Chp.25: The fight of two monsters (part 1)

Carrion backed away quickly as he saw the reptilian head appear amid the cloud of sand and dust that was emerging from the hole. His eyes narrowed as they were mirrored in the vertical pupils of the reptile. He still didn't know what was ahead of him, but it was almost certainly very dangerous. However, he had no intention of withdrawing: almost certainly such an opportunity would never happen to him again, and he would hardly be able to isolate Haku again. Whatever monstrosity that dragon had created, he would have faced it.

The sound of a huge flapping of wings was clearly heard, and the cloud of sand and dust was blown away in all directions by the wind generated by what seemed to be two gigantic membranes. The creature finally came out in all its terrifying and at the same time fascinating splendor. When he landed again on the sand, its paws shook the earth slightly.

The creature resembled a wyvern, indeed it was practically identical to it: the same elongated and slightly horned head, the serpentine body, the muscular hind legs, the long tail and the front legs fused with the wings. There were only a few differences. First, the wyvern was clearly more massive, as if its body had been strengthened. It was also totally covered in red scales which certainly weren't those of a common wyvern. And finally... it had three heads. A central one that clearly belonged to a wyvern, plus two others that started from the shoulders and looked a lot like the heads of two basilisks.

Carrion drew his sword holding it in his right hand, while gripping his spear tightly in his left. He recognized that wyvern: it was his. It was the same wyvern that had ridden him for years, but it was horribly modified. Carrion knew what it was: Haku had turned his wyvern into an avatar. He had been considering that hypothesis for some time, ever since he had discovered that dragons could use other bodies besides their own; however, he certainly hadn't expected the end result to be anything so gruesome.

The two basilisk heads were holding Haku's body, holding it firmly in their jaws; the dragon seemed to have fallen asleep and was practically dead weight. The wyvern heaved up and exposed its belly, and after a series of grisly cracking bone-like sounds, the belly parted revealing a chamber within it large enough to hold a dragon. The two basilisk heads stuffed Haku in there, then the belly sewed up: the ribs returned to their places, the muscles reformed, and the skin and scales returned to cover everything.

Carrion gritted his teeth. "Using an avatar's body as a defense... quite brilliant, I admit it"

"I've been planning this for a long time" the monster's central head said in Haku's voice. "I never act with only one end. My fight with you had many purposes... and among them, even if it wasn't the main one, there was also obtaining the materials necessary to create a walking fortress that could stand up to even against a legendary level!"

Haku had built that monster almost immediately after defeating Carrion, using every material at his disposal. The goal, of course, was to create something powerful enough to counter even legendary levels. Thanks to it, his previous threat to Carrion would not have been in vain. However, Haku had gone further, creating a cavity in the monster's body so that he could also protect it in case of immediate danger, like that one. When Carrion attacked him and he hid in the sand, he immediately pulled that avatar from his dimensional bag; the release of such a large creature had been so violent and sudden that the sand had been hurled skyward. Haku immediately connected with it and then he took his real body and placed it safely inside the monster's belly. Now he could fight peacefully without worrying about his real body being hurt.

Haku let out a deep snort, showing his sharp teeth. "I'll tell you right away, you can't win. And before you ask me, no, this is not an invitation to give up, because I wouldn't spare you even if you did. It's simple objectivity"

"I assume you built this monster to fight me, huh?" Carrion said without any fear in his voice. "Okay. Let's check how hard it is!"

Carrion was obviously no fool; he wouldn't have started playing the inflated balloon and wouldn't have let his guard down. He knew that avatar was created with the express purpose of fighting against him. In a one-on-one fight, he would almost certainly have been defeated. He still didn't know the abilities of that monster, but it was probable that they were quite powerful and above all lethal. And this time, Haku would strike him with intent to kill. At the moment, the odds of winning were in favor of the dragon. However, that avatar also had a major weakness, namely Haku's real body. If Carrion had managed to destroy it, he would not only have killed Haku, but also rendered that monster helpless. The problem, rather, would have been being able to reach the dragon, given that the cavity where it was contained was almost certainly designed specifically to be practically indestructible. But even the strongest shields had a weakness; Carrion just had to be able to find his own, and he could have opened that ribcage and directly punched Haku's real body.

He would have achieved nothing by continuing to speculate; if he wanted to get more information, he had to experiment. With one leap, he seized the initiative and lunged at the monster. He would execute a series of quick and effective attacks, and then retreat to assess the outcome before Haku could counterattack. His movement was lightning fast and the dragon didn't even seem to notice it, but he didn't need to do nothing to defend himself: when Carrion with his sword imbued with his divine power struck the right side of the monster, a sound was heard similar to a chain hitting a wall, and the man clearly felt the recoil of the blow on his arms, which shook as if they were made of jelly. On the contrary, the red scales he had just struck were practically unscathed. "What the... what is this made of...?"

The two basilisk heads came towards him with gaping jaws; Carrion dodged and leapt back, avoiding their attack. "They're simple scales. The hardest scales in the world" Haku replied with a grunt that sounded like laughter.

Those scales, of course, were nothing more than adult dragon scales. Incidentally they were the scales of his father, Kalos. They were practically indestructible and even a legendary level would have a hard time penetrating them. They were practically a natural shield. Haku had extracted them from the numerous pieces of his father's corpse that he carried with him in dimensional bags and with them he had covered the entire body of the wyvern, effectively making it a real fortress. For greater safety, he had also used dragon bones, further coated with great basilisk plates, to increase the strength of the skeleton that protected the cavity in the center of the monster's belly and therefore also its real body. Finally, he had used huge muscle bundles and strong tendons to allow the cavity to open, and at the same time they would play the role of additional protection when it was closed.

It didn't take Carrion long to realize the truth either. "The scales of an adult dragon... where did you get them?"

"My father was kind enough to provide them for me" Haku replied. "After all, the dead don't need protection"

That sentence could be interpreted in many ways. Some might even mistakenly feel sympathy for Haku thinking he lost his father at a young age. But Carrion knew enough about dragons in general and Haku in particular by now, and therefore could understand very clearly what the subtext of the situation was. "You killed your father?"

"My mother too, if you are interested" was the dragon's flat reply. There was no remorse in his voice, no sadness, no anger. Just a total calm, as if he were talking about the shape of the sand dunes or how blue the sky was that day.

Carrion tightened his grip on his sword. "I knew you dragons were an amoral species, but you really are a horrible person"

"Well, so are you then. Don't you think?" Haku replied rhetorically. In fact, Carrion had also killed his mother and father long ago, so how could he afford to judge him?

The man grunted. "I had my reasons for doing it"

"Me too. Do you think I killed them for fun? Even if I were so sadistic, I would never have risked so much just to play. Killing an adult dragon is by no means an easy challenge" Haku replied. "I killed them because I had to and because they deserved it. I remind you of someone, right?"

Carrion had a dark look. He hated the thought of being compared to a dragon, but deep down he couldn't deny the reality. There were indeed similarities between them. "Yes, indeed. I'm starting to understand why at Arapaina Gorge you said we were the same"

"And you're not even close to knowing how much we have in common" Haku said with a satisfied smile. Even if it wasn't exactly a victory, getting the better of even that conversation generated some hilarity.

Carrion noticed this and didn't take it very well. "Enough chatting. It's time for devastation!"

"Ok, as you wish!" Haku answered, and this time he was the one to take the initiative; its three heads rushed at Carrion simultaneously and attacked him from multiple sides. The man leapt and avoided the blow, and tried to land on the monster's back to strike again, but as he descended the previously smooth back of the wyvern filled with thorns, which were previously placed in a lying position, but which were then raised as if they were the quills of a porcupine. Haku had created that extra defense using the spines of his father's tail, and had used powerful muscles to be able to raise and lower them at will. It wasn't difficult, a simple system of levers was enough: when the scale was horizontal the muscle was at rest, and therefore didn't need Haku's control; instead, when Haku wanted to lift the scale, he tensed the muscle and therefore generated the force necessary to lift those bony spikes that would have hurt anyone who would have even been touched by them. On top of that those thorns were also covered with basilisk venom, which added further lethality to them, making them real instruments of death.

Carrion noticed that detail in time, and used his divine power to avoid them, but still he didn't want to retreat without first having inflicted at least some damage and therefore aimed at the tail; he charged his sword with all the divine power he could and struck the tip of the tail three times. That barrage of high-intensity blows was enough to break even the hard scales of an adult dragon and then sever the final piece of the tail, which fell to the ground rolling away.

Haku looked at the severed part with little interest. It was the final part of the tail, where there weren't many scales and protections since it had little value in combat. It was the upper part of the tail that was heavily coated, as that was useful for striking and killing. "Mph. At least you'll be able to tell that a single shot landed" he said mockingly.

Carrion didn't fall into the provocation. His gaze was rather aimed at the piece of tail he had just cut off. It proved one important thing: Haku couldn't control the body parts already severed from the main avatar. Otherwise he could have used his severed tail to attack him from behind and pierce his chest; since he had been distracted, it would have been easy and the fight would have ended immediately. This meant that if he managed to sever the heads, he would at least have a free rein to be able to destroy the protection of the ventral cavity and kill the real body of the dragon.

This made him smile inwardly. That monster had been created to fight him, but even that was not invincible. He just had to hit hard enough in the right places, and he would win. He had little chance of winning, but he'd make sure he took them.

Haku evidently noticed his good mood and didn't like it. "Don't act so high and might just because you scored a shot. The game isn't over yet!" he roared as he lunged at Carrion, shaking the ground with each step. Now he was going to get serious.