An Adversary in Red

Kanito, though uncertain of the plan, trusted in Yuriel's leadership and gripped his sword firmly, awaiting the signal to advance.

As the barrage of spells from above repelled the demons, forcing them to seek cover, Yuriel gestured to General Hackel. The general promptly ordered the senior officers to unleash the magic slingshots, which flared to life with blazing yellow spells of fire.

The spell named 'Furious Flames' rained down the cliff, landing infront of the demons. A thick veil of smoke rose up, seizing the moment, Yuriel left his cover and charged towards the demons with strategic precision, Kanito followed him.

The sudden eruption of smoke and dust threw the demons into disarray, allowing Yuriel to exploit the situation, he emerged from the haze and swung his blade slicing through every demon's neck in his vicinity

Kanito, flanking from behind, employed his signature tactic of targeting limbs, especially legs, as he sliced through crowd of the demons, he asked

"Do these guys regenerate like they do in generic fantasy worlds?"

"No they dont"

The demons split into two groups, the agile ones left the battlefield and started climbing up the cliff while the sturdier ones, more in number, stayed below and fought Kanito and Yuriel.

As the number of demons dwindled, only the strongest and most cunning remained.

Unlike humans like Kanito and Yuriel and the senior officers, demons do not fatigue, nor do they feel pain,

The agile demons scaling the rugged plain leading to the cliff where Hackel and the other senior officers were standing, the demons faced a hail of spells that sent many of the them tumbling to their demise. A few of them dodged the barrage and retaliated with their own magic,

Hackel outstretched his arms and conjured a blue force field, neutralizing the incoming spheres of magic

Meanwhile, Kanito and Yuriel began to show signs of exhaustion, their movements slowing as the relentless demons continued to fight with ferocity,

undeterred by their mounting losses.

Kanito's speed waned, and he barely dodged a demon's attack, unable to muster a counteroffensive. Yuriel, still far from exhaustion, attempted to behead a demon, but his opponent countered with surprising skill

The battle down intensified as Kanito and Yuriel who swiftly cleared hundreds of demons with little to no efforts, were now facing difficulties, clashing of swords became fiercer.

Hackel also couldn't come down to their help as they were already engaged in a battle against talented demonic sorcerers.

Suddenly the colossal Eastern Gates which the demons had locked inorder to isolate the eastern block of Bakerheim fell hard on the ground, creating an intsene metallic roar, the sound was so loud, Kanito felt the air vibrating for two full seconds, the half broken houses outside seemed to sway.

As the gates crashed down and dust rose, numerous horses came racing towards the battlefield on the eastern block, leading the mounted brigade was none other than Prince Kuruth himself.

"Roaring flames !"

Kuruth screamed and stretched his hands outward as he summoned out of his right palm a raging spiral of fire which engulfed nearly tens or twenties of demons.

Kuruth's white horse jumped over the roof of a house and landed on the ground with a loud thud placing itself and it's rider between a group of massive demons.

Kuruth with his broad sword ruthlessly hunted down every single enemy which came in his way also ripping apart the bodies of demons as his horse trampled on them,

The demons on the cliff were defeated by Hackel and also the few ones which remained on the ground desperately returned back to the hovering crimson magic circles above.

Ashfelts army which was fighting on the other side also reported to Kuruth through mind chain that their enemies also returned back to the magic circles.

Thinking that they have defeated the demons, The Army rejoiced and led out a loud victory yell.

Kanito on the eastern side however was too tired to be overjoyed, he only sat by the wall of a house and whispered to himself softly

"What is there to celebrate? We didn't defeat them, they themselves retreated knowing that it is harming them while leaving us in utter destruction"

Yuriel stood tall and stained his sleeve cuffs by wiping the strain of blood off his chin, he didn't, he looked at the sky above, frowning, his lips parted with vague confusion. The magic circles disappeared, but the sky was still as dark and cloudy as it was before.

Kuruth didn't dismount, he too looked at the sky with a serious look. He noticed Yuriel and went towards him. Yuriel upon upon seeing him, bowed down

"Rise, you are older than me so dont bow and also, don't get your eyes off the ground"

"Thank you My Lord"

"The attack seems to be over, why aren't you happy"

"I don't think it ended, the sky didn't become normal as it should've"

"Good observation, I was thinking the same"

Hackel and his men standing on the cliff bowed too as they saw Kuruth standing

"My Lord, is the battle over?"

"It seems to, but I can't say with certainty"

Everyone stared at the dark sky, to everyone's surprise, out of the grey clouds, suddenly materialized an enormous crimson glowing magic circle, this magic circle was unlike any others from before, it was way broader and massive

An emormous creature of a red scaly appearance slowly emerged out of the circle, it had giant scaly wings and a long thick crimson tail, a pair of short red appendages protruding from the head, curving backwards, a long dagger like golden horn arising from the centre of it's head, it's eyes were flaming in a hue of dark yellow and had sharp protruding yellow claws. It snarled and flapped it's massive wings and sent dusty and sandy wind sweeping through the land.

"How do you fight this thing?"

Kanito rose up, the sight of this massive juggernaut sent shivers coursing down his spine, he felt his knees becoming weak and his cheeks loosing colour.

"A dragon?"

"My Lord, we cannot fight a dragon in the city"

"On top of that, it is an Auric horn"

"We cannot complain now, if you don't intend to kill it, then atleast save yourself"

The dragon roared and exhaled a torrent of pitch black flames, within a second everything that came in it's way got burnt and ruined, large tracts of land were laid barren, strong houses were levelled.

Hundreds of soldiers were caught in that fire and died, Kanito with a pounding heart barely dodged it, however burnt his left foot, Yuriel tossed a spear lying on the ground with great speed and precision, the Spear shattered as it met the dragon's scaly body.

The destructive being next flew across the sky in the opposite direction, turned back and unleashed blazing spheres of orange fire towards the cliff,

Hackel Clenched his teeth and created a massive white barrier that somehow managed to nullify the dragon's inborn techniques.

The Dragon soared through the mid sky, it's large golden horn pointing towards the cliff, it attempted to knock down everyone standing on the cliff, it almost hit Hackel, but missed only by a few inches, even though it didn't touch him, the impact was strong enough to open a wound on his face,

The flying reptile turned back and charged towards the cliff again, but it changed it's course midway, everyone on the cliff were relieved but soon were filled with despair as the dragon was seen racing towards the Eastern gates. Yuriel yelled

"Don't let it leave the eastern block !"

"What? It's trying to escape?"

Kanito understood that the Dragon had no intention to fight, it was sent only to create havoc and destruction, so it set out towards the more well developed western block, to claim as much as lives as possible. A plethora of thoughts emerged in his head, he thought how intelligent an uncivilized beast can be.

As the dragon was about to leave the gates, a strong metallic arrow pierced it's right eye, the Dragon as a member of the Demonic species certainly didn't feel pain but a sudden stimuli halted it's movement for a while.

Everyone, including Kanito and Yuriel, tried to follow the direction from where this arrow came in order to find its owner. They saw Kuruth drawing his bow, he quickly threw the bow away and drew his long broad sword,

Kuruth's white horse galloped towards the dragon, Kuruth conjured a green aura under his palm, "Wingcraft" he chanted, he kept his palm gently over the horse's head and the horse grew a pair of white wings surrounded in green aura.

The horse raced more to gain momentum and finally took off by flapping it's newly recieved wings. As it rose to the same height as the dragon's, Kuruth without delaying any further, casted a white glowing lightning bolt, 'Thunderlord' he screamed and launched the spell towards the dragon.

The Dragon was struck with it and was injured, it roared and dashed towards Kuruth however he swiftly dodged the dragon's pointed horn,

From the land, the Army and the senior officers looked at the battle above, Yuriel with concerned eyes hurriedly informed one of the soldiers

"Why is Prince Kuruth facing the dragon all alone? Why did he take such a step?"

"I knew this would happen, he strictly ordered us not to question or interfere with his decisions"

"What? I couldn't believe he was so sentimental, an aerial battle and that too with an Auric horn? Why?"

Kanito felt ashamed as he wasn't able to help Kuruth in any way, he in a serious tone told Yuriel

"What are those senior officers waiting for? Can't they shoot their magic cannons or whatever they are called at the dragon?"

"We cannot interfere in his plans"

"What plans? Can't you see he is fighting that beast alone?"

The Dragon rose higher and higher towards the black sky and then with force came rushing down and unleashed it's pitch black flames on Kuruth. Kuruth didn't dodge it, rather he deflected the attack with his broad sword, Kuruth's horse fearlessly soared towards the dragon and Kuruth slashed through the left jaw of this enormous monster and flew far away,

Auric horns, the breed of dragons to which this creature belongs are intelligent beings, it realized that it's enemy is only distracting it from entering the western block, it ignored Kuruth and entered the western block successfully, Kuruth face got filled with terror, he realized that he needs to do something

His horse was at a greater height than the dragon, Kuruth's horse flew up alongside the dragon. As they flew parallel, Kuruth gripped the sword tightly and jumped from his horse, dived through the air, landing straight onto the dragon's back, He grabbed hold of the dragon's scales, his eyes fixed on the golden thick horn of the dragon which started glowing, The dragon roared in surprise, its wings faltering for a moment.

An Auric horn's brain lies protected at the base of the horn, Kurruth who knew this detail ran towards the dragon's neck, the dragon shook it's body vigorously and knocked Kuruth off balance.

Kanito couldn't stand idle any longer, he used his 'Sprint' spell and charged himself towards the front where the dragon was flying in low air

Kuruth who somehow managed to stand up proceeded towards the neck again but lost his footing and trembled down

The dragon ruthlessly smashed through entire houses, massacring hundreds of innocent lives. Panic-stricken people who couldn't escape to the Cinoplaza were pierced by its sharp claws or were flailed by the crushing force of its whip like tail leaving behind a sea of blood along with broken bricks and rising dust and a pungent smell of blood and dust that filled the air

Kanito's feet squelched in the blood as he ran through the streets, the yellow patterns on the edges of his black robe were stained from the splashing of blood, Kanito used his 'Sprint' spell again and got closer to the dragon, ultimately reaching its tail, he grasped the dragon's tail firmly and pulled it in his direction and used it as a leverage point, utilizing the momentum, launching himself in the sky

He in mid air held the hilt of his sword tightly

with both of his hands, his blade pointing towards the dragon's back, He landed and the strong blade of his longsword drilled through the scales,

Kanito saw Kuruth almost falling off the dragon's back only holding on to some of it's scales, Kanito rushed to Kuruth's aid, he pulled him back and helped him get a grip on the dragon's back.

"Who..Who are you? What in the world are you doing here?"

"Saving you, if I didn't come for help, you would've fallen off"

"Huh?"

"Prince, stay down"

The cunning dragon tilted it's body causing it's back to rub against a metallic wall,

"Whoever you may be, since you are here, help me to end this creature"

"How can we? It's neck is on the lower side"

"We don't have to slice it's neck, the brain of this being lies under it's golden horn, we only need to slash it"

Saying this, Kuruth rushed towards the neck of the dragon with extreme speed inorder to not give the dragon a chance to shake him off, Kanito followed him. The dragon realized that it's weakness is revealed, it's horn glowed again symbolizing that it has become harder, it shook it's body again as it flew to great heights, it almost touched the grey clouds and rushed down again with lightning speed, it no more cared to destroy the city, it focused on saving its own life instead.

Kuruth's and Kanito's hair waved vehemently behind them because of the turbulent airflow. Kuruth went around the horn and stood on the dragon's flat forehead, Kanito stood right above it's neck, in between them was the large thick golden horn.

Both of them held their own swords tightly and with a giant swing struck the golden horn from opposite sides, creating a screeching sound of metal clashing against the hard bony horn, Kanito activated the 'rockhard' enchantment on his sword boosting it's striking strength

They screamed at the top of their voices as the horn hardened even further, the two short curvy appendages which protruded out from the sides of the horn, extended and penetrated both of their wrists, it spilled out chunks of blood from their palms but neither of the two seemed to show any sign of anguish. The appendages took whip like form and lashed on the back of both of them.

Numerous wounds opened up on their skins but they continued to exert all their force on the horn, with their strengths reaching their peak, both of them gave their best, this immense pressure blurred Kanito's vision temporarily but all of it didnt go in vain,

the horn was finally slashed off !

With the horn gone, the interior was finally seen, a jelly like red organ having numerous veins all over it was pumping just like a human heart. In a final attempt to save itself, the dragon spun, it rotated it's body over and over, causing both of them to loose balance and fall off however they both held the red curvy whips which earlier wounded them

Both of them were in the same position, one hand stretched upwards holding on to the red whip and another hand holding their swords, their bodies floating in the air as the dragon continued to soar through the sky with extraordinary velocity

They both looked at each other and said nothing and almost together pierced the jelly like organ with their swords, they pulled their swords out causing huge piles of dark red blood to spill out and stain both of them equally, the demonic dragon finally felt pain for the first and the last time, it gave out it's loudest roar, a shrill growl of unimaginably high frequency swept through the sky

The dragon's elevation kept on decreasing, it stopped flapping it's wings,

"Hey, Let go of the whip"

"What? We will fall then !"

"Just do it, Regulus will catch us"

Kanito and Kuruth let go of the whip of the dragon, they tumbled through the air but in the middle of the sky, the white horse of Kuruth positioned itself right below both of them, swiftly carrying both the wounded warriors on its golden saddle as it gracefully flew across the sky and finally reached the ground while the lifeless enormous dragon crashed on the ground with enormous impact right beside the thousands of dead bodies it slaughtered earlier.

The sky became bright as it used to be, the soldiers, the clouds went away and the sun shone clearly. The army, the senior officers and the people who survived gave off a loud victory yell.

Soon enough A carriage full of medicinal equipment and healers came in the scene, it apparently came to heal Kuruth, many nurses came out of the carriage with different medicines in their hands

"Oh My Lord, I'm so glad you didn't get injured heavily"

"Majesty was so worried when he heard that you went out to the battle alone"

"Oh Lord, let me treat your wounds right now"

"Enough, your words are sickening"

Kuruth frowned and snatched the ointment, he opened his armour and applied it on his muscular arms, chest and abs as the nurses quitely ogled at him. The white horse ambled towards him and lowered it's head, Kuruth handed the ointment back and gently smiled at his horse, his eyes suddenly let go off the furious look it stored in them and caressed the horse's neck, the horse closed it's eyes in pleasure

"Good job Regulus, I am so proud of you"

He noticed a open wound on the horse's leg, his eyes widened in concern, Kuruth quickly took a bandage from one of the nurse's hand and wrapped it around the horse's leg.

Kuruth turned around and saw Kanito whose wounds were also being healed by Yuriel, Fiona who was still alive came running towards Kanito and threw her arms around him, Kanito teared up a little and hugged her back.

"Fi..Fiona, where were you all this time?"

"I was in Cinoplaza, Prince told me to take shelter there, you were here? Fighting? Why?"

Kuruth walked slowly towards Kanito, he again reclothed himself in his royal mannerism and floss.

"Wonderful warrior whom I had the pleasure to fight alongside, you seem a year or two younger than me, will you sweeten my ear with your name?"

"Just say "what's your name" Such long sentences for a simple question, definitely inspired from the education system back in my world" thought Kanito as he faked a smile

"My name is Ka.." He was about to introduce himself but some Royal guards interfered

"Listen subjects of Ashfelt, in the memory of the people of Ashfelt, more specifically, the people of Bakerheim who passed away in this devastating war, a sacred peace ceremony will be conducted in the Cinoplaza mansion by the Holy Azure Temple, led by High Priest Sylvan Ros Arches himself, people all around the country are requested to attend the ceremony to honour their fallen countrymen"

Before Kuruth could finish knowing Kanito's name, he was called by one of the guards, it seemed that his father, King Sarstin was desperate to see him, Kuruth rode his horse and waved his hand at Kanito

"Now then, wonderful warrior, my philanthropic self tells me that fate is kind enough to make us cross ways again, farewell"

"Huh, lunatic prince" Kanito whispered softly.