Chapter LXXXVIII: A Proper Bout Of Tinvak
(Minthara's POV, continued)
A few moments pass after my 'invitation' and nothing seems to happen. Immediately the idea that I would go ignored appears but I squash it just as quickly.
Chuckling lightly I lean onto my hammer, digging the butt of it into the dirt as I barely contain a facepalm 'Of course he would take a while to reach you Minthara, you idiot.' Amused at my own impatience I allow my thoughts to drift somewhat, going between anticipation towards the fight to a rather entertaining image of a random goatherder getting his bowels scared out of him by a random shout in the mountains.
'And it is only going to get louder' The more draconic part of me notes with satisfaction and a grin forms on my face unbidden.
Any further musings on scaring innocent hillspeople are stopped as I hear distant flaps in the wind, the very air feeling charged as a distant red silhouette became larger and larger.
'Odahviing.' My eyes narrow as I take a better look at the dragon 'Alduin's right hand dragon, or so Reyvin described him. Is an eager warrior but has a sense of honor as he didn't simply slaughter the legion outside Windhelm as efficiently as possible, giving them the chance to fight back. A prideful one then, even for a dragon.'
"In conclusion" I hear myself mutter with a growing smirk "He is likely to honor my challenge."
Odahviing closes in, barely close enough to begin greetings, but before either of us can speak the air is filled with even more wings cutting through it and my grip over my weapon grows tense.
My eyes dart from left to right and soon the situation becomes clear, the forms of Kreinaarvokun, slightly smaller than Odahviing, joined by the utterly massive Paarthurnax and Odahviing's own underling Vulstrunfeyn begin circling above us as Odahviing lands, and in the distance I feel even more gazes falling onto the small plateau I had chosen, a full ten dragons (counting myself of course) were now present.
"I have heard your call, Dovahkiin." Odahviing speaks, his head motioning as if to dismiss the onlookers "Eager as I was to face you I cared not for any trap you may have prepared to fell me... and yet here you stand, alone."
"You sound surprised?" I smirk at the dragon "Or do you believe yourself so strong that I need an army to face you on your own?"
"Ha!" He barks "The whelp bares her teeth!"
My eyes narrow slightly but I do not allow myself to be baited, instead I allow a portion of my absorbed power to surge slightly, turning the air heavy "These teeth have sent your master fleeing into Sovengarde, do you not fear suffering the same fate?"
"Fear?" He scoffs loudly "I fear nothing!" He declares as if it were a certainty "Else I would not have come after your show of power. Now speak, young one, why have you called me forth?"
A small, petty, part of me revels that he was the first to break but I contain it "Alduin has fled from me already, I aim to slay him and end his reign over both mortal and dragon." I say with full confidence. He may have 'fled' on a technicality but even his presence on Nirn without his divine power was stretching the Aedric rules already.
Naturally I felt no shame in abusing this for my ends.
Odahviing frowns, somehow conveying the expression perfectly even with his draconic face "You speak truly. Some have already begun doubting his dominion."
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow.
"You think me foolish for saying so aloud, Dovahkiin?" Odahviing sounds amused, maybe he really was a fearless as he proclaimed? Or was it just bravado? "It is the Firstborn's own rule that only the strongest may hold dominion. That he has fallen so low to be questioned is his own failure."
"Exactly." I nod "Which is why I have summoned you here."
"You wish for me to betray him?" He asks, keeping his opinion from reaching his tone.
"Betray is such an ugly word." I smirk "And I doubt that you would be swayed by that alone anyway. No." I shake my head "Instead I wish to challenge you! My voice against yours, and should you lose you will enter my service!"
"And should you lose?" He leans in, his eyes lighting up with something approaching eager bloodlust.
"Then you get to kill me a bring my soul to your current master." I shrug without a care "If I can't defeat you then I never stood a chance against Alduin in the first place."
"True enough." He lowers his head slightly as if to nod "But why should I enter your service if I can just leave once Alduin is dead? Why should I exchange one master for another?"
Hmmm... Ah! "I could go on and on about you being hunted down by those wronged by our kin and no doubt not having a moment of peace but I doubt you would care much for that."
Him promptly huffing out a snort was more than enough to tell me what he thought of that.
"Instead." I spread my arms, my gaze becoming something Reyvin would no doubt compliment as completely crazed "If you join my side I can promise you that only greater battles would await!" My thu'um begins to leak "Join me and you will never lack for a strong challenge to test yourself against!"
A silent growling noise breaks the ensuing silence before growing and growing, transforming from a light chuckle into a full belly laugh as Odahviing rears up and roars his laughter to the skies "HAHAHAHA! Very well Dovahkiin! I accept your challenge! KRIH VOTH AHKRIN!"
Before we can begin I grab my hammer, my fingers folding against the perfect grip for a moment... before I toss it to my side. I would use neither weapons nor dragonrend for this battle.
Odahviing's already mad grin becomes even more eager as he too removes an advantage by folding his wings behind his back, and then as is tradition, speaks "FUUUS RO DAH!"
"MUL QAH DOV!" Vibrant red scales form on any skin I can see without looking away from my opponent, and a light tingle washes over my back. The shout which Reyvin insisted I learn was exhausting, almost as much as stopping time, but even with its obvious lack of completion the sheer power it gave me was such that I felt like I could crush Alduin's head between my bare hands.
The wave of force slams into me and I use my hands to dig into the ground, barely stopping the shout from flinging me away.
Immediately, I stand back up and look back up and without a second's pause shout "SHUL KUN RONAAZ!" Summoning a spear of light aimed straight at his head, and more specifically: eyes.
His eyes narrow into a wince before the light manages to touch him, managing to react just in time with a loud "GOL ALOK!" Rising a wall of earth in front of him and immediately chaining into "GOL RATH BO!"
A veritable river of earth attempts to swallow me, but even with limiting myself to only the voice I was not without options "FO KRAH DIN!" I shout, freezing the river of earth and mud, and following my opponent's example I chain it into a "FUS RO DAH!" Shattering the frozen earth and showering Odahviing in the shards of ice.
But instead of any damage, all that the shards did was elicit a mighty bout of laughter from the large dragon "SKILLED AND POWERFUL INDEED!" He shouts out "COME, DOVAHKIIN! SHOW ME THE MIGHT THAT MADE ALDUIN FLEE!"
I, naturally, oblige him "STRUN BAH QO!" The horn strapped to my belt almost begs me to draw it to empower the shout but I hold back, I needed to prove myself.
A few bolts of lightning slam into the dragon faster than he can respond but he merely powers through the pain, ignoring the painful looking scorch marks on his scales and bellows "LOK VAH KOOR!" Completely cleansing the storm I summoned but still failing to contain a pant from his exhaustion.
Before I can press the attack however, he retakes the initiative, looming closer to me as if drawn by an unseen magnetism he shouts "FAAS RU MAR!" A wave of fear stopping me for a brief moment and giving him the time to chain into a "IIZ SLEN NUS!"
Only my instincts saved me from being turned into a frozen statue as my mouth moved on its own "YOOL TOR SHUL!" The almost blood-crimson flames bursting through the ice form shout and washing over a shuddering Odahviing.
With a snarl of rage he took one more step forward and responded with his own fire breath, the words losing their coherence and coming out as more of a shriek as he dragged the final word for five full seconds.
Not that I was idle at that time, responding with a prolonged frost breath of my own, chilling the very air instead of merely the ground as I slowly but surely pushed Odahviing's thu'um back.
I did not realize it but halfway through the shout I had begun walking forward, each step driving my opponent back with the sheer force I was oozing. I would not realize it for a while yet but the dragon aspect shout did far more than merely armor and strengthen me.
By the time the elemental storm cleared I was already moving into another shout "VEN WULD DAH!" The gust of wind I created was far greater than anything I could ever achieve with magic, even with my affinity at work, as Odahviing was sent hurtling through the air, his path only ending as he was slammed into the edge of a nearby mountain, cracking its surface with the impact.
I admit, I relaxed a bit then, already assured of my victory. That was a mistake.
"KREN SLEN SOS!" The wave of baleful red slammed into me without any warning, and I knew then that if I did not use my dragon aspect earlier I would have been turned into fine chunks of meat.
...And that enraged me.
No longer holding back I immediately growled "SLEN." My wounds already working to knit themselves together as Odahviing opened his mouth to do the same. But I was no longer feeling as sporting as I was when I challenged him, so I began shouting.
And shouting.
And shouting...
For a full minute I kept summoning more and more words of power and slamming them into the defenseless dragon looking more and more like a chunk of meat but still somehow surviving the barrage.
By the time my fury had lessened I was left panting and sitting on my ass, the side of the mountain Odahviing was slammed into now looked like more of a large cave and a large chunk of its peak had begun falling off to the north.
Idly I noticed Kreinaarvokun flying in that direction to ensure no one ended up dead for it but I was too tired to truly care about some random mortals at the moment.
It really was a good thing no one could read my thoughts because that would have made me die of embarrassment. I shudder and before I can further consider the sheer terror that would be Reyvin's teasing if he ever found out a noise drew my attention.
A half cough half wheeze left the lump of meat that was Odahviing and his flesh begun restoring itself ever so slowly. Already Vulstrunfeyn and Paarthurnax had landed to our sides, no doubt to ensure that neither of us ambushed the other now that the fight had ended in my favor.
A good five minutes later, Odahviing rolled over from his back and onto his legs, looking at me with tired but thoroughly impressed eyes. I wondered what kind of boisterous proclamation or accusation of cheating he would throw at my feet now and mentally prepared my tired self for the barrage of words.
Instead, he merely lowered his head and spoke, the word that left him clearer than any oath "Thuri."
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Krih voth ahkrin = Fight bravely (not a shout but a boast basically)
MUL QAH DOV = Strength Armor Dragon (A/n: And yes I've changed DIIV (Wyrm) for DOV because it fits and is cooler.)
SHUL KUN RONAAZ = Sun Light Arrow
GOL ALOK = Earth Arise
GOL RATH BO = Earth River Flow
STRUN BAH QO = Storm Wrath Lightning
LOK VAH KOOR = Sky Spring Summer
FAAS RU MAR = Fear Run Terror
IIZ SLEN NUS = Ice Flesh Statue
VEN WULD DAH = Wind Whirlwind Push
KREN SLEN SOS = Break Flesh Blood
A/n: Before anyone asks why they weren't spamming time stops and whirlwind sprints and the like to move about, you gotta remember that this was essentially a dickmeasuring contest to establish dominance. Nothing mattered but the power of one's voice.
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STONE DEMAND GIVE!
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