Dragon Gods Reign

[Near Venrie’s private residence]

Following behind Venrie who showed Jennia and Allaire the way to the clear space near the house where Darganth and Yldra were already waiting. Without having wasted time the two were standing on opposite ends of the field, with Yldra slowly gauging Darganth's power and limiting her own to the same level with a mix of reversing her aura flow and artificially degrading her mana.

“Ready?” Darganth asked after a few seconds.

“Ready.”

Along with those words, the space between them suddenly cracked open like glass, leaving a thin vertical line in the middle of the field that had small branch-like protrusions to all sides. Despite this, neither Darganth nor Yldra moved, instead continuously weaving space element spells that collided at different points between them.

Each of these spells employed countless auxiliary circles that either surrounded the main one or connected to it with thin lines. Even those who could normally see spell circles would find these troublesome, with each spell shooting from at least a few dozen circles of which some layered before each other.

This resulted in each spell being perfectly cut out for the situation with both also controlling their mana near perfectly for each one as if it consisted of only the main circle. Considering that casting a spell without an auxiliary circle near perfectly was already rare below the mythical rank, this would shock even the most seasoned mage. That was even without considering that each spell employed auxiliary circles, increasing the difficulty of doing this many folds for each one.

And while it was possible to achieve a completely perfect mana flow in a spell, something a few of their spells reached, no being can achieve this consistently when casting spells at its own power level due to a multitude of factors. With spells that were considerably below the user's power it was possible, but even this didn't make them viable against similar opponents.

Jennia and Allaire watched this in awe, never having seen Darganth use space magic against a remotely equal opponent. His previous uses had always overwhelmed his opponent, giving them no chance to truly see the skill behind each spell.

Jennia was especially interested in this, now having an example of the things Darganth had previously only taught her about. From his masterful and precise control over the mana he used to the usage of even the most minuscule advantage that his surroundings could give his spells, she took it all in.

Venrie and Neandra were similarly astonished, both of them clearly seeing the vast difference in skill of both Darganth and Yldra when compared to space users they have previously witnessed. But further than that, they also noticed the strong gap between the two, with Darganth holding a not insignificant advantage.

This soon culminated in him sending an invisible slash across the field with nothing more than a flick of his hand, a slash that managed to find its way past the wall of broken space between them. This forced Yldra to dodge out of the way by taking flight with the help of her wings.

“Good use of auxiliary circles but you rely far too heavily on the base power that your affinity gives your space spells. A high affinity doesn't merely empower an element, a low affinity also limits one's skill with it. With space you don't have that, so use it.” Dargant advised Yldra in the lull following this exchange.

“But how many beings have a perfect affinity for space as we do? Because with the rest I can just rely on it to win.”

“That's true. But I didn't say stop training your skill in mana control but to not just focus on it. I too prefer to have many options but space is still your strongest element and you should play into that at least a bit more.”

“Will try it.”

Waiting a few more seconds after these words, they watched the damage to the space between them slowly mending. Soon they again stood opposite of each other, both having wide grins on their face.

“Next round?” Yldra asked.

“How about true forms?”

“Alright.”

With this short exchange over, the two charged toward each other. After the first couple of steps, their forms started to shift. Within a fraction of a second their human form faded into a silvery mass of energy that exploded outwards only to gather in the shape of their true forms.

Yldra's was shrunk to the same size as Darganth's body, which by now measured roughly forty-five meters in length. And while they looked similar, the obvious difference being the added emerald green glow at the edges of Darganth's scales, there were other smaller differences.

Mostly these were their horns, with her having only a single pair growing backward, and small differences in their scale patterns as well as barely noticeable differences in their build.

This lack of differences came from the fact that both species of the void lineage were created in Darganth's image, a resemblance that holds true for all its members due to how close dragons are to mana.

Even when compared to beasts and other species close to mana they had little difference between members of the same species, these few being mainly found in the exact shape of the horn or small differences in the scale pattern.

This resulted in many preferring to rely on the mana signature to identify each other due to it being easier and faster, something that had the added benefit of also allowing identification when transformed.

Ignoring the fond memories seeing the familiar form brought him, Darganth readied himself for their impact.

Half flying and half jumping, the two of them soon collided as their claws met mid-strike while they stood only on their hind legs. Momentarily pushing against the other in a contest of pure strength, they separated with a final burst of force that made both recoil a tiny bit.

Now with nothing to push against, they spread their wings as they slowly sank into the more stable four-legged stance. During all this, they tried to get an upper hand on the other, snapping and striking at each other recklessly. Naturally, they avoided vital points but for dragons, this just meant the brain, heart, and in a limited manner the neck.

This collision lasted barely a handful seconds but this was enough for Darganth to gain the upper hand. After Yldra had failed in an attempt to hit his neck, she had left herself open for his counter.

Before her right arm even finished its swing, his left struck down behind her shoulder and pushed her to the ground. Leaving four bloody cuts across her back and to the shoulder, he swung his right claw just as she backed away.

Her retreat towards her hind left made him miss partially, only managing to cause a small cut down her right arm.

Despite coming out of their exchange with two wounds, Yldra still had a wild smile on her lips. And contrary to Neandra and Jennia who found this normal, both Venrie and Allaire were visibly concerned.

“Don't make such faces, those wounds are nothing.” Neandra said when she noticed this.

“That is normal?” Venrie asked.

“Absolutely, I would even say it's restrained behavior. Even the fights I had with my siblings resulted in more blood by this stage.” Neandra said.

“I know that even friendly fights between draconic beings go far, but that far?” Allaire asked slightly surprised.

“As far as their bodies safely allow, yes. It's not like vampires where at least one of the two loses some limbs, but dragons still go quite far. Apart from permanent damage and killing, nothing is forbidden though most try to avoid cutting off limbs. Then there are still some specialties among each species, but that's the general tradition.” Neandra explained.

“Though these specialties can vary quite a lot. As far as I know, Wyverns don't really have any but among hydras, it's normal and accepted to lose a head or two. More than that is rare as it makes us lose too many elements should something happen.” Jennia added.

This revelation shocked Allaire and Venrie substantially, both just staring blankly into the air. Allaire was also occasionally looking at Jennia, shuddering at the imagination of how painful it must be.

Venrie was meanwhile thinking about the implications of this, especially the danger this could draw with it.

“But isn't it risky, what if the two are attacked when they are still wounded? You mentioned similarities to vampires, but they heal far faster.” She asked.

“If it happens, yes, but that is rare. As dragons and lesser dragons heal slower than vampires we use other ways we reduce these risks. For one, both participants protect each other afterward till both have healed. And apart from them helping the other if necessary, most nearby draconic beings would also come to their aid in case of attacks.

Then there is still the point of if someone even knows that they are wounded, most do quite a good job at hiding not just that but even the fight itself. Think about it, how many cases of wounded dragons as the result of fights among themselves have you heard about?” Neandra said.

Thinking about her words for a moment, Venrie only managed to come up with a single instance of it. And that, despite instantly recalling at least a few dozen of such fights. Even in that one case, the only thing that came of it was a few thousand dead adventurers as even the one who had suffered far more wounds could still draw upon the full might of his magic.

“Nonetheless, I don't understand how she seemed to enjoy the fight despite the wound.” Allaire commented, something neither Jennia nor Neandra added onto.

Instead, all four turned their attention back to the fight that was again picking up in intensity. While Darganth and Yldra had circled each other after he had landed the two hits, only throwing claws full of stone and slinging spells, they were slowly drawing closer again.

Then, just as Darganth blocked a boulder she threw by using his wing as a shield, Yldra rushed towards him. Ducking below his wing that tried to push her back, she dug her right claw into his side and grabbed his neck with her left.

Then, despite her left claw missing, she threw the entire weight of her body against him with the hopes of toppling him over.

Darganth noticed this attempt in time, shifting the angle of his body and catching her charge with his left shoulder. As he had braced against the impact and could divert the force into three of his legs, he was only pushed back a bit.

Retaliating, he pushed back against her and force the front of her body into the air as it hung on his shoulder. This left her neck and head free, but he prevented her from finding a good spot to bit by spreading his wings, thus leaving his back without any strong angles. Simultaneously he protected his own neck by positioning his head in a way that could strike hers should she try and attack it.

Using his hind legs and left front leg to push against her with more and more force, he managed to free his left claw enough to swing it at her exposed chest and abdomen. First leaving three cuts, he dug his claws into her side just as he noticed her intentions to retreat again. At the same time, he increased the force with which he pressed against her, bringing her out of balance.

While the strong beast of her wings still allowed her to become airborne quickly, she was tumbling quite badly and left herself open. Darganth used this to fold his wings and let them shoot forwards together with his head, hitting the left wing's shoulder joint with a claw of his own. His maw simultaneously managed to graze the side of her neck, tearing off a few scales as she freed herself.

Landing around fifty meters from him, Yldra put some of her focus on inspecting the extent of her wounds, mirroring Darganth.

Apart from the claw marks on his lower left side, Darganth also found three slightly bleeding streaks from his right upper arm over his chest and to his left shoulder. Ignoring them, his grin widened when he saw Yldra's state.

Even though the bleeding wounds on her chest and abdomen seemed dangerous, he knew that they were far from it. Instead, his attention hung on her left wing which was now limping somewhat, with blood flowing out of its joint just above her shoulder.

“You are better than I expected.” Darganth said a moment later when Yldra finished her own assessment.

“But not good enough to enjoy this fully.” She said with some regret.

“Then how about you loosen your restraints a bit? One last grand clash is always fun.” Darganth proposed.

Hearing this Yldra's grin, which had had traces of a frown after seeing her wounds, widened again.

“Hehe, don't complain later.” She said with a laugh.

“Why would I?” Darganth said, his grin mirroring hers.

A few seconds later both jumped forwards with all their strength, their wings carrying them for a bit before they collided mid-air. And even though Yldra was still far from using her full strength, it was more than enough to bridge the gap that resulted from Darganth's skill.

This time neither of them blocked the other's claw strikes resulting in their bodies colliding at the base of the neck as they swung their claws at the other. But due to the strength difference, she directly started pushing him back, pressing on even as his claws created wounds on her back and side.

Barely a few seconds later this reached the tipping point and with a swing from Yldra's arm, Darganth was forcefully toppled. Trying to grab onto her with his claws and drag her with him, he barely missed her shoulder as she moved it out of the way.

Nonetheless not giving up, Darganth struck out with his tail, surprising her and managing to dig the spikes atop it into her back. Dragging her closer, he dug his claws into her chest and rolled to the side, using his own body's momentum to throw her onto the ground on his other side.

On her way, she managed to claw a few more times at his exposed abdomen and also landed a bite on his other arm that had managed to dig into her shoulder halfway through the maneuver.

Crashing with her back first onto the ground, Yldra surprised Darganth by managing to grab onto his arms with her claws, holding them in place and forcing him along with her momentum. Additionally she could now also use her hind legs to swipe at him, forcing him to free his own by using his wings to become airborne.

A quick exchange later that resulted in one of their legs entangled with one of the other while Darganth's other one had dug into her tail and hers into his belly, he crashed onto the ground next to her. With both lying on the ground they made one last attempt to change the current draw, with Yldra having more wounds but none being decisive. And with neither relenting, both still took one last shot at victory.

Thus both of their heads shot forward nearly simultaneously, the accompanying movement of their neck resulting in both missing their initial target. Instead, they both managed to pin down the other's neck at the same time as they felt their own being grabbed. With neither truly biting as it was still a friendly fight, both only restricted the other, making a draw unavoidable.

The dust cloud of Yldra's landing had already obstructed the view for Allaire and Jennia while limiting Venrie's, and this one's addition prevented even Neandra to see what was happening without resorting to magic.

Only Darganth and Yldra's laughter was noticeable for them, something that changed when along with their transformation back into their humanoid forms the cloud dispersed.

Compared to his usual clothes which were a mix of loose, free-flowing robes designed for comfort as well as practical and sometimes elegant designs, he now only wore pants. His upper body was left bare as any clothes would quickly be drenched in the blood that was seeping out of the multitude of visible cuts.

Yldar was in a similar state, her already revealing clothes now consisting of only short pants and some cloth that wrapped around her chest to cover her breasts. Compared to Darganth her wounds were slightly worse, with wounds on her arms, ones on her chest and back that drenched the fabric in blood, and a large claw mark on her abdomen that overshadowed the other wounds there.

Finally, there was a deep cut on her leg that would have forced a normal human to limp considerably, similar to how the wounds on her left shoulder should have immobilized that arm.

As soon as this scene was revealed, Allaire rushed to Darganth as Venrie did the same with Yldra. Even though the wounded themselves still had wide smiles on their lips and were laughing, they had worried expressions.

While the two were making their way over to them with Jennia and Neandra following closely after them, Yldra suddenly grabbed Darganth and pulled him into a kiss.

“That was the most fun fight I had in years. Treat this as an invitation to join us in our room.” She said with a bright grin.

A moment later Allaire and Venrie arrived, prompting the two to separate and turn their attention to them.

While Venrie cast a quick healing spell on Yldra that lifted the remainder of her worries, Allaire threw herself into Darganth's embrace.

“Everything fine?” She asked still worried.

“Of course, it takes more than this to seriously hurt me.” Darganth reassured her.

“I know, it still shocked me to see you like that. The last time was against the basilisk, since then it never happened.”

Focusing for a moment, Darganth cast a spell that caused his body to heal at a visible speed before asking, “Better so?”

Staying in his embrace for a bit to fully calm down, Allaire's worries were mostly gone by the time his wounds had healed. The remaining bit she decided to overplay by glaring at Yldra.

Seeing this the latter initially smiled a bit helplessly before she got an idea that changed this to a grin.

“Naturally the offer also extends to you.” She said, earning her a pinch from Venrie.

“You know that I won't do it if you don't-” Dargnath started in an attempt to placate her but she interrupted.

“That's not the problem, I'll even gladly join. No, I am just venting my frustration that I didn't see through her planning this.” She said, her annoyance mostly directed at herself.

“Believe it or not, it wasn't planned.” Yldra answered her.

“Not planned or just not certain?”

Seeing Yldra's silence that all but confirmed her words, Allaire send one last glare her way before leaning into Darganth's embrace with a sigh.

“Then let's go.”