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LUSHERA leaned against her sword, pierced into the ground, her chest heaving.
“Huff, huff…”
“…You can still stand?”
Even after attacking several times, she couldn’t even get Shurei to raise his sword to block her. He just glanced at each attack and intercepted it with fire.
He simply stood there, like always.
I’m starting to get a feel for it… thought Lushera. The theory should be the same as how the dracovitae hold back the power of the natural world… It’s the same as how my fire breath makes flowing fire. I just need to pierce into that flow of dragon aura and pull it open.
She was learning. While she was pushed back by the cloak of fire protecting Shurei, she was starting to get a feel for its flow. A strategy was forming.
But, did I burn myself out too much? How many more times can I handle attacking?!
In exchange, Lushera was battered and bruised. She tried to fight while evading a direct hit as much as possible, but it wasn’t easy. There were burns all over her body.
She did her best not to look directly at the painful wounds. She could immediately heal minor damage by making the energy flow through her body, but these injuries were worse than they looked.
She no longer had the extra capacity to feel pain. Her mind wavered, like a flickering candle flame. She couldn’t steady her arms and legs.
“Father! Lushera’s going to die if you keep going like this!” cried Kaphal, unable to stand by any longer.
The blue prince looked at her out of the corner of his eye and sneered. “Is this all then? If so, it means that the human you picked up really is a pathetic creature without worth.”
“I still fight!” said Lushera. Looking up at this point was a grueling task, but she looked towards Kaphal, who seemed uneasy. “Mom… Watch, little longer…”
“Lushera…”
It’s okay. I don’t plan on dying. I can still fight.
Shurei still had his sword up in an easy stance, but looked at Kaphal for some reason, like he found something amusing. “Kaphal. What do you think a parent can do for their child?”
“What…?”
He started talking to her instead, all of a sudden, though he still faced Lushera. The blue dragons seemed to question what Shurei was on about now.
“Children do not grow up as their parents want them to! They do everything you should stop them from doing! They refuse everything you try to give them!”
There was the weight of experience in what he said, the anger of many years packed into his short statement. He looked resentful as he vented his frustration, but then his expression softened.
“The act of raising a child is far from xxx. You can’t raise them how you imagined, but you can raise the child you have. Then, all that’s left for you to do is to accept the child you have, acknowledge them for who they are.”
Lushera was also starting to wonder what she was listening to, but Shurei looked serious. This wasn’t some random lecture of his. He was saying it here and now because it was necessary.
While dragons lived so long, they very rarely had children. That’s why raising their young was far more important to them than it was to humanoids.
“A year…that’s xxx for us dragons. It’s not even that long in human terms. I imagine you still want to keep her in your nest, doting on her. But you can’t.”
He wasn’t talking to Lushera, his opponent. He was addressing Kaphal.
Lushera saw the gentleness of a father watching his daughter grow.
There is no such thing as a perfect mother. And growth isn’t limited to only children.
“Even this dragon king says to xxx in order to live together! Force yourself through! But what are you so afraid of? Are your eyes still clouded? Why won’t you acknowledge the dragon aura contained within that name!” roared Shurei.
Kaphal’s eyes lit, like the sun climbing up from the other side of the mountain. “Lushera!” she cried, and the world rumbled.
For the first time, Lushera could see meaning when Kaphal said her name: Daughter of Luja, our beloved child, a piece of this world!
Draconic’s meaning was multilayered, multidimensional. What Kaphal said now was Lushera’s name with its real meaning included.
The name Lushera didn’t have that meaning inherently. It wasn’t a true dragon name until that meaning had been added to the name. And that’s what Kaphal cried now. She gave Lushera her name.
Strength filled her beaten body. When Lushera received a name of mere sounds from Kaphal, she’d also received the form of a girl and inhuman strength. A similar change was happening now.
Lushera connected to the power flowing through the world, connected to a portion of the massive cycle. It came, and it went, more powerful than the gushing well of fire.
Deep and blue!
One drop, rain skimming Lushera’s nose. The clear blue sky slowly darkened, clouds covering it like thick blankets.
There was a roaring, a howling deep in her ears. Mount Kugus was rich with water. It received a lot of rain, and that rain turned into rivers. Those rivers grew in power.
She felt odd, like her arm was going to burst. She swung her sword of cooled lava and droplets sprayed from it.
“But that’s—!”
The blue dragons of course realized what the change was immediately.
An odd rain fell from the heavy clouds. It swirled like a whirlwind, gaining aim, flowing into a single stream.
Lushera ran. The rain had barely wet the ground, but Lushera’s footsteps sent droplets flying, like she’d jumped into a puddle of water.
Shurei was encased in flames, the wall blocking her way.
I’ll break it down!
Her sword was heavy. She ran, as if dragging the heavens with her. What she held was no longer just a sword of cooled lava. It was a storming blade, as tall as Kaphal’s real body, a huge flow swirling as it fell from the sky.
“Hiyaaaaaa!”
She spun herself around and struck.
Water collided, exploding, then silence.
Shurei’s barrier of fire had been broken down, and there was a slash across the chest of his human puppet. There was even a gigantic gash in the stone behind him left by the high water pressure, dripping wet.
“That…was an impressive water breath,” he said.
“I never realized Lushera had this power…” said Kaphal.
The soaking-wet red dragon king smiled gently and fell to his knees.