Red and Black Scales

Holding on to the dashing tiger tightly as she ran through the dense jungle foliage, Junko and her feline friend were making their way to a certain lake where Junko had hoped to get a quick drink of something that wasn't red nor tasted of iron.

As her tiger friend jumped around a tree, Junko caught a glimpse of something up ahead, through the dense leaves and tree line, her eyes pierced through and she could see something familiar yet ever so foreign. Red and large, living and emitting vast amounts of heat. Steam was rising from around the alien being as the jungle floor suddenly changed into a blanket of dried and burned leaves.

She felt strange as her eyes studied the creature.

The tiger had yet to notice the beast in front entirely. Yet she still slowed down into a quiet sneak due to the sudden and drastic change in environment. The air was burning and hot steam blocked her vision. Her instincts were murmuring to her. Something like a sixth sense. Unease filled the creature and skyrocketed the moment it felt little Junko's strange movements.

Junko sat almost as if in a daze, leaning forward as her eyes were wide open and mouth slightly agape. Unlike her tiger friend, she felt not a single ounce of worry, unease or fear.

She was simply greatly interested in the faint kinship she felt from the beast she saw. As her eyes studied it, it seemed to almost grow bigger and bigger. As her eyes finally captured the beast in its entirety, Junko could only blink slowly in interest, not wanting to move her gaze as if the beast would suddenly disappear if she looked away for too long.

Besides the strange kinship, she felt from the large red-scaled beast, she also felt strangely ostracized. Something told her that if she were to commune with the beast, her kin, she would either be attacked on sight, in her vocabulary 'hurt', or her kin would flee for some reason.

She had felt something similar previously when she caught a glimpse of a strange flying creature from afar.

A strange emotion flooded her. Now that she was close to one she knew to be kin, Junko knew that she was far too different from others. She did not know how, but she guessed she would not be accepted for whatever reason. Maybe her appearance? Perhaps her lack of more 'Dragon-like' aspects? Perhaps her lack of heat?

The beast in front seemed passively Warm. Scorching. Scalding. Burning. Yet it slept. It rested.

Junko wasn't emitting anything similar. No aura. No seeable power.

Junko stared directly through the foliage and at the eye of the dragon. Closed.

'Kin no... fur...?'

Strange. She wished to have fur of her own at some point. Like the tiger, she sat atop. Would this further exclude her from her own kin?

Perhaps, even if she wanted it, she should not get fur of her own but scales instead? Armour like her kin.

Her very instincts were confused. Her few thoughts scrambled.

What should she do? She is kin to these creatures, is she not?

Before she could further think and possibly make a dangerous move, the tiger turned and silently moved away. Junko's gaze did not leave the beast. It was as if she was drawn to it. So she could search for answers to her questions.

Yet the tiger moved on, a minute later, Junko realised that the tiger was moving away from her kin.

"Ann?"

She asked as she tapped the side of the tiger. No response.

Climbing and sitting down on the neck of the tiger, she pat one of the tiger's ears.

"Auummn!"

She voiced out as she attempted to pull the tiger back in the direction of the sleeping dragon. She wanted to know more.

The tiger chose to fight back against the strong pull, knowing what may happen if an apex found something situated lower in the food chain disturbing its rest.

Junko didn't know the concept of giving up as she pulled on the head of the tiger. The tiger shook its head as if it were wet, Junko flailing around as a result. Junko grew annoyed, an emotion she had yet to experience. She wanted something, why should she not get it?

Junko fell to the ground as the tiger stopped moving, the tiger looked at Junko as she pouted and pulled on one of the tiger's paws with great strength.

The tiger's claws burned slightly as they were momentarily coated in flames. Yet it chose to not fight against little Junko, relenting to her tug. Besides, she had already been dragged about three metres away from the spot where Junko had started pulling on her.

Turning to face Junko, the yanker in question stopped pulling as she turned and grasped at the figure hidden by the foliage and steam.

Junko turned back to the tiger as if she was asking if she had gotten her point across.

The tiger lowered her head slightly as she lightly pushed Junko back, the girl stumbling slightly before giggling due to the soft fur tickling her.

The tiger glanced up at the source of the steam, what she could see of the beast was little, barely a portion of its entirety. As the tiger looked at the sleeping Dragon... Shivers. Goosebumps. Fear. Eyes of Ash.

The Dragon was looking back.

The tiger lowered her body, locking eyes with the Apex being. Growling, ready to either pounce and attack or more favourably turn and run as fast as she could.

Junko, in response to the tiger's actions, turned to look at her kin. Through the foliage, her eyes pierced through the leaves and steam, and she made eye contact with her kin, a fellow Dragon.

The Dragon's eyes contracted, sharpened, as it looked from the Ashblood Tiger to the strange being next to it.

'Kin?'

It thought as it narrowed its eyes and raised its head. Something felt wrong about this kin of its.

Using an innate general appraisal skill to learn of the creature that seemed both alien and kin to it, the Dragon flinched. It saw something beyond the appraisal skill.

The one next to the Ashblood was no kin.

A figure of pure Void and Darkness, of nothing, extending its eldritch tendrils as it attempted to consume everything around it. Eyes unmoving and uncaring. Wide open.

The prey gazed too far.

'That is no Kin.'

The Dragon barely managed to form the thought as it raised its wings and attempted to escape.

Strong winds blew from the dragon along with great heat that burned up any dry leaves near it.

Ashes and embers now danced in the air. The tiger was on edge, Junko only seemed more interested in her perceived kin.

The opposing scarlet dragon took flight.

Turning away from the terror it had sensed, it chose to escape. The fear was primal. The Dragon's pride wasn't even hurt. It felt as if a mortal looking on at the sun and having their eyes burned.

As it turned and attempted to flee, the very next moment, the Dragon saw itself falling to the ground as pain erupted from its side.

Junko and the tiger looked on as the Dragon took flight and turned to leave. Two flaps of its wings and it was already more than 100 metres away. Junko wished to pursue. The tiger wished to retreat.

One wish was fulfilled due to happenstance.

A night black, towering figure tackled the flying Dragon to the ground with a loud roar. It wasn't a roar of challenge but of madness and lunacy.

The duo of Apex Dragons landed not with a loud thud but with an explosion.

Junko watched with wide eyes at the scene, at what her eyes could see at least.

The red dragon roared in pain as it fought against the pitch-black dragon biting down on its neck.

Black flames scattered across the body of both dragons and their surroundings.

'Kin hunt kin?'

She asked herself.

'No.'

The black Dragon did not feel like kin. It felt like the boar she had killed and eaten when she first explored the jungle. Cold and dead.

The black dragon seemed mad. Just looking at the beast who held similarity to her own kin made her mind burn. Instincts to hunt and consume grew along with a new emotion of anger. Seething and boiling.

[Gained General Skill: Madness Resistance LV 1]

Junko blinked her eyes, looking away from the two Dragons' fight and at the tiger next to her.

It didn't seem like she was affected, possibly because she couldn't even see the battle.

A blast of fire nearly as hot as the sun burned some of the clouds in the sky away.

The tiger seemed frightened by what she had seen. Even if it wasn't much, it didn't need to be. Merely being close to an Apex battle would send shivers down the spines of most beasts.

The tiger was instinctually ready to flee. To attempt to survive.

Junko could tell the tiger wanted to go away for some reason. She did not know why.

Junko herself wanted to go and see the fight, the hunt. She disliked the black Dragon on a natural level and wished to see its death.

Junko pulled on the tiger, who didn't even wish to move from her spot.

After some convincing with a few noises and unconsciously using puppy eyes, Junko got the tiger to follow. She knew that the tiger wouldn't hunt the Dragon as she wanted to. She simply didn't want to go there alone as Junko had grown fond of the tiger's company.

The two moved towards the battle scene.

Faint roaring was heard along with the sound of crackling embers and crunching bones.

Junko could see the black fire surrounding the scene from afar. The flames were blocking a good chunk of her viewing range. The tiger chose to stay a good amount of distance away, sitting down behind some trees and bushes.

Junko, from there no longer attempted to bring the tiger closer, too interested in the black fire and Dragon fight to care if the tiger was 10 or 50 metres away, just that she was there.

With her spear in hand, she ran through the jungle, using her free hand to run and orientate herself through the dense foliage as she had learned from the tiger.

Her eyes finally regained sight of the two.

One Dragon was missing their neck, two limbs, and one of their wings and had burn marks all over, the other was bleeding and ferociously mauling on the deceased's corpse.

The surviving one had wounds on its neck, wings and tail with scratches on its face and one of its front limbs missing. The blood on its body burned away from heat as bloody steam joined the black fires of the surroundings.

'Kin win hunt... Not Kin anymore.'

She thought as her eyes and instincts warned her. Her kin who was surprise attacked won the hunt yet somehow traded places with the black Dragon that seemed like a corpse. Junko reached the both of them.

'Hunt Dead Kin.'

"Gravitas."

The black Dragon was slammed into the ground with great force, its head slammed into the open stomach of the dead Dragon.

Junko raised her spear and brought it down onto the Dragon's neck. It cleaved through the scale and meat with ease but because the blade was not nearly long enough, it didn't decapitate the Dragon who was still forced to the ground and unable to move.

The black flames below Junko's feet both burned and drained. She felt more and more tired the longer she was near it.

[Gained General Skill: Demon Flame Resistance LV 1]

And with that, it was suddenly slightly easier to move in the black fire. The burning and draining sensation from her legs lessened.

Tearing the spear from the neck of the downed Dragon, Junko raised it again only to squint her eyes as a massive amount of heat blasted into her.

The entire body of the Dragon was lit with fires of red and black. Burning, burning and draining the life out of her.

Her hands felt weak, and her legs felt like they were no longer there because of the lack of strength and feeling in them.

Her head was again burning with instinct overriding commands. Hunt. Kill. Devour. Grow. Hunt. Kill. Devour. Evolve.

Over and over.

Junko sliced again at the neck of the downed Dragon, ignoring the flames that burned at her hands. The heat was unbearable.

[General Skill: Heat Resistance Becomes LV 2]

[Gained General Skill: Fire Magic Resistance LV1]

Junko again tore her spear away from the neck of the Dragon. Blood splattered but burned away nonetheless.

[General Skill: Heat Resistance Becomes LV 3]

[General Skill: Demon Flame Resistance Becomes LV 2]

Slicing again at the open wound of the Dragon, cutting through bone.

[General Skill: Fire Magic Resistance Becomes LV 2]

[General Skill: Madness Resistance Becomes LV 2]

[General Skill: Demon Flame Resistance Becomes LV 3]

[General Skill: Heat Resistance Becomes LV 4]

It burned and burned. Drained at her life. The only things left unburned by any flame or heat were her dress which fluttered in the firey haze and her eyes that gazed right into the fire.

Again she tore out the spear from the neck of the Dragon. The fires were fading now. She sliced deeper. Only an arms-length sliver of muscle held together the neck of the Dragon at this point.

[General Skill: Madness Resistance Becomes LV 3]

[General Skill: Fire Magic Resistance Becomes LV 3]

[General Skill: Demon Flame Resistance Becomes LV 4]

The neck was disconnected.

Junko could barely move her legs. She couldn't move her legs.

Dashing from the tree line, Junko was picked up from the scruff of her neck like a kitten as she fell unconscious.

'Kin Hunted.'

[<Experience Gained>]

[Temporary Skill: EXP Storage Becomes LV 7]

[Temporary Skill: EXP Storage Becomes LV 8]

...

[Temporary Skill: EXP Storage Becomes LV 28]

[Author note: I missed last week's upload time. Large L, my bad.]