Luckily, the mass destruction going on allowed Cessilia to get away on all fours, while Jinn couldn’t see or smell her through the mess of crumbling stones and clouds of dust filling the air. Cessilia quickly found a spot under a table to hide briefly, and catch her breath while witnessing the havoc in the room. Half of the tower’s wall had been busted open, along with the roof above, leaving it exposed to the raging storm outside. In fact, Cessilia had been thrown against the edge of the half still standing, away from the only door and stairs out of there. Jisel was back on her feet, in the middle of the room, vociferating like a mad woman.

“Kill her! Kill her! She’s there!”

Cessilia grimaced, and rolled out of her hideout before the dragon wrecked it too. She jumped back on her feet, glad the armor had held. She was bruised and injured from the shock for sure, but thankfully, the armor fitted her perfectly and had done its job protecting her, for the most part. Cessilia raised her sword, glad she had only lost one of the two despite the sudden hit. Fighting a dragon was a lot different from fighting a woman, and she was going to need that dragon claw sword!

Jinn was as ruthless and reckless as any young dragon; furiously growling, it kept trying to bite or scratch her, not bothering with the fact that it was completely destroying the room and even throwing its own mistress off. Only when Jinn heard Jisel scream did the dragon look back at her, worried, before she shouted at it to attack again. Blocking its attacks was a whole new story from blocking Jisel’s. Cessilia had to wield her sword in a defense position so its fangs wouldn’t get to any or her limbs, and even a dragon’s claw couldn’t pierce a dragon’s skin so easily, but it was close every time. Jinn would try to pounce on her, throw her against the ground or a wall, and wreak havoc until something crumbled or collapsed and forced it to back off. Twice, Cessilia managed to slice the dragon’s snout, making it twice as enraged.

While she was able to keep the dragon from injuring her in some way, the same couldn’t be said for their battleground. The banquet hall was already in ruins, unrecognizable except for the entrance door, still miraculously standing. Almost all the walls had been blown out, the ceiling collapsed, the stones falling on them or to the sides, hitting the other parts of the castle or diving into the sea. Cessilia’s face was covered in sweat and rainwater, the dragon’s growl echoing with the thunderous storm around them. The ground was getting both unstable and slippery, threatening to collapse at any given moment. Suddenly, a stone slipping under her threw Cessilia completely off balance.

She fell to her side, allowing the dragon’s paw to completely sweep her out of the way. The sharp claws dug deep into her flesh, making Cessilia let out a scream of pain. She felt her whole body echo the horrible pain of her injury. Her flank was throbbing, the horrible feeling of foreign, painful darts stabbing her shoulder, flank, and stomach, piercing the pieces of her armor. Cessilia swung her sword blindly, and by chance, she hit something that made the dragon growl in fury. She was swept once again, her body sliding down the floor until she hit something, perhaps another piece of the fallen wall; the pain was still veiling everything in an intense red. She hadn’t realized her head was hurt too until a thin trail of blood ran down her temple and eyelashes. Her hand went immediately for the injury by instinct to try and stop the bleeding. The warm liquid quickly filled her hand.

“Ha! See? ...You’re still nothing without your dragon, Princess!”

Cessilia raised her head, and between her chestnut curls, she spotted Jisel, facing her next to her dragon, a triumphant smile on her lips.

“You’re still as weak as ever! You’ve lost the privileges of your blood! Your dragon wouldn’t even want to come back to such a weak mistress! You’re nothing but a...”

She stopped talking as Cessilia moved. The Princess was slowly getting back on her feet, despite the pain and blood running down her left side. Not only that, but the blood flow had calmed down a lot. Cessilia began taking off the damaged pieces of armor with her valid hand. The heavy pieces fell loudly on the floor, one by one, while Jisel watched in confusion. With no more armor to protect them, Cessilia’s injuries should have been exposed and yet, there was none of that. Instead, her body was shining. A thunderbolt struck from the sky above them, revealing the large, beautiful waves of scales that were appearing on her skin. The blood of her injuries was already drying out, and slowly replaced by the outgrowth of magnificent, silvery, diamond-shaped dragon scales on her skin. They had a beautiful magenta shine every time the light hit them, making them look even more vivid than her previous armor. Every single injury Cessilia had received was now getting covered by the growing scales, as if a second skin was growing on her in patches, like a predator’s markings. Her own skin could still be seen underneath in a strange contrast, but the new silvery scales were covering even a portion of her face. She didn’t look human anymore, but like a half-dragon creature, with glowing green eyes and a shimmery skin.

“No...” muttered Jisel, panicked, stepping back, her eyes wide open in horror. “What is this…? No. No, no, no, no, no! J-Jinn! Jinn, kill her! Kill her!”

“...You should have tried that sooner.”

Jinn growled furiously, and while its mistress ran to the back, the dragon arched its body, making itself bigger and showing its fangs, ready to face her again. This time, Cessilia was ready. Her injuries were still painful, but she could feel it. The Dragon Blood, hot and burning through her veins, rushing through her whole body and supplying her with the adrenaline she needed to resume the fight. She had never felt so strong before, so... like a dragon. She was ready. With a fierce look in her green eyes, she began running, lifted her sword, and jumped at the Red Dragon, blade first.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 27

“What the heck is going on up there?!”

Tessandra raised her eyes, trying to see through the dust, the rain, and the blinding lightning bolts that shook the already dark skies above. For a while now, they had been hearing a terrible ruckus continuously coming from the castle, and from what she could see, most of it was that annoying Red Dragon’s doing. The red silhouette could easily be spotted on the higher towers, climbing up them like an oversized snake, its growls regularly reaching them.

She grunted and swung her sword to get rid of a couple of soldiers that were coming at them. Back to back with Sabael, they were still acting like an unstoppable duo. Luckily, he was still in a good enough shape to keep fighting and defend his position without too much trouble.

“If my memory’s right, that stupid teenage dragon just blew open the banquet hall! ...At least we know where the King and Cessi are!” she shouted back to him.

“Will they be able to handle that?” asked Sabael behind her, still looking worried.

Tessandra scoffed, and got rid of the blood on her sword.

“This isn’t Cessi’s first time dealing with a dragon,” she said. “As long as she and the King stay together, it should be fine.”

“Wasn’t His Majesty injured?!”

“That’s what I said, she’ll cover his ass!”

Although she was hoping that was the case, they had no way of finding out how things were going in the castle; the entire way to the gates was blocked by countless fights. The streets were crowded with both citizens and Yekara fighters or mercenaries. It was easy to see which side each was on; while the Yekara and their allies were fighting with proper weapons and sharp skills, the townspeople were literally handling pitchforks, kitchen knives… actually, anything that could stab, cut, or knock out someone.

Tessandra avoided another swinging shovel when she moved to the streets, trying to find a spot where she could observe their surroundings more clearly. They had lost sight of the Cheshi allies, but they could see them appearing from time to time to help the citizens take out the Yekara. This was one of the messiest battlefields she had ever been on, but at the very least, she was almost sure they had the upper hand. Despite their lack of skill, the citizens that had gathered were just too big in numbers for the Yekara to properly fight. Every time they tried to face someone, three more citizens would come from behind to knock them out or hinder them in some way. Tessandra had even had her own one-on-one fights taken over this way, and now, she was just fine swinging her sword and trying to make her way out the best she could without injuring innocents. It also meant there weren’t any killings on either side, as the Yekara barely got to do any damage, and the citizens were more focused on defending themselves too. They were even somewhat serving the fighters to her, one by one, or to anyone with fighting skills, so either the Cheshi, the Royal Guards still on their side, or Tessandra herself would give the finishing blow. Still, this wouldn’t be enough. She had to know what was going on throughout the Capital.

With Sabael following tightly behind, she did her best to break away from the fights and climb up a roof to check out the situation. The fighting had mostly overtaken the handful of large places in the Capital that had the space for it; all the other streets were mostly deserted, except for people running from one place to another, or attempting to flee the surrounding chaos. She glanced toward the sea shore; Naptunie had lit the last fire a while ago, and there was nothing else to add. She could spot the dragons easily defending each one of their bridges, and happily getting rid of all the mercenaries and Yekara people trying to cross them; it looked like both dragons were having a lot of fun and absolutely no trouble at all. She wasn’t worried for Darsan either. He was probably having tons of fun on his bridge with plenty of people to brawl against. No, Tessandra was more concerned about Kassian and that woman, Bastat. They were in the middle of the largest battlefield, the edge of the island that was the Capital, trying to organize the chaotic troops however they could to minimize the losses.

“How bad is it?” asked Sabael, as she came down. “Did you see my sister?”

“Nope, no trace of Nana, but that’s for the better... This is the most chaotic battle I’ve ever seen, Sab. The citizens are trying to defend their homes, but not all the fights are evolving. We can’t simply kill all those bastards one after another, it’s going to take ages, and I want to get to the castle!”

“Same,” he sighed. “I don’t feel too good about leaving the Princess and His Majesty on their own when the Yekara have taken control of the place. ...Can’t we get one of the dragons there?”

“If we do, we will leave one more bridge unattended, and from what I’ve seen, I would not recommend that! Plus, you’ve seen their sizes! Even just Kian would literally wreck any street he steps in!”

“So what do we do?” sighed Sabael, glancing around at the chaos surrounding them. “We need to stop the fights here and get to the castle! I am not fond of the Yekara, but I can’t help but believe we need to capture them, not kill them! Not only them, but all the Royal Guards too!”

“And those mercenaries,” muttered Tessandra.

She was thinking along those lines. As much as she loved a good fight, this Kingdom was already on its knees long before this. The streets were full of citizens, and each family was doing their own thing to survive. Tessandra couldn’t help but remember her cousin’s concern, even toward those mercenaries. She would hate to see that much blood shed. There had to be a way it could be stopped.

“...Sab, those people are sticking to their spots, right? They probably got orders before the fight.”

“Yeah, the Yekara have always been military. They stick to their orders until death if they need to. Between us Royal Guards, we always joke that they need their superior’s brain to think for them...”

“So if we found a way to have them stop fighting or make them believe they don’t have a reason to fight anymore, it could work, right? What would make them move?”

Sabael frowned and raised his sword to counter another attack coming from a soldier. As soon as they had gotten to the end of the building, they found themselves stuck in the crowd again, surrounded by shouts and strikes coming from all directions. At this rate, it would be hard to even regain control of the crowd, they were risking a mass riot...

“Let’s force them to move,” he suddenly said.

“What? How?”

“Their main residence! The Yekara Clan’s residence has been guarded like a fortress forever. That’s where they stock everything, including their weapons, and they’ve never opened it. I heard some of their people enrolled in the Royal Guard talking before, it’s like a whole military camp in there!”

“...So if we get in trouble over there, you think they’ll run to save their home?”

“Worth a shot.”

Tessandra frowned. It was a bit unethical, but from where she stood, she couldn’t really say they’d be the worst of the two. In fact, some other houses had been raided before, and for the entirety of the previous night, the other citizens had been subjected to forced searches and violent threats. The more she thought about Sabael’s idea, the more she felt like it sounded right. All those soldiers were there because of their deep loyalty to their clan. If they thought something had happened at their main residence, they’d probably flock there regardless of the orders they got.

“...I like your idea, handsome. Where is it?”

“A few streets away from here, northeast!”

So they would also get closer to Kassian and Bastat’s position. Tessandra glanced at the castle. She wished she was able to help her cousin, but right now, she was probably much more useful on the ground, among the other soldiers... She glared once more at the Red Dragon, climbing up the towers.

“Cessi, don’t be too kind, girl. You better not let that bitch get away again...”

“Tessa? Are we going?”

Tessandra nodded and joined Sabael. He ran ahead of her, guiding her through the streets. It was remarkably easy to get away from the crowd they had been with; Tessandra’s shiny green armor could be seen from far away, and by now, the locals knew she was on their side. They kept fighting every time they found a Yekara soldier on the way, or a Royal Guard who had betrayed his uniform; Sabael was the maddest at those. As someone incredibly proud of his duty, he was furious at all those who had turned their backs on the King. They had just killed another duo of them when he furiously kicked one of those guys out of the road.