[Job] Dragon Rebellion (Akeya)

For both of the dragons this was a fight to the death, a fight where a single mistake could spell the end: Acnologia had been tanking everything Akeya threw at him but he hadn't done so without injury. Mythical beast of destruction or not, Akeya was still a dragon of sufficient strength that he couldn't just ignore her offence forever. One wing was gone, he was covered in minor lacerations, he left a trail of blood in his wake which fell down to the ground and left caustic brands. If he didn't take care of the assailant quickly he might actually find his demise here.

Akeya meanwhile couldn't afford to let up even for a moment. Acnologia was strong: strong enough that if she let him get even a single solid hit in it could turn around the entire fight in an instant. She wanted to end the fight before he had that opportunity: even as she flew away from him, streaking across the sky like a comet, she was gathering energy for an attack of sufficient size to inflict fatal damage. It didn't even necessarily have to kill the beast: if he was weakened enough she could take him down with another attack afterwards.

The problem was that Acnologia was incredibly persistent. Akeya could cast spells even while on the move, but it wasn't as easy as when you could just take your time. The apocalypse dragon was fast, so she had to actually put effort into staying ahead of him. She tried to delay him with several bolts of dark, drawing black lines in the air as they shot towards Acnologia. However the king of dragons performed a barrel roll and avoided all of them, the dark spheres shooting off into the distance before dispersing. Acnologia was on guard: she had to hit him with something he couldn't evade, which was trickier. A breath attack? No, that would take time to charge, and he could just respond with one of his own...

At that point Acnologia did something Akeya hadn't expected in the slightest: slamming his wings together the air around him distorted, and then he disappeared into thin air.

The twilight dragoness's eyes widened as she could sense Acnologia's presence disappearing even if she wasn't looking directly at him. None of the records had stated that he could teleport-!

Appearing directly above her Acnologia roared triumphantly as his arrival was announced with a burst of death magic. Akeya roared out as she could feel the vile magic eating into her scales and flesh. Thinking quickly she released a burst of magic of her own, light and dark exploding from her body. Disappearing just like Acnologia had done Akeya reappeared high up in the sky, her breathing now a lot heavier as she could feel her own blood drip down her back. Her reflexes had saved her from the worst of it, but she could tell that her flesh was now exposed on her back. It shouldn't hinder her combat capabilities too much... as long as she didn't take another hit like that.

Of course now Akeya was just pissed. So far she'd been doing this for pragmatic reasons, but right now she just also really wanted Acnologia to be dead from a personal perspective. Roaring down at the king of destruction below Akeya released a wave of light and a wave of dark. The first wave washed over Acnologia and made his body shine, then the second wave hit him and began to tear away at him. The wave of light served to infuse Akeya's target with the element of light, and the wave of dark served to annihilate the light... along with the target which had been infused with the element.

Acnologia's body twisted and jerked as not only his scales and flesh but also his organs were ravaged. However his strength was still great, and with a mighty roar he managed to release enough magic power to dispel the effect and save himself. His markings began to glow brightly once more, and a blue haze surrounded his body as he shot up to meet Akeya.

Akeya meanwhile narrowed her eyes to slits as she released several more waves. Acnologia did his best to avoid them, but now that the twilight dragoness wasn't being conservative any more he was hit several times. The annihiliation effect worsened the wounds already inflicted on him, and the internal damage made his movements less elegant as his muscles spasmed and blood escaped his mouth. Nevertheless he didn't relent, reaching Akeya and swiping at her with his claws.

Akeya beat her wings to avoid the claws, then opened her maw and bathed her enemy with another breath of twilight. With every attack Acnologia looked worse, but even with all his injuries his ferocity didn't diminish. Diving straight through the breath attack he tackled Akeya, lashing out with his fangs and grabbing hold of one of Akeya's arms. The assassin hissed as she shifted her arm into shadow before Acnologia's fangs crushed it. Focusing on the magical limb he had used to replace his lost wing Akeya released a burst of purifying dark, dispelling the magic and causing Acnologia to be incapable of flight once more. Grabbing the mythical monster she went for a dive, sending the both of them spiralling towards the ground at such speed that they would appear mere blurs to anyone who happened to be observing the fight. Acnologia lashed out with claws and fangs, but Akeya blocked the worst of his onslaught with prismatic barriers, ignoring the pain from where his attacks found their mark, if only glancingly.

Just before they hit the ground Akeya disappeared once more in a burst of light and dark, reappearing back up in the air while Acnologia slammed into the ground with such force as to form a crater. The earth shook and the air trembled from the impact, Akeya quickly beating her wings to regain her balance in the air. Keeping a safe distance she observed carefully, gathering her energy...

Had she finally put the beast down?

A spike of magic power, far greater than anything else so far, dispersed the dust clouds. Acnologia was standing in the middle of the crater, his entire body glowing with deadly magics. Even his eyes glowed, and Akeya recognized what the king of dragons had done: he'd finally lost all patience and activated Dragon Force.

Dragon Force wasn't quite the same for a dragon as for a dragon slayer. For a dragon slayer it was a method to raise their power to the level of a real dragon. For a dragon it allowed them to burn through their energy reserves in a short period of time: a burst of power which would be followed by immense lethargy.

Clearly Acnologia wanted to finish this, right here, right now.

And Akeya was all too happy to oblige.

Tapping into her own reserves a coldness swept over the land as Akeya's body also began to glow. Around her light and dark twisted and danced, her scales shimmering and shining.

Two dragons faced each other. Both had Dragon Force active. One was the dragon of the apocalypse, a veritable god of destruction. The other was a heretic, a dragon who combined light and dark, a ruthless killer.

This fight would reach its conclusion very soon.

WC: 1,228
TWC: 12,803/12,500 (Completed)

With Dragon Force active there was no reason to hesitate or draw the fight out any longer. Akeya roared as around her light and dark split, forming countless orbs which then shot towards Acnologia at such speed that they appeared like beams, perforating the air as they aimed to render the king of dragons lifeless. Acnologia, however, was not one to be taken down by such a simple attack: while potent it was too straightforward, easily reacted to by a being of his caliber. Rather than evading the dragon king released his breath attack, a beam of death that evaporated both light and dark along with everything else that crossed its path.

Beating her wings Akeya disappeared in a burst of light and dark, reappearing behind Acnologia. This time instead of a barrage of condensed light and dark she swiped with her tail, a dark blade extending from the tip with the intention of slicing Acnologia in half. Acnologia met the attack with his own tail, the black scales blocking the elemental blade with little issue as he turned around to glare at Akeya with open hatred and rage.

Akeya knew that, curiously enough, Acnologia harboured an intense hatred towards other dragons. While the exact reason for that was unknown to her it didn't remove the fact that Acnologia would not rest until she was destroyed, especially after everything she'd already done to him. Why someone like him would be proclaimed the king of dragons was a mystery to her as well, but that was irrelevant:

At the moment the only objective she had was to get out of this alive, with Acnologia dead.

The monster swiped at her with a claw wreathed in death magic, Akeya pulling back to evade it as the blue-black glow left an ominous trail. Acnologia didn't relent, coming after Akeya with more swipes. Occasionally he'd add a bite attack, the first one barely missing Akeya's neck. The twilight dragoness only barely avoided it by disappearing and reappearing several hundred meters back. Not giving Acnologia time to close the gap she opened her maw and released her breath attack, a swirl of light and dark casting the world around her in twilight as it engulfed Acnologia completely.

For miles around people would feel the release of magic power. Those who looked in that direction would see the skies themselves shimmering and shining, casting sharp shadows and blinding light in every direction. Now that she was going all out Akeya was displaying her actual power: she might rely on subtlety and skill most of the time, but she actually had a lot of raw power to throw around when she had no reason to hold back.

However that sudden twilight was disrupted when a burst of death magic erupted from Acnologia's position, forming a large dome around himself that forced Akeya to take to the sky and make her distance to avoid being swallowed by it. When the spherical wave of death faded away anything within its radius which wasn't the dragon king himself had been annihilated: only barren land was left. Akeya would feel a little bit bad about that, if she didn't have greater concerns.

Acnologia didn't give her time to rest, beating his one wing and disappearing as he had before. This time Akeya was prepared for it. Staying on guard she formed light and dark around herself. When Acnologia appeared right above her, maw already open to rip out a chunk of her back, the twilight dragoness spun around and released a burst of blinding light. In the midst of the light ropes of dark wrapped around Acnologia. Akeya had the other end firmly clamped between her jaws, and with a mighty tug she launched Acnologia back towards the ground.

Spreading her wings wide Akeya gathered all the light in their surroundings, forming it into one large orb. A miniature sun took shape high up in the air, even as at the same time the world grew dark: the sun, brilliant as it was, shone no light upon anything other than Akeya herself, her iridescent scales shining. Acnologia had managed to catch himself before he crashed into the ground, but the missing wing still meant he couldn't immediately fly back up. Instead he looked up in time to see the new sun high above, blinding but at the same time failing to illuminate anything.

"Sun Lance."

From the sun a single ray of light shot out towards Acnologia: a beam of the purest, most concentrated light. A laser promising absolute eradication of anything it encountered.

Acnologia, for his part, didn't give in: opening his maw he released another one of his Apocalypse Roars, the death magic forming a large cone of annihilation that met the sun lance head on. The two attacks struck each other, light and death conflicting and distorting. Despite Acnologia's immense power he couldn't destroy the beam outright, forcing him to release more of his devastating breath to keep it at bay.

At the same time Akeya was focused on something else. Clenching her claws into fists she redirected her magic towards the dark that had consumed the world around her... and the king of dragons. Countless spikes of purest dark took shape and rose up from the ground, piercing the monster's body. Claws, legs, torso, wings, tail... Now that Akeya was in Dragon Force her magic was potent enough to pierce the apocalyptic beast's tough scales.

Acnologia's roar now was filled with pain alongside rage and hatred. Even with his flesh pierced his vitality was too strong for this to kill him, but he still felt the agony of countless spikes piercing him. The sun lance ran out of energy, losing the battle against the Apocalypse Roar, at the same time as Acnologia tried to free himself from his new predicament. But no matter how much he pulled the spikes wouldn't let go, nailing him on the spot. Even when he pulled hard enough to tear the earth itself the spikes embedded themselves deeper into the ground, into the roots of the mountains themselves.

Akeya, meanwhile, prepared everything for the final attack. One side of her body began to shine like the sun itself: the other turned the purest dark, devoid of any light. This next horizon would be... potent.

Raising his head Acnologia ignored the dark spikes holding him in place for the moment to instead glare at the twilight dragoness. Taking a deep breath he gathered energy for another Apocalypse Roar, one even stronger than what he'd thrown before. This one would distort space itself, such was its power.

Both dragons were preparing for that final clash, one because he was trapped and the other because she had planned for it.

Acnologia's attack finished charging first, and when he roared the heavens themselves were rend asunder. As space itself was annihilated the world shuddered and shook, the sky twisted and ruptured. Howling gales swept across the land, forming gusts and storms that could be felt from miles away. The beam of death was pure and intense, enveloping Akeya before she had time to dodge. Together with everything else that opposed Acnologia, nothing would remain of the assailant.

At that moment the world was split in two.

A single ripple, clean and nigh-invisible, split in two Acnologia's breath attack. It split in two the skies. It split in two the earth. It split in two the mountains. And it split in two Acnologia, the much-feared King of Dragons, tyrant and destroyer, trying to comprehend what just happened.

As the last of his breath attack faded away Akeya was in the same spot as before, completely unharmed. Her scales now shone with a blue-black light, the light of Acnologia's death magic.

The twilight dragoness hadn't gone into this fight unprepared. Dragons were mighty creatures. In fact for most dragons their greatest opponents were other dragons. Contesting for territory, possessions, or even simply to cement themselves as the strongest, dragons would fight for many reasons even as around them lesser creatures were trampled as a second thought.

Akeya knew this, and she knew that if she were to win against Acnologia she needed an ace up her sleeve. That trick turned out to be a special technique some dragons developed. A technique which served no purpose other than to give them an edge over other dragons. A trick to negate a single attack from another dragon.

And as powerful as Acnologia was, he was still a dragon. His magic was still the magic of dragons, even if it was too exotic and dangerous to be devoured by any other dragon.

Descending towards the ground Akeya watched as Acnologia struggled to free himself even as his body began to fall apart. She'd bisected him vertical from the edge of his maw to the tip of his tail. Blood dripped onto the earth, sizzling and burning away at it. Akeya observed quietly. Slowly the dragon king's body gave in. Slowly the two halves parted, Acnologia's cries becoming distorted before they faded away. With a resounding thump both halves hit the ground, blood and innards freely leaking out from the perfect cut. A couple more twitches, and... Acnologia stopped moving entirely.

Breathing heavily Akeya kept her distance as she let her Dragon Force come to an end. She hadn't burned through all of her energy yet, but she'd definitely used up a lot in that last Horizon. As she began to consume the surrounding light and dark she saw that Acnologia's body began to dissolve into mana. Small bits of it broke off and drifted away, dispersing as his essence merged back into the background magic that suffused the entire world.

Akeya watched silently until the last piece, Acnologia's hateful eye, had disappeared. Then she stretched her body, raised her head to the heavens, and roared out in victory.

It might not be the end of Acnologia, but Akeya would now forever be known as one of those who had managed to slay the dragon of the apocalypse.