Master of Dragons: Stage 2

"Terranoro, the Dragon of raging sands and arguably one of the strongest Earth Dragons known to history despite being based primarily in the sand element, or perhaps because of it. Terranoro is speculated to generate his own sandstorm which creates the armor encompassing his body. However given that he has rarely left his own natural desert habitat this information is left unchecked and unsubstantiated." Luna read aloud from the book given to her and the mythical twilight dragoness by the mysterious wizard with zero sense of boundaries. Luna felt almost violated as he aired out something that Luna chose to remain hidden. Luna did not want to broadcast the fact that she had become a Goddess Slayer, and a slip up during planning on which dragon to handle first revealed to Akeya that one of Luna's elements is earth. Combining distance and the slayer advantage Akeya chosen Terranoro first and Luna followed her call, leading her to roam the desert with the dragoness.

Luna reached for her water bottle clipped to her side and took a sip, not at all concerned for rationing for the meantime. Her Infinite Improbability Chronometer allowed her to take reprieves lasting a mere minute in normal time to traverse to a space station and replenish her water supply as well as cool down. Luna was focused on learning all she could from the book but there was little of use. "While most Earth elementals operate on thick and heavy defensive capabilities, loose material ones like sand and gravel seem to have speed... But a raging sandstorm seems to give Terranora the benefit of both high speed and high defense.


Luna closed the book before putting it back in her shoulder bag, truth be told she had already studied the chapter of Terranora four times an absorbed all the information, she was struggling through the awkward silence of traveling with the twilight dragoness. Luna found herself either struggling with feelings of lust, intimidation, or the rare bit of jealousy as she was in the presence of someone she considered quite possibly the perfect representation of beauty. Luna tried to remain professional as she was working on the job.

Luna rarely struggled with separating her personal life from professional in the past, but after a glimpse of Akeya's cosmic dragoness form it rendered Luna unable picture anything but the dragoness, and the current stimuli was no help either. When Luna looked around there was little to see under the setting sun, mostly sandy hills as far as the eye could see. There was an occasional rock, cactus, tumbleweed. A brief passing with a caravan of traders who managed to swindle Luna into buying dried goods, a slightly used torch lacrima, and a new set of kunai. After getting atop a hill Luna pulled out her ilac device and checked the GPS to see how far she was from the recorded point in the book and they were still far off. Luna silently cursed the rough terrain. "Damn, still a long trek, wish I could've at least used my car but it's not for rough terrain. Plus Sari would kill me if I asked her for a lift." She groaned as she kept moving forward. She was not fond of deserts environment for many reasons, such as the intense heat, and the most life she is able to sense and commune with are bugs. While Luna did not mind bugs, but how their telepathic voice portrays is quite grading and when they are a predominant voice it bothers Luna.

Luna herself moved forward as she was trying to get this job over with as swiftly as she could. However she was grateful that the sun was setting and night was coming. She wasn't too worried about light as she recalled there was a full moon tonight, and worst case scenario she used some of the tools and tricks at her disposal to create some light. Luna sighed as she looked around. "Honestly... seems like this dragon is trying to go far out of his way to avoid civilization. Do you think he'll be above ground or bellow ground? Probably both... She asked the dragoness slightly exhausted. While she was hydrated, and her Goddess Skin did protect her from a sunburn, her body language was slightly sluggish.

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"Overcoming that sandstorm is going to be the toughest part." Akeya replied as Luna went over the details they had on their first target once more. The dragoness was walking beside the fairy, her large clawed feet moving steadily without showing any sign of flagging or slowing down. A dragon's fortitude was nothing to scoff at, so even if Luna was feeling the exhaustion from walking all day Akeya was still doing fine. Of course what also helped was that she was constantly regaining energy from the light of the sun, and now that the night was beginning to fall she'd be able to feed on the dark of night instead. And the moonlight, since she could feel that tonight's moon would be full and bright.

"Light and dark don't affect my vision, but if that sandstorm is a creation of his it'll be suffused with magic, so I can't just gaze through it." Being a twilight dragon meant that Akeya's eyes essentially ignored requirements such as light, but even she couldn't ignore it if there was a giant obstacle between her and what she was trying to look at. If the obstacle was mundane she could find a way to deal with it, but if the obstacle was magical... "If we can find a way to negate the sandstorm I should be able to do the rest of the work. Fights between dragons can get messy but they're actually pretty simple once you get the hang of them." Each dragon had an element, and fights between dragons tended to boil down to finding a position in which the other dragon's element was weak and yours was strong. That was one of the main reasons why attacking a dragon in their own lair was considered suicide: a dragon's lair was designed to be favourable to their own element.

The twilight dragoness was willing to give it a shot though. Unlike most dragons she spent most of her time training, so even if she couldn't rely on raw strength to win she was quite confident that her skill and precision would make up for any shortcomings. "Sand is deceptively dangerous. Their size and hardness means that a sandstorm is for all effects and purposes a whirlwind of slicing winds." She indicated their surroundings, the desert which consisted of little beyond dunes of sand. "It wouldn't be surprising if it turned out that there used to be hills and mountains here, only for them to slowly get ripped apart by sandstorms." She frowned as she glanced at Luna. "Since you don't have scales to protect you you'll have to be careful. I know you're a capable healer but if this fight ends up happening inside a sandstorm you'll end up running out of energy trying to keep yourself standing." She tapped one of her own midnight blue scales. "Given that I'm not an earth dragon I might be in trouble as well." She should be able to withstand it... but better not to put it to the test.

For the duration of their journey Akeya hadn't been the most talkative of people. She never was, but she was also thinking about the road ahead of them. A whole bunch of dragons, and they had to gather a scale from each of them for unknown reasons. That scrymaster really liked to keep things under wraps. Which Akeya couldn't exactly blame him for since she had a similar approach to life, but she wasn't quite as appreciative when others kept things hidden from her. Since her life philosophy was that she had to prioritize her own needs she could safely be annoyed about that kind of thing without it making her a hypocrite.

She could tell that Luna was struggling to put herself at ease given all that had happened. Aside from the fact that Akeya herself was rather distracting (how many people could say they travelled with a dragon such as herself?) all that business with the scrymaster and the temporal warfare must be difficult for the fairy to shake off.

"Hmmm..." Akeya frowned as Luna asked her whether she expected the earth dragon to be submerged or not. She gazed into the distance, but up ahead there was nothing but more sand. "Given that he has a reputation of gathering sandstorms he'll probably show himself above ground. Even if he can make the sand part for him like water sandstorms don't work as well underground. If he does try to hide underground we can provoke him and then fly up so he has to emerge." She nodded towards the skies as they quickly shifted from the bright blue of day to the mix of blue and orange of twilight. "He sounds like the kind of guy who'd be overly protective of his territory and react poorly to provocation."

She came to a halt and looked back at Luna. "If you're feeling tired we could take a break now. Stumbling into someone's lair while gasping for air is asking for trouble." The reason why they'd settled for walking rather than just flying there was because Akeya preferred to be cautious. Dashing into enemy territory at full speed meant that you were exposed to the danger of traps. Walking in like normal people while hiding their magic power would allow them to sneak up to their prey. Of course they could just fly high enough that the earth dragon wouldn't notice... except that at that height Luna was in danger of freezing to death.

"Given that you've got earth magic, do you think you'd be able to get rid of the sandstorm? Or at least negate it for a time." They might as well use every advantage they had. That's why they chose this dragon first after all.

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TWC 1,682/20,000

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."

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Akeya raised an eyebrow as Luna's first response to her inquiry was apparently to choke on the water she'd been drinking in an attempt to rehydrate herself from the trek through the desert. While Luna was focusing on nourishment and sustainment the dragoness stood there gazing out into the distance, although more than her eyes she was focusing on her ability to sense magic. In the distance there definitely was a large amount of mana, too large for it to merely be a buildup of natural magic energy. It was still a ways away but Akeya was pretty certain that it was the aura of the desert dragon.

"Did you think I'd ignored the fact that you have a connection with the earth?" The question wasn't so much mocking as genuinely surprise, even if the surprise was rather mild. The twilight dragoness might not have much interest as people for the sake of people, but she did do her best to keep track of important details and variables which could become either useful or detrimental in the future. When you treated life as something of a competition, where everyone was competing for the right to survive, you wouldn't just forget or ignore something as potentially vital as the elements other powerful mages could use.

And while Luna wasn't quite as powerful as Akeya herself there was no denying that the fairy was powerful enough for it to be recognized. Given that her focus was on summoning spirits and healing magic she might not be able to defeat an army on her own, but she could still bring about change on a massive scale if she so wished. Well... she could probably defeat an army by summoning her spirits, but that was still a little different from doing it with your own hands. Although either way it would be foolish of Akeya to not keep tabs on her.

"I wasn't aware of a goddess named Carpo." Aside from that comment she listened quietly as Lune tried her best to explain what she could do with her earth powers. The fairy was making it clear that her earth magic didn't compare to her plant magic, which made sense. Akeya was a case of combining light and dark in unison, but in general mages who had more than one type of magic or more than one element tended to prioritize one over the other. The dragoness folded her arms as she tilted her head to the side. "It's interesting that gemstones would be more receptive to your magic than sand... But for the most part it just sounds like you'll have to train your earth magic a bit more before it can be useful as anything other than support." She glanced to the small collection of sand that Luna lifted into the air. "Of course given that I know little about earth magic you'd need to find someone else to help you refine it."

The analogy Luna used to try and describe her current proficiency with earth magic was a rather unusual one, but Akeya got the picture. Nothing they could overly rely on in combat with an actual sand dragon. The possibility of eating the dragon's sand was still on the table, although Luna also warned that her unfamiliarity with the earth element meant that she might have trouble scarfing down too much sand. That actually was rather surprising, since Akeya didn't remember having such problems. Maybe it was different to someone whose elements didn't come naturally to them...

"Most dragons can produce the element they can control using their own magic, so the second possibility is the most likely. While dragons can also use magic to change into the element they control it's rare for their true form to be composed of that element... barring exceptional circumstances." Akeya went through her memories and the scrolls she'd read. "While not unique to dragons, it is possible for them to cheat death by becoming one with the element they control. Although as you've already suggested, that technique has the drawback that you could end up being devoured by another who can consume the same element." She shrugged. "Then again, normal dragons are still made from flesh and blood: plenty of creatures who'd eat that."

Akeya hadn't genuinely considered giving up her corporeal form. One reason being that she could already freely shift into light, dark, or a combination thereof: any occasion where such a form would be useful was already accessible to her.

"I think it would be safer to assume that we can't rely on you eating the dragon. However the sandstorm shouldn't be an issue: even if you're unused to it you shouldn't be harmed by the sand you're eating." She raised one clawed hand and snapped her fingers, causing a small spark to burst into existence for a moment. "I can keep the dragon busy for long enough that you can eat the sandstorm, and after that you'd just have to try and eat the sandstorm as quickly as he tries to reform it while I take him down." A bit of a crude plan, but at least it was straightforward. If it worked it would require minimal effort from both of them, since Akeya was pretty sure that she could take on her own kin with little issue as long as their homefield territory was largely negated.

Although Luna's suggestion of eating the dragon made Akeya think of how she'd obtained her light element... But there were some distinct differences between solars and dragons.

The pink-haired mage's warning about how achieving Force would result in a drastic shift in her personality intrigued Akeya, but at the same time she didn't think it'd be an issue. "We're out in the middle of the desert, if you go into Force and become dangerous I'd be the only one around." She looked at Luna. "If it looks like you're heading back towards inhabited areas I'll keep you busy for long enough that you're at least no longer in Force, after which I should be able to prevent you doing anything stupid."

Akeya's own experience with Force didn't include anything like a personality change. Was it because she was a dragon and thus it was more natural to her? Or did it have to do with Luna's slayer type being different? Akeya had some trouble understanding all the nuances of demon slayers and god slayers: dragon slayers were non-dragons who utilized dragon magic to fight dragons on even footing. Yet demon slayers used holy magic and god slayers used unholy magic, which would make them the antithesis of the thing they're slaying.

While the dragoness pondered this she looked to the side as a fireball shot out over the desert. It was large and vibrant, its flames casting flickering shadows over the dunes as the spherical conflagration flew right towards Akeya. Raising one scaled hand Akeya focused, a prismatic barrier forming in the air in front of herself and Luna. Upon hitting the barrier the fireball burst apart into several discoloured tongues of flame, which quickly faded away as the fireball's structure had been disrupted.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance Akeya watched as a group of reptiles quickly approached their position, running after the expired fireball. "Komodo dragons. Three of them." She'd heard of these before. Supposedly the lesser cousins of true dragons, although from what Akeya could tell the similarities were minor beyond the ability to breathe fireballs. The twilight dragoness spread her wings and glared at the newcomers even as she replied to Luna's latest suggestion. "If your friends can turn the area into a glacier or something that would be useful. Even if our opponent can produce his own sand taking away existing sand still weakens him."

The komodo dragons didn't stop until they were within a scant dozen meters of the two female adventurers, their tongues flicking out of their mouths as they began to form a semi-circle. Low hisses filled the air, Akeya's eyes narrowing as she could tell that the two of them were being sized up. The fact that the fireball had done nothing apparently wasn't enough to discourage these nuisances to leave them alone. That meant that either these komodo dragons were stupid, or just too hungry to care. Or diseased...? She doubted it: they looked healthy enough. "As long as you can find a way to deal with the sandstorm it should be fine." She then turned her full attention towards the komodo dragons, her wings spread to their full glory as her emerald eyes glowed.

A cold feeling filled the air as Akeya forcefully manifested her killing intent. It wasn't passionate or aggressive, it didn't promise violence: it was cold as the grave, and filled with something beyond personal dislike or hunger. When Akeya wanted to kill something her intent was without personal attachment or fury. It was the cold certainty that whatever she happened to be targeting wouldn't live much longer. It was cold enough that one might not be surprised if water were turned into ice by it.

The komodo dragons bobbed their head at first, opening their mouths and hissing. However they slowly began to fall back, hesitatingly at first but then increasing the pace, until eventually all three the wannabe drakes were running across the sand into the distance, having decided that they'd rather try to find other prey than attack the dragoness who seemed prepared to gut them all without the slightest ounce of regret, remorse, or fear.

Keeping up her killing intent a bit longer Akeya waited until the three nuisances were out of sight before she folded her wings and turned back towards Luna. "Are you read to resume? Now that night has fallen the desert is going to quickly cool down." Deserts were absolutely atrocious at absorbing energy, which was why the days were scorching and the nights were freezing. Akeya didn't know how well a fairy like Luna would fare, but she didn't think it'd be good to put to the test when they'd have to be dealing with a dragon. "And we'll have to be careful for other assailants: there's not a lot of life here but there's some creatures that might try the same thing as those three."

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TWC: 5,081/20,000

Luna paid close attention to the dragoness's response, analysis, and comments to Luna's summary of the skillset she wanted to hide. Akeya seemed to have more combat experience then Luna, evident by her analytical and combat prowess. However Luna was glad that given Akeya's history with the Princess spirits that she might be apprehensive regarding meeting their father, and Luna knew she was going to regret the introduction as there was a lot to be said about Gaian; such as the fact Gaian can create elemental golems, reflects a lot of nature, and has been punished by a curse imparted from a higher power to be stuck in the form of a young girl after a war in the Forest Beyond the Horizon. However while relieved to hear that Akeya said she would prevent casualties if the situati0on should arise where innocents would be put in  harms way that she would interfere.

Luna was scared by force, as the first time she experienced it she was going from unpopulated area to unpopulated area, at that point there was assured no casualties to speak of and collateral was not a concern.  However isolated lands and a desert are different, one never knows who they might find out here, other adventurers of equal or greater calibur, or some less capable hotshots desperate to get recognition or vast wealth fast. Perhaps there could be a party of non combatants like researchers, artists, or even a wanderer high off herbs wandering through the desert looking for enlightenment, the last of which Luna remembered seeing jobs come and go for the same guy several times back when she was a member of Crystal Swan and Aurora, but the pattern seemed to end for one reason or another.

However Luna did sense three forms approaching but before she could react komodo dragons surfaced. Luna was not sure what creature would be brave enough to lurk in the territory of a giant sand based dragon, but her first guess was not going to be a small group fire breathing komodo dragons. She saw the light from the corner of her eye as she was turning around to confront the dragons as she was about to react, but there was a blinding flash before her eyes as there was now a barrier of light that the fireballs crashed into instead. She eased up as it seemed Akeya had already sprung into action.

However Luna herself nearly shuddered as she sensed the cold lethal intent Akeya was emitting, she had dealt with her fair share of that short of intimidation and even found herself emitting a similar aura, but something to note was that it was not out of anger, hunger, or even necessary survival. It was cold, piercing, calculated, anything but an emotional uproar, more like a precise strike to the mind. However Luna couldn't help but be mesermized by a chance to see the twilight dragoness's wings up close and unfolded. "Alright who the hell made this dragon have beautiful wings regardless of form..."

Luna was stuck in her mixed state of awe and fear as she was witnessing the display, blushing slightly until Akeya was done with her intimidation tactics and the komodo dragons left in peace and fear. At this point Luna was not focused on their minds so she could not hear if they were plotting. When Akeya had finished her attempt and turned around Luna snapped back into focus as she was able to regain composure as Akeya said she was ready to keep going.  Luna nodded in response. "Yeah, we should probably keep going..." She said as she started to walk, keeping her senses open to avoid being surprised again.

"I was half expecting a large scorpion with either earth or poison magic surfacing." Luna chimed in as she felt the cold air against her skin. Luna herself was rarely affected by some climates, the cold was not as bothersome as the sand. It was uneven, coarse, getting everywhere inside her shoes, uneven and rough terrain, it was hard to move straight without focus, and the sand obscures much. However Luna chose not to focus on the annoying part of trekking the desert, which happened to be trekking the desert by trying to get a better idea of her distracting herself by changing the focus on expanding her knowledge of the twilight Dragoness.

"So it seems like you're at least 60 percent, maybe 75 max aware of my skillset, but is there anything useful you might be holding out? My Goddess Slayer magic was supposed to be hidden until a premeditated Deicide and I probably lost that significant advantage in a more, personal fight. So don't be afraid to hold out." She said as at this point it didn't really matter if she hid it as it was obvious. Luna was the type to advocate for mercy when she can, so the notion that she would take something incredibly deadly and focused on destruction was almost paradox, not to mention the difficult question as to why would a Fae be a slayer of deities that protect them from their natural predator, and not just become a demon slayer instead. Luna guessed Akeya probably assumed the whole story and chose to avoid pressing it as it was an unrelated matter that had nothing to do with her. However Luna did raise a fair point that her abilities were made obvious and known. "From what I recall you have two other forms, a shadow like and a cosmic dragon form, while you possess shadow and light magic. Is there a White Dragon form? Or is the cosmic form representative of the white, I always thought it was a fusion of the two elements." Luna's intentions were in the practical place as she was starting to dwindle into less relevant questions. However she soon recalled the main issue at hand as she recalled the displays of power from the mysterious wizard's Labyrinth and recently against the komodo dragons.

"But as for your shadow attacks, do you solidify shadows or convert it into a energy like form? Like I'm guessing the barrier was energy so the shadow might still be." She was starting to speculate in thought as she was imagining the potential capabilities of the two element's alone and merging. "But something else... you're called the Twilight Dragoness, right? But from what I saw, what little can be heard, your cosmic form appears to be the only time you were seen to my knowledge using both shadow and light. Are you able to actually use Twilight magic? Or is this like Terranora, who while is a Legandary dragon of some particular element, is primarily powerful in a substrate of the whole?"

Luna recalled in her experiences coming across elemental fusions, she herself has some skill with intertwining her two Goddess Slayer elements, but noted some great examples. When she thought about light and darkness a particular example that is hard to describe comes to her memory. She remembered the golden door, the chamber beneath and the various lights. "I've seen both the harmonius and the chaotic methods, indescribable in the hands of a master and with power greater to either." She admitted, recalling her past experiences with an entity that goes beyond explanation.  "Although I'm doing the same so naturally I can't blame you if you chose to hold some cards close to your chest. But you practically ripped one of mine right from under my qipao. Well I suppose the mysterious wizard did but still. Not like I wanted it anyways though, just a necessary evil but damn lacrima infusion process nearly killed me. Whoever preaches Slayer abilities probably never had a lacrima infused into their being... Not sure if Dragon Slayers are like that but it was moreso like someone shoved a new being into my own while my own as still about as stable as a puppy's focus to begin with. Feeling my whole body dying and rebirthing cell by cell stronger." She stopped herself short as she started to realize she was ranting. "Apoligies, I had a lot of this bottled up, only Carpo, Amelia, my mother, and my half sister are aware and I had to keep everyone silent. But if you're divination proof this should be no problem considering the lack of witnesses... Unless someone who can speak to a cactus asks around. Believe me, they are weirdos, they just talk about the oddest stuff. I don't mean to judge given their isolation but yeah, and I thought spicy peppers were odd." She admitted to the dragoness.

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TWC 6519

Akeya could tell that there was still some uncertainty within Luna's heart, but at least the fae was remaining in control of it and not letting it grow out of control. The dragoness was still somewhat confused at the idea of Force being a problem, but she wasn't unwilling to accept that it was possible. After all, while it might seem natural for a dragon Force was essentially a phase in which your own magic power overflowed, filling your entire being and allowing you to perform incredible feats. The cost was that you burned through your energy very quickly, of course, but sometimes that was the most efficient way to deal with the situation at hand.

But it wasn't too strange that for some people such a surge of power would affect their mind. It was most likely similar to the rush of adrenaline, except significantly more potent. Adrenaline put you in a hyper-alert mode, ready to react to anything that might be a threat. Force gave you so much power that you might not even know what to do with it. For those who let power get to their head... Akeya didn't know Luna well enough to state she was one of those people who didn't know how to handle positions of power, but at the very least the fairy didn't handle it the way Akeya did.

Although all of that speculation was based on the idea that there wasn't any mind-affecting magic involved. Maybe because Luna's magic wasn't draconic in nature whatever else was in there could influence her thoughts. God slayer magic, ironically enough, contained a vile essence, so it might turn her mind to wicked thoughts as perceived by gods and mortals.

Putting that aside for the moment she focused on making sure the komodo dragons were really gone. Whatever it had been that pushed them to attack herself and Luna wasn't strong enough to make them charge headfirst into certain death... at least not as long as death was staring straight at them. Clearly they were willing to take the risk when Akeya and Luna appeared to be distracted, but for as long as the dragoness was keeping an eye out those three wouldn't bother them again. While komodo dragons weren't true dragons Akeya still knew enough about them to be able to tell when they were actually retreating, and not just falling back and seeking an opportunity to strike again.

She could also feel something coming from Luna. Ever since she'd obtained perfect balance between light and dark she'd occasionally had such weird sensations. She wasn't quite sure what they were about, but Luna was giving off a strong feeling right now.

Once Luna made it clear that she was ready to move Akeya would walk alongside the pink-haired fae once more, her eyes now travelling across the desert rather than staring straight ahead. Even without the komodo dragons there were other potential threats: anything which managed to survive out here was powerful enough that a surprise attack could actually be a problem. "There's definitely scorpions in this desert, although I wouldn't know about them possessing earth magic. Most likely they are burrowed underground for the night and are going to stay there until the sun emerges." She pointed towards the heavens with the tip of her tail, where the only light was from the moon and the stars. "They might not be reptiles but these temperatures are unpleasant for most creatures."

She narrowed her eyes when Luna began to inquire after her own abilities. The twilight dragoness had little interest in sharing her abilities with anyone: every trick she kept secret was one she could use in a pinch. However Luna then continued to talk about how she wished to commit deicide, something which actually made Akeya's eyes widen in genuine surprise before she smirked. "Interesting goal you've chosen for yourself there." The dragoness also had the intent of slaying a deity, although she imagined it was for different reasons than her companion. Whatever Luna's motivations were the pink-headed mage would most likely explain them as being either noble or necessary. Akeya's motivation was... well, she didn't like the idea of the gods treating the world as a playboard. She'd slay a god to prove that the gods weren't above her... to show them and herself that she could and that she had control over her own fate.

"I started out as a dark dragon, so I don't use pure light very often." She answered Luna's second question. She didn't think that that particular piece of information would be very dangerous if revealed to Luna, given that what she used to be didn't hold a candle to what she was now.

And just because she didn't use pure light often didn't mean she couldn't, or that her light was weaker than her dark.

She shrugged at the next question, about how she used her shadows. "Versatility is one of the greatest keys to survival. Let's just say that you shouldn't expect me to not have left out a potentially useful way to use my elements. And yes, I am the twilight dragon, so I can use twilight." She wouldn't give a demonstration, but if her estimations were correct it was more important that Luna knew she possessed twilight magic than the risks involved. "Although twilight is a rather tricky element, so it may not be what you expect from it." Trick was definitely one way of saying it... sometimes she wasn't entirely sure what its deal was.

Listening to Luna complaining about the process of becoming a goddess slayer and how she felt like her secrets had been revealed against her will Akeya actually chuckled and held up a taloned finger. "I didn't reveal your secret, and no it's not like that for dragon slayers... at least not for me. Then again, I'm already a dragon so the essence of another dragon isn't as foreign to me. I imagine that human dragon slayers don't have it quite as easy." She snorted at the thought. "But the idea of another being having been shoved inside your own is more accurate than you might think. Just be glad that it's not conscious." At least, she would expect it to not be conscious... The dragons whose essence she had absorbed in the form of dragon lachrima certainly weren't conscious anymore: they'd become a part of her, at least what part of them hadn't escaped the mortal coil to head for the afterlife or reincarnate or whatever. She wasn't actually entirely sure how much of a soul remained inside a dragon lachrima. Could it differ per lachrima?

Glancing at Luna when she began to talk about cacti the dragoness shook her head and looked straight ahead again. "We should be safe... although I think we'll be facing more ambushes in the next couple of minutes." She could feel something, something ahead of them... To the left, in the distance, but slowly moving closer. It felt similar to something they'd encountered inside the labyrinth... something which reeked of testosterone poisoning.

"I didn't know minotaurs lived in the desert." Was her only remark, even though the monster was nowhere to be seen.

Yet.

WC: 1,204
PWC: 3,884/10,000
TWC: 7,723/20,000

Luna paid attention as the response of the twilight dragoness as if it was gospel, even though she was not surprised by some of the facts or answers, and the lack thereof in some cases. Luna had a feeling that if it were possible, Akeya would be the type to erase memory of her abilities from anyone, even her own mother just to maintain an advantage against potential opponents. Luna herself understood the logic but didn't really make sense since her powerset isn't as applicable to stealth or surprise tactics as Akeya's. However Luna did feel slightly self-conscious as Akeya glared at her when Cacti were mentioned.

Luna started to sense something in the near distance, not dragonic, but more bovine then man. Luna started to shudder as she could identify that the individuals were minotaurs. She initially thought this was some form of misperception, or perhaps even an illusion of some form, but when the dragoness drew the same conclusion Luna herself had the same question as to why minotaurs would be in the desert. "I lack a seismic sense so I can't say with certainty, but my best guess would have to be either there's a labyrinth in the area, or these are minotaurs that got lost chasing after something." Luna said as she soon was able to focus on the rushing embodiment of masculinity's darker side.

Recalling that Akeya singlehandedly removed the last threat out of the way, Luna felt obligated to carry her weight and started to step forward. "I got this one..." She said as the bull headed figure was clearly visible and getting closer rushing at an immense speed. This was a rather tall minotaur, standing at roughly twelve feet tall and looked easily over 500 pounds of muscle wearing a thin tattered loincloth. In his hands was a large makeshift war hammer made of a sharp stone pierced through a large bone. Luna swallowed her breath as she started to regret her decision. She took a deep breath as took her options into account.

Luna stepped forward as she was taking in a deep breath as she prepared her breath attack as she planted her feet down waiting for the minotaur to reach just beyond the scope of her range before taking a step forward as the charged magical energy within was ready to take form as she let out a large bellow as a dark magic circle opened before her and a large flurry of black rocks, purple vines, flowers, and assorted crops such as pineapples, durians, butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, beets, corn, radishes, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yellow potatoes, spaghettis squash, asparagus, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, yams, ginger, garlic, and turmeric.

The massive beast charged into the black stone and dark purple crop barrage, taking swings with his massive hammer trying to knock away as much as he could but taking the barrage full on was leaving him hit all over. He managed to make it 20 feet in the barrage before stopping and roaring as an onion hit his left eye before splattering, the juices got into it's eye and it brunted the rest of the barrage. The land was now vibrant with the scent of various fruits and vegetables afterwards. Luna looked right at the minotaur who was huffing as he was preparing his, charge. "He looks more, raged then damaged..." Luna said awkwardly before the minotaur began his second charge at the Fae. Luna watched it's movements with caution as she plotted out her next moves with great caution. She had an advantage with the minotaur struggling to see out of both eyes and while he was still moving, he did take some damage from the barrage.

Three black seeds burrowed out of the back of Luna's arms before shooting themselves out in different directions as she formulated her plan. Luna jumped back as far as she could twiceover before stepping back to get some extra distance. The six seeds quickly grew within the ground and took the form of dark purple carrots with black leaves on their stems. In the ground they quickly flipped before slanting towards their target as the minotaur passed them. The six 0carrots shot out of the ground at rapid speed gunning towards the right knee of the Minotaur, one by one each carrot slammed in at rapid speed. After the fifth carrot projectile the minotaur started to stumble as it was getting off balance. Luna noted the slower speed as that was what she was waiting for, a window to open. "Alright... may Shirain forgive me for this..."

Luna thought as she channeled magic into her finger as a pink liquid droplet oozed out and took the shape of a seed. Luna dropped the seed behind her leg before she skipped back again, waiting for the minotaur to pass over. Luna steadied her breathing as timing was critical here, she set herself up to get one solid decisive hit in. The seed had burrowed into the ground, and Luna mentally prepared herself to channel her magic into the plant it would form as it's forming, to evolve it for a boost of power. Right as the minotaur passed over it, the ground was rumbling before a massive spiraling pine tree, rougly forty feet tall shot out at quickly and with great force. Sand was sent flying throughout the area as the top of the tree slammed into the crotch of the minotaur and would launch him into the sky with incredible force.

Luna walked forth as her eyes followed the flying half man, half bull creature as she walked forth. Her keen sense of hearing could hear a whimper in the distance as the body fell to the ground with a large thud. The minotaur curled up letting out a soft, high pitch whimper as he clutched his crotch. Luna walked forth, brushing the sand off her body as she started to feel remorse over her actions as she approached the minotaur, no longer sensing any violent rage. "Oops, did I go a bit too far?" The minotaur looked at Luna, and started to limp away from the Nature Fae. While Luna wanted to help the creature, she figured the minotaur wouldn't want her help, and if she did the beast might go back to violence.

She noted that the direction the beast was crawling towards was away from the dragon's known land so she decided to leave the beast in peace. "Yeah, no need to go further. You have fought well." She said walking past the creature, but monitoring her sense of life force to make sure she wasn't followed. Luna sighed as she turned back to Akeya. "You ready to keep going?" She asked concerned.

WC 1126
PWC 4965
TWC 8849

"I'm quite sure minotaurs can live in environments other than labyrinths, but a desert seems out of place. Bovines generally are more suited for temperature climates." The dragoness replied when Luna suggested that maybe the minotaurs were lost. Admittedly Akeya wasn't an expert on minotaurs, but she imagined that they mixed most traits from humans and bulls. Neither creature type was very fond of hot, arid climates, although it was possible for humans to survive in deserts if they knew what they were doing.

Then again minotaurs were often magical creatures, so the rules that applied to humans and bovines might not apply the same way to their combined offspring. Either way all her pondering wouldn't remove the fact that there was a minotaur in this place, and that apparently it had noticed them and was coming right for them. Not that it would matter: Akeya was stronger than she was down in the underground labyrinth, so this bull-man would meet the same fate as the ones before him. At least, that's what Akeya thought before her pink-haired companion interfered and stated that she would be the one to take care of the intrusion this time. The scaled huntress looked at Luna with one raised eyebrow before nodding and stepping back, folding her arms as she watched passively. "Go ahead then." So far Luna's abilities had been supportive in nature, summoning plants and nature-related entities. If the Sabertooth mage wanted to show off what she could do when she was forced to go on the offence then the dragoness had no reason to go against that.

The first thing she noticed was that this minotaur was a lot bigger than the ones in the labyrinth. She could also tell that he had plenty of magic in him, so he wasn't a normal breed either. Was he a minotaur that just happened to be big while picking up on magic, or was his magical nature tied to his size? Was it inborn or learned? Compared to her own true form he was still miniscule, but Akeya could tell that compared to any humanoid this minotaur was a bastion of muscle and strength. Of course she tried her best to not pay too much attention to his loincloth: charging minotaurs were really bad at hiding their masculinity, and while the dragoness wasn't a prude she wasn't in the mood for bovine boldness.

Fortunately Luna did a good job distracting her when she released a roar attack and... a whole bunch of fruits and vegetables erupted together with rocks and vines and flowers. All of them were dark-coloured and had a malicious feel to them, the result of a god slayer's vile essence corrupting them. However even with that modifier it still was a rather unusual sight, Akeya actually being rather nonplussed as she watched the minotaur get barraged by plants and rocks. The rocks at least made sense in a way, but she could see most of the plant-matter bouncing off with little effect.

Indeed, while the roar attack had forced the minotaur to a halt he didn't look injured, as Luna herself also observed. Akeya nodded in agreement. "You'll need something harder than potatoes." She stated a little dryly. While she was interested in seeing Luna's abilities the plant barrage had left her more amused than anything else, even if she wouldn't show it overtly on her face.

The fae's next move was more interesting, as she was clearly putting up a trap. Akeya did like traps, as aside from their effectiveness they were usually a display of intelligence and cunning. As Luna jumped backwards to gain some distance on the charging minotaur the twilight dragon stepped to the side, her arms still folded as she stayed out of the way. Fortunately the minotaur was fully focused on Luna for the moment, the roar attack apparently having grabbed his attention even if it enraged him more than anything else. As such Akeya didn't have to worry about him attacking her unless he lost interest in Luna first.

The carrot bombardment made Akeya raise her eyebrows again, but from the looks of it the concentration of magic allowed the carrots to be hard and solid enough to actually hinder the beastlike figure, slowing his charge down significantly as his right knee was injured by the repeated impacts. When Luna placed another seed right in front of her before jumping further backwards Akeya wondered what the next trap would be for. A binding trap? Nature mages like to use vines and the like, so it would make sense that Luna's next step was to restrain the beast.

Instead the dragoness got a first-class ticket to watching Luna grow a big tree within seconds right between the minotaurs legs, hitting him squarely in the crotch and launching him into the sky with a cry that was significantly higher-pitched than any sound Akeya had ever expected to hear from a bullman.

"Well... That was... something." Akeya watched as Luna went to inspect the minotaur's state. Unsurprisingly the mythical beast was in a lot of pain, and all thought of fighting had gone out of his head as he was instead focused on processing the agony that coursed through his body, originating from his most vulnerable and precious spot. She just shrugged when the fae asked if she was ready to continue. "I didn't exactly expend any energy, so I'm good to go." With that she turned around and resumed walking towards where the sand dragon resided, leaving the minotaur to his own fate while she expected Luna to follow her.

As she walked she scanned the area ahead of them with her sensory abilities. Eyes, ears, nose and soul were focused as she formed a map of the area in front of them in her head, including the locations of all focus points of mana. "We're getting closer, so we have to make sure we're prepared. I hope giving that minotaur a trauma hasn't caused you to forget the plan for dealing with the dragon." She gave Luna a light smirk. "Unfortunately a dragon's scales would protect them from a tree between the legs." The pink-haired fairy appeared to be a bit bothered by her brutal manner of dealing with the minotaur, but Akeya just found it entertaining. Especially since it still was more merciful than her plan of just killing the beast and leaving it to rot. Minotaur meat wasn't very tasty and tended to smell like sweat and leather.

As they walked Akeya spotted some scorpions in the distance, but it appeared that they had no interest in bothering either of the female adventurers. Those that did show an inclination towards approaching them quickly backed off once Akeya glared at them, emerald eyes promising death to the carapace-clad creatures if they got in her way. The dragoness might have let the komodo dragons go with but a warning but she didn't have limitless patience, especially for some oversized arachnids.

WC: 1,166
PWC: 5,050/10,000
TWC: 10,015/20,000

Luna noted the slight amusement Akeya seemed to show while the Fae was handling the rather large Minotaur. Luna was glad as from what she gathered it was a sign that the dragoness was not entirely distant. The Twilight Dragoness intrigued Luna like a good book, bearing the elegance and intelligence of  a master scholar, precision of a hunter that can channel a monstrous tidal wave of power with excellence. All the while the mysterious and reclusive nature seemed to entice Luna, making her want to and simultaneously not want to know more as she learns. As Akeya suggested that her recent tactic would be ineffective against a scaled beast like the dragon, Luna herself giggled slyly smirking back. "After watching the minotaur lose his pride, I  think you know better then to underestimate me. I've used a variant of that tactic against scaled beasts before. Just with a special, acidic extra step. Melting Dragon scales are quite malleable." She said trying to keep some mystery despite having most of her abilities laid out before the dragoness.

Luna could see glimpses of the Scorpions, but she relied more on her ability to sense life force to know that the large scorpions were there. She did nothing as Akeya's menacing glares seemed to be good enough to keep the brave ones who wished to approach the two women before scurrying away. "But don't worry, I couldn't forget the plan. One monstrosity can't make me forget a simple disarm and conquer plan, I've dealt with too much of this dangerous stuff to be that easily offput." She said as she realized that the duo was starting to get close to the dragons. Luna then held up her watch as she started to wind the Infinite Improbabilty Chronometer for a minute before reality around her seemed to warp for her before fading before going dark, Luna blinked her eyes and suddenly she was standing in the central elevator shaft of her personal space station. Luna reflexively stopped the ticking of the watch so time would not be ticking as she pressed a button opening a door as she went into the observation deck looking around, Luna typically left her various weapons and tools around in case she needed one. She walked over to a table with just a long, black and rustic box. Luna could feel the dragonic presence emanating from the box before she would open the box letting her emerald eyes gently gaze upon the sheathed blade known as the Dragon's Foe.

She grabbed the sheath and the strap, lifting it over herself so the hilt was near her right shoulder before she pulled her hair out so it wasn't caught underneath the blade. She took a deep breath before she got herself ready to work. "What's the Ultimate Question?" She called out the trigger phrase as the Infinite Improbability Chronometer warped her back to Earthland at Akeya's side at the same moment she left, only difference is she was now equipped with the Dragon Slaying blade.

Luna adjusted the strap as she prepared to explain why a sudden source of Dragonic Magic appeared next to Akeya. "Had to pop out and grab a last edge. A sword imbued with Dragon Slayer magic. Made from a metal dragon, forged using fire from a Flame dragon, and water of a Water Dragon. Found it in a hidden crypt, although strangely enough the inscriptions were in the Dragons Path but the crypt was from at least six generations after the language died out. I expected Dragonic or Fioran but not my place to judge. I was only on a job to figure out why recently cultivated land wouldn't bare crops, turns out the crypt was underneath and the poison dragon's corpse cursed the land over time."

She explained to the dragoness the origins of the blade and how it would come into her possession. "So yeah, the last scripture At that point I had to explain something but I couldn't just leave a mystical weapon lying around so I took it myself. Keep it stored in a, relatively reclusive place that only I can easily access. Too heavy to just keep it around all the time so I mostly bring it out before I'm going to face a dragon this could be effective against." 

The Nature Fae looked around as she was trying to sense the potential location of the dragon or at the very least get a glimpse of a sandstorm. "We've been wandering inside the dragon's territory for a while. Not to be presumptuous but I've seen your work so I feel confident in saying you got the instincts of an Apex predator, if you had a nest or territory, would you let anyone wander for this long? This has to be a trap right? Unless this individual is asleep..." Luna asked as she was trying to predict what could be ahead as she was starting to feel uneasy. Luna kept her guard up as she was trying to anticipate what would happen next.

However she started to feel a rumble in the ground before hearing a feint roar in the distance. A large beige mass seemed to be approaching towards the two women with intensity, a thick sandstorm. that was raging fiercely towards the two. The Nature Fae kept her breathing relaxed as she tried to sense the life force of the dragon but was having difficulty trying to see the dragon as the Life Force seemed to be erratically moving in the sandstorm. She was starting to understand that this was not just a shield and spear, but also a cloak. "I stand corrected. Guess Dragons don't take a coffee break." She said trying to joke to prevent tension but internally she was looking at the sandstorm wondering herself if she could eat it.

"Alright... probably gonna need about twenty to twenty four seconds to eat it, he'll definitely notice partway in so yeah. Hope you're ready... If you get a shot take it." Luna said as she planted her foot down, taking a deep breath as she was preparing for the massive storm heading her way, preparing to quite literally swallow it hole.

WC 1035
PWC 5100
TWC 11050

"Unless that acid is more potent than what you've shown me so far it would take a while before it melted a dragon's scales to the point that you could effectively penetrate them." Akeya replied as Luna expressed confidence in her ability to use a similar tactic against the twilight dragoness's kin. Of course dragon's scales weren't impenetrable, but they were the next best thing. If they weren't then there would have been little reason for the mortals to become so invested in learning how to use dragon magic.

Although Akeya wasn't trying to downplay Luna's abilites: she knew that the fairy was powerful. Whether she was strong enough to win a fight against a dragon by herself was up in the air, given that dragons were by nature powerful enough to be treated with caution by entire nations, but at the very least she was strong enough that Akeya wouldn't dismiss her out of hand. It was just that the dragoness wasn't one to quickly think that someone could bypass the defences of her kin. "Of course a bigger issue than the scales might be that the genitalia of male dragons are internal unless in use." She glanced towards where the minotaur was still slowly making as much distance between himself and the pink-haired mage as possible. "Not a lot of creatures are stupid enough to leave such a vulnerable spot so exposed."

"But enough about the flaws of the male gender." Akeya said as they made their way forward, the dragoness intimidating any further nuisances into retreating silently. Although she herself was caught off guard when for a moment Luna shifted. She didn't know how else to explain what just happened: one moment everything was normal, then there was a split second of Luna being both there and not there at the same time, and the next moment Luna was there again but suddenly was wielding a sword. A sword which reeked of dragon magic... Akeya had never seen one in person, but she still could recognize a dragon slaying sword.

"...That's definitely better than slamming a tree into a dragon's crotch." She commented even as her emerald eyes narrowed. She wasn't sure if she was happy knowing that Luna could casually bring a weapon like that to her location without warning. A single strike wouldn't bring her down but it still meant that Luna's combat potential against her just increased tremendously. Fortunately the fae was so kind as to explain how she got her hands on such a weapon so Akeya didn't have to prompt her to explain. The twilight dragoness listened carefully, studying the sword with care and caution. "With so many dragons involved in the creation of that sword, and the fact that it was found in a crypt containing a poison dragon, this must be the culmination of a grand project. Did you find anything else of worth in that crypt?" She might have to visit that place herself at some point, to see if she could find anything that Luna missed. Akeya strongly doubted that was everything there was to the story... although at the same time she couldn't just assume the fairy would tell her everything. While the two of them were working together at the moment there was no reason for them to trust one another beyond what trust was needed for short-term cooperation.

For now she'd just keep her distance from the sword, ready to react if Luna seemed to be planning something strange with it. While she didn't exactly expect the pink-haired fae to have any nefarious plans she wasn't the kind of person who gambled with that kind of thing, and a dragon slaying weapon wasn't something she wanted to act carelessly around. Like with mortals who took dragon magic and used it to fight dragons on somewhat equal levels weapons which were made of and imbued with the essence of dragons were very dangerous... both to dragons and non-dragons.

"I also wasn't aware you had a pocket dimension for storing important items in." She didn't sound particularly surprised though, since she wasn't. While she hadn't known it wasn't that strange: powerful adventurers and entities usually had some way to store things which were important enough to keep around but also too cumbersome to carry around. Bags of holding were a good example, with a pocket dimension being a step beyond that.

She shrugged when Luna pointed out that they'd been wandering the sand dragon's territory for a while now. "He has effectively claimed the entire desert. Even for a dragon reacting instantly to intrusions over such a large area is difficult. Especially since he's probably waiting for us to get into a position where he can strike better." The fairy was on the right track of mind when she suggested that this was a trap. "If we were on the edge of the desert we could quickly retreat. Most likely he wants to make sure we can't escape once he makes a move." Among her kin it was common to defend your territory fiercely. Akeya herself wasn't chained to one location but that was a quirk of hers. Most of the time once you entered a dragon's territory and you were powerful enough to be noticed said dragon would prefer if you didn't leave. At least, not alive and free-willed.

The idea that the dragon was asleep was... well, a tricky one. Dragons slept, just like most other creatures. However at the same time rather than fully disconnecting from reality they tended to enter a state which could best be described as half-sleep, still aware enough of their surroundings to awaken and respond if something of importance happened. It bore some similarities to hibernation, and it was one of the reasons why dragons could end up staying in one spot decades at a time, never moving. "You shouldn't rely on the idea of a dragon being unconscious, no." Was her only reply when Luna noted that the desert dragon was finally making his move.

Akeya stepped forward as she saw the sandstorm approach, a whirling mass of countless grains of sand, each one with enough kinetic energy behind it to shred steel. She could feel the massive mana pool of a fellow dragon amidst the storm, shimmering and shifting around so she couldn't get a good bead on it. As expected, the desert dragon was one who knew how to use his element to his advantage.

"Right. I keep him busy, you eat the storm." The thought crossed her mind to use her prismatic barrier to protect herself and Luna, but that would also keep the fae from eating the sandstorm and pin them down. Her companion would have to keep herself safe while Akeya bore the brunt of the assault. "You might want to anchor yourself so you don't get blown away."

With that Akeya spread her wings and leapt forward, light and dark twisting around her to form a shimmering barrier, a shroud of night and starlight structured to form a prismatic shield around herself. Beating her wings she flew to the side while at the same time releasing several bolts of light and dark into the sandstorm, each holding sufficient energy to punch holes into the storm before those were quickly filled up with more sand.

The response was about what Akeya expected: rather than bearing down on Luna the storm shifted and went straight for the twilight dragoness. Holding out both clawed hands Akeya released two bursts, a burst of light from one hand and a burst of dark from the other. Rather than hitting the sandstorm the two waves went right through, leaving the sandstorm a mixture of white and black as grains of sand had been infused with light and dark.

Slamming her hands together Akeya forced all the infused grains of sand to gather in the middle of the storm. Upon contact the light and dark annihilated each other, along with the infused sand. This diminished the sandstorm greatly, for a moment a figure being visible in the midst of it all, but as quickly as Akeya annihilated the storm the desert dragon reformed it with renewed vigour... and now he was close enough that Akeya was swallowed by the storm. Thousands of grains of sand ripped at her barrier, trying to tear it apart even as Akeya expended more energy to keep it whole. With narrow eyes she focused on the dragon who was remaining hidden in the midst of the sandstorm, forming several small orbs of pitch black which shot out towards where she thought her adversary was. Each moved with a speed and force comparable to a bullet, fierce enough to puncture the defences of her own kin.

Akeya's positioning had left Luna on the outskirts of the sandstorm, where she'd be buffeted by strong winds and have sand threaten to reduce her equipment to tatters, ravage her skin and blind her. But at least she wasn't in the midst of the cataclysmic weather phenomenon.

WC: 1,508
PWC: 6,558/10,000
TWC: 12,558/20,000

Luna paid close attention, watching with calmness and caution the raging sandstorm approached. She knew Akeya was right and she'd have to ground herself against the storm while she eats. A glob of pink liquid oozed out before condesing into a seed that would fall into the ground before burrowing itself beneath the sand. The pink haired mage stepped aside and suddenly a Birch Schmidt tree quickly sprouted from the ground and grew. Luna extended one branch down and channeled all her evolutionary abilities to strengthen the tree and burrow the roots down. "A Birch Scmidt tree, the strongest non-magical tree in existence. Coupled with my evolution enchantment, this is arguably one of the sturdiest things I can make that can last long in a desert." She explained as she held on tightly to the tree root. As the sandstorm reached her braced herself as she closed her eyes and began to take a deep breath before planting her feet down and would begin a process to suck in the sand. She could feel the power of the earth flowing through her insides while the sandstorm ravaged the outside of her body.

She could feel sand and harsh winds scrap against her skin and clothing. She mentally kept track of time and would try to weigh the power she was gaining versus the sounds around. However with the Dragon close she was able to sense and identify their life force. She opened her eyes, watching Akeya for a brief moment as she could tell the dragoness was more then enough to distract the dragon's attention. She could see the sandstorm start to thin in the distance as it was more wind then sand at a trickling pace. "Six seconds in..."  She groaned for a moment as she could feel the sand hitting her before getting swallowed start to accumulate damage as her magically reinforced skin was finally cut as her red qipao was torn. It took a great deal of focus to keep herself grounded to the tree and maintain her ability to swallow the sandstorm. She could feel the stress overwhelm her for an instant and she wanted to give in, tears flowing from her eyes as she could feel an overwhelming anxiety between the power she felt surging through her system and the bombardment of sand against her. 

Echoing in her mind were the words of advice from her father, "Anxiety during a problem is a good sign, means you're paying attention, but if you run, nothing gets done. The best solution is to remember what can be done, and tackle each step one at a time building yourself up again." 

Luna was not sure that those exactly applied to trying to eat the sandstorm of an Earth Dragon, however her father wasn't exactly a dragon slayer at the same time either. Luna planted her feet down harder and tightened her grip as she would continue to inhale the sand until the once thick and dangerous cloud became incredibly thin and the Dragon's shadow silhouette was visible before at the thirty second mark, the sandstorm was gone.

Luna let go of the tree as she was clearly trembling in power and pain, her almost ripped off by sand. She looked the rather small looking dragon in the eyes in the distance who was taken aback with shock as his once immense defense was gone. Luna knew that this was merely knocking him off balance as so long as they were fighting in the desert it was still his domain. Luna knew she had a window before she would loose the opportunity. Pink liquid oozed out of her skin as a small seed solidified and she tossed it forward and it burrowed into the ground. A large tree quickly sprouted before the tree ripped itself apart molding into a gateway as the magic circle normally associated with Luna's summoning roots appeared. "I call forth from the Forest Beyond the Horizon, the King that governs all Nature, the King Gaian!"


Out from the portal came forth a young girl with hair and eyes of flowing blue and white tones reminiscent of a daytime sky, clouds around her head like a crown. She was dressed in a long flowing dress as if made of various climates, her scent was almost offensive to the nose one second and pleasant the next as it seemed like she smelled of various aspects of nature. She giggled as she looked around at the fae and dragons. Luna had a feeling she might sense regret at worst and annoyance at best from Akeya as she withheld the true status of the King's body and mind. "Hey Lulu, whatcha doin'? Oh no are you injured? You are all bloody and torn, do you know that? Did you try asking the Shadow Dragon out and got dumped in feral Dragonian?" Gaian asked concerned.

"Hey Gaian, no, Akeya would more likely refinely lobotomize the memory out of me or manipulate darkness to make me pass out- wait we have no time for this. Ice age now!" She called out to the royal deity who smiled and snapped her fingers and suddenly starting in a circle around her and expanding in a moment's notice the area around had a intense shift of climate as the sand was replaced with snow and the clear sky filled with dark clouds that would start to buffet a snowstorm down onto the field. Luna could feel the temperature drop as her breathing got intense. She knew she was dressed for warmer climates so she'd have to try to keep moving as the confines of the altered climate expanded.

"Thanks, you did great Gaian!" Luna said as she looked at the dragon, her wounds were naturally healing quickly thanks to her Goddess Slayer magic. Luna looked at the dragon who in a rage would release a breath of a fast spiral of sand at Luna. Clicking her tongue she quickly dodged to the slide and began to run  as the attack missed. The dragon was flying quickly and erratically before it would discharge another blast, but this one seemed to be faster. Luna tried to dodge but the burst of sand seemed to follow her.

Luna could feel the power coming from the blast, she knew there was plenty there. She was concerned as either her body or her soul would be risking a dangerous hit. She relented at the last moment and began to inhale the blast but midway through there was an explosion releasing a dust cloud. There was a period of silence before Gaian started to back away nervously. "Ugh oh... She's getting angry..."

As the dust was settling there was a spike in Luna's normally serene aura, as if something darker and more wild was settling in. Once visible Luna could be seen wrestling with a darkness that was spreading along her body, enveloping her arms, legs, scleras, and chaotic trails along her body. Her heart was racing as she was trying to hold back the feeling. "Can't... fight it..." She said before her energy rose high and the transformation completed itself as the dark patterns stabilized, her hair lengthened to nearly passed her knees, the darkness solidifiying around her hands extended her nails so they were almost claw like.

Her gaze instantly shot towards the dragon as she cracked her knuckles as she let out a small chuckle as there was a predatory instinct emanating from her. "Alright little boy, you wanna play rough with your own natural predator? so be it." She said before clenching her fist. "Harvest Goddess Carpo..." She said as a emerging from the ground beside her was a pillar of black earth, purple vines, and various plant life that shot towards the Dragon who managed to dodge the obvious and straightforward attack with a roll to the side before diving closer to the Fae. Luna gripped her hands as she summoned as much strength as she could muster as the slanted pillar seemed to explode into hundreds of tiny fragments.

"Seem familiar?" She taunted before pulling her arms back to guide the motiion as the Earth Dragon was bombarded with the fragments of dark earth mid air suffering repeated blows before rejoining and wrapping around it's neck and slamming down towards the ground exploding, causing

Luna would then dig her nails into her arm before she rubbed her knuckles in her own blood before slamming her fist on the ground. Suddenly a dark tree would sprout behind her with purple leaves. A single black apple with a red stem quickly grew from the tree before dropping. Luna caught the apple as she started to run towards the dragon. "Harvest Goddess's Forbidden fruit!"

She quickly ate the apple, it's red juicy contents leaking. Her veins began throbbing black as her speed seemed to increase as she would jump, and disappear from sight for an instant but reappear closer to the dragon as the black earth and vines around magnetically attached themselves to her arms forming claw like armor as she got close to the dragon. Her breathing intense as she would proceed to drag the shadow earth claws around the dragon's neck until she found the spot most damaged from her attacks and she would try to at the neck, her claws digging into the scales as the dragon roared in pain causing it to flare and twist around in pain. The dragon flailed around, trying to get Luna off as she was trying to rip off scales off the dragon before the dragon started to fly into the air again trying to shake off Luna. Luna grimaced as she held up until eventually the earth dragon succeeded and Luna began to fell back towards the earth.

Midair Luna managed to extend her wings, however instead of the light toned wings, these were black and dark purple. "Some big bad dragon you are running away from a fairy.." She said panting a bit as the stress between Force and the Forbidden Fruit was getting to her body. However she smelled blood unlike her own as she looked down her her right hand, seeing the black earth stained with the blood of the dragon as her feet landed on the sno ground, her qipoa was all but destroyed. "heh, guess he's no immortal... He's running away in fear. Guess a Dragon is no match for a Goddess..." She said displaying an uncharacteristicly cocky and sadistic outlook.

WC 1749
PWC 6849
TWC 14,308/20,000

Akeya gritted her fangs as the onslaught of the sandstorm continued. While the impact of each grain of sand was manageable she was quickly beginning to experience the true power of her opponent's defensive ability: a constant barrage of countless miniscule strikes, never relenting or slowing down. This attack wasn't meant to break through her defences with raw destructive power. Rather it would keep going until her barrier had completely eroded and it could get to work stripping her scales off her body, followed by her flesh and muscles. It was the kind of attack which Akeya could appreciate, pragmatic and effective while limiting the ability to counterattack. The only unfortunate part was that this time it was aimed at her, and she was to act as a decoy until Luna was finished eating the storm.

At first she didn't notice a difference, the twilight dragoness pouring more energy into her prismatic barrier even as she felt some grains of sand begin to slip through and slide across her scales, the sharp little rock magically enhanced to give them the hardness needed to leave marks upon Akeya's midnight blue natural armour. A sharp hiss escaped her as she felt this, hoping Luna wouldn't take much longer: playing defence like this wasn't her speciality, and if she kept this up she might end up sustaining more damage than was acceptable. If she were alone she'd avoid fighting like this entirely, but the fairy had seemed confident that given the opportunity she could completely devour the sandstorm and leave the earth dragon vulnerable. If this plan worked it would make the rest of the fight significantly easier.

After about a dozen seconds had passed Akeya noticed that the strength of the sandstorm was lessening, first slowly but then steadily at a faster pace. The desert dragon who'd been waiting from a safe distance to wait for Akeya's barrier to finally yield was also shifting his attention away from the dragoness and towards the fairy who apparently had the ability to negate his storm. Given that this meant his primary defence was countered the pink-haired intruder was now a higher priority than the female dragon who had invaded his territory.

While the desert dragon focused on Luna and tried to think of how to approach someone capable of eating his sand and the fairy prepared her next move Akeya took the time to recover from the assault she'd just endured. Dismissing the barrier she felt her body already begin to recover from the wounds she sustained, scratched and carved scales becoming smooth once more while raw skin healed. Fortunately she'd been able to protect her eyes by keeping them shut, not requiring them to sense her surroundings anyway. She hadn't sustained any truly incapacitating or even debilitating wounds, but she'd let Luna take over for the moment while she waited for the right opportunity to strike.

The creature summoned by Luna was an interesting one. A spirit which appeared to embody all aspects of nature, not just the plants and the earth which nature magic usually were linked to. Truthfully most nature magic was more accurately described as wilderness magic, with nature as a whole being too vast and complicated to be fully represented by any single entity. This woman came close though... Akeya ignored the short discussion between the fairy and the nature king. She was already aware of Luna's attraction, she wasn't so easily agitated that she'd make a scene about it.

The abrupt change in weather and climate was definitely a display of impressive magic, however. Compared to the void this still wasn't very cold, but Akeya still flew higher up in the sky and hid herself in the dark of night and the shadows of the clouds as she watched the battle below. She drank in the element of dark and what little light was still in the area, reflected from the starkly white snow on the ground. While she was now invisible and intangible, an entity hidden in the heavens, she was quickly regaining the energy she'd lost sustaining her barrier.

Meanwhile the fight below was developing into an interesting direction. At first the desert dragon appeared to have the advantage with quick and violent ranged attacks, suppressing Luna, but once he got a conclusive hit the fairy underwent a transformation Akeya hadn't seen before. However she had a fairly good idea what it was about: divine slayer magic had a vile nature to it, and when used it could cause the wielder to experience heightened negative emotions and a strong urge to act out on them. Usually this manifested itself as increased aggressiveness and lowered inhibition. From the looks of it Luna was no different.

While their elements didn't overlap this was still a good opportunity for Akeya to see what Luna was like when she took to the battlefield and didn't hold back. At the very least it should be an enjoyable sight.

As expected Luna's fighting style when she was letting her magic guide her actions was violent. Fortunately it didn't look like she lost her intelligence, allowing for an effective combination of brutality and cunning. The desert dragon did his best to fight back but it was clear that he wasn't prepared for this and quickly found himself outmatched, in part because Luna didn't give him any opportunity to regroup and change his manner of approach.

Eventually however their adversary managed to shake Luna off and ascend to the skies to give himself some breathing space. At least, that was his plan, but now that the fairy had done her part of the job Akeya would take over.

There was a shimmer in the air between the desert dragon and the ground as Akeya reappeared, but this time in her true draconic form. A large, slender form covered in smooth, dark scales that had an iridescent gleam where they reflected the light but where nearly invisible in the shadow. An almost ephemeral figure. Now that she had revealed herself Akeya didn't waste any time: spreading her wings she unleashed her first attack upwards into the heavens.

"Solar Gale"

From her wings a veritable stream of light burst upwards, consuming the desert dragon's form even as it pushed him higher and higher into the skies. As much as he struggled and tried to get out of the way the pressure coming from below was universal and relentless, propelling him further and further. While Solar Gale didn't deal a lot of damage its pushback effect was immense. The light was intense enough that for the duration of the spell the surrounding area turned into noon and the dark clouds above turned white as they were illuminated from below by a light source comparable to a miniature sun.

Akeya found the spell a bit too flashy and it wasn't very good for stealth operations, but it definitely had its uses against powerful enemies where area control was as important as offensive capabilities.

She kept forcing the male dragon upwards until he'd broken through the clouds above, after which the female dragon cancelled her spell and shot upwards, riding the remnants of the stream of light she'd created herself to catch up to her prey within mere moments. To his credit the desert dragon had already begun forming new sand to rebuild his sandstorm defence and responded to Akeya's arrival with another breath attack. Unfortunately for him he was now out of his element and Luna had done a good job weakening him.

Splitting up into a surge of light and a surge of dark Akeya moved past the desert dragon, his attack harmlessly hitting the clouds below even as the twilight dragoness extended a claw towards her adversary and her scales began to shine.

"Binding Dark"

Akeya's light caused the shadows on the desert dragon's underside to deepen, and those same shadows now wrapped around his body and pulled him towards the twilight dragoness. At the same time the cold-blooded assassin descended upon her male counterpart, jaws clamped around his neck and claws piercing his scales to hook into his flesh and keep him from escaping. The shadows bound his wings at well, the desert dragon growling and roaring as he tried furiously to shake Akeya off. Akeya responded by folding her own wings and forcing the two of them into a dive, heading straight back towards the ground below even as they quickly accelerated. The sand that the desert dragon had formed tried to catch up but the twilight dragoness enveloped the two of them in the essence of twilight as they shot towards the world below at the same speed with which dusk and dawn chased each other around the planet.

"Ripple"

A wave of obscuring light and shining dark shot out towards the ground below, passing right through but leaving it... lessened. Everything touched by the wave had a sensation of frailty to it, as if only partially existing.

Combined with the large amount of snow that had been created by the blizzard in the time it had taken Luna and Akeya to bring the desert dragon into this position the ground Akeya and her prey were heading straight towards was now effectively one giant pillow, softened to absorb the impact. However even with such precautions the impact was still immense: Akeya herself disappeared right before the two of them hit the ground, the desert dragon meanwhile slamming against it with such force that the surrounding area shook for a moment and large amounts of snow and sand were thrown into the air.

Akeya reappeared flying in place several dozen meters above the ground, observing the male dragon who was now lying in the middle of a sizeable crater. The fall hadn't killed him, but she was pretty sure that with such a small stature he wasn't the sturdiest of dragons and must have broken quite a few bones. While it might not keep him from fighting entirely it would impede him significantly.

The battle was as good as won. Now they only needed to retrieve a scale from their fallen adversary and their mission here would be complete. Of course, just because they were in the winning position right now didn't mean they should be careless: dragons may be mighty but that didn't mean they couldn't also be clever and resort to nasty tricks when needed. Akeya herself was a good example of this, as the twilight dragoness had never believed in a fair fight.

WC: 1,752
PWC: 8,310/10,000
TWC: 16,059/20,000

As Luna landed on the ground she got her bearings and took stock over her own situation. She was still feeling a rush as Force and the forbidden fruit rushed throughout her veins. However her patience was incredibly waned in this state as she looked at the scene above, her blood was still boiling even in the freezing environment in place of the remnants of her attire that was falling off her body. Her qipao was all but gone, all that was left were the tattered remains pressed against her back and the sheath, her combat shorts in tattered and her shoes were torn to shreds after she turned into force. Darkness wrapped around her upper chest after her undergarments' suffered a similar fate. She watched as the dragon tried to flee, she almost found it more amusing and childish then self preservation.

She noticed that Akeya had disappeared from her perception in  both physical and magical senses, however Luna was able to quickly gather her thoughts and began to figure out what happened. "Akeya's a sexy beast and while she is a twilight mage she appears to favor shadow like the first tool she used. So naturally if possible she might want to sneak around, maybe use cover for an advantage, but we're in a blizzard in the desert so where the fuck she gonna hide? Terranora's shadow? No, the one place out of view is-" Luna looked up at the clouds not surprised as Akeya descended down to intercept the sand dragon's escape, but was moreso amazed by the form in which she descended.

Luna kept her focus but her normally calm and cautious approach to a fight was replaced for the moment with something more vicious as she couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as she watched Akeya use some form of concussive light ability to force the Earth based dragon higher into the sky, which while annoyed Luna that she had to struggle more to focus on what happened, she agreed with the logic of the decision, Terranora could definitely generate his own sand, but fighting close to the ground for so long and having a virtually inexhaustible supply of sand to manipulate instead of relying on just the amount his body could produce, even if he could break through Akeya's rush at this point her disadvantage. "We need a corpse at the very least, she better not send him to the sun... Wait a minute she's going to fucking orbit!" Luna said before even in her altered state the results of the setup and the following consequences as she saw a form of darkness before the two dragon bodies would get closer together then she realized she should get out of the vicinity of the crash site.  She jumped back and laded mid air on a platform of black earth that formed behind her, before she would command the earth to move back and gain some distance as the two dragons dived down from orbit.

When the vile empowered Fae saw the wave of twilight reach towards the ground and in response she closed and covered her eyes shortly after noticing Akeya had disappeared. As soon as Luna heard the sound of a crash that was rather quieterr than what one would expect of an orbital crash but that's when it clicked on just what sort of spell that blinding flare was, to cushion the impact of the crash. She opened her eyes as she got off the rock and began to approach the damanged dragon, hearing the whimpered cries seemed to make Luna crack a slight smile. The black rocks and purple vines attached to her arms began to crumble and fall off as she reached up for the hilt of the Dragon's Foe.

When Luna got close to the earth dragon, she quickly drew the sword quickly, the remnants of her Qipao held onto her back by the fell off. In the midst of the dark area the sword's glow shined brighter and the heat was melting the snow on the ground around Luna, the water mixing in with the sand becoming almost clay like as she got to the side of the Earth Dragon. "How cute, the big bad Earth dragon is just a tiny and pathetic little lizard. Guess you need to talk a big game when you're barely tall enough to ride unless you stand on your wings. By the way speaking of which!"

Luna held up her blade before stabbing it down into the wing of the dragon, hearing one was cry as she wedged her blade underneath one of their scales. The heated sword enchanted for dragons was an ideal tool for a wedge in this instance, since the Dragon slayer magic did make it easier to combat the natural durability of an Earth Dragon. It took a few tries before the Fae managed to use a combination of her enhanced strength and the blade before freeing a scale from the small dragon's body. 

After the scale was removed, Luna started to feel a rush going through her body as she didn't wish to stop there before she would dig the blade into the wing of the dragon before tightening her grip on the blade of Dragon's bane before the blade would start to heat up and glow brighter before Luna would slash the blade cutting through the dragon's body before the would would start to blaze on fire. "Inferno..." She would slowly back away as the fire blazed and quickly spread along the body of the Earth Dragon, it roared and tried to trash about with it's broken body, putting out the fires that were spreading throughout its body.

Luna would begin to point her blade at the dragon from the small distance as once again the blade's glow strengthened as she felt the bloodlust overwhelm her soul. "An attack that swarms and breaks down their target, seems ironic that you are suffering from it. By the time I'm done you'll need to rename yourself to the glass dragon. Goodbye-" Luna said before a voice from an unknown source boomed throughout the area. A rather feminine one as a divine presence made itself known. "That's enough!"

In a glow of light, the Goddess of Harvest manifested herself in front of Luna as she would grab Luna's arm, the black unholy magic that adorned it would burn at Carpo's hand as she forced Luna to point the blade elsewhere. Carpo looked right into Luna's eyes, saddened by the black scleras but she stayed focused on the goal at hand. Luna struggled against the hand of the Goddess but at the same time she tried to think that attacking Carpo was not a good idea. She remembered how gentle Carpo was before, and she never tried to hurt Luna so the thought of slaying this goddess who has been so kind seemed to strike some mixed feelings, a black tear seemed to leave Luna's eye.
"Out of the way old hag, unless you wanna be next!"

Carpo sighed as she looked at her disciple. "You haven't quite mastered Force yet have you? Took your predecessors a few tries too, but you'll get the hang of it eventually. Shame though, I can feel you lost a bit more of your human components..." Carpo would slam her other hand into Luna's chest hard knocking Luna back a few feet. At first Luna got her balance before she would suddenly begin trembling before falling onto her knees as the darkness seemed to dissipate and smoke came off her body exposing the dark veins before Luna blinked twice looking around as her eyes began to be restored to normal, as does her aura but there was something different about her magic sense this time, almost as if she was a ominous feeling placating an area then a single point. Soon however the darkness in her veins disappeared as she got onto her knees before feeling an unnerving feeling in her gut as she would begin to vomit out a thick black substance that reeked of a vile odor and blood. "ugh my head..." She said before reaching for a pocket and pulling out a cloth, only for her to feel just the tattered shorts instead of the qipao as well. She brushed off the liquid as she stood up and sighed annoyed. "I went Force again didn't I? Was it the sandstorm or Force that ripped my clothing? Well at least I still got my chronometer, that's all that matters." She said unfazed as at this point with her experiences in this career path of job work and the destructive parts of her own skills she was used to such results happening often. She also believed on some level her own mental shifts in becoming a Nature Fae lowered some things such as modesty, given how the most common clothing in her Fae lineage's tribe of the Vishda faith often wore clothing made from their magic or plants.

Now that she was no longer brimming with action she could start to feel  the cold winds as she looked over to Gaian, who had masked themself in a large golem snow man. "Gaian, I thank you for your service but we are no longer in need of winter. Can you undo your spell and please depart?" She asked respectfully, Gaian poked her head out from the snowman smiling. "Sure can! It was fun being here, except when you turned scary... Bye bye!" She said before she disappeared, her body turning into green specs of energy scattering in the wind as the climate change reverted. The clouds vanished as the hot winds return, the snow melting placating the area with wet sand. Luna turned back to Carpo. "Carpo, I'm, well I don't really recall perfect but I am sorry for-" The goddess raised her hand. "It is quite alright, I didn't wish to see you deface yourself by abandoning your beliefs for power. Although I had to do something to disrupt your force.. So I moved your transition along. I can't really notice it myself but you're a tad harder to sense as you blend into nature among other effects." She informed the Nature fae before begining to disappear. "Since you're in control of yourself I'm gone... I got something to attend to, I'll seek your counsel later Lunaris."

Luna sighed before she walked back over towards the dragon, noticing it was still alive, smoke coming off the wounds. Luna was feeling incredible guilt over what she had done to the poor dragon. She picked up the scale she pried off, sheathed her blade before six globs of pink liquid oozed out of her hand forming seed that Luna tossed at the ground a short distance from the mouth of Terranora. Each of them sprouted into what appeared to be white roses before opening up to reveal a droplet of multicolored energy. "Soul Tears, those are excellent healing magic, consider it my apology for the abuse... You'll be able to reach those in about half an hour maybe, now anyways..."

She would turn to Akeya right after, not wanting to waste any moment in case the sand dragon gets tot the items earlier and wants revenge. "I believe it would be in our best interest to vacate the premises at great haste."

WC 1899
PWC 8748
TWC 17958

After that impact Terranora wasn't going to be moving easily. Akeya watched with wary eyes as she remained in the air overhead. It wasn't outside of the realm of possibility that the desert dragon would still try to pull a trick on them, but with the both of them paying attention it shouldn't be anything they couldn't handle. Given the way that the male dragon was groaning and growling he definitely was feeling the hurt even with the twilight dragoness having gone out of her way to soften the blow so her prey wouldn't be turned into paste due to the impact.

No, the bigger problem was Luna. Given that she hadn't interfered while Akeya was doing her part taking Terranora down (literally) it seemed like she hadn't completely lost her senses, but at the same time her mannerisms were making it clear that her attitude was a lot more aggressive than before. To what extent Akeya didn't know, but she had to account for the possibility that she'd have to handle the fairy as well. She should be able to, given their respective power and skills, but only the really foolish would take their victory for granted. There was also the possibility, always the chance, always the risk that something happened that you didn't foresee and the future would change for the worse. Reality was fickle like that.

From the looks of it Luna's earlier warnings had rung true: she'd activated Force, and it had a strong effect on her mental state. Of course Akeya hadn't failed to notice that the change only truly began after Luna was attacked, so it looked like the assumption that the pink-haired woman's transformation would happen due to eating the sandstorm was not entirely accurate. Although most likely it was a combination of the devouring of so much elemental energy with being attacked which caused her to activate Force almost defensively. Or maybe being attacked just made her angry? There were creatures which were like that, but Akeya wouldn't have thought that Luna would be one of them. Then again, fear could also be the catalyst...

Well, those were all questions for later. For now Akeya would watch as Luna took over again. Her eyes narrowed and she tensed as she saw that the corrupted fairy was taking hold of her dragon-slaying sword. It would be the correct tool to use to retrieve one of Terranora's scales. However, with the way Luna was right now... it could be used for much worse. Even with a weapon meant to be used against dragons fighting one would still be a massive endeavour, but with the desert dragon in such a state Luna had the power necessary to ensure that the rest of the fight would be more like torture, if she so wished. While Akeya had no obligation to save Terranora she would find it rather embarrassing if they'd managed to successfully incapacitate their quarry only for him to die because her companion lost control of herself. Senseless slaughter was for the unskilled and the mindless.

For now, however, she'd only watch. She wasn't entirely sure why, but there was the feeling that she might see something interesting if she didn't immediately interfere. Besides, the moment she did Luna would probably switch her aggression: even if Akeya was technically her companion in her current state she wouldn't take kindly to the twilight dragoness getting in the way. And even Akeya wasn't so stupid as to ignore the danger posed by that sword.

As she had already suspected Luna's current mental state pushed her to mock and torment Terranora, who did his best to endure the onslaught as best he could. Fortunately as a dragon of earth and sand fire wasn't the worst he could endure: even among dragons which element was used still mattered. He undoubtedly wouldn't enjoy the experience but as long as Luna didn't move to land the finishing blow he should survive.

When Akeya began to seriously consider stepping in another figure appeared, one which demanded her immediate attention. Just like she could smell the stench of demons she could also recognize the scent of a divine creature, and this woman certainly was one of them. The twilight assassin didn't have anything personal against the gods, but at the same time she ignored the claims of them being good and focused on the fact that they were powerful and dangerous. The arrival of one was not something to celebrate, even if for the moment it looked like she was here to keep Luna from completely losing her mind.

While Luna and Carpo were busy with each other Akeya flew a bit closer to Terranora, who was still suffering the flames from the dragon-slaying sword. Releasing a concentrated burst of light and dark Akeya created a short-lasting void which sucked in all the flames, leaving the desert dragon panting even as his regeneration began to take care of the worst of it. With the harvest goddess returning the fairy to a stable state of mind and the scale retrieved Akeya didn't have any more business with Terranora. The last thing she told the male dragon before turning back into her humanoid form was: "Don't forget, I'm choosing to let you live." It wouldn't do for him to harbour a desire for revenge. Better to remind him that he could have died and accept the beating he received.

Walking back to Luna Akeya barely acknowledged the harvest goddess, only glancing at Carpo as she disappeared and left her follower calm and sane. It looked like the return of her sanity also helped Luna realise that there was no practical purpose to burning Terranora alive. "We've got the scale, so we might as well leave. Although I don't think you have to worry about him." She pointed towards Terranora with her tail even as she turned around and began to walk away. "He's aware that in his current condition attacking us wouldn't be worth the risk."

She glanced over her shoulder towards Luna, eyebrows raised as she studied the pink-haired woman briefly. "And it seems you weren't kidding when you said that activating Force causes your behaviour to become a lot more aggressive. For a moment I wondered if I'd have to fight you next." A short pause. "It might have been a good opportunity to remind you that beating a single dragon doesn't mean you should get overconfident." Akeya could tell that something had changed during that transformation. Maybe the corruption had left its mark... Or maybe Carpo's words had been rather literal, and Luna's entire being was simply different from before. Either way, it looked like she wouldn't be able to detect the fairy quite as easily as before.

WC: 1,126
PWC: 9,436/10,000
TWC: 19,084/20,000

Luna was almost embarrassed that her sense of reason had been compromised before the Dragoness, however she couldn't remember exactly what to be embarrassed about as her memories of force were hazy, but she recalled she was excessively violent. She rubbed her neck awkwardly walking beside Akeya as she couldn't disagree with her. "Well I don't have much experience, and when Carpo first told me about force, she said 'never use force against a weaker opponent unless you have mastered control' as I can only get a stronger grip once I burn through the wild and chaotic parts." She confessed. "My mother believed that the vile nature of God Slayer magic coupled with the tuned focus of Nature Fae that is normally tranquil is forced to reflect a more, predatorial aspect of nature instead."  The idea of force sometimes scared Luna as she almost does sins that she knew she could never return from, and torture happens to be one of them.

"As for confidence, I'm walking away with a few scratches and lost the shirt off my back, I know I shouldn't get confident over one victory. Only thing that battle leaves me with is a desire to end the next encounter with less bloodshed." She said more grateful that the situation today was resolved and that she was walking away from at least this part. She was still holding onto the scale of the sand dragon. Considering their quest would require a lot of collecting the necessity of a place to store each of the scales is a priority, and Luna assumed on a balance of probabilities it would result in one of them having to offer a place. "Akeya appears to be somewhat of a minimalist, only carrying the barest essentials which is usually herself. She probably has a hidden hovel somewhere, and we should keep the scales in a more accessible place." Luna thought before the solution hit her as it was upon her very wrist. "Anyways, as for the scales, I think we both could agree that I could store them away as we collect them, at least for now. I can store them on my Chronometer's space station, fully secure and completely accessible. It's where I store stuff I don't carry on my person. Such as the Dragon's Foe blade." She explained to the Twilight Dragon as she showed the magical watch. "The watch leads to a station in deep space, far away from anything. Practically just as secure as a pocket dimension and I can come in and out without even a second passing her if I want to return." She explained hoping the benefits and drawbacks were fairly obvious. Benefits being easily accessible and secured storage that wouldn't require any significant detours, while the only drawback is only whoever wears the watch would be able to access the scale in storage.

However as her mind was thinking ahead on the subject she was starting to consider the next move while the duo had a brief period of rest as they were between dragons right now. Luna recalled she left the book behind at the station but she memorized the majority of the contents at the moment anyways so she ran ran through the process in her mind about how to go after the following eight dragons on their list. "Well we're currently in the southernmost part of Fiore, and while most of the dragons are based in or around the country, there are a few that aren't, I suggest we go after the Wind Dragon, Aeran." Luna said as she recollected the details of the Dragon that settled themselves in Minstrel. "From what the tome said, finding this dragon is gonna be fun. They reside in the south east part of Minstrel." Luna explained recalling from memory about the chapter on Aeran. She had a feeling that the Wind Dragon was going to be interesting given that the tome attributed him being smarter then the average individual. "This time however, might be best of we meet outside of a small town called Pathétiquement. It's about a forty kilometers north of the Midi border to the eastern side. The tome said you'll recognize the place by the burning scent of onion and lamb as they have strange rituals developed by the local population out of paranoia. Probably best a Fae and a Dragon don't go to such a strange place and there'll be a large search radius to cover anyway."

Luna explained before moving onto the other dragons to cover afterwards, believing that the schedule might as well be clear in advance. "However right after that, I suggest we travel together as the next place, is the most dangerous pit in Ishgar, Sin. Don't really need to explain to you why I don't wanna enter the pit of my natural predators alone but if you still want to travel separately after the next one I understand." She said before pulling out her iLac and checking her messages quickly before her GPS and highlighted some coordiantes. "Howabout we meet about here?" She said before doing her own math on how fast it would take to get there driving, including a pitstop in Minstrel if she worked hard and used her Harlem Magical powered car and terragenesis to drive around. "So factoring in my fastest speed on the water being powered by terragenesis or if I call for Neptuna... I might be pushing it being able to make it by that time.

After doing the math she found a number she was more comfortable with believing she would be able to keep up with.  "I believe I could be at this point in about eighteen hours give or take, probably twenty. Depending on traffic"

WC 959
PWC 9707
TWC 20043

"The nature fairy part might make it focus on reflecting aspects of nature but God Slayer magic in general is not good for one's attitude and mannerisms." Akeya commented. She looked at Luna a bit longer. "At least, in those who don't naturally possess it. Demons don't need much encouragement to be hostile and aggressive, as you can probably imagine." She raised an eyebrow when Luna claimed that she held no feelings of confidence over the results of the fight. The dragoness knew that the divine slayer magic had a twisted effect on the mind, but even if she kept that in mind... "I distinctly remember something about dragons being prey for gods. Are you sure that was solely the Force talking?"

She nodded as the fairy proposed holding onto the scale and storing it somewhere easily accessible but secure. Given that she'd noticed the way Luna had pulled that sword out of seemingly nowhere she'd already figured that the pink-haired fae would propose making use of that ability. Akeya could do something similar if needed, but there wasn't any need for that if Luna was already available and willing. "That sounds like a good idea." She looked at the watch with some curiosity. She wasn't going to point out that being in space isn't the same thing as being safe: Luna was correct in assuming that space was a relatively safe place. The fact that Akeya herself happened to be capable of reaching objects in space just fine was more a coincidence than an indicator of how common the ability to traverse the void really was. "This is your quest more than mine from the beginning, so it would make sense that you're the one who retains ownership over the scales."

With that matter being taken care of the two of them could turn to the next topic: where to go next. The fight with the desert dragon had been relatively short but that was also because they'd picked him as the first and possibly easiest target due to his incompatibility with Luna. The two of them would have had a significantly harder time if the fairy hadn't been able to eat the sandstorm that clearly had been Terranora's main weapon and defence.

Now that had to deal with the other dragons still, and there were quite a few of them. Some of them should be relatively easy to deal with, not much harder than Terranora, but there were also those of which Akeya suspected that retrieving a scale would be a serious challenge even if the two of them worked together flawlessly. All of it was within their capabilities, with her being a dragon herself and Luna being powerful enough to provide good support and backup, but that didn't mean they wouldn't have to put in the work.

There was a moment of surprise that Luna suggested leaving the country, with the dragoness looking at her once more. However her expression was also one of mild annoyance, the most emotion she'd allow herself to display outside instances where strong emotions were genuinely warranted. The twilight assassin found Minstrel to be a disappointing nation. They started out strong and their workers and craftsmen still had a strong dedication to delivering quality over quantity, something she approved of, but the nation as a whole, and especially the upper class, had become too used to the idea of being important. They were complacent, arrogant, pompous. While their artisans toiled to remain the best the rest of the people of Minstrel were happy to turn their back on progress and instead revel in the comfort of a prosperous history.

"The southeast of Minstrel should be a coastal area with a constant flow of warm air from Desierto. Small surprise that an air dragon would make their home there." Coastal areas were always a good place for strong winds, and Desierto had some of the consistently highest temperatures in Ishgar. The dragoness narrowed her eyes briefly as she remembered what the book had written about Aeran. "As good a choice as any I guess..." She listened as Luna explained her idea of where to meet up and when. The suggestion of them travelling together towards Sin had the twilight dragoness looking thoughtful. "My form of travel doesn't accommodate companions very well, but I can stick around in case you're worried about trouble on your own." It would be slower than moving on her own, but since she'd have to wait for Luna's arrival anyway it was a small sacrifice to make. "But before we worry too much about that let's deal with Aeran first. I'll meet you at the agreed upon location." Akeya didn't remember Minstrel as being particularly discriminating against non-humans, but Luna had a point that it'd be better to avoid drawing attention to themselves where possible.

With the details of the next step of the quest having been lined up Akeya gave Luna a small nod. "Don't dawdle." With that she disappeared, first fading from sight and then shooting up into the sky as an invisible streak of twilight. Rematerializing high up in the air, high enough that the air was thin and the atmosphere was freezing, she spread her wings and began to travel towards Minstrel at high speed. Long distance travel was no issue for her, so she'd probably have some time to explore the area before Luna arrived.

WC: 901
PWC: 10,337/10,000
TWC: 20,944/20,000 (Completed)