Chp.10: Fight between dragon and prince (part 2)

Augustus felt his whole body go cold and his heart began to ache. He immediately channeled his mana towards that organ and realized that it was stopping, paralyzed by a strange substance. It seemed… "Poison!?"

How was this possible? Dragons didn't have poison! They could use spells to curse or poison their opponents, but only once their domain was unlocked. This one was definitely too young to do such a thing!

In any case he had to act immediately, or he would die. His heart had almost stopped. Using his mana he wrapped around the organ and began to move it artificially so that the blood would continue to circulate. However, in doing so the poison also continued to move around the body, and soon the lungs, diaphragm and many other organs were also affected. Using his mana he was able to get them to work again, but to do so he had to lower his defenses a lot.

That was just what Haku wanted. Taking advantage of his weakness and distraction, he lunged at Augustus and opened his jaws, ready to chop off his head. However, the prince was still attentive enough to notice his attack and raised his sword to defend himself, despite having a lot of effort due to the increasingly strong nausea, but Haku dodged at the last moment and aimed at his shoulder. In reality, that had always been his goal.

Augustus felt the dragon's teeth dig into his shoulder and immediately used his mana to fortify his skin; even if he could only use a part of it, since everything else was busy keeping his vital functions stable, it was still enough to withstand the dragon's bite. Augustus hoped to be able to take advantage of the situation to distract Haku and hit him in the neck with his sword causing a deep wound.

But contrary to what he expected, Haku's jaws exerted a much greater pressure than before, so much so that the bones cracked as if they were made of sugar. The dragon immediately jerked back, ripping off a large chunk of skin and muscle. Augustus' right arm fell to his side, unable to move further.

The prince looked at his arm in pain. How had he done? The bite force of a dragon year and a half old wasn't enough to counter the amount of mana he used to protect his shoulder! He should have left just deep wounds, certainly not break bones!

Now Augustus was in a very precarious situation. His right arm was what he normally used to use the sword, and was now useless. He could have repaired it using his mana, but since he was still struggling with the poison inside his body, he would have had to lower his defenses completely in order to heal himself. The dragon would no doubt take advantage of this and tear him apart. But if he hadn't taken care of himself, not only would he have had to use only his left hand to fight, but the bleeding would have debilitated him even more.

Augustus wasn't the only one amazed by this strange turn of events. The entire hall couldn't fathom how Haku could have managed to inflict so much damage on the young prince. The ability of the young Augustus was known throughout the allied kingdoms and beyond, and king Elanio had made sure to let everyone in the hall know that his son was now a level adamantium. Anyone who knew anything about dragons in the hall (and there were quite a few, since being aristocrats they had access to many libraries in their lifetime) knew that what was happening should have been impossible. Yet, it was happening, and no one could figure out how.

Then, Haku swallowed the piece of meat he had torn off and wiped his muzzle casually, as if he had just tasted a rare delicacy, and said: "Mh. Despite the strength of my last bite and the debilitated state you are now, you were still able to use enough mana to prevent me from tearing off your arm. You truly are worthy of calling yourself a level adamantium warrior"

Augustus didn't know if Haku really meant it or was mocking him; at the moment, his senses were too dulled by the poison to be able to understand it. "What have you done!?" he exclaimed.

Haku gave a mocking smile. It was clear that he was satisfied with how the situation had changed. "Normally I wouldn't reveal my secrets, but if you ask me so nicely..."

Having said that Haku opened his mouth and spat something on the floor. Augustus looked at the strange object and realized that it was a large sharp sting. "That is..."

"A wyrm's sting" Haku explained. "When they came for me today I didn't leave without precautions. I hid the sting under my tongue for an eventuality like this. When it stung me it only made me feel a little sick... but I'm a dragon, and my body even withstood the deadly breath of a hydra. I was sure it would have a much more intense effect on a human"

Augustus's eyes widened. "When you bit me the first time... it wasn't to hurt me..."

Haku let out a small laugh. "No. I knew that I wouldn't be able to hurt you. I just wanted to get close enough to sting you with this without you noticing. After that I just had to get your attention to avoid you noticing that the poison was entering your bloodstream. If you had been more careful, you could have stopped it before it reached your heart... but you were too inexperienced to think of such an eventuality, I was sure about that"

This time it was a clear mockery, and Augustus understood it too, which made him even angrier. "How is it possible that it hasn't stung you?"

"My tongue is extremely mobile, much more so than a human's one. It was easy for me to hold the sting in a position where it couldn't hurt me" Haku explained. "Once the poison kicked in, I knew I had already won. You could still use mana to defend yourself... but that's not enough"

"But the amount of mana I used should have been enough to resist your bite!" Augustus protested again.

"Yes, indeed it was... but I didn't use just my bite" Haku replied tapping his mouth. "Beneath my lips I have carved several runes of fortification that have enhanced the hardness of my teeth and the strength of my jaws. The combined strength of these spells with that of my bite was enough to break your defense. If you could have used all your mana to defend yourself, surely you could have resisted... but since you can only use a part of it as the rest is countering the poison in your body, my strength was enough to break your defense and your bones!"

Haku smiled triumphantly. He knew he had won. His plan had worked perfectly. Augustus thought he had the advantage over him because he was stronger, but in reality it was Haku who had an important advantage: he didn't use mana to fight, but only his physical strength. Therefore, when he had fought the wyrm and it had stung him, he hadn't felt much of the effects of the poison because all the mana in his blood had concentrated on blocking it, while he continued to fight with the rest of his body. Even against the hydra it had taken a while before succumbing to its poisonous breath, although he was much weaker than now. This is because even without the mana, his strength was still that of a level diamond. Augustus, on the other hand, relied only on his mana to fight, just like most newcomers. Once the mana was gone, his strength was no different than a level copper. Therefore he couldn't afford to use all of his mana to counter the poison. And since he couldn't do that, he felt the effects of the poison much more, creating openings that Haku could easily exploit.

Having concluded his explanation, Haku wasted no more time: he threw himself at the young prince and yelled: "Let's end our battle now!"

Augustus raised his sword in his left hand; the blade collided with Haku's claws, but the young prince felt the blow much more. Not only was he unaccustomed to fighting with his left arm, but he was also debilitated from the poison and wound and could only use a small fraction of his mana to defend himself. "Bastard! You call yourself strong but you prepare your attacks in advance!" he exclaimed furiously. "You have no honor!"

"Honor?" Haku laughed heartily as he continued to strike the prince's sword with his claws, forcing him to back away and opening deep cuts on his hand and arm. "Fool! It was a real battle you wanted, wasn't it? In a real battle there are no rules of honor! There are no rules at all! There are no tricks and there are no invalid moves! There are no surrenders or draws! There are only the living and the dead, the victors and the vanquished! The one who wins a real battle isn't the one who fights with honor, he is the one who is willing to do anything to obtain the victory!"

The dragon's tail darted at the prince, and he was unable to avoid it; he was hit in the left side, opening a deep wound and even bringing out part of the intestine. Augustus gasped and distracted for a moment, and Haku took the opportunity to grab the sword with his jaws and snatch it away from his arm, disarming him. "Besides, you forgot that you are not fighting a human! This is not a battle between humans! I am a dragon! To a dragon, the rules of your species about honor make no sense! To a dragon, the only rule that worth is to survive, no matter by what means!"

Augustus backed away and tried to raise his fists to defend himself, but Haku struck him in the chest with his claws, opening three deep wounds and knocking him to the ground. When the prince opened his eyes again the dragon was already upon him with his jaws wide open. "Now, let me explain you what your place in the food chain is!" Haku said ready to bite his head and tear it off cleanly.

Augustus saw the huge jaws close above him, and felt the dragon's monstrous breath on his face, and clearly felt his tongue brushing his nose. He closed his eyes, waiting to feel the teeth crushing his skull.

"STOP!"

Haku's body froze completely at that word; the dragon could no longer move a single muscle. He stood like this, above the prince and with his jaws wide open. He moved his eyes slightly and saw Marcus standing showing the hand that held the ring with which he controlled the collar of submission. "That's enough, dragon! Get away from him! The fight is over!"

Haku could not oppose that command: he closed his jaws and stepped back a few steps, freeing Augustus. He had actually expected that twist: Marcus was unlikely to let him kill his opponent considering he was a prince. It didn't matter: he had won anyway, and that was enough for him.

Haku watched Augustus get back on his feet, or rather sat down since he didn't seem to have the strength to get up again; some magicians immediately ran towards him to heal his wounds. After a few moments, the prince's body began to regenerate and his complexion became less pale, a sign that the poison was also being eliminated.

Haku noticed that Augustus was staring at him with a lot of anger. After all, he had just humiliated him in front of the entire aristocracy of that part of the continent. But Haku didn't care about his feelings, and so he took the opportunity to humiliate him even more: "Keep this lesson in mind, if in the future you want to engage in a real battle. Forget all the lessons about honor that have been given to you and don't expect your opponents to fight fair with you. If you want to win, you'll have to be smarter, stronger and above all more ruthless than them. Be glad you learned that now, and not when you'll find an opponent who didn't have this collar on"

"Enough, dragon! Go back to the cage!" Marcus ordered raising his magic ring again.

Haku obeyed him and walked back to his cage, but all the way he looked at Augustus' broken and furious expression and grinned with gusto. For the young prince, a lesson in fighting received from an opponent he should have defeated easily and yet had beaten him was the greatest humiliation.