RE: Deity - The Breath of Creation

When two gods of equal power fought, it was a battle of philosophy. The one with the greatest understanding of their own self, their enemy, and the universe around them typically won. In the Four Realms, such a thing could be considered a matter of pitting one's Dao above another's. I had seen it many times, and understood the mechanics of such a fight to a fine degree.

A fight between dragons was different. Dragons were pure in intent and purpose. There was nothing to argue or doubt, just a war to be waged. In such a situation, at our power level, it became a matter of Will.

The very Primordial Chaos itself cracked with our every clash, claws sparking against each other, scales shattering beneath mighty blows. Elements pooled beneath Sehuyun's wings, rocketing toward me with twenty times the might she had used against Alexander – I surged upwards, above the maelstrom of power, each flick of my long tail churning up a rising tidal wave of elemental energy that came crashing down upon Sehuyun.

She did not dodge, laughing as water and ice thundered against her, digging in her claws as he held herself against the tide, unfazed by the power – I clicked my tongue in annoyance, an odd sound in my draconic form, eyes narrowing.

I felt powerful like this. Strength surged through my limbs, power crackled beneath my scales, erupting from my sinuous body in bolts of screaming lightning. The Primeval Dragon roared her laughter as she charged, aura meeting mine before our claws ever touched. Through it, I could feel her argument. The root of her will.

REPEL. FIGHT. It was simple. I was an invader. I was in her territory where she was supreme. I was a rival. And she would show her dominance.

My argument was simple as well.

MY SON. REJECT. I DO NOT BOW. Our clashes were brief, but explosive. Reality bent when claw met scale, only to be fused back together from the heat of Sehuyun's flames. Our roars trembled the realm, and for the first time in a long time I was allowed to truly let loose, no fear of harming reality holding me back as I charged forth, tail thrashing, space and time shattering before my might. The Primeval Dragon's laughter was met by my own as we clashed once again, an explosion of primordial chaos sparking through our clash.

We were sent flying away from each other, my very bones rattling from the force of the explosion. I righted myself and snarled, finding Sehuyun as she, too, dug her claws into the fabric of her own reality to arrest her momentum. She was powerful. More powerful than I, for certain, though the distance between us was not insurmountable, even with my injury.

Yet I was not just fighting her. The entirety of the Dragon's Domain fought against me. Every inch was an inch I had to fight through, pushing my aura and will outward to combat that which pressed down upon me from every direction. My eyes narrowed, a growl rumbling out through my chest, white and black light spilling from me. The Will of the Dragon's Domain was fighting against me, recognizing me as a foreign threat.

"You are a million years too early to be challenging me," I growled to it, pressing my aura outward. How dare this mere will try to hold me back? I am the very heavens themselves, I am the [HEAV – and I was stopped. Never had I been so easily shut down before, my intent pushed back into my body and suppressed with hardly a blink.

"No trying to subvert another Origin's control, Statera. Even if accidentally." Mr. Boxes chided, voice echoing in my ears. Sehuyun growled, eyes fixated on what I assumed to be the boxes.

"Do not interfere." She demanded.

"Then learn to control your Will better. It's attacking Statera because you are." Boxes said. Sehuyun blinked, then scowled, wings flaring as her power shot through the entirety of her realm, a roar echoing through all of creation. And the will of her realm was cowed, pressed into subservience through sheer might. I bared my teeth.

Savage. Brutal. I –

I coughed up blood, the golden liquid seeping from between my jagged teeth. My form flickered, purple lighting crackling even as my transformation began to fail.

"Seems this form is a bit too much to maintain right now," I grumbled, swallowing my blood, pain lancing through my chest where my lungs should be. "A dragon without lungs…my injury is more severe than I realized." That would not stand for any longer.

"No!" Sehuyun shouted, wings flaring and teeth bared, even as my body began to shrink, returning to my Fae form. "Not yet! This cannot be all you have!" I let out a breath, more a sigh of relief as I fell back into my more familiar body, my power relaxing as the strain of holding that form was lessened. My soul ached, having forcibly maintained that form longer than I should have with the injuries it had sustained. With a sigh I reached up to run a hand through my hair with an arm that wasn't there – I frowned, and glared at the stump. "Bah! Useless! Worthless!" Sehuyun continued to rage. Only, I wasn't done. Rage still bubbled within me, urging me to clash once again.

I was part dragon. I recognized that now – to be a dragon meant a certain quality of soul. But that wasn't all I was.

"Have you ever heard the saying 'dragon amongst men?'" I idly mused, clenching and unclenching my one good fist. Sehuyun stilled in her tantrum, fixating me with a disappointed glare. I knew how gods fought gods. I knew how dragons fought dragons. Now, how did a god fight a dragon?

…no. How did I fight a dragon?

Sehuyun lashed out, in her anger. Fire roared towards me in a stream of all-consuming heat, boiling the primordial chaos itself. It was far stronger than it ever had been while fighting Alexander – she'd been holding back, to enjoy the fight more. Even while fighting my dragon form, she had been holding back due to my injury. Now she was annoyed and no longer playing games. I could see it in her head, the disappointment, the annoyance. And Mr. Boxes would do nothing to stop the fire from burning me to a crisp.

I smiled, in the split seconds before it struck.
The fire was too much of one thing. Destruction. It was too…unbalanced. The moment the heat touched me the scales were tipped, cooling down the flames to a more pleasant heat that mended and destroyed the primordial chaos in equal measure. Black and white swirled beneath my feet as I stood in the middle of the fiery maelstrom, untouched and unharmed.

I closed my eyes. [Silence.] That had been my first word. Why that…? No – I didn't have the time to delve into the philosophy. Instead I let the word fill me, quieting my surroundings so I could only hear my soul. What was the other word I had almost said, before Mr. Boxes interrupted me? No – I couldn't use that either. It felt cheap. I was more than Mr. Boxes understanding of the Heavens. Not greater. But different. I would not debase myself by using Mr. Boxes understanding as a crutch.

Like Xing Wu was to me, I was to Mr. Boxes.

"I am the heavens." Golden light exploded from me, expelling the dragon's breath as I stepped forward. Bronze armor fell over my chest, a helmet appearing atop my head. A spear of bronze light found itself grasped in my hand, a shield of brilliant purple hovering where my left arm should have been. The Dragon's Domain split as my very being expanded, calling upon echoes of my past to power this symbol.

It flickered and shook, the situation not quite right, but close enough that I could at least manifest it, nascent though the technique was.

Sehuyun roared, hurling herself forward with manic glee, eyes gleaming as my own battle-intent rocketed skyward. I hurled my spear, the golden light slamming into her shoulder and cracking scales, her blood pouring from the wound.

Her claws swiped and I blocked with the shield and was sent skidding backward from the force. I raised my head, white and black sparking into existence to form a bridge between myself and Sehuyun. She growled, claws digging into the planks, confusion on her face.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And my body grew, rising in height and size to match her form – so we were not fighting as an ant versus an elephant, but two titans. This, at least, was easier to maintain than the dragon.

I roared out a laugh, ripping a short sword from where it appeared at my side to clash with Sehuyun once more. The blade bit into her scales and flesh, drawing blood, and she tore into my side with her claws, wings battering at my helmeted head. Our wounds mended themselves in seconds, only to be torn open again moments later by our continued battle.

"A mere god fighting a dragon?!" Sehuyun laughed as I forced her back with a shove from my shield, wings flared. She tried once to lift off, to attack me from the skies, but the magic of my summoned bridge kept her in place, forcing her feet to the ground. I would keep the bridge now, as I had in the past. "How dare a mere god try to keep a dragon from their very own skies!"
"I am no mere god! I am the heavens – there is no sky above my own!" I roared back, laughing in equal measure. The joy of battle set my heart to thundering in my chest, the roar of my blood in my veins echoed in the bellow from my chest.

"I am an existence to defy the heavens!" Her declaration was punctuated by a charge – her claws shattered against my armor, and my sword broke against her horns.

"I do not care for your obedience!" I punched her in the face, a tooth breaking off in her maw as she tore my shield from my control, the construct fading away.

"I AM A DRAGON! I DARE YOU TO CHALLENGE ME!"

"I AM THE HEAVENS! I DARE YOUR FANGS TO REACH MY HEIGHTS!"

Armor was shredded, scales were shattered, and blood was spilt as we raged against each other, laughter echoing through the Dragon's Domain. Our very souls were laid bare, philosophies and wills battering against the other just as our flesh did.

And neither was found wanting.

Reilly fully expected to find the meeting room absolutely trashed when they got back from Sylphina's Chaos Universe. Or at least, barring that, to find Statera and the Dragon in timeout because the Overgod got annoyed at their antics. As such, he was wholly unprepared to be met with uproarious laughter the moment he stepped through Sylphina's portal and into the meeting room.

Statera, calm, cool, wise, all-seeing Statera Luotian was laughing like a drunk soldier in a tavern. He was dressed in a light purple toga draped loosely about his tall, muscular body – the god now easily rose ten feet tall, even sitting down as he was – his one good arm draped leisurely over the Dragon's neck. His other hand, this one a prosthetic made of golden energy, gripped a steel tankard of beer, the foamy liquid sloshing as he wheezed out his joy. The Dragon herself had a barrel of wine gripped in her claws as she, too, died of laughter at some joke Reilly had missed.

Both looked like they'd been put through the wringer. Statera had a black eye, bruises slowly fading as his body sought to mend itself. The Dragon had a few cracked scales and some swelling in her face, though nothing too serious either.

The sight was so odd, and so at odds with the glares he'd seen the two shooting each other prior to leaving for Sylphina's realm, that he almost missed the fact that MR-10 was still there, as well as the great white dragon on the Primeval Dragon's other side, nursing a small barrel of his own liquor.

His energy was clearly similar to Statera's own, marking him as one of the god's "children," and he looked relatively hale and hearty compared to the other two. Most importantly, however, was that he was well and truly stronger than pretty much any other resident of a universe that he'd met so far, save for the origin deities themselves.

Just how many powerful beings did Statera have in his universe?! This already made three who would match his own strongest subordinate!
"Oh hey! Welcome back!" Statera cried, raising his tankard to the newly arrived group with a dopey grin. "How was the trip?"

"I…am at a loss for words," the Emperor admitted as he appeared, crossing his arms across his chest. "I thought Statera was one of the rational ones."

"Hey, Reilly. Didn't you say they'd be at each other's throats when we got back? Maybe, a trashed room? In timeout? And didn't we make a bet on it? I believe it's time to pay up." Yueya taunted. Reilly didn't have to look at her to know she was smirking, the tone of her voice said it all. He was too baffled by the situation before him to be annoyed at her, even, and quietly handed Yueya the promised wager – a particularly potent gin he'd been saving for a special occasion, made of bad luck and bad decisions – while Statera muttered something low enough that only the Dragon could hear.

The two devolved into another round of laughter, the white-scaled dragon shaking his great head.

"Apologies for these two. I have never seen Father like this before." The white dragon admitted, rainbow eyes meeting each of the origin deity's own in turn without flinching. It spoke volumes of his composure. "It is shameful to admit, but I was unable to keep up with their battle and am thus unsure what made them like this."

"Oh come now, Alexander, you were great! Yeah, you were knocked out for a bit, but you tangled with an origin god! No more sulking from you." Statera chided, not unkindly, as he craned his neck to look over the Primeval Dragon at the now-identified Alexander.

"Indeed. He's a fine dragon! In another few eons he'll be worthy of being a true challenger! He'll be even better than you." The Primeval Dragon growled out, pulling away from Statera's arm to smile a toothy, almost menacing smile at Alexander. Said dragon huffed, and avoided her gaze.

"Well that's fine. I might make a decent dragon, but even more than that, I am the heavens themselves!"

"And I defy the heavens." The Dragon laughed, earning another roar of laughter from Statera, even as he tossed back the tankard to take another long draught.

"What, exactly, happened here?" Reilly asked, throwing his hands into the air helplessly.

"Statera did something completely unexpected. She befriended the Dragon." Yueya said smugly. "Even if I didn't expect that, I knew it wouldn't be what you said."

"They had a fight." MR-10 piped up, light flashing. "The pent-up aggression both were feeling was worked out in the process, and I believe the battle made them respect each other. The Dragon seems to have taken a liking to Alexander as well. Hence, their attitudes now. I recorded the entire thing; I suspect there is something deeper than a mere battle involved with how our powers may evolve."

"I want to see it!" Yueya said. Reilly nodded his head in agreement, stepping eagerly toward the inverted pyramid.

"For a price." MR-10 beeped once. Reilly narrowed his eyes at it, glancing over at where Statera was still drinking gaily from his tankard, then back at the machine. "A diagram of your systemized Luck will be a sufficient price for you, Reilly." It said. He scowled and crossed his arms, tapping his fingers against his arm.

"…damn it, fine. I want to know what the hells happened," he snapped, clasping his hands together to focus his power and create the diagram for MR-10. The other origin gods were told their own prices, and most hesitatingly agreed to the terms. MR-10 seemed to have figured out the line not to cross when asking for a price, and Reilly could honestly respect the hustle. Besides, the prize was too enticing.

Sylphina's universe had been fascinating. The Chaos Butterfly and its butterfly effect made Reilly want to implement a few of its chaotic features into his own universe immediately; the way a single step could ripple through all of reality, creating massive changes far down the line was both terrifying and thrilling.

But this? A battle between origin deities? Well, that was a whole other side to the coin. Just how many chances would he get to see something like this?