The Dragon is Withered (1/2)

Needless to say, Dakka was utterly shocked when his grandfather suddenly grew a 6th Horn.

Like… WHAT!!??

Before Dakka could even ask about this, Fheldin charged at his grandson with his swords extending – the sharp blades crying for dragon blood.

*Slash* Dakka barely leaned back and avoided his head being hewn from his body.

*Stab* Dakka batted his father's sword aside – only just diverting the deadly strike away from his heart.

*Bite* Dakka tried clamping his jaws around the incoming blade – hoping to crush the deadly weapon in his teeth. However, his front fang is broken near the tip, and the blade cuts deep into his cheek – nearly cutting his head in half before Dakka's clamped molars managed to stop the blade.

With every exchange, Dakka either bleeds or is driven back. Relentlessly, Lord Fheldin's attacks get more and more brutal – each strike threatening to take his grandson's life.

"I MUST SAY!" Fheldin roared in between strikes, "I SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE SO EASY ON YOU IN THE BEGINNING!! CODDLING AN OPPONENT IS HARDLY CHIVILROUS, EH!!??"

With the next slash, Dakka attempts to blast himself off into the far reaches of space, but the tip of his tail is cut off on the way out.

Dakka takes the injury stoically, and he focuses on putting some distance between them.

Luckily, because Dakka was willing to sacrifice part of his tail, he was able to escape.

Now that he's in the far reaches of space, Dakka remembers how hard he's practiced in hiding his presence. Within moments, his Aura is completely suppressed.

… If Dakka had been a second slower in hiding himself, his grandfather would've been able to find him.

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Suddenly, with a little time to think, Dakka starts to frantically think of a solution to his problems. What kind of advantages does he have over his grandfather?

'What about my technique of shifting between dragon and human form?' Dakka suddenly thought.

'My mother is a Felkin, so my transformations is a lot stronger than grandfather's. I can shift forms instantly, whereas he takes several seconds!'

Dakka had certainly abused the physics behind his instant transformation before. The first time was when he was fighting Haalfrin in the Pit. Back then, Dakka gained a lot of speed using his more massive dragon body, then he suddenly shifted into his lighter, human body – thus gaining impossible speeds.

Then, when Dakka was fighting the Ant Queen for the last time, he learned to switch back and forth between his forms.

He could gain billions of times the speed just by flicking his dragon body in one direction, then transforming into his smaller, humanoid body in that same instant.

[A/N: Example diagram of how this works in comment]

He could then slow himself to a halt again by going back to his larger body.

Dakka would certainly like to practice this technique some more, but he knows that the moment he makes any big moves with his power that Fheldin will find him immediately.

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For several minutes now, Dakka floats in space, and he closes his eyes. Just like himself, his grandfather is hiding his presence, and all is still once again in the heavens.

Both contenders lie in wait – hoping for the other party to slip up and reveal themselves first, so that they launch and ambush and claim the first strike.

It could be because he's impatient, or because he's simply confident in the dodging skills his transformation technique gives him..., but Dakka ends up revealing himself first.

Closing his eyes and breathing calmly, Dakka releases his Aura invitingly across the heavens.

In that same instant, Lord Fheldin answers the call.

It only takes Fheldin a minute or so to catch up to where Dakka is waiting for him, due to how far away Dakka had flown to get away from him in the first place.

However, when Fheldin DOES show up, Dakka was waiting for him in his dragon form, while Fheldin is religiously sticking to his humanoid form.

With how fast Fheldin showed up, Dakka normally wouldn't have had time to dodge. At most, the lumbering dragon would've only had time to barely twitch.

Back when Lord Fheldin was merely a 5-Horned dragon, his piercing techniques were able to shatter the scales of an Elder Dragon. Now that he, himself, is also an Elder Dragon…

… Needless to say, Dakka would've been skewered through the heart had the blade connected with him.

However, the split second before Dakka is killed, the younger dragon twitches his body in another direction, and in that same instant, his body disappeared in that direction.

In that same within a single second, Dakka changes back to his dragon form, twitches in the direction he just came from, and he shoots back over to Fheldin – this time with his head charging forward and his two front horns curled forward like twin spears.

Due to how little movement Dakka made when he "teleported away" (barely a twitch), Fheldin had no idea where the boy went, and when the boy appeared again, the old dragon was completely caught off guard.

Like a gate being pounded on by a battering ram, Fheldin's front scales are cracked, and his lungs are slightly crushed from the blunt force damage.

The old dragon spews a trail of blood from his mouth, and he's thrown off into the distance.

The only reason Fheldin's ribs weren't broken, and the life crushes from his lungs completely, is because he hadn't been injured yet in this battle; his scales were still in perfect condition, so they absorbed most of the hit.

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Maybe Dakka's first hit was a lucky shot, since Dakka's follow-up attacks with his transformation technique mostly miss.

He can't be blamed for this, since aiming your trajectory with such a technique is next to impossible. The fact that Dakka is even able to hit Fheldin sometimes… that fact alone is a testament to how impossibly impressive his kinetic vision is.

Even more impressive is that just as fast as Dakka is learning to make his transformation technique more impressive, Fheldin is also learning to predict its movements.

Ever so slowly, Fheldin starts swinging his sword where he knows Dakka is about to appear, and his sharp blade starts connecting with his grandson's scales.

However, due to the slightly random way that Dakka keeps appearing, Fheldin is never able to be intentional with his strikes. Instead of hitting vital spots on Dakka's body, most of his strikes pierce limbs, tails, or shoulders.

Fheldin isn't the only one improving in this battle. Dakka, too, is becoming more accurate and creative with his attacks. Very quickly, he learns to perform feints – "teleporting away", yet instead of blinking right back to deliver a strike, he'd circle around and attack from another direction.

Just like that, Dakka and Fheldin relentlessly attack each other. With every blow, one of the contenders gets injured.

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As time goes on, Fheldin realizes that he's slowly losing this battle. That strange technique his son perfected is… a little too hard to deal with.

Fheldin's sword technique is all about concentrating all of his power into a single point. This, arguably, makes him less effective against an agile opponent, since his attacks are much less likely to hit.

Plus, his little grandson is slowly, but surely, learning to imitate his techniques.

Of course, it's not to the point where Dakka is able to cleave Fheldin in half with a single strike.

Instead, Dakka is using the technique to do a counter blow on Fheldin's strikes – more sloppy, yes, but just sharp enough to deflect Fheldin's sword.

Basically, Dakka is parrying Fheldin's swords now, instead of just taking the hits and losing a lot of blood.

Of course, Dakka isn't able to imitate Fheldin's sword techniques merely because he's "just too talented". No matter how smart or talented Dakka is, there's no way he can learn, in a single evening, something that Fheldin had to spend thousands of years practicing.

However, Dakka had also spent a similar amount of time trapped in the body of an ax made from bone.

Due to the shape of his soul then, as well as the practiced way Haalfrin always swung him, Dakka is able to instinctually grasp the technique. All he has to do is remember how sharp his mana felt then, and realize that he can still use his power that way.

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Realizing that he needs to change something, Fheldin quickly hides his Aura again and darts downward – just barely avoiding his grandson's next attack.

With Dakka having momentarily lot track of him, Fheldin uses this opportunity to hide on one of the nearby gas giant planets.

The older dragon lets himself sink deep into the foggy planet's surface, and he uses the chaotic energy inside to further cloak his presence.

With Dakka unable to find him, Fheldin starts to transform – confident that he can complete the process in peace.

The old dragon's scales begin to glow crimson, and for a full 5 seconds, Fheldin's body elongates, and his stature soars.

Finally, his leathery dragon wings unfurl – scattering the atmosphere away from the gas giant, and he roars out his challenge – giving away his location and inviting his grandson for another round of battle.