Horrifying, Little Girl [Lilith Job, Mura and Blood]

Words: 542

Tags: Mura Kensho

"Thought I was doing this thing alone."

Ibara mentioned, hands pocketed while glancing at the silhouette clouded in mist only a few metres ahead of him. He looked pretty casual despite the aforementioned desolate scene that he now laid his eyes upon. The situation seemed shocking but Ibara refused to let it show, there was no point in scaring his teammate now, not at such an early stage anyway. This place most certainly gave him the absolute creeps though, it vaguely made him reminicize back to the Spooky Forest; a location he had vowed never to go back to again. Ibara could only hope he wouldn't re-live such traumatising experiences in lifetimes from now. For a few moments, Ibara had forgotten he'd drifted off, his eyes glazed over while emerging into deep thought, slowly wandering his mind back as to how he'd got there in the first place.


Ibara sat in the Sabertooth Guild Hall, a letter on the table infront of him. The bartender had slapped it down infront of him, indicating it was from the Magic Council before turning to go. Was that worry on his face? Surely the remark couldn't have been that serious. Then again, the last call from the Magic Council had deemed Ibara a necessity when fighting against a severely high-ranked enemy whom had almost succeeded in the total annihilation of Hargeon Town and the eventual destruction of Earthland if they had succeeded. Ibara held his breath and he tore open the letter with one hand, spinning the open piece of paper with one finger before throwing it back on the table in a similar manner to how the bartender had performed it. His eyes drifted over the words.

"Spooky Forest. Murderer. Eight... What the hell?!"

Despite Ibara's attempt at picking what he deemed to be the keywords in that succinct later, the young dragon could make neither head or not tail of it. What did they need him for to deal with a little girl who pleasured herself by killing Dark Mages? Besides, it wasn't really his area of expertise; dealing with children that is. Nor was attempting to be civil and rearing in criminals to their arrest; his hot-headedness usually got in the way but sadly the plea was from the Magic Council and considering his current financial predicament -- it was truly an offer he could not refuse.

"Soo.. where's the murderous devil child?"

Ibara smirked at his rather pathetic joke. There was no one to be seen nor heard other than the brown-haired boy that now stood infront of him. His spiked hair was a sight to be seen, rather unique amongst most of the people in Earthland. The general appearance of his soon-to-be partner intrigued him; now it was only his personality that was in question. But Ibara didn't care about any of that, he wanted the job done and fast. He glanced around a few times again and took another few steps forward. There was an ominous aura to the air, thick and misguided as if someone was leading them straight into an illusion of purely malicious thoughts but Ibara didn't heed his step; he continued walking, straight past his partner and into the village ahead.

Words: 308

Tags: Mura Kensho

"A ghost with an attitude problem. Yeah, I can hear it."

His back remained fixated on his partner. His close analytic stance on the boy was hardly noticed and it was likely that his attention on the boy could've been deemed as ignorance but for now, the young dragon put it to the back of his mind. As of this moment, his brain had tacked onto another thought. The constant sound, a repetitive echo of the same two words, over and over and over again.


Two words that were so effective, it surprised the young dragon. The voice emanated with power despite it's lack of origin. The village was absolutely deserted and the sound didn't originate from either Ibara nor his partner. They both remained there with their mouths closed and ears pricked. The ominousity that exuded from every orifice, every building, every empty hollow reminded Ibara of a very certain memory that the young dragon did not want to relive. He opened his mouth and stepped forwards, cupping them around his hands as he did so. Before speaking, fire rampaged out from his cupped hands and spread in a wide cylindrical arc into the air. He growled a few times before speaking.

"We're not going anywhere. Say it to my face, baka!"

Ibara's animalistic nature radiated from his body, his two-toned eyes glowed in the gloom and his body exuded with the occasional flame which licked his bare skin tearing holes in his clothes in some places. He beat his chest once and continued walking forwards into the village while the sounds of the mysterious creature grew louder and louder, driving to a screaming-point once Ibara stood at centre-stage within the haunted village that no one would dare have stood where he now remained. He challenged the ghost directly, he was ready for a fight.

Words: 401

Tags: Mura Kensho

Ibara made out an audible sound from behind him. A warning of some kind which emanated from his boyish, younger partner. He shouted almost but Ibara was lost in a sea of his angered emotions from the continuous, repetitive echo that screamed for their repentance from the area. Ibara was unphased by the warning but his entanglement of rage enabled him to completely disregard the warning that his partner had attempted to heed. Kyuken was agile and dodged the swords that narrowly approached the young dragon from behind. Ibara was sharp and his reactions as fast as flame itself but nothing could inhibit the blade that dawned on him from behind. His neck inclined and twisted within a millisecond of distance between his yellow eye and the cylindrical, steel sword.

"Shit..."

The sword dashed forwards with seemingly no wielder and it collided with Ibara's face head on. No damage came forth. No blood, no cut, no removal of his limbs and more importantly.. no loss of sight. The blade was intangible and it phased through him as quick as it came. It's slashes continued, moving further and further into Ibara's metal state. The idea of a sword that moved through him rather than to seemingly hack off his limbs was a pointless concept yet the idea of it terrified the young dragon but instead of dawning on such a notion, Ibara counted his blessings. He stood there and placed his hands on his hips, turning back to his partner as the sword continued to relentlessly hack and slash at him.

"So much for that ominous presence we felt earlier. This sword is complete garbage."

Such useless magic only aroused questions within the young dragon's mind. Such a powerful presence but only capable of such useless magic? This couldn't be all. The presence remained and the echo continued over and over like a broken tape recorder.


The voice epitomized all of a sudden; releasing a shrill shriek that went so far as to shatter some windows of the abandoned homes that now surrounded them. Magical power ascended from every angle and Ibara almost felt literally crushed by the particles of raw mana that now exuded from every available location. He did his best to maintain his balance but what could it be and where did it come from? One thing was clear. This battle was far from over.

Words: 605

Tags: Mura Kensho

Whispers. A continuous rhythmic crescendo that seemed to be some sort of traumatising tactic in a vain attempt to plant fear within the two mage's minds. Ibara didn't know about his partner but for all he was concerned, there was no change in his attitude. The whispers did connect with him sure, but Ibara doubted they had the desired effect. They only pissed him off more and more. Veins began pulsating from his head and his eyes began to narrow. They repeated the same words that Ibara had been hearing from the moment he had set foot in this village.


The tone was the same, maybe a little deeper at times, but it echoed with a melodious note that could have been mistaken for the same sort of voice that you hear when children sing nursery rhymes. However, it had an eerie melody too it, butchering the tranquillity that nursery rhymes would usually bring about. Ibara was about to raise his fist to swat at the moving swords again when the voice suddenly changed and the words differed. They emulated the voice of a little girl. A small giggle followed by words that struck Ibara's heart strings.


What did she mean? Spiritual Child? Little Dragon? It was as if she had delved into the minds of both the mages within a matter of seconds of her arrival. She wasn't visible at the moment but she didn't need to be. That ominous presence that the two had felt before had doubled and literally forced Ibara to his knees. Dark magic, magic that shouldn't have to be felt anyway exuded from this one differentiated voice and Ibara did his best to force coughs of absolute pressure back down his throat. What the hell was going on?


She spoke like a teacher reprimanding her students. A disembodied shadow formed from the corner of the village. All that was visible were two pupiless white eyes, a set of razor-sharp teeth and a darkened dress embodying a small, female child. In her hand was the silhouette of a small puppet. It dangled from her fingertips while her smile grew wider and wider, much similar to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. She skipped forwards and removed herself from the shadows but they seemed to follow her, coating her skin in a black mist that concealed most of her facial features. She pointed at Ibara's partner. Why she focused on him rather than the young dragon who was stirring up all the ruckus to begin with was a notion that was beyond him but the fact that Ibara was driven to his knees left him inhibited at attempting to help.

"You will go first, heehee!"

Her hand raised, the hand embodying the puppet and despite it's classification as a somewhat inanimate object, it too raised it's hand in a similar fashion to the way it's owner did. They both chanted a few inaudible words and suddenly spectral chains rose from the ground at blindingly fast speeds towards it's designated target; Mura. A question of whether he dodged or not was a matter of great importance. Would this blow seal and determine his fate?


Ibara's voice stammered slightly, still feeling great weakness within his very soul but he relinquished all that to deliver a final warning to his partner. He would do his best to support him while he could. It was only a matter of time before the dragon spread it's wings again and rejoined the fight.

Words: 708

Tags: Mura

Veins continued to pulsate on the young dragon's forehead as he managed to maintain this internal struggle within his mind, nothing else was very prominent at the time, he could only wrestle with this mental struggle as the little girl's magical power attempted to overcome him in actuality but Ibara had faced a lot worse than a demonic child with severe daddy issues. No, the fiery dragon slayer had a lot more up his sleeve and he was almost ready to deliver it. He could hear the sound of crashing chains against the grounds and by matter of deduction, Ibara could only hope and assume that the chains had missed their desired target and his verbal warning had been of some use. Then another voice came through the thick fray, that of his partner who seemed to issue a warning or perhaps a prompt?

The young dragon struggled at first but through a sea of sweat that now draped his forehead and clung his hair to his skin, he glanced upwards, making out the verbal audibility of his partner issuing what seemed to be an opportunity. The young girl had recoiled from the fray with her chains beginning to retract. It seemed they had a cooldown time, she could use them once but it would take time for them to return to her before they received their desired effect once more. This was indeed an opportunity and the young dragon wasn't going to let it go to waste, especially not while it endangered the lifeforce of his temporary partner, Mura.

Speaking of his partner, it took him a few moments to comprehend what had exactly happened. His aesthetic visuals looked drastically different, with a glowing god-like aura and blue flames to match which coated his body in a similar fashion to times when Ibara was angered or upset. Also, was the man hovering?! The fiery dragon slayer had never seen anything quite like it and the moment passed with much more time than it should have because it gave Lillith time to recover and launch herself towards the still-downed dragon slayer, obviously deeming the fiery god-like child as the more-powerful one and therefore dismissed him until later. Ibara was about to prove her wrong. Her palm was outstretched and raised towards Ibara, it glowed with dark energy clearly prepared for some kind of spell.

"You shouldn't let your guard down so easily."

A fanged grin spread onto Ibara's face, it wreaked of maliciousness and the young dragon shot to his feet, splintering the earth underneath him with raw power as his body almost set ablaze and combusted in a few places, leaving fiery scorch marks in a circular formation around him. He roared and the veins pulsated on his head once more, but this time for a very different reason. It was no longer his time to struggle, the shoe was indeed on the other foot.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Lillith was seemingly coming in way too fast and she hadn't interpreted for the young dragon to make such an unexpected return to sanity but little did she know that it took a lot more than a simple visage to break the dragon's iron will. Her lesson would be learnt as Lillith, unable to stop or even slow herself down, came face to face with a fist that lived and breathed fire. You could hear the crunch of her shark-like teeth as splinters rose from the brief contact. Ibara had avoided the fist by sidestepping it in a matter of moments while simultaneously grabbing her wrist and immobilising her. Lillith was stunned and hung in a limp manner in Ibara's grasp. The young dragon lifted her up so they came eye-to-eye.

"Now you're going to see what it's like."

Ibara's hand rocketed backwards and he performed a full-armed toss with Lillith in tow over his head. The young demonic girl was sent flying, already dazed by Ibara's previous spell, and ultimately smashed into a nearby tree, shattering it completely due to the force of the young dragon's throw. He dusted his hands off and glanced back towards Mura while a sword simultaneously phased through him but Ibara didn't even bat an eyelid.

"We're going to end this. Now."

Words: 983

Tags: Mura

Ibara's eyes were focused on the shadows that intertwined beneath the ghostly branches from where Lillith had crashed only a few moments ago. Mura seemed astounded at the strength that Ibara had conjured up from his being as the demonstration of his spell had momentarily put his partner to a pause of silence within astoundment. With his arm previouusly cocked back, he allowed both weapons to hang gently by his sides while rising to his full stature (which wasn't all that impressive anyway). He began to remark on Mura's comments from before.

"You aren't so bad yourself. Lighting yourself on fire like that. I thought I was the only one. Not to mention you can fly."

Ibara could only grin at the following comment. Mura's remarking on his dragon-like magic was natural, in fact he thought it such a commonly idea that Mura had assumed such a thing already. He shrugged it off before realising that they had to focus back on the task at hand. There was a swirling shadow within the area that Lillith had just crashed in. Power was rising again, she was regenerating, recuperating and ready to strike back with a cold vengeance that wasn't there before. Her powerful arrogance had been substituted with a concentrated rage and now she was all the more deadly.

Mura was smart. He seized the opportunity and heeded the young dragon's advice to attack her when she was down but Ibara was beginning to regret the swift decision. She had been knocked down but now she was on guard. She recognised their power and now she was all the more vigilant. She was a more powerful opponent and with her observance came danger. Mura's attack came thick and fast, it was impressive and almost unavoidable to the eye, incomprehensible to react to but the swirling shadows began to accumulate further and further.

An explosion ruptured from the strike which Mura had placed perfectly with the precision of natural expert. His strikes were swift and clean but the decimation that came of it was something to gasp at. Trees fell swiftly and the shadow was unleashed, light opening up on the spot where Lillith was. Or where they thought she was. The shadows began to clear and nothing was there. It was as if the young girl had been eviscerated by Mura's blade to such an extent that she had quite literally dissolved. If only that were the case.

"You really think it's that easy?! Punks, I'll slaughter you both."

Ibara couldn't still get used to the fact that such a young girl had such a capable foul mouth. Then again, there was the possibility that this woman wasn't a human at all. Her appearance was much more demonic than child-like anyway. There she stood, on top of one of the trees at quite a distance away. It had maintained it's stature and hadn't been eviscerated by Mura's blade. She actually seemed quite un-harmed but that was the price to pay by striking her with such a powerful blow. They had missed their chance to do the necessary damage to her while she wasn't on her guard. It could only lead uphill now.

"Stay on your guard, she's watching us closely."

Ibara's words were quiet so they were only audible to his partner as his yellow and red eyes narrowed on the target. Fire soon began to radiate from his body as magic was channeled throughout him. He raised both arms and pulled them backwards so they cocked and met just behind him. His shoulder blades flexed and he grimaced before beginning to chant.

"Fire Dragon's.."

Inferno markings shot straight up his arms on either side. They blazed with an orange and red intangible glow as his whole body began to give off an immense amount of heat. The very ground underneath him began to singe, forming a small blackened ring around his figure while his eyes narrowed.

"...Wing Beat!"

His arms moved forwards again in a clapping formation. His ablazed arms ran down towards his palms and as the flames met between them in a clapping formation, two wing-like flames emerged from his clapping palms and raced towards Lillith whom was still standing on the trees. Her movements were swift though and before the two mages could comprehend her movement, she was gone from the tree. The tree erupted in a mass of explosions as did several other trees around its vicinity.

"Mura!"

Ibara's eyes were trained on where Lillith had positioned herself next. She'd used the explosions as a means of boosting her speed and had spiralled towards the spirited wizard with outstretched arms. Chains erupted from her small dress which were augmented by her already gaining speed and it almost seemed impossible to dodge. But Ibara was one step ahead of her. The spiked chains moved ahead of her in a deadly arc but the young dragon closed the gap between him and his partner in a matter of seconds, allowing the chain to pierce straight through his arm in order to slow and eventually inhibit further movement. Lillith grinned despite the fact that it hadn't struck her intended target.

"A valiant effort that you'll learn to regret. Heehee!"

The doll in her hands began to glow, it's eyes illuminating a deep and sickly purple. Before the two wizards could comprehend what was going on, Ibara began to motion into the air, dragged by the one segment of chain that remained pierced into his arms. The young dragon attempted to cry out in pain but his voice was silenced. It was like his ability to move freely was inhibited and he'd been turned into a simple dummy by the demonic ventriloquist. Ibara's eyes gestured back to his partner thought. While she was lifting him, her attention remained focused solely on the young dragon. This was Mura's chance. His chance to strike.

Words: 986

Tags: Mura

The young dragon remained suspended in the air while his slowly began to glaze over as his mind struggled to engage while suffering through the intense pain that ricocheted up his arm and into his nervous system. The links in the chain were beginning to loosen though and the young dragon could hear Mura's battle cry from below but his vision was simply too hazy to visualise the tremendous amount of power that the spirited warrior was about to perform. The links began to undo themselves within his flesh, as each link of shadow snapped, more and more pain sent tremendous shivers up the entirety of Ibara's shoulder and back again. Wave upon wave of ecstatic tremors, each one more excruciating than the next. The young dragon struggled to keep his composure despite his survivalistic attitude; this was getting a little too much, even for him. Lillith wanted to deliver a lesson; a lesson not to mess with her and she wanted to deliver it now while the young dragon remained in her grasp, even she knew she wouldn't get many chances in the future, not now the young dragons wings were spread and his guard was up.

An explosion of magical energy occured from bellow which rocketed and pulsated through Ibara's body, magic clashing upon magic, a battle of wills and something was about to burst. Another blood-curdling scream was released from Mura down below, an impressive shout of power from someone whom looked so fragile at first glance. Then a cracking sound emanated from within the once silent air before the shattering of an earth-like substance sent debris flying upwards, only narrowly missing the young dragon's still-suspended body. It was clear to Ibara that Mura had broken through Lillith's defence and now advanced upon her position. Ibara's vision was beginning to brighten again, the demonic magician was losing her focus; her intention on Ibara was developing into a softening touch rather than a threatened grip.

Then another sound, a silent slice that felt as quick as the wind itself. Another blood-curdling scream wrenched into the metallic filled air but this vocal tremor was much more inhumane, much more terrifying and with it launched a dark release of magical energy, enough to send both mages flying backwards at the sheer power of such a release.

"YOU WILL PAY. BOTH OF YOU. ERAHHHHH!"

Ibara's body struggled to hasten into battle position again as wave upon wave of magical shadows began pressing down on the two of them. The young dragon was unable to locate his spirit-bound partner whom also resided somewhere within the darkness. The young dragon couldn't stand being so helpless and with such a thought in mind, slowly clenched onto the ground. The mud beneath him threatened to uproot itself and send the fiery slayer into oblivion but Ibara refused to budge. His eyes began to glow again, filled with that same determination of his first attack and he glanced through the shadow. It was true that he couldn't see Lillith, that these shadows did prove to be effective as some visual distraction but that didn't excuse the smell of rotting-flesh that Lillith emanated with his slayer-enhanced nostrils.

"No Lillith. You'll be the one that pays. Dearly."

Red illuminations began to tear apart the black deluge that set forth upon the two wizards. As fire poured from Ibara's orifices, nostrils, eyeballs, ears, mouth; Mura's silhouette slowly began to visualise within the young dragon's minds eye. He could sniff out his partner and the path was clear to him. With the flames covering his body already, his speed was augmented and with a simple stroke of the foot, Ibara bounded off the ground from his kneed position to a full throttled leap to cover many metres in a matter of milliseconds. Within a moment, a kick of dust and a skidding to a halt, the young dragon appeared at Mura's side in a flash of brilliant orange and yellow.

"It's not much of a plan but I'm telling you to roll with it. If we're to come out of this alive we have to think fast and that means making decisions that could either save or lives or put them at serious risk. If we don't trust eachother we can forget about returning to our guilds in one piece. Got it?"

Ibara stuttered slightly as he spoke, he knew everyone second he spent wasting words on explanations with Mura left him and his partner vulnerbale to detection via vocal reverberations. He could already hear Lillith's dark chuckle emanating from somewhere else within the black waves that continued to pour onto the forest that the two wizards were situated in; clearly this chuckle signified she'd located them.

"I'm going to attack her with everything I've got. That will serve as a means of distraction. I've seen what your magic can do, how it negates her magic which makes you her prime target. If she sees you coming head on, she'll most likely solely target you without paying much mind to me, she's seen what you can do. If I attack first then I'll force her to focus on me, giving you an opportune moment with which to strike. We don't have time for questions. You're just gonna have to trust me, like I said earlier."

Without even giving Mura the chance to breathe in response, the spirited wizard would be able to feel an intense increase in the heat-levels that arose from Ibara's body, radiating with flames that leaked out of every orifice possible. Within a split second, the young dragon was gone, only leaving a trail of burnt dust in his wake. Mura could hear the surprised scream of Lillith within the shadow signifying she had been attacked by Ibara. Now was his chance to strike, Ibara kept her occupied with a roar of determination. Seconds passed, would Mura trust his aggressive, impulsive dragon-like partner?

Words: 725

Tags: Mura

Mura's fighting style was impressive. The visage of several versions of himself, each coated in a suit of gargantuan armour worthy of draconian-esque praise. The young dragon would have stayed to marvel at the sight of his battle style if Lillith's constant screaming and outbursts of dark matter weren't distracting him first. Mura's encoutner with Lillith earlier from when she had released him through a devastating combo of attacks from the spirited child''s arsenal had left Ibara skidding a few metres backwards from the sheer demonstration of power which caused him reeling. He managed to stay on his feet though and dust kicked up from where the power had threatened to propel him into the trees from whence he came.

Ibara stood his ground and swiped through a second black deluge of shadow, another burst of raw energy that emanated from the encounter. His feet locked into some tree roots at his feet to keep him grounded while he assessed the situation ahead of him. Mura stood several metres back, he was recovering from Lilliths' recent grab; clearly her moves were far more impressive than the two mages had originally interpreted. They had to approach and assess this with even more caution than before if they were to come out of this alive.

That's when the fiery dragon slayer noticed the movement of Mura's mouth. He attempted to decipher the words but he simply couldn't. There was too much haze between the two of them and the black chains that swarmed from the ground in a spherical form sealed the deal on attempting to communicate with Mura. A whirlwind of shadows kicked up and corrupted the very dust underneath them. Screams upon screams echoed murderously around the vicinity and that alone was almost enough to send both mages into a psychiatric hospital for special treatment. Their opponent was terrifying and they had to be too if they were to overwhelm her.

"Y'know, back in a simpler time.. it was dragons that ruled the world, not demons. I'm about to teach you why."

As soon as Ibara opened his mouth to unleash that sentence, flames began to erupt from every angle of the young dragon. Forget about covering just the orifices, his very skin radiated flame and heat. Even his eyeballs were on fire, leaking with torrents of red hot flame. His features were indistinguishable. He was a black silhouette amongst an orange wave of flame that covered him from head-to-toe. The shadows around him shrivelled in response and they sank away, revealing Lillith within the midst of chains.

"WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP. I DEMAND YOU TO STOP."

A small chuckle could of been heard from the flames. Not any ordinary laugh though. A savage laugh, like a hyena that was about to successfully devour it's prey. The chuckle intensified and slowly it became hollow and without emotion which terrified even Lillith into silence despite her loud abbreviations from earlier.

"I suppose you'll have to learn that children don't always get what they want."

Ibara shook his head and while maintaining that same maniacal laugh from before, the silhouette from within the flames could be seen raising his hands to his mouth to form a cone-like shape with his fingers around the opening hole. From the darkness of the mouth, light began to add to the amassed flames that built up around his body.

"FIRE DRAGON'S.... ROAR!"

From the flames that coated the young dragon, another set of flames, an ovular column this time, shot out from infront of him and rocketed towards Lillith, dispersing the shadow around it and literally blazing through the chains that attempted to protect her. Through careful precision on Ibara's end, the fiery dragon slayer did much more than keep her distracted. That very column of flames washed Lillith away from the ground, making her losing her footing and was sent careering through the trees, continually pushed by the column of flames infront of her. They rocketed into the ground too, decimating a path into it and into the forest where Lillith had been thrown into. Ibara still remained ablaze however despite unleashing the spell. His body angle turned to Mura although it was impossible to tell whether the dragon slayer was looking at him or not due to being simply a silhouette amongst an inferno.

"She's all yours."

Words: 1433

Tags: Mura

The conclusion of this fight was drawing nye. Upon Lillith's dismissal from the young dragon's personal space within the space of only a few short seconds conjoined with that of a cylindrical, explosive column of flames, Ibara was pretty pleased with himself. He noticed Mura vanish from his side and into the now decimated forest to follow up on the previous attack. Their synergy was remarkable considering their short time together and Ibara had the utmost confidence within Mura that the fight would end within his next attack. He could see his golem-like clones approaching from a more overhead direction, each of them specifically zoning in on Lillith's location. Surely there was no escaping Mura's next move. It had to be checkmate for the demonic little girl.

While the forest emanated with a burst of energy, Ibara waved his hand to allow the inferno-like armour which once obscured all of the features on his body to dissipate; he thought it was the end of the fight after all such was his naivety. With the flames now disappearing, his vision began to uncloud, allowing him to truly absorb the surroundings which radiated with the destruction that the two mages and Lillith alike had caused. The situation caused him to gasp but no battle was without hardship he reminded himself. Everyone suffered a little after combat and this village would build anew without the hindrance of a murderous little girl in their wake. Ibara knew they would come to terms with what happened here because the alternative would have been a lot worse. If there were to be any alternative.

A screech reverberated off the broken stumps that used to be trees and an overwhelming sense of familiarity burst onto the destructive vicinity. A deluge of shadows once again burst outward from the trees and threw the young dragon off balance, forcing him to take a knee if he were to hold his footing at all in the face of absolute danger. Lillith had escaped Mura's final attack and she now zoned in the fiery dragon slayer. Clearly she wanted revenge for Ibara's last attack and frankly, he didn't blame her, not only was it devastating to her body as represented by the fact that she now missed a leg as well as an arm from earlier, but it was slightly embarrassing to underestimate an opponent so much that you get decimated as a result.

"You really don't know when to quit, do you?"

Ibara sounded exasperated. Clearly he was reaching his limit too. With Lillith's demonstration of her power beforehand, having her backed against a corner like this in such a plea of desperation was never a good thing. She had nothing to lose now. No way of escape from the two mages, all she could do was stand and fight and that is exactly what she had planned. There was no stopping her now; she was in a suicidal state and she would stop nothing to rid the two world of these two particular mages.

"Then I guess we got something in common.."

The fiery dragon slayer burst forwards at her, using a little boost of flame from his feet to augment his speed tenfold. His body lowered itself and his back arched in the form of a purely physical attack, no spell included. If he could ground her somehow, maybe Mura would finally be able to finish this once and for all. However, as this skirmish had included, it was full of underestimations and despite Lillith's weakened state, she tossed him aside easily with a simple flick of her hand; sending the young dragon directly into a tree which shattered and crumpled on top of him albeit it did prevent him from going any further.

Her walk was slow and devastating and her signature cackle rose to a crescendo of epitomised evil. She wanted to end this, shadowy tendrils drooping from her dress while droplets of darkened blood flooded from her decapitated body parts. It was rather undignified as she hopped towards him rather than a normal two-footed walk but that didn't make it any less terrifying. The young dragon could have taken off her other leg, forcing her to literally crawl to victory but this wouldn't diminish this murderous aura that gushed out of her just as her blood did. Was this the end?

"It's dinner time."

These were the only words that Ibara heard and within a second or so, the whole village illuminated into this orange and red mass. Flames burst from every orifice that the amassed buildings had to offer and the whole vicinity flooded the young dragon with a new found power. His eyes began to glow and his stomach growled in response to the all-you-can-eat buffet that now lined out infront of him. He licked his lips and soon the fear that Lillith had attempted to strike home into his heart began to fade away and ultimately dissipate. His mouth opened wide and the characterised suction of any Dragon Slayer began to take place. The flames moved and slid off their current surfaces and made their way to one singular spot; down the young dragon's gullet. The process was seemingly endless and Ibara began to literally glow with radiated power, blinding Lillith and causing her to stagger back for several seconds. It was then that fire erupted from that one singularity that was the fiery dragon slayer's body and the whole vicinity filled with a new found light.

"Thank you, Mura. I won't let you down."

From the light, the tree that once held the young dragon down burst out from it, evaporating mid-air from the fire that covered it head-to-toe; and from within the light emerged a figure, similar in appearance from before but something about him from different. Human-like scales adorned his arms and decorated his cheeks, spanning from the bottom of his eyes and then downwards, his forehead too. His two-toned eyes now glowed with the radiance of the sun and any onlooker would feel a temporary blindness and hypynotisation simply by looking upon them. Flames licked at parts of his skin, his calfs and biceps dripped with the combusted substance.

The next few minutes was a blur. A whizzing figure that surrounded Lillith. Incomprehensible speed followed by unrecognisable strikes, one after the other rained down upon the demonic figure who could do nothing but wail and scream in defense. It soon became apparent that she was not only screaming to get out but for literal mercy at the hands of the young dragon slayer. A mop of red hair moved into the sky and for a moment, Ibara's figure was recognisable, gleaming brightly as if he had replaced the sun itself. Red, fiery wings now glittered on his back, augmented like before but tinged with blue on the rims which characterised Mura's flames which had aided him in achieving this state of atonement. Lillith was grounded, lying flat on her face but her chest moved up and down. She was still breathing somehow but she was missing another arm, her only other limb was that singular remaining leg. The missing arm dropped from the sky, clearly having occupied Ibara's mouth, he must have bit it off in the process.

The wings faded from the young dragon's back and he dropped back to the ground again with one foot finding it's way onto Lillith's back as she tried to get to her feet again. The foot redirected itself to the top of her head where he pushed her face into the dirt and inclined his head downward so his mouth reached the tip of her ear. A growl reverberated from the depths of his throat as he warned her to stay down. A handful of blue flames spontaneously appeared in Ibara's free hand and he held it directly next to her face.

"I won't hesitate if you move again. Your arm won't be the only limb that goes missing next time."

Satisified with his threat, the flame in his hand dissipated and his foot removed itself from the top of her head. He turned away from her, confident that she wouldn't be moving anymore and approached Mura. As his walk slowed towards him, the scales on his face, arms and legs began to evaporate themselves and the red and blue flames also vanished into thin-air. His walk towards Mura got slower and slower before he ultimately lost the energy to continue fighting any longer. He dropped to his knees and, with a smile, passed out with a final thumbs up in Mura's direction.