Sundenelle watches in horror, awe, amazement, fear, surprise, giddiness, and confusion. She assumes it has to be a mix of all those things, because she can't really form any sort of thoughts.

She has seen the smoke and glow of a major fire from afar, filling the sky and creating a haze over the sun itself, even from miles away.

The gigantic fountain of rock and glowing lava streaks into the sky, mostly fanning out towards the north from which the Demon Hegemony came from. The streak of light that preceded it from Ryuogriar struck seemingly faster than actual lightning, and it shed bolts of powerful energy like the roots of a tree in every direction. The crackling, ripping-like sound of the beam reached the wall only fractions of a second before the noticeably visible sound itself of the explosion that followed. Ryuogriar is several miles in the sky, yet the beam reached the ground in an instant, and unlike lightning, vaporized the very soil and rock.

Sir Ecklevon falls to his knees, supporting himself as much as he can on his sword, which is still in its sheath for now. "M-... My Lady…" grunts the gatonine knight. She grips his shoulder plate to steady herself. She had the idea to create the illusion that the attack actually came from one of the turrets, but she had no idea truly what kind of scope she would be dealing with. Even what little of the dragons breathing fire that she has seen pales in comparison to the landscape destruction that the 'Fiendbreaker' is capable of.

Her awe nearly suffocates her mind, though. She quickly shakes her head, remembering what it is she started her plan for.

"Everyone! Standby for-...!" She doesn't fully finish her thought as a flash of light draws her attention towards the turret. Her plan worked.

Too well.

The albino empress screams, "FIRE! FIRE FIRE!"

A grotesque beast has appeared, large enough to stand out on the massive wall surrounding the titanic Citadel, and which is nearly as tall as the turret itself. The giant guns dwarf even the ogres and boruans that Sundenelle has seen, meaning everyone looks smaller than imps compared to the creature.

Worse than simply being a creature or monstrous beast, however, are its very humanoid features, as if a person was fused together by dark arts to create some sort of abomination.

The beast groans out one word; "Daelaaaaa…" which slowly ascends into a scream of agony as magic energy explodes off of it.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The three cannons Sundenelle ordered trained on the decoy turret fire, obliterating the section of wall in a violent explosion of powder kegs staged as part of the trap.

If she had all of the capabilities of the demon kin, and she were the one attacking the Fievegal knowing only what outsiders know of the Fievegal's armaments, Sundenelle would focus on watching and waiting for the strongest attack, which is exactly what she focused on pretending happened. She did expect the enemy to deposit one or more of its soldiers as close to the turret as possible to prevent it from firing again, but that is a moot point. Reignleif was only going to be able to use the attack once.

But, the Hegemony certainly doesn't need to know that.

That said, she can hear the bellow of a terrifying beast as the Fievegal and Stalvaltan soldiers dodge shrapnel and debris that erupts from the explosion more unpredictably than they expected, most of which has already rocketed past faster than any arrow or crossbow bolt.

The monster stumbles out of the fire and smoke, surprising Sundenelle. Its body is wounded, and its flesh is heavily burned, with some parts charring. Shards of metal stick out of its torso and arms, and even one has lodged itself into its head across its left eye.

Yet, it still has all of the movement speed of a creature at full strength. It isn't limping or shaking, nor does it even appear to be slumping with weariness.

It is surprised, confused, and wounded.

But, more importantly, it is enraged.

The monster seems to be some kind of berserker, and it roars as it slams its fists down against the wall, which sends a rippling rumble through the structure. Even Sundenelle, who is on one of the raised barbettes hosting one of the anti-air guns wobbles from the quaking caused by the impact.

The wall cracks and craters where its fists came down, and the monster doesn't hesitate to grip one of the huge chunks of formerly-polished stone using its primary humanoid arms. It spins and throws the debris that easily weighs as much as five adult men or more like a catapult, directed at one of the cannons that fired on it, and it smashes through the housing of the weapon, startling and incapacitating the gunnery crews of that turret.

Sundenelle orders over her shoulder, "You! Fire! Take it down!"

"R-Right!" replies the dattakorien in the gunner seat, and he shouts, "Clear my line of fire!" He turns the turret, squeezing the triggers on both handles as he aims at the monster with practiced precision.

BOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOM!

Sundenelle and Ecklevon are flinched by the painfully loud, repetitive mercato of the four barrels of the 'machine guns' mounted to the anti-aircraft frame. The gun requires several people to keep it loaded and firing, but the trade off is that it is capable of keeping the sky full of dangerous and deadly bullets. Goblins trained in reloading are stationed at each of the separate machine guns that make up the weapon, capable of disabling each individual armament while they quickly reload, allowing the gunner to keep firing whichever pair of guns still has ammo.

It's fascinating, and Sundenelle prays she gets the chance to keep learning how far ahead the Fievegal is in just the year or so that Daniel has been on their world.

But, that'll have to wait.

The berserker roars as massive bullets streaking through it at speeds Sundenelle can't even truly see, save for golden streaks that she catches glimpses of on occasion. Blood sprays, but the monster isn't toppled.

If anything, it is getting more and more angry.

Sundenelle realizes this too late, and she frantically tries to wave down the gunner to stop him.

Just as he notices her, after one of the goblins gets his attention, the berserker launches itself forward.

The bullets don't even slow it down, nor do its injuries. Ecklevon manages to spring to his feet, shoving Sundenelle back as the berserker crashes into the anti-air turret, destroying it and wounding the soldiers operating it, as well as her loyal knight in the process.

Metal shards fly everywhere as the monster roars and bellows, and the goblins scream and scramble away. The dattakorien gunner managed to avoid being smashed into the wall's surface, but he loses his legs and most of his tail to metal crushing down like a vice under the weight of the berserker and the force of its attack added on. The dattakorien soldier manages to cry out only once before collapsing.

Meanwhile, the berserker throws the parts of the anti-air gun aside like a benki digging for a particularly tasty scuttlegrub that tried escaping into a pile of improperly stored books.

Not that Sundenelle knows anything about such an event.

It smashes parts and launches others violently away, before its blind rampage notices the dattakorien who is incapacitated.

No!

Sundenelle's father, the Emperor before her, once told her an important story; one she lived by for most of her life, especially after becoming Empress.

He said his greatest weakness was always revealed when he chose to be on the battlefield in person.

That weakness being empathy.

My shining Sun, it is natural for even the hardest and coldest of men to have a soft spot for their allies, or else they will not long have allies. Seeing people whose names I've learned falling to sword and spell always elicits pain in my heart.

But, an even greater pain always found me more than that. And, that was seeing the faces of men and women whose names I did not know… as my men were burying them.

The easiest a ruler's life will ever be will always remain the time when there are no faces without names. When you are making decisions in the void of the Imperial Palace, far removed from the consequences of your decisions. You will be rational. You will be calculating. You will be effective.

It's when you see their face, and you come to care about them even a little, you will struggle.

I have wept many times, my dear Sun. Yes, even I have wept. Nothing is more painful than sending your friends to their deaths, and seeing loyal soldiers whose names you do not know dying alongside them.

The men you serve beside will love you greater than even their own mothers to a degree. And,... I couldn't even learn his name…

Sundenelle bolts to her feet as these words play in her memory. She doesn't act on logic or rationale. She doesn't have a plan. She doesn't have bravery.

She has her own body and magic, and the guilt of formulating this plan. Her mouth is moving even while her brain is not.

Just as the arms are coming down again, a magic light shield forms, gonging loudly at the last word of her spell, channeling one half of her inborn gift.

The impact is thunderous, and Sundenelle is slammed down to a kneel, feeling pain in her knee and thighs as her legs and back nearly buckle. The spell absorbed most of the force, but she has never actually had to use her magic in true combat. Even when she seized control of the Empire out from the grasp of her cousins, who were raised as her half-brothers at the time, she used demonstrations of her magical abilities to bluff her way through and intimidate her adversaries, including her treacherous uncle, into surrendering.

This is the first time she has used her magic in combat, and her heart squeezes tightly from the exertion. The shield, which is virtually just a dinner-plate sized pane of magical light energy, nearly shatters from the impact, which thankfully bounces off after forcing Sundenelle down. Her lips never stopped moving though. She has two elements of magic she can call upon, and she has something to protect.

"[Come forth, darkest shadows, and give breath to my flame. See my greatest enemies brought to cinders.]" Sundenelle pivots as the berserker recoils briefly from its attack bouncing off of something it didn't expect, sizing up its new target. She already has her sword drawn, pulled from its sheath sometime during her rush to save the dattakorien man.

A man who was, whether he knew it or not, her enemy.

"Gloom Inferno," finishes Sundenelle as her blade ignites with black flames. She finishes her spin, slashing the berserker across the chest. It howls in anger and pain as it steps back, and Sundenelle uses every bit of her basic fencing training to lunge in and spear the sword straight into its chest as the blade warps and chips. Gloom inferno is the same spell she used to burn her father's body when he passed away in order to ensure the Empress and her children couldn't use his body for political gain. It is a 'flame' only in the strictest sense, using magic to dissolve and consume matter, and it generally sustains itself from the mana the caster put into it. Naturally, living things ignited with such a mana fire will generally burn until their mana runs out or their body is completely ash, whichever comes first.

It's almost always the latter.

She had to sacrifice the borrowed sword, but if it can stop the berserker, it's a worthy sacrifice. She has the advantage right now of the demon-kin being too far away to engage the wall, and likely too demoralized to launch an attack after the use of the Fiendbreaker.

Regardless, in spite of the black flames spreading across its flesh, the monster roars and swings at Sundenelle again. She barely manages to call up her shield again, but the backlash of it being shattered launches her backwards and causes her to cry out.

On the plus side, the berserker seems to be pained enough to be slowed down by the black flames, but on the down side, the flames already seem like they're losing their grip on its body, as if its mana is running out long before its flesh has even really started to burn.

In theory, this should still be a win-win, since a person without mana can very easily lose consciousness, if not outright die. It's one of the big reasons so few people truly believe Daniel was completely without mana when he arrived on Zenkon. It shouldn't be possible for life to exist without at least some magical energy. That is what the denizens of Zenkon believe, anyways.

That said, Daniel himself opened Sundenelle's eyes even wider than she believed hers could go. She prided herself on coming at issues with an open mind and open eyes in order to find the best course forward for the whole of the Empire. The pile of documents that'll be waiting for her review and signature will be massive, she has no doubt.

But, so far as she knows, she is a rather well-liked Empress if for no other reason, she does her best to make people's lives better and otherwise stays out of their lives as much as possible.

So, when the monster continues moving as the flames die, she is not locked up in horror that a creature having had its entire mana pool consumed has managed to survive.

She is doing what she can to think of a way to fight it further. She's the only thing standing between the berserker and the dattakorien gunner whose name she foolishly did not learn. She could celebrate the life and accomplishments of someone whose name she knows, even after he dies. She can't let him die, if he's still alive, without knowing his name.

Not right in front of her own eyes.

Sundenelle glances around, and in a moment of desperation, she picks up one of the dislodged machine guns from the frame of the anti-air weapon. Of course, 'pick up' is a generous description of her dragging it away from the scrap metal and trying to point it at the berserker as it stumbles to a stop before regaining its composure.

The machinegun itself is longer than she is tall, and it seems to weigh more than she does. How and why did Daniel come up with something like this?

She strains and uses the last of her magic to support her muscles, lifting the end the blast comes out of. She still needs to learn fully how firearms work, but she was able to observe the obvious, which matches the basic idea of a ballista. However the death is sent down range, it comes from the open end of the weapon.

Of course, the berserker doesn't care that she has a machine gun. It withstood a barrage, and though it is still partially bleeding, it has largely healed most of its wounds so far from natural regeneration.

With hate-filled eyes, the berserker looks at Sundenelle, and she realizes as her hand searches, that she doesn't know how to fire the machine gun. She tries to hold her ground, but she is much too far gone to be able to escape now. She has the berserker's full attention.

Her more logical brain has caught up to her emotion-driven reaction, and she is realizing how terrible her decisions have been today. The sun is setting, which means she'll have no advantage whatsoever as a human. Her mother believes that she sees better in the dark than most humans, but if that's true, Sundenelle has never benefitted from it. It's one of the reasons she has insisted on keeping Ecklevon so close. In addition to her mistakes, though, she now has a weapon that she can't even use as a cudgel, due to its massive weight, since she doesn't know how to use it for its intended purpose. Her opponent doesn't seem to know the meaning of self-preservation, nor does it seem to care about such rudimentary concepts of fear.

It is here to destroy, and it is quite effective at it.

Ecklevon, in a surprise reappearance, manages to swoop in low and slash his blade at the monster's tendons, slicing the back of both knees of its semi-shenwulf-like legs. The beast howls, stumbling and dropping to a kneel briefly. While still taller than the knight at his full height, Ecklevon can now reach its neck without needing to jump. He is wounded from part of the anti-air framework hitting him, and blood is draining from the underside of his helmet's right face, but he manages to lift his sword into a perfect-form thrusting position.

The gatonine lunges, his focus rigid and his form perfect. While it's clear that Veiranoei would probably win a rush-jousting match between them, Ecklevon has strength and combat experience on his side in comparison. Killing an enemy is far more important than the showiest, most historic match in a tournament.

The gatonine stabs his sword forward, but the extra arms protruding from the bulbous form of the grotesque being prove not to be useless after all. A pair of more normal-sized human hands manage to snatch the blade of the sword, halting it before it can do any meaningful damage. It would be impressive, since the monster managed to catch the sword in its blind spot behind it. But, from her angle, Sundenelle can see an eye open on the back of its head, which has an uneven, abnormal shape to begin with. This eye, like the ones on its face, also glows red. However, when Ecklevon recoils and tries to pull his sword away, he makes eye contact with it.

The eye starts pulsing various shades of red, violet, and a blue color in sequence, and Ecklevon's eyes go wide, and his pupils dilate abnormally widely.

Hypnosis!? "Ecklevon!" screams Sundenelle. She finally tries to look at the machine gun to make it operate, but she still doesn't know fully how it works. She thought she'd recognize the trigger pretty easily, but it has many moving parts, and several of which could pass as a trigger in terms of how a crossbow is fired.

Please! Someone! Goddess! Let me save him! Please, don't let these men die!

Ecklevon is just placing his sword against his own neck when Sundenelle's prayer is answered.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Get down!" shouts a female voice.

Sundenelle is shoved to a kneel as a canister is thrown ahead of her, and she recognizes the vibrant red and blue stripes of the fur on Baeka's arms.

Seconds after the canister passes in front of Sundenelle, a bright flash and a loud boom similar to lighting striking between her and the berserker blinds her and slams her ears like being boxed by her tutor when she was a child…but far, far worse.

Thankfully, her vision remains relatively clear thanks to Baeka shoving her forward to the ground. Sundenelle has heard of such bombs from the soldiers that defended Fort Twilight; they have a blinding and stun effect, even without magic.

The sound, on the other hand, is muffled, drowned out by a ringing that starts to fill her ears. She can barely make out, "Fire! Open fire!" followed by the muffled booms of gunshots, which she can feel in her skin more than actually hear with her ears at the moment.

The berserker howls in pain, stumbling sideways and away from Ecklevon. The gatonine narrowly avoids being swatted by the monster through dumb-luck alone, and he is quickly grabbed and dragged aside by a female dattakorien, who goes by the name of Paet. She was escorting Baeka, and she focuses on getting Ecklevon clear of the monster as the rifle shots hit it, blasting flesh and blood off of its body.

The sound is slowly returning for Sundenelle, and the berserker screeches in agony. Not all of the bullets from Fievegal weapons are the same, and it seems some have elemental magic imbued in them. Or, something else, since there seems to be one other affect on the berserker that it wasn't prepared for.

As it howls and claws at the air, still blinded and disoriented by the bright bomb, its flesh chips away.

And, it doesn't regenerate.

Baeka calls out, "It's working! Keep firing! Signal the dragons and get clear!"

The Mikadresselle then drags Sundenelle to her feet, saying, "Sundenelle, are you alright!?"

"I am! I need a weapon!"

"No! We're getting clear!"

As the rifles continue to barrage the berserker, some of which boom almost as loud as the cannons themselves, a shenwulf knight nods at the two women who are jogging towards him. He has Stalvaltan colors on his armor, but his weapon is a large demon staff, or 'rifle', as they more properly go by.

On his shoulder, under the Soulwyrm sigil of the Stalvaltan family, his crest bears a distinctly reptilian skull with horns. It's Sir Resken, of the Stalvaltan Guard, and one of two formally recognized 'Dragonslayers', wielding the very same rifles Daniel used to defend Fort Peony.

Resken calmly fires his rifle, and the fireball that bursts from its muzzle startles Baeka and Sundenelle, even behind his line of fire. No sooner does it go off does the berserker bellow once more in agony, and several goblins have the monster surrounded already, having scrambled in from wherever they were to engage the assailant. One fires a demon wand straight into the sky, and a star races upwards, just like a basic flare spell.

But, of course, one that doesn't rely on magic, such that even goblins can use it.

A new roar fills the air, and Sundenelle looks from her new vantage point on the main wall, away from the barbette that once hosted the anti-air machine gun. A pink dragon is racing right towards them, and her size dwarfs even the berserker.

It's Roeta, armored in her dragon-sized defensive gear, and she dives quickly towards the wall. She races past on the first pass, crossing over into the inner wall before slamming into one of the towers of the Citadel. From there, she launches herself off, all but instantly changing her direction back towards the outside.

For her, it seems like such a short distance, but for everyone else, the movements of such a titanic being has created a violent gust, and when she passes by the second time, she specifically crosses narrowly over the defensive wall, swiping the berserker with her right foreclaw and taking it towards the open ground.

There, Ryuogriar is already hovering, and Roeta throws the berserker to the ground while a bright glow fills the platinum white Empress Dragon's mouth. In her human form, Ryuogriar is the epitome of beauty and grace, with absolute matronly wisdom yet the youth of a lady Sundenelle's age. In her dragon form, all of that is the same, except for an addition.

Raw, incomparable power.

A lance of light descends from the dragon directly upon the berserker even as it tries to aggressively stand up to attack. The monster is engulfed in the beam of light, around which swirls a blast of fire that cuts deeply into the ground and forms a crater of molten lava as it burns or melts everything in its path.

The teen empress does her best to catch her breath. The battle has hardly even started, and the amount of destruction the Fievegal is capable of has truly stolen away her words. Ryuogriar herself stood in the capital of the Empire, alongside several other dragons, and now Sundenelle is actually seeing what could have happened.

Yet, there is a profound beauty in the painfully bright violet flames raining down on the berserker that could have made short work of the wall's defenses, as well as the wall itself.

The young woman watches as Ryuogriar finishes her fire breath attack, drifting her wings much more gracefully and slowly than her massive body would suggest. She thankfully can rely on mana, so it serves as a good sign that she still has plenty.

That said, the worst part of the battle isn't over.

Still somehow standing after all of the devastating force it has taken, the berserker remains upright. It is a husk of its former self, shrunken down from its flesh being burned away, and most of its limbs are charred stumps, but it twitches and manages to step forward towards Ryuogriar.

Even the dragons seem to be surprised, though Roeta is cruising in a circle behind Ryuogriar as she watches, since the pink dragon doesn't have the excess mana to float herself.

That's when a golden glimmer draws Sundenelle's attention once more. The figure in question returned to her humanoid form almost immediately, joining Veiranoei on Ryuogriar's back, she is still distinctly recognizable thanks to her golden hair and simple gold-colored robes with fiery stripes of metallic orange. Her clothes and hair flutter as she carries the gatonine Empress to the ground, and Sundenelle watches from afar as the tiny figures approach the berserker, which is trying to regenerate, but near-literally clinging to life by a thread.

It seems there's yet one more weapon from Daniel's arsenal that they hope will finish the battle.

The albino Empress swallows hard as she watches on bated breath. She has no illusions about being enemies of the Fievegal anymore.

But, if Daniel suddenly changes his mind and forces her to surrender the Empire to him entirely…

***

Moments earlier, Veiranoei clings to Ryuogriar as the dragon hovers at a more diagonal angle, having just unleashed devastating fire on the strange monster that Roeta rushed to remove from the wall. It was unexpected, and Gold informed the gatonine what was about to happen. Now, as the ash and smoke clear, the thing remaining at the epicenter of the hottest known fires in the world clings to life like the last tree standing after a forest fire.

It wobbles, but it isn't dead yet. The way it moves isn't that of a dead tree in the wind, nor of a flash-vaporized soldier crumbling into dust.

Somehow, even though most of its massive, bulbous body is burned away now, the monster manages to cling to its being and remain upright.

It even starts to walk towards them.

"Let's go," states Gold as she hovers close to Veiranoei.

"Wh-What?"

"If a flame breath like that can't erase something like that from existence, then it was created specifically to fight us. Ryuo doesn't have much of anything more directly powerful." The dragon somewhat gracelessly scoops Veiranoei up, disconnecting her from the rope keeping her attached to the platinum white dragon.

"Hey! Wait! I-If a dragon can't kill it, what the heck am I supposed to do!?"

"You have the power of the Harbinger," jokes Gold dryly. Ryuogriar scoffs, but manages to smirk. She speaks quietly, since her dragon voice is much louder and deeper, "Gold is right, Veiranoei. Roeta and I are familiar with the weapons, but we should conserve our mana. Especially if more of these appear."

"I… A-Alright…"

Gold takes the gatonine to the ground rather carefully, and she takes Veiranoei's void bag, scrolling through the options. Her face brightens, and the young knight can't help but grimace a little nervously. If Daniel was planning on keeping any surprises for his duel with Gold, Veiranoei is almost single-handedly revealing all of his capabilities.

The blonde dragon withdraws a rifle and hands it over to the gatonine, saying brightly, "This one will do. I saw with my own eyes what a Dragonslayer can do. Didn't have to feel it, thanks to Her Fuzziness, but I haven't seen this one in action yet." She cheekily adds, "If you can believe it, Neith insists this one is worse than a Dragonslayer."

Veiranoei looks over the weapon. It shares many similarities to the simpler rifles, but this one very obviously contains magic components, and its 'barrel' doesn't even qualify as such. If anything, it's more like a rectangular block with a hole in it. It's fairly heavy, and instead of a fire selector, which allows automatic weapons to fire in single-shot/trigger pull called 'semi auto' or in fully automatic, where the gun keeps firing bullets while the trigger is held down, this gun has an 'on/off' switch.

"I think you have to turn it on first," states Gold, confirming Veiranoei's suspicions. She flips the switch, which causes a noticeable whine that instinctively perks the gatonine's ears up, and her tail twitches as well. It's not a painful sound, but it's very distinct.

And rather foreboding.

"Oh, and don't forget the safety. Geira says there's a safety."

Ah, right. Telepathy. That makes sense.

"You've never seen this one used?" asks Veiranoei, glancing over her shoulder. She knows there is a threat posed by the berserker, but with three dragons around her, she has a lot more calmness than when she watched half of the hillsides erupt.

"I watched it be fired at a dummy target, but that was the first version. This is Emperor Harbinger's newest version. I need to know what it can do." She winks at Veiranoei, adding more seriously, "It looks like there's a core in its spine just behind its heart. Definitely concentrated magic there. So, aim for… mmm… lower middle of its heart. That should do it."

Veiranoei exhales, trying to relax a little more. Gold set them down around fifty yards away, and they only walked a little closer. Even now, the berserker's body seems to be restoring itself slowly, but there's still some time.

"If this is magic, won't it be negated by the anti-magic bullets?" asks the gatonine as she hefts the rifle up to an aiming position.

"Hah!" scoffs the golden dragon in humanoid form. "You don't know your future husband very well, do you?" Gold leans on her shoulder, playing her chin down as she relaxes, not seeming to care about the risk of interfering with Veiranoei's shot. "I don't know if this gun can fire anti-magic bullets, but it only uses magic on this end. What's about to happen to him is not magic. You're holding the world's deadliest crossbow. That's all."

This statement is baffling to the gatonine, but she has a job to do. She tries to wait a moment, but the dragon doesn't remove herself from Veiranoei's shoulder.

"I-I'm about to shoot."

"Mm-hmm. Go ahead."

"I… My shoulder…"

"Don't worry. I won't interfere." She adds deviously, "If you want, I'll make you a deal. Kill this thing with one shot, and if the Harbinger ever tries to do anything, I'll take your place."

"Wh-What?"

"It's a deal." Gold kisses Veiranoei's neck briefly, and she finally steps back, patting the gatonine's shoulder. "Now, don't miss!"

"Wh-Wh-Wha-!?"

"Hey! Don't look at me! Shoot!"

Veiranoei growls as she closes her eyes, needing now to recenter herself thanks to the goofy dragon's behavior. She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, focusing down the sights of the strange rifle. She can see her target, as well as the point that seems to be healing the most quickly; its torso, centered around its heart and spine.

Gold may be onto something. Veiranoei steadies her aim and takes another breath. It's a longer shot than she's used to, but she has seen Resken and Helbeit practicing shots at five times this distance.

She squeezes the trigger, bracing herself for the recoil.

She should have prepared for the flash.

Lightning erupts from the muzzle of the weapon, and while there is recoil, she would confidently say that she feels like the recoil of the machine gun she was firing is actually much higher.

And, the blast is almost quieter, clapping more like a buzzing boom that carries away from her, rather than a fiery explosion. Air rushes around chaotically, and a streak of light connects her to the berserker for the briefest of moments before its body explodes in a cloud of disturbing pink mist. The streak of light continues, hitting the dirt somewhere near the base of the wall and blasting soil upwards rather high.

Veiranoei lowers the rifle, which Daniel calls a 'railgun', if she's not mistaken. The legs topple apart as a strange swirl of magical energy crackles where the monster's torso was. Strange flares of mana seem to burst off of it, but it quickly shrinks and dissolves before leaving nothing behind.

The gatonine Empress in Name looks at Gold, who is pale for once. Her violet-hued eyes tilt to look at Veiranoei, and for a moment, there is dread apparent in the usually-confident and mischievous dragon's gaze.

It never crosses her mind to actually use the weapon to threaten Gold, since she is mischievous at most, but Veiranoei can understand the fear. Gold sees the railgun and views it as one of the options Daniel has to use in their duel. From the sounds of it, the Dragonslayers can kill a dragon outright, but the damage is minimal.

If the railgun can do to a dragon what it just did to the berserker, she may be rethinking the duel altogether.

"He doesn't play fair, does he?" murmurs the dragon distantly as she glances at the spot where dragon fire couldn't kill the same creature the railgun vaporized.

"If he did, would we be standing here, having this conversation?" asks Veiranoei in reply softly.

There's two faces to that statement, of course. Maybe this battle would go the same way without Daniel's weapons.

But, the berserker was intended to be an unfair advantage.

If the dragons were left unchecked, though, and had no reason to hold back, there's no reason to believe that the dragons wouldn't have conquered the whole continent. Certainly not without many races strong enough to maintain a balance with them.

Gold takes a breath and sighs. Her usual playful fire isn't present anymore, but she adds seriously, "I meant what I said, Veira. If the H… If he ever tries to force you to do anything, find a way to tell me, and I'll take your place. Whatever it is." She scoffs and smiles bitterly, looking at the gatonine. "Maybe becoming a breeding slave isn't so bad…"

Ryuogriar lands on the ground, and though she's still in her true form, she speaks so that both of them can hear. "If you think that is Mukori's plan for either of you, you are fools. He needs no slaves while he has me. Were it not for me, in fact, he would have no harem at all. Daniel has no interest in the unwilling. Were the assassin not so insistent herself, he would not touch her." She looks over her shoulder towards the smoldering crater that has disrupted and frightened the main demon-kin forces for now. "Come. We should return to the Citadel to regroup. I only briefly detected it at the time, but someone sent that creature. We'll need to formulate a more rigid plan of defense."

"Should we summon Hekate and Neith back?" asks Veiranoei. "If I understand correctly, Hekate alone could…"

"She could have transported that beast to anywhere she knows. But, there are few locations where it would cease to be a problem for us. Let us regroup with the others and see what their thoughts are. As the plan stands, we will be sending out a vanguard to intercept any sneak attacks they try to unleash, but I suspect they will also adjust strategy."

Gold growls, "You so easily brush off what your Mukori intends to do to me…"

"You asked for the duel yourself, dear Sister," retorts the platinum dragon. "Insisted on it, even. But, you have convinced yourself of your only value to Mukori, when in fact, he has already had you doing exactly what he wants from you in victory."

"What?" asks Gold.

Ryuogriar smirks and offers her large foreclaw to Veiranoei. "Let us go, Veiranoei."

"Hey!" snaps the blonde dragon, but Ryuogriar cuts her off just as quickly.

"Gold, if Mukori intends to fight you as an enemy, he would already have killed you while you are contracted. He won't be using the railgun because he knows how deadly it is. He will try using less dangerous weapons and other means of fighting you closer to our means of fighting so that he can develop more strategies. I don't know why you thought otherwise when he has the Godkillers and Fiendbreakers at his disposal now." She lifts Veiranoei up to her back again, adding mockingly, "Do you really want him to use everything he has to fight you?"

Gold is silent, frustrated by having it thrown in her face. Both points made to her in the last few moments are hard-hitting. The first, of course, being that a fair fight is only for fun. Real fights are meant to be won. And, the second is that she is valuable to Daniel alive, meaning he has no interest in overwhelming her, or there would be no contest, and he would lose her as an asset. It angers her to think about it that way, but it's the truth. She is at his mercy, even if she didn't have the contract, and she'll never be his equal. She would have to use his weapons to stand a chance. And, it would be shameful for her to ask that after hoping to defeat the Harbinger of Calamity with her own strength.

"You will have your duel with Mukori," starts Ryuogriar. "He will experiment in that battle with a middle-means of fighting dragons like us, so that he doesn't have to risk doing irreparable damage. After all, they could be his next Mukori." She snickers at Gold, causing the dragon to glare up at her, but even Veiranoei can see a faint blush. Ryuogriar continues, "Your fight will help him. And, you will get what you want; to see something for you to overcome. Assuming you lose." The platinum dragon shrugs, and she finishes, "We'll be going. You may stay and ponder if you wish. But, the battle is far from over."

Ryuogriar takes off, and Roeta falls into flight with her, cruising alongside as they return to the Citadel proper.

For her part, Gold walks to the melted crater where Ryuogriar's firebreath failed to finish off the berserker.

Like the enemy that created it, Daniel knows many of the natural capabilities of dragons. He knows about their venom, he knows about ignityal and the two different styles of firebreath. He has seen the pilot flame. He has used dragon teeth as piercing elements for his bullets, which struck down Morthybargaron in one hit through his chest scales. Gold herself asked to see later, and the aftermath was even worse. His bullet broke several of the mighty red lord's ribs and lodged into his spine. His heart was shredded by the bullet tearing itself apart. His death was assured.

She crouches where the legs of the berserker have almost completely burned away from the residual heat of the molten ground. Daniel is an anomaly in their world. He brought weapons and knowledge meant to fight humans, and yet, found a way to take down dragons with them.

Neith. This is Gold. We just defeated a monster that attacked the Citadel.

"[What? Why didn't you call on us sooner? I'll inform…]

No. Not yet. Do whatever it is you're doing. I think this is good for the others. Me as well. I just…

Seeming to sense her hesitation, the grey dragon's voice asks gently, "[What is it?]"

Daniel's railgun… Did… Could we… survive it? Or even… be revived after it?

There's a moment's pause.

"[The bullet pierced into my helmet and never made direct contact with my skin, yet, I assume you've seen my scar. No. I think one shot would take off any limb, or even our tails, and those would be the only shots we would 'survive'. I would advise against ever having the railgun pointed at oneself. Even if it means the worst.]"

And… do you think… it's the worst?

Neith chuckles through their telepathic connection. "[Why are you asking me? You know the answer.]"

I saw it used today, and… it made me afraid. I… what should I do? Do I… Do I have to serve him the rest of my life?

Again, Neith ponders for a moment before replying. "[Daniel is going to free you, whether you have the duel or not. He'll probably end up freeing all of the dragons in time. He's just trying to give everyone time to trust him. If he didn't have to worry about the contract demons, you would almost certainly already be free. If anything, he's hoping you'll have more than one child, since he admires how you treat the Princesses. But, he'll never order you to do so. If you feel like the first was forced upon you, then I'll…]"

No! No… Thank you, but I do want my child. And… Gold is able to finally smile softly as she really hears Neith's words. She speaks her final words aloud, but still transmitting them via telepathy, "I suppose having more will be nice. Better they are friends of the Harbinger's children than their enemies, am I right?"

"[Hahaha! Yes. I am certain I speak for Daniel as much as myself when I say this; I truly hope all of our children will get along well and be friends for all time.]"

Gold takes a seat on the ground, feeling defeated once more, but not upset about it. "I still intend to duel him, but… tell him to hurry up with whatever you're all doing. If Ryuo or Geira find out I've been talking to you, they really will force me to be his broodmare."

"[You bring that up a lot. One might suspect you actually want that to be true.]"

"Wh-What!?" yelps the golden dragon. She stammers unintelligibly trying to deny it frantically.

"[Regardless, I think Ryuo and Reina know he's already safe, and Geira… Well,... She'll be too focused on me if it comes to that.]"

Gold sighs as she manages to regain her composure. "She is a handful, I suppose. But, do hurry back. If it's going to drag out, tell him to leave some kind of marker or something, and we'll come back."

"[Of course. Keep me up to date if anything else happens. Just as they're worried about Daniel, he's worried about you guys. He's just also worrying about people here.]"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll let you know."

Just before she drops the telepathic connection, Gold adds, "And, Neith…?"

"[What is it?]"

"Tell the Harbinger… I want a really good name. One that makes me sound tough. Alright? And thanks. Talk to you later."

She drops the spell abruptly, not giving him time to respond. He could, of course, connect to her again, but he doesn't, indicating he can take a hint.

"Alright, Harbinger. You may be able to defeat me, but I refuse to let you tame me. Not until I'm strong enough to beat you myself." Gold looks up to the sky, which is finally dark with nighttime having fallen, and she can see a few stars peeking through. She reaches up, adding softly, "But, thank you… for giving me this chance,... Daniel."

***

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