The gold that pierces all.

Leona quickly followed behind Luna and Amelia once the decision was made to press on before the dragon could get ready for their arrival. The Wizard Saint was not sure if the dragon had caught wind of their approach because the trio had not been very subtle, but she wanted to move on and get into position before it could call upon helpers, close off the caves with a rock slide, or whatever defensive strategy it had in mind. However, Leona would not charge ahead like she had the first time because she might not survive a single mistake against the dragon the trio was going to take down. She would take it slowly and listen to her companions.

Leona listened to Amelia discuss her experience with dragon-slaying and learned a few things that she did not know about dragons, which was a lot since this was her very first dragon-slaying job and the Silver Wolf Guild Hall did not have any up-to-date books on the winged beasts of legend.

For one thing, Leona learned that dragons had elements tied to their physiology that lent them characteristics based on the element they possessed. Amelia stated that dragons that were of stone or metal boasted a much higher level of defense than an ordinary dragon... not that the Wizard Saint had a baseline to compare it to, but the point remained. It would take a lot more than running up to it and stabbing it a few times with swords to fell the creature. Leona listened on as Amelia began to describe the sensory capabilities of their quarry, citing the cases of a light-based dragon and a lightning-based dragon.

The Light Dragon's magic was so strong that it could not see, but it compensated for this shortcoming by exceptionally sensitive hearing that let it track targets by sound alone. Leona had heard of this phenomenon with humans who were blind; according to common belief they compensated for loss of sight with hearing that was better than what sighted people possessed due to using it more. It was a matter of conjecture as to whether this belief was true or not, but that was the example Leona knew the most about.

The Lightning Dragon had the inability to feel anything at all due to its magic, but it had learned to make up for that by releasing sparks and using them to analyze its surroundings. Leona had nothing to compare that to. The closest thing that she could think of was bats and echolocation, but she was not sure if it entirely fit. The take-away she got from both cases was that dragons were adaptable beasts that were not to be underestimated just because they might be missing a sense.

What was discussed next captured the blonde's attention because it was relevant to their situation. The previous two cases were informative, but this would be where the blonde would need to apply herself and really pay attention to what was being said. Luna had asked Amelia for her take on the dragon they were about to face and the knowledgeable Gynoid came through with a detailed guess that was formed using decades of hard-won knowledge.

The obsidian dragon was a "heavy metal dragon" and thus fell under the category that boasted a high level of defense. While that superb defense rendered a head-on approach about as worthless as her Wind-based magic, Amelia added that its heavy nature also worked against it by giving it low agility. Amelia then added that if its scales could be removed, the flesh underneath was vulnerable to edged weapons, a fact which gave Leona reason to cheer because she was not going to be as useless as she first thought.

Leona had just finished that thought when she learned that Amelia had just patched her into an "Archive Link" that would let her communicate with both the Gynoid and with Luna without having to openly speak. Luna explained that the link was temperamental and thus took experience to effectively use because thoughts were sorted into "public" and "private". That silent communication was a definite asset, but it also meant that the pair could now "hear" the Wizard Saint's thoughts if they were not guarded. She was surprised that her mind was not generating static because she was not much of a thinker- oh, she had already forgotten that they could hear her now.

"OK, thanks. Now the dragon won't be able to hear us as easily." Leona said in an effort to recover from the sheer awkward her last unguarded thought had generated. Silent communication was good. Unless the dragon was a psychic that could tap into the network, the trio could coordinate without letting the best know what they were up to. Speaking of coordination, Amelia gave Leona her marching orders once the trio were standing outside the cave.

Leona was to follow Amelia in the cave eight seconds after the gynoid made her entrance. That was probably to keep them both from getting wiped out in a single attack if the dragon was ready. That was good thinking. Meanwhile, Luna was to hang back and employ summons while the dragon was distracted dealing with Amelia and Leona. Leona could dig that plan.

"OK." Leona agreed to the plan. She waited for the eight seconds that Amelia had dictated, then hurried inside so that Amelia was not left to face the dragon alone.

-Inside the cave-

Once Leona dashed in her natural night vision took effect and she could see valuables piled up to her height all around the walls that gleamed in the shafts of light that came in through the roof of the cave. Gold bars, gold coins, golden plates, golden utensils, Jewels... if it was shiny and valuable, it was in here. With the money that could be made from selling the treasure she could easily buy her own palace in Desierto. Hell, she could buy the entire country if she wanted.

Focus, Leona.

Leona ignored the gleaming treasure and focused on the dragon, which was giving Amelia a hard time. The blonde had to use her brain cells and think about how to help Amelia slay the dragon. Earlier Amelia had said to go for a weak point like the eyes. Even if it did not use them to see, the eyes were still soft and led to the brain and other delicate parts that could score a kill if hit. The trick was hitting an eye to begin with.

Amelia had used an impressive string of acrobatic feats to get enough height to be able to jump onto its head for a direct attack on the right eye. Amelia's hand crackled with electricity and she attacked the eye, causing the dragon to react violently and thrash its head until Amelia was thrown into the ceiling. The impact created a crater in the ceiling and the Gynoid fell to earth; Amelia managed to land on her right foot and left knee but was badly hurt and the dragon wanted revenge for the wound near its eye.

Leona had to act fast before Amelia got hammered by the beast.

"I'm about to distract it, Amelia. If you can move, I'll keep it busy while you get to safety and Luna does her thing!" Leona gave a heads-up to the pair. She thought about trying to leap onto its head and tear off a scale with her special adrenaline rush so that she could jam her sword in the soft spot and use a Sky Hammer to kick the blade down into the brain, but Amelia needed help NOW.

She hurried to its diagonal left so that she had an angle on its left eye, then focused magic onto the index finger of her right hand. Once it was ready Leona fired a Wind Bullet and the silver marble flew towards the dragon's eye. While it did not hit the eye dead center, it hit the eyelid of the left eye. That was good enough to draw its attention.

Leona then waved and shouted at the beast, which snorted and looked like it was going to turn its attention to her.

"HEY, OVER HERE!" Leona yelled to get its attention, then made and threw a Fast Ball of wind at its left nostril that instead hit its jaw. This idea was probably really stupid, but its attention had to be diverted until Luna could do her thing and bring in some summons. If the Wizard Saint could buy the needed time for a new plan to be made, then whatever happened next would be worth it.

She just hoped that she had not gotten in too far to escape if things went south.

[Post Word Count: 1,459]
[Leona's Word Count: 9,952/12,500]

Luna watched as Leona followed into the cave after the specified gap. She held towards the edge of the cave, listening in as she heard the sound of freezing followed by a roar of the dragon. She looked in to see that Amelia indeed got the attention of the beast. Luna thought that she had sensed the full depth of the Life force, but as it prepared for battle the comparison was immense. A near impenetrable defense coupled with a legend that drove hundreds of wizards before the group today to try and slay the beast time and time again grew into such a fearsome force. She heard the rush of wind and the sound of Amelia in pain as Leona rushed the dragon soon after. Luna had been paying close attention to Amelia's status through her words and she was starting to get worried but did not let that distract her from her preparations.

While the other two were facing the fearsome dragon Luna prepared her move as she was down on her knee. She pulled out a small sack from her pocket and pulled out the fist sized stone and held it in one hand and held the other out palm towards the ground. "Stone of the World in one hand enhancing the spell as it forms, then I got a three second window to start using my natural abilities to evolve a plant right after and that should keep the evolution going." A pink liquid oozed out of the palm of her hand before falling into the ground, the stone on her opposite hand was glowing as something quickly sprouted out of the ground, the Acid Sac Luna can generate.

Luna learned that most of her spells that she learned through some form of genetic memory are actually lost plant species, and this one was among the few she was able to research. A plant that was able to grow anywhere but had one of the worst acidic compounds known to nature. From what she understood like her shroom based spell humans drove this plant to extinction through a treaty agreement to prevent it's use after it was used for cruel and unusual torture. As the sac grew Luna quickly applied her focus as she triggered her forced evolution. The clear radish shaped sac with a brown liquid shifted in tone to an amber sac with a crimson liquid. However there was steam coming off the plant as the liquid was bubbling, the plant was heating up. Luna bit her lip as she was expecting this might happen but she wasn't expecting it to turn volatile so soon. When Leona called out she responded immediately with a sprint right into the cave towards the dragon, who was focused on the wizard saint after she had blasted his head. 

Luna stopped and pitched the sac in her hand right at the Dragon, hitting in the midst of it's neck. The dragon roared and almost cried in pain as a area of it's neck was coated with the strengthened acid that almost melted its way through the legendary scales. While there was steam emerging as gold was melting, creating a weak spot, Luna wasn't quite done yet. A pink liquid droplet oozed out of the back of her palm as she flicked her wrist sending it forward closer to the dragon and burrowed into the ground before the traditional twisted summoning root of Luna's summoning spells quickly emerged, however unlike before with the owl spirit, there was a massive surge in energy coming from the root before it exploded as a pillar of green energy sprouted up through the cave. The light dimmed as clouds were forming above, the sound of lightning striking down.   "I call forth from the Forest Beyond the horizon, he who has been sealed, the one of chaos, the predator of all. Come forth, Zixcor!"

There was a loud roar before crumbling of rocks in the ceiling before a green mass struck down crashing down on the Golden dragon, it's head being slammed into the gold. "It's about freaking time you annoying bitch! You have no idea how pent up I am spending all that time locked in a tight cage!" The dragon said with a bloodthirsty glare right into Luna's eyes. His desire to kill was strong and emanating, making even Luna shiver a bit. Amelia was off to the side as she was adjusting her shoulder, getting mixed messages from the new dragon. "Luna, I know you have a thing for dragons, but have you and him ever-" Luna shot a glare at Amelia causing that trail of dialogue to end to end quickly. "Ladies, this is Zixcor, he represents the dark side of nature, but in the Forest beyond the horizon he was imprisoned after a bloody war that started with his sin, only those Nature Fairy's doomed to contract with him can give him a release from that prison. He is both a high manifestation of chaos, and the Dragon of Life."

Zixcor chuckled at the introduction. "Alright, now where's the sucker you want me to tussle wit-" He said before the Golden dragon jerked his head back and pushed his full body off the ground before crashing into a wall crushing Zixcor against the back wall with it's sheer weight. "Zixcor meet the Obsidian Gold Dragon, Obsidian Gold Dragon meet Zixcor, I now pronounce this a match made in hell and may the honorable dragon win." She said as she stepped back and decided to let the two beasts sort things among themselves.

Zixcor took a deep breath, green energy seemed to seep out of the golden dragon as it flowed right into the Dragon's mouth. The life energy gathered as a green ball of energy was expanding before Zixcor clamped his jaw shut. Luna's eyes opened wide as she went from cautiously backing away to turning and running as fast as she could to put some distance. "Hit the deck! Hide! He's sucking the life out of the gold dragon and releasing it as a chaotic energy!" Luna communed towards her companions as she was worried about what would happen.

In the following moments she heard the sound as a pillar of green energy shot out of the Life Dragon's mouth point blank striking the gold dragon knocking them back onto the ground sending a shockwave throughout the cave. The lighter gold trinkets and items were sent flying around before Zixcor jumped out of the crater. The Gold dragon rolled it's massive body onto it's left side so it had an angle to release another shrapnel breath attack at Zixcor who seemingly took the hit as he planted his claws down, pacing slowly through the objects as they pierced into his scaly flesh, seemingly laughing before lunging at the jaws of the dragon with all his might before clamping their fangs into the dragon's right side of the jaw, locking as it tried to snap the golden dragon's jaw. All the while the Dragon of chaos seemed to be laughing ecstatically caught in the moment. The dragons were locked in a fierce battle as claws, wings, tails, every way that the dragons could struggle they fought with all their might, the cave echoing and shaking from the tremors until a loud snap could be heard, Zixcor finally managed to snap the bones. The Dragon instinctively released a volley of gold shrapnel larger then before so strong that it launched Zixcor all the way across the cave back towards the entrance, narrowly missing Amelia as he landed, still laughing as his face was covered in blood and a scary grin on his scary face. "Those bones never been broken, they're weak underneath the scales. They are the true support, not his body." He said he got back up, and he started to use the back of his wings to project items at high speeds, mostly debris and gold items. Amelia tried to get away but Zixcor saw her and smirked, before he sidestepped to the side and for his next attempt to distract the dragon he projected Amelia towards the oppossing dragon, who finally responded with another barrage of shrapnel out of it's gaping mouth. Amelia was in shock but managed to start lightning body but not before a few pieces managed to pierce her body. Unlock her usual controlled bursts Amelia was erratic before crashing and reforming. clutching a hole in her arm.

Luna stood in shock for a moment, time seemed to slow down for her as she watched her partner be tossed like a rock and land, broken with sparks flying everywhere. The fear seemed to burn faster as something was dwelling deeper within the fairy, an emotion she was not known for, rage. She clenched her trembling fists and shouted to the dragon with all the rage she could muster. "Zixcor!" Not even flinching or showing any sign of remorse he laughed harder.  "What's wrong princess pissy, mad I broke your doll?"

Luna seemed to go dead silent as there was a cold look in her eyes as she walked slowly, her warm aura and demeanor disappeared as she walked towards the fight. Both Dragons seemed to stop and stare as Luna looked one then the other in the eyes. "Zixcor, this is it. You can hurt me all you want, I can take it, that's the kind of person I am. I told you, the moment you hurt anyone I care about, anyone innocent, I won't ever let you get away with it." Her energy seemed to be flaring as she held out her right hand, even the Gold Dragon took a hesitant step back as it saw the pink droplet emerge from Luna's skin. Unlike every other usage, this liquid seemed to change shape into a perfectly round sphere and crystalized into a gem. Luna took a deep breath as she was starting to sweat visibly. "This is an ultimate technique of the Nature Fairies, often called by humans as the unfair reckoning, as it was developed to protect fairies from those that hunted their wings." Luna dropped the ball and it shattered on the ground before a wave of pink energy soared through the ground and along the walls of the cave. "It's true name is Ultimate havoc." She said before the ground started to rumble, the lighter gold items in the room seemed to shake before plants seemed to spawn out of the ground at random places, trees, shrubbery, vines, and large mushrooms sprouted forth. Gold items were sent flying around, the light from  the entrance and the hole made from Zixcor's entrance reflected in the shine of the gold made the room blinding as the chaos was overwhelming.

Five trees sprouted underneath the gold dragon but an unusual sound heard as one of the trees, a pine tree, seemed to pierce some of the scales of the dragon. Luna's fists tightened as she was trying to controll the vines that were sprouting out of any earth they could find to tie down both dragons, however she got suspicious when she noticed the penetration. "Huh, the scales are weaker then I thought..." Zixcor, while still bound and covered in blood, chuckled a bit. "Actually that's my doing, when a Life Dragon or their slayer eats life force, we take from the dermal layer first and foremost before we absorb from the innards. Remember how your hair and skin usually feels dry when I ate some of yers?" Luna looked confused for a moment as she had zero recollection of what the dragon was describing. "Whenever you did, it usually proceeded with me being thrown into water." Zixcor grunted as he couldn't be bothered to find a memory to contradict that statement. "Regardless, same principle applies to this guy, except it's scales first."

Luna scoffed as she took a deep breath, her breathing seemed to tense as she was exerting herself by both generating and manipulating a massive amount of plants, the floor of the cave was filled with grass, vines hanging from the ceiling, and various plants coming out to strike both dragons. "This power, to control nature itself, it always scares me. There is never a moment in my life now that I can be without this overwhelming fear of harming someone around me by accident as all it takes is a flex of a thought and I can make a tree a deadly drill, a cactus a bomb, a flower a deadly poison, you get the idea." Luna started to walk towards the Gold Dragon, it was trying to escape, but it's heavy body and the bindings made it hard for it to move, it couldn't open it's jaw. Sparks seemed to gather in Luna's left hand as she activated the Slayer magic enhanced weapon. "Maybe the fact that less then two years ago I was a magic inept human makes it more terrifying, but even then, I have to practice incredible restraint. I know if I don't, I could kill someone or worse, honestly makes me feel like I live in a world made of glass. However I must thank you dragon, you gave me a rare opportunity, someone I don't need to hold back against!"

She said before she raised her left hand as she charged the lightning Dragon Eye before a lightning bolt shot out striking the dragon in the eye that Amelia had struck earlier. It cried and roared in pain before suddenly stopping. Any resistance stopped as the dragon stopped moving. The sprouting of plants seemed to stop as well as Luna fell down onto her left knee, breathing heavily. 
Meanwhile as Luna was dealing with the dragons, Amelia's self repair systems had been working as the holes in her body slowly patched themselves up, there was a clicking sound as she relocated her dislocated arm and managed to stand up in the aftermath. She was stunned at the sheer power her partner was able to produce before killing the dragon. "Everyone alright?" She asked looking around. Zixcor wheezed out a chuckle. "Been better, someone mind cutting me loose?" Amelia scoffed at the notion of the Life Dragon asking for leniency. "Go to hell." She said to the dragon, no longer being skeptical of Luna's aversions to summoning this particular spirit.

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Leona saw the dragon turn towards her, which was part of the plan because Amelia had taken a few hits from the beast and needed a chance to either get out of there or make a new plan of attack while the short-haired blonde drew its attention. She had succeeded because the dragon's gaze was now entirely focused on her, which meant that she had to act and act now. Leona saw the dragon draw in breath for an attack and prepared to dodge whatever was sent her way.

"Is that all you've got?" Leona taunted the dragon. Such a gesture was undoubtedly stupid because it could not understand human language, but the point was to draw attention from Amelia and onto Leona. The giant beast stared down the Wizard Saint with unblinking eyes and looked like it was about to answer Leona's blustery challenge with an attack that proved that slinging shrapnel was not all it could do. Then events got very interesting very fast when a flash of pink hair burst into the cave and Luna herself entered the fray.

Luna had used her magic to form an amber sac with crimson liquid in her hand, but what good would it do against the thick scales of the dragon? Was it an explosive of some sort? Leona stood in place and watched the pink-haired mage hurl the sac right at the middle of the dragon's neck, which had been exposed when it turned to face the Wizard Saint. The short-haired blonde then heard sizzling before the dragon roared in pain. When it whipped around Leona saw that some of the gold on the side of its neck was melting away... that signs could only mean one thing.

Luna had made acid with her magic!

That was another reason Leona needed to avoid pissing off Luna. Acid and flesh did not mix, especially when the strong acid Luna used was involved.

Leona thought that the acid by itself was impressive, but that was just the beginning of what Luna could do. The Wizard Saint saw a droplet of pink liquid be flicked from the back of Luna's hand and a spiraling root form on the ground within seconds of impact. That meant that something big was in the works, but what kind of "big"? Leona did not have to wait very long for her answer.

A pillar of green light erupted from the roof and the light shining through the hole Amelia's impact had created in the cave roof was dimmed by what looked like clouds, then the sound of lightning reached her ears. The roof caved in as a green mass dropped right on top of the golden dragon's head, sending up a brief but beautiful cloud of gold coins. Leona squinted to see what the green mass was and felt some of the color drain from her face when it finally dawned on Leona just what Luna had called in with her magic.

Luna had called in her own dragon!

The Wizard Saint involuntarily took five steps back as Luna introduced "Zixcor", a special dragon that only a select few Nature Faeries who were doomed to a contract with him could summon. He certainly looked impressive and worthy to bear the titles of a "high manifestation of chaos" and "The Dragon of Life." The Obsidian Gold dragon did not wait for a full introduction and went into action against Zixcor, slamming the latter against a wall with its full body weight. Leona was not liking the look of this... the Wizard Saint of Courage knew that this was just the beginning of the brawl and had to put some distance between the dragons before she was crushed between them. She retreated further to the back wall and holed up there while the golden dragon and Xicor duked it out like that movie where a giant bipedal lizard emerged from the sea to fight other giant monsters in a city that got leveled by the fierce battle.

The two clashed in a brawl that was a sight to behold. Leona could see the power rippling from the golden dragon and Zixcor as the two traded blows. Zixcor bit into the dragon and began drawing green energy into its mouth, a sign that prompted a telepathic warning from Luna.

"Hit the deck! Hide! He's sucking the life out of the gold dragon and releasing it as a chaotic energy!"

Oh hell!

Leona, not sure that she could find better cover in time and unwilling to leave the safety of her slice of cave wall, opted to crouch the floor and hope for the best as the clash of the titans continued a good distance away. Leona lost track of the action as the adrenaline took effect and the sound of her heartbeat was amplified to the point it sounded like drums reverberating in her ears. The Wizard Saint of Courage had not been this afraid since the time she was eight years old, dangling upside down from the side of a mountain while her brother held onto her right ankle. Nothing in her life experience had prepared her for the terrifying grandeur of two dragons dueling for supremacy right before her eyes. The clash between the golden dragon and the Dragon of Life would make for a good story to tell her children... if she survived to have any children!

After a protracted series of blows and a lot of damage to the cave the two giant combatants were at a standstill, but Luna intervened a second time with a high-level spell that she called "Ultimate Havoc." It caused plant life to sprout everywhere... Leona felt something brush her backside and she jumped forward just in time to avoid the back of her skirt being caught by a rapidly growing tree. She then dodged a mushroom that grew near her left foot and jumped forward to avoid one that sprouted between her feet, landing just in front of another tree that was growing rapidly. Leona then shut her eyes to block out the worst of a sudden flash of gold that threatened to blind her. Once she opened her eyes again, she spotted an angry Luna; that sight made the Wizard Saint stay quiet and pay attention.

Judging from what had been said, she and Zixcor had some weapons-grade animosity between them over the latter's casual dismissal of harm to Amelia. Luna was not going to take anything from the green dragon and neither was she going to take anything from the gold dragon. Speaking of the gold dragon, a pine tree had grown under its belly and had pierced the vulnerable place with its sharp top. Once Leona took a closer look at what had happened to the golden beast the blonde realized that Luna had done a number on it with her Nature Magic.

Its jaw had been broken, it had been pierced by sharp trees in several places, it was bound by vines and had difficulty moving because of them. The fight had been pounded out of it by both Zixcor and Luna plus a helping hand from Amelia.

Nature was scary.

The short-haired blonde took a deep breath as she realized just what a pissed-off Luna could do with her magic. The thought was almost as terrifying as watching the dragons fight. As Leona walked towards the battered dragon she heard grass crunching under her feet, grass that Luna could weaponize at any moment to end the Wizard Saint if she wanted to. Nature itself was Luna's weapon.

Leona shuddered as she approached the golden dragon and prepared to finish it. She felt like she was stealing the honor from Luna, but the pink-haired mage looked tapped out from the Ultimate Havoc spell. The mages could not afford to let the dragon regain its energy and renew the fight, so Leona would end its life with a powered-up Silver Blade spell.

Harnessing the power of her special adrenaline rush, Leona put away her sword and brought the index and middle fingers of her right hand together, then focused silver magic into her fingertips. She raised her hand high and swiftly brought the fingertips down diagonally across the dragon's neck, leaving a thin silver afterimage in the air as she swiped down to the ground.

"SILVER BLADE!" Leona shouted the name of the spell. The weakened dragon roared briefly and struggled to raise its head before its neck showed a diagonal wound that had cut so deep that its head was nearly severed. The blonde jumped back to avoid the torrents of blood spewing from the open wound and barely avoided getting blood on her outfit. Who knew that dragon-slaying could be so messy?

"Well, looks like we... er, you, Zixcor, and Amelia did it. Unless it has healing powers, this dragon's as good as dead." Leona congratulated Luna, Xizcor, and Amelia for their achievement in bringing down the Obsidian Gold dragon with a bit of help from the Wizard Saint.

(Power of Apocalypse has been used. It is now on cooldown.)

[Post Word Count: 1,506]
[Leona's Word Count: 11,458/12,500]

As Leona finished off the dragon, Luna managed to regain enough energy to slowly stand back up and witness the act. She couldn't help but feel as though decapitation was brutal overkill, however she recalled what the dragon was hit with prior to that, and the comparison seemed to make the ending merciful. Luna was barely standing as she had exerted a gross amount of energy. Amelia's repair systems managed to repair her body completely as she was starting to walk normally towards the slayed dragon's head. "Well it shouldn't have regeneration powers, those are a tad uncommon for higher defense based styles. Water and air dragons are tricky like that as they are known for healing abilities." She walked around to behind the dragon's head as she raised her right hand up, sparks gathered before a small condensed lightning bolt seemed to form in her grip before she slamed it down on the back of the decapitated head. The smell of burnt flesh was strong as smoke was coming out. "But it never hurts to make sure something stays decapitated, or at the very least beyond the nearest healer's capabilities." Amelia proclaimed before she walked back over towards the nature fairy, catching Luna as she lost her balance. "Remind me never to ask you to let out your stress again. Cutting loose really means the end of the world with you." Luna chuckled as she thought that Amelia's interpretation was humorous. "Oh, that wasn't me cutting completely loose, I was still holding back."

Amelia's eyes opened wide a bit as she started to wonder how much stress and repressed rage Luna was able to keep at bay before trying to gather a comparison on how much restraint she shows. Luna turned back to Zixcor, shakily raising her hand as she pointed it towards the dragon. It was rare for Luna to express anger, but this time there was pure hatred in her eyes and voice as she stared Zixcor in the eyes. "As for you, go to hell." She snapped her fingers as the dragon's body turned into green energy that dissipated into specs of light scattering in the air, disappearing one by one. Amelia shuddered as she never thought she would see Luna with such dark intent or demeanor given her normal state, however there was one other oddity that crossed her mind."Wait, you can expel your summons? Weird, usually they always seem to duck out on their own."

Luna nodded, it was not something she enjoyed doing given the process for forcing spirits back was rather painful if the spirit puts up a fight resisting. "Well while celestial wizards have a medium to control the summoning, those without one have to use their own means with varying degrees of safety, sometimes harmless, sometimes not so much. In my case forcing a spirit back can have bad consequences if they are able to put up a fight. The strain once killed a nature fairy as it shattered their spine."

Luna looked around the cave, seeing the various gold among all the recently formed plants. "Utter chaos." Luna said as she was calming down. "I know, the battle did a number." Amelia replied, but Luna shook her head as she was focused on a different view. "Not what I mean, I mean the existence of this gold." Amelia cocked an eyebrow as she was trying to understand the perspective Luna was aiming at.  "What do you mean?" Luna took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. "This Dragon is able to produce an insane amount of gold, a valuable substance, and has existed for over a hundred years. it's mere existence is an affront to the social order because look at what it produced, this much gold can make anyone rich, such wealth would have a radical shift in the short term that can shake the long term. A popper slaving at the bottom turns into a bourgeois, a wealthy noble can take this money and potentially get further drunk on it. We both know what happens when wealth becomes a temptation, this dragon, has added to the poisoness greed. Now that the dragon is dead, and this place has vast gold waiting for the taking, this is going to end up a power vacuum."

Luna sighed as she was able to regain her balance and walked around, looking at the various golden items. She knew in the long term this wealth would present a massive problem. "Alive or dead this dragon was a massive issue. This place, it has to be destroyed. If all this gold were to get out it would be dangerous for the nature of social development. There's no way way we can take all of the gold here with us." She said plainly. Amelia was starting to understand the perspective of the Nature Fairy, and the implications of continuing from there.  "If we admit we completed this job we basically open the door for competition to come collect this, and blood will be shed in that case. We should have brought your daughter Luna. Her magic would be able to store all of this."  Amelia said growing annoyed towards the end. "And I told you this would be too dangerous for Neptuna. Besides she doesn't do well in high altitude." Luna remarked slightly annoyed by the Gynoid at this point. Amelia through her hands in the air as she walked around, looking. "So what do we do about this now?"

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With the battle finally over and both the special adrenaline rush and normal adrenaline rush faded, an exhausted Leona listened to Amelia report that it was unlikely that something like the dragon had the ability to heal itself. The helpful Amelia added that Water and Air dragons could heal themselves. As tough as the fight with the Obsidian Dragon was, Leona was glad that after being constricted by numerous vines, having its jaw broken, being slammed around by another giant dragon, having its eye damaged and virtually destroyed, having acid thrown at its neck, and other assorted injuries, that near-decapitation had finally and irrevocably killed it. Unless a wandering necromancer popped in and revived it just to annoy the gathered mages, the incredibly tough Obsidian Dragon was utterly dead beyond any doubt.

"I'll admit that near-decapitation was a bit excessive, but I couldn't afford to let this dragon play dead and get back up the moment we turned our backs. It took everything you and Luna had just to get it to the point I could safely hit it with Silver Blade without losing my arm... or worse. If it got back up again seconds later because we didn't make sure it was dead I doubt that we'd live long enough to regret it." Leona said to Luna. Luna, Amelia, and Zixcor went through hell just to beat it down the first time while Leona provided a small but crucial distraction so that Luna could get into place and work her magic. While Leona might be up for a second round, Amelia had been put through the wringer and Luna was not much better off. Remembering her humiliating lesson from underestimating the lightning mages, Leona had refused to underestimate the dragon and chose to end its life while she had the means and the will.

Leona looked back at the dead dragon and noticed that its head was hanging on by a few tenacious tendons and ligaments that did not want to let go of the beast's head. That was a good thing because the sight of the blood that had poured out of the dragon and onto the grass made Leona a bit nauseous, something she found to be strange considering how many bandits, zombies, serial killers, and other beings that bled she had killed up to this point. Why would she be nauseous about spilling the blood of a dragon when she had killed so many other things up to this point without a second thought?

Who knew?

Leona had just helped kill a real live dragon, the antagonist of many a children's storybook. Adding further luster to the deed was that according to Amelia, the Obsidian Dragon was one of the toughest of an already tough breed of beast. Luna, Amelia, and Leona had not broken into a dragon nursery and beat up a bunch of baby dragons. They had entered the lair of a fully grown dragon and had defeated it after a fight worthy of legends. By all rights the Wizard Saint should be elated to do something that would prove once and for all that she could do more than just beat up bandits that any random mage could defeat.

She had helped kill an Obsidian Dragon and now she was acting dejected because she had seen its blood.

Why did Leona feel that way?

Maybe Leona was too tired to be elated. She took a glance at the pink-haired mage and saw that she too was not feeling like doing a victory dance. Then again, Luna had explicitly stated that "Ultimate Havoc" was a high-level spell of hers. Further thought led the Wizard Saint to believe that Luna saved its use for dire situations in the same way that Leona saved her special adrenaline rush for situations where she had to win no matter what the cost.

Or maybe it was because such a feat would be hard to top. Slaying a dragon would make any ordinary person's career and would likely be the pinnacle of what they could realistically hope to achieve, but for a Wizard Saint such a feat was all but expected. Leona realized that she would have to work pretty hard to do something as amazing as that a second time.

The Wizard Saint left that train of thought behind and began to look at her surroundings, the surroundings that had not been pulverized in the fighting between the Obsidian Dragon and Zixcor. There was so much gold laying around. So much of it that as Leona had realized before, she could buy the entire country of Desierto for herself, buy a fully furnished palace to live in, upgrade Nebdoui's housing from mere canvas tents into something permanent, improve the conditions in the allied villages of Nebdoui, make Nebdoui the equal of the Tri-Council Cities minus the proximity to an oasis, and after all that still have enough gold left over for several lifetimes of spending on whatever she wanted.

Leona overheard Luna expounding upon how dangerous this vast hoard was to the world. Even though the Wizard Saint was not educated in economics, Luna's speech had a lot of truth to it. If people would kill each other for a single bar of gold, the bloodshed over a wall-to-wall hoard of gold would be unimaginable.

"Luna's right. There's way too much gold to take with us and even if we could carry it all and somehow hide it, once word got out that we completed the job someone would likely travel to the cave, look around, put two and two together, and learn that we took the gold. That'd paint a huge target on our backs. People would do anything to get the gold and it won't just be us in danger... our friends and family will be in danger too." Leona supported the nature mage's assertion with an assertion of her own. While Leona and Luna were strong and were both Guild Mages with guilds to support them, their families would be in danger from those looking to get the gold by abducting their families and torturing them to extract the gold from the Wizard Saint and the Nature Fairy. Even if they could take the gold without anyone being the wiser, there were other pitfalls to having more money than one could ever hope to spend.

If Leona used her share of the loot to improve Nebdoui, the sultans would inevitably catch wind of a tiny desert village going from a backwater tent city to a possible rival to the Tri-Council Cities and would want their share of the wealth that made such a dramatic renovation possible. There was also the heightened danger of outlaws of all kinds being attracted to a newly renovated Nebdoui and having even more incentive to attack the village than they already did. Then there was that secretive arm of the Magic Council Luna had warned her about that would invent some flimsy pretext to confiscate the wealth that Leona had earned by combat. Finally, there was the mundane but very real danger of ruining the economy for decades to come; so much gold floating around would threaten the entire economic system in ways that she could barely comprehend but knew were bad because so much gold would devalue the precious metal and make it worth about as much as sand.

Upon thinking about it, Luna had the right idea. This hoard had to be destroyed before word got out about it. It pained Leona to think that way, but Luna was right.

"I agree with Amelia. We've got to destroy this gold. Normally I'd suggest fire, but it'd only melt the gold and someone could still come along and salvage what's left to remake into gold bars, coins, or jewelry." Leona started a suggestion before turning to Luna.

"I'd also suggest that Luna use that acid of hers to destroy the gold, but I don't know if she could make enough of it without exhausting herself to a dangerous degree." Leona added another possibility before quickly dismissing it. It would be callous of Leona to endanger the Nature Fairy with such an impractical idea, especially since Leona would not be the one doing the hard work. The Wizard Saint looked at the roof of the cave and got another idea.

"A third suggestion would be to destroy the cave and seal all the valuables away under tons of rock, but that won't do much to protect the gold. Someone who was determined enough would just come out here, remove the rubble, and find the gold. Then word would spread and that'd start a gold rush with all the problems that brings. There's also the problem that the cave suddenly being sealed would draw attention because it's been open all this time... until we got here." Leona surmised to Luna and Amelia and cited her reasons for believing that destroying the cave would not work. The blonde took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry guys, but I've got nothing. I don't know what we could do to make sure that there's not a war over this hoard. Fire won't work, acid might not, and bringing down the cave won't work for long. I just don't know." Leona admitted while looking over the hoard that glimmered in the light. The flashing coins were sending a signal that all she had to do to become unimaginably wealthy was to walk over and put them in her backpack. The pieces of jewelry lying in piles twinkled the message that they had long ago tired of the dragon's ownership and wanted someone new to possess them, someone who would show them the light of day.

Leona had to look away from the uncountable wealth sprawled before the victorious mages. There was no way that gold coins and jewelry could talk. Could they?

Could they?

[Post Word Count: 1,648]
[Leona's Word Count: 13,106]