Hanna POV 

My body's acting without my control. There's a massive threat in that mountain's movement, and it's pissing me off, weirdly. Next thing I know, my wings shoot me over the ocean like a missile, my form streamlined.

I close in on that mountain-sized dragon, fueled by anger and instinct. As I get closer, I swipe at Zorah Magdaros with my mutated claws, aiming for its rocky hide. My strike connects, but the elder's skin is like solid stone, and my claws shatter on impact. Pain sears through my arm as I break it in the process.

Before I can react, Zorah Magdaros retaliates with a casual swipe of its massive forefoot. I'm sent tumbling through the air like a ragdoll, and crash into the churning waves below, defeated and battered.

Gasping for breath, I struggle to keep myself afloat in the unforgiving sea. My vision blurs, and my body aches with pain. Zorah Magdaros continues its relentless march, seemingly unharmed by my feeble attack.

With every ounce of strength I can muster, I manage to get back into the air. But I know I'm outclassed, outmatched by this ancient behemoth. As it stands, I'm far too weak to break apart the beasts stony hide.

As I soar through the sky, the pain running through my body lends itself more to anger, and I soar up into the sky, miles above every thing and let gravity take me. I angle my wings, shooting like a comet towards the creature. There's a popping sound, and without any protection, I know that I've just burst my eardrums by breaking the sound barrier. 

I don't care.

I have to at least wound it. Pride I didn't know I had forcing me to not back down, and give at least as good as I get. My own scales are flaking off my body, as my velocity rips them from me, but as I get close to the moving mountain and hold my hands out in front of me, the claws of my good hand raised out. 

Closer and closer, the behemoth dragon gets, and more and more does its heat sear the exposed bits of my raw flesh, or burned my scales to molten bits on my skin. 

None of that compares to when the creature looks at me and I collide with its eye. The ocular orb gives way, and I sink into it, covered in burning gore, tearing my claws every which way, hoping to seep as much of my venom into its ruined eye. 

There was a harsh slam, and I'm ejected from the beasts eye socket and land back on dry land, burned to a black crisp, with several broken bones. 

But the grin on my face was evident, despite the pain from my blackened cheeks cracking from the movement. My last thoughts before I lost consciousness was how much I adored this.

 I don't think I could go back to being human. 

Hakuro POV

Dammit! Why did it have to fly off like that? The fifth fleet was placed in substantially more danger thanks to that volcano-like elder dragon being in pain from Imperialis attacking it. Thankfully no one from the fifth has been lost, but the wounds sustained have crippled the fighting force of the fifth fleet. 

"Hunters, comb the area for Imperialis. It is likely it's still rampaging, despite being wounded so be careful!" I hear the Commander say, and I start barking orders for people to search different sections of the Ancient Forest.  People start moving fast, but I'm more distracted by the sudden shouting of Iña and Shai, the latter of whom is trying fruitless to keep the pregnant woman from leaving the safety of Astera. 

I feel the blood leave my face as I realize exactly the sort of calamity that might very well befall all humankind if this woman gets hurt. If the young she's carrying get hurt. 

I come over and carry Iña, much to her outrage, and place her back inside her home, blocking the door with my greatsword. I pull some of the hunters over, "You three. Make sure she doesn't leave her house. We can't risk Imperialis going into a frenzy if she gets hurt." They nod at my words and take up posts. 

I can feel my hair going grey from the stress. 

Deá POV

Well, swimming blows. I had lost my father in the chaos of the battle, two unknown elders duking it out, one hellbent on hurting the other at all costs, the giant volcano dragon's recoiling from its fucking eye being gouged out, throwing our ship off its back. Still, i made it to land, soaking wet with only my knife for protection. I washed up near Astera, where I heard my father shout for me. An instant later, I'm being hugged, my father's strong arms threatening to break my back. 

He must've been worried about me. Big lug. He's hopeless without me or something to fight. 

He's letting me go, and bringing me to the meeting table where the field team leader, Hakuro, the resource management team, the Smithy team lead, the head researcher, and the Commander are all waiting. 

Dad, always the stoic figure, was seated beside me. His stern face betrayed nothing of his emotions, but I could feel his simmering eeagerness to hunt the massive elder. He never changes, I notice with a smile. 

The Commander, a formidable figure who led the council, occupied the head of the table. His commanding presence and piercing gaze commanded respect from all present. The rest of the team sat around, a mix of worry and curiosity etched on their faces.

I couldn't help but fidget in my seat, my excitement barely contained. "Alright, let's get this started!" I blurted out, breaking the silence. I get a few stares,  but I shake my head helplessly. I never was any good at being formal. 

The Commander cleared his throat, his gaze piercing. "As we all know, Imperialis's assault on Zorah Magdaros was unexpected, even more so than the latters appearance," he said, acknowledging the unusual circumstances.

Dad placed a hand on my shoulder, a subtle reminder to rein it in. "We need a better plan," he said, his voice calm and measured. "And we need to understand what we're dealing with. Zorah Magdaros and  Imperialis isn't like anything we've seen before."

The Commander nodded in agreement. "Agreed, Markos. We'll need to gather more information and find a way to incapacitate or repel Imperialis without causing unnecessary harm, in the case it goes on a rampage again."

The head researcher nods their head sagely, adding, "Imperialis is bound to astera by its mate, junior researcher Iña. This outburst is probably due to either its feeding habits, or a territorial dispute upon seeing the other elder dragon."

Eh? Someone had sex with an elder dragon? 

My expression must've been skewed because one of the resource team members, the cute girl with the braids, laughed. "Imperialis has a humanoid form, and is rather human in its facial features. To hear Iña, it's also rather good in bed." 

I can feel my face burning, but the Commander coughed, getting us back on track. "Right now, we have hunters searching all over for Imperialis, as it's bound to be wounded after its clash with Zorah Magdaros." 

After that, we finish up the minor details of our meeting, but it's only a few hours before there's a bunch of cries out at the front. We see some hunters carrying a burned, charred body back into Astera, and there's a scream from a window. But all speaking stops when a small, hoarse voice speaks out. 

"I'm hungry...."