Chapter LIII: Draconic Throwdown (Part 1)
(General POV)
An axe slammed into the head of a reanimated legionary, the Orismer wielding it backing off just in time to avoid another zombie from jumping him and biting down on his throat, its head getting splattered by an errant firebolt a mere moment later.
A silence descended upon the once-battlefield as the two opposing shieldwalls slowly backed away from each other, confusion and fear slowly setting in now that the haze of the fight had started to leave them.
The quiet did not last though, as one of the rebels pointed his weapon at the young man leading the legionaries accusingly "What have you done you godless bastards?!"
Before Tiberius could respond, Zarok growled in anger "Watch your mouth whelp! Whatever just happened certainly wasn't on us."
The rebel went to retort but Tiberius finally found his voice and raised a hand to forestall him "Hold. Did you hear that?" A sound in the distance sent a shiver down the spine of all those present.
"Buying time, are we?" The stormcloak blustered with false bravado.
The roar came again, only this time it was far closer. Tiberius' curiosity finally overpowered his caution and he turned around to see what it was, only to find himself utterly stunned by the blue blur barrelling straight towards them.
He was shaken from his stupor as someone grabbed him by the collar of his armor and forcefully dragged him away "OUT OF THE STREET, NOW!" Zarok thundered and even the rebels knew to follow his order.
But it was too late for many as the dragon descended and shouted "FUS RO DAH!" The wave of force utterly shattering the street below it, not sparing most of the houses either as tiles of stone were sent flying everywhere. Whoever was not fortunate enough to be turned to paste in an instant was then struck by the flying debris and broken as the mighty beast let out a sound akin to a contemptuous chuckle, ignoring the survivors and continuing on with its rampage.
Both Zarok and Tiberius looked on in despair as most of their unit was slaughtered in the mere blink of an eye, a simmering rage boiling within the orc while the Imperial could only feel a seeping cold in his heart.
"I WILL RIP THAT BASTARD TO SHREDS!" Zarok growled as bloodrage started setting in.
Before he could rush to chase the dragon he was stopped by a firm grasp on his shoulder "We should try and save who we can, we can't possibly face that blasted thing." Tiberius' cold tone was so empty it managed to shake some of the red from his friend's eyes for a moment.
"And what?!" The Orsimer Quaestor barked, even as screams of pain reached him "We just let him get away?"
"We may not be able to do anything." Tiberius' blank tone did not shift for an instant as he pointed to the dragon in the distance "But he can."
Zarok's confusion lasted only for a moment as suddenly bolts of multicolored magic started slamming into the dragon's mouth and snout, the spells were so powerful they even managed to stagger the mythical creature if only for a moment.
Only, the spells did not seem to end as more and more magic started descending upon the creature, now forced on the defensive as it started cursing in its ancient tongue.
"Come." Tiberius spoke again "Let us gather the survivors."
His rage somewhat under control, Zarok grunted his assent and they went to help any who may need it, rebel or imperial. For once the dead rose and dragons descended their conflict seemed so very small in comparison.
(Reyvin's POV)
The recently risen undead seemed to have a particular focus on me as hundreds of them attempted to rush me down, only to be turned to ash by Scorch or shattered by Akulakhan's wild yet precise swings.
I had little time to care for them though, the scaly little shit taking precedence over some undead I doubted could even harm me in any real way.
Magicka surged from within me as blue scales kept cracking under my elemental barrage, my choice of attack shifting with each spell so as to not give my enemy any time to adapt.
It was not to last though, as he finally managed to gather his wits once he was forced to land atop one of the nearby manor roofs and started casting magical wards to blunt my onslaught.
Which was exactly where I wanted him.
I slammed his mind with my own, eliciting a surprised grunt of pain, before shouting "JOOR" He flinched at the first word "ZAH FRUL!"
The wave of baleful blue surged toward its target, his eyes widening first in fright but then in fury, as he battled the house below him with both his hands, shattering it utterly and letting himself fall just under the shout's radius.
I was already moving before he fell, my sword in hand and dragonskin covering my flesh. He barely had the time to shake the dust from his eyes as he found me swinging at one of them. The shriek of pain was followed by a wild flurry of claws as everything in front of him was destroyed.
"Accursed mortal!" He half hissed half growled, one of his eyes now missing and the hole it left gushing with dragonsblood "Know that Iiznahkriid will be your end!"
I scoff "Those far better than you have tried." and once again point Magnus' staff at him.
Before I can let loose on his ass I feel the sudden urge to get out of the way, and the shadows drag me to the side just in time to miss the grasping jaws of yet another dragon whose presence I could barely feel.
That same dragon retreats in a blur as Akulakhan's glaive comes in slamming down to where its head once was, cratering the stone tiles below.
"Your weakness is a disgrace, brother." The new dragon mocked as he looked down at me with hunger, he too was covered in scales of blue but his were of a far darker hue than those of his compatriot.
"Why do you interrupt my battle, Vulstrunfeyn?" The one-eyed dragon hissed "I have the mortal well in hand."
"You really do not." The probably older and wiser dragon deadpans and turns to me, he opens his mouth to speak but I preempt him with a cold chuckle.
"Mighty gracious of you to ignore me like that." He looks confused for a moment but that is all the time he wastes before he once more blurs backwards, evading the sudden whirlwind of stone transmuted to steel that now covered the entire area of our battle.
His purported brother was far less fortunate as all the flying blades suddenly whirled onto him, completely forgetting their other target and starting to effectively skin him alive as his scales were slowly, but certainly, getting shorn off him.
Akulakhan wasted no time as the dragon wailed in unimaginable pain, as he rushed through the sea of blades, completely ignoring the metal and jabbing at Iiznahkriid's other eye with his glaive. The dragon's instincts saved him from full blindness then as he recoiled reflexively, batting at whatever was trying to harm him and striking my guardian with a glancing blow.
Being a literal tank, Junior merely allowed the blow to carry him to the side before he rounded on the dragon once again and delivered a punch straight to its jaw, likely shattering a few bones and sending it reeling.
I prepared a more focused spell to pierce its now weakened defenses but once again I found myself forced to move as the stormy blur of dark blue appeared behind and over my head, a shout of unrelenting force blasting out exactly as if he had expected my evasion and slamming into Akulakhan, giving his brother enough time to fall back from my now dying spell.
The ambusher rounded back to me and deflected my sword strike away from his chest, shouting "KRII LUN AUS!" from point blank range and forcing me to waste massive amounts of Magicka on an instant teleport.
I used this chance to appear above his wounded brother and plunged my blade downwards, but the younger dragon was no idiot and immediately spun around, sending blades of wind everywhere and forcing me back.
Vulstrunfeyn did not waste the opportunity and immediately appeared before me, slashing at me in a mad flurry of thunder covered claws and forcing me fully on the defensive.
Buying just enough time for his brother to shout "SLEN!" and start regenerating rapidly.
Things turned far less pleasant for me then, as both of them attacked as one.
Iiznahkriid tried turning me to ice with the ice form shout, much like Krein did when he was still Durnehviir. I was able to evade him thankfully, only to be corralled into the swing of Vulstrunfeyn's claws and made to outright block a dragon.
That was, as one might rightly guess, a terrible fucking idea.
I was flung away and slammed through the wall of a nearby crumbling manor, only the surprise of me suddenly growing wings and blasting into the air saved me from the duo of ravenous maws trying to compete in who could consume me the quickest.
The two seemed surprised by my sudden flight, but the battle fury in their eyes was, to my immense surprise, quickly replaced with an emotion I did not expect... Respect.
Of course, that did not stop me from slamming the both of them with a firestorm and another attempt at dragonrend, only Iiznahkrid was struck but I was unable to capitalize on it as Vulstrunfeyn used whirlwind sprint to dash upwards.
I made some distance, begrudgingly redirecting my spells at the opponent closest to me and blasting him with a concentrated beam of crimson lightning, nearly shearing off one of his wings before he managed to use the speed I was quickly learning was one of his main advantages to get away.
My clairvoyance finally caught a shimmer of energy from him and I quickly rounded to his new position, but before I could cast another spell he managed to shout "STRUN BAH QO!"
I felt my lips thin as I realized the city was about the get even more fucked by this, only for the entirety of the forming storm to zero in on me. I felt static build up all around me and even dodging didn't seem to reduce it, so accepting my fate I cast a spell of resist lightning and grit my teeth.
The next half minute was hell on Nirn, lightning bolt after lightning bolt slammed into me, no matter where or how I tried to evade, and to make things worse dear old Vulstrunfeyn was not content in simply watching as he too descended onto me, outright ignoring the lightning bolts that turned on him due to proximity as he forced me to experience even more agony by making me fight him at the same time.
Absently I thought on what his 'brother' was doing, only to see Akulakhan pummeling the absolute shit out of him, having discarded his glaive so he could attack faster. Only a sudden blast of frost breath from the grounded dragon managed to push the automaton back, and of course things did not seem to end there as the duo seemingly realized that Junior was a mere construct bound to me and the only way to truly end him was to end me, so naturally they focused on doing just that.
Before they could once again strike at me at the same time, I made them both back off with another shout of dragonrend, buying myself time to chug down on some healing and Magicka potions in the process, as the two also used the moment to heal themselves.
Understanding that I would accomplish nothing by merely skirmishing I chugged down on a destruction potion and summoned my blade, its surface blazing with disintegrating magic as I took in a deep breath.
The two dragons tensed as I shouted "TIID!" And swiftly teleported to the dragon I perceived as the weak link, Iiznahkriid howled as he felt me slash his left wing multiple times in a single second, lopping the damned thing off and sending him hurtling to the ground and the now unfrozen Akulakhan's eager grasp.
That was all I was able to do, however, as Vulstrunfeyn responded to my shout with one of his own "STRUN GRAH DIN!" The modified elemental fury covering his entire form in sparks of lightning, most notably his claws, as he once more barelled towards me.
'This is going to take a while, isn't it?' I cursed internally as I blasted the snarling dragon's maws with a massively overcharged ball of fire.
(General POV)
Arrows and hundreds of dead bodies littered the grounds between the now ruined siege camp and the City of Kings. The roar of a dragon sent the wounded and terrified whimpering as yet another artillery position was blasted apart.
The massive red scaled beast grinned down at the defiant General glaring at him from the ground, the command tower lay shattered to small pieces and most of his officers having died heroically to prolong the battle even by a little, even Tullius was not spared as his blackened left hand lacked all of its fingers.
The numerous arrows stinging the dragon's hide went seemingly ignored as the massive creature peered down at its worthy foe, but before he could mock or praise him, Tullius was not sure, a distant roar of pain drew both of their eyes.
A dark blue dragon was falling from the skies, a blur of gold following after him all the while and blasting him with spells of all kinds.
"Hmmm..." The red dragon hummed in what seemed to be amusement as he observed both of his allies get grounded. He turned back to the general and his gathering soldiers, knowing he would not be able to do both he grinned "Rejoice, brave mortals! Odahviing shall spare you on this day!"
And just like that he flapped his wings and left, his form becoming a mere red blur heading to the city.
"Blast it all!" Tullius kicked the ground, ignoring the searing pain in what remained of his hand, he turned to his men with bloodshot eyes "I will not order any of you to follow me." He said, the implication clear to even the slowest.
One by one, the still hale, and even some of the wounded, legionaries started gathering in front of him, all of them standing tall and proud, their weapons ready.
"Good." Tullius muttered proudly, drinking a potion as he turned back to the city "We move." He commanded simply and they descended.
(Reyvin's POV)
Blinding the absolute shit out of Vulstrunfeyn seemed to work wonders as I turned myself into a beacon of light, catching him so off guard in his moment of triumph as he ripped one of my wings off, that I managed to hit him with a dragonrend and then almost disembowel his ass as I slammed into him as he fell.
Naturally, the world just wouldn't let me have even this, as this was the exact moment Iiznahkriid managed to push Akulakhan off with the help of another surge of undead, only Scorch's detonation stopped him from using the same trick on me.
Sick and fucking tired of these two I shrieked out a "YOOL TOR SHUUUUL!" Searing their wounds and cracked scales with my most well mastered shout, slamming myself with a regenerative syringe in the same movement and feeling a new wing burst out of my back.
Once again we found ourselves staring at each other as both sides prepared for yet another clash, but we were both distracted by two very distinct sounds.
The dragons by a series of quickened steps coming from the north.
And I by another, much greater roar coming from the south.
All the time and strength I spent battling these fuckers was apparently for nothing, and now another one of Alduin's edgy fraternity decided to join us... 'Fuck it, time to up the ante.' I decided, and shouted "KREIN AAR VOKUN!"
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Iiz Nah Kriid = Ice Fury Slayer
Vul Strun Feyn = Dark Storm Bane
Krii Lun Aus = Kill Leech Suffer
Strun Bah Qo = Storm Wrath Lightning
Su Grah Din = Storm Battle Grace
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A stone from thee, a stone for me, we are all one beautiful stone racket ring~
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