B4 – Chapter 50: The killing blow

The shadowy tendrils lashed out at Tristan and carried far more force than a dragon of that size should be able to muster. He was sent back, sabatons skidding across stone, until he managed to plant his phantasmal tail to stop himself. “Come here,” the creature hissed out. Tristan couldn’t see the face, or the head, the voice came from all around him.

He could hear the Demon King screaming, pleading, and then his voice ending in a gurgle as he assumed Eloise slaughtered him. But Tristan could not focus on what she was doing as the creature’s sinuous coils attempted to wrap around him. He sent essence down his maul and activated Cryogenic Cube, his essence draining precipitously to less than half remaining. A huge, square cube of ice appeared all around him, including containing some of the demon dragon’s body which immediately froze. He turned and smashed in one smooth motion, shattering the body with his hammer, and then dropping the weapon, he grabbed with his claw and yanked hard. He dragged more of the demon dragon into the frozen domain, which froze yet more of its body, and he hacked with his sword; the sheer force of his blows completely obliterating the frozen flesh.

“You dare!” it screeched, but could not reach him with its body without entering the zone of icy death that only Tristan could survive for more than a few seconds. He continued to drag more of the body in, and kept hacking it to icy chunks.

“Tristan!” Eloise shouted.

He could barely hear her through the hunt-urge’s roaring of blood pumping through him, but he glanced at her and saw why she had called his name. The Demon King’s corpse was being consumed by the demon dragon. Tristan grabbed the maul and charged forward, through the icy cube, and weathered the impacts of shadowy tendrils that slammed into his armor but only left little dents and barely slowed him. He reached the head and spun as he did so, throwing his hips sideways and bringing the tail to bear.

Crack!

The bang of the impact echoed through the whole chamber and sent the demon dragon’s head and the partially consumed Demon King’s corpse into the wall with another resounding smack. Yet the dragon still gobbled down the Demon King. Then, its body began to glow a bright red and regenerated; flesh mending where Tristan had smashed it. And despite him continuing to hack into the flesh, the creature cackled and spoke in Demon’s Tongue. “I am the first of my species. I have advised every Demon King or Queen since they began their rule. Terrorax the eternal reclaims his lent power!”

Tristan glanced at Eloise. “Amulet! Now!” She vanished in a shimmer of yellow light, and he knew she was safely back at the Citadel of Essence, and he could go all-out without concern for her safety. He was against his favored foe, and yet they were underground where he could not use his greater maneuverability to its best advantage. Yet the hunt-urge pushed him to confront this creature, here and now. A little under half my essence left. He moved back toward the pedestal that King Arinclex’s form had appeared upon, and the demon dragon coiled its form around him, before bringing its head to look dead-on at him from in front. Tristan poured essence into his Pocket Dimension II scale, set his hammer down, and snagged the essence elixirs from within. He gulped all of them down in a swift motion, and then tossed the hammer into the extradimensional space before letting it shut. Thanks to where he opened the storage space, right in front of him, the demon dragon did not know what he was doing as Tristan was hidden from view.

But that also meant Tristan couldn’t see what it was doing, and as the pocket dimension closed, a torrent of fire blasted out over his body. Tristan just let out a barking laugh. “Fire doesn’t hurt me!” he shouted as he leaped forward and stabbed right through the creature’s eye. It recoiled back, and Tristan dug into the snout with his left hand, driving his sword deeper into the eye socket. “I’m a dragonslayer! I’ve killed arch dragons! You’re just one more to add to my crucible!”

The remaining eye affixed on Tristan, and he felt the incredible, sharp pressure on his temples of enchantment, but it did nothing thanks to his consumption of an enchantment dragon’s blood. He pulled his sword back and stabbed once more, this time into the nostril and deep through the face, eliciting another roar of pain. The demon dragon’s body writhed around, and banged Tristan across the floor, ceiling, and walls. Yet he clung tight and kept stabbing, his armor fully protecting him from the impacts as he laughed with glee at his prey floundering and panicking.

The demon dragon took flight, up through the hole Felicity had carved with transmutation, and then burst through the ceiling with Tristan taking the full brunt of the impact on his back. The masterful craftsmanship of the gnomes and the Dragonscale cloak protected him fully, and they ascended high into the skies above where the thing began to thrash and move in more wild ways to fling Tristan off. Finally, it succeeded, and Tristan pushed essence into his cloak as he activated Wing Glide. He turned in the air and faced the creature as he slowly glided down.

The demon dragon sneered at him from above. “You! You worm! You cur! You insignificant speck! How dare you fight me! Who do you think you are?!”

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Tristan did not respond, instead angling his feet down and pointing his toes down. “The skies unfold before me.” He went arcing up; a shimmering, silver meteor that slammed into the demon dragon and tore right through the creature, leaving a gaping hole as he flew up into the air from the speed of his launch. Spinning in the sky, he quickly sheathed his blade and drew his bow, drawing the vine-laced bowstring down as he strung it, and opening his pocket dimension as he grabbed an arrow, nocked, and poured essence into the weapon. Bolt, Split Bolt, Chain Bolt, Boltstorm, and Elemental Imbuement – Multi with lightning and ice.

The demon dragon writhed in the air and scanned the skies for him, finally landing upon Tristan’s form, flying overhead, and holding a glimmering, crackling, yellow bow. Tristan let loose, and the bolt slammed into the other, uninjured eye; burrowing deep and delivering the body-locking shock that completely incapacitated the demon dragon’s form. It went tumbling down to the citadel below, and landed on the large, central spire – impaled through the center before the heft ripped it in two and it tumbled down in two halves on opposite sides of the building.

Tristan immediately put his bow away, spun his crucible, and activated Spoken Message: Realm in his Platinum Ear-Cuff. He focused on every other device that the gnomes had made as he spoke aloud in Elvish. “The Demon King has been slain. His assassins are being rooted out. Fey Realm army, pull back.” He then swapped to Demon’s Tongue. “Demon Houses? Your uprisings have done what they needed to do. I will have my emissaries help facilitate the peaceful election of your next Demon King or Queen, and the transfer of power.” He heard various voices respond in affirmation from his forces, and acknowledgements from the various Demon Lords and Ladies he and his nymphs had coordinated with.