As Arad looked at Eris, he could feel something shaking beneath the ground. He stopped, “Five won’t have sent us here if it wasn’t something bad,”
Eris glared down, “From the shaking, this isn’t an ordinary gang,”
“No, it’s an ordinary band of bandits that were lucky. Or unlucky enough to get their hands on Giants and goblins.” Arad walked forward, leaving Eris standing, “I will kick that woman once we get back, setting me up like this,”
“What do you mean?” Eris looked around, trying to sense the magic dwelling beneath the ground. Her eyes opened wide as she gasped, “It can’t be,”
“It’s the reality, back away,” Arad growled, “Take the spawns to a safer place, this isn’t a place for you to stand on,”
The shaking got even more violent as Arad’s eyes started flashing with a purple light, “No wonder she wanted to blast the whole place at once. Come out, It seems I was tricked to kill you,”
BAM! A large skeletal claw burst from the ground, oozing with necrotic magic.
^[Arad, let me blast this thing away,]^ Doma cried inside his head but Arad blocked her inside his mind.
^No, this time it’s a matter between me and him. Don’t interfere,^ He replied as the massive skeleton rose from the ground.
“Bastard! I sense death from my pets!” A massive draconic skeleton burst from the ground, shaking the whole place.
“A long-dead dragon, an undead. You’re the one behind the bandits’ quick rise to power, aren’t you?” Arad asked, standing in front of the dragon with a stern face.
“Hatchling?” The dracolich growled, “Praise be to the god of murder, you’ll make a worthy sacrifice,”
“I know it’s my fault for interfering with another dragon’s plans, and I will leave at once. No need to get violent,” Arad said, keeping his passive face as he sensed the massive waves of compressed magic rush out of the dracolich. He can’t start a fight now, Eris is still close.
“Legacy of death,” The dracolich growled, “I do not take offense to kill, but I take offense to hindrance,” He prowled around Arad, “My god said a usurper to my title was in the capital, someone who wants to take holds of my power and seat as the death bringer,”
Clouds of stinky, rot-filled mist flew out of the dragon’s rotten bones and jaws. “First that green bitch tricked me and I ended up dead, and now a mere humanoid is trying to claim my power. Unforgivable.”
“Green bitch?” Arad asked with a puzzled face.
“Claug, Claugiyliamator of the crypt forest. Came to kill her and I ended up dancing in her palms, killed by the raging army of the capital.” The dragon growled, “I can smell it, her stench on you.”
Arad nodded, “Sorry for my earlier comment, I was indeed tricked into interrupting your plans, but that was before you told me Claug wanted you dead,”
“So? What do you make of that?” The dracolich growled, lifting his claw up, “I can crush you with ease,”
“Claug is my benefactor, she saved my life once before, and I intend or repay that. Making sure you remain dead is a good way to start,” Arad replied with a smile.
“You? Kill me?” The dracolich laughed, “I’m already dead, I can’t be destroyed by normal means,”
DING! Arad could sense it. Eris and the spawns have moved a fair distance away, and he’s free to start fighting.
Arad lifted his hand and extended it toward the dragon, “The dead shouldn’t be alive,”
“The living shouldn’t stand up to death. I exist to make sure the likes of you don’t get that wish,” The dracolich kept prowling around Arad, “Come on, show your claws, scream, roar, and die,”
Arad smiled, “I don’t think I need to shift,” He looked into the dragon’s eyes, “It’s strange you haven’t attacked first, isn’t it?”
The dracolich growled, stopping in his place, “Insolent bastard.” He lifted his claw and swung at Arad.
SWOSH! The dracolich stopped his claw right before Arad’s face, “Bastard,”
Arad giggled, “Come on, touch me if you dare,”
The dracolich wanted to crush Arad, but he couldn’t get the smell out of his rotten nose. This dragon in front of him isn’t normal, a void dragon he may be, but something else is mixed in his blood.
Thud! The dragon lept back and opened his jaw, charging a breath of toxic gas. SWOSH! In a single blast, a green cloud of death washed over the plans.
The plans withered and the trees crumbled as Arad stood still, unbothered. “Poison breath, you were a green dragon in life. Interesting, were you one of the dragons chasing after Claug?”
“I didn’t,” The green dragon growled, “Brother did, but he never returned. That drakaina ate every dragon that approached her,”
“That only means they were weaker than her,” Arad replied, “Same with you, talking about death and not daring to touch me,”
The dracolich growled inside, he could feel it in his old bones. The monster that Arad is, is something no other dragon has.
“You won’t leave this place alive,” The dracolich growled, getting his magic ready.
Arad smiled, “Well since you asked to see my draconic form, how about I show you the thing that spooked you?” His aura disappeared for a second, curses flowing across his flesh and bones.
CLACK! Two pairs of eyes opened on Arad’s face as his body started to shift and twist. Three pairs of wings burst on his back as two massive tails lashed out from his lower back.
***
The spawns in beside Eris stopped moving, staring at their hands, “He’s calling, calling us!” One of them exclaimed.
“Back to his blood,” Another added as blood started to pour out of his eyes and ears. The spawns smiled, “Back to master we return,” BLAP! Their bodies burst into a rush of blood, flying toward Arad.
“Spawns are part of a vampire lord’s power, when he’s going all out, they return to his blood.” Eris gasped, “I was gifted to him so I won’t dissolve, but I can feel it from here, his bloodlust,”
***
Outside the barrier, Five sat on a hill watching from afar. ．
“Hehehaha,” She giggled with a vicious smile, “She was right, how ugly, how unholy, how disgusting,” She took a deep breath, “But, what a rare specimen, I never heard of something like him.”
***
On the island of grief, Alice Dagon stood naked on her bed, glaring at the crystal before her. “A vampiric wyrmwolf void dragon, and on top of that he’s the son of Orion the hunter. The goddess of magic said he was useless to her plans, but could such a monster really be ignored?” She shook her head, “No, her attention is the last thing a mortal wants,” She stared back at Lilia’s statues she kept in her room.
“Did you plan this? Did you know a dracolich was there?” She growled at the statue.
The statue remained silent as Alice growled, “You short little bitch,” She lunged out of the bed, “Five! Change of plans, it wasn’t the plan for Arad to fight a dracolich, assist him!”
“If I dropped the barrier, the paladins would come rushing in. He won’t stand a chance,” Five replied.
Alice growled, the only other close projection was severely damaged by Eris, what can she do to help? It then clicked in her mind, “Yes! I can call her!”
Alice rushed to lift her crystal ball and screamed, “What are you watching? Stop immediately and fly out!”
Claug lifted her head away from her crystal ball, “Shut up! Alice,” She growled, “Lord Emiris and Lady Granbell are about to kiss, call me later,”
“Stop spying on other people’s lives and move, Arad has picked a fight with a dracolich,” Alice growled.
Claug lifted her massive head, and she growled, “Did one of your projections drag him into trouble?”
“I was only following a spark of magic, I swear it wasn’t on purpose,” Alice cried, “I swear it, from one shut-in to another!”
Claug stood and glared at the kobolds in her lair, “I’m leaving, watch and tell me what happened with Lord Emiris and Lady Granbell when I return.” She lunged out of her den, crawling up into the forest.
“How is he doing?” Claug called Alice, asking for details.
“The dracolich is wary of Arad, fearful even. He doesn’t understand his nature and that is terrifying him. But I say the tides will shift once he gets a hold on how Arad fights,” Alice explained.
“Fear of the unknown, I bet he planned for thousands of scenarios, a dragon-like Arad pulling in and threatening him wasn’t one of the plans.” Claug flapped her wings as fast as she could.
***
Back on the battlefield, the dracolich unleashed a massive poison breath.
Arad opened his jaws, sucking the poison cloud into his stomach as if it was nothing. Flapping his six wings, he flew forward at a mindboggling speed, clawing at the dracolich’s head.
“Action surge,” CLANG! CLANG! With Arad’s current explosive strength, he managed to release fourteen claw attacks in the blink of an eye, ripping the dracolich’s neck.
The dracolich regenerated immediately and swung his claw at Arad.
[Time Slow: 90%]
Time slowed and Arad started moving to the side, dodging the dracolich’s claw while opening his jaw. [Fire Breath] [Lightning Breath] [Cold Breath] [Void Breath]
As the time returned to its normal speed, the dracolich was struck by the four breaths in order. His bones heated by fire and lightning, rapidly cooled with the cold breath, cracking like chips, and they were finally blasted by the void breath.
***
As Claug reached the scene, she saw Arad standing on a pile of bones, roaring his lungs out. She giggled, “Alice, you seem to have underestimated him. Since I’m here in person I can confirm it, With the vampire and Lycanthropic blood, Arad can punch way above his weight class. He devoured the dracolich’s soul to cultivate his age.”