Chapter 19-Dragons?

Itachi flew over the land on the back of the transformed Kayda currently traveling across the Great Plains. Down below vast hordes of monsters could be seen below making the idea of expanding out seem impossible.

With how fast Kayda was flying, arriving at the Rocky Mountains would only take about an hour. Soon in the distance the tall imposing mountains could be seen in the distance. He was curious what would live inside this inhospitable terrain.

"I hope we actually find other dragons here, the only ones I have met is my family past the ancient spirit gate" Kayda said clearly excited at the prospect of meeting other dragons.

Itachi was glad that she did not seem too concerned over her past family and he too was excited to see what they could find. Dragons were without a doubt one of the species with the highest potential, and if Kayda who was still young was already around monarch level of strength, he was excited to see other dragons.

He wondered if he would meet the fabled emperor level. He was not at all confident in defeating one, but with the recent advances in strength he was confident he would not be killed, and he wanted to see how he compared.

Their were only a few emperor ranked animals around the world that he had any knowledge of.

One was the labeled the Frost Emperor in the South Pole which was one of the reasons if was impossible to live their. It is said that it alone is enough to easily plunge the word into an ice age, and as you move closer the colder the temperature gets. Unless you came prepared, even moving around the outskirts of the South Pole would get you frozen solid almost instantly, and those strong enough to even survive their were without a doubt at least super mages.

At one point the Holy Court has wanted to kill this fabled beast, so they set out with over 3 forbidden tier mages along with many strong super mages that could shake the world. Only one of the forbidden tier mages returned half crippled as he recounted his stories for the others to hear.

Apparently even their strongest magic could barely damage the incomprehensible beast as it froze and killed all the other mages who quickly ran out of power.

Soon the holy court learned not to mess with it and it still was a giant deterrent from exploring Antarctica. There were a few others that were not as quite as strong as the Frost Emperor but they were still very frightening. One was the Sahara Emperor which again not much knowledge was known as those who had seen it would most likely have perished.

Another was the Chromatic dragon that was somewhere near the Middle East. While emperors on land were bad, the ocean emperors were much more frightening. The Bermuda Emperor was somewhere below the US in the Atlantic Ocean, and even some of the most fortified and powerful warships have gone missing with army bases often getting an "WERE BEING AT——" before the entire signal goes silent.

Any vessels moving through the Atlantic gave that area a wide berth now since the fear of this ocean monster runs deep through all who have heard about it.

The most terrifying of the known ocean emperors was only given the title Eyes of The Sea. Almost nothing was known about it but this only made it more frightening. It was said it had control over all of the monsters in the Pacific Ocean with eyes that saw everything.

Just like large differences between same rank spell tier mages, there were also large differences between Emperors. While the chromatic dragon was strong, it would be crushed by the Frost Emperor which was said to be near the peak of the Emperor rank although it was nearly impossible to classify emperors into levels.

While Itachi could be near Emperor strength in demonization, he would not be a match for a top tier strength such as the Frost Emperor, or Archangel Michael who was said to be the strongest forbidden tier mage in the world.

They quickly approached the mountains and it's title as one of the deadliest zones was indeed not wasted thousands of warrior ranked Demon Hawks could be seen flying around while Itachi spotted with his sharp perception several dangerous Commander ranked Wyverns that watched over the area sharply. Any normal group of mages would be greatly intimidated at this, but Itachi only moved ahead as the grown below elevated up greatly.

Soon he reached the mountains flying deeper into the dangerous area. Slowly he began to see snow covered tops as the mountains only grew taller and taller towering over their predecessors as it was getting difficult to see the peaks.

Itachi was shocked when two snow colored dragons flew over almost like guards in front of the two.

"Surprisingly, one of them spoke English roughly as it gazed at him with eyes full of intelligence "Human not allowed"

Kayda immediately began to communicate with the two in some weird draconic tongue that Itachi could understand with his mental link with Kayda.

"We just want to meet the mythical dragon colony. This is Itachi my big brother who rescued me at a young age and I have been living with him ever since"

The two dragons looked at each other before one nodded "Zakiel go inform the elder, only he can make the decision on whether they are allowed."

He said before turning to the two "you wait here, it is strange to see such a close relationship between a human and a dragon but there have been predecessors."

Itachi wondered if he was talking about a contract summon or something else, but he was curious about the highly intelligent beasts that did not seem too hostile towards humans.

Some of the other highly intelligent monsters such as the gorgons in Egypt would viciously kill humans even though they were smart enough to communicate.

Soon a majestic white dragon streaked with lightning purple marks descended from a distant peak that mist concealed from the view.

In a clear tone he spoke "Greetings, it has been a long time since we have had visitors, and seeing your black scales your not from this dimension are you" he said directing the last part towards the Kayda.

"Yes, I was originally from my home dimension frequently called the summon dimension by humans. Do you have any knowledge about my home?" She said with her large black pupils intently focused on his words.

"Our ancestor was said to have come from that dimension, but normally it is impossible to travel out permanently so I must say, It is a shock to see you here" the elder dragon said

"I will show you are village, along with explaining some things to you." He quickly turned around flying through the mist while Itachi and Kayda followed behind.

Soon they reached a grand city concealed by the mist, that contained hundreds of white dragons flying around.

Called their dwellings houses would be utterly false. It would be better to call them lofty open walled areas protected from the elements from a clear magic barrrier that let others walk right through it while keeping cold temperatures and snow out.

Many of the dragons looked over their intelligent eyes looking surprised at seeing the large black dragon with Itachi next to it.

Touching down on a large marble platform the large dragon turned to face them "In going to let you in on a little secret. The strongest bloodlines have the ability to turn into humans. An ability said to have been gained from our ancestor that only a select few of the strongest seem to awaken."

Suddenly the large dragon almost instantly shrank down into a strong looking older man with slightly grayed hair with eyes full of vitality.

Kayda immediately shouted in excitement quickly shrinking down into a little blond girl. Prancing around she excitedly shouted "I can do that too"

The elder was a bit surprised at first but then he only nodded "As to be expected, you are indeed from that place"

He turned to face Itachi "Dragons can innately sense if someone has a sinister heart. Since she is with you I can only trust that you don't share this knowledge since you now know the location of our village along with a lot of important information."

Nodding Itachi sincerely said "I thank elder for trusting me. I will not disclose this information. Also can dragons in human form practice magic?"

"They can. I myself can practice some forms of magic along with one other talented young dragon who is currently not here. I will have to introduce you to her sometime."

"You most likely have not heard much about us. We mostly keep to ourselves hunting around these mountains for food." We have occasionally dealt with humans in the past since we are one of the few intelligent races without much enmity towards your kind."

"Since you will be looking after her however, I wish to test your strength. There are a few evil humans who would want to enslave her and I can sense you are strong but I need to make sure"

Itachi nodded confidently "bring it on dragon"

Activating wind wings he flew to another peak with the large dragon following behind. Itachi was in no way going to underestimate this opponent. He was definitely in the emperor rank and the snow seems to swirl around him as if he controlled the weather. He emanated a powerful aura showing that the guardian of the village was not a title bestowed lightly and he definitely had the strength to protect them.

Itachi immediately activated demonization which turned on like a switch with white flames instantly shooting across his body as his veins flowed with energy. As he gained more elements and increase his cultivation his control of this element only grew. The side effects were now almost neglible besides being tired. It was as if this once foreign element was truly becoming part of him able to be commanded at will to unleash his explosive strength.

They weren't aiming to kill each other

Only spar so instead of using his enhanced elements to try to land fatal shots, Itachi was going to make use of this opportunity to truly test out his physical capability's against the strongest rank of known species their was.

Itachi slowly turned around standing on the absolute peak of the mountain. Just standing there, the snow all around him melted while the air burned hot.

He stared down the near 100 meter tall dragon that dwarfed him with only excitement in his eyes. The king of all beasts arrogantly looked down on him with the words "Come get me"

Not wasting anytime Itachi brought out his powerful wind wings as he pushed off so hard that deep cracks instantly sounded out causing a tremor through the entire mountain. It brought its powerful claw whistling through the air preparing to bat Itachi away.

Itachi met the dragons paw with his powerful flame covered fist resulting in a powerful shockwave instantly blowing away nearby snow as every being nearby felt the power of two emperor level strength beings fighting.

Itachi was pushed back a bit, but he was not deterred as he flipped over the arm sending a powerful kick to its hand shaking the dragon a little as they backed up and stared at each other. "You are quite strong for a human. I expected you to fight me with your elements yet you are covered in that pale white flame which I have never seen before. Show me more of what you are capable of" the dragon said majestically.

Deciding to amp it up a little, Itachi immediately raced up to the beast increasing his gravity over 50 times as he brought his leg into the beasts side hard causing a pained grunt as it immediately sent its claws towards Itachi not holding back anymore.

Itachi summoned out the unbreakable Grimfrost which he used to meet the dragons razor sharp claws immediately he swung the long handle cracking loudly as he brought it into the finger of the dragon immediately breaking the smaller bone with the force behind his attack.

Itachi began trading blows with the dragon with a mix of blocking blunt attacks with his powerful kicks or punches while he deflected the claws with his Naginata.

He summoned out his blood tabi boots that only grew stronger with him as the reinforced magic tool increased the power behind his kicks once again.

Itachi took many minor wounds such as small cuts and bruises but he once again shocked the dragon when they almost instantly closed as Itachi presses on him harder.

There was no doubt the strong dragon had the advantage of physical strength, but Itachi's tactics combined with his overpowered abilities continued to push back this dragon making him realize if Itachi used his powerful elements to attack it would most likely be over already.

Indeed Itachi's attack magic would become much stronger under the effects of demonization, and if he sent out his most powerful fire and lightning attacks, it would be difficult for the dragon to keep going.

Itachi began to use the chaos element which greatly irritated the dragon as some of his attacks seemed to completely miss as if the trajectory of his movement that he was so confident in had completely changed.

"This is something I learned from a bit of practice in ice magic" suddenly a large amount of frost energy flew towards the dragons maw as the surroundings instantly began to drop in temperature.

All of the sudden, a bright blue beam of ice shot out towards Itachi that seemed to freeze the air itself as it shot towards Itachi. Itachi then activated his chaos reversal magic at full power as he struggled to contain the powerful energy. The flames on his body were instantly pushed back as Itachi felt his body grow much colder.

Draining pretty much all of his chaos energy in the process Itachi send the ice beam back with twice the power which instantly caught e drago unaware. It exploded out instantly covering the entire dragon turning it into an ice statue.

Shocked at the power, Itachi prepared to help it out, but before he could the entire dragons body seems to glow red as the surrounding ice cracked and steamed at the heat being given off.

"While I meddled in ice magic a little that doesn't change the fact dragons have the hottest fire in the world" it said roaring out as the surroundings instantly grew heated as it shot out a white flame that evaporated all the surrounding moisture.

"Guess I'll have to respond in kind"Itachi said smirking as he prepare to cast the new fire magic he unlocked after he had just recently broken through to high tier fire level 3. "Thousand Petals Apocalyptic Flower" Itachi said grinning as instantly the sky turned a dark blue as the dangerous flames enhanced by a Heaven grade soul seed spread out across the sky.

Paling a bit at this sight, the dragon wasn't deterred as he shot his pale white flames in a speeding stream towards Itachi.

Behind him, 1000s of blue fire meteors came into existence as they all shot towards the dragon. Both attacks combined in mid air creating a flash of light so bright, it could be seen all around the United States as people wondered if a meteor had struck the ground.

Both Itachi and the dragon were knocked back a bit as the dragon tiredly flew while Itachi didn't look too damaged either.

The dragon immediately spoke up "Its your victory, I can tell you have a few more cards and even after such a destructive attack you are not very tired. You certainly are capable of looking after her, and I hope you will protect her as she matures"

"Thank you, I'm glad I got a chance to compete with you" Itachi was truly happy as this was the most enjoyable fight he had ever had. Having a sparring match with such a powerful creature was an eye opening experience and he had good impressions of this elder and his dragon village.

'Maybe I'll get another chance to fight a dragon' Itachi thought a bit darkly at the dragon who could kick such a cute girl such as Kayda off a mountain.

He soon returned to back to the village as many of them looked in awe at the young man returning without a scratch while their leader looked tired and shaken up a bit.

Itachi smiles happily as the warm blond girl jumped into his arms again. He truly looked at her as a sister and he would be hurt deeply if anything happens to her.

"Big brother how was your spar" she asked cutely while Itachi held her tight

"It was good, the dragon elder was quite strong. Now, you are gonna have to train harder to become a strong dragon like him" he admonished while petting her head.

The elder then looked intently at Itachi "Since you are going to be her guardian, I guess there is something we should do. There is a special ritual to turn a human into a dragon, but it is almost impossible to achieve since no humans can bear the power. Seeing how your strength is quite high, I believe we may be able to achieve it"

Itachi was surprised at this. Turning into a dragon would be very cool ability, but he couldn't help be a bit cynical.

"What all do we need to do?"

"It's surprisingly simple. You need to drink the blood of a very noble dragons bloodline while all the dragons in the village pour some of their energy into you washing your aura with theirs to change you into a dragon. With a bit of special magic passed down I will have the ability to change you into someone similar to Kayda who can transform between dragon and human. We have done it a couple times in the past, but it has been a long time.

Usually we test a candidate strictly to make sure they have the ability but considering how strong you are, we don't need to go through that. Also other benefits of thsi art include increased lifespan since dragons can live to be thousands of years old.

I assume Kayda would be willing to give you some of her blood to help the transform" he said directing the last question towards the little blond girl who looked so excited she struggled to form words.

"Of Course!, Big Brother you HAVE to become a dragon" she said tugging excitedly on Itachi's arms while the aforementioned man ponders over the pros and cons of this.

There really wasn't too much to say. Who wouldn't want to have the ability to transform into a live dragon?

Itachi nodded his head accepting the condition. The elder having expected this looked at Itachi "All I ask is to help the village if we are ever in need"

Itachi agreed while the elder gathered up all the village in the square. "It has been a long time since this ritual, but today we will give this honor to this young man Itachi"

"He is guarding a relative of our ancestor who gave us life, and he has proved he is strong enough to bear the change. I ask for you all to lend your strength"

The others seems pretty excited because most had never seen it done in their lifetime. Itachi sat in the center of the square with Kayda next to him while the others gathered around in some sort of formation to gather energy.

Itachi didn't want to hurt Kayda but before he could think of something, she bit down on the inside of her mouth causing it to bleed inside. Jumping forward she locked lips with Itachi immediately shooting her tongue past his sealed lips pouring her saliva mixed with blood inside him.

He was stunned as he felt her warm lips lock on to his with her tongue almost immediately shooting inside. He felt some blood pour into his mouth which he quickly swallowed as she continued to fight with her tongue swirling around Itachi's mouth.

Finally breaking away he looked shocked as Kayda bashfully looked away "I figured that would be he easiest way to share by blood" she said nervously afraid Itachi would be mad at her.

Sighing at this display Itachi hugged her again "I'm not mad at you but warn me before you do something like that again okay?" He said as she cheered up a bit "Yay big brother is so nice" she said kissing him on the cheek before backing away as they prepared to start the ritual.

After swallowing the blood, Itachi's stomachs felt strange. As he wondered what it would do. Almost immediately, a large surge of energy washed over him as he felt his body fill with an ancient power.

It seems to travel through his meridians before causing a reactive change in the dragon blood inside him. His whole bod seems to change as he felt weird noises as his entire body became to change.

Clenching his teeth in pain, Itachi watched as the ground seemed to grow far away as he changed on a biological level.

Looking down he saw black scale on his legs as he felt a sharp pain in his back as he felt something growing out of it. Itachi was filled with agony as he felt the immense power shoot through him as he struggled to make sense of his surroundings.

Soon his vision darkened as the last words he heard was Kayda's concerned shout of "Big Brother!!!"