Dragon 3 Chapter 28 (Patreon)

“I am justice. Whatever I declare is right is just. Perks of being the archon of justice.” The archangel sneered. “I don’t need some two-bit dragon that just ate the last silver dragon telling me about right and wrong.”

I growled, angry at him for spinning the truth. “You made sure he was alive only in name. What you did to him was disgusting.”

Raguel shrugged. “He was a useful tool. I’m truly sad to see him gone.”

Everything about the archangel, from his tone to his eyes, was icy cold. I shuddered.

The concept of angels I’d had growing up was dead wrong. They were cold, calculating beings that had likely lived too long perched up in the celestial plane.

Anything that I’d describe as humanity and empathy was gone from the being in front of me.

“What about this one? How is this tool working? Wasn’t even able to stop me.” I motioned to Helena.

Raguel’s appearance had put a wrinkle in our plan, but we still had more we needed to do. The best thing I could do was keep him from personally acting for as long as I could.

And if I could drive a small wedge between him and Helena, I’d do it.

He looked at the nephilim with disdain. “She’s not bad for a halfbreed. Certainly has her uses, in the mortal realm at least.”

Helena’s face darkened, but she looked away from him to hide it.

Raguel smirked, and I wondered if he thought she was blushing. He was cocky enough to think that.

I knew better. Helena’s jaw was clenched in anger. If I saw somebody look that way at a bar, I’d expect a jaw crushing punch to be coming next.

I waited, seeing if she’d attack him, but she didn’t. She cooled off and turned back.

Raguel looked down below, sighing. “I have some justice to serve to some very naughty elves. Helena, don’t let the dragon get away; he’ll make a wonderful mount, even if he is a gaudy gold. One day, he might even be big enough to displace your mother.” Raguel disappeared, only to reappear amid the Highaen forces and carve a swath through them.

Still holding Helena’s spear, I chased after him, trying to catch up.

Helena’s body appeared in my way as she made a barrier of light to stop me. “I have my orders.”

I laughed, confusion spreading across her face.

“Helena, I don’t want to fight you. Don’t you understand you’re just a tool? You’re just like the silver dragon to him. It’s just worse because you are willingly following his orders. If you didn’t, what do you think he’d do? Accept it or put you in chains.” I waited for her to think about that.

Even if I couldn’t physically hurt her, I wondered if I could make her hesitate enough to get around her.

Once again, she shook her head, muttering, “Shut up.” Then a white wall of magic flew towards me.

I twirled her spear and slammed the blade into the wall of magic, curious about what would happen.

It exploded in a shower of sparkles.

“This is pretty nice. Maybe I’ll keep it.” I hefted the spear and flew past Helena, who hovered angrily in the sky.

She didn’t make any movement towards me this time, though.

“You’ll never win.” She said without turning around. “You can’t defeat him, and there are six more. If you even killed one, another archangel will rise to take its place.”

I paused, but only for a moment. “What’s the point of living if you don’t go after what is right? Those people down there he’s going to slaughter? They deserve to live. Tyrande deserves freedom.” Done talking, I kept moving.

I found Raguel amid the Highaen forces, taking blasts of magic to his body without flinching. He was moving so quickly through their ranks that I wondered if he was teleporting.

The six wings on his back swayed discordantly. It was like they were feathered tentacles rather than wings.

I used my dragon sight on him, noticing as he repositioned himself that there was a small tether connecting him back to the portal to the celestial plane.

Throwing myself down on top of him, I hoped my new spear would be enough.

Raguel dodged my attack, staring at me in disappointment. “Did that useless thing let you go?” He looked up to see Helena slowly following after me. “I suppose we’ll have to retrain her.”

Even from a distance, I could see her flinch. I didn’t know what ‘retraining’ entailed, but I knew enough to know it likely had some sort of torturous brainwashing.

My instincts flared in my body, and I followed them, swinging the spear in front of me. There was a clang as it stopped a blade that hit it.

Raguel had used my moment of distraction to attack.

I was extra thankful to Morgana in that moment for training me to always be ready. It had just saved my life.

My jaw cracked open, spewing fire out around the spear.

Raguel disappeared, those six wings of his flowing behind him as he reappeared a hundred feet back.

I did a quick glance at the battle, my heart sinking.

Despite distracting Raguel, the four-winged angels were powerful and made their way through the ranks of the Highaen army.

They weren’t nearly as fast as Raguel, none the less their blades finding elven throats with every swing.

The odds were quickly shifting in the Church’s favor.

I spotted an alpha wolf as she jumped, catching one of the more powerful angels by surprise and bringing it down in a tussle. The Highaen collapsed on them, killing the angel swiftly.

If Kelly had joined the fight, that meant she and Morgana had finished their part. And if that was true, Morgana was out of the fight.

I clicked my tongue, spotting her tree through the wreckage of the circular building. We had one more part of the plan to execute, and that was up to me.

Breaking from my fight with Raguel, I flew away, up over Morgana’s tree. He followed me, and I could barely get the spear between us every time he attacked. His speed made it hard as he flitted around me, his blade stretching and shrinking with his attacks.

Flying up above him with a large flick of my wings, I readied my magic. “Evokus.”

This time, I didn’t focus the magic on coming out of my hand. I gathered it in my mouth.

For what was coming, I knew I’d need more emotion. I let my mind drift back to the Silver Slave’s body, carved up with runes, his eyes gouged out. I remembered how defeated he looked as they’d shuffled him out of the back of the shop, and the flicker of hope I’d brought.

My mind flit to Helena, brainwashed into following them, despite being nothing more than a pawn. I grew angry, deeply angry at their sick sense of justice and right. They were monsters, a threat to dragons, and I wouldn’t let them destroy all I loved.

Growing brighter, my emotions became a powerful fireball in my mouth, and I breathed out, releasing it down towards Raguel.

As I expected, he dodged it, shifting to the side with speed that I couldn’t hope to hit. But he hadn’t been the target.

My fireball continued down until it hit Morgana’s tree. It exploded, swallowing the tree, along with the portal to the celestial plane.

Raguel did a double take. “NO!” He screamed, ignoring me and disappearing into the fires of the explosion.

I calmly waited up above, knowing exactly what he’d find.

Helena hovered a small distance from me, but she wasn’t attacking. She seemed unsure, watching and waiting to see the result once the explosion cleared.

As the fire died down, the smoke began to waft away. I stared after it, keeping my senses open for any sign of attack.

An angry scream sounded within the smoke, and Raguel walked out from it, rage on his face.

The smoke continued to clear behind him, revealing an empty pit. The tree and the portal were gone.

Raguel turned his head slowly to face me. His wings were coated in a thin layer of char and still burning at the tips from his trip into the fire, but he didn’t seem to care. “What have you done?”

“I believe you were the one who dodged my attack.” I replied casually. “So, I’d say you were my partner in crime to destroying the portal to the celestial plane. Thanks for the help.”

He raged in silence before his blade sparked against my spear in a quick attack. I used his force to rebound and glide down to the ground.

As much as I was enjoying flying, I knew I didn’t stand a chance against an archangel. I waited on the ground for him to join.

He descended, hovering just above as Helena landed near us.

“Is the portal really gone?” She stared into the space where it had been.

“It is. I can’t feel it.” Raguel confirmed.

“Give me my spear.” Helena turned to me, holding out her hand. I could tell she was angry, and I had no reason to trust her, but something told me that she needed to see this through.

Tossing the spear to her, she caught it, whirling the weapon and pointing it at Raguel.

“I am not your tool anymore. There will be no one to replace you if you die.” Her voice shook with rage, but her arm holding the spear quivered slightly. She’d been trained to fear him, but she was trying to fight it.

I smiled, still not sure quite what prompted the final shift, but it seemed to be tied to the portal. Whatever sat on the other side seemed to have been enough to keep her from toeing the line.

Raguel narrowed his eyes on Helena. “Careful, you might poke your eye out with that thing. Even if the portal is gone, another will be made eventually.”

“I would rather live free for a few hundred years than be your tool for eternity.” She spat the word like a nasty bit of bile that had rested in her throat for too long.

Hearing shouts, I noticed the four winged angels still had an edge on the elves, even with Kelly’s help.

I took off as Helena and Raguel clashed.

Glancing as I flew away, I watched Raguel take Helena by surprise, but her silver armor held up. And her spear was holding off his blade, but she was fighting recklessly.

She wasn’t fighting to live; she was fighting to kill Raguel, regardless of the cost.

I wanted to help her, but I couldn’t do that and help the Highaen and Kelly.

Making the choice, I headed towards the battle, shifting into a dragon as I moved.

I swooped low over the templar forces, blowing out flames and melting through an entire swath.

As I expected, the angels around took note.

They swarmed up to me as I pulled out of the dive. Like a hungry swarm of mosquitoes, the angels flew to me, trying to grab me and smother me until I went down. They stabbed into me, using their blades to weaken me as they climbed on me like insects.

I did my best to shake them off, my claws and teeth finding a few unlucky angels, but there were too many of them. And they were dodging my attempts.

While I wasn’t loving the new wounds in my side, I was glad they hadn’t gone for my wings. I doubted it hadn’t occurred to them; they must have had orders to take me alive. They clearly hadn’t noticed their portal was gone.

“Zach.” Yev roared, joining me in the sky.

“Yev, hit me with all you’ve got.” I told her, praying that it would work. The cuts hadn’t done any meaningful damage yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“I—” She hesitated for a moment before she puffed acrid smoke from her nostrils and breathed deep. Then she hit me with her green fire.

With the time I’d spent looking into my own dragon situation, I’d learned about the five breeds of chromatic dragons. Copper dragons should have the same breath as her and be resistant to her corrosive breath.

I waited, gambling on a hunch I’d started having. Copper should be resistant to that corrosive breath of hers. Now I just had to see if I could be copper as well as gold and silver.

Her breath hit me and stung for just a moment before all the pain went away. The few living angels on me scattered, most of them turning into bubbly goo and melting away into the green mist that her breath left behind.

Yev was staring at me, her eyes wide. I lifted up my claw.

I had been expecting them to look copper, but instead, my scales were a deep emerald green. I was a few shades darker than Yev.

As I flew out of the green cloud, they rippled and turned gold again. I smiled, pleased with myself.

“W-what was that?” Yev stammered.

“Later. Help me with the remaining angels.” Although I wasn’t sure I could explain what had just happened. I had a little information, but it wasn’t nearly enough to understand my own situation.

Soaring through the sky as the angels ran, I finally felt like an apex predator. My dragon preened inside of me, happy to finally be in its rightful place.

The angels were quick, but with my increase in size, I was much faster.

I swooped over a cluster of angels, catching one of the four wing bastards in my teeth, shaking him and swallowing the mana rich creature down my throat.

Others came at me in small numbers, trying to fight, but every time they did so, Yev was there. She’d blast me with her corrosive fire and scatter them.

Swarming seemed to be their only technique, and we had stopped it.

The angels were delicious.

I had to work to maintain control as my beast delighted in the chase. But my time flying in the Sentarshaden tree had taught me the need to control some of those primal instincts.

Yev was quiet, flying behind me, supporting me with blasts of green fire when I needed it.

We worked as partners, clearing them from the area.

Eventually, there were no more angels in sight. They’d all either fled or died.

I turned, looking at Yev and giving her a nod of thanks for her support.

I hadn’t realized until that moment how much more powerful dragons were in groups. If they were resistant to each other, they could easily take down foes.

With the angels taken care of, the battle between the Highaen and the Church was coming to a close. The Highaen had the templar forces entirely circled and were slowly tightening their ranks as they cut them down.

Over in the pit where Morgana’s tree had once been, Helena and Raguel fought viciously.

I swooped low over their fight, landing on the edge of the pit as they backed off, cautious at my presence.

Yev had stayed behind, sweeping over the remaining templar forces and making sure the Highaen came out victorious.

Shifting back to my dragon knight form, I moved in, my mouth watering at the idea of eating an archangel. If they were anything like the angels, they’d be delicious.

I licked my lips subconsciously.

“Excuse me.” An elf ran to my side. “I was told to give you this by one of your mates.” He held out the silver sword that I had taken from Jared.

I took it with a huge grin on my face. Jadelyn had my spatial artifact, but Scarlett was the one with this sort of humor.

Later, I’d do something nice for her, because it truly rang of justice to kill Raguel with this.

The sword burst into a bright white blaze as I held it, making the air around me blur. “Your sword has taken a liking to me.”

Raguel’s brown pressed down in confusion, seeing me hold one of his swords. “That’s not possible.”

Pointing it at him, I proved it was not only possible, but happening before his very eyes. “I don’t see why I can’t both be a monster and serve true justice.”

I paused, keeping my eyes on Raguel as I asked, “Helena, are you with me?”

She tossed her head, her short white hair of hers in disarray. She winced slightly, and I realized for the first time that her arm was bleeding. “If you truly are more attuned to justice than him, prove it and kill him. I’m on your side until he is dead, then I hope to never see you again.”

Her arrogant tone rankled the beast, but I was fine to have an ally for the battle.

I could use backup, and Morgana would be out of commission, Scarlett busy protecting Jadelyn and Kelly with the Highaen.

It was up to Helena and I to deal with the archangel.

“Both of you together? Good. Anything else would be below me.” Raguel put one arm behind his back and held his sword with a single hand. “Come.”

I charged, the sword leaving a wake of white fire behind my attack.

As we clashed, it was like hitting a brick wall. He casually blocked my sword, parrying it off to the side and into Helena’s spear in a single swift stroke.

Then he kicked where our two weapons met, forcing both of us back.

“Stay out of my way.” Helena hissed, twirling her spear and charging back in at Raguel.

The archangel blocked each of her attacks, warping the space between their weapons constantly. It almost looked like her spear was magnetically attracted to his sword. I studied his movements.

He was using magic, much like Morgana did, but he wasn’t doing it as well.

His arrogance made him do big, bold magic, not using it efficiently like she would in a fight.

Curious, I decided to try a bit of magic of my own. “Evokus.” I raised a hand, red and blue magic swirling in my hand. Pointing it, I launched it from my palm.

Raguel turned, parrying my magic with his sword, which was for show as he shifted it using his own magic. My fireball shifted around him to the side, but he hadn’t been expecting the power in the explosion that came right after.

The smug look on his face was wiped away as he and Helena were blasted into the air.

I took the opportunity, lunging forward and using all my strength to leap. I only had a moment to skewer him before he’d recover.

Seeing me coming, he shifted midair with his wings, but he didn’t get entirely out of the way. My blade, one he had made and blessed, tore through his side.

Twisting, I slashed at him, but he’d regained his bearings. He maneuvered away, floating in the air beyond my reach. I couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t teleporting anymore now that the portal was gone.

Raguel touched his side and came away with a red, bloodstained hand. His face twisted into a rage before he calmed down dangerously quickly.

As he surveyed the area strategically, realizing that the templars and angels were gone. He was alone, surrounded by enemies.

“You all think you’ve won. But archangels aren’t known for their ability to destroy armies; they are known for being where you least want them.” He glanced over at the Highaen forces. “I wonder who’s protecting Sentarshaden, hmm?”

The sinister grin on his face was the last thing I saw before he shot backwards.

As he moved, Helena’s spear appeared right where he’d been, and I almost punched the ground in frustration at the miss.

But that was when I noticed that her spear was covered in blood, one of Raguel’s wings falling to the ground next to her.

A hundred yards away, Raguel fell, skidding on the ground and cursing up a storm.

My predator instincts kicked in and I shifted, leaping the hundred yards in a dragonwing powered leap.

Still clutching the silver sword, I pounced on him, shifting back and nailing one of his other wings to the ground.

“You sick bastard.” My fist caught his jaw and snapped his head sharply to the side before I grabbed the sword again and twisted it, destroying another of his wings.

Raguel yelled, hitting me hard enough to fling me off of him as his wings swept him up off the ground.

That was all the time it took for Helena to descend on him.

He backpedaled, blocking her spear with far more effort than he’d needed before. His magic was wearing out.

I smiled, wishing Morgana was there to see it. She would have loved that his arrogant use of magic was part of his downfall.

Now was no time to gloat. I got back on my feet and attacked him from the side.

His sword was blurring back and forth between Helena and me as he struggled to keep up. Two of his wings bled freely and the other four twitched painfully, slowing down his ability to move around.

Helena opened herself wide, and Raguel took the bait, plunging his sword into her shoulder. She wrapped her spear around his back, crushing his wings to him and holding them still. “Kill him!” She screamed.

Her words had no effect on my decision. My sword was already sinking in through his side and up through his chest.

I ripped my sword back out, taking another of his remaining wings with it. I avoided cutting through him to where I’d hit Helena. Despite my dislike for the nephilim, she was my ally at least for the time being.

Raguel sagged, his blood burning on the silver sword, staining it a darker color.

Blood bubbled up through his throat as Helena released him and stepped back, pulling his sword out of her shoulder.

His voice was garbled as he said, “It might take time, but the others will come, eventually. When that happens, you both will wish you were dead.” Raguel coughed several times, and I wasn’t about to let a good meal go to waste.

Shifting into a dragon, I devoured him, feeling my skin itch with fresh growth.

Archangels were delicious.

Helena wrinkled her nose at me, clutching her shoulder. She shook her head, staring at me for a moment before she took several steps backwards and flew away. I had a feeling there was a lot she needed to process.

“Should we go after her?” Yev stomped up behind me.

“No.” After fighting with her against Raguel, I wasn’t going to chase after her or even fight her. She may not be a friend, but at least she didn’t seem like an enemy any longer. And her enemies were now my enemies as well. We may need to fight side by side again one day.

“Let’s get cleaned up.” I turned, looking for my mates.