The Hunters were fighting a battle pitched greatly in the Dragon's favor. With aerial superiority, greater range, and greater defensive capabilities, the Hunters might as well have been throwing snowballs at a tank for all the good it was doing. It appeared this little town, whose name I still hadn't learned, would be wiped off the map in short order.

Or so it seemed.

Time seemed to slow down as my eyes tracked a black spear hurtling towards the Dragon. I watched as it split the air like a comet, easily traveling several times the speed of sound, until it penetrated the thin membranes of the Dragon's left wing. A pained roar of indignation and fury sounded, threatening to rupture the eardrums of all those in hearing range.

Again, a pitch-black javelin rocketed upwards, skewering the Dragon's injured wing, drawing another roar, but the grounded assailant was not finished.

A third and final javelin acted as the nail in the coffin, crippling the great beast's left wing entirely, and leaving it unable to maintain it's aerial dominance. It began to descend, but not before unleashing another downpour of lightning, it's maw opening wide, and deluge of bright white death raining down upon the town. With it's only functional wing, it ungracefully crash-landed, demolishing a building it struck on it's way down.

I [Blinked] across the rooftops, rapidly approaching the new battlefield.

* * *

"I'm going!" I yell, forcing down the fear of death, and sprinting towards the downed Lightning Dragon. I narrowly managed to avoid being cleaved into pieces, leaping over the incoming leg, and... nothing.

I regained consciousness some time later, but the world felt like it was bathed in lava. Every inch of my body howled in pain, but I couldn't so much as scream. In fact, I couldn't even draw breath. I desparately attempted to fill my lungs, to take in air, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't manage to take even a single mouthful.

My ears rang painfully, and the world still spun, but I managed to piece together where I was, and what had happened. The tail. The Lightning Dragon obviously lived up to it's infamy, possessing the greatest reflexes of Dragon species, and had caught me unaware. I suppose I'd been thrown into a building, the rubble pinning my lower half could attest to that. More importantly, however, was my cuirass. The tail had struck my right flank, crushing my chest plate inward.

'That explains the pain.' My oxygen starved brain provided.

With all the strength I possessed, I managed to lift my shaking arms, and grasp my cuirass, but that was all I could do. 'I'm going to die.' I thought. My ribs have certainly been shattered, my lungs likely damaged beyond repair, and I'd be lucky if the internal bleeding wasn't fatal.

My arms fell powerlessly to the side as my vision swam, and the darkness began to creep in from the edges.

I was expecting the cold embrace of Death, however a blanket of comfortable warmth enveloped me. I hadn't realized how numb I'd become until a lance of white-hot agony shot up my spine, causing me to arch my back, and scream breathlessly. On instinct, I attempted to suck in another lungful of air, and... I realized I could breathe again. I sputtered and choked as I hacked up globs of blood., but all the while I was desperately drinking in the sweet air.

"That looked like it hurt." If I had the energy, I would have snapped towards the voice, but the most I could muster was a loll of my head, turning towards the source, and meeting those familiar, gorgeous blue eyes.

'Ryu.' I thought.

* * *

"Stay still." I commanded Arya. "You're lucky to be alive, let alone conscious."

The idiotic Guildmaster had immediately attempted to sit upright, as if she hadn't just had half her chest caved in by a Dragon's tailswipe.

"The... Dragon..." She managed to get out between labored breaths.

"Could kill you with a glance with how weak you are now." I joke, causing her to frown, or at least attempt to frown. "It's being handled, and you need healing immediately."

Her chest piece had been so badly mangled that all I could do to free her was to tear it apart with brute force. Immediately afterwards I'd cast a Tier 1 [Heal] on her, but the damage was greater than I first though. I wasn't going to let the beautiful Guildmaster die after she'd begun to grow on me so...

"I hope you don't hold this against me." I tell her, placing my hands atop her chest as they begin to radiate an emerald glow.

The instant my fingertips made contact with her flesh, a howl of pain tore from her throat. One would think that magical healing would be painless, but one would be very wrong. Arya's flesh, bones, and organs were forcefully reconstructed in a fraction of a second. Her chest thrust forwards as her ribs audibly snapped into place, her muscles writhed just beneath the skin. The bruise that had painted the right side of her chest a hideous black and purple rapidly faded until her lovely pale skin was visible once more.

'Impressive.' I thought, seeing her clench her jaw and refuse to scream after the initial outcry, not having expected the sudden explosion of pain.

The healing process was as brutal as it was swift, and although it was only an instant, the echoes of that moment replayed in Arya's mind, causing her to involuntarily twitch and shudder. "You're... an... Archmage..." Her eyes bore into mine with all the fury she could muster in that moment, looking very much like an wounded animal.

'Cute.' I thought, before nodding and saying, "I am."

"You.. didn't... tell me... that." Her breaths continued to come in greedy gulps.

I shrugged. "You never asked." I gave her my best shit-eating grin, which only served to stoke her ire, and was about to continue when our private time was so rudely interrupted. Arya's eyes widened accompanied by a buzzing, and the smell of burnt ozone, giving me mere fractions of a second to respond before we were both bathed in electric death.

Fortunately, that was all the time I needed. Mana poured from me, encasing Arya and I in a translucent dome just as the first bolts of white struck, disintegrating into nothingness upon contact with the Arcane Barrier. I might have a good amount of Magic Resistance, but I doubt Arya would fair all that well, and I wasn't particularly interested in experiencing having my flesh flash-fried, and my blood boiled from within.

When the world faded back into color, no longer bathed in pure white from the Lightning Breath, I dropped the Barriers. "Allow your body to readjust, rejoin later." I commanded Arya, brooking no arguments as I [Blinked] atop the rampaging Dragon.

Before it realized my position atop it's skull, let alone allow it to throw me off, I loosed a punch with all the strength my new physique possessed, delivering a blow that resulted in a sickening crunch, crack, and snap or scales, flesh, and bone. 'Not my best attempt.' I had to admit, cringing from the throbbing ache shooting up my fist, and into my shoulder. As the Dragon whipped it's head to send me tumbling, I Blinked away, arriving atop a nearby building that had yet to be demolished and inspected my mangled arm.

The Dragon's scales weren't terribly strong, but it's bones were another matter entirely. The rebound from striking the inordinately strong skull had left my right arm in a state of... disuse. My Healing Factor, however, had begun the reconstruction, and I took a moment to watch as my flesh was knit back together, and experienced the odd shift and pop as my broken knuckles snapped in place. I doubt the Dragon was hurt as badly as I, and decided that physically overpowering my kin was an exercise in futility.

As I summoned Fuji, she greeted me. "Good afternoon, Master." Her voice rang in the back of my head through our telepathic connection, putting a smile on my face as she'd finally managed to recover after two, err- three days and nights? I wasn't exactly keeping track...

I struggled a moment to access our link, fumbling about like a newborn before I managed to 'grasp' the connection, and transmit my thoughts. "Good afternoon, Fuji. We've got a situation to deal with."

I didn't hesitate as Fuji went silent, Blinking into range and cleaving through scale and flesh like air, opening a meter long cut. I was rewarded with a pained roar and a shower of hot, sticky blood as the Dragon's flesh began to visibly heal, but at a far slower rate than I had.

"This Azure Dragon would provide little sport for you, Master." Fuji commented, and I had to agree with her.

"True, but at least I can test a few things. Your capabilities for instance." I replied, and I swear I could 'see' Fuji turn her nose up at that as her voice rang, "On this Thin-Scaled Hatchling? Doubtful."

'Thin-Scaled Hatchling?' That's a new one. I'll have to ask her about that remark later on, but for now...

The Dragon's movements had become even more erratic if that were possible, stomping, swiping, and flailing it's tail about in rage. It was deceptively fast for it's size, likely the reason Arya hadn't managed to dodge, but it couldn't outpace teleportation.

It felt as if I was toying with a child, abusing my superior mobility, and Blinking away from each and every attack that came my way, a cut or stab following in rapid succession, littering the Dragon's body with wounds that it's regeneration failed to keep pace with.

{ENOUGH!} A heavy voice rang in my ears, and I realized instinctively it was the Dragon. Lightning danced across it's scales, radiating an intense heat and light that rapidly grew in intensity. The sight of it generated something in me, a feeling of impending doom. "Master, I suggest retreating for now. Even you would be greatly wounded taking this attack pointblank."

My instincts agreed with Fuji, and I Blinked away the very next moment.

It was none too soon as the orb of superheated plasma coating the Dragon's frame reached it's crescendo. Faster than I could perceive, the orb expanded, leaving nothing in it's wake but blackened earth, and the scent of burnt ozone.

Concrete, glass, and steel within range of the blast had been reduced to molten slag, and no few amount of Hunters who'd failed to retreat in time had been reduce to ash, their entire bodies disintegrating upon contact with the wave.

Lightning still coated the Dragon's frame, dancing between and across it's scales, incredibly dense to the point that it's features were difficult to distinguish past the arcs of blue-white light. Melee had become an impossibility as a result.

Every single one of my offensive spells were useless in this situation. My best ranged attack, a Lightning Blast, was ineffective against the Lightning attuned Dragon. Spirit Fire is pretty useless against Dragons in general, and Balefire Torrent is an Area of Effect Spell, making it a terrible choice for a fight in the middle of the town.

I sat back, observing the remaining Hunters pepper the Dragon with arrows and low-tier Spells. Arya had recovered, but was stuck in the same boat as I, unable to approach and offer her assistance, which was fine by me, but I could see the visible frustration on her scowling face. She obviously wished to rejoin the fight, but had been prevented from doing so.

The battle was far more enjoyable as a spectator, I realized. My 'fight' with the Dragon had been little more than bullying, just repeatedly inflicting wounds upon the Dragon who had no counter for my mobility. Frankly, I had quickly grown bored after the initial surge of adrenaline, and greatly welcomed the change of pace.

Arrows and Spellfire continued to assault the Dragon, and the damage began to visibly accumulate. Arrows had found gaps between scales, biting into flesh and drawing blood whilst Spellfire scorched or cracked scales, creating new weaknesses on the Dragon's frame to exploit.

Still, the beast showed no sign of exhaustion, continuing to rampage, bringing about death and destruction wherever it tread.

* * *

===Author's Note===

Leave a comment, tell me what you think of the novel's first *real* action scene so far. I'm not entirely satisfied with the result, but I can call it good enough. In the future, I'll definitely be reviewing these earlier chapters, rewriting and improving them.

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