Luna noted the methodical undertones of Akeya and truly respected it as it seemed the two were understanding of the situations. Before meeting the Twilight/Cosmic Dragoness, Luna originally thought the idea of an apex dragon being one that sacrificed their mind and retreated into a pure primal state and gathered power. While Akeya was most certainly not lacking in power, her strategical and precision oriented focus seemed to put her in a league beyond other dragons Luna has faced in her life. She didn't disagree with any of the facts stated by Akeya as they were discussing the element of Sand and potential threats.
She didn't disagree with Akeya when the Twilight Dragoness suggested a break stopped as well. Reaching towards her recently refilled water bottle and drinking as she listened to the question, almost choking when Akeya inquired regarding Luna's ability to disrupt sand. managing to spill hardly any water she put the cap back on her bottle and dried off her lips and chin with her wrist. She was slightly concerned for how she would address the slayer questions regarding her connection to the earth element but ultimately she knew she would have to come clean. She looked around, checking with her eyes, ears, and magical senses to ensure there was no one listening.
"Well that's going to be a tricky question to answer as I am not completely sure. I was given Earth Slayer Magic as part of when I became a prodigy of a harvest goddess, Carpo, my primary focus is plants. But I have experimented with the earth element and how far my range is with control in regards to which forms of earth as I can't manipulate them all the same." She said giving a summary as she remembered the week of testing her newfound powers, and the day she devoted to the Earth element and all it's various forms. In truth she found that she was not able to completely master all forms. "From Strongest to Least compatible with Terrakinesis, Loose dirt, rocks, gravel, gemstones, sand, ore, with ore being unresponsive."
She held out her hand before flicking her arm out to the side as a small patch of sand rose and moved upwind before falling. Demonstrating her weakness before the Dragoness was incredibly embarrassing but nothing could be helped as she was simply trying to prove a point. "That's about the best I can mange on the fly. If you picture manipulating an element as writing, picture the elements as the same activity, like writing, but a different sub element is a different form, for me manipulating sand is like if I had the claw of a giant metal dragon trying to write in cursive with a normal sized pen. It just gets all over the place." She explained to the dragoness as she exercised her point across. "In a battle of sand manipulation against a legendary creature... I'd not bet on me so that leaves the other option a Slayer can perform against a same element enemy."
She herself had this thought in her mind as she was wondering on how viable the option of magical consumption will be in the long run as she was running through the benefits and flaws to such a concept. "While I can't manipulate it strongly, I can consume sand like normal, but since I am not too close to the sand element, and earth in general is quite dry, I might dry out my throat but that's not close to the more prominent risk, proximity. If I were to eat a raging sandstorm aura, I'd need to be close and need about, maybe seven to seventeen seconds to eat it all. Which brings us to the unknown, what happens after."
She recalled the parts of Terranora's chapter that were merely pure speculation and not founded in first or second hand knowledge of the various sources that were compiled into the book. "I see three possibilities, the first and most likely is this is a flesh and blood dragon that manipulates sand around his body, and proximity to the ground could allow him to rebuild his defense again. That's the best outcome as that means if we make him take the high ground without his moving offensive and defensive aura we can gain some upper hand. Second possibility is that this is a flesh and blood dragon with terregenasis abilities similar to mine allowing him to create sand out of his own magic power or flesh. That one is the worst in my opinion as that lowers the time we have before a shield can regenerate and the window we have to keep him off guard is lower." She said in speculation as she took a slight pause to both catch her breath and reorganize the last of her thoughts regarding the possibilities that the Earth Dragon could have been. "Third and something to keep in mind, like you are proof not all dragons have to be a thousand pound, scaly, majestic beast that can dominate the world with ease. It is possible this dragon adopts an alternative form, like an elemental body, like your shadow or light form. Could be possible, and the sandstorm is merely an extension. In that case the fight would be easier so to speak."
She said as she recalled her own personal experience dealing with an earth elemental bodied demon in the past and how she made it through the fight by eating the being itself. She saw little reason why the same approach would not be viable if said creature was not a demon, but a legendary dragon. "In that case I could very well just eat out the dragon until it can't fight back and take a scale of whatever is left. It worked when I ate out an earth demon." Luna shrugged as she was trying to rationalize the options she had against the dragon. However there was something that she was dreading as she had to accept the reality that none of the options she had brought up omitted the prospect that the sandstorm wouldn't be restored or that Luna would would need to consume sand from additional attacks.
All Slayers, whether by legend, witness, teaching, or experience knew what happened when one either consumes an immense level of their magic, or how there was a certain condition in which they could trigger it themselves, Force. Luna remembered as she entered Goddess Force once before. Luna remembered the experience as she was on cloud nine for the whole day, even after she came down from force she was still riding the burning out high. However other then physical changes, there was a more prominent shift in her tone. Normally Luna reflected the more serene side of nature, however Goddess Force brings out the more dangerous aspect of nature within her, almost wild. "Well if I do manage to consume enough from him to launch me into force, someone is gonna need a funeral, as I tend to get carried away, wild and aggressive. According to witnesses also sadistic and other traits normally unbecoming of my typical behavior. Physical changes will be obvious, only ones I remember is a dark aura, while shadows consume my limbs.."
Luna took a slight pause for breath before stepping aimlessly looking around as she was wrapping up a speech on the rest of her slayer powers. She assumed that Akeya was merely trying to gain any advantage for a preffered swift and efficient fight. While Luna didn't disagree, she had her reasons for keeping the magic a secret, not that it had to be for long, just until she was able to confirm the death of a certain Storm god, even if it had to be by her own hands. "Pretty much it, except you never saw my slayer magic in action. Brief summary is that it juxtaposes my natural skillset of plant and environment based abilities. However instead of focusing on making distance and keeping an enemy subdued, they focus on primarily mid range to close range tactics to keep anyone off their balance or cope with any situation that my normal skillset cannot cover or if they become unavailable."
Luna took a moment to think on the subject as an idea had crossed her mind, she started to rub her arm as she got slightly nervous. She recalled that Akeya did not take kindly to Luna's spirits, even finding them an outright annoyance, especially Tierra and Vita. However if Akeya was looking for all possible advantages, Luna in good conscience could not without this last resort. "However... There is a last resort that we could use but you are not going to like it once I pull the pin on that grenade. You recall my spirits Vita and Tierra right? The Princesses of the Forest Beyond the Horizon? Well their father saw how much fun they had with me and decided that they wanted to join in... and formed a bond with me. I can summon them and they have an incredible ability, so powerful and useful in situations like ours. They can for a limited field, change a section of a biome to a different type. For example create a volcano in the frozen tundra, turn wetland into a desert, make a rainforest a savana." She explained the pros to the dragoness, desperately trying to hide the major faults of the spirit awkwardly, trying to avoid offending Akeya. She assumed she would run across that probably already burning bridge when the hoard chases her there. Between the awkward tension of trying to withstand the radiance or avoid offending the Dragoness Luna managed to maintain eye contact as she was unable to properly experience either sensation. "All animals are still the same, so a scorpion would still be there. However, if used right, this could render the dragon's home field advantage neutralized if we keep him contained within the temporary biome. However depending on the biome, radius, and location of dragon this could easily go our way or still be tough."
WC 1683
PWC 2401
TWC 3365