the sky, early in the morning--almost midday. He suspected he would reach the Royal Castle by midday, and that the battle should carry him on and over into the evening, perhaps longer. Or he could have been overestimating his opponents, and it would take a much shorter time than all day. Regardless, his arrival time shouldn't be short of noon or midday.

One other fact that came to be in his mind was that he had never visited the Royal Castle before. In fact, he knew quite well that it wasn't where the King of Fiore resided, or even the Magic Council. So what exactly was the point of this place? And why did it exist? Perhaps soon enough he would discover the answer to his curiousness; and maybe why in the world he had never been to this location before. He knew where it was, but strangely enough he had also never heard anything about it. The question once again circled around to the front of his attention as to why exactly it had existed in the first place. Obviously if the Magic Council sent him to clear up the situation, it must have been great value to them and the rest of Fiore. Although he did note that they were giving him--one person--plenty of responsibility by sending him in alone. He recalled that on easier jobs in which he could have completed on his own, they decided to match him up with a partner. Or was it the other way around? They matched them up with him as a partner in case something bad happened to them? Judging by the previous difficulty of those jobs, he found it to be a strong likelihood that it was so the others could have partners, not him. This time, there were no partners, there were no reinforcements, and there were no allies for him. It was the Nephalem versus a city infested with dragons in which he had little to no information about. At least they wouldn't know any information about him. Or the fact that he was coming at least.


Perhaps the relief was unnecessary. Perhaps he was over reacting about the whole thing and it would be a breeze. He had no reason to doubt his own abilities; he had overcome some of the most arduous tasks and toiling challenges found within all of Fiore, and even Earthland. Thus far, the only thing that caused him to be between the boundaries of life and death was his father, Diabolos the Black Devil. Ever since his defeat, it seemed everything else in the world proved to be no sort of challenge or thing even remotely possible of defeating him. In some way or another, he was invincible...or at least it seemed to be. One would expect that he would become so used to victory that defeat was never the option, but it was quite the opposite; he always anticipated some kind of defeat, and pulled it through in the end. Well, always was not entirely the case. Sometimes he predicted his own defeat--perhaps even demise--but end up pulling something off at the last second. Either he was that powerful, or it was a perk with becoming a Nephalem. Perhaps a combination of the two. Even so, without it all, dragons seemed to be an intimidating enemy. Maybe this would be his first defeat in a while, or it would not.


It was quite unusual to think of it this way. Here he was, about to walk straight into the lion's den--or rather dragons--with probably one of the most disadvantageous tactical positions he had ever been in. Though this was not entirely true. The essential difference between this and other jobs was very simple: every other job he had no idea what he was up against. This time, he knew what he was up against, he just didn't know anything about it. And at the very least, the knowledge of them being dragons was a serious advantage in this predicament. Hopping over a line of bushes, then a fence, he continued on his running journey to the Royal Castle. Every second wasted away was more of an advantage to the defense of the dragons; their next was expanding, their kind was reproducing, and they were learning the territory for themselves. Deniel, upon arrival, would have to highly improvise in the fight that was to come, and pour in all of his resources and capabilities in order to have a chance at winning this. Or so he thought.

The truth of the matter was, the Nephalem had attained a level of strength that was nearly impossible to match, dragon, mortal, or God...soon enough, he would realize the potential he had already unlocked. And what then? Would he be tempted to do evil, or would be become an ultimate knight of righteousness? Perhaps somewhere in the middle? Only time would tell. For now, the first step into this was the Nephalem discovering that this power was hidden within him. It was not so hidden away, in fact. Who am I, though? The one that knows so much about the Nephalem.

Notes Notes: Word Count: 3,090/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Deniel had decided a shortcut was in order for him to reach the destination of the Royal Castle swifter. Cutting through the mountain range that separated his location and the Royal Castle, the journey was much more rigorous--admittedly--with slopes, hills, and dangers of creatures, but luckily the Nephalem had shred through it all quite easily, and ended up reaching his destination much sooner than he previously would have. He sat there on a passage in the mountains, just below him the planes of green, and just beyond it was the Royal Castle. An enormous circular city with structures, towers, and castles that would reach for the sky were it not for the ruinous state it was in. And that was perhaps one of the many adjectives to describe it: ruinous...disastrous...catastrophic...decimated...devastated. The city itself appeared to be in ruins, buildings toppled over, torn in half, laying on top of one another, and rubble perhaps every step of the way taken. Of course these observations were made when Deniel was perhaps a kilometer or so away from the city itself upon the mountain passage. Circling overhead was also swarms of dragons, nests of eggs and hatchlings... it was a disastrous site, and the contemplation came as to whether or not there was anyone in the city that was left alive and standing. The biggest likelihood came from the enormous castle in the center of the city that surrounded it; it appeared to be the least devastated, and he could have sworn that there were defense barriers in sight. Though of course, this was all his judgment given the distance, and would have to get in for a closer look. Just before he was about to take another step towards the city, he found himself suddenly tumbling backwards voluntarily.

Just before him in the passage came an enormous dragon flying by, causing a strong gust of wind to pass right by over the mountain, and an obnoxious sound of it just passing by was created. The golden scaled dragon passed by swiftly and with tremendous force and Magical pressure, making even the Nephalem feel its presence and almost feel dwarfed in comparison. Minuscule though he seemed to be, the Nephalem was only in its dormant state, and that was one of the primary reasons as to why the difference seemed to enormous. Its scales reflected the sunlight off into a bright light of glorious power and an overwhelming array of lights. The Nephalem could hear naught but the sound of the dragon passing by the passage of the mountains, to which even then he was not capable of getting a decent glance at the creature and its shape. It seemed only an instant had passed by since the enormous reptilian creature interrupted a moment of silence with its passing, and once it departed, Deniel knew he was safe. Looking beyond his cover to the distance, Deniel watched as the golden dragon flew off into the distance with trees and grass trembling beneath its wingspan, and a roar came from it in the distance as it elevated. Frowning, the Nephalem turned its attention back to the city:


His gaze and attention churned itself to the Royal Castle and its city once more. With not a moment to waste, the Nephalem ran for the ledge of the passage he was in, and jumped right off on to the mountain side. His boots caught on to the sedimentary material just beneath it, along with the snow that had covered the tips of the mountaintops. The frozen water granted Deniel the ability to temporarily slide down the mountaintop with his combat boots, passing by trees and large rocks with sharp turns and abrupt direction shifts. This, in addition to the shortcut of taking the mountain passage, more than likely cut his time of arrival by a full two hours. Following the slippery slope of the snow covered mountain top, the steepness of his descent had become significantly less to the point where Deniel was capable of making the rest of the journey without a near uncontrollable slide. He ran the rest of it. Down the dirt and grass covered mountain slope Deniel went, utilizing the rocks along the way by leaping off one of them towards another rather than avoiding them as he had done last time.

Down and down he went, further descending into the ground level so that the only thing separating him and the ruins of the Royal Castle was just a small plain of grass similar to what he had traversed earlier. Upon reaching the plains, the first thing that was noticeable was the lack of a hefty amount of footprints. The Royal Castle had not been evacuated, save for a few hundred people that managed to get out of the city, it seemed. Everyone rushing out at once would appear chaotic, but much more so than to the degree in which he was surrounded in. There were footprints, though not nearly as many as there should have been. Dragons must have caught them off guard. Attacked by surprise and laid siege to the whole city swiftly, Deniel deduced in his mind from the findings. Looking further ahead of him, he was not able to see much of the city with a much more horizontal perspective of everything, but he was able to see that many of its tall buildings and structures had been leveled, with some kind of damage that he was unable to pinpoint given his location. The only one that had been left partially standing was the center Royal Castle, which he had earlier assumed to be the base of operations for survivors and soldiers who were unable to abandon the city.

Nearing the city itself, he was now able to discover exactly why they were unable to exit. Every last entrance, or exit depending on the path taken, to the city was reduced to complete rubble, and the walls were much too high to traverse without being spotted. No doubt the dragons controlled the skies of the city, though strangely he had not seen any other than the enormous golden dragon that had passed on by. A shiver ran down his spine to the thought of it. That creature was so...enormous. It surprised him to think that such a thing could exist at that size, and not be discovered or seen flying around. The more he contemplated that fact, however, he recalled that he had run into a creature capable of much more fearsome powers and abilities...a larger size, at that. The Storm King. Just getting to the beast itself was an Odyssey through waves, lightning, rain, geysers, twisters...and when he reached the monster he had never felt more dwarfed and helpless in his life. Though in spite of that, defeating it was entirely possible. Too easy, actually...at least almost too easy. All he had to do was take it out from the inside, which had been left wide open by a gaping mouth. Perhaps the Storm King was not expecting anything to be capable of reaching past its storms.

Fighting a dragon like that would have to be a much more direct approach to it...and maybe would require a different kind of effort. He would have to plan that later. In fact, it was high time he had start planning. For the Nephalem, Deniel Decayuss Thormun, had reached the sealed off entrance to the Royal Castle.

Notes: Word Count: 4,340/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Collapsed. The entrance was collapsed. Anything that was on the inside, would not be getting out. Anything that could not fly, anyway. The enormous arch-shaped entrance, dozens of feet taller than the Nephalem, lay right in front of him in ruins, caved in with its various parts and surrounding debris. Approaching the entrance a little cautiously, Deniel extended his hand, and hesitantly placed his hand onto the stone. Heat. That's what he felt. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he moved himself over several paces to the right and placed his hand on another collapsed portion. Heat yet again. It wasn't too hot to touch, or even keep his hands on for quite some time, but he did feel more heat than he should have been, given the fact that the arch itself shielded the pieces of stone and metal from the blazing sun overhead. Looking behind himself into the sky, he located where the sun was currently at, estimating that it was shining its rays onto the location no less than three hours ago. Turning back to the bits and pieces of rubble, he ran his hand across it to feel its jagged, torn surface that still contained heat. "The heat of the sun shouldn't last this long...something else created this. And it's coming from the other side." Without wasting a second more on pondering the reason, the young Nephalem was determined to get inside of the city and find the source of it all himself. Placing two hands, one on each piece of stone that was firmly held in place, on the collapsed rubble, he hurled himself up slightly, using his feet once he got up high enough to dig into spots to support himself. Ascending his way up through the wreckage of the entrance, the Nephalem reached the top in a very short amount of time, and what he saw when he got up there was highly different than he did on the mountain peak.

Charred buildings...and a little bit of the fire left. The fire did not emit an ominous glow as it did--nor could it in the daylight--but the light given off by the fire was very differential to that of normal fire. The fire itself appeared to be golden, shining, dancing flames on the remnants of the crumbled, burnt buildings. Entire towers and houses were topped down to the ground, assuming in a mass of rubble throughout the city's streets, buildings collapsed on other buildings. And in the waste of all of it, there were small patches of fire that endlessly burned to show what exactly had transgressed there earlier. "Interesting..." Looking below at the entrance, he saw that fire was still there at the other side of the gate, preventing anyone from even attempting to climb up and get out. "Makes sense now..." Dropping down from the dozen meters or so the gate stretched out into the sky, the Nephalem landed quietly on both of his combat boots, slightly crouched down from the impact, and then stood up. Taking a gander at his ruinous surroundings, the entire area seemed to be in a sort of apocalyptic state above all else. Turning towards the Northwest, he found himself looking up at the actual Royal Castle.

Though its surroundings were in ruins, most of the Royal Castle was still in tact, implying that it was tougher than the rest of the city, which was possible, the dragons had ignored it, or there were survivors. Among all of the options he determined, his biggest hopes was that it was the final one of them. "Only one way to find out..." He said to himself as he started his journey. Rather than walking or taking it slow, he decided to be swift but silent. He hadn't the faintest clue what kind of dangers lied in here--since it was said that this was the dragon's new nest--and preferred not to find out quite yet. He had no doubt in his mind that Hatchlings would be the least of his concerns, but if he could avoid combat if at all possible until he knew what exactly he had been dealing with here, then that would be the most favorable option. Therefore, he stuck to the shadows, ruined buildings that gave him plenty of cover, and avoided the fire at all costs. Slowly but surely his journey towards the center of the city was progressing. As he passed through piles of rubble and ruin, he began to contemplate just how this place would have looked if it hadn't been so ruinous. It seemed quite large, larger than any city he had been at Fiore aside from the capital.

Suddenly tumbling to the side in the cover and safety of a pile of rubble, and on the insides of a wall, Deniel had narrowly dodged the line of sight of a group of small Hatchlings flapping and struggling by on the ground with occasional footsteps. In spite of their young age, perhaps hatched not too long ago, they were vicious little things that seemed to already have an entire row of teeth above all else. Their wings were there, though not completely functional, and their speech was even more primitive than that of dragons themselves. It only took a moment or so for them to pass by, since they did not have the instinctual hunting nature inside of them, and thus it was quite easy to evade them and any kind of pursuit they would engage if they had actually seen them. Once they all passed by and the coast was clear, he slipped right out of his hiding place and once again continued on with his journey. His cloak swayed and swooshed right behind him as his arms pumped themselves forward, his legs propelling his body with every impact on the ground that it made. Using the rubble to his advantage rather than hindering his performance, Deniel jumped off of them and used them as leverage to raise himself to higher elevations.

Once again a group of dragons came by, but these one seemed to be adolescent ones, bickering among one another as they trod on by. Biting and screeching back and fourth, backing off, charging ahead, and breathing fire just enough so that it wouldn't actually hit the other, but rather just went off to their sides as a threat. Deniel kept to the shadows, but still kept them in a small portion of his line of sight so he could see what was going on. These ones were flying, though low to the ground, showing that they gained the ability to do so. There was a silver colored one, and then a red one... the red one snapped at the silver one before breathing out fire. The silver one then astonished Deniel by giving out a bit of frost breath, some of its excess going out into the hiding spot Deniel was in. Swiftly getting out of the way and ducking inside of the bits of rubble he was underneath, the freezing cold breath just barely touching his body. Even from the minuscule amount of it, the Nephalem could very well tell that it was a powerful force. Not daring to look back out in hopes that the dragons wouldn't see him, he drew in his breath and held it for some time. Waiting in moments of silence, he eventually peaked out from his hiding spot, seeing the dragons had already flown by. Looking from left to right twice, and then up and down, he burst out from his hiding spot and ventured on.

His primary reason for avoiding conflict rather than just bursting into the city and killing every dragon in site is that he wanted to find out a little more information before deciding to take some kind of course of action. Maybe there was some kind of alternative to this rather than dragon slaying. Perhaps he could make allies along the way, find people and weaponry that could assist him in taking down the smaller dragons while the bigger ones would be taken care of personally. "With that thought... which Take Over should I use?" the White Angel would certainly make short work of the dragons, being able to probably go faster than they could keep up. Cut them into pieces. At the same time, it would be amazing to test out if the Black Devil's body and strength could withstand the force of an enormous dragon. "Perhaps a combination of the two..." It then came to his mind, as a wide smirk spread across his face. The Nephalem. "The Nephalem vs a mighty dragon... a perfect match-up. And a perfect victory." He was not one to always resort to violence--at least until recently in his life--but he had complete faith in his ability to take down any foe that came along his way. There was only one out there that would have defeated him, and he was now dead... Ever since then, it seemed like nothing could ever hope to best him. Nothing at all.

Notes: Word Count: 5,851/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

It was settled. For the first time in actual combat in one of his jobs, Deniel would assume the form of the Nephalem and lay waste to all that opposed him. He could picture it then... his blade dancing around his body at strengths only paralleled by divines and gods. An epic battle of epic proportions. He hopped over a pile of rubble blocking his way, jolting his body upside down midair to push his hands off of the top piece of the pile and flip himself right over. Landing with a thud and letting himself recover a moment, he continued on with his venturing journey. The Royal Castle seemed to be getting nearer and nearer with every footstep he took, and golden flames still danced around him on piles of the crisped ruins of the city. He recalled that he had not even tested out the Nephalem's abilities yet. He knew of their existence and how to use them despite never actually doing so. It would be intriguing to see those spells truly come to life right before his eyes. And to have his mother and father fighting at his side for literally the first time. They would perform his every move, but still it would be the closest he could ever get. And he would graciously accept it.

Hit the deck! Sliding right under a pile of rubble, Deniel narrowly avoided contact with another pack of dragons passing right on by. Hatchlings once more, these ones were also followed by a much more enormous dragon. Feeling its thundering footsteps from quite a ways away, Deniel positioned himself so that he could get just a small peek of the behemoth passing by. He couldn't see much due to how small the hole was, but it stood on four legs its scales were blue and a dark grey color on the bottom, and the aura it carried with it was quite chilling. Contrary to the golden flames around the area, the dragon passing by was most certainly one of ice and frost, though not even its presence was enough to chill the flames of golden glory. He waited longer inside of the rubble he hid himself under for that dragon and its small pack of Hatchlings to pass by. Even when he was certain they could gone, its footsteps was still slightly felt in the area surrounding Deniel. Sliding out from under the rubble slowly, he stood up and brushed himself off before continuing in his exploration. "Hmmm... big dragons. I'll take them down a couple of notches."

At long last Deniel managed to reach the center portion of the Royal Castle with the enormous castle itself. Reduced from its glory to toppled towers and shattered windows, the Royal Castle would certainly be a sight to see if it wasn't in the state that it was right now. The walls surrounding it still stood strong and tall in spite of it all, and even seemed to be reinforced from the outside. Not just from the durability of the walls itself, but because someone or something decided to patch it up even further so that they would hold and stand their ground. Though despite it all, it seemed quite easy for Deniel to scale them with an appropriate amount of time, a few seconds or so. Knowing that this was the only way to make progress, he gave a shrug to himself, and started climbing right up. Fingers there, feet down there, climb up that way, take a small detour, that spot is more sturdy... eventually he made it right up to the top, and without even bothering to look down, he jumped. With a harsh thud for his landing, he quickly stood up and saw that standing before him was a man. A guard to be exact. There were bits and pieces of his armor left, though most of it had been torn off, and he carried a spear for a weapon as to fight from a distance. Seeing Deniel sent shock right into him as he didn't recognize his face, and immediately he jumped a couple of feet away in fear, pointing his spear at him.

"W-Who are you!?" Standing right up on his feet straight, his cloak concealing most of his body, he held out his arm with an open palm and took a single pace back. "Relax, I'm not an enemy. The Council sent me... I'm here to solve this place's problems." The guard's hands were shaky, and his weapon still pointed at the stranger. Deniel certainly didn't seem to look the most friendly, but at this point, anything that was a dragon was the best help they could get. "H-How can you help...? They're invincible! Deniel crossed his arms this time and shook his head slowly. "Nothin' is invincible. Take me to who's in charge around here." His palms were shaking even more now, unsure of exactly what he should do. Eventually he lowered his weapon, and started to lead Deniel to the entrance of the enormous downsized castle. Even with most of the building downed, it seemed like it was still accessible, and the hub for all of the survivor's operations here.

Notes:

Word Count: 6,719/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

The exterior of the castle was largely unoccupied aside from several watch guards, each of them on a paranoid lookout and quite jittery, scared beyond belief that they would be attacked any moment now. "You know anything about these dragons...?" Deniel inquired of the guard leading him. They were now in one of the interior halls, largely abandoned and wrecked on each side. The windows were shattered and the walls were cracked, but the whole thing still managed to hold up. "Not a clue..." the guard began, his fear still induced within him even inside of the protection of the walls, "They showed up one day, and....it's been a mess since." Deniel concluded he wasn't going to get much out of this guy, and would have to wait for himself to actually meet the commander of this place. This highly ruinous place. He took Deniel just a little bit further until the two of them reached what Deniel could only assume to be the command center or the hub of operations for this place.

In the center there was a map laid out of the entire Royal Castle in the form of a table with props and drawings placed down from a three dimensional purpose. Except the Royal Castle model was still in good condition, unlike it and the rest of the city. There were a couple of men looking right down at the model with stern looks on their faces, but none of them spoke. There were three in total, each of them wearing the neatest clothing of anyone here, but it still functioned as armor in case of combat. "S-Sirs..." the paranoid guard began, and the three men looked up from the table and to both him and Deniel. "This man claims he's fr-fr-from the ou-outside... he-he-he says he can help us." The three men dismissed the guard with a wave of their hands, and left themselves and Deniel with each other. The one on the right spoke first, "Who are you?" Rather than answering their question, Deniel was the one who asked something. "You guys in charge around here...?" The one in the center nodded, and then Deniel finally answered them. "My name is Deniel. Deniel Decayuss Thormun. I'm the third Wizard Saint."

The Wizard Saint thing had taken all of them back a step, though not literally. They stared among each other for a moment, in disbelief. "A God of Isvhal...?" This time it was Deniel's turn to only nod. "What would a God of Ishval be doing here of all places?"

"Magic Council knows something is going on here. So, they dispatched me to help you guys out." They were still not happy, even from a God of Ishval being there. The one in the middle had pale skin, and the most stern look of them all. His hair was silver, but not of age. And Deniel could tell that among the three of them, he was the one in charge. The one that first asked Deniel of his identity, the left one, was the shortest of the three. Though he did look to be about the same age. His hands were folded behind his back, and he carried with himself a very masculine face and body, much more muscularly shaped than Deniel and the other two. And then, the one on the right....there wasn't much to say about him. Most of him was mysteriously cloaked. More so than the other two. The center one spoke up. "We have survived here out for two weeks on our own. Enduring brutal dragon strikes, and sudden shifts from boiling to freezing temperatures. Many of us have perished, and more will. And the Council sends one man to help us!? Absurd!" Needless to say, they weren't happy. And Deniel was also quite offended.

"Perhaps you've never seen a God of Ishval in action, have you?" The short one spoke up, his palms slamming down on their model table. "You're the one who doesn't get it! These dragons are invincible! We'll need ten armies to defeat them, and the goddamned Council sends us a single Mage!?" He didn't know if they knew the magnitude of a God of Ishval, or if they just underestimated Mages in general. Either way it went, Deniel was about to show them just what he was capable of. "Alright, then... if you'll not hear the truth, then I'll show it to you. Send me on anything you want; dispatch mission, recover, reconnaissance, anything. I'll get it done in record time, and kill any dragons I see on the way there. By myself." The three leaders looked at each other once more, as if communicating with just their eyes to come to a decision. "Very well, then. Maybe this will show the council just how arrogant their.... 'gods' are." The one on the left, the mysteriously cloaked one, had spoken, and he beckoned Deniel to follow him. He lead him away from the room down another hallway.

Guards were patrolling, some people were panicking and requesting supplies, and the chaos only seemed to ensue further once they reached their destination. There was a large black hole in the wall on the far side of them, and just in front a barricade had been set up with guards permanently on watch, looking into the black abyss and waiting any second now for something to spring up from it. "What's right here...?" The leader made very certain that the both of them were behind the barricade, and did not move. "This is what's heavily holding us back. The dragons managed to bust through a backdoor in the Royal Castle, and once in a while one of them breaks in. More importantly, down there is the supplies we need to perhaps cut off these dragons from here once and for all. Thing is, every time we send a team down there, they never come back. We've lost a lot of men, and we can't afford to lose anymore....but we need those goddamned supplies!"

Deniel took a moment to stare into the black abyss, hearing that something was coming up. No one else knew, but his senses were inhuman. He heard hefty breathing, claws scratching, and a certain chill in the air. "So, why not send a 'god' to show the Magic Council just how goddamned arrogant their Wiza--" Deniel rushed up to the black abyss, raising his cloak and putting his hand on the hilt of his black katana. "Keep talking, man!" The Nephalem leaped up into the air, drawing the blade and spinning his body around. A blue adolescent frost dragon emerged right from the black darkness, only to have its neck met with the sharp blade of Nidhogg. Deniel was expecting a gushing of blood from the neck, and for the head to fall down. Instead, the dragon let out a brief roar as it froze in place before shattering up in ice that fizzled away. "What the Hell...?" He looked down at where the dragon used to be, and didn't find a single trace of the corpse. Not even a small scrap of ice leftover from the miniature explosion. "What gives us so much trouble with these dragons is not killing them, no. Except those damned Elder Dragons....nothing penetrates them. But everything else we've defeated thus far only comes back. How much time? I cannot say."

How intriguing. Deniel sheathed the blade back inside of its scabbard, and looked to the blackness. "And I'm guessing you haven't found out a way to get rid of them for good?"

"If we did, the only trouble we'd have would be those Elder Dragons. Unfortunately...we haven't. Still think you can handle it, oh 'God of Ishval'?"

Notes: Word Count: 8,007/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Hmph." Deniel was already heading right past him towards the black abyss, "I'll be back. Just you wait." The man rolled his eyes, anticipating that the young Mage would never return. Already he was thinking of some kind of backup plan so that they could get down to the bottom of the hole that lead to the armory and get those supplies. If they could, it would be a turning point for them in their struggle against the dragons. And maybe it could result in the demise of the two Elder Dragons, and a way to get out of here. Until then, he saw no use in the arrogant mage. In spite of the fact that he took down an adolescent dragon in one hit, those ones weren't particularly hard to take down. It only needed about four or five men that were trained enough to make sure they didn't get killed, and an attack in a vital spot would send them back to once again be recreated wherever their nests may be. Aside from that, he figured that the Mage just got a lucky shot.

Deniel, on the other hand, knew it wasn't dumb luck, and he could do that a thousand times over with zero failure. From it, he was able to measure just how powerful the dragons were. If an adolescent dragon was able to perish from a single hit by Nidhogg, then that meant the adult sized ones shouldn't be too much of an issue. And he should make short work of the hatchlings. Down in the passage, the light had actually grown from the pitch blackness, probably because his eyes had begun to adjust. The passage itself was quite large, which made sense considering even an adolescent dragon was somewhere between forty and fifty feet in length, and their width with their wingspan was no joke. Though in spite of their size, the Nephalem saw no imminent threat at all. "Looks like they shouldn't be too much trouble, Nidhogg." The sword remained silent throughout the conversation Deniel had with the leaders, and only awakened when his name was called. The dragon's voice filled the dark emptiness of the stone walls surrounding Deniel. He had also begun to notice that destruction was in the path of the dragons, with cracked walls, and deep footprints in the stone. "Perhaps for you they shouldn't...and I have no doubt you could take them all on by yourself. Though we have to remember we can't cause the destruction of the entire city. If we want to get through this as nondestructive as possible, we'll need to arm these soldiers with those weapons. If they can easily kill the dragons and not make as much of a mess as you, then...we'll be in business."

Deniel turned the corner and quietly hopped over a collapsed pillar. He stared up to find that there wasn't really much of a ceiling, at least he couldn't see it. He also noticed that the elevation of the path lead him to a descent. Which meant that the armory was somewhere beneath the Royal Castle. He found it quite inefficient they kept it so low, then again it might be for the purpose of having it stowed away. Or perhaps there was some other reasoning behind this. Deniel had also begun to notice one other thing...a stench. The stench of blood, to be exact. Then he stepped in something. He felt something soft yet kind of crunchy beneath his boot, and quickly snapped himself away. He stared down beneath his foot, and looked at a dismembered arm. Torn off, to be exact. He crouched over, and it was obvious that it was a dragon's doing. The way it was torn off suggested teeth in the workings, and couldn't have been a claw. Too violent, and too disoriented. Dragons must be nearby... gotta' be careful.

As his quiet footsteps got nearer, Deniel could eventually hear them. Low growls, snarls, and a little bit of snorts coming from their noses exhaling things like smoke and frost. He heard their footsteps, and even wings being flapped. They were nearby. His right hand quietly placed a firm grip on the black katana underneath his cloak. Luckily for him, the blackness of his cloak helped conceal himself in the darkness, easier camouflaging himself than if he were using something else. Deniel, just use me for this. Don't waste a Take Over. You'll need it for the Elder Dragons." Deniel nodded in silence, and then began to quiet his breath. The sound of the dragons was getting closer and closer... he could hear them almost right next to him. Strangely enough, he didn't see any of them though. His pace slowed, and the loudest thing near him was the sound of fake pulse pumping blood. The sound of his breath had ceased. Then he could hear it, something creeping up behind him, and he could smell it too. The smell of a human carcass, and a warm breath.

The Nephalem gave a great big leap to the side, while at the same time flipping himself over and backwards to have himself basically jump over and behind him. Certainly enough there was a dragon right behind him, already firing its fire breath. Just like the one before, Deniel gave it a cut across the neck. It wasn't strong enough to completely decapitate the dragon, but it was strong enough to cut through plenty of blood vessels, and cause its demise. No blood spilled out of it, but instead it exploded in a harmless fiery embrace to be reincarnated in just a few minutes. Upon landing to the ground, Deniel knew now that he was surrounded by dragons in the deep darkness. The explosion and dragon breath was bright enough to give him a glimpse that he had run into a nest of dragons and hatchlings, but he had as much of the advantage of darkness as they did on him. So in spite of seeing him for one moment, the next one, they were not entirely sure where he was. So, in light of it, he was willing to do some stealthy assassinations for an entire nest of dragons. It certainly made sense why the previous teams were unable to complete their mission, though. Normal humans against an entire room of dragons in the darkness? Impossible.

For a Nephalem, however, it was far from impossible. Shortly after erasing the first dragon from existence temporarily, Deniel could hear the heavy grunts and growls of the other dragons, all circling around him, as if establishing that they knew exactly where he was at. And for a moment he was there, but the next moment, he gave two sprinting footsteps, as quiet as he could make them, and then slid on the marble floor underneath a dragon, slitting its throat in the process and causing it to burst in an explosion of harmless fire. One of the dragons nearby saw its fellow creature explode, and shot out its breath to see if it could catch the killer--Deniel--from seeing him for a split second. Though not long after it shot out its breath, it could feel its body being separated from its head as Deniel brought his blade all the way down beyond the back of its neck and to the other side across its throat. Using its body as leverage, he jumped right on to the back of the next dragon on his hit list, going for a vital spot just like the other ones to secure a very quick and painless death for it.

The dragons were starting to panic that they had a killer in their midst, and they had no idea where exactly he was. As a result, one of them finally gave in and lit up the entire room, breathing its fire up to the ceiling. They had no advantage in the darkness unlike normal humans, and it was working out more for the intruder than for them. As the flame danced towards the ceiling, an enormous light manifested in the room from a chandelier on the ceiling, at long last revealing the surroundings. The room they were in n was quite a large one, which made sense with how many dragons there were. There were about six nests in total, with a sizable amount of eggs for each of them. There were six dragons remaining, nine of them in total, three of them were dead by Deniel. It made sense for the room to be so huge, to be able to fit all of those dragons in one single location. Deniel found himself surrounded by eggs, in the middle of a small patch of them, with the dragons closing in on his location, but he made no move. He knew they wouldn't. They were at a miniature stand-off right now. If they attacked them, they would certainly destroy their eggs. If he moved away from his location, he would be trapped.

Notes: 9,507/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

At least, that was the hopes for the dragons, that Deniel would be trapped so easily. In spite of the fact that using a Take Over right now was beyond tempting, and probably would have made his job a whole lot easier, he did listen to his sword's advice. He would need every bit of Magic Power he needed to take down the Elder Dragons, especially that golden one he saw earlier. It was almost terrifying, actually. To see a creature grow that massive, and shake the very earth in its presence. What he would give to fight that monstrous creature to death...! Though at the current moment, he needed to make sure he got out of this alive. Which shouldn't be too hard considering he had Nidhogg by his side. He wasn't going to use a Full Take Over, but he wouldn't be able to get out of this unscathed without using just a little bit of Magic Power. The Nephalem placed the scabbard of his black blade right into one of his belt loops, getting it secure there. And then, that's when it began. He swung his blade out to his side, and it became enveloped in a layer of Chaos Energy, "Omnislash!" He dashed right for the first dragon and slit its throat with a powerful strike not only backed up by his own strength, but also the Magic surrounding the blade. The creature didn't stand much of a chance.

Then he used Swift Blade to dash right through the corpse that was beginning to explode, and used it on one nearby. His body phased right through them, causing much confusion as to where exactly he was at the moment, and where he would be the next. Another devastating slash came from his sword, followed by another dash that phased through all dragons as if he were some kind of ghost, and then another cut. And then another one. The Nephalem was all over the place with his blade in his hand, giving each and every one of the dragons a sizable amount of damage, and if he didn't defeat them in one hit, he would attack another dragon, and then go back and attack that one, more than likely killing it in the next blow. In just a few short seconds, Deniel was standing in the center of the room, his blade extended behind him, and he was down on both of his knees. Though more accurately, his leg that was behind the other one was also down on the tips of its toes. The dragons behind him all exploded nearly at once, giving out a beautiful display of frost and fire, and creating quite the astounding view.

And just as the dragons were finished up, the Nephalem gazed to his left to see that there was a team of guardsmen and soldiers from up above, coming down to see if they could be the ones to best whatever it was down there. Leading them was one of the big three, in fact the same one that doubted Deniel's skill just earlier. "What the.....?" Deniel sheathed the blade Nidhogg into its scabbard, and kept the cloak parted over his body so it served to be more of a black cape. A very torn up black cape. "Hey, dude! Ya missed the best part!" Already his team was out and away from him, destroying the eggs in the room as they approached each other to talk. "Well... I can't say I'm impressed, but--" Deniel held up his hand, a smirk spreading across his face. "I don't need you to be. Now, then... the problem is rooted out. We just need to block out the source. Else other dragons will come in here and find out what's going on. And maybe a new nest will be created." For once the two were able to see eye-to-eye. "You're right. Find where they entered from. It's most likely a hole in the building or something. We'll search for those cannons and weapons."

While the rest of the guardsmen were destroying the eggs, Deniel ran right on ahead to scout out the area. It seemed as though that single chandelier in the center of that room somehow activated the rest of the lights downstairs. It would make the trip back a whole lot easier, and getting the weapons out in an orderly fashion as well. It didn't take long to find it; a giant hole in the wall was something that Deniel could not miss. The solution to clogging it was relatively simple as well; use the debris and rubble that initially came from the wall to clog it up as best as he could. It wouldn't hold up against the force of a numerous amount of dragons, but it certainly was better than just leaving it wide open. Other than that, there wasn't really anything more Deniel could do. The crumbled wall could also serve as a protection from scent; the dragons wouldn't be able to sense that the nests inside were destroyed as easily. Though to be safe, Deniel would need to tell them that the hole would still need to be guarded.

With his business finished down here, he headed back up to the command center, seeing only two of the leaders there, with the third one still busy getting the weapons ready. He managed to bypass them on his way up, and take a good gander at it. They were powerful cannons indeed, and the spears and weapons they dug up seemed much more effective than the ones they were currently using. The cannons were powered by giant lacrima crystals rather than actual cannonballs and gunpowder, which would make them much more powerful in their blasts of energy, and easier to reload. The weapons also seemed to be enhanced by Magical properties, and would make them just a little more efficient than the old metal ones they had been using. No doubt, they were probably grateful for Deniel's contribution, but they were far from out of the woods next. Apparently they still needed to survive the assaults the dragons had been giving them. So, Deniel headed upstairs to see if he could garner more information about that.

"Gentlemen~" he casually said upon entering, more of a joke than he was being serious. "As arrogant as ever I see..." They were still being cold and stern with him. Deniel returned the remark with a frown, and then a casual shrug. "Eh. Can't blame you for thinking that way..." the next thing Deniel was going to say had the initial thought of being a threat... but that was unnecessary, so he decided to make it a bit of a promise instead. "Just know that by the end of this day, you will see that a God of Ishval has more power than anything. Even these dragons." They looked at each other one more, and this time the one on the right spoke and scoffed. "By the end of this day, your corpse will show the Magic Council just how much they need to rethink their.... 'gods'."

"Tch. Whatever... so what's the next step?" Deniel decided to change the subject; he realized that no matter what kind of words he spoke, these two would not budge in the fact that they believed a God of Ishval was no stronger than a normal mage or person. How wrong they were, but... Deniel figured they would have to see it to believe it. "Our next step is getting ready for the battle. We don't need your help on this one, but... if you want to be useful, join us. The three of us--along with you--will be at the highest peak. The cannons will be below us, and I will call when they fire. The cannons should be powerful enough to take each dragon down in one shot, but if any of them survive, we'll have a team below readied with the new weapons so they can finish them off." It sounded like a sound plan to Deniel, but there was one missing element to it all that he was curious about. "These dragons can't die, right? What's the point to this?"

"To lure out the Elder Dragon."
"You and I are thinking the same thing, then?"
"Perhaps..."
"If we kill the Elder Dragons, then the rest of them won't come back anymore."

"Precisely. And that's where you'll come in." He pointed down to the map at the model of the Royal Castle to show where the four of them would be stationed, and then where the cannons and men would be. "The first Elder Dragon should be coming up from the same way we're facing. So... if you think yourself to be so high and mighty, kill it. Obviously you can't, but... if you just admit that to us right now, you can fight alongside us." Deniel wasn't going to admit anything. He shook his head, and spoke seriously. "No. I'll kill them all on my own. Just you watch."

Notes:

11,015/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Very well then. You said it yourself. We shall all watch you die. You could have joined us in glorious battle... but instead you choose to walk into the jaws of death." There was a moment of silence between the two, as if they were expecting Deniel to take back what he said, or say something else, but he said nothing at all. Not a single word. So, after the silence, he began to call orders for all of the soldiers. "EVERYONE! Prepare for combat! Thanks to our newcomer here, this shall be our last battle against the dragons! On this day, we will claim victory, and we may all go home to our friends and families!" There was a unified cheer from the entire crowd of soldiers throughout the castle. Deniel could see them coming from almost all directions now, hurrying to get to their stations after getting some of the newly acquired weaponry. It was astounding to see just how fluidly everything worked and come together.

The short masculine one of the three leaders beckoned Deniel to follow them, and they found themselves shortly joined by the one that lead the group downstairs to get the cannons. They were all being set up and operated by now. The three leaders and Deniel walked up the steps nearby to one of the towers located in the Royal Castle. On their way up, they started to secretly speak each other regarding Deniel.

"What was his decision...?"
"He chose to fight the Elder Dragons on his own."
"Damn shame. The Council won't be happy to know that one of their Gods have died."
"We gave him as many warnings as we could. The Council needs to rethink their 'gods'. Perhaps rename them as well."
"Once we're out of here, you can perhaps suggest that to them."
"I don't know about you two, but I'll be attending his funeral."

The three of them shared a laugh, assuming Deniel's hearing wasn't keen enough to get to their whispers, but he heard them loud and clear. Slowly he was getting more irritated by them underestimating his abilities, and had to keep reminding himself that he'll prove them wrong soon enough. He just needed time. Time was the one thing he needed. Though the more this went on, the more tempting it was to just show off something immediately.

They reached the top of the tower, and Deniel could see what was pretty much half of the Royal Castle and its city. Immediately below them were cannons stationed all in a row, evenly spread apart, and all were ready to fire. And below that, on the ground level, were warriors in a formation; in the front were the shield bearers, behind them were ones with swords, and after that were the long-ranged spears. They had been rehearsing this, it seemed... or they were experienced enough to keep the skills they had after losing their sanity. Deniel stayed behind a little bit off to the side while the three leaders made their formation. Below the Royal Castle, Deniel saw that parts of the city were engulfed in golden flames, whilst others were completely frozen over. And the dragons were stirring in their nests, some of them already high into the sky and coming straight for them.

"Everyone get ready! This is where we make our stand! This is where we fight for the last time! Now on my mark!"

There came a huge cheer from the line of soldiers, out on the front line, and down below manning the cannons. They all cheered, but they were all prepared to take whatever orders were needed. The cry of humans awoke many of the dragons, and so the enormous lizard were stirred from their nests, and flew right for the Royal Castle, to catch prey and feast upon them. As they all came near, nobody said a word, but everyone was tense. They got closer and closer, but there were no cannons fired yet. They were awaiting the perfect moment, for when the cannons would have their maximum effect, and hit the most targets. The air grew more and more tense by the seconds, until at long last the voice of the silver-haired one boomed:


The Lacrima cannons went off with explosive effect, recoiling themselves back a few inches from their position as powerful Magic blasts burst right fourth from their mouths, and went straight for the dragons. Many of the creatures were knocked right out of the sky, and exploded on the spot to be reborn for a later time. The ones that weren't were knocked to the ground, and were oftentimes met with spears or blades, any attacks they attempted to throw out were thwarted by powerful shields. The blades and spears were enhanced with Lightning, which worked effectively to paralyze or straight-out kill any of the dragons that landed on the ground level.


Now that the tension from before was no more, the word 'fire' came out with much less dramatic emphasis than it did last time, but it was still loud enough for all to hear. The cannons that had recharged themselves, or did not fire the first round, went off to shoot more of the dragons out of the sky. One of them was lucky enough to get a group of Hatchlings, knocking seven of them out of the picture in just one shot. Any of the dragons that managed to get too close from the first round of firing were shot down without given the order to, and Deniel had assumed they were emergency cannons for backup in case any of the initial rounds did not work. He had to admit, he was quite impressed to see how flawlessly these weapons he worked a little hard to retrieve were holding up against the dragons. So far, there hadn't been any losses for the side of the humans, while the dragons were getting massacred. Of course, he had a feeling all of this would come to a close once one of the Elder Dragons arrived. Apparently there were two of them, and he had seen one of them. The golden monster that passed by was one of them, though he was curious to know what the other one had looked like.

"Everyone, watch out! The Ice Dragon is here!" Deniel's eyes darted straight for the sky, and there he could see it. It was still quite far away, but its size was just enough to make it recognizable as a dragon even in the distance. The men still fought against the smaller ones, but there was a little more panic as they felt like because of its presence, they were doomed. Regardless, they continued their operations, and the dragon was getting nearer and nearer. "Alright, God of Isvhal. Ready to buy us time? Go out there and die like you want to!" Deniel was about to jump right off the balcony and transform into one of his Take Overs, until someone else had a better idea.

"WAIT!" The voice of Nidhogg snarled from inside of Deniel's cloak, and he brought the blade out to see what exactly it wanted. Nidhogg's voice was stern, almost insane with rage: "It's him... JORMUNGAND! Let me fight for you, Deniel!" The dragon was getting closer and closer, and they were running out of time. "You know him, Nidhogg?"

"Know him!? HAH! We've wanted each other dead since we first clashed. Let me finish him off once and for all, Deniel!" Deniel wasn't really going to argue with his sword one bit. He stepped off from the balcony's ledge, and looked at each of three leaders. Only one of them had been paying attention. "Gentleman, slight change of plans! My partner here will handle that one. I'll take on the golden one. Now..."

"Wait, what!?"

"GO GET 'EM!" Deniel threw the blade as if it were a javelin, scabbard and everything. It soared straight through the sky, just as the Elder Dragon was coming into view.

The White Ice Dragon of the Frozen skies was enormous. Not quite as big as the golden one that passed by Deniel at the beginning of his journey, but huge nonetheless. He would take up nearly half of the city if he was allowed to land. The scales on his body were a pale white color, and seemed to have icicles coming off of them in various spots, signaling that its surface was at freezing temperatures. Deniel could see its beady and intense blue eyes from where he was standing. Its enormous wingspan stretched out to cover behind that of the Royal Castle, and the interiors of the white wings were a pale blue color.

Just as it was about to land, the White Dragon Jormungand was met by its rival. The sword that Deniel threw was no longer a solid, but rather morphed itself to be a free rod of Chaos Energy. It instantly expanded and shaped itself into a dragon to match the size of the monstrous Jormungand, and as the Chaos Energy wore off, an enormous black dragon was airborne, and the first thing it did was clash itself right against Jormungand. The two of them went beyond the boundaries of the Royal Castle, an intent by Nidhogg to try and prevent further damage and destruction, and not get in the way of the humans. "JORMUNGAND!" The voice of the dragons were powerful enough so that anything for miles could hear them booming. "NIDHOGG!" The two of them separated from each other, and stood on all-fours hundreds of meters away, but to them it was merely a few inches. The dragons seemed to be of the same height and mass, but one was black with the power of Chaos, and the other was white with the power of Ice.

"What the Hell is that!?" The leader demanded after he ordered his soldiers to fire. All three pairs of eyes went for Deniel, who seemed to be amused that his dragon was finally able to get a fight it could participate in. "That's my partner. Nidhogg."

Notes:

12,703/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

The cannons boomed, the dragons clashed, and the warriors shouted once more. Every time the silver-haired one said 'fire,' he was obeyed without question, as if all of them were willing to put their lives on the line for what he said. "You mean to tell me we've got to kill three dragons now!?" He gazed out into the distance, with the two colossal dragon figures already fighting. Nidhogg went in for a bite against Jormungand's neck, only to be put down by an enormous claw, to which Jormungand attempted to again an advantage with, but Nidhogg countered with yet another bite. Deniel couldn't help but laugh. Not just from amusement by the silly question, but also from seeing his partner duke it out with another dragon its same size. "On the contrary..." The dragons roared and clashed once more, each one of them attempting to eat the neck of the other one as fast as possible to finish off the fight. "Now I only need to kill one dragon."


Cannons. Dragons. Weapons. Death. Cannons. Dragons. Weapons. Death. Cannons! Dragons! Weapons! Death! The simple word brought the firing of the cannons at the dragons, the weapons clashing against the dragon's scales, and the death of both warriors and dragons alike. Nidhogg gave a powerful blow against Jormungand's face, wounding the dragon and leaving a scratch mark where Nidhogg's claw was. The two dragons roared, with Jormungand's being out of hatred for being attack by his foe. "You mean to say that dragon is on our side!? Why won't it kill both of them?" That was something Deniel didn't necessarily know the answer to, but the more he thought about it...the more it made sense to him. "Because my partner Nidhogg over there is letting me have the second one for a kill." The two enormous dragons butted heads, and between their clenched fangs they spoke to each other. "I never anticipated you would stoop low enough to work with humans!" Nidhogg pushed forward with all of his strength, knocking Jormungand down. He then tackled himself on to the dragon, only to find himself behind kicked off and into the air, to which he recovered by landing on all-fours, and seeing his rival was already on the same. "I don't! I work with my partner!"

"And who might that be!? A human!?" Jormungand took a breath inside of his enormous lungs, and what came out was a chilling blast of concentrated ice focused right on Nidhogg's position. "No! Observe!" Nidhogg mimicked Jormungand's action, and let loose its breath that it built up. What came out of Nidhogg's jaws was a blast of dark purple Chaos Energy, the exact same the Nephalem used. And the ice breath was no match for Nidhogg. Though rather than the two forces meet and each other and one of them be slowly turned back, Nidhogg's breath went straight through Jormungand's, leaving no trace of it in the wake of Chaos Energy, until it hit the dragon spot-on. Jormungand, by the time it was all cleared, did seemed to be bruised and hurt in several locations, but it still stood mighty and tall. "A Nephalem, I see. The experiment on you did work, after all."

"Indeed. It was many centuries ago, but I am now Nidhogg, the Nephalem Dragon!" Jormungand laughed. Which Deniel had found strange. He didn't even know a dragon could do that... even though Nidhogg did. He was so invested and distracted by their fight that he didn't even hear the next round of cannons go off against the dragons. One of them even managed to hit Jormungand, but the dragon was not even close to being stirred. "Nephalem Dragon, you say? Please! What is so much better about what you used to be than you are now!? Or do you even remember what you once were!?" He didn't. Nidhogg had long forgotten the dragon he used to be, but he wouldn't let his opponent on that he knew. So instead, Nidhogg gave a challenging roar, and the two clashed at each other once more. The claws struck, and each of them tried to bite each other's throats, to finish the other one off. That's all it took between a battle of them; a bite hard enough to snap the other's neck, or destroy an important blood vessel.

"You're insane! That Golden Dragon is twice as big as that white one. Three times as big! You think you'll stand more of a chance against it then your... 'partner' will!?" Deniel nodded to him, and placed his hands on the balcony, observing the ensuing struggle against the mighty dragons. "Yes. I do... FIRE!" In spite of the order not coming from their commander, the soldiers obeyed Deniel's word, reacting only to the word 'fire' and not the voice it came from. And it was a good thing, too. The dragons would have reached the cannons otherwise, were it not for Deniel. The silver haired one was a little distracted. Deniel couldn't help but look over to him with a smirk, to which he brushed it off and resumed his position as a commander. This was no time to argue, though the hatred between the two was certainly building up. It wasn't a big deal to Deniel; he figured that by the time he was finished with this... Golden Dragon, he'd have earned his respect.

The battle between the two mighty battles ensued, with each of them having struck each other before, and enormous bits of blood coming off of their mighty bodies. Though all in all, Nidhogg seemed to be the one at the most advantage. When he and Jormungand clashed once more, Nidhogg gained the upper hand and overpowered the dragon, missing his strike to the neck with his jaws, but still wounding it in its abdominal area. "This time, Jormungand! This time only one of us is coming out alive! AND IT'S ME!" The two dragons went airborne to continue their battle on with the skies. Admittedly, Deniel could notice that with the use of their wings and the freedom of the open skies, the fight had gotten much more intense and face-paced between the enormous creatures. So much so that Nidhogg's advantage was all but lost. "Insolence, Nidhogg! ARROGANCE! HAS THE YEARS TURNED YOU INTO SUCH!?"

"The years have made me stronger, Jormungand! STRONGER THAN THE DRAGON KING!"

"ABSURD!"

The Dragon King...? Deniel had no idea that such a creature existed. And yet these two were going on about it as if they knew what it was, and what its extension of power was. Deniel started to contemplate just how strong it was, if these were just normal dragons. Well, they weren't exactly normal. Still, how did a Dragon King fair? "What makes you believe your strength matches his!?" Now Nidhogg was the one laughing, shortly after managing to do a full three hundred sixty degree swipe of his tail at Jormungand. "Chaos, Jormungand! Chaos! Its power is beyond anything this world has ever known!" Even Deniel was surprised by this. Was Chaos Energy really that powerful? He never believed it to be such, but... nevermind. That was for another time. At the moment, he wasn't sure if his dragon had gone insane, or if he was just seeing a side of him he had never seen before. Considering he'd never have it battle against another dragon--especially one he knew--he had assumed, rather hoped, it was the latter. Now the two dragons were suspended in mid-air, blood pouring from the open wounds of both of them. "Is that so? Well, then... show me. Show me this 'power' that the experiments have given you!"

Jormungand started to charge up his roar once more, and Deniel thought he was insane. The results from last time showed that Nidhogg's was much more powerful, what made it so sure that it would work better this time? Nidhogg, in turn, readied his roar as well. There was only one way Deniel could see this finishing up. Did Jormungand accept his fate...?

The two roars escaped the dragon's mouths. Because of the fact that they had taken time to charge up, and were not instant, the size and strength of both of them was phenomenal. So much so Deniel contemplated which of the two was stronger... himself, or his dragon? The entire sky was lit up in both white and purple, but in quite literally no time the dark purple energy engulfed the white frost breath, and the dragon following afterwards. There was only laughter heard from Jormungand as it was swallowed up by Chaos, and very swiftly erased from existence. In a few short moments, the purple glow was erased from the area, and the only dragon left standing in the sky was Nidhogg. As a result of their elder dragon being gone, all of the frost dragons of the brood burst wide open along with the eggs, and had disappeared along with their Elder Dragon. Were they completely erased, or something else? That, Deniel would never find the truth to.

Nidhogg, taking his victory in pridefully, landed on the ground in front of the Royal Castle, and unleashed a roar. Not one of Chaos Energy, but one purely for the threatening noise of it all, to shake and stir the buildings of the Royal Castle, and to instill fear into anything that dared challenge him. In more ways that one, Deniel was proud to have witnessed it all.

Notes:

14,289/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Deniel! You see that? Hahahahah!" Deniel gave a thumbs-up to his dragon in the distance, a sign of appreciation for him. Nidhogg opened up his mouth, and unleashed some very brief blasts of Chaos Energy in spherical shapes, blasting down several of the dragons that had been approaching the Royal Castle from where he was standing. "I must say..." one of the big three began, his gaze focused on Nidhogg as it shot down some of the dragons, "Having a dragon on our side certainly is... advantageous. Where do you get something like that?" Deniel gave a glance over towards him, and then stared right back at his draggon. "A very generous father. And a powerful one." He didn't really know what he meant like that, but he didn't press him about it either. Right now it appeared as though they were winning the battle; over half of the dragons were gone as a result of Jormungand's demise, but they weren't out of the woods yet. The golden one had yet to appear... the question was, when? And where? "Sirs!" Deniel's train of thought was interrupted, and he jerked his head back to see a panicked soldier. Two of the three leaders looked, while the silver-haired one kept his concern on the battlefield, and when to give the order.


"What is it?"

"The other dragon! It's coming!"

"Where!?"

"Other side of the Castle! From the Sea!"

"Damn it! We don't have any soldiers stationed there, nor cannons! We can--"

Deniel was already on his way out of the balcony, walking past both of them with a smirk spread across his face. Finally, it was his turn. "Where do you think you're going..!?" Deniel stared back at them, and held out his palm. Nidhogg, in the distance, turned into an enormous ball of Chaos Energy, before shrinking down to size and traveling at lightning speed into Deniel's palm. The Chaos Energy stretched itself out and grew smaller and smaller before materializing into a katana once more. "To slay myself a dragon. You guys can watch once you're done." There wasn't that many dragons left, in all honesty; most of them had been wiped out. They would be reborn soon, sure--except for the frost ones--but they had plenty of time. And something about Deniel couldn't help but draw the attention of the first two leaders. They followed him, leaving the third one behind. And he had only one order. "....Men! Finish up wiping them out, then move to the other side of the keep! Bring the weapons with you, but don't fire them. Witness the arrogance of one of the Council's strongest mages." The boys down below were slightly confused, but did as they were told. They continued firing until there wasn't a dragon left in sight.

Meanwhile, Deniel had already started to cross the interior of the Royal Castle, the other two leaders following behind him. "How do you think you'll be able to take n that behemoth on your own!?"

"Come now, it's not too late to admit you need our help. Don't die like this!"

Deniel turned suddenly on his heel with his finger extended, and a scowl of pure wrath on my face. "Give it a rest already. I know I'm not going to die, got it!? You call me arrogant, you call me cocky, you call me whatever! You don't know my power, the power of a God of Ishval. Well, I'm about to show you. Just stay out of my way!" He didn't even give the two any time to respond to him. He just turned right back around, and kept on going across the marble floor. Eventually, he reached the other side of the circular castle, and gazed out into the distance sea. The castle was not exactly on the shore, but one could certainly see what was beyond it since there were no mountains or anything. He had a little bit trouble seeing past everything at first, but eventually, he made out the figure of the dragon. And even at the distance, he could tell... it was bigger than the last one. Its wings were spread out graciously with its front and hind legs tucked in. The enormous dragon was only a shadow in the distance, but even there, the glint of its golden scales could still be seen from how many kilometers it was away from them.

The size of it was probably the most intimidating thing about it. Deniel only gazed out towards it where he was standing at the balcony, getting ready for perhaps one of the toughest fights of his life. It wouldn't be the first beast he had to take down a couple notches, but it was certainly the largest thus far. "Nidhogg...?"? He stared down at the sheathed black katana in his left hand, having his right hand approach the hilt. "Yeah... I'm ready." Nidhogg's voice was quite deep, but much more soft and less thunderous than it was when he was at his enormous size. It was quite relieving; the beast he saw annihilate the other dragon was actually quite fearsome. Deniel could have gone right now, but he wanted to wait until the dragon was close enough to the shore; close enough so that the entire military at the Royal Castle could station themselves to watch the battle, and see Deniel throughout the whole thing.

The closer the dragon got, the larger it became. He didn't know just how fast it was flying, but if it took it more than a few seconds to reach the Royal Castle, it was either going slower than what Deniel witnessed earlier, or it was just that enormous. Either way, he could start to make out its features much more. It had golden, jagged scales across its body, the interior of its wingspan was of a darker golden color than the scales of its body. Its eyes were red, and beady at the same time. Each of its numerous claws at the ends of its enormous limbs seemed to be at least a dozen meters long. Perhaps more. And also, Deniel could see that with the wind force of its flying with its wings, enormous waves were created; not quite tidal waves, but much bigger than what one would expect to find out in the sea not along the shorelines. Just below Deniel could see some of the soldiers finishing their trips around the Royal Castle, bringing their cannons and weapons with them. They all pointed and gasped out into the sea, panic ensuing once more.

"That's it! That's the Golden Dragon!"
"The bastard's come back!"
"We're all doomed!"
"What do we do!?"


The silver-haired one had finally reached the balcony on the other side, and all of his soldiers stared up at him as he gazed down at them. The dragon was getting closer and closer, but it still had quite a way's to go. "We'll get it this time. We've a volunteer in our midst; he's going to take on the dragon by himself! He'll surely die... but perhaps he'll buy us some time." Deniel wasn't about to just accept being doubted and humiliated in public like that. "Will you give it a goddamned rest already!? Just watch! I'll show you. I'll show you ALL what the strength of a God of Ishval is capable of. Just you wait, and just you watch!"

Notes:

15,527/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

The Nephalem jumped right off of the balcony, and pressed the heels of his boots against the cold, hard stone. He propelled himself right off and accelerated at an exponential rate, taking off like a rocket straight for the golden dragon that neared the shores. On his ways there, the eyes of the Nephalem had sealed themselves shut, as the true power within him awakened. Sooner or later someone would drop from flight without the use of wings, but luckily those were something the Nephalem had possessed. Flawlessly, with no pain or noises, a pair of jet black wings sprouted right from the back of the Nephalem soaring through the sky. Following each of those wings, on either side, were the red and blue spirits of Arianna and Diabolos the Black Devil. The young, beautiful woman, and the middle-aged looking man. And finally, when the eyes of the Nephalem had opened themselves, the colors of them matched with the spirits upon his back; red on the right, and sky blue on the left. And each of them emitted gasses of excess Magical Energy flowing through them, which did not obstruct his vision at all. He quickly drew the blade of Nidhogg, and readied it as both him and the dragon drew closer to each other.

The monstrous creature saw something coming straight for it, but paid no heed nor attention to it; mistaking it for a weak creature, the beast only gave out a brief, obnoxious roar as a warning to not stand in its wake. Though not only did Deniel not move, he went even faster. And soon, the time came for when him and the best clashed together. The blade of Nidhogg was enhanced with Chaos Energy, forming into the Nephalem Slash; The two of them met, and the blade of the Nephalem cut itself right across in a horizontal shape. Not only did the blade manage to hit in the area it was directed to, quite obviously, but the Chaos Energy instantly extended the cut to be well over a hundred meters in length, slicing the dragon at both its forehead area, and across its wingspan and body. Thrown off by the immense pain of the attack, and by its power, the dragon crashed itself right into the sea, though it was tall enough to stand right back on its legs to recover. Some blood rushed out of its forehead and its wingspan, but unfortunately, the cut was only long. Nothing thick about it. Deniel landed on his feet on the surface of the water, capable of walking on it now that this form gave him access to his enormous arsenal of spells.

The primary purpose of the Nephalem Slash was to prepare Deniel for combat; generating Chaos Stacks was a feat all on its own, but luckily for him, the Nephalem Slash was able to generate all of them if the cut had managed to hit. And there was no way he would miss that target. Now that it hit, Deniel had been supercharged with Chaos Energy, and it became apparent with both of his eyes glowing brighter than before, his emitting a dark glow of Chaos Energy, and small arcs of purple lightning coming off of his body every few seconds. "Who dares defy me!?" Apparently it could talk just like Jormungand. Except its voice was much more menacing and dark, heavily contrasting to the golden and glorious scales it carried. It looked around to see if it could find some large creature that managed to knock it out of the sky, but the only one that spoke up to him was the Nephalem below at the waters. "I did." Deniel stated calmly. The red eyes of the dragon stared down at the small being, narrowing themselves to catch an even better glimpse at the features. "You...!? How could a puny creature like you knock I, the Golden Dragon, out of the sky!?"

Deniel only shrugged, and swung his blade in a sharp motion to let all of the blood off of it. "I'm a Nephalem. Maybe that's got something to do with it." The dragon's eyes went wide, just for a moment, as it leaned down closer to Deniel. Now the snout of the dragon was just a few meters away from the Nephalem's body, as he was inspected carefully by the enormous red eyes. "A Nephalem...!? How long has it been since I have seen one of you. I take it you've come here to take my life?" It was quite blunt, but Deniel had only nodded in response. "Mmhm. Nidhogg's already killed Jormungand. You're next on my hit list!" The mention of Nidhogg was a familiar name to the Golden Dragon, to which it burst out laughing, the air strong enough to pick up the sea's currents and case waves to dance around Deniel, but not budge him one bit. "Nidhogg, huh!? You're quite the interesting youngster! Very well, then!" The dragon smashed all four of its legs deep into the sea, one at a time, and spread them out apart. Not too far, but far enough to keep its position held firm. "Let's see how entertaining a Nephalem proves to be after these centuries! Come at me, boy! And kill me if you can!"

The dragon moved its head up towards the sky, and unleashed a mighty roar to challenge Deniel. Just as it did so, Deniel saw a golden glow develop right beneath his feet, and just an instant later, it erupted into a pillar of golden fire. Luckily for him, a few Nephalem dashes strung together provided a safe path out, though the instant he ceased his movements, there was another golden glow just below him. The same instinct kicked in as last time, dashing straight out, and rather than staying on the sea's surface, he took flight into the air to get himself closer to the monstrous dragon. One more pillar of fire appeared just beneath him as he finished his flight, as if the dragon had predicted his movements, so there was no dashing out of this one.

The Golden Dragon let out a brief bit of laughter, seeing the Nephalem be consumed in its glorious golden flames, and the men at the Royal Castle awaiting Deniel's inevitable death were not entirely surprised he perished so early and so easily. The strength to knock the dragon out of the sky might have been some kind of facade, they figured. Though the dragon's laughter was interrupted by a purple explosion colliding directly with his face, stinging a little bit, but providing no significant kind of damage. The dragon quickly shook its face to erase any concentrations of Chaos Energy left behind, and saw that the Nephalem was still standing, technically flying, right in front of him. Around him, a transparent shield of Chaos Energy cracked and shattered swiftly, displaying that a shield had protected Deniel from the assault of fire. "Not bad, Nephalem. It's been centuries since I have met something that could endure my flames, but this is not the end. Keep trying!" The dragon unleashed a monstrous roar, and a meteor-like fireball came crashing right down from the sky onto the Nephalem, knocking him back down towards the water. He recovered himself just in time to stand upright, but found the water beneath him glowing with a golden tint, signaling him to dodge immediately.

Several Nephalem Dashes did the trick of granting him the ability to avoid what was coming next, though he found himself in need of dashing once more the second he finished getting out of the pillar of fire, for another fireball of the sky had come down towards his location. Each and every second Deniel spent against the dragon seemed to be one of dashing and avoiding an onslaught of fire coming from both above and below him. He could hear the dragon laughing once more as its beady red eyes followed him; "Hahahah! This is actually quite fun, you're pretty fast! You should see how you--" The dragon was interrupted once more. Deniel, taking advantage of a brief fraction of a second that he got in between dodging, launched the second orb of the spell he had cast earlier while within the pillar of fire erupting from underneath him. The orb flew straight for the dragon's head once more, producing an explosion upon impact that didn't hurt the beast all too much, but stung enough to interrupt him. The dragon made no comment or threat after that; it was the second time he was interrupted, and from that point on there would be no talking.

Notes:

16,971/17,850

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Deniel wasn't necessarily in the best of positions in this fight. He was on the defensive for the most part. The dragon hadn't even budged a single inch, and yet Deniel would certainly lose if he stopped to just attack the dragon at all. Or would he...? Perhaps he overestimated the power of these flames, or underestimated his own power. Or perhaps the whole point of this fight would not be lengthy; he had to remember, he had an audience. And his goal with that audience was to display that he was a God of Isvhal, and that the Gods of Ishval were not to be trifled with, no matter the costs. He might only be number 3, but that would only further display the power; if 2 and 1 were stronger, then... it would be unimaginable. So as Deniel's body had begun to react on its own natural instincts, and his focus was taken off when to strike, he began to compose how he was, and what he would use. It needed to be a display of his most powerful spells and incantations all at once. The way Heaven's Meteors mimicked by Chaos Energy had only fizzled out upon impact meant that this dragon was more durable than anything he faced before; Heaven's Meteor's weren't his most powerful spells, but they would normally be enough to cause significant damage. And at the moment, his most powerful spells had a larger area, but their damage wasn't entirely that much bigger.


That was just it. He needed a compilation of his most powerful spells and abilities to be poured into a combination one after the other. He noticed that once the dragon had stopped its speech, that the attacks stopped for just a moment. And if Deniel could use his powerful spells to keep him like that, then... he could win. The dragon needed to concentrate on its abilities that it was using, and that was the weakness it had. As it currently stood, there was no way Deniel could defeat it because he couldn't get an opening for an attack without getting damaged himself, but if the Nephalem was able to somehow cut off all of the dragon's attacks, then... he would be in business to say the least. So he began to swiftly derive the order it would be in... Madness, Delusion, Judgment, Wrath, and Death.

And so, it began.

First was the activation of Judgment Day. The moment Deniel concentrated his Magical prowess to become that of Judgment rather than Chaos, the sky began to darken. Clouds swiftly covered up the sun, and the Sea was stirred. Gusts of wind brought in the waves, though the dragon took no heed to it; it was able to survive any kind of weather. A change didn't bother him. The waves splashed against the dragon's colossal limbs, but he was not bothered in any way possible. The sky began to pour down rain, and the lightning began to crack the sky and the clouds followed by thunder. The unique part about the lightning, however, was that it was composed of a purple color. It was made of pure Chaos. Now that Judgment Day had been initiated, the Nephalem--between one of his dashes--summoned five swords composed of dark purple Chaos Energy. And all at the same time, they were launched straight for the Golden Dragon. Underestimating their size and power, as he did with many of the other Nephalem's spells, the Golden Dragon was more than shocked to find out that the five swords combined produced an explosion that covered more than his entire figure. Though he was not defeated, his concentration on the assault of spells was lost, resulting in Deniel being able to breathe just a little bit and catch himself. He was lucky that Nephalem Dash required little to no energy because he must have used it well over two hundred times by then.

Just after the dragon was it, it unleashed a deafening roar of pain, staggering down on one of his limbs. And Deniel was going to take full advantage of his condition. The Nephalem held up his arms horizontally, and then thrust both of them forward just a moment afterwards. "Face the Ultimate!" This time, it was Deniel's turn to have something come up from beneath the Sea. Just underneath the dragon emerged two enormous pillars of Chaos Energy, erupting like volcanoes, and consuming the dragon of their destructive awe. The dragon could be heard inside screeching out once more, and when unveiled again, its body was covered in bruises, and it was also bleeding in several different areas. The red in its eyes had also been gone, and they were only white, indicating that it had gone blind. "You... your strength... I've... I'm blind! What exactly are you!?" Deniel was not finished yet. "You said it yourself... I'm a Nephalem. Now on your knees!" Though the command was not necessarily direct or literal, Deniel cast yet another spell, an explosion that surrounded his own area that he covered for well over a hundred meters, and reached the dragon without a problem at all, consuming its body once more.

The dragon fell down further, staggering, part of its head into the water, and both of its mighty wings down. "Fear me... for this..." The Nephalem grabbed on to its katana Nidhogg with two hands, and raised it above his head. The blade became charged with Chaos Energy, a purple fiery aura surrounding the black strip of metal. Deniel held it high above his head, and then swung vertically down, splitting the dragon straight down the middle. "Is the end!" Cantata Mortis flew right off of the blade and split the dragon right  in half, but there was no gush of blood or a splitting of a corpse. Instead, the enormous mighty creature burst into an explosion of glorious red flames, ending its life cycle, and vanishing completely from existence following its extravagant death, leaving only the Nephalem standing in a sea that had turned calm with the weather shortly thereafter.

Deniel had begun to pant, and felt the strength in his body starting to fade. He exhausted more than enough Magic Power to deplete him, and was lucky he had the uncanny ability to create Magic without the use of a Magic Threshold once he ran out, but it always took a huge toll on his body. Regardless, he was the one left standing, and in a prideful victory, he held his blade up to the heaven's as the sun peaked out from behind the storm clouds, and reflected its light onto the Nephalem, with on his back were the spirits of his parents mimicking his exact motions.



The Royal Castle was saved, Deniel forgave the leaders for their doubtful decisions of him, and then he left. They still had plenty of cleaning up to do, but the Council would provide for that with different means. Deniel had done his part. Though the victory he took against the dragon brought about an unexpected result. For upon returning to Era, Deniel was named The First God of Isvhal; the most powerful Mage on the continent.

Notes:

18,180/17,850