Chapter 47: Is it wrong to pick up pokem- *cough* in dungeons?
As I watched this new black dragon rip itself free from the roof and start to fall down, I couldn’t help but the slightly manic grin that was on my face. This beast was at least 10 times bigger than the original one eyed black dragon.
I watched on with untempered glee as the new dragon landed on its feet with the aid of its absolutely massive wings and released a roar to disperse all the dust.
‘I think I remember reading somewhere that the dungeon “was at its limit” or something. Maybe it was holding back all this energy to birth 3 new terrors? But, my presence caused it to dump all that energy into one being?’
My casual musings however were interrupted by a loud and obnoxious roar from behind me. Turning around with a scowl on my face, I stared down the one eyed.
Artoria: “What’s this? Gained some balls now that your big brother (or sister) is here? You need one more lesson it seems. And that lesson is this.”
I vanished from where I was standing, and appeared above the one eyed with a crack as I casually broke the sound barrier.
Artoria: “Trash should know its place. In the dirt like the garbage it is.”
I cast Reinforcement on myself and punched down as hard as I could with my right fist on top of its head. There was a sickening crunch sound, and its remaining eye blew out of its socket from the force of the attack. Its head shot back down and created another massive crater upon impact.
‘Opps, may have overreacted there a bit. Guess I got some aggression built up I need to work out?’
Shrugging my shoulders as I couldn’t really be bothered, I softly landed on the dragons back.
‘Still alive, good. Level 10… or was it 11? Eh, higher levels have some nice durability to them. Now then.’
Glancing at the other dragon that for some reason was just watching on, I started to create some Black Water. In a matter of a few of the dragon's heartbeats, it was fully submerged. Idling noting the new dragon had backed away several large steps when I started making my Water, I couldn’t help but notice that I could actually feel my Black Water absorbing the Evils of this world into itself.
Giving my scabbard a gentle mental pat, a small smirk was on my face.
‘Seems some of the changes from Pandemonium's release were permanent.’
Suddenly, the small pond I had created started to ripple, and soon the one eyed dragon was rising out of it. Jumping off its back so I could see the rest of it, I floated off to the side slightly.
‘May be a weak lizard, but I am sure it’ll make a great pet for Ruby.’
(Source: https://www.deviantart.com/zacku-kliya/art/Kushala-Daora-of-Grimm-837909700 )
Artoria: “Well, at least you look fearsome. Off you go now, I am sure Team RWBY, specifically Ruby, will love to play with you. Behave, or I’ll be upset. Am I understood?”
As the dragon started to sink in the water it had just risen out of, it let out a low growl. Giving a nod and ignoring how I somehow knew that simple growl meant “Yes, My Goddess” I turned back to the more interesting dragon.
Artoria: “How polite of you to wait. Don’t worry, you’ll be joining your junior soon enough. But first, I want to play.”
Unknown to me, my eyes were shining a brilliant gold with a tint of madness behind my visor.
Artoria: “Show me your moves!”
The ground around me exploded and the air cracked as I broke the sound barrier to appear in front of the dragon. But much to my surprise and glee, instead of its head, I was met with a massive claw swinging down at me. Since I still had Reinforcement running, I wanted to see what would happen when my tiny fist met its massive palm.
When our attacks met, a massive wind burst was produced from the impact, and a deafening sound almost like metal also rang out. The sound waves caused visible damage to the ground below the dragon.
There was no silence after the attack however, as my crazed laughter could be heard as I prepped another punch. While the dragon had stumbled a little from the impact, I didn’t move an inch, and I took total advantage of that. I rushed forward, and landed a blow against its mighty chest. Its scales, and maybe some abilities even, did a wonderful job of lessening the impact of the hit. But it wasn’t enough to fully stop the attack, not even close.
As my fist dug into the dragon's chest lightly, it soon shot off into the distance. But it didn’t take the attack sitting down, as it managed to crash its huge tail into me when it was flung away. I was sent flying past the speed of sound into the roof while it was sent flying further into the grassy plains.
With a sigh of contentment I thought, ‘This is great. A fight without having to worry about the Light. Just a good old fashion fight. With a dragon, but still.’
Ripping myself out of the rock like roof, I roll my shoulder a few times and crack my neck. Seeing that the dragon was already getting up and was more or less unscathed, only caused me to start to release battle intent alongside my bloodlust.
Artoria: “You are most likely the strongest thing in this universe next to the gods with a released arcanum. I am going to milk this fight for a bit, so I hope you’re ready!”
The dragon released a roar in defiance, which was either well timed or it actually heard me somehow. With a mental shrug, I shot off to engage it once more. Displaying its impressive speed, it took in some air and then released a staggering size of torrential fire in my direction.
Artoria: “You know what they say, fight fire with fire!”
Bringing back my right hand, it started to glow a deep black-red as my mana started to gather. As the dragon's fire was closing in, I pushed my hand out while casting a spell I’ve not used in a while.
Artoria: “Flames of Purgatory!”
However, much to my unexpected surprise, instead of sickly green flames what was produced was purple-red flames with splashes of pure abyss like black. And when the two gigantic torrents of fire met, it wasn’t even a contest. In fact, the dragon's fire seemed to only feed mine as it travelled towards the dragon at an impressive speed. The dragon wasted no time at all in noticing the power difference, and with a single beat of its massive wings shot off into the sky. Right towards me.
Artoria: “I love your grit! COME! DANCE WITH ME!”
Closing my hand to cancel out the spell, I also shot off to meet the dragon head on. Its massive red eyes glowed brighter and I felt the movement of mana surge around it. There now seemed to be a slight green shimmer around the dragon's body, and my curiosity at the spell used was answered seconds later as the dragon's speed more than quintupled.
Another surge of mana, and its front claws started to shine red and give off heat. And just as we were about to exchange attacks again, there was one final surge of mana around its entire body as it glowed purple. Only for it to seemingly vanish from my sight.
I could only scoff as I caught the tail from its attempted “stealth” attack and grunted as I used magic to counter the force.
Artoria: “Better and faster entities than you have tried that, and failed. Down you go for that disappointing show!”
With another grunt, I used its massive tail to throw the dragon hard towards the ground. But I wasn’t done yet, as I felt a little insulted that it thought such a cheap half assed tactic would work. Flooding my body with mana, without actually using Mana Burst, I increased my speed 10 fold. Basically teleporting to the neck of the dragon with my extreme speed, and laid down 10 consecutive punches in less than the blink of an eye.
The extreme impacts of the punches caused the dragon to pick up speed instantly, and it practically teleported and embed into the ground. Not wanting to deal with the massive dust cloud it had kicked up, I used some casual wind magic to push it all away.
The sight of the dragon twitching and bleeding from its mouth had put a sadistically twisted smile on my face, while my eyes radiated the same kind of glee. I gently landed on its stomach and then looked up at the roof with a snide smirk.
Artoria: “No idea if you’re actually sentient or not Tower… but thank you for the wonderful pets.”
Looking back down at my new pet, I wasted no time in flooding the area around us with Black Water. When the dragon was submerged, I gently floated away from the large pond of Black Water and relaxed in the air. This dragon was a great deal bigger than the other one, but it only took a few seconds longer to convert it. While it was making its way out of the black depths, I finally clued into something.
‘They had artificial souls. Interesting! But they worked just fine and were able to be connected to me like a regular soul. Maybe I should look into that one day? Thoughts for later.’
When the dragon was out of the waters fully, it released a loud roar and shook off the remaining droplets. And much to my expectations, its transformation looked exactly like the other one.
‘Well, they were identical down to the soul makeup from how they felt. So no real surprise there I guess. I wonder if all species share the same blueprint for the artificial souls, or if it's one general one that is modded as needed?’
Shrugging my shoulders at the idle thought, I looked up at the dragon that was patiently waiting for a command.
‘Like a big, deadly puppy.’
Floating up to its snout, I gave it a good pat and rub.
Artoria: “Good b…girl. Huh, weird how that just came to me. Oh well. You will be Salem’s pet. Find her through the link, and go to her. Don’t destroy shit if she's in doors though, she’ll be quite cross with you~.”
The dragon released a low growl, that I once again somehow knew the exact meaning of, as she started to walk and sink back into the waters. Shaking my head, I was about to launch myself into the air when I suddenly had a great idea.
Landing back down on the grass, I summoned up a mirror of ice. Dismissing my visor, my eyes widened in shock at how I looked.
‘I am definitely older now. Much closer to Lancer Artoria, than Saber now. My eyes are practically gold in glow now as well.’
Happy that I was ageing up into a more adult form, I focused on my eyes. It took a few seconds, but they slowly went from a gold glow, to a red glow. A dark yet playful smile graced my face at my success.
‘If I remember right, all creatures of the dungeon have glowing red eyes. Why not fuck with them some then? Hehe~.’
With a wave of my hand, the mirror shattered into diamond dust and faded away. I had almost resummoned my visor out of habit, but I quickly caught myself. I also suppressed my strength, aura, bloodlust and battle intent back to my normal levels. Looking up at the fake sky above me, a vicious and dark smile was on my face.
Artoria: “Don’t worry, you’ll only feel a slight pinch.”
I used Reinforcement, and flared a Mana Burst for a split second and rocked up and through the roof (floors) of the dungeon. As I was crushing my way through the floors towards the surface, I couldn’t help but mentally snicker.
‘That was the first time I used Mana Burst the way it was originally intended, heh.’