Fight to the Death (6/6)

Dakka looks up and sees a small cloud hovering above the pit. Looking closer, he sees that the cloud is a collection of mana stones.

Even before Haalfrin was knocked out, the defeated Wills have been slipping off on their own to dig through the rubble…

They know that with so many self-automated enchantments on the fortress, there has to be literal tons of mana stones trapped in devices and embedded in buildings.

Due to these Wills' close contact with magic after death, they've all gained the ability to possess mana stones, much the same way the bandits were able to take control of gold and treasures.

Seeing as how Kalastros hadn't stopped teaching all the Wills magic these 600 years, almost every Will Haalfrin has is at least capable of making a simple explosive enchantment – no matter how stupid some of them were in life.

Being able to move around in mana stones now, Kalastros and his other mages have been inscribing explosive spells onto the mana stones, then throwing them down at Dakka in a barrage of bombs.

"AAAHR!" Dakka roars out while he changes into his larger form.

"DON'T LET HIM GET OUT OF THE PIT!"

Because of the strict confines of the deep hole he's launched himself into, Dakka is unable to stretch his wings wide enough to fly up. At the same time, he's far too fragile to take the hits while in his human form. Stuck with the hard choice, he chooses what he feels safer with – his draconic form.

Silently, the dragon pumps his mana into his scales to give him as much protection as possible while he tries climbing up the side of the hole with his claws.

"Focus on the claws!" Kaalhyme orders the bombers from above.

Dakka roars out in rage this time as the ground beneath his feet is blasted off the cliff walls, and he falls back to the base of the crater.

This happens several more times until eventually, Dakka chooses to curl himself in a ball and focus all his mana on toughening his body.

They can't keep this up forever, can they? It's just mana stones.

Several minutes pass, and when the barrage finally clears, Dakka looks up at the clear sky. 'They ran out of mana stones? Good!'

He quickly changes back into his human form and unfurls his wings. He wants to get out of this crater before the enemy comes back with more bombs.

Just when he's about to take flight, Dakka feels a disturbance in the air above him.

Dakka looks up, and he's blinded by the hot rays of the sun. Haalfrin had used a reflection spell to concentrate the sun's rays on Dakka, making it too bright for the dragon to see.

Reeling back in shock, Dakka barely manages to hear a blade whistling toward him.

Perhaps it's his instincts that saved him, but Dakka's first reaction is to protect his face. He manages to bat Haalfrin's blade aside with one hand before it could pierce his vulnerable eye.

With one hand, Dakka batts the sword to the side, and with the other, he performs an uppercut at the falling Haalfrin.

Haalfrin manages to angle his gauntlet 45 degrees to the side - successfully deflecting the majority of the force from the punch, though it still knocks him to the left.

The mage flies to the side and stumbles on the ground, landing prone on his back. He knows he won't be able to get up in time before Dakka jumps at him with a finishing blow, so he kicks with his foot and uses that energy to make an explosion at his feet, while he swings his arm and makes a barrier at his feet to protect himself.

The explosion knocks him further away just in time to avoid the humanoid dragon's jaws from clamping shut where his foot used to be.

Dakka is quick to change trajectory and was after him once again.

And so, their brawl begins again.

Even though Haalfrin is only striking at the places where Dakka's scales are missing, Haalfrin's sword still can't take the constant beating. It snaps in half at the blade, and the mage has to resort to using his fists. Dragons have claws, though, so the mage is at a disadvantage here.

Meanwhile, Dakka's body is starting to show signs of having depleted mana; he feels a ravenous hunger cloud his mind, and his vision is starting to get blurry.

Despite this, Haalfrin looks like he's going to lose this battle of attrition.

Even still, as the battle comes closer to ending, Haalfrin's aura grows more and more thick and sinister. Long black arms of death burst out of Haalfrin's soul, and they attack Dakka mercilessly.

…Yet instead of shying away, the dragon's toothy grin goes wider, and he starts laughing aloud, "I LIKE YOU HUMAN!" Another hit lands. "HUMANS ALWAYS HIDE BEHIND WALLS, LIKE COWARDS!" He dodges Haalfrin's strike. "THIS IS NEW! I LIKE IT!"

Realizing his Aura is only exciting the insane dragon even further, Haalfrin tries his best to reign in his Aura, but given the circumstance, it's hardly listening to him.

Before Dakka can speak further, Haalfrin manages to kick the dragon in the side of his knee. With Dakka's depleted mana, his body isn't as strong as before; hence the beast crumples to the side with a loud crunching sound and a leg bent the wrong way.

Dakka's eyes are covered in blood from his wounds, and he can hardly tell what's going on anymore. Everything he does next is purely out of instinct.

Haalfrin runs up and knocks Dakka back to the ground before he can get up, breaking his nose in the process.

Dakka then swings his head from side to side as Haalfrin stabs the ground a few times with the broken end of his sword.

After the third strike, Dakka swings his only good leg around and hooks his foot behind Haalfrin's knee. He then kicks up with such force that Haalfrin is pulled forward and stumbles – badly missing his fourth shot.

Dakka immediately swings with his sharp talons and strikes the blade from the side as it pierces the ground to his left – knocking the broken weapon out of Haalfrin's hand and crushing the handle.

Before Dakka can get up, Haalfrin falls and lands with his knee on Dakka's chest, pushing him to the ground again.

In the split second before the broken blade hits the ground, Haalfrin uses some of the last of his mana to speed himself up. He snatches the falling blade out of the air and grips it in his palm – this time by the blade instead of the handle.

Ignoring the deep cuts on his palm from holding the blade on the sharp end, Haalfrin stabs down at his next target.

In the same breath, he notices a single, small scale missing from Dakka's chest, and he slams the blade right over Dakka's heart. Blood spurts out of the wound, coating the barbarian in the dragon's burning blood.

Dakka lay there on the ground, screaming not in agony, but in blind rage as his lifeblood drains away.

Haalfrin, on the other hand, is struggling with the blood on his skin. He didn't expect dragon blood to physically burn people. His skin feels like it's cooking now.

Just when Haalfrin is about to get up, thinking the battle is over, Dakka uses the last of his mana to pull himself off the ground, lifting himself along the length of the blade as he pushes himself to his feet.

Haalfrin has no more mana, and he can't jump away in time before the furious dragon shoots to his feet, knocks Haalfrin to the ground, and grips him by the neck.

While Haalfrin feels his throat collapsing and bones threatening to crack, his vision goes blurry, and he struggles futilely to get the dragon's claws off his throat.

In a senseless struggle, Haalfrin beats Dakka's wounded eyes, but the dragon isn't even trying to defend itself anymore.

… Then, a few seconds later, Dakka's grip slowly loosens, and the monster slumps to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Haalfrin doesn't even have the time, so he lay there on the ground next to Dakka, panting for breath and struggling to stay awake.

Dakka then turns his neck sideways to face Haalfrin, and his left hand curls into a fist. "Yo..." he says weakly as he fist bumps the semi-conscious Haalfrin, "Broooo...that was cool."

Watching solemnly, Haalfrin sees the life fade from the dragon's eyes, with that satisfied smirk still frozen on his face.

"Last words… huh…," Haalfrin coughs out blood as he laughs bitterly. "Stupid dragon."

Haalfrin lay there for a few minutes…, wondering if he's going to die this time. He has no more Wills to save him this time, as they were injured beyond immediate recovery when they threw themselves down the hole with the mana stone bombs. There are also no living people up here to rescue him at the last minute this time…

…Just before Haalfrin blacks out, he sees a petite figure of a woman appear… and she has a pair of black wings on her back… "Freyya…"