I, Draugr Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Aurelia gulps as her shaking hand grasps the handle of her blade, her throat and mouth feeling dry and parched from the raw heat pouring off the beast standing before her.

The red dragon cut an imposing figure, and its presence just screamed pure power.

This Dragon before her was far stronger than the one Leonidas all but bullied out of the sky. She could feel it on her skin and in her bones, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end- And not due to the cold.

"What say you, my Kin?" The Dragon rumbles. Calm and collected, not prideful and cocky, unlike the first one she felled.

She highly doubted that one would even bother giving her a challenge, or the time to think about an answer.

"If I say no, you'd leave?" She wanted to fight, but she did not feel confident in her victory. Not by herself.

But with Leonidas by her side, she felt confident.

The fiery Dragon rumbles out a soft "Perhaps." before lifting his large head to stare up towards the circling Dragon above, "But that one might not agree." So they weren't together?

"I did not wish to challenge you just yet, mine Kin… But once I took notice of him, I decided not to be patient." His wings unfold, stretching many meters to his side and blasting a wave of heat against her face, further clearing away more snow around them like it was nothing.

Getting to fight her had now become a competition of who is first, huh?

"I shall keep the other Dragon company then." Leonidas suddenly speaks up, and her stomach all but drops as her eyes widen.

The fiery Dragon lowers his head to look at the hidden Undead for a few calm seconds before he tilts his large draconic head to the side, "You do not wish to fight alongside her? You helped fell one of my brethren, no?"

Leonidas shrugs and turns to walk away, "I can't always be by her side. Plus, I have faith in her." Her cheeks flush at his words, her chest soaring and her stance relaxing at the clear faith in her.

The Undead being beside her had quickly become someone she could trust and rely on easily, the little bits of immense knowledge he seems to hold being something she has a lot of respect and fascination for.

So if he thinks she can handle this… She shall trust him.

Her greatsword is drawn with a sharp sound, drawing the Dragon's gaze back to her as she breathes out.

For some reason, he seemed pleased but whatever he sees, "That is the right way to be, mine Kin." The beast rumbles as he straightens himself, "Bare thine fangs, sharpen thy claws, and be willing to fight to the Death! Just like a Dragon!"

"I am not a Dragon…" She breathes out as she brandishes her consecrated blade.

Her words bring a heavy, rumbling chuckle out of the fiery Dragon before her, "But you have the Soul of one." He points out lightly, "Does thy mortal form define thee, or does the Soul?"

She is not going to have an existential crisis because of a damn Dragon of all things.

"Are all of you Dragons so chatty?" She asks, and the Dragon before her chuckles, seemingly not offended-

"Get yo' bitch ass down here!" A shout, followed by an ear-piercing whistle, cuts through their talk as a blinding projectile pierces through the tree cover, booming past the sound-barrier and rising up with the power of a falling meteor.

The circling Dragon high in the air tries to dodge the blinding projectile, but all it manages to do was get struck in the side instead of the chest.

So with a deafening explosion and loud, pained roar, broken scales, torn flesh and blood rained down together with the Dragon's falling form.

Leave it to that guy to turn a children's Spell into a Dragon Slaying monstrosity.

"Seems like the fun has started already." Yolosqah rumbles out before baring his gleaming fangs at her. "Ready yourself, mine Kin!" And with that, the beast rears his large head back and draws in a deep breath.

If his presence radiated pure heat before, then now the massive Dragon had become a roaring inferno that set fire to the surrounding trees with laughable ease.

His jaws open, a searing light spills through the snowy forest, and then the volcano within his lungs flows forth as a white-hot beam with the power to glass an entire village.

'No time to dodge.' Aurelia grunts, then jabs her greatsword into the ground before her and breathes out and closes her eyes.

Her Magicka reserves, once pathetically small, now felt like an enormous lake. And she called upon that lake, and let it flow through her body and towards her hands.

With a shudder of Holy Light, an enormous Ward erects itself before her, looking like a thin glass surface that could break from a weak gust of wind.

Yet, the beam of pure heat rams into it with the force of a rampaging bull, and the Ward holds fast and steady.

The flames part around her like she was a stalwart and unbreakable pillar, her long hair fluttering through the rushing heated wind as her narrowed eyes behold the blinding sight before her.

Her Magicka stirs once more, filling her body with strength, "Bless." She chants through gritted teeth, feeling the Spell take hold and reinforce her in a way it never could in the past due to her lacking reserves.

But now? Now she felt she could take this Dragon on with her bare hands.

Her body pulsed with strength, and her lungs soon filled themselves with air. Her hands instantly grasp the handle of her blade, and her lips part open, "Fus-!" Her Ward collapses forward, and the concentrated blast of pure force blows right through the infernal beam.

The ground below her feet cracks as she takes off like a speeding horse high on adrenaline, watching as the blast of force rams into the Dragon's head and forces his breath to come to a stop.

And taking that chance, she draws close to his exposed golden belly and cleaves her blade through the air with a monstrous amount of strength.

Scales and flesh alike part with ease as a large and bloody gash is carved from chest to arm, causing the Dragon to stagger and release a pained grunt.

Yet a chuckle soon rumbles out from the beast, "Well done, Dovahkiin!" He roars out proudly, injured arm rending through the ground and swiping at her, sending scorched debris and dust flying everywhere.

Rubble pings off her armor as she spins out of the way, then brings her blade down with all her might to cut off one of his fingers.

The large scaled and clawed limb-sized part falls to the ground as Yolosqah roars in pain and stumbles back, but swiftly regains his focus and rams his front claws into the ground before spinning around.

Aurelia's eyes widen when an enormous tail comes at her like a whip, carrying with it countless embers and heated air.

Another Ward rumbles to life as she brings her sword's flat side up to protect her side from the incoming blow.

The tails rams into her Ward with the force of a carriage going downhill, shattering the Spell but being stopped by it in turn, yet the left-over force from the blow still makes Aurelia stagger back a few steps.

A rumble goes through the forest, spires of sharp ice-spikes piercing through the canopy of the high trees and high into the skies, blood stains clear upon the clear ice crystals.

She truly pitied the Dragon that was fighting against Leonidas right now.

A turbid breath of air leaves her lips before she breathes in as the Dragon turns towards her once more. She needs to invest some money and time to learn offensive Spells that can help her against Dragons, all the others are only good for the Undead…

But she does have a good new weapon now! "TIID-!" Her Shout barely ends before Time itself slows to a crawl.

The Dragon's movement are slower than a snail, the falling snowflakes melting before her are melting before her very eyes.

Everything is slow, as if submerged in dense waters that restrict movement.

Yet, hers is not restricted one bit.

The ground cracks below her feet, her movement speed still as fast as before, and her blade cleaves through the air, parting flesh and scales alike once more.

Then again, and again, and again again again- Such injuries were superficial upon the large bodies of a Dragon… But not so much if they stack up.

So she carved the Dragon's side full of large, human sized bloody gashes, her arms numb yet already recovering from the Galvanize Spell enchanted into her armor.

Seconds later, Time resumes it's usual pace, and dozens of wounds explode with blood, dying the scorched ground red and forcing a howl of pain from Yolosqah.

Aurelia's throat aches and her chest throbs painfully, clearly a drawback from having used quite a few Shouts in such a short span of time.

She highly doubted a Healing Spell could help, as this felt close to Magickal Exhaustion symptoms.

The sound of a sharp intake of hair makes her hair stand on end, and another massive Ward sparks to life before her just as her surrounding are doused in intense and roaring flames.

Her eyes narrow from the intense light, then widen when a set of massive jaws comes into view and bites down on her Ward while still spewing out intense flames.

A grunt escapes her as she forced more Magicka into her Ward, forcing it to repair itself despite the spreading cracks from the slowly closing jaws.

So she draws her blade, then pounces forward and stabs it upward, clear through the lower jaw of the Dragon and piercing the inner flesh of his upper jaw while slamming the flame-spewing mouth shut.

With a grunt and growl, Yolosqah draws his head upward before an enormous claw rams against Aurelia's side, sending her and her sword flying across the clearing.

A pained grunt leaves her lips, her ribs and arms feeling like they cracked from the impact, yet she swiftly stands once her rolling body comes to a stop.

And her eyes narrow when Yolosqah spreads his large wings to take flight, something that will mark her loss if it happens.

A glittering orb of light forms in her right gauntlet-clad hand, then she chucks it towards the Dragon as she rushes towards her discarded blade.

A blinding light erupts, blinding the Dragon and forcing a startled yelp out of the beast, one that makes him lose his flight and smash down on the ground below, kicking up soot and dust.

Her hand grasps her discarded blade, and her lips part, "TIID-!" And Time once more slows to a crawl as she rushes forward as fast as she possibly could before jumping high in the hair, and putting all her weight behind her blade.

Then falling with it and plunging it deep within the Dragon's throat, all the way to the hilt.

A grunt leaves her lips as she tries to draw her blade out, but she finds it lodged within the thick flesh and scales once a few inches of the bloodied blade come out.

So, with a grunt, she brings her fist up and smashes the blade with her enhanced strength before whirling around and jabbing the broken weapon in the Dragon's blinded eye.

Releasing the hilt, her hand flies to the spikes above the Dragon's head, gripping them in a fierce grip as she uses them as leverage to draw her whole left arm back.

Before punching her fist against the pommel of her broken blade, and plunging the whole weapon straight in the Dragon's eye and skull.

She could feel Time slowly start to move once more, yet she felt like this wouldn't be enough to assure her victory, especially now that her weapon is broken.

So she slams her boot on the lower jaw of the Dragon, and heaves out a breath as she lifts up the upper one before breathing in and staring down the throat of the beast, then- "FUS-!" -releasing a Shout straight towards it.

The air warps around her mouth, her throat burning and her chest aching even more than before, yet she wasn't done.

"FUS-!" Another Shout, the warped air twisting even further, the slug like movement slowly growing faster and faster-

"FUS-!" And then Time starts flowing once more, and Yolosqah does not even have a second to roar in pain before his throat swells, and swells, and swells-

Until it explodes in a gory rain of blood, scales, flesh and bones.

Aurelia steps back with pained, bloodied coughs as she tosses the severed, lifeless head to the side, uncaring of how brutally she killed the Dragon that had the honor of challenging her directly instead of being vile like Mirmulnir.

"Sorry…" She rasps out in a rough voice, "But I can't afford to be fair against you guys…" She sighs softly and leans back as a pulse roars out of the corpse, flesh and organs alike turning into bright flaming wisps of energy that flowed into her body and filled with unimaginable strength.

"Toor… Inferno…" A new word, which explained Yolosqah insanely terrifying flames that put Mirmulnir's to shame.

And that's when she remembers about the second Dragon, making her eyes widen in worry, "Leo…" She could hear no sound of fighting, but she could still see the enormous spires of ice stabbing towards the sky not far from where she is right now.

Grunting softly, she swiftly sets out in a run despite how her lungs, throat and chest ached painfully after using so many Shouts back to back, yet she ignored the pain and kept on running as fast as she could.

Until finally, a minute later, she reached a destroyed clearing at the base of the ice spires.

A pulse goes through the clearing as the Dragon impaled upon them starts disintegrating and flowing towards her, yet she barely felt an increase in strength nor did she care as she gaped at the view before her.

It felt like she absorbed an empty husk.

"Hm?" Leonidas perks up from his seat on a broken cube of ice, his staff resting against his side and his gaze moving away from the impaled Dragon, immense spires of ice stabbing through his skull, chest and wings.

While the clearing looked messed up… It barely looked like there was a fight.

Leonidas destroyed the Dragon with ease.

"There's my girl!" He calls out jovially, jumping to his feet and twirling his stuff with a cheery hum. "I must say, that guy was truly horrid company. Especially after I had a Flaming Familia crawl up his ass and explode. He got rather… vocal, after that." Leonidas clicks his tongue and shakes his head with a sigh, as if disappointed in the manner of the Dragon he just fought and did unspeakable things to.

Aurelia gulps and takes the sight in once more.

Her friend, standing happily before the impaled corpse of a Dragon he confidently challenged without care.

For some reason, she finds herself flushing softly.

Why is this sexy?!

A.N. Leonidas will be known and feared as the 'Ass-Destroyer' by the Dragons at this rate, I swear to God.

First an arm up the ass, then a flaming suicidal explosive wolf. What's next? Care to take a guess?

Either way, hope y'all enjoyed the chappy!