Warchiefs

The deafening howls and metallic clangs of anti-dragon shields caught the Infernal Tarrasque's attention, drawing it away from its search for Malileah amongst the dragon-slayers. Its dreadful, lion-like head proved enough of a nightmare for some.

Then.

Red clouds began to gather in the sky, crackles of lightning shooting down from the sky as the beast's eyes glowed a terrifying blood-red. Its head suddenly lowered, inciting fear as it looked down on them all menacingly, smoke flaring from its nostrils. The inextinguishable hell flame raged on the sharp spikes on its carapace back.

"We have its attention!" "Don't let that monster near our walls!" "Keep the battle here!" "What now?"

Blaze and Kingsley gulped as they watched the dragon of abomination open its giant mouth and bared its lethal fangs at the tankers, a whirl of flames threatening to blast from within.

Boom-!!

All of a sudden, a mighty figure wielding a gigantic, glinting golden shield fell with a crash from above in front of the dragon-slayer tankers, glaring at them all over his shoulder. "Why are you all shaking?" he thundered. "Tankers should bravely absorb the damage. If you all cower, everyone else will lose the will to fight. Brace yourselves and hold your shields tight, ya blockheads!"

A streak of light shone in the tankers' eyes. The one standing before them was none other than Terry Dyingstar, the Warchief of the Earth Tribe, Patriarch of the prestigious Dyingstar Family, the great man known for tanking against the mightiest dragons they've all seen. With him here, the fighting spirit within the tankers rekindled, and together, they let out a cry.

"For the Lunargard!!!"

In a swift change in formation, the tankers established their famous human barricade, standing upon each other's backs as they filled all empty space with their individual shields to create one renewed, massive barrier for the rangers to stand behind.

But the Infernal Tarrasque was not one to care nor bother to slow its attack to reassure the humans of a victory due to their bravery. Without further warning, a lava-hot Dragon Breath of Fire shot from its throat, grilling the puny humans alive on the spot.

Or so it thought.

The fire that spewed from its mouth could melt even the toughest metal known, but to its surprise, the collective anti-dragon shield reforged from the toughest metals and a dragon's nigh-indestructible bones proved its might against the fire thought to be undefeatable. Of course, what else could stand against a dragon aside from other dragons themselves?

Seeing such a sight, Blaze couldn't help but smile. 'There goes that man! I've only ever heard of him from stories, and now I finally see him in action. So d*mn cool, unlike his stupid descendants-'

"You're wide open, dragon," a voice muttered from above.

Swung!!!!

Everyone looked up as, once again, another dragon-slayer made another grand descent from the sky, slashing his weapon across the dragon's one eye as he fell. The dragon flinched and stumbled back, writhing in pain as it let out an agonizing cry.

The lone blonde hunter landed near the tankers, pointing the blood-stained tip of his weapon towards the ground. He stood up straight, a great noble aura surrounding him as he stared evenly up at the beast. "Hmph."

"That's my Uncle Bolt!" Kingsley unintentionally pumped his fist in the air in excitement, and Blaze laughed at him.

At the same time, Terry Dyingstar was chuckling heartily at the newly-arrived Warchief. Bolt Hastamvidé turned and flashed him an irritated glare. "What are you laughing at?" he growled.

"Ohh, nothing! Nothing!" Terry answered. He looked down and mustered his smile. 'D*mn, I thought that was Bradley Hastamvidé for a second,' he thought to himself. 'Heh, man, this new Warchief is serious! He's probably on the same level as Bradley, if not better. Too bad Bradley's injured now…'

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck as he stole another glance at Bolt. 'He'll have to work on his patience to become more efficient in dragon-slaying though…'

"I told you they can handle this!" Kingsley told Blaze triumphantly. "Now, let's free Kaiser and Colleen from the underground cells. I'll explain the details on the way."

Blaze nodded, and the two left the battlefield.

* * * * *

"Long time no see, Alistein!" Odeus greeted. He and Pearl came forth, two Sea Tribe representatives standing against a former one.

Alistein turned at the familiar voice and sneered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he returned the greeting. "Hah! Indeed, long time no see, Odeus," he said. His eyes traveled to the female representative. "So…Pearl Clamory, right? She is the one who replaced me?"

"Yes, under my recommendation," Odeus answered. Then, his eyes dropped into a glare, his fists clenching at his sides in anger. "What are you doing, Alistein?! I thought Blaze was lying. I simply cannot imagine you doing this! This is not like you!"

But Alistein only rolled his eyes, looking away with disdain. Odeus' face burned.

To him, Alistein was someone he looked up to, the person who recommended him into the council. He was his role model, not because he was the Emperor's son, but because he was a person worthy of many praises. His role model becoming his enemy was something that had never crossed his mind. He even cried at his funeral. But now…?!

Pearl took a step forward, gripping her two cutlasses tightly in each hand. "I don't like it that we had to meet this way, Sir Alistein. I looked up to you a lot," she said. "Normally, I bow to show my respect to my predecessor, but I will not bow to my enemy."

"We don't have to do this, Alistein! We can sort this out!" Odeus tried to convince him, but the hatred in Alistein's eyes did not once waver.

"My apologies, Odeus, but, I have a new partner now," Alistein said, bitter. He turned to look at Malileah, who yawned with disinterest now that Blaze was gone. He smirked. "She'll take care of you. Please, entertain her. She's quite strong."

Malileah crossed her arms, eying Odeus and Pearl with disappointment as Alistein now shifted his attention to his father. The two locked eyes for a silent second.

"Come, Father." Alistein turned his back and disappeared.

Yvonne's eyes widened seeing the Emperor move after him and tried to stop him. "No, don't follow him, Emperor!" But she was too slow, and her hands missed his robes. The Emperor vanished after him, a stone-like expression on his face.

When he was gone, Malileah charged forth towards the representatives without warning, grabbing their undivided attention as strange markings scattered across half her body.

"What- what the hell is that?" Quintel stammered out loud. He whirled around, alarmed. "She's gone?!" But before anyone could answer, Malileah rematerialized in front of him with a wild grin, giving him no time to react as she kicked him right in the nuts and slammed his face through the ground.

"UAAAACK!!!"

"Quintel!!!" Yvonne cried. But she could only stay back, not knowing what she could do.

Malileah crossed her arms below her healthy breasts, held tight in her Death Reaper uniform. She blew a strand of her pink hair out of her eyes and scoffed. "I was told the tribe representatives are the finest young dragon-slayers there are in the faction. Being nurtured to become Warchiefs or Emperors or whatever. But tell me, am I too strong to see the small differences, or are you all just the same as those weaklings battling the dragon?"

Odeus fumed with her provocation. "What the hell are you talking about?" he raged. "Don't you know? Weren't you in a faction before you joined that shady organization?"

"Hah!" Malileah flashed him a smug look and shrugged, her patched arms held wide open. "Who told you that? I was never in any" – she tilted her head side to side as she looked for the right word – "messy pile of a junk you call a faction."