19.3

Flap! Flap! Flap!

 

John’s black coat fluttered obnoxiously against the sky.

Neither he nor Zondrac spoke as the elderly man—wyvern propelled them towards his destination, Courzer.

The coat he dawned held the properties of light armor. It most likely would do nothing against dragons, but this was the best equipment he had.

Zondrac had suggested to bring John to get better armor.

 

But he was pressed for time.

 

The elderly man’s transformation into a wyvern did not surprise him the slightest. It only made sense to him that Zondrac, Evie’s assistant-servant, was just as competent as the dragon girl herself.

Dust threatened to seep into his eyes as Zondrac increased their altitude along the tall mountains of the north.

Holding his right arm to shield his eyes, his dominant left moved to the weapon that hung on his right hip. Compelled by the instincts that he honed from his time in Meastes, he wrapped his modest fingers around the hilt of the mythril weapon.

 

Convictus.

 

The mythril sword that Angeline helped him pick and named.

Though far inferior from the Elven Blades that he once used in A’vetheas, Convictus had served John well ever since he obtained it.

It was a reliable weapon if not anything.

 

Still…

 

Ever since he came into possession of Convictus, the misfortunes that befell him increased the longer it accompanied him.

 

The Harvest’s death, his fallout with the hero’s party, his kidnapping by the succubus, the vampires’ den, Kirksten’s betrayaland lastly…Aurelius death.

 

Not for a second that he believed his sword was cursed, but his gut churned the closer they inched closer to the mountains where the dragons dwelled.

What would happen when he arrived in Courzer?

Would he see Evie safe and sound? Would Evie be heavily injured? Would Velerion had been so cruel to force her to be married off? Would Evie be tortured to her death? Would Evie suddenly have her feelings for him altered? Would…

 

“You seemed...far more troubled than you were earlier, Lord Sarvod,” Zondrac said, responding to John’s uneasy shifting on his back.

 

“Call me John, honorifics are unimportant,” correcting Zondrac John released his grip on Convictus and focused his attention back to the winds that still blasted in his way.

John stared aimlessly at the shifting clouds as they traveled in high velocity, taking solace in nature despite his obvious discomfort for being at high places.

“I will not back down, if that’s what you are wondering,” John spoke after pondering to himself.

“I was not asking implying such things.”

 

“I… w-was wondering what sort of person Velerion is.”

 

John finally admitted.

“If we assume Evie—Ephinelyth’s return is delayed by her brother, I can only think that Velerion would be the one responsible for it.” His open hands curled into fists, “…Prior to today, I have met Velerion.”

 

“!?”

 

“He...well…killed someone I knew. For all his cruelty back then, I remembered him identifying me as a demon.” John admitted truthfully. “He even asked me to join him…I am unsure of what to make of that back then, but I refused. Yet, here I am, knowing that the accursed magic that I was born with will be what I use to fight him.”

John lowered his hands before his eyes, lowered his head as he continued to speak.

“Zondrac… May I ask you a question?”

 

“You may.”

 

“What do you think am I?”

John poised the question, wanting a stranger’s perspective on himself.

Apparently, both Velerion and Ephinelyth, had the power to see him as someone who wielded ‘unconventional’ magic.

The same applied to the vampires, succubus and elves.

Even Aurelius who was just a beastkin knew that about John from the start.

Therefore, it would be no surprise if Zondrac already identified John as a being of chaos.

 

A demon.

 

“I think, like Lady Ephinelyth, you are just a child.”

 

“Ah…”

A soft utter escaped John’s lips.

Those words about Evie from Zondrac were certainly not what he expected.

“That itself does not have any bad connotations to it. I think that like children, the both of you have simple desires and wants, but are placed in positions where none of you can truly seek what you are after.” Zondrac chuckled. “If you want an answer for that ‘demon’ mantle you think of yourself, I cannot help. Elder Dragon, Demon, Gods, whatever identities predetermined from birth are meaningless in the face of the individual.”

“…”

“I think you already possess the answer to that with your mantra you recited earlier. My thoughts are the same as your deceased friend Aurelius.”

“…”

“Like his father, the late Lord Kharston, Velerion is driven by his ideals, very much so where he would burn his life if it meant to achieve his goals. He is not evil by any means, what he does is for the greater good of dragon kind, that is why, we who are not of dragon blood, are shunned and deemed as disruptors to dragon society by him.”

“…”

“In his younger years, Lord Kharston was deemed by mortals to be the Herald of Doom, it was through Lady Synthia and siring children did he mature from his colder self.”

John briefly recalled the man he saw in Ephinelyth’s memories, of a man who had auburn hair just like Velerion, a pair of wise blue eyes that embodied themselves in Evie.

Kharston, in Evie’s memories, looked nothing like a warrior.

 

Everything about the man—Elder Dragon in human form—spoke of how he was a pacifist more than a war veteran.

 

Certainly, even Evie herself would be impatient, but her avidity was a far cry from Velerion who seemed to think that the world only bowed at his knees.

 

To think that their father, Lord Kharston, used to be just like them…

 

Perhaps John was in no place to worry about Velerion. For all he knew, Velerion—

 

Boom!!!

 

An oppressive blast appeared before them.

A swarm of fire engulfed Zondrac and John putting an end to their high velocity flight as the blast robbed them of their vision, overloaded their hearing from the explosion itself.

Both wyvern and human were shot out of the sky like ducks hunted for sport.

 

Riiiiiiiiiiinnngggg!!!

 

John’s ears rung as his charred body plummeted downwards, his limbs fluttered in the skies as though they were ribbons attached to his torso, his balance lost, mind slipping away from his consciousness...

 

Not yet!!!

 

His eyes shot wide open from his closed slits.

He was here to fulfill the promise Ephinelyth had given him.

 

“[Heal]!!!”

 

His voice blasted out in the skies, instantly, his charred flesh shed away from his skin.

Parts of him that were exposed to the explosion earlier, were replaced by new healthy cells, reinvigorating him as quickly as his willpower did.

 

“Zondrac!!!”

 

Noticing the wyvern who was falling a few meters in the trajectory beneath him, John yelled to awaken the elderly man.

 

“Zondrac!!! Wake up old man!!!”

 

The wyvern continued to plummet to the ground without stopping showing no signs of waking up.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!

John moved his mouth to shout once more, but he stopped.

“Alright, here goes…”

Instead, he placed his both his arms and legs close around him, tucking his clothes and body so closely together that from afar he looked like a black missile going downwards.

 

Zoom!!!

 

Reducing all drag and air resistance along his body, John accelerated.

It took him no more than five seconds for him reach Zondrac. Catching the wyvern by the wings, with a firm John tensed his body as he watched the ground very quickly came into both their view.

3… 2… 1…

 

“[Heal]!!!”

 

Thudddd!!!

 

A violent tremor found its way through John’s body, threatening to shatter his spinal cord and organs if not for the [Heal] that he cast in time.

“F-fuck...it hurts! This is just like…”

His voice faltered when the dust from the crash around him started to clear, revealing a dark circular barrier that no doubt was the result of his own magic.

But John was not focused on his own magic.

In fact, he could give less of a crap that [Heal] or virtually anything that involved magic spells that came from him.

 

The dark aura of magic was the least of his concerns.

 

Before him, a pair of yellow eyes with vertical slits watched him with a gaze that pierced through his very heart, one that was all too reminiscent of the very time when he was in Reperane Woods, just more than half a year ago.

 

“Velerion.”

 

The Elder Dragon, in his humanoid form, stood all too proudly with his chest popped watched John with a wicked smile.

 

“Not too terrible of a landing, demon. You did well to survive yet another plummet.”

 

Not far away from where Velerion stood all so valiantly, laid a fallen Ephinelyth that was beaten and battered, her eyes swollen and damp with tears that seemed to have no end, her body seemingly to have encountered an attack that she herself was too weak from defending.

John having made sure Zondrac was recovered, left the wyvern.

Silently, he arrived by Ephinelyth’s side, with a sneering Velerion casting a gaze at him.

But none of it mattered.

The face of the Elder Dragon who killed Alwin Zinrelle, who tried to kill him, who had hurt Ephinelyth, and who no doubt shot him and Zondrac out of the sky with the explosion magic barely registered in his mind.

As though John lived in a different reality, the beaten and battered girl before him was the only person that registered in his mind.

 

“Evie...”

 

Crouching as he swooped his left arm beneath Evie, lifting her body close to him as he placed his fingers by her neck.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

The pulsation from Evie’s neck melted his harden expression.

“I’m here Evie…it’s alright now… I’m here, alright? You won’t break your promise with me.”

Placing his own head against her, a wave of healing magic surrounded the girl as he felt the tense muscles on Evie’s dainty girlish body to soften ever so slightly at his touch.

Before John could finish comforting her in her unconscious state, he felt a force rip Ephinelyth away from his arms, tossing her away from him as though one would to discard a rock.

 

“I was speaking to you, demon.”

 

Velerion’s voice though stale and unemotional, John could sense something building in the Elder Dragon’s voice.

Was it anger? Or was it excitement? Or was it apathy?

John did not know nor care.

“You and your wyvern have no right to be in Courzer, the land of Dragons, much less among us dragon kind.”

With a flick of Velerion’s wrists, his right arm became aglow with a deep glowing red. Using the glowing arm, Velerion moved closer to John.

“State your reason, or I shall vanquish you this very instant!”

 

“Ephinelyth.”

 

John tore his eyes away from Evie and met Velerion spiteful gaze.

“I had come here because I am to fulfill the promise she had given me!”

Pointing at the sun that already had half of its body submerged in the horizon John continued to speak.

“I am to be by her side precisely before sun down. But you, kept her here knowingly she promised me such a thing!”

“You insolent bug! Who are you to speak to me—”

John turned his back on Velerion and towards all the dragons that had before Courzer, his eyes lit with a resolute gaze as he looked into the countless eyes of the crowd, whose race, power, and prestige was known to surpass him.

 

“From my understanding!!!”

 

John placed a hand at his chest as he announced himself with the confidence of a man who had nothing else left to lose.

 

“And what is taught to me by Ephinelyth!!! A dragon’s promise is a sacred oath, something that is akin to their lifeline! To break, or even dare insult, such a resolute declaration means it is to wage war against the very values that all dragons have, is it not!?”

 

The dragons that John spoke to perked at their seats.

Some nodded to his words, others scoffed at his superfluous language, but none of them disagreed with his points.

What he had stated was their way of life, their very essence, their pride, their history, their culture.

It mattered not that he was a demon or human, or any other life form, the fact remains, he knew dragons well enough that he himself respected their way of life that he was willing to put his own life on the line.

If not for his courage, they supported his resolution to speak against Velerion for wanting to uphold the culture of dragon kind.

John turned back to Velerion, who had heat vapors coming from his body at John’s impromptu speech.

 

“And that is why, my friend, Zondrac, and I have disrespectfully arrived in this place in such conditions. After all, a high precision explosion magic was aimed at us before we could land.”

 

“Very well, I accept your words,” Velerion nodded at John’s reasoning, no further convincing was required. “That said, forgiving your intrusion is not the equivalent of absolving you disrespect of me, nor will any of it absolve the crime of interfering with the outcome of the duel between me and my sister!”

Duel!?

John’s eyes flickered.

He had trampled upon some long-forged tradition unknowingly.

 

 

“To administer healing magic on Ephinelyth is in violation against the rules set by my late father. For I have emerged victorious moments ago. By using your magic on Ephinelyth, you have sullied the outcome of the duel,” Velerion spoke calmly.

What John did for Ephinelyth moments ago would not rob him Velerion’s title of ruler nor his power over his sister. However, seeing the demon he encountered in Reperane Woods survived, not once, but twice his assault was enough to irk the Magma Dragon.

What was more, his sister, an Elder Dragon had fallen in love with this weakling. This weakling, who cowered at his magnificent presence not hours ago, who now had the audacity to lecture him on the values and traditions of the dragons!?

Velerion now had power, power over the dragons, but this boy, who lived a fraction of his own lifespan, was already humiliating him not moments he came into favor officially with all dragon kind.

Even if he were not an insignificant bug, even if he had not been Ephinelyth’s lover, Velerion would have used his power to teach the boy a lesson.

“In place of the duel that you have interrupted between me and my sister, John Sarvod! You are to engage in the same duel to prove yourself! Or you shall face a torturous death penalty! The choice is yours, demon!”

 

Argg…

 

A groan came from where Zondrac was at, the wyvern seemingly to have regain his consciousness.

“There is no point in mindlessly agreeing to it…” Zondrac spoke, his eyelids still draped over his eyes. “Velerion is—”

“Silence!” the Elder Dragon with the auburn hair swiped his hand in the air, sealing Zondrac’s mouth shut as his very own yellow eyes seemed to glow in anger.

 

“Velerion.”

John spoke, causing the Elder Dragon to stop his actions and turn to John with the same cruel yellow eyes.

“I will engage in your duel.”

Velerion raised his hand, aiming at Zondrac as the Elder Dragon’s arm glowed red, “Excellent, now if you would have me a moment, I am to punish this—”

“I will engage in your duel, not to defend my position, nor because I interrupted the duel!” John spoke in haste, interrupting Velerion before Zondrac was about to be hurt. “But for myself selfish reasons. If I win against you, you shall give me your word to not lay a hand on Zondrac and his family…” his eyes darted towards Evie, who was laid unconscious far away from him.

 

“And Ephinelyth shall be mine!”

 

John’s words drew the attention of all dragons.

He spoke as though he already won the battle. When in fact the disparity between him and Velerion, an Elder Dragon was extremely apparent.

Even presuming he was a demon, such a notion was ridiculous, if Ephinelyth, the equal of Velerion, could not best him, what little chance did John have.

Of course, John knew this.

That was why he continued to speak.

“And, if I am to be defeated, you are free to take my life however you wish. Along with it, your grudge against Zondrac, I shall bear the full brunt of it.”

 

It was a hopeless gesture, but Zondrac will be safe. It was the least John could do for the wyvern that helped him here.

 

“Hahahaha!!!! You!? Defeat me!?”

Velerion’s laughter was loud, all the anger that was built up in him seemingly dissipated at John’s assumption.

“You!? Ahahahahaha!!! Y-you...someone like you!?”

Never once he had been defeated in his life, even in the rare traning sessions against his own father, Velerion had never lost but ended their one to one fights with a draw.

And if his own father, the Great Lord Kharston, could not outmatch him, John was delusional for thinking that he could win against Velerion himself.

“…”

“My goodness!!!” Velerion spoke with a hearty tone, “You are one hilarious boy!” He clapped his hands, struggling to regain his composure “I can’t bear the thought of you actually defeating me, it’s simply far too… Ahahahahaha, yahahahaha!!!”

“…”

“Alright, alright...your terms are fair,” finally had enough of laughing at John’s naivety, Velerion returned to his senses.

“Thank you,” John bowed his head.

This may be very well the end of him, but if there was anything John learned, regardless of what the short-lived future had in store for him, he was going live the rest of his life, his way.

And he would die peacefully knowing he repaid his debts to Zondrac and having fulfilled Evie’s promise to him.

“You know what, demon?” Velerion spoke, “I like your attitude, challenging me and thinking you would win? That was a first, and as hilarious I found it to be, I am gracious enough to appreciate your conviction.”

A smile found its way to Velerion’ face.

“In fact, it’s put me into such a great mood that I am willing to alter the nature of our duel, just a bit to accommodate someone of your…caliber.”

Is he insulting me? Or is he being reasonable?

Velerion turned towards the crowd that had gone unusually solemn.

“My people, we all are aware the power gap between me and John here. To honor his courage, I will generously allow a handicap where it would allow John here a fighting chance.”

Handicap?

“If John manages to land a lethal blow against me at any point in combat, he will emerge victorious. Should he no longer have the strength to face me or collapses permanently during combat while I still stand, it shall be his defeat.”

Collapses permanently? John hesitated. Why didn’t he use the word kill...or does he intend to make me suffer for as long as I…

 

“Let us begin.”

 

The hostile expression on Velerion’ eyes returned.

Velerion had no intent to kill him from the start, but he might as well take his time to make John suffer.

And finally, when John is weak enough, Velerion shall extinguish all hopes that was in John and place a punishment for worse than death onto him.

He could, in retrospect, order John to personally kill Ephinelyth under his orders. Zondrac and his family were safe but in John’s haste, he overlooked Evie’s well-being.

A gulp formed at John’s throat.

His fingers moved to where Convictus was, drawing his mythril sword from the black scabbard that it was in.

Regardless of what is about to come—

 

Clang!!!

 

Before he had fully brought Convictus before his face, John’s blade was met with a blow that demanded an immediate halt in his train of thought.

Convictus was met glowing sword that radiated with heat strong enough to peel John’s face off.

“!!!”

Wasting no time, John jumped backwards as he scanned Velerion, who had a devil’s grin on his face.

Like his glowing arm, the sword that the Elder Dragon wield on his right pulsated with the same molten lava that Velerion had complete control over.

“Magma...sword,” John spoke, taking note of the deep red pieces that made the body of the sword, unlike any of the conventional swords that he was accustomed to.

Velerion’s sword was crude in construction, with rough jagged sides for its edge, this was a weapon meant to induce physical trauma more than for cutting.

Even with that being said, despite its looks, Velerion’s weapon needed not a keen edge, all Velerion had to do was to bring the weapon close enough to John’s body and his body would combust at the slightest contact.

“It has been a while since I last wielded a weapon, much this one that I have constructed,” Velerion looked towards his own blade and commented. “However—”

Velerion disappeared before John’s eyes in a red blur reappeared on top of John with the magma blade came swinging down at John’s direction.

 

“!!!”

 

John moved to roll dodge, his body avoided Velerion’ attack but as soon as the magma blade struck the solid stone floor, Velerion swung the blade at John’s neck, to which he quickly squatted down just in time, dodging it with a hair breadth to spare as a horrible heat seared across the air above him, baking his scalp.

As John had yet to settle in his squatting position, his body moved on instinct and rolled across the ground once more like a log.

Thunk!

No sooner when he had rolled away, the same magma sword came down in a straight vertical arc at where he had been a moment ago.

How did I do that!?

Wondering to himself as he retreated away from Velerion, who was just as surprised as he was.

His body acted as though it could anticipate Velerion’s thoughts. The less he thought, the more—

“!!!”

He slanted his body as Velerion had suddenly charged at him with super speed, missing John with the gap of an inch in between.

Using the slight delay that Velerion had in committing his posture into that one strike, John brought down Convictus at Velerion’s open neck.

“Not so quick!”

The Elder Dragon fully blocked John’s attack with his bare hands, gripping at Convictus with his full strength, making sure John could not pull away the mythril sword from his grasp, locking John to where he stood.

“Got you!”

The Elder Dragon brought his sword to John’s neck.

“!!!”

His released his grip on Convictus without a second thought, managing to dodge the lethal strike in favor of a scorch on his flesh.

“Gah!” John staggered backwards with his two hands covering his neck, Convictus still in Velerion’s hand as the black aura of [Heal] swarmed his wound, numbing all the pain that accompanied with it.

 

Crackle! Clang!!!

 

Convictus made a loud noise as Velerion tightened his grip at John’s sword, intensifying the hairline cracks on his mythril weapon before flinging it a distance away from them.

Convictus might not withstand a few more beatings I...

John kept his eyes on Velerion who approached gradually. Now that John had no weapon, the Elder Dragon had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted with John.

Retrieving his cracked mythril sword was his only option, without it John would not know what to do to hold himself against the Elder Dragon.

Velerion’s movements were faster than the speed of wind, John could barely see, much less read the Elder Dragon’s attacks.

And if he moved to retrieve Convictus that was on the opposite of where he stood, he would have wasted both his time and energy and leave himself vulnerable to—

“What’s the matter? Not so strong without a sword?” Velerion provoked, “I have yet to use magic and you are already out of stamina, you promised me a fight, Sarvod!”

 

It was then did he see Ephinelyth who laid at a great distance where Velerion was approaching him from.

Evie did not use weapons.

Yet, she was able to partake in a duel with Velerion, if physical weapons had failed him, he still had one more trick up his sleeve.

Finally, a realization sat in him, the realization of how the dark aura responded to him.

 

“And a fight is what you will get!”

 

John charged the same time as Velerion drove the magma sword into his direction.

His legs sped up, his conscious mind and physical body became one, powered by the fact that he was riding at the very tide of battle, allowing himself to become one with the world.

“[Repel]!”

John shouted the moment Velerion’ sword came into contact with him.

Velerion’s yellow eyes shot wide open as the Elder Dragon was pushed away with a force so strong that send shockwaves throughout the dueling arena.

Boom!!!

A loud crash echoed in the distance as he watched the Elder Dragon crashed into the mountains as large chunks of rocks fell onto Velerion as a result of John’s attack.

 

“I...I...did it…” a delighted smile cracked on John’s face, “Ha!!! It worked, it worked!!!” he sung as he looked at his two hands, rejoicing as though he was a mad man. “All I had to do...was command it according to my will—”

 

Eraak!

 

John chocked as he felt a sharp blade entered from his back piercing through him as the tip of deep red sword appeared from his abdomen.

The bodily fluids in his body boiled as he felt the very magma sword melted his insides. Having vaporized a part of his abdomen, Velerion pulled out the weapon.

 

Thud.

 

John fell to the ground like a doll, body limp as a lifeless puppet.

Velerion planted his feet against John’s head.

 

“Impressive progress, demon. However, that hardly injure me.”