The Insomniac Dragon Sleeps

Heaven, Third Heaven.

While Michael, Gabriel, and Irina were showing the devils around the expansive landscape that is Third Heaven, four figures infiltrated Heaven from the passage that connected to Purgatory. Those four were Crom Cruach, Azi Dahaka, Apophis, and the Insomniac Dragon, Ladon, a red-eyed, tree-shaped Dragon.

"So, this is Heaven?" Crom Cruach asked while looking around the new environment. "It's peaceful... and boring."

"That's not important." Azi Dahaka's center head said.

"We have a job to do." Azi Dahaka's left head said.

"Make the barrier already." Azi Dahaka's right head said.

"Don't rush me." Ladon said. "Just this layer of Heaven is huge."

While the other three Evil Dragons surrounded him, Ladon was creating a barrier around not only the level of Heaven they were on, but the levels below it, as well. A few moments later, when angels arrived after realizing there was a breech, Ladon completed his barrier, effectively cutting off the first three levels of Heaven from the levels above.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" A ten-winged angel asked in a demanding tone.

"Someone as weak as you doesn't get to demand answers from us." Apophis said without even looking at the angel who was clearly in charge of the other angels.

"Let's carry out the plan." Crom Cruach said as he rushed into the group of angels and began to wreak havoc

As if on cue, Azi Dahaka and Apophis also began attacking the angels with their magic and shadows, respectively. As a result of the three Evil Dragons' attacks, Third Heaven began shaking violently. Meanwhile, one of the angels present tried to contact the Four Great Seraphs to inform them of the situation. However, he was unable to connect to Sixth Heaven, where they usually reside.

"I can't contact Sixth Heaven!" The four-winged angel who attempted to contact Sixth Heaven shouted.

"Then contact the Four Great Seraphs individually!" The ten-winged angel shouted back while trying to save as many of the weaker angels as he could from the shadows and magic spells. "Hopefully, one of them is in range of communications."

Following his superiors order, the four-winged angel tried contacting the Four Great Seraphs individually, starting with Michael. Luckily, he was able to connect on the first try. After telling Michael about the current situation, he ended the communication and reported back to the ten-winged angel.

"Lord Michael said that he, Lady Gabriel, and the devils they were escorting would be here as soon as they could to assist." The four-winged angel reported. Then, he joined the efforts to contain the destruction.

"I don't like the thought of receiving help from devils in Heaven, but I guess any help we can get would be welcomed." The ten-winged angel muttered to himself under his breath.

A few minutes later, the angels, although they had not suffered any casualties, were struggling to hold the line. However, the stronger ones among them were more inclined to believe that the Evil Dragons were just playing with them, enjoying the act of toying with weaker opponents. At the same time, a shockwave rushed from the distance, passed their ranks, and rushed straight toward the strongest of the Evil Dragons, Crom Cruach.

"[Inferno Dragon's Scorching Fist]." Was heard just before the shockwave reached Crom Cruach.

An instant later, Crom Cruach was launched up into the air with his head tilted back and a broad, manic smile appearing on his face. In Crom Cruach's former position stood James with his fist extended upward, his [Tyrant Dragon Domination Drive] and [Dragon Force] active, and flames surrounding his fist. Before any of the angels or other [Evil Dragons could react, James disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to Crom Cruach.

"[Inferno Dragon's Talon]." James said as he delivered a flaming kick into Crom Cruach's chest, sending the Evil Dragon off into the distance with force.

James then disappeared from his position again, following Crom Cruach into the distance. As James disappeared, the rest of the tour group appeared. As they did, Cu Chulainn approached Apophis, Irene launched herself towards Azi Dahaka, and Scathach rushed towards Ladon, who put up a barrier around himself.

"Why are they here?" Azi Dahaka's left head asked.

"No one told us that monster was here." Azi Dahaka's right head whined.

"Did that damned devil send us here to die?" Azi Dahaka's center head asked.

"Ladon, drop the barrier and let us out of here." Apophis said while inching his way back to the breech they created from Purgatory.

"You want to go back and get killed by that maniac after failing our mission?" Ladon asked as he created barrier after barrier in front of him.

Azi Dahaka and Apophis fell silent after that question. They knew that a mad man like Rizevim would order their deaths if they came back after failing another mission. And the maniac Ladon referred to, Acnologia would delight in fulfilling that order.

"Besides, that freak is fighting with Crom Cruach." Ladon continued. "Even if he is strong, he shouldn't be able to kill him."

After facing off against James in the Underworld, Azi Dahaka and Apophis grew a healthy amount of fear for James and panicked when they saw him arrive on the battlefield. However, Ladon's words opened their eyes to the current situation.

"That's right, there is no one here strong enough to hurt us." Azi Dahaka's left head said proudly.

"[Universe One]." Irene said calmly before Azi Dahaka's other heads could speak their piece.

With Irene's spell, She, Cu Chulainn, Azi Dahaka, Apophis, the angels, and the rest of the devils disappeared from where they stood. Once they all disappeared, only Ladon, who was protected from the spell with his barriers, and Scathach, who was intentionally excluded from the spell, were left near the breech leading to Purgatory.

"It would seem, this Scathach must give her thanks to Irene." Scathach said while twirling her spear before taking a battle stance. "Now, I have all the space I need. And I do not have to worry about others getting caught up in the crossfire."

"Scathach? Damn." Ladon muttered. "I can stay here and fight a mad woman or go back and get killed by a maniac dragon."

Without giving Ladon more time to mutter to himself, Scathach pushed forward with her spear drawn back to pierce forward. In response, Ladon pumped magic power into the barriers he had already raised. Even though he had never fought her in the past, there was no one in the supernatural world who had not heard of Scathach's prowess in battle.

And unlike the other Evil Dragons, Ladon had very little in the way of offensive means. However, he was quite capable of causing pain and suffering with his barriers. However, Scathach was quite efficient in using runes to destroy or negate the magic of others.

As if to prove this point, just before Scathach's spear tip landed on the barrier separating her from Ladon, the tip of her spear was covered with a rune. Then, with little resistance, her spear shattered the barrier. However, as Ladon expected this, he had stacked several dozen barriers between himself and Scathach.

Seemingly undeterred by this fact, Scathach shot through at least three dozen barriers before her momentum was halted. Instead of pulling her spear back for another thrust, though, Scathach thrust her free hand forward. When it collided with the barrier, four runes appeared on the barrier's surface. Then, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the barrier before it shattered like the previous barriers. Unlike the other barriers, however, instead of just dissolving into magic power, the shards of the barrier remained solid and shot back towards Ladon, destroying another few dozen barriers along the way.

"What did you do?" Ladon question in a panic. "How is this possible.?"

"I placed four runes on your barrier." Scathach said as she began to rush forward again. "The first one shattered the barrier, then reinforced the shards so they wouldn't dissolve. The next one added kinetic energy to the shards. And the last one controlled the vector they traveled on."

Hearing Scathach's explanation, Ladon found himself a bit intimidated by Scathach's skill in runecraft, as well as how quickly she devised a plan to deal with his barriers after seeing them just once. Unfortunately, as he was also devising countermeasures for Scathach's tactics, he reacted a little slower than he usually would. When he raised his next set of barriers, Scathach was not much further away from him than the distance her outstretched spear could cover.

"Damn it!" Ladon bellowed after realizing how close Scathach had gotten in the few split seconds he stopped to consider.

Before Scathach could thrust her spear forward, Ladon created a small barrier in the spearhead's path, interrupting Scathach's momentum. Then, when she paused for a moment, two barriers appeared on either side of her and began to move toward each other.

Not keen on being crushed between the two barriers, Scathach summersaulted backward. Then, when she landed, she threw her spear forward with all her strength. In an instant, Scathach's spear passed between the two barriers and punched through the rest of the barriers separating her from Ladon. Then, the entire spearhead sunk into Ladon's tree trunk-like body.

"Gah~~~~~~~~~!" Ladon Screamed in pain.

While Ladon was screaming, Scathach's spear returned to her hand. Before she could close the distance, though, Ladon erected several more barriers in front of him. And like before, he created barriers to hinder the Warrior-Queen's movements and break her momentum. He was also more cautious about Scathach's spear flying in from the distance, creating several barriers he could move to intercept Scathach's next attempt to throw her spear.

After trying for a few minutes, to no avail, to break Ladon's defenses, Scathach summoned a second spear to her free hand. Then, with a spear in each hand, Scathach raced forward once again. With a second point of attack, combined with Scathach's speed, Ladon's barriers were now being broken faster than he could replenish them. Even his only attack method of trying to crush his opponent between two or more barriers was being taken care of easily.

After fifteen minutes or so, Ladon was now covered in slash marks with dark green blood pouring down his tree trunk-like body. Meanwhile, Scathach was circling him nearly unimpeded while adding injuries on top of injuries.

"Damn it!" Ladon shouted after receiving another wound. "I refuse to die here!"

As Ladon shouted, his magic power surged to a yet to be seen degree. The amount of power Ladon gathered was so immense that the barrier locking down the first three Heavens flickered for a moment. Then, a barrier that he had yet to erect in this battle appeared around Scathach. However, Ladon did not notice the small magic circle that appeared behind Scathach during the moment that the barrier locking down the Heavens flickered off.

When Scathach noticed that she was trapped in a barrier, her first reaction was to stab her spear at it. However, the barrier was not disturbed in the slightest. So, Scathach tried striking the barrier in different places with differing amounts of power. After a few moments, she realized that breaking this barrier from the inside would be impossible with her level of strength. Through her observations, she also noticed that the flow of time inside and outside of the barrier were different.

"It looks like time in here passes at a significantly faster rate." Scathach mused. "This would be bad, if I were alone."

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

A few moments earlier, in Scathach's bedroom, a German Shepard sized ash gray wolf was lying on the floor at the foot of the bed with its eyes closed. However, when a small magic circle, a summoning circle to be precise, appeared beneath it, the wolf, Fenrir, opened its eyes and shrunk its form to fit into the small magic circle. By the time it was done adjusting its size, it was no bigger than a puppy. Then, he and the magic circle vanished in a flash of light.

Heaven, Third Heaven.

"That damned bitch." Ladon grumbled after trapping Scathach in his barrier. "The wounds from those spears aren't healing."

As Ladon spoke, he was doing everything he could to heal the many wounds Scathach inflicted upon him. However, to his dismay, nothing worked. Like James' sword, Sixth Sense, Scathach's spears also created unhealable wounds.

"It doesn't matter." Ladon said. "Once I kill that woman and destroy those spears, these wounds should heal soon enough."

Ladon then took the time to observe Scathach, who seemed to be moving at an extremely slow pace. Then, with a wicked smile, Ladon Created a barrier on either side of Scathach. Looking forward to seeing her crushed between the barriers, Ladon pushed them toward each other at a very slow pace. However, he was confused when he saw Scathach slowly hitching her spear backward, as if she was preparing to throw it again.

"Foolish woman." Ladon said to himself. "Does she really think she can break my barrier from the inside?"

*Howl~~~~~!*

Before Ladon could gloat any further, a wolf's howl could be heard. Then, from behind Scathach, a nearly thirty-three foot (10 m) tall ash grey wolf grew. When it finished expanding, it swung it's front paw, shattering all three barriers around Scathach without injuring her in the slightest. Then, it lunged at the surprised Ladon and sunk its fangs into the Insomniac Dragon.

"[Gáe Bold Alternative]." Scathach said calmly.

When Scathach's voice fell, Ladon could feel himself being lifted off the ground and unable to move. At the same time, Fenrir released his grip and quickly distanced himself from the Evil Dragon. A moment later, Scathach threw the spear with everything she had.

Realizing that something was wrong, yet not knowing what it was exactly, Ladon erected as many barriers as he could in the time that he was lifted and immobilized. However, those barriers served no purpose. The spear Scathach threw pierced threw them with no resistance. Then, the spear found its way to Ladon's heart. Although his death was immanent, Ladon did not die immediately. Noticing this, Scathach cast another spell.

"[Gate of Skye]." Scathach said as her magic power surged.

Then, in the sky behind her, a large gate was summoned. As it opened, a scenery that Scathach could not be more familiar with appeared on the other side.

"Why am I not surprised." Scathach said as she looked back into the gate. "It seems Lugh has been procrastinating. I wonder how long it will take before he finds a new gate keeper for the Land of Shadows. Well, until he does, it looks like I still have the rights to allow entry and imprison souls."

While Scathach mused to herself, Ladon was sucked into the gate before his life ended. Then, the gate slammed shut and vanished.

After everything was quiet once again, Fenrir reduced his size to the size of a German Shepard again and approached Scathach.

"Thank you." Scathach said as she patted Fenrir on his head. While continuing to pet Fenrir, Scathach closed her eyes and extended her senses. "It looks like Irene is also done with her battle. It seems James and Setanta are still engaged in battle. Now, who should I go to watch?"