Honor and Disgrace

"...what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim." 

By Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

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The next twenty minutes wasn't a battle but rather a carnage of free-for-all. The gathering of the dozen Ancient Dragons became a semi-boss fight of its own as William's Honor Guards separated themselves from large groups to small, intending to fight as a team. 

For the Honor guards, this wasn't a battle of a legendary story in making or a glorious battle that it will be written in the hall of heroes. The groups of four to five Honor Guards stood in front of one of a dozen Ancient Dragons and blocked them from approaching William. 

[You will face us, monster. The darkest moment of your life is upon you.] All of the Honor Guards spoke in unison as they approached their respected opponent in front of them. 

Some face up against the Ancient Black Dragon from the lost Empire that went against sending sacrifice. 

Some Honor Guards went up against Ancient Red Dragon believed to be so violent and vicious that only Gods themselves would dare to face up against. 

One group stood their ground as the Ancient Blue Dragon covered itself with lighting and cracked the air as it struck down randomly.

All as one, the Honor Guards attack, embarking on a fight that will place them on the pedestal of how one's duty is not to his own gain but to serve and stand against the enemy of greater power. 

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William stands alone as his Honor Guards advance to fight against the dragons of massive size. Without any hesitation or sign of fear, William saw his men fighting against mighty monsters while he took a moment of rest to regain his strength and reorganize his weapons for the second round. Opposite where William is, Tiamat does the same, biding her time to regenerate her injuries and rethink of strategy after learning of a knight who can't be killed with magical spells. 

The only solution for the Tiamat is the use of brute strength and hope it will be enough to crush the knight. With no magic spells available, Tiamat's only advantages are strength, size mass, and breath weapons. Unforntaly, this means that she can't fly as Tiamat uses magic spells to fly as well as the ability to cast levitation to stay clear of danger. 

With a few minutes of recuperation and planning, William and Tiamat both made their move by rushing each other head first. As each of the two leaders advances, around them, both Honor Guards and Ancient Dragons fight among each other, shooting, biting, slashing, and unleashing elements into the battlefield. 

Tiamat was the first to make the first attack by raising her right front leg, intending to bring down her massive claw onto William. Seeing this, William once again uses his teleportation to jump and appear left side of the Tiamat but to his surprise, the Dragon Queen anticipates by swiping her tail. 

Tiamat has the usual tail, unlike her children. She does have a dragon tail but at the end, she has a stinger similar to a scorpion and just like it, it has deadly venom. This is a very strange character of the dragon kind as this kind of tail is usually shown among the wyvern kind which is considered not a true dragon race. 

The swipe of the giant tail hit William in the chest and threw him back even though his terminator armor is heavy even for the standard armor. William eventually slammed into the boulder, resulting in cracking the boulder like a spider web. 

William didn't receive any damage from the Tiamat's counter attack but as he is not facing the monster with multiple ways to attack him in various directions, he decided to bring something unexpected. 

Opening up his inventory, William summons the terminator armor attachment. A missile pod appeared and attached to William's shoulder, giving him the ability to attack both air and land if the situation demands it. Also, it's a heat-seeking missile. 

Seeing something new that could be dangerous, Tiamat opened all her four mouths and was ready to unleash a breath attack. It was at this moment that William opened fire on all his missiles, sending them right at the Tiamat's red dragon mouth. 

The missiles found their target as massive heat generated from the red dragon head became a perfect target. Attacked at a vulnerable position made things much easier for William as Tiamat's red head exploded, interrupting the breath attack. It was at this moment when William once again teleported to the location where he knew he would be most destructive. 

Appearing once again in the back of the Tiamat, William brings out his golden halberd and strikes down where it hurts, the precise location where the wing and body meet. 

Activating the halberd, the blade of the weapon glows golden, and using his mighty strength, William strikes down directly below him and carves the goddess's flesh like a hockey player going for the goal. The blood gushed out from the wound but that was short as the wound got cauterized which means Tiamat can't regenerate the lost limb naturally without the use of healing magic. 

Just as William was about to strike the second wing, one of the Tiamat's heads (The Black Dragon Head) appeared from the smoke from the missile and bit him, removing William from the Dragon Queen's back. 

The sudden attack from the dragon's massive mouth blinds William from being able to move his weapon in his hand. Just as William was about to open fire his heavy bolter into the dragon's throat, the mouth opened and once again tossed William like a ragdoll. 

Unknown to Tiamat, William left a small gift before he got thrown from the dragon's mouth. A second before William was let go, he dropped a crate of explosives with a 10-second timer. The moment Tiamat realized something was wrong, it was too late as the black dragon's neck exploded, decapitating it from its body completely. 

After hitting the ground and managing to get up, William wasn't happy as he was done with being a dog toy. It was at this moment when one of the Ancient Dragons dropped on top of William as a group of Honor Guards managed to push back using heavy weapons.

Receiving imminent danger, William slid aside from the dragon's massive body in time and saw the fall of the dragon as its life drained from the heavy wounds. Making sure the dragon isn't playing possum (Playing dead), William blasts the dragon's eye with heavy bolter rounds, completely obliterating half of its head. 

[Chapter Master, we didn't see you behind the monster. Our apologies.] Said one of the Honor Guards whose rank shows the rank of veteran sergeant. 

[Don't worry Battle Brother, I was merely blocking your way from doing your duty. Join the others and help them. I will do my service as Emperor intended.] William ensures his men and turn around to where Tiamat is. 

'Yea, to kill that damn oversize dragon god.' William thought and hoped that the previous explosive did its job. Two down, three more to go. 

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Tiamat wasn't having a great day as two of her five heads were completely gone and unable to regenerate without her advanced magical spells. Her natural body was able to stop any critical issues such as going to shock or failure of any major organ failure as her three heads worked overtime. 

The problem also lies in some kind of anomaly coming from the strange knights and their leader. Tiamat was already aware of the unique abilities coming out from certain knights as they managed to counter her and her children from casting magic in general. As if they are anti-magic knight. 

The idea that their ability to stop magical beasts from casting spells is ludicrous enough but their weapons and strange crossbows are dangerous as well. By now half of her oldest have been slain and soon rest will join for they are struggling against the strange knights. 

'Did my brother send them? They are not wearing any emblem of the platinum dragon but their power is formidable. Oh, how I wish they could serve instead of fighting against me.' Tiamat thought to herself as she wondered if her method of ruling the faithful was not logical in the long run. To have her servants run around for her amusement and killing without actually identifying their potential reminds her that she could be wrong but unable to pinpoint exactly where. 

Just as Tiamat was about to reach the point of her wrong as a leader, a small group of knights approached her with weapons high. With no hesitation, Dragon Queen unleashes her breath attack. Combined with fire and acid, the cone of two elements mixed and consumed the knights entirely. Stopping them but still intact for some reason. 

"Interesting. That is quite tough armor they have. I should test their limits and see if I can duplicate the toughness." Said Tiamat as she reached for one of the knights, their leader once again appeared to block her from obtaining the armor. 

"You will not touch my Battle Brothers!" Said the silver knight as he opened fire on everything he had, causing Tiamat to step back. The firepower of the range weapons increased as William changed his ammunition from standard to Kraken Penetrator Rounds. 

An ammunition design to fight against the toughest Xeno hides, the Kraken Bolts are used for fighting creatures with heavy armor such as Tyranids units and light armored vehicles. 

William finally decided to fight the Dragon Queen with intention of killing her before his plan of bringing the Titan onto his battlefield. This is no longer a fight to buy time but to see if he can slay a deity before William's plan comes to fruition. 

"Fuck the plan. I'm going to kill this overgrown lizard before twenty minutes is up." William shouted with his all might and activated his support item from his inventory display. 

A squad of Thunderbolts came from the sky and rained down powerful lascannons and missiles onto Tiamat's back. A few moments later, a laser beam came down from the sky and with precision, the beam hit the Dragon Queen's tailbone. In a matter of few seconds, the tail completely burned off and the massive dragon cried in pain as she continued to receive punishment after punishment. 

"You will face the death and the one who delivers your doom is ME!" William said with rage attached to every word.

With powerful attack after powerful attack coming down from the sky, Tiamat is pushed to the edge. In desperation and fear of death coming down upon her, she did something unexpected. Tiamat calls the power of the Nine Hells and names of the Nine Lords, asking for help, to be saved from the mortals which she is willing to be disgraced and shamed. 

Out of Nine Lords of Hells, one listened and answered. 

The Lod of the Sixth, the daughter of Asmodeus and known as Dark Prodigy answered the call. The Princess of Hell, Glasya appeared from the ground through the burning fire portal, standing between Tiamat and William who was about to bring out a big and powerful range weapon from his inventory. 

"Lady of the Sixth. Please answer my call. Assist me in killing these mortals once and for all. Show them the power of the Sixth!" Tiamat welcome help from one of the Lords of Nine Hells and gladly accepts any help she can get. With injury beyond her imagination, Dragon Queen is willing to throw her dignity and pride. 

Glasya, standing 9 feet tall (2.7m) and similar to succubus, is a noble bloodline of the archdevil and daughter of the Asmodeus. With bat-like wings stretching and a forked tail waving left and right, the Princess of Hell simply looked at Tiamat, once mighty Dragon goodness, now a beggar, willing to compromise just to save her own skin.

After a long wait, Glasya finally reply Tiamat's request as everyone including William stops fighting and quietly listens for her to answer.

"No." Said Lord of the Sixth. 

"No? Why?" Tiamat asked as she was in shock and unfathomed from the answer she got.

"Because I was bored. Also, I hate you and want to see something entertaining like your demise." The cruel reasoning paused Tiamat's heartbeat and made everyone unable to process the information as one of the most Devil in the Nine Hells came just to taunt the Dragon Queen. 

"You are jesting. How can you answer my call and give such a reason to withdraw help?"

"That's because I can and I did. What more do you want to know? I'm bored and you might give me enough entertainment." The archdevil flew high above and took a sit on the edge of the high mountain cliff to have a better view. With a flick of her finger, the entire battlefield is surrounded by the fire, forming a massive arena. 

"Don't let my presence stop you from killing each other. Give me amusement." 

With that, the battle once again began as everyone broke free from the presence of the Archdevil and resumed fighting. 

William turns his head back to Tiamat and brings out his weapon from the inventory. A massive size heavy lascannon with an independent generator is placed next to him with the main weapon aimed at the Dragon Queen's center mass. 

"Time to die, bitch." William pulled the trigger and fired the weapon. After two seconds of charging, the heavy lascannon fired and a devastating beam shot out. 

'Oh fuck.' Thought Tiamat as she attempted to dodge the laser hot enough to match the temperature of the sun.