[Skies above the battlefield]
Arriving in the skies, Darganth kept hovering on the spot while carefully inspecting the different beasts flying around him. After taking a few seconds to estimate their fighting power, he ignored those that weren't a threat to him and turned most of his attention downwards.
While the fighting had yet to begin, his dragon eyes allowed him to look through the disguises of the people below and estimate their strength. Using the asure of their mana, affinities, physique to search for a good opponent for him in his polymorphed state, he ignored the beasts that were surrounding him warily.
Only when he noticed a fourth rank nearing did he give them any attention. After a few seconds the tallic bird ca to a stop before him, spreading its wings and flexing its blade like feathers in the hopes to intimidate him.
“Get out of my skies.” The beast bellowed, irritated by Darganth's lack of reaction at its display.
While he wasn't a mber of a legendary species or even one of their beast relatives, he also wasn't a generic beast and it was hard to mistake him for one. Having ones elent integrated in the physical body to this extend was rare among beast and nearly always a sign of a powerful individual.
But despite this Darganth just scoffed before calmly retorting, “Your skies? Co back to with that when you have the ti to enforce it.”
This made the beast growl in reluctant before increasing its distance to Darganth with a single beat of its wings. Darganth didn't hide his dragon mana and there were better things to than to co into conflict with a dragon. Especially with the mages still firing spells skywards.
After a few monts of staring at Darganth in annoyance, the beast was forced to take its attention away from him by the bombardnt of the mages below whom it currently offered a stationary target.
Only then did Darganth focus his attention fully back towards what was happening on the ground. After about two minutes a small smile ford on his face, after which he directly teleported away.
His arrival amidst the battlefield startled the surrounding warriors, though one quickly collected himself and got into a fighting stance.
Wordlessly Darganth conjured a carbon copy of his spear while flaring his aura and encasing himself in an armor. Taking a second to put so basic enchantnts on the spear that roughly matched the ones on the beastn's sword, he also got into a fighting stance.
This made his opponent realize that a fight was unavoidable, prompting him to take the initiative to attack.
Closing the distance between the two of them, he swung his sword while attempting to get close enough for Darganth's spear to be less effective. Noticing this, Darganth simply stepped back before intercepting the blow.
As soon as the blades interlocked, he twisted his spear a bit before forcing the sword downwards. With the increased leverage that a spear offered, the beastn didn't have a chance and had to pull his sword back to avoid it getting stuck in the ground.
Using the leeway this created for him, Darganth changed his stance slightly and stabbed his spear forwards.
While his opponent managed to deflect this strike to the side, to do so he was forced to take even more distance to Darganth who used this to pressure him further. Striking from every possible angel, he kept up the pressure and manage to inflict dozens of small cuts.
When the beastn recognized that there was no chance to get out of this situation like this, he flared his aura. Without even waiting for the armor that ford around him, he used the short mont during which he had the physical advantage thanks to external aura to try and revers the situation.
Stepping into the spears range, he thrusted his sword forward. But despite the sudden nature of this attack it still failed to achieve the desired effect, with Darganth managing to activate his own external aura and sidestep it. While he wasn't capable of counterattacking, this move still brought his opponent into a difficult position.
Realizing this the beastman tried to buy ti.
“Why are you doing this?” He asked Darganth.
“Why not?”
“You risk the life's of my n for nothing?” The beastman asked back, enraged that Darganth seed to not take it serious.
“Oh, not for nothing. For my entertainnt, I rarely get the chance to fight in human form.”
This answer only served to fuel the man's anger even more, though it also made him even more cautious. Previously he hadn't had the ti to notice it, but now he noticed Darganth's dragon mana and quickly recognized it.
Turning to his subordinates who had ford a half-circle around them he shouted, “RUN! The commander has to be inford about this situation.”
Looking at their superior with conflicted eyes, they soon followed his orders. They were well aware that they were helpless in this fight, making their decision easier.
During the ensuing pause in the fighting, the beastman talked to Darganth to distract him from his subordinates. While he hadn't shown any signs of wanting to stop them from running, the man decided to be on the safe side.
“I guess you were also the whose dragons fear washed over the city a few days ago, am I right?”
Seeing Darganth nod, the man continued, “Why? Neither that nor attacking us brings you any benefit unless the beasts hired you which I doubt they did. If they had they would send you sowhere where you could completely dominate to redistribute the beasts from there. And for a good fight there are other ways.”
“Too lazy to hunt for magical treasures and ingredients myself.” Darganth answered truthfully.
Despite this the man didn't fully believe him. Looking at him with a questioning gaze, he waited a bit to buy ti before asking, “Since when do dragons need such things to grow?”
“Who said I want them for myself?” Darganth answered with a chuckle.
This caused the man to hastily turn to his n, fearing an ambush. When he saw that nothing of the sorts was happening, he turned back to Darganth who was shaking his head at this reaction.
“Did you really think that I need help if I wanted them dead?”
“What do I know about you thoughts, you dragons are unpredictable and mostly insane. After all, who the hell risks dozens if not more deaths just for a fight?”
“Well, I just don't care about it. And its not as if its sothing new that dragons think like that.” Darganth said dismissively.
After his words the two stood opposite of each other in silence until the beastman noticed that his subordinates have reached far enough away. Instantly restarting his offensive, he directly used the full might of his aura cultivation.
Encased in both external aura and an aura armor, he rushed towards Darganth with speed incomparable to before. As soon as his blade ca into contact with the spear that blocked his strike, its surface started crackling with lightning.
Jumping back without any delay, Darganth dodged the following electric discharge. With nothing to latch on to, this barely amounted to a few streaks of lightning that barely traveled over a ter before loosing power.
Despite this they signed the grass below black in an instant, showing the imnse energy they contained.
As soon as the last one fizzled out of existence, Darganth again closed in. This ti his spear also carried a few streaks of lightning at its tip, allowing it to clash with the still electrically charged sword without him receiving a shock.
After a few short exchanges this was noticed by his opponent, prompting him to stop his own after a few exchanges. Instead he opted to keep so distance to Darganth while seemingly swinging at the empty air.
But despite the swings being ters away from him, Darganth was forced to dodge as each one was followed by a sharp slash of wind. After dodging the first few this beca intermixed with strong gales that were no longer lethal but covered too large of an area to dodge.
Despite constantly getting his balance ssed with by this, Darganth's smile only grew the longer the fight lasted. From ti to ti he would manage to close the distance with a burst of speed, just for his opponent to jump away again.
They continued like this for minutes, with both receiving more and more wounds, both small and large. But Darganth's healed nearly instantly, with even the larger one vanishing in about a dozen seconds, while his opponent didn't have the sa luxury.
This forced him ever deeper into despair, trying to find a way to turn the situation around. When he thought to have found an opening to do just that he directly took it.
Suddenly covering his entire body in fire, he burst forwards and through the area where Darganth's spear blade easily reached. Putting the entire strength of his enhanced body behind it, he struck towards Darganth's right.
Confident that his elental manifestation would slice through the aura armor, his eyes grew wide when this didn't happen. Instead his strike was intercepted by the shaft of the spear and instead of breaking through it his swords stopped.
Feeling as if he had swung against a stone without using mana, the beastman was too shocked to react to the wave of pure telekinetic force that threw him away.
Just as the man was about to to impact the tree he was flying towards a claw appeared from nowhere and killed him with a single swipe.
This shocked even Darganth as the newcor had managed to evade even his detection, prompting him to putting up his guard. Ready to teleport away at any mont, he watched as the beast slowly dropped its invisibility.
Standing before him was a being that looked similar to a dragon though lacking wings. Additionally it was bulkier, though not by much, and its color template didn't fit to any of the dragons living on this world. Instead its scales were pure, nearly glowing, white.
“A drake.” Darganth said in surprise.
“ being here should not co as that much of a shock, your presence on the other hand is both unexpected and worriso.”
“Bad experiences?”
“Sowhat. Whenever one of your kind openly acts in one of the humanoid regions it leads to chaos. And not even necessarily due to him, otherwise I wouldn't be as nervous due to it.” The drake said.
To this Darganth could only agree. While it wasn't as extre as on Vunreon itself, an older dragon openly leaving his lair would still cause chaos in the region whether he wants it or not.
“No worries, I don't plan to act against the beasts. Or at least I won't take the initiative to do so.” Darganth reassured him.
“That's probably the best I can get so I will take it.” The drake said, breathing a sigh of relieve.
After a short pause he added, “By the way, I am Ilshas.”
“Darganth.”
While this caused Ilshas to raise his eyebrow slightly, he didn't pry further. As rare as it was, its not unheard of that a dragon also has the na Darganth.
“So how co you learned about this, I doubt that your kind decided to take a more active role in the continents affairs. Besides, Batoim wouldn't have used a roundabout way to get inford about the etings instead of just partaking himself.”
“Oh, how would you know that he wasn't at the eting?”
At Darganth's inquiry Ilshas frowned slightly due to him having said to much. Thinking for a mont what do do, he sighed before explaining.
“My father is the empress second in command and an old fried of her.”
“And your taking part in this little skirmish? Just the fact that your a lesser dragon makes you enough of a powerhouse that your exact strength shouldn't be displayed this openly. And from what I know of beasts your father should be quite powerful to hold such a position, sothing that is even more of a reason to do it.”
Hearing Darganth's word he explaining with a shrewd smile, “That would be the case, but only if it gets know.”
Hearing his word, Darganth realized their plan. Having the last important piece of the puzzle of why this agreent ca to be, he realized in how much of a trap the beastn have walked.
“I have to say, quite the bold idea. Let guess, you also shielded the areas from outside observation to keep the mythical ranks from realizing it before its too late?”
To this Ilshas nodded in agreent and added, “And not just with the help of those present. While mythical ranks aren't allowed to actively take a part in the fighting, the beastn emperor thought he was setting a trap when he excluded giving out magic items and artifacts.”
“Well, beasts aren't well known for using them.”
“That's true but betting on it will still co back to bite them. They want to hunt the lower ranked beasts? We will just do the sa to the high ranks and widen our advantage there.” He said with a predatory smile.
“Thought so, though I wonder how you plan to offset this missing generation in the future. No matter how long it is, beasts are still bound by a lifespan.”
Nodding in agreent, Ilshas explained, “But first the beastn will have their mythical rank dying without a replacent. And its not as if all beasts will die, most of those that belong to higher ranked species and special ones weren't allowed to participate, especially below the fourth rank.”
“Trading secrecy for a safety net?” Darganth wondered out loud, thinking about the repercussion of this.
“You will have to hope that the humans don't ally with the beastn once they learn of this, otherwise its a good plan.” He said after a mont.
“Official alliances between emperors are unheard of. Once that precedent is set, our empress could very well do the sa with the elves and while they are the weakest, in that constellation the two species won't have a chance. Especially with ti being in our favor if we succeed here.”
“That's true, though it relies on that alliance.”
At those words Ilshas smirked. Noticing this reaction, Darganth raised his eyebrow in interest, prompting him to explain.
“The two empresses are extrely close, that won't be a problem.” He explained with a grin.
“So its true. Previously I only heard rumors around it. Then I can only call that plan perfectly thought out though I wouldn't hope too much on its long term effect. There are a few thing happening that will flip over the board so don't be too surprised when it happens.”
This drew Ilshas interest. Thinking for a mont, he frowned an asked, “My first idea is true?”
“At least it will be. And we will also support the vampires, so the change will be even greater than you would expect.”
With a deepening frown Ilshas asked further, “How do you know.”
“Because I decided it. But enough of this, I still have so things to do. As I am traveling south we will probably see each other again, so till then goodbye.”
With those words Darganth pushed of the ground and returned to his true form during his jump. By the ti he broke past the treetops his transformation was complete and after a quick glance over the surroundings he flew towards his next target.
“Voidborn.” Ilshas muttered, staring after Darganth in bewildernt.
'I will have to tell my father.' He though, branding his conversation with Darganth into his mory to not forget any detail.
Only after minutes did he co out of his shock, turning around and walking back into the forest while his form slowly shrunk down.
While he was making his way back to the beasts gathering point, Darganth was busy with his search for magic treasures. Compared to Jennia and Allaire he had the advantage when it cos to both finding them and identifying them.
Thus he spend the next few hours getting his hands on the best the beastn carried with them, only engaging in one other drawn out battle for the fun of it. Only once he was satisfied with his loot did he turn to leave.
Flying higher than previously to attract as much attention as possible, he flew towards the hill where they had build their camp in a straight line.
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