Slaying the beast.

The forest darkened as I traveled up the large mountains. Trees were everywhere, and a dirt path I had been following this morning was gone. There was no sign of a cave. I looked at my surroundings as I walked. The nature here is really beautiful. After a while, I grew tired of launching myself over fallen trees, and going through bushes and other thick shrubs. The land was sloped, which naturally made it more difficult to climb up. I suddenly thought of a solution. I stopped walking and my red eyes began glowing as I shifted into my neko form. Now instead of just having neko ears, a tail and a human body, I looked like any other feral cat. I'd say the only thing that set me apart are my bright red eyes. Now that I was in neko form, I could travel more efficiently. I broke out into a run, leaping and ducking when there were fallen trees, easily evading bushes.

I travelled for hours in neko form. Clouds were floating through the sky and slowly built up, causing the sunlight to fade away. The dark clouds completely filled the sky now and I could feel drops of water hitting my pelt. It was raining. The cool drops of water slowly fell at first, but it soon picked up. It didn't bother me. Strange isn't it? A neko who likes water.

As the rain poured down I continued my journey through the forest and up the mountain. The plant filled terrain slowly diminished into a more rocky one. I looked up at a wall of large rocks. Maybe I could spot a cave from up there. I began hopping up on the rocks. I was at a disadvantage here because a feral cat and rock climbing don't mix. I could have shifted back to my normal form, but the purpose of this request was to challenge myself and that is what I will do. I continued climbing. When I put my paw on the next rock I could feel it crumble and fall. Luckily, I was able to cling to another rock above before I could fall. I heaved myself up, noticing that I was now on the top of the ledge. I stared out at the treetops from above. All I saw were trees and mountains. How far have I travelled from that village?

I finally decided to look around a bit. As soon as I turned around I was facing at a dark cave. How convenient. Entering the cave was fun. It was pitch black right as I went inside. Since I didn't know what exactly what to expect, my red eyes glowed as I shifted back into my normal form. I couldn't sense any form of life here. Hopefully that would change as I explored the cave. My combat boots made a quiet clunking sound with every step I took. I summoned my double bladed scythe, Inferno. I held it in my hand in front of me as the blades were engulfed in flames, giving light to the area of the cave I was in. My eyes adjusted to dim light in the dark cave after awhile. It was much more silent in here than outside. Almost too quiet. The subtle flames from my weapon weren't doing very good as a light, so with that Inferno disappeared. I could have made the flames stronger to creat more light, but I want to remain undetected by whatever could be hiding here.

In the blink of an eye I had taken a step and placed my foot onto nothing. I was falling. Without hesitation I summoned on of my many kunais and jabbed it into the rock wall beside me. I dangled from the single kunai and took a deep breath. That could have been a hard fall. I looked down just to see if there was any bottom, and to my surprise there was actually another passage in the cave about fifteen feet below. This one was lighted. From what I could see, there were torches in the cave walls. I decided to take a closer look. The kunai disappeared and I was falling again. This was on purpose of course. Fifteen feet is nothing. I landed on my feet in a crouch. I stood up slowly, examining the new part of the cave I had discovered. I was right. Torches were nailed onto the walls of the cave, and it wasn't in just one area. The whole tunnel looked as if it was lit. The way the torches were set up looks as if the tunnel is an entrance to something important or big. The dragon perhaps. As much as I was tempted to run, I didn't. Running risks being detected, and that's the last thing I need.

It took approximately ten minutes before I noticed a change in the lit tunnel, it slowly started to get more spacious and slope down. At that moment I could sense a living creature ahead. An animal, but this animal had a different scent to it. Nothing I haven't scented before, but not what I was wanting to detect. Whatever it is, it's demonic. I could only assume it was a dragon. I slowed my pace, knowing that whatever it was, it could already sense me nearby if it's awake. My questions were answered without hesitation as my bright red gaze landed on an open illuminated room in the cave. I could see piles of treasure, and to top it off, a dragon sleeping beside it. I hid behind a large rock, peeking out at the demonic sleeping beast. I stared at it for a long time. Well, more like two minutes. Basically, I was analyzing it. With my knowledge on anything to do with hell, I could tell it was a fire dragon, but nothing too special of rank considering I could not recognize it. Every demonic creature of hell is ranked somehow, whether the creature believes in tanking or not. It's usually by power, species, experiences, and strength. Once something is at a high enough rank to be recognized, it's talked about. Also challenged of course. Some demonic creatures will kill just to be a higher up in rank and more well known. It's stupid. If I remember correctly, word got around when I did all I had to to leave hell according to someone I grew up with there. Apparently some demons wanted to travel to Earth to kill or defeat me, to have their name spread around. Although, I don't see anything special about trying to kill or defeat me. I'm just an outcast.

Movement from the dragon caused me to snap out of my thoughts. I sighed, seeing it only flipped over instead of waking up. It almost looked innocent. It's dark red scaled body laying on the cave ground, still as it slept. The only thing moving was it's belly as it breathed. I have a soft spot for animals, but I have to look past that considering that this dragon has harmed so many humans. I'm not supposed like humans. Demons are only supposed to use humans as tools. It's all business stuff, but oh well. I'll do what I want and feel how I want. And as of right now, I feel as if this dragon has been hurting people for too long. I stepped out from behind the rock, slowly taking steps towards the dragon. It was way larger up close. Knowing that I wouldn't be leaving without a fight, I held out my right hand, summoning a weapon of mine. The sword I was now holding in my hand was made for this sort of job. It's a rare sword known as Scale Splitter. It does exactly what its name suggests. The sword has the ability to easily cut through the strong scales of a dragon used for defense, and the sword itself guides the wielder to dragon's weak spots. Now, of course it can be used on other things besides dragons, but it was created for these beasts. I lifted the sword, pointing the blade at the dragon's back. Since I had the sword in my hand, I could tell where each weak spot on its body was. The weak points don't look any different than the other parts of the dragon's body, but instead it's like a completely separate power. Almost like a sense. Right now the heart was the only weak spot, but considering the position I was in, it wouldn't be like those children's stories where the hero strikes once to the heart and the dragon falls. No, this would be a lot harder.

In the blink of an eye I launched myself towards the dragon. My sword was raised above my head and I swung it down towards the dragon's exposed side. The long blade cut through the thick scales. As soon as I pulled the sword out I used the tip to stab the open cut I had made. The dragon jumped up in an instant, roaring in pain. My ears flopped down due to how loud the roar was in the cave. I kept my sword stabbed into it to keep me from falling as it got up. Now that I was balanced, I ran along the bag to the neck. As I went to slash horizontally at the back of its neck the dragon shook me off. As I fell I was prepared to land on my feet, but that was quickly interrupted by a large, clawed paw smacking me into the cave wall. The impact made me dizzy for a second but I brushed it off as I ran towards the beast. It turned its head to face me, two red eyes like me stared me down. The dragon opened its mouth, shooting a large mass of fire from it. The current sword I had in my hand disappeared and was replaced by my fire scythe, Inferno. I quickly lunged to the side, missing the fiery breath of the dragon. I used my double bladed scythe to absorb the flames. As soon as the fire stopped shooting out, I requipped Scale Splitter again, my scythe vanishing. The dragon growled, attempting to eat me. I slashed at its jaw and it turned its head away in pain, swinging its paw at my body again. This time I dodged by rolling under it. I quickly ran under its stomach. The scales on its belly and chest are not as tough as the others, so this is then ideal place to hit it. I launched up at the stomach, slicing it. I dragged the blade of my weapon toward its heart.

The beast roared again, moving out of the way. Every time it took a step the ground shook. The eyes of the dragon started glowing as it made eye contact with me. "Foolish Neko demon." I heard a deep voice mutter as I stared at the dragon. I wondered why the dragon waited to speak until now. The dragon's eyes glowed a brighter red as another breath of fire was now fired towards me. I dodged again, running along its tail to get to its back. It tried slinging me off, but I had stabbed into its back just in time to have something support me. "Not foolish. You have something that doesn't belong to you, and your methods bother me." I said as I ran up its back, keeping my balance so I wouldn't fall off. I could hear the dragon's voice again. "You're a runaway aren't you? Defying the true ways of demonic creatures!" It attempted to shake me off again, but I knew better. I made it to the neck and I sliced it repeatedly there. It threw its head back, shrieking in pain. I took the opportunity to slide down the side of the dragon. As soon as I landed on the rocky floor of the cave below, I thrusted my sword up into its chest. Taking it out and doing so again. It lowered itself a bit to the ground in pain and I jumped, slashing at one of its knees . Each cut made by the blade was deep. Due to the new knee injury I inflicted, the dragon fell forward. As it fell I went for the final blow at the heart. I used the gravity that was pulling the dragon down as an advantage, launching my weapon towards its heart as it was approaching me. It hit. My blade impaled the heart of the beast. With a final roar, but much more tuned down due to injury, the dragon hit the ground. "I have my own way of doing things, dragon." The eyes of the dragon stopped glowing and were now dull and lifeless. I sighed, walking over to its face and shutting its eyes. I noticed right away the my sword was still in the chest of the now dead beast. I had to move out of the way of it falling or I would've been crushed, but no worries, I could get the sword. I walked back to where I had delivered the final blow. The Scale Splitter was still lodged in it chest. Grasping the handle, I pulled. After a few pulls my weapon was free. The blade of my longsword was covered in blood. "Well that's pretty." I laughed quietly as I made the sword disappear. "I'll clean that later, but for now I need to find this crown." I looked at each pile of treasure. It wasn't much. Just gold and silver coins, jewelry, weapons and a few crowns. This made my search easier. I looked at the three crowns, recognizing one as a crown that was on a statue in the village. I picked it up, opening my bag and putting it in there. I knew this was the right one.

------------ I returned to the village in early morning. I decided not to sleep after defeating the dragon and traveling back to return the crown. A villager noticed my arrival and immediately called out to some nearby friends. "The Lady is back! The one who went for the crown!" Other people noticed my arrival as well and they started crowding me. Many were asking questions as soon as they got beside me. I got slightly irritated by the bombardment of questions from many people at once. I raised my left hand, signaling for them to quiet down. They did as I said and I looked around at the crowd. "I'm going to talk to the ruler of your village and then leave. You can ask her anything about my journey once I leave. Now please, make some room so I can go there." The crowd of villagers broke up and I walked through, nodding at them as I left. As I approached the home of the village's leader, I noticed she was already outside. I stopped in front of her and took the crown from my bag. " I think this belongs to you." I said, handing her the crown. " Thank you Miss Asami." She politely said as she took the crown. "Now, your reward." There were two bags of money on the ground beside her. she picked them both up with one hand and handed them to me. I smiled, thanking her as I took the bags and put them in mine. I said my goodbyes to the few villagers I had met before heading to the horse stable. Aniya was waiting for me.

"Lets get you to that train station!" She smiled and helped me up onto her horse. I took one last look at the village before she commanded the horse to go. We were now riding on a path. This would be a long trip back, but at least my first request was a success!