A Benevolent Evil Dragon

See, I know the gods hate me, but this is a bit much. I try my best to keep my composure as I look at the veritable monster of a woman. Having a three way standoff between their groups and me is already horrifying enough, but seeing her mana properly? This is bad. She's about as strong as Jan, which means she's likely to end up stronger than him because she is young as hell. I wouldn't give her a day past 30 while sporting the power to demolish a building, if I got my numbers right.

Then again, I think I am lucky. Her mana seem to be a three way split between flesh, nature and air, meaning either she's an early generation knight, or she's a sorcerer but has too much versatility for her own good, lacking the raw power that Jan would have behind his singular element. Still, her elements are pretty annoying. Flesh to strengthen her body, nature for utility, wind to do quick ranged attacks to supplement her swordsmanship, I doubt she'll be an easy opponent, but I see it in her eyes, she knows that I'd beat her, unless she gets all the bastards surrounding us to act as meatshields.

"Why are you even contemplating this, you moron? It's a dragon, do you think it cares about honoring deals?" She barks out at the leader, who seems really unsure about everything. On one hand he clearly fears the woman, but on the other he looks at the man that died from a blade bouncing off my scales and at the soldier that got his head splattered by his own axe. "You think it would even give you this deal if it didn't think we'll kill it?!"

That does seem to blow some wind on his sails, but I am quick to shut that down. "I offer that deal because I don't want to rest for a week straight to make up for whatever minor wounds you'll manage to score while using these weaklings as fleshy distractions." My head snaps to the nearest man, all five eyes open and glowing with my innate chaos mana. "You've heard of it, didn't you? The recent battle? They threw tens of thousands of men at her, monsters unimaginable, titanic cursed weapons that bypass magic itself. Tens of thousands died and all they managed was to get her to leave and take a nap somewhere else."

I realize I may have messed up by mentioning that because I see in the corner of my eyes how the woman widens her eyes. "Motherfucker… You're Tranquil Water's brat… That thing's one year old! It's easy prey!" Her air mana seems to amplify her voice, making it sound like a battlecry despite being just a statement. I am given another look by the folk around, hearing a few of them murmur.

"In what world is that thing one year old…?" "Fukr speak bettah tha me!" "We're dead, we're so dead…" "Not a scratch… The knight attacked him twice and he's unhurt.." And the voices go on. It's clear that the people are split between wanting to bash the woman over the head and then run away as I finish her off, wanting to throw everything they have at me and hope that she can kill me quickly, and finally, much like the boss, wanting to let us duke it out and decide what to do later.

This is getting annoying. I try to make myself look as big as possible, wings spreading in an obvious threat display aided by my shimmering colors, which works on the men around but just makes the woman smile dangerously, reaching over to her one remaining man and grabbing her helmet from him, putting it on. I am lucky that they're giving me this much time. While the woman seems to have good instincts, she didn't particularly react to my mana so I prepare myself for when things inevitably blow up.

One massive flame spell takes over all my reserves of fire and nature mana, and I mix it with a strong, focused wind spell to hopefully lock down the woman, and finally, a breath attack consisting of lightning, whatever air is left in my lungs, and just a bit of chaos. Maybe noticing my preparation or just to spur the men into finally making a choice, the woman pulls out her sword. While it looks about what I suspected it would, a long, two handed straight blade with two edges and a simple crossguard to keep her safe, the blade itself is made out of bronze, not steel like most of her armor, which gives me pause. I notice then that the palms of her gauntlets are also not made of steel, but rather padded leather that clearly didn't come from a normal animal. I notice such spots all around her armor, just small bits where the steel is replaced with either bronze or some animal based material…

"Boss! Boss! The brothel's burnin'! Madam Mer-" Whatever the man that just came in wanted to say was forgotten as he stared at my body and the sudden standoff.

"What? What's burning?" The leader, clearly preferring to think of something else than the imminent fight, urged the man to resume his goal, which he reluctantly did.

"Madam Mercy's brothel's burning, boss! Smoke's so thick and high that the whole place is gone by now…" The man kept his eyes on me, despite obeying his boss. Maybe that's why he didn't notice the way the leader thought for a moment, then opened his eyes wide to stare at me. Well, guess that's done.

"Wrong choice." Is all I get out as I finally allow the mana to dance, the runes rushing to activate which just plunged the whole place into chaos.

I see the woman beginning to shine and wrapping her blade in wind before slashing my way, but her attack gets stopped by mine, the wind being strong enough to send the man next to her flying backwards into a wall, but with a hasty chant roots grow from her legs, keeping her in place as she seems to prepare another attack.

Meanwhile, the men around scream and struggle as their clothes burst into flame. The fire mixes with my wind spell, for a bit, but the woman seems unaffected, causing me to curse out as I take in a deep breath, releasing my breath attack. She seems startled as she notices the lightning bouncing around my teeth, holding her blade in front of her and making a sort of wind wall, though that will hardly be enough to stop raw destructive energy.

I let it loose and watch as the beam that I imagined turns into a tesla coil. Instead of attacking the woman, lightning bounces all around me, ruining the floor, killing a few of the men panicking next to me. I shouldn't have used chaos… On the upside it did absolutely kill five people, on the downside I just ran out of my best mana types and I haven't dealt with the woman in front of me.

My fire spell fizzles out too and about half the men are either dead or too hurt to do more than struggle to crawl away, while the rest are very much alive, if sporting some wicked burns. The boss was pretty far from me and surrounded by others, so he's one of the least hurt people around. I take a moment to try a different breath attack, but I am immediately assaulted by axes, knives and a few actual arrows. At least two of the men too wounded to even get up, pick up random stuff and throw it at me like rubble, burnt wood, even stuff from their dead comrades. At least a handful of men seem to be out for blood, charging at me with spears and clubs, clearly having had tighter bonds with some of the others around…

I need to think fast but once again my ability to speed up my perception does not trigger. I am missing something. No matter, I decide that I don't need to fly for a while, so I take the brunt of the damage with my wing, covering my body and engaging my barrier. It works, taking away a good chunk of my reserves as I push away the ones with a deathwish to focus on the knight that tried to sneak attack me. I meet her sword with my bladed tails, letting out a scream as one of them gets chipped. I don't complain though, instead focusing on moving bone mana to them and slashing at any non-metal part of her, but she pulls away, sending a knife stabbing into my back leg.

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I catch my breath for a moment, trying to process the situation, but I then get pelted by projectiles again. The barrier pushes back the bigger projectiles but I physically take the stones and wood, not having the mana to waste on this. I need to deal with one or the other. Either I kill the one woman who can consistently hurt me, or I finish off the group. My mana reserves are low, or at least my offensive options are low. I have water, death and bone left in me, but none of those seem particularly great by themselves. The air is also very dry here, especially after my spell. Killing the group comes first it seems.

The woman looks ready to dash at me, but I turn tail and jump over the melee group, heading straight for those that disarmed themselves to get a safe hit in. My mind takes a step back as raw instinct guides my actions. A blade there, a claw here, a bite in a neck a strike at a fleeing man. I can't let them run. I grab swords with my wing arms and begin stabbing at the legs of anyone trying to escape, using the longer reach to my advantage.

I bleed, unable to use my mana to invalidate their attacks, but it's hardly true damage. I look around me and only ten people are left fighting against me. Even the few reinforcements that came were met with a swift projectile through the skull. This is it. I try to raise a wing, but it refuses. Looking over I notice the flesh being torn out. I didn't expect getting hurt this badly, but there were a lot of people and I didn't have the chance to be mobile.

No matter. I move on, dragging my wings, looking at the armored woman that clearly wanted me to exhaust myself so she could have an easy kill. Jokes on her, I still have enough to kill her. My eyes focus on the man next to her, trembling as he points his saber at me. I choke out a laugh, flashing my bloodstained teeth.

"What did I say? You're not killing me. You're just making me need a long, peaceful nap. Shoulda taken the deal, bastard. But, oh well, I am glad you survived this long. I have a lot of questions for you." Cliche villain monologue, but I need a break. I doubt any of them are too eager to throw themselves into the blender, so I have that going for me. Really, if I wasn't focused on blocking the door, they would all be running by now, but I can't have that.

"Wh-what do you want with me, you monster?! You came after me in the first place! You wouldn't have let me go!" Not wrong, but things would have been cleaner if he had accepted the deal.

"I would have needed some information from you, but I would have let you leave after that. Now though? Well, we might come to an agreement anyways if you give me what I want, but I doubt I'll be too kind if you continue to point that sword at me." I doubt it would work, but hoping never hurts. She stood back as I killed his men, we're both equally untrustworthy in his mind. I at least have the excuse of being an actual monster, outwardly.

I look to see if the woman is going to say something, but instead I see her mumbling a spell, flesh and nature mana wrapping around her, wind mana rushing to infuse the blade itself. It's clear she's preparing, so I can't drag things out. I take in a deep breath, sending everyone on edge. The soldier, who apparently survived being knocked against the wall and bid his time until now, finally gets up and quickly shoots an arrow at me, but I don't pay it any mind, the arrow merely bouncing off my scales as it hits at a bad angle.

All around me blood, saliva, even flesh gets drained of water, a murky mix forming in front of my mouth. I mix in traces of fire and air to turn it into mist, then mix in death and chaos. I'm gambling my final shot, but I need the innate strength of chaos and the deadliness of death. I spray out my attack, eyes focusing on my targets. The boss runs from their improvised formation, hiding behind a few corpses. Another man tries to follow but gets hit by the mist, screaming. Everyone gets hit… but the knight stands. Wind blows around her, brushing away the deadly water.

She looks down at one of the men that got hit, seemingly startled as he chokes on his own blood, chunks of his flesh falling wherever the water hit. I don't have poison mana, but that was the closest thing to improvising it. A mix of the molecular formations of different strong acids, coupled with the decaying properties of death and the raw power of chaos. Either I managed to turn the water into one of the acids, or the mana itself acted like one. I don't much care, aside from the fact that she is still alive. The soldier is also alive since he stood so far away, but as he tries to get up he falls again, clearly his leg isn't working right. Good.

"Damn… A dragon is a dragon still, huh… Even an infant one. But you're running ragged, aren't you, kiddo? Your scales look awfully bland." I can hear the grin behind her helmet, but it just makes me more furious. She did have a particularly punchable face, it's her bad luck that my fist has claws.

"This whole place is so disgusting even my colors don't want to stick around. Still, I have to ask, how much are you getting for keeping them safe from the city guard?" Once again I manage to startle her. Guess she didn't expect me to grasp those kinds of concepts.

"Smart too, huh? Why do you care anyways, monster? Is that thing they say about dragons and pride true after all?" She mocks me but I hear a tremble of fear. She expected more damage, or for me to be weaker. Maybe she thought I'd only be able to use my breath? Regardless, I lick my teeth, preparing to end her.

"Oh dragons are prideful. It feels viscerally wrong to willfully demean myself. I'm also feeling sick when I see monsters like you wander abo-"

I am interrupted as she reaches me faster than she should, slashing down with all her strength. I meet the attack head on, mana exploding outwards, knocking her sword out of her grasp. That took the wind out of me, but I still have enough energy to leap on her, pinning her down. She screams and struggles, punching me to great effect, almost knocking me off. Still, I stab into her left armpit, my claws easily punching through the leather used there.

Unfortunately I feel an arrow in my back and a punch straight in my central eye, which even protected by my scaled eyelid, still is a weak spot. She showcases downright herculean strength as she throws me off and runs for her sword, pointing it my way.

"Hah… ahh.. Fuck you're sharp… But look at you… I'll use every patch of your skin to make me some better armor… I'll even make a sword from your bones, so feel fucking grateful you'll be useful for something… Now sit there and I'll make this quick." She is almost manic as she throws her helmet off, dripping blood from her nose, mouth and even one eye. But she is still coming at me.

I stand up, but I can't block another attack, so instead as she moves in close for a swing, I point my tail at her, splashing her with a jet of acid. Sadly, she blocks it with her arm, the attack doing little more than ruin her armor a bit. She seems even more angry, roaring out as she runs at me, only to trip and fall, gasping for air. I don't even look at her, I move on to the soldier who screams for a moment, stabbing me with a knife as I shatter his skull.

Somehow, the last man standing is the boss, who looks at the fallen knight in shock. She points a hand at me, but keeps struggling with her breathing, bleeding even harder from every hole she has. The only word she manages to mouth out is "poison".

"Venom, actually." I answer, looking down at the soon to be corpse. "Venom. You came swinging at a dragon, used these idiots as meatshields, and there you sit surprised by venom. I told you I will survive this. You should have listened."

She smiles through her bloody teeth, then I see her reach for something, so I stab her hand. She screams, but to my surprise, keeps up the smile. My eyes rush to her other hand and I see a tube of sorts. It explodes and shoots out a flare straight through the broken window, exploding loudly against the nearby building. I narrow my eyes, then step away from her, despite wanting to break her skull. I am on a timer now.

"So, we still had something to discuss, didn't we?" I turn to look at the boss that was just about to make a run for it, but he stops and kneels down, head stuck to the floor, begging for his life.

I am tired, I am wounded, but I need to finish this.