Neco

"Parseltongue/Dragon tongue"

"Normal talk"

'Thoughts/Soul channel'

§ - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - §

Ozeth thrashed around in pain, his humongous body causing tremors in the area.

'What's happening?! Did that sword really have basilisk venom on it?' he questioned desperately while trying to stop the substance from causing him any more damage than it already had.

'Alright, I can manage to purify this,' the ancient monster thought with renewed hope as he managed to decontaminate a small portion of the unknown substance.

That's when he felt it…

A foreign presence inside his soulscape.

'IT CAN'T BE!'

The Abyssal Reaver felt pain like never before in his life as the petrifying presence grew inside him, corrupting his sense of self.

He felt fear.

'It's the human's fault. If I slay him, everything will go back to normal,' he concluded and with a course of action decided, he acted.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

He let out a roar of both pain and fury.

The despicable human had just stabbed him again.

Ozeth's eyes flashed bright red as he uncurled his wings and with a strong push, both prey and hunter, found themselves in the air.

"I'll kill you human, even if it's the last thing I'll do," he promised.

The dragon performed a spiral climb and quickly ascended to the skies using his powerful wings, doing many manoeuvres on the way trying and failing to throw Harry off him.

Nothing seemed to work and for some reason, his tail was twitching by itself.

Ozeth rolled, turned, rotated, and suddenly changed his flying speeds but Harry persistently stayed on his back, albeit slowing down with the stabs.

"Why don't you just flash away to safety and let the dragon die by itself?" hissed Ash from his neck as he looked down.

They were high as hell and Asmodeus, unlike Harry, didn't have a knack for potentially lethal situations.

There was also the fact that Harry's sticking charm had almost failed a few times and could still do so. That wasn't a comforting thought.

"I don't have experience apparating or flashing while moving at such speeds and I'd rather not try that now. I like my body parts as they are," he replied, stabbing the dragon again for good measure.

ROARRRRR.

'Did the human multiply? How are there so many of them on me?' Ozeth wondered, unrelenting with his attempts.

"For fuck's sake, just ask Fawkes then!" Ash said distraught.

'I can deliver you on the ground alive if you wish it,' sounded an amused Fawkes through their ever-active soul call.

Even though the phoenix wasn't as fast as the dragon, he was still flying behind them, flashing near whenever they flew too far away.

'First, I don't like how you said alive and not safely,' Harry replied equally amused, 'and Ash, I plan to kill this bastard,' he finished with a steel voice.

Harry wasn't being childish by deciding that, not entirely at least.

Part of his decision was because of pride and anger. He wanted to show the world that he, Harry Potter, wouldn't be stepped on anymore. He had to make a show of strength!

The challenge he had issued against Ozeth was also weighing on his mind. He heard people whispering, begging him to honour his words and kill the dragon.

And lastly, he wanted to do it for himself.

If he managed to kill the Abyssal Reaver, without running away, he could accomplish anything…

The trio couldn't continue their conversation because the dragon suddenly started breathing flames, on himself.

"Draconis aegis," Harry incanted steadily, materializing the same darkness from before and fending off the flames.

Fawkes changed his position, not wanting to become a fried chicken!

"Those are some lukewarm flames oh Black Dread! I hope you don't plan to kill me with those," Harry taunted the dragon after some time behind the shield; unlike before, the flames were lacking in both power and heat.

And after all, angry people were not always wise, or dragons in this case…

The Abyssal Reaver seemed to agree with Harry's mocking as he suddenly stopped breathing its dragon flames.

'Did he give up? Should I crawl to his head and finish him off like the basilisk?' Harry considered, looking at the bloodied scales of the dragon.

"Ozeth, my child, how far you've fallen. You are being bested by a single human, a child at that! Sacrificing my life for yours was a mistake…" the Black Dread heard a disappointed voice.

"HUH? MUM? Are you alive? Where are you, I can't see you!" the dragon mumbled perplexed, looking around and confusing the soul-bonded trio.

With an increasingly rare display of consciousness, the Abyssal Reaver realised that he was having delusions…

"YOU ARE DEAD HUMAN!" he barked furiously and let out a magnificent roar*.*

Ozeth's once shiny black scales, were now lacklustre, as if devoid of life.

'That's probably good,' said Ash as he saw what caught Harry's attention.

He was about to reply when Ash, like before, shouted in his mind, 'He's preparing to breathe dragon fire again!'

This time though, it was unneeded.

Harry could also feel the build-up of magic happening in the dragon's throat.

'What the hell?' he thought while moving his wand.

"Draconis aegis," he cast once more, pushing as much power on the shield as he could, he felt that he'd need it.

Just to be safe, he also waved the hand that was previously holding the legendary blade, casting a wordless protego.

Harry's untrained magical sense allowed him to feel the crescendo of Ozeth's magic concentrating, and by the time he finally unleashed it, it had reached terrifying levels…

'I won't survive through this one,' he realised as he saw the bright pink, almost white, flames coming his way.

He let go of the dragon and even cancelled the protego shield he had up to throw a depulso in front of him, slingshooting away.

His sudden departure wasn't fast enough though as the flames still reached him and made a quick word of his shield.

"AARGHH," Harry let out while gritting his teeth and barely managing to recast a wordless Draconis aegis that was weaker but somehow managed to just survive the barrage before cracking.

'He's finally off me. I can survive,' Ozeth thought with a spark of madness in his eyes before diving down.

Harry knew it was the end, the do-or-die moment.

Even as Fawkes cried on his wand arm, quickly healing him of the burns, he conveyed his intention of staying and fighting.

"Multum gravitatis," he murmured, increasing his gravity and subsequently his falling speed.

He also managed to make himself faint…

When he came back to his senses, he had reached a dangerously close distance to the ground distance.

He immediately cast the general counter spell, returning himself to normal free-falling speed.

"Finite Incantatem."

Contrary to what one may have believed, the dragon kept up with the falling human and because of Harry's change in speed, he was now inside his attacking range.

'I won't survive another volley of dragon fire. I have to kill him with a single spell,' Harry thought sluggishly, observing the closing Abyssal Reaver.

Ozeth was hurt.

The few scales he barely held on him were ashen.

His now-revealed hide was almost all pink and was filled with awful scorch marks.

'I'm not that much better,' Harry thought as his lungs clenched shut and protested, refusing to let him draw breath.

His vision was blackening.

The barely manageable pain was hitting his mind like a hammer.

Someone was screaming.

Someone was hissing.

Harry remembered that he had to cast a spell.

To kill.

Kill, kill, kill!

He had to kill the dragon.

One spell.

He was closing on the ground.

One spell.

Someone was screaming.

He pointed his now healed right hand towards the dragon.

'Lucky,' he thought absentmindedly.

He somehow hadn't lost his wand while falling.

Harry reached deep inside him, searching for the piece of Salazar's magic that he knew was there.

When he found it, he jumped at it and then everything stopped…

Harry wasn't falling anymore, Ozeth was simply staring at him with an open maw, he idly noticed some pink sparks in there.

Ash was curled on both his torsos and Fawkes', who seemed to be crying on his chest.

'I wanted to do something, but I forgot about it,' Harry thought annoyed.

He felt it on the back of his mind, slithering in and out of grasp.

'I'll have to apologise to Asmodeus the senior when I see him,' Harry mused as he looked at his clothes.

The once green battle robes were black as charcoal and heavily burned, sporting some holes. However, they still held up and they definitely saved his life up there.

Suddenly, one word materialised in his mind.

Kill.

'That's right, I need to kill the dragon,' he remembered.

'What spell should I use though?' he wondered as countless spells flashed in his mind.

He could conjure dragon fire and shove it on Ozeth's face.

'See if he likes it when it's used against him.'

Dragons had very good fire resistance though, so despite his burns, that wouldn't be a smart move…

'What about lightning? A brief cursed lightning bolt. I bet that would look glorious,' he mused, fantasising about the result.

He was about to open his mouth and intone the incantation for the dark lightning spell in dragon tongue, but he stopped…

There was one other spell that felt even more fitting, one of Salazar's better, or perhaps worse, creations.

The world seemed to restart as Harry smirked.

He drew a triangle.

There was fire in Ozeth's mouth.

He drew a circle.

The fire was heading his way.

Harry finished with a straight line as the fire closed in on him.

"Neco," he whispered as blankness overtook him, or was it the world that had gone dark…?

Ozeth's eyes widened in fear as the human spoke in his tongue, and in the next moment, they lost their spark…

§ - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - §

My deepest thanks to Kissa454, Tristan Slack, pop_tarts and Lachlan for subbing on Patreon :]

[https://www.patreon.com/Mr_0ne]

[https://discord.com/invite/NJ3WV9RVgR]