Snippet #1601469

The Dragon watched for a moment, amused as the legion's front lines were wavering and exhausted. Kisikoni was at the front, bloodied and battered along with everyone else. His blades hung at his side, his arms dangling and limp. Now that the adrenaline was lowering, he could feel some glass shards digging into several parts of his body from his earlier crash through the window. The Live Armor was working slowly, pushing them out centimeter by centimeter. The Dragon didn't really need to say anything, though it was surprised at the tenacity of the front lines and interested in the strange power that possessed the Deep Human in front of him.

It roared, stomping forward. The pikemen held their ground, but at this pace the dragon could simply stomp past them. Kisikoni rushed forward, diving under a swipe of the Dragon's claw and throwing the blades up to stab through the Dragon. However thick the scales were, the Butterfly swords were heavy and sharp. With some weight, not even the plate mails of the late-dwarven masters could withstand repeated blows. The dragon was on all fours, so it reared up as Kisikoni rolled to his feet. He jumped back but a powerful slash ripped Kisikoni's swords from his hands, breaking several fingers and his left wrist. Crying out, he slammed his palm into the Live Armor. The armor reacted, but there wasn't enough energy to quickly heal his hands. The blades glinted once, and landed inside a building. Unconsciously, he made a note to return there and reclaim his weapons- otherwise he'd have to use his fists or that power.

During all this, he had stumbled back as the archers continued to pepper the Dragon with arrows. It did little more than annoy it with ugly flesh wounds, and the archers were only able to continue their rain of pointed shafts because they were plucking them from their dead comrades and enemies.

Looks like you don't have your little daggers anymore. It thought snidely.

"Look! I don't need your shitty humor!" Kisikoni snarled, and the nearest legionnaire looked at him oddly. The dragon heard as well, and snorted.

"You can read my thoughts, underdweller?" It scoffed.

"No! Uh, I..." Kisikoni said, before trailing off. The Dragon cocked it's head, and without pausing, it's neck snapped out and the dragon had Kisikoni between it's teeth. However terrible it looked to his fellow Legionnaires, they knew an opportunity when they saw it and took the chance to throw everything they could at the lizard. Mace slammed into it's scales, causing awful discolorations and slowing the dragon's movements. Halberds and spears jabbed in an out, lacing the beast with many puncture wounds. Arrows turned the dragon into one gigantic pincushion. A single Golem, Kisikoni's Golem had finally arrived, crashing out of an alley behind the Dragon and jumping onto it's wings, where it managed to get a good grip and tear the leathery wing membrane. The dragon screeched between it's teeth, with Kisikoni flopping like a ragdoll in it's mouth. However, something was wrong with the Dragon. It seemed to have trouble dealing with the Deep Human, not the golem or the nuisance of Legionnaires. The piercing wounds dealt by the Dragon's razor sharp teeth were only digging in an inch, and sticking fast.

"You have a disgusting taste, Deep Human! You might as well be a rotting oxen!" It snarled, slightly muffled by the inability to open it's mouth. Kisikoni's face was twisted in pain, as his broken hands flopped about trying to get the dragon off. He was unaware that the Dragon simply couldn't.

It's my turn, vessel. You need the help and you can't deny it. The being intoned. Kisikoni tried to ward off the voice, but deep down, he knew that it was right. And it heard that small voice.

Don't worry, scum. I need your body alive, so I'm not going to leave you dead. It snapped, and at that moment, the Dragon's eyes glazed as if it had suddenly been drugged. The Legionnaires didn't notice, but as they slowly stopped their attacks, they found that the thirty-foot dragon had frozen in place, it's pupils dilated erratically, as if something foreign had afflicted the being.[/i]

"Release yourself from me, human scum!" The dragon roared, and with a massive effort, ripped it's mouth free from Kisikoni's body. Several teeth left the dragon's mouth, and Kisikoni fell twenty feet to the ground, However, to their amazement the deep human staggered to his feet, his arms armed with black claw-like growths. Kisikoni looked at them as if he should have been surprised, then swore and charged the Dragon as it snarled at his golem. The Dragon turned it's head just as Kisikoni jumped at it, digging his long claws into it's skin.

"You are tainted, Deep human!" It screeched, flinching at the wounds in obvious pain. Withdrawing the claws, he dropped out of the way as two muscled arms slashed at where he once had been. Kisikoni was coughing in exertion now, blood welling in his mouth even as he spat some of it out. How long had it been since they first started engaging the dragon? Sure, it was full of arrows, wounded in so many places it looked ridiculous, and had one of it's wings torn so badly it couldn't fly. But it still was thrashing, tearing at the Legionnaires with eyes full of vigor and hate. It swiped, and instinctively Kisikoni brought his blackened hands up. The hand hit the claws, but didn't crush them. However, Kisikoni's stance was poor for absorbing such force and he was sent flying across the street into the wall. His vision flashed once, and dimmed dangerously.

After for an indeterminable amount of time, Kisikon grimly pushed himself up from the wall. His eyes, as strong as they were in the darkness had trouble adjusting due to his fatigue. He saw that the Dragon and the Legionnaires were at a standstill, due mostly to the fact that Kisikoni's golem was assisting them and the Dragon had been dusted over with wounds that added up. He was praying to his dead undergods that Talae and Pel and everybody else was okay. The black claws have retreated, and Kisikoni got up. He needed something. A weapon. Dragging himself over to the ruined shop, he scrabbled in the dirt and glass until he found the butterfly swords. The alchemic scroll he used to enhance them had given it protection, because there were no freaking dents or anything. Impressive, but Kisikoni was too tired to acknowledge it. He didn't even realize his fingers had popped back into place. He just grabbed the swords, and felt an innate strength surge through them. Looking at them again, a thin writhing black outline had traced the edge of the blade. It produced a strange hissing sound. He didn't really question it, as he walked back out the shop, tripping over some rubble before getting up and facing the dragon. Once again, it's back was turned to Kisikoni.

Kisikoni understood why, he had thought himself dead too. But it was still a mistake, hopefully fatal. With the last of his strength, he forced himself to focus and go through with one last surprise attack. He relayed a simple command to his Golem. Keep it busy.

The Golem complied, immediately rushing and grabbing the dragon. Kisikoni rushed, calling whatever resided in his head or gut or whatever to his legs. Some of the patched wounds reopened, but not all as Kisikoni sailed through the air with both blades aimed down for the Dragon's head.