Chapter 520 Part 2

As my brick sailed through the air, the Dragon lifted up his hand and casually smacked it away, shattering it into pieces.

“…..”

“…..”

“….did you just throw a brick at me?” The dragon asked.

“No.” I answered with complete honesty.

He blinked, looking at me then at the literal pieces of a brick on the ground next to him.

Whatever bullshit it seemed he wanted to spew was lost in this moment.

“I admit, I don’t know how to respond to this, it’s a first for me.” He spoke again.

“You could apologize.”

“For what?”

“Destroying a precious family heirloom. That brick has been passed down from generation to generation in my family for thousands of years.”

“…but I thought you said that you didn’t throw a brick at me.”

“Don’t dwell on the small things.” I crossed my arms. “Take responsibility for destroying my brick.”

“And how would you like me to do that?”

“You could kill yourself, save me the trouble.” I offered a very reasonable form of compensation.

His eye twitched slightly. “I think I understand why you’re Ddraig’s destined user this generation.”

“Actually, I stole Ddraig.” I replied.

He opened his mouth and closed it again. “Is that so?”

“So, what can I do for you Chrome Conch.” I stabbed my sword into the ground, leaning on it.

“Crom Cruach.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m fairly positive that’s my name, yes.” He replied.

“Chrome Conch sounds cooler. I’m going to call you Chrome Conch for now on.” Actually, what would a Conch chromed over look like? “Anyways, what can I do for you, Chrome Conch.”

His eye twitched again. “I wanted to introduce myself to Ddraig’s host.”

“Do you want an autograph? I mean, there’s a time and place, but if you’re this much of a fan, I can’t really reject you.” I looked around for something to write with. “I’ll make it out to Chrome Conch. To my biggest and edgiest fan – go fuck yourself. Sincerely, Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg. How does that sound?” I looked at him.

“I have the distinct feeling you’re going to be difficult to talk with.” He replied rather evenly despite me constantly poking him.

“No, no. I’m always amicable towards assholes who get involved with my matters and intentionally inflate them leading to problems I have to deal with.” I looked towards the ‘corpse’ of Balor.

[Careful]. My Zanpakutō’s voice echoed in my ears. [Crom Cruach is not a foe to be taken lightly. He carries a unique desire for improvement among his own kind. Long ago, he was only around the power of a Dragon King and subordinate to The Evil God Balor. Now, he is at a minimum as strong as Ddraig was in his prime.]

Right.

Hearing confirmation was…..well, I wouldn’t say pleasant because I could feel his overwhelming presence since he arrived.

I just didn’t know it was to that extent.

And it wasn’t hard to put two and two together when he introduced himself as Crom Cruach when I had just ‘killed’ Balor.

I already assumed outside interference, I’m just putting a face to it at this point.

“I admit, I had another purpose for appearing infront of you.” He followed my gaze towards Balor’s body. “I’m here to retrieve his eye.”

“Hmmm, I’m going to have to say no on that one Chrome Conch.”

Crom Cruach tilted his head with a strange smile growing. “Are you going to stop me?”

I met his gaze head on feeling the weight of his presence, his eyes looked to the side suddenly as my Ascalon was inches away from impaling him through the head.

However, it stopped mid air as an iron grip held it firm.

Barely giving it attention, the dragon had grabbed the blade and it refused to budge. His eyes widened ever so slightly as a drop or two of blood dripped down from his fingers and down the length of the blade.

“What a powerful Dragon Slaying sword.” He spoke in genuine surprise. “It’s actually capable of harming me.”

“It’s actually a Dragon improvement sword. If you stab yourself in the heart with it, you get a power-up.” I corrected him.

He looked at me with that same grin. “Since you’re a dragon, does that mean you get stronger if I stab you in the heart with it?”

“…..that was a joke, don’t take it seriously.”

With a casual flick of his wrist, the sword shot off and was buried to the hilt into the abdomen of Balor’s corpse.

It should be noted that the corpse of Balor was decrepit and haphazardly thrown together in appearance, but by no means was it weak.

“You seem to care about the Youkai outside, I’m surprised you would stop me from taking it and leaving.” He spoke up again.

“And why is that?”

“If we fight, how many of them do you think will die?” He said rather bluntly.

“I don’t like being threatened.” I found myself frowning.

“Oh, there it is!” He smiled brightly. “I wanted to see that expression of yours, befitting of a true dragon. I don’t really care about those small creatures, but I’m not like our kin who would belittle you for doing so. Personally, I think a dragon is allowed to care about anything, big or small. The only caveat is that they have to act like a proper dragon. If you want to protect little squishy creatures, then as a dragon, you better do so.”

“Are you okay in the head?” I asked him with full seriousness.

He chuckled good naturedly. “I’m just happy that you’re acting like a proper dragon. It’s my goal in life to seek out the purpose of dragons. For that, I’ve travelled the world for a long time and I like to talk to other dragons and understand them. Not many have taken the role of protectors like you have, caring for such little creatures below them. It’s a rare and refreshing take in consideration for your strength.”

“….that’s your motivation? The purpose of dragons?” I asked in disbelief.

“Is it so strange? Don’t humans universally want to understand their purpose in life? Why can’t I, as a Dragon, wish to do the same?”

Well shit, I couldn’t really find an argument against his logic. Is it not every sentient being’s desire to find their purpose in life?

“You should ask Great Red, see what he thinks.” I kept a straight face. “He’d probably love for you to drop in and spew an array of philosophical and nonsensical questions.”

“….I am more than aware that the Dragon of Dreams cares not for his fellow dragons.” He looked a little awkward.

I looked at him in realization after I recalled the story Ddraig told me about his encounter with Great Red combined with my own meeting with him. “….did he spank you like daddy Balor used to when you were naughty?”

There was a beat of silence, his expression didn’t change but sometimes, one’s inaction spoke louder.

“I promised him that I wouldn’t kill you.” He let out a breath.

“Oh? Then how about – “

“So please don’t die.” He smiled politely and my eyes widened this time.

It was a fist.

Something that should be simple, but there was absolutely nothing simple about it this time.

He threw a fist at me and for the briefest of moments, I wondered. If someone pulled a literal mountain out of the ground, condensed it into the shape of a fist, and threw it at someone, would it have less strength behind it than this fist coming at my face right now?

“Hanuman!” I called out as I focused on the Hogyoku and converted everything I had into Aura as it burst out in a myriad of colors around me.

The Shadow of Hanuman rose up out of the ground, contrasting my colorful Aura while the simply looking fist shattered both of them.

That isn’t to say they were ineffective. They substantially reduced the strength behind his punch to push through both of them, yet I felt it hit me in the cheek and I felt the force vibrate through my body with an accompanying shockwave that followed behind.

I took a few steps back, but stayed on my feet.

Crom Cruach looked at me in surprise again. “I put a lot of my strength into that punch.”

I couldn’t immediately respond because my mouth was filled with blood, forcing me to spit it out.

“It should be my turn next, right?” I glared.

“Sure!” He smiled brightly. “I’ll tell you what, if you can force me back further, I’ll leave without fighting you or your allies.” He held his arms open.

There was definitely something wrong with this dragon’s head.

Regardless, I was even further pissed now.

My right arm turned to lightning.

Hanuman reappeared; its shadow wrapped around my arm.

My Reinforcement was pushed to the limit.

Finally, my Aura regathered and swirled around my arm.

Between eating the Fruit and slaying Hanuman, my base strength had increased by a noticeable margin, and it was the foundation by which everything else manifested.

It started with a thunderclap as I threw my fist out.

The Lightning discharged as my fist landed on his cheek, followed by the overlayed shadow of Hanuman. Then, I released all the Aura I had wrapped around my arm, the aurora of colors cascading as my fist pushed into the flesh of his face.

I frowned again because he barely reacted.

I quickly took a few steps back waiting for the proverbial dust to clear, only to see he had barely been forced back a step.

Glancing down at my fist, it trembled slightly.

My hand was broken.

Silently, he used his hand to rub his jaw. “Not bad, I even used a couple techniques to fortify myself there.”

“Do they have sufficiently long and edgy names? Black and Gold Ebony bright dragon’s ultimate negation field defense? My Heart Darker than Darkness Golden shield of the primordial dragon’s twin evil eye shielding?” Was I still running my mouth? Yes, yes I was.

He chuckled again, seemingly finding the humor in my sarcasm. “No, just a couple martial arts I mastered a long time ago, I believe they’re called Iron Skin and Unmovable Mountain these days.”

“That sounds rather unremarkable.”

“Well, they are considered very basic Martial Arts. I had to start somewhere when I began learning. And of course, I am a Dragon, I am built differently than humans.” He smiled.

Oh joy, a Dragon that genuinely learned Martial Arts and whatever else he came across over the thousands of years longer he’d been alive over me.

That isn’t a terrifying thought when combined with his strength.

“How would you like to join us?” He suddenly offered.

“Pardon?”

“The Khaos Brigade. I’m sure you managed to figure it out by now.”

“What, Khaos Brigade, no way!?”

He twitched again slightly. “Would you be open to joining us?”

“I’d be more likely to become celibate.” I said dryly.

“That’s unfortunate, but not unexpected. Regardless, if you have nothing else – “

“Ultimate Technique, go!” I threw another brick at his face.

He let out a small sigh as my brick soared through the air, much faster and harder than the previous one.

With a casual motion, he swipe at it with his hand. However, the Talisman I snuck on the back of it glowed and the brick phased through his hand unabated before turning back solid and colliding with his face.

The dragon stumbled backwards, perhaps from the sheer surprise of it more than anything.

There was absolutely no visible damage, only a pained silence that followed as he stared at it then back at me without speaking a word.

[I am honestly horrified at the thought of you applying this kind of resilience and intelligence to something productive.] My Zanpakutō let out an exasperated sigh.

“I believe that’s my win.” I pointed out with a big grin.

He clenched his jaw, and I had the vague feeling he wanted to beat me up. “I am a Dragon of my word.” He finally forced out. “I’ll leave without fighting you or your allies outside.” He turned around and walked towards Balor’s severed head.

“What do you think you’re doing?” My other swords flashed out and hovered infront of him before he could reach the corpse.

His steps paused and he turned to look back at me with a much more distinctive and impassive expression. “I said I wouldn’t fight you or them, I never said I would not retrieve the eye. If you try to stop me, that’s on you and I can defend myself to the fullest extent without breaking my word.” He warned. “But by all means, let’s have a nice rampage together, It’s not as if you’re in the middle of a war.”

I narrowed my eyes and was honestly annoyed because he wasn’t wrong.

As much as it pained me to let him, I wasn’t really in a good position to stop him. I would have to use everything I had if I genuinely wanted to fight him and that was a bad idea with everything else going on right at this moment.

I gestured with my hand and all my other swords flew back to my side, giving him silent acknowledgement.

Crom Cruach thrust his arm into the Evil God’s massive eye, ripping out a much smaller eye that seemed to be hidden far beneath it. It was clearly the source of the Evil God’s powers he displayed up until this point.

“We’ll meet again.” The dragon warned.

“No we wont.”

The Dragon twitched slightly once more and didn’t opt to say anything else as he shot into the sky and disappeared.

Asshole.

@***@

Jinn POV

This was a bit harder than I initially thought!

“Le Fay, can you stabilize the right side?”

“I’m trying!” She called out, sweating dripping from her forehead.

“Rin how are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m holding on for now, but I don’t got much left in me.” She answered.

Several other Magicians had collapsed, a few more were heaving, trying to maintain their spell casting.

The Spell Sequences were becoming very complex even for me. I thought it would be a simple matter of connecting several turbulent points, but they’re constantly changing and we’re having trouble locking them down.

“Shields, shields!” I barely glanced back to see one of Yasaka’s generals barking orders.

Hundreds if not thousands of spells rained down on the troops we had around us. The Shields were barely managing to hold, some cracked and shattered and several Youkai were hit.

“Wounded, retreat to the rear and perform emergency healing. Next line, wands up, I want spell fire returned, prepare the next wave of shields!”

The vast majority of Fae were still being held back by the combined efforts of a handful of ours far further north, but that didn’t mean they all ignored everything for a few individuals.

Thousands still came marching down and collided with the few thousand of our own we had trying to hold a firm wall.

Unfortunately, there were still some of those giants still stomping around, making things even more difficult.

I sequestered off a few Parallel Thought Streams to give them a hand, casting some defensive spells occasionally when I noticed the need, but my focus was on trying to establish this Teleportation chain.

“Big Skeleton!” I suddenly blurted out as the Big Skeleton Youkai who I lent the sword to was getting ganged up on by several giants and he couldn’t even swing the sword around with them on him.

I quickly opened several more thought streams to throw out some spells to help him out.

There were others of his kind there, physically wrestling with some of the giants, while a few others were getting pulled down and somewhat swarmed by the numerous amount of Fae all around.

I couldn’t really put much emphasis on the spell casting though, so I stuck to the most simplistic spells, the very basics.

“Earth Wall, Fire Ball, Lightning Bolt, Wind Arrow,” I cast in quick succession, just to give him some room to push them off.

The big giants were only mildly scratched or nudged away, but the big skeleton managed to wrest away and used his whole body to start swinging the sword wildly, the searing flames roaring every which way that the blade passed.

Sir Wiggles was also helping!

The cannons on Wilhelm’s ship were firing nearly nonstop, but there were just so many of them!

“Lady Jinn!”

I turned my head not noticing as something slipped through the world and Unnulf lept up to black a sword strike even as I quickly cast a defensive spell.

A rather powerful Faerie seemed to emerge from the falling snow as if it were a doorway and Unnulf got knocked down into the cold ground.

I was ready to fight myself, but Unnulf wasn’t the only one standing here protectively.

“You will not!” Arthur joined quickly, crossing blades with the Fae as well, the two seemed to be about evenly matched.

The Fae fell to the ground after the first collision, steadying himself with a lard broadsword lofted up.

Unnulf stood up next to him as the two humans faced against him.

Without warning, they began fighting again.

That one wasn’t the only of their kind able to bypass everything and appear overhead. It came with the sound of horses letting out their cries as through the snow storm, hundreds of calvary galloped through the icy weather.

Plenty of our own took to the skies quickly, but they were far outnumbers.

A few large skeletal hands swiped through the air at them, managing to knock a few down, but they still overcame our front lines easily enough and our Magicians were tired and stressed and focused on the matter at and.

The forefront was a really buff Kappa who barreled right into them, their sharp blades, their spears, their steel slashed at him, mostly minor wounds with a few concerning ones, but he began throwing out powerful punches and blasting several away with every movement.

Very quickly, it became extremely chaotic.

I gathered what more effort I could separate and cast a singular but powerful barrier around us Magicians as the spells began to rain down along with thrown spears and arrows.

Wait, why did the spell sequence formation suddenly slow down?

I realized I overlooked just how exhausted the Magicians around me were. At this point, it was only me, Rin and Le Fay that were still standing.

She was having trouble too, but it was almost complete.

Mmm, we were outnumbered, and the barrier wasn’t going to hold. If I put more effort into protecting everyone, the completion of the spell would completely stall.

“Hey Le Fay, want to see a spell that Big sis Freyja taught me?!”

“What – “

I threw my hands up. “ᛒᛁᚷ ᚱᛟᚲ ᚠᛁᚱ ᛋᚴᛁ ᚠᛟᛚ ᚠᚨᚲᛖ!”

It took a moment, but everyone around us stopped fighting and looked up because the snowstorm was being pushed away by a gigantic flaming meteor.

“What the hell!?”

“She’s crazy!”

“Retreat, retreat!”

“Thou art suicidal!”

Even the Fae around us cried out in alarm.

“And I’ll do it again!” I cast it one more time. “ᛒᛁᚷ ᚱᛟᚲ ᚠᛁᚱ ᛋᚴᛁ ᚠᛟᛚ ᚠᚨᚲᛖ”

“Lady Jinn!?!” Le Fay cried out.

“I’m coming home, mother.” Unnulf looked up.

The powerful Fae suffered a slash at his side from Arthur as the former tried to run away.

I just laughed maniacally, the first of the meteors came crashing down and……disappeared as it should have caused a massive explosion and destroyed everything.

There seemed to be a moment of silence amidst the fighting as everyone realized that it was fake.

“That was an illusion, but this wasn’t!” I clapped my hands as the spell sequence finally finished, and it bloomed into an array of lights with hundreds of Teleportation Circles manifested all around us.

Within the blink of an eye, tens of thousands more of our troops appeared, ready to fight.

It only took a second for them to understand the situation and the furious roars of theirs joined among our side and quickly the tide turned.

Thousands of Youkai, fresh and willing to fight, crashed into thousands of Fae who had been trying to push their way towards us to stop their arrival.

The first collision was bloody and brutal with death sweeping both ways unabated.

With my connection to the Teleportation Circles, I could feel them activating again, and it wasn’t just more Youkai that arrived.

First, it was Aotabō who jumped out, wreathed in his corrosive flames as he turned into a malevolent spirit of fire and dived right into the thick of things.

Second though required a little bit of coordination.

“Get those siege weapons prepped!”

“Everything is good to go, general!”

“We’ve practiced this for months, you louts. Right side, begin cone maneuver! Left side, follow suit!” He shouted out and the ones directly under him in position repeated his orders as the entire battlefield slowly shifted.

The fronts began to slowly pull to the side, opening a large gap in the middle where the enemies pushed in.

The Siege weapons were pulled up and were activated.

It didn’t seem like they had someone directly ordering their every movement so they either willingly or foolishly overextended.

“Fire!”

The air vibrated as all the siege weapons actualized simultaneously, and the fortress-destroying spells were launched all together, cleaving through thousands of Fae all at once.

It was…definitely a sight.

“Shields up, press in, force them into the center!”

The Youkai around the edges used their wands to create their shields again and slowly pushed more Fae back into the kill zone.

It was either throw themselves into the meat grinder, or throw themselves at very angry Youkai.

Their lines began to fall apart quickly before the second volley fired. A good number of them attempted to try and escape by retreating backwards, but the hundreds and thousands of their fellows were a hard wall to push though. Likewise, they tried to breach the sides, but the layers of shields made it exceedingly difficult.

Even if they managed to wound one or two, the wounded were pulled back to be healed right there on the battlefield with their healing wands while ones in the back filled the spots.

The months of training made them a well honed machine in this regarded.

“Fire second volley!”

Again, the air shook at the weight of the attack, the magical siege weapons shot again, claiming thousands upon thousands of more lives as the steam drifted off their glass focuses.

It was by no means the entirety of the Winter Court’s army, but a good number of them were being routed in this first collision.

The Teleportation Circles lit up again as the next round of reinforcements emerged and we began to push them back.

@***@

Ddraig POV

Damn it’s been awhile.

I crushed a bunch of armored ones into the ground with my claw, then I used my tail to sweep a few dozen more.

I took a big breath and spewed out my miasmic breath, melting and evaporating hundreds more.

When was the last time I just rampaged without care?

A blade hit my side and bounced off my scales, a spear shot out and I felt it prick me, a little bit of blood followed.

It’s unfortunate, this body I’m using was so weak.

Not that I would never expect to be unwounded from such ‘simple’ things. Any kind of arrogance I had about humans or the like had been completely crushed after seeing the peaks that they could stand.

I always held respect for Dragon Slayers, and somewhat for famous heroes. Even before I got sealed, if someone asked me about Hercules, I had nothing bad to say about him and would treat him as a proper opponent if we fought.

But now….I guess it’s thanks to the brat that my view widened even more.

What was I supposed to think when it came to things like Heroic Spirits?

It’s why I no longer look on down simplistic things like a small little faerie stabbing me with a spear.

Maybe in the past, I would have enraged, but now I simply made sure to stomp on him until he no longer had a solid body mass.

But I still wished I had my real body.

Hell, I’d even take Níðhöggr’s real body right now…my current ‘body’ is basically a fake replica of that shitty dragon.

Still, I’m happy to have this even if I want more.

And now for my secret technique – rolling on the ground!

I laughed as I just plopped down and began to roll, crushing so many of them and they had no idea how to stop me.

What the hell were you supposed to do when a dragon just starts rolling across the ground at you?

Nothing!

Sure, I felt my scales getting slashed, and wounds building up, but it’s inevitably with I have thousands of them jumping at me at any one time.

How many of them were there in total? Well over a million I’d say at first glance.

“Foul beast, thou shalt be slain by mine sword!” One in some fancy looking armor galloped on a horse above the others. Some kind of leader or something was obvious. “Know that you shall be slain by –“

There was one benefit of this fake body that came about.

“Ven Gaar Nos.” I let loose a roar as a tornado immediately manifested and swept him up along with an uncountable number of others and it continued onwards as more were torn apart or swept away.

Sure, I can’t use too many Dragon Words like this, otherwise my fake body will break down faster. But it’s still something I can’t help but admire.

A whole language for dragons, what’s not to love?

I can’t wait until I show Albion how out classed he is next time.

Even more than he probably thought already.

But speaking of dragons, I smelled something…familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

It started with some distant roars.

The multiplied until the world began to shake at their arrival and hundreds of shadows loomed overhead.

Dark scales that took a purple hue in the right light, and each one with two heads.

I would recognize them anywhere, and they seemed to recognize me too because a good number of them were coming right for me.

I quickly flapped my wings to push up to avoid a barrage of magic from them, clicking my tongue in annoyance, remembering how good this bastard was at using magic.

They were not too strong individually…..but their numbers were a bit worrisome.

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one here, the brat’s women were also fighting, good or bad, it pulled their eyes away as well.

I flapped my wings again and took to the skies as fast as I could. The first one I came up to, it was basically brainless, and I chomped down hard on it, enough to break its scales even if it didn’t outright die.

It fought in my grasp, clawing at me, spewing magic from its own mouth. I used my own claws to tear at its wings and scales until it could no longer stay flying by itself and spit it out to fall down to the ground.

Plenty of Spell Circles illuminated the darkened sky under this snow storm.

I did my best to avoid what magic attacks I could, but there were simply too many and I took some hits even if most of them couldn’t penetrate my scales.

I slammed into the next one, but a powerful shield enveloped it and it took me an extra few seconds to break through it, giving the dragon enough time to teleport away.

Annoying bastards.

And their numbers multiplied a hundred-fold. But I wasn’t dumb enough to not notice that they were mostly illusions that just sprang up.

Still, I wasn’t adept enough at magic to be able to pick them all out.

So instead, I just took a deep breath and released another breath attack, completely ignoring their own attacks on me.

A bunch of the illusions disappeared, but I managed to knock another two real ones out of the sky.

“If it isn’t Ddraig.” A voice traveled over the distance, over the sounds of fighting everywhere. I jerked my head to the side to see a young-looking human riding ontop of one of the two-headed dragons. “It’s been awhile, Great Welsh. Let me give you a present to celebrate this reunion.” He held up his hand. “Ahura bāzang: Dārušnāy Xšāyathiya”

An ethereal Skull appeared in the sky, dwarfing anything on the battlefield, it was wreathed in purple flames and opened its mouth, spewing them in a torrent right at me.

I took a deep breath realizing I couldn’t dodge.

“Fus Ro Dah!”

The invisible force rippled out, colliding with the torrent of purple flames, causing the latter to collapse before reaching me completely, but it was enough that the power behind the spell still tore at my scales and wings, sending my hurling to the ground.

Thankfully, a bunch of those Faerie broke my fall.

Unfortunately, a bunch more of those two headed Dragons decided I looked tasty.

And fuck, that hurt.

Just as I was about to make a move, the ground rumbled.

A large silhouette burst out of the ground, clamping down on one of the two-headed dragons, its cry echoing out for everyone to hear.

The World Serpent let out hiss and tossed it to the ground after it stopped moving, presumedly after being injected with a substantial amount of lethal venom.

“Jormungandr?” I called out to him in surprise.

“Ddraig.” He answered back.

“…..you helped me.” I was surprised because I was always a dick to him.

“Of course, what are friends for?” It looked like he was smiling.

…..god dammit, brat.

He spewed his own venom at the others like a fountain, and it even rained down on the small Faeries underneath.

I’ve never seen a literal poison rain before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

“Hey, did you get bigger?” I gave him another once over.

“I ate those fruits and I managed to recover a bit. It’s only a few hundred feet, but it’s good progress.” Jormungandr seemed happy.

I didn’t have it in me to say anything snarky.

Though, someone else joined us rather quickly.

The same one as before hit the ground from above, though intentionally on his part as he landed a bit more gracefully than I did.

“Aži Dahāka?” Jormungandr called out.

The Evil Dragon from ancient Zoroastrianism. He’s pretty famous for creating those ‘clones’ of his, those two-headed dragons that can basically be mass produced at his leisure.

“If it isn’t the World Serpent too, this is also a surprise.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Jormungandr asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to be bigger?” He retorted. “You also seem weaker, but maybe I’m just misremembering since you were always so weak.”

“Hey, don’t talk to the noodle like that.” I interjected, defending him. “Why are you even in a human form? Where are your other heads when you turn into a human?”

Because he’s a three headed dragon, and he only has one head in his human form.

“That’s an interesting question.” Aži Dahāka spoke.

“…..and?”

“Honestly, I actually don’t know where my other heads ago when I transform.” He admitted.

“Have you tried looking up your ass?” Jormungandr offered. “You evil dragons seem to have a knack for inserting your heads deep inside there.”

“oof, burn.”

Aži Dahāka rolled his eyes. “Scathing. But I have something important to ask. What magic did you use to escape my forbidden spell, Ddraig? You always so arrogantly talked down to me for mastering magic, and yet you used it so openly and I couldn’t even recognize it.”

“You want to know?”

“Yes.” His eyes glimmered.

“You really want to know?”

“Tell me about the damn magic, Ddraig before I start tearing apart your friend.” He pointed at Jormungandr.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But there’s a special process to unlock it.”

“Really?” He seemed to give that serious thought. “It was strange, like a forceful alteration of the world rather than a series of smaller and more intricate sequences….” He looked up. “Alright, tell me.”

“Alright, first…”

“Yes?” He leaned in expectantly.

“I fucked your mom.” I said with full seriousness.

“……”

“Jormungandr joined me. We double teamed her.” I roared so everyone heard me.

“What the hell, Ddraig!?” Jormungandr blurted out.

“You’re mocking me.” Aži Dahāka said evenly.

“No shit, three head.” I said as sarcastically as possible.

He looked at us silently before transforming into his true dragon shape. Blackish purple scales, large body and all three heads growling.

“Huh.”

“What?” Jormungandr looked at me.

“I think he’s stronger than he used to be.”

The three heads looked up to the sky. “Farsāyēnā bāzār: Nīgārā bārāzānōr nāhīstā”

Two large skeleton hands pulled open the sky, revealing a miasmic void. From inside the strange void, a skeleton head poked out, similar to the one from his previous spell with the same ominous purple flames.

Instead of spewing the flames this time, it opened its mouth, and meteors were released wrapped in the same purple flames as they fell down from the sky right at us.

Well….fuck.

@***@

Yasaka POV

Why are there suddenly a bunch of dragons?

Why are there meteors falling from the sky!?

I abandoned my Fox Form and quickly shifted back to my humanoid form. I jumped up, using the head of one of these Winter Court Fae as a springboard and narrowly got out of range as one of the meteors hit the ground right by where I previously was.

It erupted in an explosion of purple flames that seemed to burn and corrode everything they touched.

And there were plenty more than were falling from the sky.

Funnily enough, it was indiscriminate and was hitting right ontop of the enemies’ army.

So…..win?

I could see back and the numbers of my people had increased significantly, indicating that we were successful. Noticeably, they began pushing back the Fae that got past us with quite a fair number of corpses piling up.

Though…not all of them our enemies.

I managed to weave through them enough to find the others also retreating back.

Good, I didn’t need to collect them, they knew what they were doing.

Seeing an opportunity, I jumped into the air and landed on the back of one of those two-headed dragons. It seemed surprised at my sudden appearance, attempting to roll mid-air to fling me off, but I sunk my claws deep into its back and forced it forward.

It eventually lost its momentum and fell at a good angle that I was able to jump off before it hit the ground and I was right back where I should be.

I kicked the nearest bone-armored menace between the legs, earning a satisfying crack as he fell over and I smiled back at my own people whom I had rejoined.

“What are you all dawdling for? Line up properly and march in formations.” I started giving orders to reorganize our lines while the Fae they had been fighting retreated backwards towards their main troops.

“You heard her, I want iron spears out and pointed forwards. Archers, arrows at the ready. Second lines, be prepared with shields!” The familiar voice of my general carried onwards.

It’s so nice to have competent help.

Oh they still outnumbered us by a good margin, but it felt like we were much better trained and prepared.

Iron weapons.

Magic wands of all sorts of variety.

Siege weapons.

And it seemed like our formations were more unison and practiced. I don’t believe they’re used to these types of open field battles.

Frankly, my people weren’t either beforehand, but we had significant help.

“General, split into the three-by-three formation. Tengu aerial unit take to the skies. If it flies, don’t let it get ontop of us.” I looked around. “Nurarihyon, are you here?”

“Just got back.” He said with clear exhaustion, stepping next to me.

Raikou also joined him, blood splattered across her body and even on her face, yet she still gave the most gentle and innocent smile as I met her gaze.

And if those weren’t the biggest come fuck me eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Take yours and harass their back lines. I want any major threshold of spellcasting interrupted.”

“Will do.” He gave a casual and somewhat haphazard salute and went off to collect his people.

“When are the siege weapons going to be refreshed?”

“It still need about ten minutes before they’re able to fire again.”

“Get them into position and prepare accordingly. Agravain!” I looked around.

The head of the Pendragon Family under Artoria’s purview came over when he heard his name. “What do you require, Lady Yasaka?”

“Artoria seems to still be preoccupied. Can you –“

“I have returned.” Artoria and Mordred came hurrying back, the clear signs of battle across both of them. “However, Agravain, follow Yasaka’s commands.”

I smiled. “Take up position at the left side, I’ll let your people handle one of the siege weapons.”

Artoria nodded. “Mordred, I will leave you in charge, please protect it.”

“Yes, Father!” She pat her chest happily and quickly ran off with Agravain.

Everyone quickly moved into position.

There were six groups, one left, one middle, one right and each had a secondary group of equal measure somewhat behind them.

It was to make use of our resources to rotate as needed and be able to apply pressure at any spot depending on the flow of battle. A lesson taught by those Greeks that came around.

I stomped my foot down with a loud noise. “Weapons!”

“Weapons!” a resounding shot echoed across the battle field, steel and iron smacked the ground with a continuous thundering.

Spears pointed at our enemies.

“Forward!”

In unison they all let out a shout and the mass sound of marching began.

The distance between us and them wasn’t very large, the chaos from before had somewhat normalized back to normal lines and formations, though theirs still weren’t quite uniform in comparison.

However, they did regain their earlier momentum and were ready to meet us head on.

The first of both sides clashed once again in an array of steel and blood.

 I didn’t need to micro manage everything. I had Generals, and my generals had their owns subordinates. I wouldn’t say that the months we trained made us absolute experts, but we certainly were a step above them in this regard.

Standing a bit back, I could see the degree at which our adaptability in formations was being used to our advantage.

The back right group was ordered forward and up, funneling the side of their army inwards, bunching them up unknowingly. And the left side with the Pendragon family began to retreat back a bit. It created a forced path that rather than pushing forward, they didn’t realize they were subtlety maneuvered at an angle that significantly reduced their forward momentum as a unit.

Just for a cursory glance, I could see that they were taking far more losses than we were.

Though, that didn’t mean we were without concerns.

Looking up into the air, those dragons were still an issue.

Ddraig and the World Serpent were currently fighting something far more deadly, but other than knowing it’s a dragon, I was in the dark.

However, things shifted quickly as far above the snow storm, something happened out of view, only for a moment later that flying ship to come flying back down through the clouds, looking not too good. Clear signs of battle and damage littered the vessel.

The cannons on it continued to fire upwards, but a strange scoff emanated, and they were all turned to ice cycles before the shots could reach too high.

Following it, a large frosty hand reached down through the clouds and swiped at the ship, hitting the back of it barely and sending it into a downward spiral, forced to make a rather abrupt landing.

Out of the clouds, a figure emerged and I narrowed my eyes.

It wasn’t a projection or some exertion of power over the domain this time.

For the first time since arriving in this realm, I could see her clearly.

The Winter Queen took casual steps downward in the sky, each one creating a frozen platform in the air, like stairs as she descended downwards.

Seeing her finally appear, I found myself growing angry.

All the pent up frustration, all the anger I’ve had to deal with because of her finally came bubbling to the surface after having to keep a steady mentality all these months.

My Semblance ignited once more and like how she was stepping down on icy steps, my flames hissed with each step up I took until she finally noticed me.

It was excruciatingly cold the closer I got to her, but my flames managed to keep the worse of it off.

“You are out of your depth, fox.” The Winter Queen’s voice carried over the distance, on the icy winds themselves.

“Nice arm, is it new?” I mocked her.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as the cold intensified. In response, my flames blazed even more, enveloping me completely.

“You will regret your choice in coming here. You will die just as all the ones you brought. Regret as you watch all of them die before you are allowed to join.” She harumphed.

“Oh save me your spiel. You have no one to blame for this situation but yourself. You poor choices led to this outcome, and now it’s time to reap what you’ve sowed. No, Queen, you are going to regret your choices, you are going to regret attacking a peaceful people who never knew you or yours. You are going to regret ever thinking that you could invade our home on a whim without consequence.” I growled back at her. “Did you think losing an arm was an insult? Do you think you’ve even begun to experience the definition of the word.”

“Your home.” She scoffed with barely concealed anger. “I will show you what I think of your home.” She reached out and her power condensed, piercing through the world.

A tear was created in space, and I could see through it.

Was that Kyoto?

@***@

Archangel Gabriel POV

“Lady Gabriel, for how much longer do you intend to stay here?”

I glanced at Pathiel. “Maybe a few more days, I don’t know.” I sighed.

“Lord Michael has requested you return.”

“Tell him I’ll come back home later.” I just wanted to stay here for a little while longer. I looked up at the sky, seeing the moon above, realizing I had absentmindedly sat here for another night. “Maybe I should check back in soon.”

But Jeanne was on the other side!

And…..I was worried.

I’ve been watching the Devils News about what’s been going on, but I can’t help but stay worried.

Mou, I should go convince Michael to let me go over.

I wouldn’t get involved! I just….

Why do things have to always be so complicated?

“Lady Gabriel, you –“

I held a hand up, stopping her. Slowly, I moved a finger forward and caught a snowflake that was about to land on her nose.

It was not natural, if anything It was also malevolent as it tried to drain my power.

I looked up again, and more began to fall form the sky.

Rather quickly, the world trembled, a crack opened up under the moonlight and a large hand reached through, bringing with it a deathly cold.

Frozen droplets of water fell off the hand, hitting the ground. Every spot they touched, some type of elemental creatures emerged. Ones made of snow or ice grew to impressive sizes.,

“Did you think this small place was beyond my reach?” A chilling voice reverberated from the other side of the crack. “Anywhere that Winter touches, so too can I reach.” A cold laugh followed.

“Lady Gabriel, we must evacuate!” Pathiel seemed to sense the danger immediately.

I understood the situation after a moment of time. It seems that ‘person’ decided to reach back over here due to some misguided sense of arrogance.

How unfortunate.

“There’s no need.” I didn’t get up from my seat or even move.

I was more aware than most just what exactly exists in this city at the moment.

All around the city, sirens rang, alerting the residents to the danger. But along with that, lights began to emerge all over the city, magical shields emerged by the hundreds.

Obelisk-like structures floated upwards.

I always found the Eastern forms of Magic fascinating in how they operated, and I watched as the obelisks began to release tiny little objects – to my eyes, they were pieces of papers – Talismans.

All the monstrous elemental creatures that spawned, they were immediately swarmed by the thousands upon thousands of Talismans that were released by those Obelisks.

Not to mention, the Obelisks themselves were each a focal point that deployed a powerful Magical Barrier that the residents immediately took shelter under.

Just from that alone, this was one of the most protected cities in the world.

Unfortunately for the ‘invader’, that wasn’t all that existed here.

“You dare!?” The voice of an angry Goddess was unsurpassed within her own territory.

A mass of black ink-like tendrils shot up to the sky, wrapping around the distorted crack in the world.

“W-what is that?” Pathiel squeaked out.

Ah, it’s her first time feeling it?

“That would be a Goddess.” I answered. “And she seems very upset.”

Following that, a dragon roar shook the city.

A large blue dragon shot up to the sky, in all its majesty and ripped off the arm of the presumed Winter Queen.

And ear piercing scream resounded from the other side of the gap.

…..and it flew away with it.

“And that would be Tiamat.” I looked at the flying away dragon with the arm in its mouth.

She used to live in the Underworld, but for some reason, she decided to start living in this city.

The tear in space was forced closed by the Goddess, normality returned quickly even if there still needed to be a bit of cleaning up to do.

“Let’s go lend a hand, Pathiel.” I smile towards her, a light spear manifesting in my hand.

I don’t think Michael would be upset if I saved some innocent people that have nothing to do with the war on the other side.

@***@

Wilhelm POV

The barrier I set up finally was released and I was greeted with an interesting sight.

Things certainly changed in the meanwhile.

The fighting had intensified exponentially. And there were dragons all over the skies…..and is that the Winter Queen squaring off with Yasaka?

Is she missing an arm again?

I quickly moved back towards Sir Wiggles, stepping onto my ship.

“Master~” Raikou joined me, hopping on.

Well, the more the merrier.

The Ship lifted up off the ground.

“A Fine vessel you have there.” I turned to look at the familiar voice, the Jolly Roger slow rose into the air below us, looking a bit worse for wear.

Captain Hook wasn’t in perfect condition, but Arc seemed to be doing well, giving me a wave.

“You must have held her off for a long time.” I noted the damage he’s sustained.

“Admittedly, I did more running than fighting.” He chuckled. “But, I wouldn’t reject a second bout.” His eyes gleamed mischievously.

“Think you can keep up, old man?”

“Ohoho, I think you’ve find I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” Both our ships, while ascending together, took to different sides.

The Cold air above intensified, but a bright light broke through it, a warmth that reached me.

Yasaka started fighting the Winter Queen with something I didn’t recognize.

Was that her semblance?

Questions for later.

Both our ships took a wide berth around the clashing of fire and ice.

There was no need for words as both Captain and Myself looked at each other.

The cannons on our ships began to open fire.

“Insolent!” The Winter Queen furiously swiped her hand out, pushing Yasaka away, and sending waves of frost at both ships.

Raikou jumped off the ship, turning into a streak of purple lightning, slashing her sword at the Winter Queen.

The Queen glared angrily at Raikou, her movement not outside the Queen’s perception as a thick wall of ice blocked the way at the last moment.

However, Raikou excels at a certain type of slaying.

Her blade contacted the wall and with a bit of effort, pushed through it and continued onwards.

The Winter Queen’s eyes widened, and she jerked to the side, a small cut on her cheek dripped with blood as Raikou retreated to the other side on Captain Hook’s ship, landing gracefully.

“Did you forget about me?!” Yasaka shouted, grabbing the…was that a Chakram made of fire? She grabbed the Chakram behind her back and threw it at the Winter Queen.

“A mere animal!” The Winter Queen shouted, using her one arm to press forward, waves of ice and cold coming to her aid to collide with the fiery Chakram that released noticeable waves of heat.

The cannon fire continued nonstop, snowflakes bloomed around her, each one acting like a shield to intercept the cannon fire.

“Then what about this as well, Fox Fire!” A second and distinctly different type of flame emerged from Yasaka as well, intertwining with the other one, pressing against the Winter Queen’s ice, but still didn’t budge her.

Raikou as well wouldn’t miss the opportunity. With a flash, she was above the winter Queen, her blade poised to sever her head.

“Enough!” The Queen roared again, and everything seemed to come to a standstill.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

It was as if time became frozen, or atleast slowed down to an absolute crawl immediately around her.

She grabbed Raikou’s arm and threw her in the path of Yasaka’s flames then swung her arm around in an arc, gigantic Ice cycles came into existence, pointing at her stilled ships.

I slammed my foot forward, exerting my Spiritual Pressure, breaking free from the sort of frozen moment.

I grabbed for one sword in particular.

“Dawnbreaker!” I swung it down, the light and heat of it was the perfect weapon to use in this moment.

The Winter Queen’s head jerked to my side and I could see her in a moment of panic throw up whatever defenses she could in that moment as everything returned to normal.

Yasaka’s flames were quickly dismissed as she caught the awkwardly thrown Raikou, and the Jolly Roger dodged the large Ice Cycles as best as it could with cannons firing at the ones that it couldn’t.

Arc didn’t stand by idly, even if she were severely weakened at the moment, she could handle a few things on that level and easily cleaved them apart with her claws if they were going to hit.

The light of Dawnbreaker dissipated naturally as the Winter Queen stood there breathing heavily, not from exhaustion, but I think mostly from rage.

“Dragon, where are you!?” The roared out.

Three Large Heads dipped down from the above clouds for a moment before it fully emerged.

“I have a name, you know.” The Dragon snorted, looking around and its eyes landed on me.

“Fulfill your obligations!” She demanded.

Shit, I don’t know who that Dragon is, and while it feels weaker than Crom Cruach, it’s definitely not something I could ignore.

“Special delivery!”

Above this dragon, I could see Ddraig’s fake and beaten body flapping its wings and….was that Jormungandr on its back? Obviously, it was shrunk and…..I realized what was going on.

Jormungandr jumped off its back and returned to its full size.

“Oh, you fucker –“

Just as quickly as the three-headed dragon appeared, it disappeared into the ground below.

“Ddraig??”

“No time to talk, dragon is Aži Dahāka, really strong, really annoying. We’ll keep it occupied.” He flew back down after them.

It seems like they had been fighting for a while.

“Despicable, unreliable lizard!” The Winter Queen scowled. “My knight, come to my aid.”

The Ice and Snow hissed in the air, forming a solid mass as someone stepped through the world. Wrapped in armor adorned with frozen thorns and with an aura that seemed oddly similar to the Winter Queen.

“My Winter Knight.” She smiled. “Bring me their heads.”

“By your will.” He pulled free a blade made of ice.

I pointed Dawnbreaker at him, but a whisper reached my ear.

“Student, allow me.” Scáthach glided down onto the deck of my ship, taking graceful steps forward. “This Scáthach will be your opponent.” She leveled her spear at the named Winter Knight.

“Then have at you!” He charged forward.

Scáthach however didn’t make a move, rather her lips curled up mockingly.

“Your cold is but a familiar friend to me. Let me show you the realm by which I have conquerored.” She held her hand up. “Open – Gate of Skye.”

The Large monolithic gate to the Realm of Shadow emerged from the shadows, its mighty stone door burst open and a newfound chill erupted outwards, sucking in everything infront of it.

The charging Winter Knight found himself awkward trying to change his direction and escape, but a well timed shot of cannon fire from the Jolly Roger destroyed any semblance of resistance he could muster in that moment and he went flying into it, the gates slamming shut behind him.

I looked over at Scáthach.

“….it is foolish to expect a duel in the middle of a war.” She scoffed, flipping her hair back. “I will fight him later.”

Ah….she was saving him for later, like a plate of leftovers.

The Winter Queen, she was trembling.

She let out a high pitched scream, if there was glass nearby, I’m sure it would have shattered.

Everything around her froze.

Yasaka’s flames began to freeze as she hastily helped Raikou over to the Jolly Roger since it was closer.

Even my ship began to freeze over and I felt my blood turning cold.

The Winter Queen’s outward appearance change. A woman normally somewhat human in appearance, albeit with a colder hue to her, like someone frostbitten, she now was covered completely in ice like armor.

It made her look much less human, something more monstrous. Her missing arm was replaced with a completely see-through Icey alternative compared to her good one, both of which extended out like claws.

The Jolly Roger acted first and I immediately followed suit as cannon fire rained down on her.

She didn’t move at all, the magical attacks froze and shattered before they could reach her.

Without warning, she swiped her claw-like hand downward, and the space above the Jolly Roger was torn apart, a gigantic hand emerged, made of pure ice slashed downward following her motion.

Raikou jumped up along with Yasaka as both threw their fire and lighting at it, barely managing to shatter it before it slashed into the ship.

Following it, she swung her hand towards us as well. Scáthach moved first, her spear shooting out as the giant ice hand attempted to claw at the ship, piercing into it quickly.

“Bakudō # 61, Rikujokoro!” Six rods of light slammed into her from every angle.

Surprisingly my Kido began to also freeze, if at a slower rate.

She can freeze Spiritual Power, that means she can freeze souls.

Raikou’s blade swung at her, a wall of ice emerged without warning, actually managing to hold her off this time. But she kicked against the newfound solid barrier, flipping back off it as a torrent of flames was released by Yasaka burning into the ice.

The Kido froze and broke apart, freeing her quickly. She held one hand up, pointing at Yasaka and an equally baleful torrent of cold air burst out to meet her flames, the two of them warring mid-air.

I called on my Staff of Magnus and began casting.

Scáthach noticed what I was doing and lept forward without hesitation. Her spear turned into a streak of light as it collided with a hastily made barrier just inches from the Winter Queen whom had to put effort into blocking it.

“Begone you pests!” She roared furiously, knocking the spear to the side, and a more powerful wave of frost cascading out in every direction, forcing Yasaka and Raikou to abandon their attack.

The sky above thundered and boomed.

She looked up because her snow storm had been consumed.

“Thor’s Hammer.”

The lightning silhouette pulled itself through the storm clouds that took over the sky, freeing itself. It raised its hammer high and swung it downwards.

The Winter Queen threw her arms up and an aurora of colors filled the sky as lightning collided with Ice.

The immense cold that radiated off her was even able to start eating away at my Magic Resistance.

The Lightning that continued to crash down on her began to freeze over to my genuine surprise.

One thing I noticed, she was not a warrior, yet she was able to put forth this amount of effort against all of us.

“Hey bitch, do you know who I am?” Nurarihyon slipped through everyone’s perception, and despite being half covered in ice and frost, he smiled gleefully as her eyes looked down at him with shock and horror.

His blade slashed out, and the ‘armor’ of frost on her chest erupted with the spraying of blood.

She lost focus and Nurarihyon seemed to use that moment to escape just before my Lightning broke through her defenses and enveloped her completely.

It was far from enough to take her down though. Even if parts of her body were charred and some of her ice melted, she stood there breathing heavily with only but the wound from Nurarihyon to speak of.

But that wasn’t the end either.

The world continued to crackle with lightning, but it wasn’t mine.

The purple lightning of Raikou was released all over the place as she held a certain Vajra in her hands, and it spun at increasing speeds.

“Śakra's Vajra!” She threw her Noble Phantasm, the Divine Weapon of her Father, Indra.

The Winter Queen’s power swirled onto a single point, right at the tip of the weapon coming for her as she let out her own shout, keeping it at bay, the divine lightning discharged rapidly every second, sending bolts of lightning surging through the air.

The fake ice hand of hers began to crack and it shattered, her real hand, all the ice around it shattered and her skin began to char, with another shout, and she swung it to the side and the Vajra went soaring off into the distance.

With barely a breath, Scáthach was right infront of her, her spear stabbing out.

The Winter Queen was not an easy opponent though, and within the blink of an eye, Scáthach was entombed in a block of ice, unmoving.

I already left the ship with a burst of Shunpo, Mirage in my hand swinging at her neck.

She had to jerk to the side and throw a blast of frost at me to keep me off.

But in that moment, the Ice around Scáthach melted, Yasaka’a hands ignited as she freed her Harem Sister.

The Winter Queen pushed herself back with a burst of cold air to avoid the oncoming flames, and a wall of ice blocked Scáthach’s spear again.

She let out another furious and unintelligible noise as my blade nicked her neck with her barely managing to avoid it again.

“I have had enough! Be Frozen, be turned to Ice. Let Winter consume your souls and become a distant memory. I am Medb The Queen of Air and Darkness, the Winter Queen. And I command a never-ending Winter!”

Again, time was frozen.

She placed a finger against my forehead with a wicked smile.

I smiled back at her.

“Reflect – Musū Tengai.”

The world shifted, and the shock reflected her realization and understanding of that.

The Winter Queen let out a scream of pain as Gae Bolg pierced her chest, an irate Scáthach looked her right in the eyes.

The Winter Queen raised her hand right at Scáthach, but just as quickly, it went flying through the air, severed from her body, an arc of purple lightning followed along Raikou’s blade along with a trail of blood.

The Winter Queen opened her mouth and an eruption of cold air sprayed outward, forcing her to abandon her spear.

I was falling through the air at this point having had the frozen time released, I called my wings and took out my own Gae Bolg and threw it towards Scáthach.

She caught it, spun it around and landed on a platform created from Magical Energy.

“Stab and Penetrate, Pierce and Drill – Gae Bolg Alternative!”

It stabbed into the Winter Queen’s chest along with the other Gae Bolg, sending her hurling down to the ground, impaled deeply into the earth.

Still, impaled into the ground, having lost both her arms, she tried to get back up but I slammed down on one of the spears, pushing her further down into the ground.

Scáthach was right behind me to add insult to injury, hitting the other spear.

Yasaka landed next to us along with Raikou.

It was Yasaka who walked up to her, the Queen’s mouth full of blood, unable to express any words, but hate and anger filled her eyes along with a seemingly relentless defiance.

Yasaka raised her foot up and slammed it down on the Winter Queen’s face, quickly stopping her struggling as finally, she went limp.

She was still alive, so it was fine.

I let out a breath and looked up realizing Ddraig and Jormungandr weren’t far away along with that other Dragon they were fighting.

I think everyone stopped as they looked our way, especially that trio.

The Three-headed dragon looked at me, I met its gaze and narrowed my eyes.

There was a moment as it seemed to consider its next course of action, and to my surprise, it teleported away. Far enough that I had no idea where it went, so I stopped giving it thought.

It was finally over.

@***@

A/N

And that’s basically the end of the war. Need to do some cleanup and stuff obviously, the ‘what comes after’ needs to be settled, but things wrap up about here.

I think this may be one of my longest chapters yet, been working on it for a solid like 20 hours straight at this point at 10.5k words. I finished moving into my new place, and I should be back on a normal schedule now. I’ll try to get another Arachne and Cyclops chapter out this week. I’m deciding on what I want to do next, but the next ‘major’ arc is a new world, possibly with a couple small things between now and then, we’ll see.