It ascends behind us, almost vertically into the air, while slightly swaying left and right. Three pairs of wings on its back recklessly cut through the sky, and a single horn jutting from its forehead forcefully breaks the wind. Though I call it a horn, it’s not a pretty horn, like what you’d find on goats or bulls or rams. There are weird spikes protruding all over it, creating a warped silhouette. Reflecting the dying starlight, the light it emits blinds me.
“It’s got a lotta wings,” I groan.
“But it is not used to flying.”
Dragon is right. Wings that have been hastily pieced together can’t catch up to a creature born to soar through the skies. That abomination can have as many wings as it wants, but its wasteful movements only make it flounder in the air. Nevertheless, its persistence for pursuin’ us is terrifying.
“KISHAAAAAAAA!” the demon beast howls. Mouths open all over its body, blue light flickers inside their gaping maw.
“It’s actin’ like a dragon before it breathes fire!” I cry out.
“Hold on!”
Dragon nimbly folds his wings. Losing its support, his body sinks under the weight of gravity. Except, my body is yanked up. The contents of my stomach lurch and the inside of my ears pop loudly. Crud! I’m gonna get blown away! Holding on to Princess, I cling to Dragon’s torso with all my might.
I can hear the disturbing sound of a living creature bursting open. Next second, a blue shining mass zooms by directly over my head, bringing an onslaught of fine, blue poison spray with it.
“Princess, shut your eyes!” On the spur of the moment, I cover Princess with my shield and my body. “Holy crap that’s hot!”
Sizzling, my skin burns. So this is what the demon beast’s fluids do. What the hell? This is insane! That THING is attacking us by using pieces of its own flesh and blood!
“Gideon!”
I stop the little hand from reaching up to touch me. “This small attack only tickles. Are you unharmed, Princess?”
“I’m fine!”
“I…see…”
A stinging sensation from the heat floods our wings. This is not my pain, but Dragon’s. His body is huge, so there’s more of him doused in the spewed blood attack. I can’t protect all of him with my shield.
SIMMER! SIMMER! I can hear something coming to a boil!
“Shit! It’s gonna attack again!”
We’re at a lower altitude than before. There’s no more room for us to escape by descending.
“H-a-n-g o-n!”
WHOOSH! The world abruptly flips over.
“WHOOOOOOAAAAAAA!”
“WOOHOO!”
I scream; Princess whoops. The ground is above my head. Blue light shoots across the sky, between the ground and us. The tip of Dragon’s tail is hot. We couldn’t avoid it completely? Are those flames? Light? The ground rolls back below us again. It’s the first time I’ve ever done a flip in the sky. My heart’s still hammering in my ears.
“My apologies. Times like this are best dealt with by doing something the enemy won’t expect.”
“You can say that again. You completely threw it off. In a big way!”
And almost threw me off.
The demon beast’s speed is decelerating as it goes. Makes sense. It’s attacking us by chiseling away at its own body, and there aren’t any “ingredients” in the sky for it to replenish itself.
“Let’s take this opportunity to escape!” I yell over the roaring winds.
“Although it is much to my ire, that sounds like the best plan…”
“We can’t,” Princess replies calmly.
“Princess?”
“Look!”
In the partial darkness before the sunrise, I can see that the demon beast has changed directions. It’s no longer chasing us. Its sights are set on the sleeping town. I sharply inhale.
“…! That thing’s plannin’ on attacking the town!”
“We won’t let it. Mister Dragon, go after it!”
“As you wish.”
That abomination has nobody to protect, but Dragon has us riding on his back. He has to protect us.
“Gideon, take care of defense.”
“…Sure thing! You can count on me!”
Dragon roars. The demon beast—or the face of the girl sprouting out of the demon beast—jerkily rotates her neck. She “looks” at Princess with the glass fragments sticking out of her closed eyes.
“KIIIIYAAAAAAAAAH!”
Good, our plan works. It turns its attention away from the sleeping town and comes after us. Dragon doesn’t run away this time either. He flies straight at her.
“HAAAAAAHHH!”
Is it me or him who’s screaming? My belly is hot. My throat is hot. Waves of heat pulse throughout my body. At exactly the same time, red light ripples in waves across Dragon. We’ve become one in body and soul. He attacks, I defend. I swing the shield in front of us to protect Princess.
“Don’t leave the safety of the shield, Princess.”
“I won’t!” She clings to Dragon’s back in the tight boundaries of my shield’s shadow. I sure am fond of how well she’s assessed the situation.
As opponents, we soar ever closer to each other. Blue lights welling inside the demon beast’s gaping maws combusts into searing heat.
“GOOOO!”
Red flames collide against blue light in the sky. Dragon and Demon Beast close the gap between them while breathing their attacks. It’s a tight battle between the primordial flames surging from Dragon’s heart and the vicious burning of the ever-changing Demon Beast. They clash head-on, struggling intensely for supremacy.
“ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!”
“KISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Demon Beast doesn’t even flinch when the fangs inside its mouths have been scorched hideously to the point of melting off. This is really bad. An enemy that doesn’t care about destroying itself in the process of destroying you is formidable. Even if you’re evenly matched, the party that isn’t fighting to the death will eventually be overwhelmed.
If, right now, we are connected…if my life is connected to this dragon, then—
Dragon’s life force flowed into me when I was on the verge of death right when the barrier collapsed. I should be able to do the same thing for him.
“Spike, use my power.”
“Don’t be rash, Gideon! You are—” Dragon hissed in his mind, concern flooding his words even as he fights the Demon Beast to a stalemate.
“It’s fine! Don’t hold back! Accept another’s generosity!”
His panic means it’s possible to do. I concentrate on the scale seared into the left side of my chest. My heart beats noticeably harder than usual. Accompanying the dizziness I typically associate with blood loss, I can feel something flow out of me. It’s pouring into Dragon’s body.
“Take it!”
Red and blue—the deadlock between the two fighting forces breaks. It’s only by a slim margin, but the red flames push back the blue lights!
“Yes!”
But our joy is fleeting. Countless more mouths open on Demon Beast’s body to shoot the blue light! Narrow but innumerable attacks flow out of its body! There are too many of them! We can’t dodge at this range!
“Guh!”
My shoulder is hit with a brutal impact and pain courses through it. Dragon’s body pitches forward. We’ve been hit critically! A gaping hole has ripped open at the tip of his wing!
Meanwhile, that Demon Beast monstrosity drops its humongous jaw again, sucking in the entirety of Dragon’s flame. I can almost see its disintegrating mouth twisting in a sneer.
“Damn it! It can do that?!”
Demon Beast’s flank burns red from the inside and melts away like treacle. Yet, it shows no signs of being in pain. That’s disturbing. This is a battle between two flying, creatures, but only one of us seems to follow the laws of the living. We take greater damage because we’re the only ones who feel pain. We’ve no chance of winning if we clash again. Do we just make a run for it for good? Is escape the only option? I gnash my teeth.