Blade Over Magic

Dragons = Scary

The shriek was unlike anything Xander had ever heard, and it tore through the air with such shrill intensity that he felt his eardrums shake.

It was especially bad for Aubrey whose senses were already tuned to their surroundings, so he wasn’t particularly shocked when he saw her become unsteady, blood seeping out of her ears.

Suddenly, the ground shook wildly as the surrounding vegetation, which had only been focusing on regenerating, turned violent. Roots burst from the ground from all over the Azure plains, all of them attempting to converge and strike down at Keir.

”Frigid Permafrost!” Curtis’s voice cut through the commotion as the temperature dropped dramatically, and many of the roots were frozen solid.

Xander took that moment to jump into the air, hands gripping his sword tightly. Wind converged around the blade as he swung it around him in a wide arc

’Tempest Stream!’ The wind extended into a blade nearly a hundred meters long that swept through all the the roots, cutting all of them down like a scythe harvesting crops.

Xander then descended towards the crater, aimed his sword down, and stabbed into the ground just as he landed.

’Boulder Strike!’ The surrounding earth shook violently as roots which had been preparing to rush out beneath Keir got shredded apart from the force.

The shrieking increased in intensity, but Keir just snorted. He took a breath despite already unleashing his black flames, and exhaled even more forcefully, and suddenly the torrent of black flames exploded out, not just engulfing a singular group of roots, but extending last and engulfing many more.

That’s when dozens of large roots burst forth from the ground around the Azure plains, each of them no smaller than a building.

They moved around with wild abandon, smashing into the ground and throwing up large plumes of dust as they desperately tried to eliminate the source of the damage.

Xander, Curtis, and Aubrey immediately went to work as neither of them spared any expenses in dealing with any of the threats. Aubrey, despite being deaf temporarily, could still sense her surroundings with other means, so she constantly pointed out where these roots would strike next, allowing them to protect Keir effectively.

Meanwhile, in Keir’s eyes, the situation looked a lot more different from what everyone else could perceive.

To them, they saw a large field of blue vegetation. But to Keir, he didn’t just see that. He saw what was behind it. In his eyes, beyond the vegetation and vitality of the Azure Tree, he was able to ’see’ the ’source’, so to speak.

Mary had described his flames as far more sinister than soul damage, and yet she did not elaborate why. But with all the clues listed out, it’s easier to infer what they actually do.

Let’s look at the examples.

The first time Keir used his flames was when they infiltrated the catacombs. Keir had burned one of the demonic ants with them, and it died almost immediately, and yet there was no outward or inward damage. Its vitality simply ceased.

Shortly after that, Keir dug out its corrupted demon core and ’burned’ away the corruption. Leaving the mana inside pure once more.

Then the most significant example would be in the ravine when the traitor had used a demonic item to render the concept of motion null within a certain area. Yet somehow, Keir’s flames managed to undo that restriction.

And then there’s now. The Azure Tree survived an attack akin to a nuke on its head, yet the instant Keir’s flames touched it, it started shrieking and thrashing in agony.

So with all of this said, what does that say?

Well, Mary explained earlier that dragons exist on a higher conceptual level. So by nature, their very existences exceeded base reality. This included their attack methods as well, granted, this still varied from dragon to dragon.

And in Keir’s case, the truth was, well, as Mary said, quite a bit more sinister than what Xander had initially guessed.

Conceptual Invalidation.

SKREEEEEEE!!!!

The shriek seemed to reach a crescendo as the roots went absolutely wild. It was so bad that Mary had to strengthen the wind barrier at the edge of the plains just to prevent them from causing any more collateral damage. The pressure spiked immediately, but Xander and co weren’t struggling too much to defend as while the force had increased, they were predictable as the Azure Tree gave one last struggle. Then...

CRACK

The sound resounded throughout the plains, and the shrieks stopped abruptly. All the thrashing roots and vegetation went still for a moment.

Then everything went limp.

The vegetation lost its blue color as it fell to the ground, devoid of all vitality. Suddenly, the chaotic Azure plains had turned deathly silent.

Because the Azure Tree was dead.

’Phew.’ Xander lowered his sword and exhaled heavily, while Aubrey and Curtis sat on the ground, panting. The battle had been short but intense, and considering how it hadn’t even been that long since they were in the Ravine, they were understandably spent.

Suddenly, the ground not far from them began to get pushed apart from something beneath, and they immediately went on guard, but Keir dived down on the spot.

They watched as a demon crystal roughly 5 meters in diameter was pushed out of the ground. Its appearance made them grimace as the sheer potency of the demonic corruption in it instantly made them very uncomfortable. It was understandable, though. With how massive and powerful the Azure Tree was, it only made sense for it to have a demon crystal to match.

But Keir didn’t care about any of that. He just opened his mouth and once more unleashed a torrent of black flames. This time, the group could see as the demonic corruption was burned out of it, and by the time it ended, what was left was a large mana core, and Keir was staring at it like a buffet.

’... How does he plan on eating it?’ Aubrey frowned. The massive crystal was obviously too large for something that could comfortably sit on Xander’s shoulder.

The other two were curious as well, but Keir just opened his mouth, and an abrupt yet terrifying suction force came from him.

It was so strong that the huge mana core was actually pulled towards him, and as it got closer, its size started to shrink rapidly, and by the time it reached Keir, it was no larger than a thumbnail. That’s when it entered his mouth, and he swallowed.

Xander, Aubrey, and Curtis just observed this scene with blank expressions on their faces. Yet they weren’t able to dwell on it much as Keir, looking very content, flew and landed on Xander’s shoulder before yawning, suddenly appearing very tired.

Xander watched the drowsy baby dragon and couldn’t help but smile despite his apparent confusion.

’You tired buddy?’ He chuckled and patted his head, Keir not resisting as he allowed Xander’s hand to move over his scales. Most people would have been at least a bit terrified of what Keir pulled off, but Xander was just impressed, and proud.

And also thinking about how it would be helpful in the future, as he had more or lesser pieced together what Keir’s flames truly did, granted, he’d ask Mia or Mary for more details when they returned.

’Man, I wanna sleep.’ Aubrey yawned as she forced herself to stand, and Curtis nodded in agreement. It wasn’t surprising. After all, they had all been very busy these past few days.

Xander especially, considering that he’d been severely injured twice in quick succession, not to mention that his mana pool, which was the smallest of everyone in the squad, had been repeatedly squeezed dry. And coupled with the mental strain of the planning, political gymnastics, and convincing of the different people in Landor, yeah, he was understandably spent.

Mary tool that moment to hover down and land inside the crater. Her posture a bit stiff due to her holding Mia in her arms, and Falael was still unconscious inside an air bubble behind her, the mana burnout having completely knocked them out.

Mary gave them all a cursory glance and and nodded faintly.

’Excellently done Milord, Curtis, and Aubrey.’ Her tone was reserved as usual, but she had a faint smile on her face indicated that she wasn’t just being polite.

They all just gave a thumbs up, too spent to bother with anything else.

That’s when a series of shouts came from the distance, and they turned to see Landor’s soldiers rushing towards their position. Among them, the Captain was staring at the aftermath with unadulterated shock. And who could blame him? After all, the damage hadn’t exactly been small, not to mention that the most eye-catching part of the Azure Tree, the actual tree, was just gone.

But even more shocking was the fact that it was dead.

The soldiers stopped at the edge of the now dead plains, clearly still wary of what once was.

That’s when the Captain stepped forward and yelled.

”XANDER! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN ALL OF THIS!!!” Hearing his roar, Xander smiled wryly.

’Think they’ll go easy on us?’ He asked.

’Hopefully.’ Curtis sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face.

’Let’s just get it over with.’ Aubrey shook her head and hung her bow over her shoulder.

With that, the group moved.