Bab 24: Chapter 24: The Duel of Ages.
A massive earthquake shook the city, and people started panicking.
"What's going on?!"
Thalia approached the gate and began chanting. A barrier appeared over the city.
"Thalia, what's happening."
Me and Royce ran over.
She looked over at us.
"Asura has begun his duel."
"What do you mean?"
A guard yelled.
"He and the dragon went to a valley many miles from here, how is their attack shaking the city?"
"Arcane fighting the strongest fighter alive. A dragon that is stronger than any other dragon, versus an unmatched human. There is no way that it wouldn't cause waves around the world."
"But both are mythic level!"
"Yes, and their clash is that of a godly entity. My sister is a high mythic and he is high rank as well."
"Incredible."
"Just be thankful that they are not closer."
_
We struck at each other, and I blasted my arcane.
The valley was already gone, and our power echoed. We battled with our full power.
My aspect was on full display. My scales were arcane.
His power was great too. We struck each other and power cracked upon the world.
"You're tough, Dragon."
"As are you, Asura."
I slashed his stomach and he cut my wing in return.
"Oblivion"
We used the same spell and clashed our powers.
A shockwave resulted and destroyed a part of the mountain.
"Aspect of Dragonkind. Arcane Drake."
"Holy Sword Callisto. Deify!"
We were stronger as we struck with our strongest attacks.
I felt my power cracking and it shattered.
His power shattered at the same time mine did. We both reached our limits and fell.
We crashed right back into the valley that we fought in.
"Well, Dragon. I'll admit it, you are strong."
"As are you, human. I did not know humans could reach that level."
"Don't be fooled by our shorter lives, we have more potential than most."
"Hah. Well, you are strong."
"So, Dragon. What's your name?"
"Hood, that is my less known one."
"Ha, smart."
"I'll go back to my home."
"Yeah, I'll just lay here for a while longer."
As I flew off, I heard him.
"That dragon is my goal."
That stayed in my mind the whole time.
_
I managed to sneak through the gate, and I entered the guild and feigned being awake.
"Pardon me, but could I please get some wine and meat?"
"It looks like you had enough wine at another bar."
I suppose that it did look like I was drunk instead of exhausted.
"Did you feel the shaking?"
"Yeah, the battle between Asura and the red dragon was so powerful I heard that the dragon from Calesen had to put up a barrier so the city wouldn't collapse."
Whoops, I guess we got a little caught up in the fight.
Asura entered the bar and said,
"Could I have a drink? I just had the biggest fight ever."
He sat down with an exhausted expression.
"What got you tired, kid?"
"I had a little too much in terms of good stuff."
"Ah, guess you could put it that way for me as well."
"Who won?"
"Ah, it was a tie."
The guild froze.
"A t-t-tie?"
"Yep, we used our strongest attacks and burned through all our mana at the same rate."
"How strong is this dragon."
"Very powerful, just untrained in technique. If I didn't see how small she was I'd assume she was mature."
Thalia walked in and confirmed.
"Indeed, her power definitely exceeds any of our siblings. She is only 100 though."
"A dragon that young? With that kind of power?"
"That's the arcane aspect for you."
"If she's a high mythic at 100, what will she be when she matures?"
"Perhaps a divine dragon."
"Huh, doubt I could beat that."
"You likely won't have too. She hates killing, in fact only 14 people have fallen to her."
"That's not a lot."
"Indeed, it's not. Even my niece has more. We hunt bandits and others of the like, but she only fights evil she sees or that tries to hurt her."
"So, it was rare that she offered the duel."
"Yes, when I heard you say that I was quite shocked."
"Well, want a drink on me?"
"Sure, I could go for one. Been smithing all day."
"You must make amazing armor."
"700 years of experience in addition to being of the fire aspect certainly helps."
"I'd imagine."
"Here's your meat Ms. Hood."
"Thank you."
Asura froze for a single nanosecond, too fast for even Thalia to notice, but I did. He glanced over for a second and I gave him a big grin. He smiled back.
"Hey, barkeep how bout an extra one for the lady here."
"*Sigh* I suppose so."
We had our second duel that day. I won by a landslide. Humans could only down so much beer before passing out. I was only lightly tipsy by the time he was passing out.
"Wow, I've never seen one so small drink so much, especially when already wasted."
"It runs in the family."
Thalia was long gone, leaving as the contest started. I ate more meat and decided to retire early.
I went to the inn I was staying at and fell asleep almost instantly.
_
I was walking to the guild when I felt someone grab me and pull me into the alley.
A collar locked around my neck.
"An S level fighter. We caught her."
"This hiding relic actually worked. Incredible. We can get so much from it."
"The collar is even bound with a contract on level of a dragon. We can do anything with her."
"Now that I look at her..."
I saw the looks of the men who caught me. An expression that made me sick came from one of them.
"Stop but still breathe."
I completely stopped... as ordered.
A magic collar, a stealth relic. Someone wanted me out of the picture, but who.
They started touching my face and chest before deciding that it was boring.
"Move, but don't speak or resist us."
Resist you? I'd never dream of it. Resist the collar? Sure. You need to phrase your orders better.
Before they could grope me again, I ripped off the collar and grabbed the trio and slammed them into the earth.
"How? I said not to resist us."
"The collar isn't one of you, it's an object."
My smile was of pure fury.
"My numbers going to 17."
I ripped them apart after casting silence.
I was late to the guild and forgot to clean the blood off of myself. As I entered, the guild was silent. Mammon rushed over.
"Umm, Rose? Are you okay?"
"Third alley to the right of 4 King's inn."
"What happened?"
"Slavers enslaved an innocent girl. Then they messed up an order allowing her to escape and give them slow deaths."
"I see..."
I sat down and smiled at the bartender.
"Could I please have some wine?"
"Sure... Rose, you need to stop entering bars and making them quiet."
"Sorry. I couldn't help it this time though."
"I guess."
At that moment, Asura walked into the bar tired. Like me, he was covered in blood.
"Goodness gracious. Slavers enslaved an innocent girl too? I thought I only watched them enslave an innocent man who then ripped them limb from limb."
He sat down.
"Drink please."
"Goodness, was there a strike on S level fighters?"
"Seems like it, these guys were well equipped too."
"Yeah, I couldn't detect them before they put the collar on me, how about you?"
"About the same, they failed to give an order before I killed them though."
"Lucky, mine knew how dumb that would be. Let's just say I'm glad my armor is hard."
"Yuck."
"Agreed. I made their deaths slow."
"Fun."
"Their screams of joy made it so much better."
"I could imagine. My customers were disappointingly silent."
"A shame."
"Silence."
He cast the spell. Only me and him could hear one another.
"So, dragon, who do you think did it?"
"Falden seems likely. We think they are also behind the strengthened Whilders."
"Falden, huh. The time would match with their declaration of war."
"But how would they get the supplies to fool even us?"
"Is there another S rank here?"
"Clibo or something like that, a dragonkin who was more bark than bite."
"Climond, huh? Well, that explains it. He's a power-hungry jerk who is known for making black market deals to get people exterminated."
"But, what's Falden's motive."
"They hate the elven nation, especially with their new king, but if you had to ask me, I'd say they're after your aspect."
"Why?"
"Think of it. An untrained arcane aspect is 3 times stronger than a mature's aspect."
"I guess."
We closed the bubble and nodded before leaving the bar.
"The slavers are after us. Why?"
"I don't know, but we know they have enough equipment to trick even our senses. We need to make sure that they can't take any hostages."
"Agreed."
"I'll have my contacts look into it; you try drawing them out."
"I'm going to the smith. My sister is working there, they may go for her."
"Understood."
We split off in opposite directions. I went to the smith. It was on fire.
"Fire Consume!"
I breathed and the fire entered my mouth. I ate it and rushed in.
"Rose! Thalia is enslaved!"
"I knew it. They were going for her."
Thalia stepped out, ablaze.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone