Fight to the Death (5/6)
According to the stories told generations later, the battle between Haalfrin and Dakka lasted 3 days and 3 nights. 'Three' is a magic number that most storytellers love to use for no reason, which is a huge exaggeration compared to the half hour the battle actually took.
Despite being only a few short minutes, it feels like forever to Haalfrin. He's facing a beast far greater than anything he's known before, and he has to throw everything he has at the dragon.
Even still, Dakka seems to be growing more and more powerful the longer the battle goes on, due to his rising excitement. This puts a lot of pressure on Haalfrin, and he soon can no longer cause much damage to the dragon's scales.
At the same time, Dakka has a hard time hitting Haalfrin, as if he were a fly that was always getting away at the last moment.
Getting progressively more annoyed at Haalfrin dodging all the time, Dakka flies high up into the air and looks to the ground, yet unable to see his opponent. 'Where…'
Presumably, the human mage is trying to hide his aura so he can launch an ambush from the rubble… With this assumption in mind, Dakka decides to act quickly. Seeing how high he's up now, Dakka feels it's a good time to use that one trick he learned from his brothers…
Dakka seems to crouch on an invisible platform upside down in midair. Every muscle in his body tightens harder than steel, and every limb is ready to spring forward with as much speed as possible.
Haalfrin looks up and sees a burning comet coming towards him in the vague shape of a dragon. He knows that if the dragon hits anywhere near him, he won't be able to take it directly, unlike the beast's headbutt from earlier.
Because of the dragon's massive size, Dakka is plummeting just slow enough for Haalfrin to get out of the way… or at least… so Haalfrin thinks.
Haalfrin barely has time to think about which direction he's going to jump to before Dakka instantly transforms back into his humanoid form and… disappears.
Before Haalfrin's brain can process that Dakka was even gone, everything around him burns white hot in a brilliant flash of energy, and Dakka's form plunges into the ground like a spear from heaven – piercing deep into the earth and annihilating everything in its path.
Perhaps it's because Dakka was going so fast, but he barely misses Haalfrin. Even still, the air pressure from his passing nearly kills the mage as he's blown to the side, and one side of his body is charred black.
When Haalfrin skids across the ground, he's barely conscious enough to think, 'How…?' before he blacks out again.
There isn't anything special about this technique Dakka used. It's just an exploitation of physics.
There's a law of physics called, "the conservation of energy", meaning that energy (including Force) can't be lost or gained – only redistributed.
By plummeting down at incredible speeds in such a heavy form, Dakka built up a catastrophic amount of energy, since it takes a LOT of Force to move something so heavy.
Yet… the instant Dakka transformed into something a lot lighter, like his human form, his body didn't lose any of the energy he built up in his larger body. With the same amount of energy + a lighter body, his speed multiplied several thousand times over to compensate.
... And he could already break the sound barrier in his larger form...
The only downside to this technique is that a dragon's humanoid body is much frailer than a dragon's. Smashing himself into the ground that hard is bound to hurt… a lot.
It's a pity that Dakka's incredible technique makes him go too fast to aim properly. Even still, the shockwave from his passing might still be enough to kill the man.
The force of the dragon's blow was like a meteor crashing into the earth from the heavens, and when he hits, 10 Floors collapse on themselves. The weight of 10 floors of earth falls at once, and the ceiling of the 11th floor nearly collapses as well.
The human survivors down below can even hear the blow, like a giant drum beating in the walls.
Even the surrounding countryside, more than a hundred miles away, hears the thunderclap echoing across the land and over the sea. To the ignorant locals, it sounded like the cursed mountain itself was struck down by the gods.
Flocks of birds all across the nearby continent scatter from their trees in fright, and horses in their pens have their eyes glaze over, and they threaten to break free in a vain attempt to escape the "earthquake".
Back to the Pit...
The dragon's attack happened so fast that the few Wills who managed to survive the shock wave are watching in horror, wondering what just happened.
"Even a dragon can't survive an impact like that, right?" one of the Wills mutters hopefully.
When the dust settles and the earth is still once more, the Wills see a silhouette crouching at the bottom of the new crater. The figure has 4 horns atop his head, and there's white steam coming out of his mouth (a dragon's way of expelling excess energy from its body).
The Wills look down in trepidation. "Is he… alive?" Dakka seems to just be standing there without moving.
Kaalhyme's vessel had been destroyed in the blast, but one of the other Wills generously gives up his spear for their general to use.
The Will's captain then looks down and shouts, "Kill him NOW! Dragons regenerate quickly! He's healing his body!"
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Dakka looks up and sees the 100 blades coming for his blood. 'Still alive, eh?' Dakka coughs blood. 'How stubborn.' Dakka bares his sharp teeth in a smile. 'How exciting…'
Whistling in wonder, the Dragon mumbles absentmindedly, "Oh… this prison is deeper than I thought!"
With the noon sun baring down on him from the hole above him, Dakka looks to his sides and sees that all the dungeons around him have either been directly crushed by him, or the walls have all blown sideways by the shockwave through the earth.
Seeing the burning rubble all around him, along with the darkness mixed with the light, the dragon's heart quivers with an unknown emotion.
'It's so… beautiful.'
Realizing he doesn't have the skill to paint such a scene, Dakka nearly bursts into tears.
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Even as the 100 blades descend to the bottom of the crater, the hole is about 2/3 of a mile deep. It takes them a minute to get down there, and by the time they arrive, Dakka can already move a little – albeit barely.
When the Wills arrive, Dakka is finally shaken out of his reverie. The battle between them is short but intense.
For the most part, the Wills constantly try to stab at the dragon's joints to keep them from healing. If he manages to get his full speed back, then they're done for.
Unfortunately, the dragon's natural healing outpaces the damage the blades can deal. After only another minute, Dakka is fast enough to snatch the blades out of the air and crush them.
"Captain!" one of the Wills frantically calls out, "should we fall back!?"
"NO!" the captain orders sternly. "Hold the dragon here!"
"But captain!" some of the other Wills complain.
Kaalhyme sighs and explains, "The Master Mage had an idea, and he's on his way to reinforce us with the rest of the Wills while a few others are tending to the commander and helping him get on his feet. If we can stall long enough and drain the dragon of his mana enough, then Haalfrin can heal again, then finish the fight under optimal conditions."
"The rest of the Wills?" some of Kaalhyme's soldiers wonder, "But there's no more weapons for them to use. What object could they possibly possess now?"
What Kaalhyme doesn't tell the others is that even if they turned to flee now, none of them would make it to the surface, now that Dakka can move again.
While the beast slowly picks them apart, the (roughly) 100 Wills manage to distract the dragon long enough for help to arrive.
"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Kaalhyme suddenly orders his men.
They scatter to the far reaches of the crater, just in time to dodge a blinding explosion atop the dragon.