Larm Forest, the West
Another lazy, calming day in Larm. Another day filled with lush green and animals going about their regular lives. Another day filled with peace under the Tyrants rightful protection. At least it was supposed to be.
“What are thou doing!?”
Goliath’s voice boomed in the skies above as he looked at the man in black armor whose breath had caused all the destruction in the forest.
The trees had been incinerated and most of the animals were either dead or severely injured. The burning corpse of one of the wolves laid lifelessly under the heel of the assaulter. He wore jet black armor and carried a massive claymore on his back. His carried a giant cracked helmet with horns on it that made him seem like a demon.
The black knight looked at the six feet tall dragonoid in all his dragonic might. However, when Goliath went even closer, he found himself looking up at the giant of a man.
“What art thou doing here, Fafnir? Why art thou destroying my forest?”
“Oh, little Goliath. It’s been a while now. What? A century or two?”
He put his hand on Goliath’s shoulder as he talked in a more calming tone. Goliath’s eyes fell down on to the corpse and he squeezed his face.
“Kuro…”
He found himself muttering.
“What? This thing got a name? I assumed it was no better than the rest of the riff-raff here. Anyway, now that you’re here, I need to take your head.”
Fafnir kicked Kuro’s corpse some distance away and squeezed Goliath’s shoulder. The tyrant’s shoulder was starting to crack under the pressure.
“W-What does thou want mine head for?”
“***-“
Goliath put his hand over Fafnir’s mouth, cutting him off before he could finish the sentence. His ears were bleeding out and he fell on his knees.
“Y-You know you can’t mention a Primordial’s true name.”
“Oh… yes. It must have escaped my mind.”
Fafnir brought down his blade at lightning speed, breaking up the ground beneath him, spreading tremors throughout the west and kicking up a cloud of dust. With a wave of his hand, the dust was cleared and he was facing Goliath who floated in the air with his wings wide spread.
“You have grown quicker, little one.”
“Stronger too!”
Goliath opened his mouth and his head became as large as it normally was in his dragon form, letting loose a beam of spiraling orange flames at the god. The heat was so intense it sent a devastating heat wave throughout a 200m radius that might have killed anyone in range.
“The breath could use some work. Like I told you earlier. The trick to it is the amount of air you take in.”
Just as he said this, Fafnir released his own white breath from within Goliath’s attack, completely overwhelming the other and forcing him to fly out of the way. The pillar of white flames shot out into the sky, clearing a pile of clouds and creating a clearing in the sky.
With a wave of his hand, Goliath shot of lightning bolts which Fafnir easily deflected with his sword.
“Lightning bolts? Seriously?”
Goliath growled at Fafnir’s taunting.
“Kneel, Fafnir.”
He used [Overlord] to try to slow the god down even though he knew there was no point to it.
“Really? [Overlord]? You know that shrimp Larm could never affect me or any Greater god for that matter. I doubt the lesser gods would be so weak to even be controlled by something like this.”
While Fafnir chided Goliath for what seemed to be an ignorant move, Goliath was overlooking the residents in the forest. Minerva was currently organizing them to move into the Forbidden Dungeons. This was one of the reasons no one was allowed to go into the Forbidden Dungeons. Aside from the fact that the monsters inside were so strong the average resident wouldn’t be able to win, the Dungeons were made by Kaleb Zen so that in the case of an emergency this strong, the residents would be moved into the dungeons to hide. This would buy them time to come up with a plan, as well as resources to execute whatever plan they had. The monsters in the dungeon would move out to fight the threat then.
However, that stupid chicken had come to make a mess of things. Goliath had overlooked her wanting to enter the dungeons as her simply having a death wish, but since she cleared it, the dungeon had been reset. It was not nearly as sturdy as it used to be and all the monsters were dead. All he could now was hope that the residents wouldn’t die, since even if they were annoying, his dearest Mother Larm still saw them all as her beautiful possessions.
He knew Fafnir. In fact, Fafnir was the one to deliver Goliath as a baby to Larm. At the time, Goliath was too young to understand, but he could remember when he was older. The time Fafnir delivered him to Larm, there was a sort of war going on in the Dragon World. Goliath still wasn’t aware of the details, but he was sure his birth mother was dead. That didn’t really affect him since he viewed Larm as his mother.
Sometimes Fafnir would take a break from his “godly responsibilities” by having fun with Larm as a child. He thought Larm most of the things he knew and at a point, Larm viewed Fafnir as a father figure. But Fafnir did the impossible. Fafnir dared to burn his mother’s precious forest to the ground. He wouldn’t allow this from anyone. Absolutely no one.
“Thou hath chosen death, it seems.”
He growled as his body transformed. His back arched up and his arms bloated. His tail elongated as did his eyes, ears and mouth. Soon, flapping his wings mightily in the sky was a 50m long azure blue dragon with golden eyes that burned pure with rage.
He let out a horrendous roar that sent shockwaves in the near distance.
“Do not make this any harder than it has to be, Goliath.”
Fafnir dropped his sword on the ground and cracked his knuckles. He didn’t want to do this, but Goliath’s dragon roar was a signal. Goliath himself hadn’t noticed this since he hadn’t really been around other dragons of his kind, but the specific pitch he used was a soul binding one in which both were forced to duel to the death. Any who forfeits or cheats is immediately killed. A skill called the [Fated Duel].
Goliath dropped down on the ground and towered over Fafnir’s body. With a wicked grin on his face, Fafnir threw a punch at Goliath. The ground rose up, as if to protect the Tyrant, completely neutralizing Fafnir’s attack.
There was a powerful gust of wind that blew, causing whirlwinds to form. These whirlwinds continued till they formed hurricanes. Storm clouds gathered in the sky and thunder boomed. Blue lightning flashed and hit the tornadoes.
Goliath was currently using his [Draconic Storm Magic] to cast a devastating storm which he hoped would slow down Fafnir. He sensed that something was wrong. The dragon god didn’t possess nearly as much power as he once wielded and for some reason, he hadn’t appeared in his true form. The dragon god was one who always boasted about his magnificence and comradery. Yet here he was, in appalling armor and trying to kill his friend.
‘Could Fafnir have been afflicted by something? Tch, whatever it may be, it matters not.’
He thought as he willed the tornadoes to swarm the god. He was not aware of Fafnir’s situation, but for the moment he couldn’t care less.
The three tornadoes collided with one another and formed and even bigger tornado which swallowed Fafnir whole. With a stomp of his feet, the earth shook mightily and opened up. Vines appeared from underneath and formed a large dome over the tornado.
Goliath opened his maw once again and begun to suck in large sums of air. His chest bloated out and he found himself standing on his two legs. Incapable of supporting his stance, his wings flapped, carrying him into the air just above the dome, where he released the powerful breath of bright orange flames. He poured out non-stop till molting magma came drooling out as saliva.
Once he was done, he dropped on the ground and looked at the dome. It had whittled down into nothing but charcoal and the hurricane had dissipated from within.
For a split second, Goliath believed that his opponent had actually been taken down, but his [Extreme Aura Sense] picked up on a tiny bit of aura on the crash site. He scanned through the pile of ashes with his [Dragon Eyes] and noticed that Fafnir was in the pile. He assumed he had weakened Fafnir till he was incapable of moving.
Normally an illogical thought, but in his rage, he wasn’t thinking straight. He had taken into account that Fafnir was weaker than before and assumed that put them on par. His near infinite pride as well wouldn’t allow him to accept that he failed to beat Fafnir.
Still, if he thought about it logically, he would have realized that Fafnir was not injured in the slightest. Only sitting down. If it were some other creatures, they would have used this as an opportunity to run away. The mighty dragon however did not even consider this option.
Once again, he fired a pillar of flames at where he sensed Fafnir’s aura. He kept firing till he felt it was enough and had ended up digging a crater deep into the ground.
“Goliath!”
Minerva’s voice came. The Sleeping Emperor turned his head to face her. She was approaching him at a high speed and was still some distance away.
“Rest easy Minerva. Mine great self hath fini-“
BOOM!
He felt an unbelievable pushing force on the side of his face. It was numbing and sent blood rushing to his brain. Struggling to remain standing, his eyes trailed to the source and there, he found Fafnir flapping dark, dirty dragon wings with holes in them, and a fist to his face.
‘Fafnir?!’
THUD!
The Goliath, First Tyrant of Larm, The Sleeping Emperor, was on the ground in seconds and on the verge of slumber.
