Ruling as the Next Dragon Sage!

Within the game, regarding PvE within Dragon's Tale: Ultimate, there was moreso a layer of bosses. A tier list of difficulty.

First, you had your Overworld ones. Ones you would find normally while exploring. No matter the realm or place there was always one. Usually annoying, but easily surprising to beat once you become stronger.

Then, the next stage was Fixed-Scenario bosses. Not that much different from the Overworld ones, these were ones you fought against during the campaigns or missions of expansions or guilds.

Third, was arguably the most confusing one. Dungeon bosses, they were cheesy, and often didn't play fair. Because then again…the dungeon they were in suited to their every need. Advantages? Fixed. Weaknesses? Barely noticeable even if you decide to exploit it.

Lastly we have the Raid Bosses. The ultimate test of PvE. Raids were already hard as is and to top it all off, they gave you a boss as hard as trying to fish with no bait. Only the top PvE players were able to beat them, and every single time you needed a great party. Didn't? Oh well. You are going to get wiped.

Legacy Bosses are variations of the first four I mentioned from the prior game, Dragon's Tale, with updated movesets and kits. But what amazed me more is that not only Sultan managed to pull out a Dungeon Boss.

But…he took the Dungeon Boss…away from his Dungeon.

It's not really…ironic, so to speak, just a little underwhelming. But King Skeleton, the one that stood before all of us, was still insanely strong, but also for his gimmicks as well. Still top 15 within the game that had 30 of those dungeon bosses (not including the legacy ones, so that means dry bones over here is still better than an entire lower half.)

His head was misfigured, deep into the black sockets you could see red gleaming eyes. Lore says it's his hatred manifesting. I say that after 10,000 years it has to be something greater than that. Vengeance.

Sultan took a step forward, in front of King Skeleton. Since he summoned it as his familiar, it only follows his commands. It doesn't warrant a high enough intelligence stat to break out of this bond, as of now.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Ryuuzen. I truly am, but you pushed my hand further than anyone ever has before," He states. Walking with his staff. I watch it carefully.

Waiting for something.

He taps it onto the floor once, supposedly gaining our attention. "Both you, and your partner—Vaniti, have proven strong capability. Please do understand that even now, I wish for you to join our side, and all of this could be forgiven."

I wait, don't necessarily answer. Vaniti doesn't answer, either. Not because she's afraid of speaking out of turn, but moreso she doesn't have anything to say, really. Perhaps waiting on my answer.

But the way Sultan speaks, he's trying it again. Trying to be a normal politician. But everyone knows here that's far from the truth.

As of now, and recently, lately, anything. He's been far from that.

"Pfft. You think I want forgiveness? Sultan, you should be the one on your knees asking for my own mercy."

His face sharpens, so much that I could see the wrinkles clearly now.

"You threw Cloudjumper away as if she were just some disposable. You think you could replace dragons as easily as that? Did you even care for her?"

Sultan doesn't say anything, but then, that's when I remembered Cloudjumper's words.

Sultan needs me more than I need him.

And she was exactly right. Not a single lie told. Because in a way, Sultan realizes that he can't replace Cloudjumper. Not with Koga, not with Vaniti, not with I, of course.

There's something that she brought that made her irreplaceable…

Sultan doesn't even sound that convinced to get me on my side—not because I'm a dragon as well…but because he's trying to patch something up.

That's what the politician does, and that's what took me so long to figure out.

Sultan's words always have underlying truth and different tones depending on the angle you see it from.

You can't take Sultan's words at a initial glance, no. You can't, it won't work. You need to see it from more than one angle. Think outside the box, inside—as well as the box itself.

"And you summoned this Skeleton, and you realized you could only do that if you entertained Cloudjumper's antics with me. If she had acted earlier inside the estate, she would've died,"

Sultan's breathing picks up.

"Something tells me you knew all along, didn't you?"

He coughed, slightly. "...I see. Nothing gets past you, Sovereign of Strife and Ruin. Hm?"

"Don't try to butter me up now. You must think I'm a fool if you never once suspected it. You have some level of Foresight, and other than yourself stating it aloud, there was also some speculation from my side."

"But less about that, you didn't speak up against Cloudjumper outside because your own future was told to you. If you let her die, she could buy time for you to summon this beast. Which as well tells me that there's only a certain degree of how far you could see into the future."

Koga looks towards Sultan, shocked as well. Amazed on how I'm piecing all of this together within this moment.

"If it did, then you would've realized and noticed that summoning this skeleton is damn-near useless against me. But as of now, this future is not seen nor accounted for by you, so go ahead," I say.

With a grin on my face.

"See into the future, what does it tell you?"

Sultan hesitates for a moment, looks towards the ground, but then clenches his staff tightly. If I challenge him directly like this, he can no longer be the omniscient force all along.

He will be the man that tries to get both prophecy and fate to bow down to him.

He hits on the ground once.

Then, again,

That's the cue.

His eyes go blank for a second. I've never taken the time to actually look at Sultan when he does see into the future, which also led me to believe that not only that he can…

…but what's allowing him too had to be directly built into the staff. There's simply no other explanation. He never leaves it behind, and if he does, only for a short moment.

He looks around, his face tightened, slowly and gradually building up to one of anger.

"N-no…it can't be. Don't tell me—" He rips out into a violent cough, blood trailing from his lips and from his mouth. He bends over, but Koga runs to his aide. Figured that out as well, there must be a limit to how many times he can do this.

"No…I can't. I can't have this! I won't allow this! I'm FATED! I'm SUPPOSED TO WIN!"

He yells out, but I'm not moved.

He throws his hand forward, and there, the King Skeleton took that as the slightest call to action. Before I realized it, it's like the boss vanished.

And next thing I knew.

He was right before me.

All four blades poised directly at me.