Chapter 46: Father & (Vs) Son

"Let's test this mettle of yours. There's hardly a trace of a line, in that thick head of yours, between bravery and stupidity."

As those registered within my head, he was upon me. My claws erupted from my hands to block the incoming strike which only clanged against his sword and instead of deflecting it, he deftly adjusted his grip and swung at my ribs. Azure flames rumbled from within my stomach and I belched them out to create some distance. 

"Good, good. A pass, I'd say," He whispered from behind. I cursed and instead of sprouting my wings from behind as I intended to do to create more of a distance, I protected myself with my scales. His blade clanged against them, but because he had a clear shot to my back he managed to tear away bits of my scales revealing the flesh underneath. I grimaced in pain but spun in place as I worked my shapeshifting skill to make my tail line itself up with spikes and when I enhanced it with my aura, I swung. His eyes focused on the incoming appendage, he gripped his blade and with precise movements pivoted to his left and redirected my tail. He closed in with his blade in an overhead swing. Power, either out of fear or survival, poured out of me and set my dragon claws aflame with pinpoint accuracy the blade slid off of the combined effort of my claws and I pushed launching my father.

He used it to leap out of the way creating some distance from the flames I spouted to chase after him. The cobalt blue flames engulfing my claws and forearm swayed from left to right hypnotically as I took a stance, my feet apart, and crouched a bit low to either push out more power, lash out, or play defensively. My father eyed me as the grassy field before us was aflame sending out smoke and steadily obscuring our vision of each other. 

He abruptly leaned in and practically teleported in front of me, my instincts rang alarm bells inside my head and I leaned back out of shock- his blade mere inches away from my face. I kept my balance with my tail and lashed out a claw to get his blade away. I felt something wet ooze down to my neck, noticing the smell of iron and surprisingly honey. My breaths came out as pants as I saw him prepare his stance once more. His steely gaze never left me out of sight. 

"Shoot your magic, boy," He spat.

I recoiled from his tone, but when I did he was sprinting to me, no longer bothering to teleport or whatever he did, just using his speed to outwit my instincts. I gulped but obliged him. Countless star-shaped energy balls surrounded us and with his blade coming from the right I used it to spin and belch out my azure flames covering the space around me as I launched the beams of gravity at him. I heard him click his tongue and though I couldn't see through the flames I saw him launch a blade of energy straight through one of the beams and slice it in half. 

My eye twitched, but I leaped to where I last saw the energy blade and poured more mana in my infused claws. They burned brighter, already the appropriate technique seeping into my head, I focused on negating any outside interference, ignoring the smoke, the beams tearing through their ground as he used the momentum of the jump to perform a spin in the air. My tail began whipping forward in seemingly practiced time as it caught fire and neared the man who was sending out energy blades to knock out the stars. With my aura, I noticed my father turning his attention back to me, no longer bothering to defend himself against the gravity barrage that seemed to disperse on impact. My aura saw his mouth move and with it, the blade glowed eerily, I shuddered, but now I was committed to the move already having collided with him as my tail fought for supremacy against his blade. 

"You committed, you have the grit, but there is always a price to pay because of it. Make sure you find an out or plan for it," He mumbled, and as I pieced together his advice something happened. 

The scales and fire covering my tail seemed to shudder and crack in response to the energy leaking out of his blade, sensing something dangerous I manifested a Pac-man to explode when devouring the energy in front of me, when it did, the explosion stunned me but successfully launched me away. The energy I received in feedback from the connected pac-man caused cold sweat to drip down my cheek as a bitter smile formed on my face. 

My father must have noticed the expression because the energy faded away as it was replaced with the pristine-looking katana filled with dragon motifs carved on its edge. I was surprised when he threw a question at me as I was preparing myself for the next confrontation. "Why do you think the clan has a tight connection with dragons, Ryu," Before I could even ponder another question reached my ears. "Why do you think I have such a dreadful title attached to me?"

Something seemed to click within me.

You're lore-dropping now?!

An inappropriate thought, but accurate I'd say. 

He did not wait for me to answer. His gaze still was affixed to me, his eyes boring into my soul. A dull icy blue emerged from them as he once again opened his mouth. "I brandished my body and soul to protect humanity and not for thanks, but to be so destructive they wouldn't touch my family. We told you all about the supernatural, but have you ever wondered where all the dragons are? Even though we have two dragon god-like entities in our own world and the Biblical god did a number of their population, it still did not put a dent in them," He took a breath, his blade firmly gripped as he continued. "I led the charge and so many were disposed of, many of my friends fell in the battle. The number of bodies was so massive, that Great Red intervened and created a portal to another realm for the dragons, in doing so caused an imbalance, so he made sure the world had an opposing force- god-like entities and heroes. Cities, dragons, and heroes fall in that other world over countless years, or so the rumors say. We do not know for certain, but I was a witness to Great Red recalling all the dragons and stuffing them away as he returned to the Dimensional Gap," He let out a pained smile. "We were in no position to blame one or the other, both sides suffered losses for foolish reasons. Dragons had always viewed us as nothing more than insects, but there were a couple of hundred foolish insects that poked the hornet's nest and drove almost every dragon insane so much so that they rallied against the humanoid races. The politics involved made my head spin, but that's for another time."

He then whispered, "Not every dragon left, there are those that are living peacefully somewhere here or in another realm, and sometimes are amiable to those who mean no harm. Not every dragon was on a united front, the ones who were far more bloodthirsty were of the Chaos faction, and the others who stayed back- hesitant to fight in the Great Dragon War- were a part of the Neutral or Order faction," He sighed wistfully, "I'd say by now they probably made up their number."

The information stunned me to silence. The sheer weight of it hit me but before I could spin off into my world my father cut in. "By no means does this affect you, it is my blade that has reaped the lives of countless beings, but you also have to understand how close this world could be turned up onto its head by strong beings. The majority of humans do not know, but that doesn't mean it will not affect them," He smiled at me, one that contrasted with his fierce piercing gaze. "You must sharpen your claws if you want to face any potential threats, it is my duty as a father to prepare you. You already have many who are willing to help, so let this old man show you a thing or two." 

He guffawed and launched himself. I grinned despite myself, the battle junkie within me leaping with joy and reigniting. It was dormant and now had awakened in response to my father's words. 

No rest no breaks, we continued to tear the ground asunder. Flashy moves, basic moves, minute movements, and fluid motions were exchanged. He gave me a crash course on killing intent and provided an idea on how to incorporate it into my aura that he had felt. I was shocked that he had, but he was all like 'eh, you learn a thing or two in war against beings who had spent decades or longer perfecting their fighting skills.'

My instinctual movements still dominated my every move, but I could now track the slightest twitch of his movement and plan accordingly, it was an improvement, but I still got hit 15 times out of 10. He was not well versed in magic, but he did use his life force to rekindle the energy within his blade and launch energy strikes as well as coat himself in sturdy clear armor. I was surprised when he tanked a full blow from me and still held strong against multiple uses of my magic from the holy blaze enchanter skill. 

We were grinning like mad the whole time and only when we launched ourselves after a grand attack did we lay there unmoving. After a few moments, he twitched and came to life once again, groaning the whole time about not being in his prime anymore and complaining about my heavy hits. I grinned up at him and he ruffled my hair as he left me to my thoughts. 

There was so much to think about, but my body ached so I just let myself rest upon the repairing field.