Volume 4: Nuisance of Fate
Encounter 6: The Calamity Dragon!(true Dragon!)
Edric and Vermorth vaulted out the tavern's back window and followed a trail of dropped crumbs and loud arguing straight into a nearby thicket.
"I took the initiative on the carriage ambush, so the final bite of this glorious meat pie belongs to the future Emperor of Valkaria!" Prince Kalvin declared, holding the pastry high above his head.
"Initiative? You got distracted by a shiny pebble!" Prince Alberch shot back, jumping to snatch it. "My stomach directed our entire strategic movement to that village!"
Before the two royals could settle their ridiculous debate, two large, mud-covered hands clamped down on their collars.
Vermorth lifted Kalvin effortlessly while Edric hoisted Alberch right off the ground like a misbehaving pup.
"We are tracking a target named Alexander Hamilton Crane," Vermorth stated, his voice low and vibrating with the dangerous edge of a man whose patience had run out hours ago. "You two are now our vanguard. Move."
"Wait, we didn't even get to finish the pie!" Alberch complained as he was dragged backward through the mud.
An hour of forced marching later, the mismatched group reached the jagged lip of the canyon. Thick mist swirled lazily over the rocky drop-off, hiding the depths below.
Edric unrolled the stranger's map and pointed a dirt-caked finger. "There. That's supposed to be our master rogue?"
They peered through the fog. Instead of the scarred, bloodthirsty bandit captain they expected, the young man sharpening a slender blade on a boulder looked remarkably refined. His traveling clothes were clean and well-tailored, and his posture carried the disciplined grace of an elite academy graduate rather than a canyon outlaw.
"He doesn't look like a bandit," Kalvin noted, squinting. "His boots are too clean for someone supposedly running a gang out here."
"Looks can be deceiving, Your Highnesses," Vermorth murmured. His invisible mana spread outward like a silent net, testing the air around the canyon entrance. "But something about this entire setup feels… engineered."
Alberch, still distracted by the last crumbs of his meat pie, missed his footing on a loose piece of shale.
"Oh shiiiiet—!"
With a loud yelp, the prince tumbled down the steep embankment like a runaway barrel, tearing straight through Vermorth's muted spatial zone.
He slid across the dirt and crashed directly into Alexander's shins, knocking the composed young man clean off his boulder before he could even strike a dramatic pose.
Up on the ridge, Vermorth and Edric slapped their palms against their faces in perfect unison. Prince Kalvin, meanwhile, pointed down at the dirt-covered mess that was Alberch and burst into loud, echoing laughter. "Beautiful execution, Alberch! Ten out of ten for the landing!"
Alexander scrambled back to his feet, brushing dirt from his once-immaculate coat. He cleared his throat, clearly trying to salvage the grand moment he had prepared.
"I have been expecting you," he announced, voice echoing through the canyon with practiced gravitas. He raised his slender blade and pointed it majestically toward the ridge. "Our meeting here is no mere coincidence. It is our destiny to unite, to overcome the trials ahead, and fulfill the god-bidden—"
BOOM.
Edric didn't wait for the speech to finish.
The golden-haired warrior charged down the slope like a silver avalanche, jagged mana erupting around him. He slammed shoulder-first into Alexander's chest with the force of a charging bull, sending the future Dragon Slayer tumbling wildly through dirt and rocks.
Alexander flipped back onto his feet twenty yards away, coughing dust, his pristine hair ruined and his face burning with fury.
"Edric, you brute fucker!" he shouted, completely abandoning his prophetic tone. "That's the second time you've done that! Stop it!"
"What are you babbling about, crazy sword guy?!" Edric yelled back, grinning wildly as his mana flared again. "You wanted a fight, you got one!"
Alexander gripped his blade tighter, eyes flashing with a faint prophetic light. Thanks to his Future Sight, visions usually came to him a split second before events unfolded. He had easily foreseen Alberch's clumsy tumble. He had foreseen Kalvin's laughter.
But when he looked at the charging Edric Gray, his vision hit a wall of static. Complete blankness.
For some inexplicable reason, Edric was invisible to his Future Sight.
Alexander froze like a startled statue, brain failing to process the anomaly.
Edric, realizing mid-swing that his opponent had suddenly stopped moving, tried to twist his greatsword at the last moment. Instead of a clean cut, his armored shoulder slammed into Alexander again, launching him backward once more.
While Alexander was still coughing up dirt, Alberch and Kalvin leaned casually against a boulder like spectators at a tournament.
"Twenty silver says the prophecy guy doesn't last another thirty seconds against Edric," Alberch said, tossing a pebble.
Kalvin smirked. "Make it forty. Edric's a brute, but that guy has sharp footwork. I say he lasts a full minute before he gets flattened again."
Before Edric could lunge forward for round three, Vermorth stepped between them. He slammed his foot into the canyon floor, releasing a heavy wave of high-frequency resonance. The air between the two warriors instantly solidified into an invisible, immovable barrier.
"Enough!" Vermorth's voice rang with absolute authority. He glared at Alexander. "We were sent here by an informant to hunt you down. Yet you knew we were coming and you're speaking of destiny and timelines. Explain yourself. Why are we being targeted?"
Alexander sheathed his blade, his expression turning grim as the pieces fell into place.
"An informant?" He let out a bitter laugh. "You jackheads walked right into a trap. This is a setup by the Demon King. He wants us to kill each other before we can unite."
He wiped the remaining dust from his coat. "There are supposed to be seven of us — the Seven Luminaries. Aside from the four of us here and two others who haven't appeared yet, the demons are trying to shatter our formation before it even begins."
Before anyone could press him further, the ground beneath their feet shuddered violently. A deafening roar tore through the canyon, splitting stone and freezing the air itself. The temperature plummeted. Mist turned to frost. Breath crystallized in their lungs.
From the swirling fog above, a gargantuan silhouette descended. Massive wings spanned the width of the canyon, shedding shards of absolute-zero ice that glittered like deadly stars.
Alexander and Alberch spoke at the exact same time, voices filled with raw horror:
"No… way…"
"Yes way," Kalvin chimed in cheerfully.
"Glacioboros," they finished together, "the Ever-Frozen World-Ender!"
The sky above the canyon darkened as if night had fallen in an instant. Glacioboros, the Ever-Frozen World-Ender, opened its colossal maw. A blinding torrent of absolute-zero ice breath roared downward, threatening to freeze not just their bodies, but the very flow of time itself.
"This is bad, mate," Vermorth said, eyes narrowing. "This is a trap."
"That's what I've been telling you fools!" Alexander snapped, already drawing his slender blade.
"Are we really going to fight that thing?" Prince Kalvin asked, voice laced with genuine horror.
Edric's grin split wide across his face. "We are, mate!"
Vermorth reacted instantly. He slammed both hands forward, and his high-frequency resonance screamed to life. An invisible, vibrating dome materialized over the group. The dragon's ice breath slammed into the barrier with a terrifying screech — sub-zero energy shattering against the oscillating spatial field in a storm of cracking frost and sparks.
"We need a plan," Vermorth said, breathing hard as he looked toward Alexander and Edric.
"Don't ask me," Edric laughed, cracking his neck. "I just want to swing my sword and smash!" He jabbed a thumb at Alexander. "Let the prophecy guy think. I'll hit things."
"Tch. As always, you brawl with no brain," Alexander muttered. "Fine. Here's the—"
Before he could finish, Prince Alberch and Prince Kalvin ditched their spectator act. The two royals bolted toward a narrow crevice in the canyon wall and scrambled inside for cover.
"Okay, we're listening!" they called out from safety.
"You fuckers!" Alexander shouted after them.
Vermorth placed a steadying hand on Alexander's shoulder and shook his head. "Whatever. We work with what we have."
Edric didn't wait. With a volcanic roar, he launched himself skyward, golden hair streaming behind him as jagged mana erupted like molten silver. But the extreme sub-zero winds around Glacioboros sapped his momentum almost immediately, freezing the air in his lungs.
Seeing his ally stall mid-air, Vermorth acted. With a sharp gesture, he projected a solid, invisible spatial ramp directly beneath Edric.
"Go now, Alice Hammerhead Gree!" Edric bellowed, butchering the name as he kicked off the platform to adjust his arc.
"It's Alexander Hamilton Crane!" Alexander screamed back in utter disbelief. "How do you even arrive at 'Hammerhead Gree'?!"
Deprived of any future vision around Edric, Alexander had no choice but to trust raw instinct. He sprinted up the invisible ramp, slender blade gleaming.
Before either swordsman could reach the dragon's snout, Glacioboros sensed the threat. With a deafening roar that shook the canyon walls, the calamity dragon whipped its massive, ice-plated tail across the sky. The appendage slammed into Edric like a frozen mountain, shattering his momentum and hurling him back toward the jagged canyon floor like a meteor.
"I've got him!" Alexander shouted, leaping down from the collapsing ramp.
Vermorth rapidly constructed layered spatial barriers right above the ground to slow Edric's deadly descent. Alexander used a flash of Future Sight to predict exactly where Edric would break through, positioning himself perfectly. Together, they caught the silver-haired brute just in time. The impact still sent all three skidding across the ice in a massive cloud of frost and snow.
Above them, Glacioboros inhaled deeply. Its chest plates expanded as absolute-zero energy crackled in its throat, preparing a breath that could freeze the entire canyon solid.
Vermorth braced himself, ready to push his spatial anchor to its absolute limit.
The comedic atmosphere vanished in an instant.
Prince Alberch stepped out of the crevice first. His usual carefree expression was gone, replaced by intense, regal focus. He drew his blade. The steel didn't just reflect light — it erupted into blinding golden brilliance that cut through the sub-zero fog like a newborn sun.
"Burning Sun Gaze!"
A localized wave of solar heat detonated from his sword. The extreme temperature contrast slammed into Glacioboros's icy hide. The dragon's outermost frost armor shattered with a deafening crack, leaving a smoking, molten wound across its chest.
"Don't leave me out of the spotlight," Prince Kalvin said, stepping up beside him. Dark, unstable magic swirled around his blade as he swung. A devastating black slash tore straight into the exposed wound, causing the calamity dragon to roar in genuine agony.
The massive beast staggered.
Edric, Vermorth, and Alexander saw their window.
"Now!" Vermorth shouted.
Edric charged forward with a wild battle cry, channeling every ounce of his volcanic aura into a devastating Dragon Fang strike aimed directly at the cracked chest plates.
Deprived of future sight around Edric, Alexander relied purely on instinct. He leaped alongside him, driving his slender blade into the core of the molten wound with surgical precision.
Vermorth locked the dragon's movements in place with a full-powered spatial anchor, freezing its massive body mid-roar.
The three attacks landed in perfect unison.
Edric's explosive greatsword strike hammered the wound like a volcanic eruption. Alexander's blade pierced deep into the exposed core. Vermorth's resonance amplified the impact, turning their combined assault into a catastrophic explosion of force and heat that tore through Glacioboros's defenses.
The Ever-Frozen World-Ender let out a final, earth-shaking screech as its colossal body shuddered violently. Cracks of molten light spiderwebbed across its icy armor.
The canyon trembled.
For the first time since the battle began, the four young warriors stood together — breathing hard, covered in frost and blood, but unbroken — staring up at the staggering calamity dragon.
To be continued