In Another World with JUST MONIKA Chapter 122

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Ssshh. Ssshhhh.

Rain fell down at an angle, blown by uncertain winds, punctuated by the rumbling tone of thunder. The black dragon looked up, confused at the sudden change in weather.

Thoom. Thum. Thum.

Thunder began rolling across the sky, sounding eerily similar to drums. The rains outlined the shape of a woman who spoke:

/"They are wrath. They are death.

/"Many thought they were but a myth. That *they* were safe.

/"They were wrong."/

The dragon turned towards me and blinked with its one good eye, somehow a confused look of 'are you doing this?' over its broad armored face. That look then turned into one that that seemed so very insulted for some reason.

/"And when the truth dawns, it dawns in FIRE."/

"HRRROOO!" the dragon roared and spat an unending stream of fire.

"[FOH] [KRAH] [DIIIIN!]" Frost. Cold. Freeze. I opened my mouth and spat out an unending stream of frosty wind.

The magic of this other world… there was a word for it…

Convenient.

So easy. Speak the words, call out the elements, and the effect happens. You can't even harm yourself accidentally. It was an elegantly designed mechanism.

But there was another word for it…

The air screamed and hissed where our breaths met. My brain blanked out in cold fire, like that of spending too much time without sleep but frustratingly unable to rest. I could feel the energy being pulled out from the world around me, funneled, and transformed.

The dragon had to stop to take a breath, and so did I. Our elemental breaths stopped at almost the same time, but behind that he was still a massive dragon with magic-and-blade resistant scales and claws and I was a squishy human – a fangless, clawless biped with only our wits as our power.

But power was also power. Might and violence as ever ruled the world.

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/"But there is ONE they fear."/

The dragon roared and showed off its rows of gleaming tooth-like-swords and scales-like-shields. It sprang up, an unstoppable mass of impenetrable muscle and sinew.

"[FUS] [RO] [DAH!]" Force. Balance. Push. A wave of force met the beast in mid-spring.

The black dragon stood on its rear legs awkwardly like a baby trying to get up, then toppled backwards, crashing into a house and pulling the stone wall down behind itself. It roared, more in surprise and more offence, than in feeling any pain.

{"WHAT IS THIS? INSECT! YOU CANNOT HARM ME!"}

I shouted back "[Krif Pruzah, Krif Vazah, Dovah!]" Fight well, fight true, dragon!

And Monika began to sing(1), her sweet voice backstopped by a deep chorus. (2)

/"Our hero, our hero

/"*Claims a warrior's heart.*"/

Her voice had a mournful quality, like the clear still air after a winter night's fall.

Likewise, I took deep, cold, heavy breaths. Monika and I could design custom spells, but we found that they needed more words. More words that were a liability in combat.

Spell matrices inside spell stones required no words.

Monika's [Application] Null Spell could combine spell effects, but while magic [Apps] were fast and required no somatic components as well, they locked down her processing cores.

It spat a quick sequence of fireballs at me, then turned its head towards Elze and Linze.

There was a word to describe magic chants.

And that word was Slow.

Magic that used spell chants could only happen as fast as you could describe what you wanted to happen to the world.

[TIID.]

Time. The world seemed to slow down.

[KLO.]

Sand. I could see individual raindrops passing by.

[UL.]

Eternity. I watched the fireballs approach Elze and Linze as if crawling through the air. I could see Elze starting to pull her sister up and throw her aside to save her life. Linze looked oddly at peace, her head turning towards me.

I stepped aside and shouted [VEN] [GAAR] [NOS].

Wind. Unleash. Strike.

A [Cyclone] erupted in between the girls and the dragon, and just pulled up and tore apart the balls of flame. Another fireball passed close by, and exploded the house right behind me.

Time resumed.

/"With a voice wielding power

/"Of the ancient Nord art..."/

We fixed the issue by using a BETTER vocabulary for casting. The problem was that it would consume a spell stone for each effectively pre-cast spell that now only needed a short voice trigger, but then that also explained why I was so obsessed with money. Now money – or rather, a garish number of spell stones – was literally power.

"[QOH!]"

Thoom!

Lightning lanced down, and drove the dragon back to the ground just as it was trying to get up. The bolt was substantially larger than what I could throw from my lightning hands. The tang of ozone and billowing clouds of dust obscured the fallen beast for a moment.

The dragon roared. {"YOUR MAGIC CAN'T HARM ME!"}

The dragon clawed at a nearby wall and grasped at a large chunk of mortared stones. Rather than use more of its dragon fire, it threw the wall section at me. It struggled then to get back to its feet, and flapped its wings wide open.

I didn't even bother to dodge the incoming slab.

"[FEIM]", I whispered. Fade.

The mass of stone passed through me like I was a ghost.

The dragon's wings curled inwards, and then flapped open wider again. The dragon's remaining eye squinted in calculation.

/"For the darkness has passed, and the legend yet grows,

/"You'll know, you'll knooow"/

Mantling. Self-hypnosis. Method acting. Walk like them until they walk like you. Call it what you want.

{"HMF!"} the dragon snorted with twin flares of smoke out of its nostrils. {"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH FUN WITH YOU PATHETIC MORSELS FOR NOW. COUNT YOURSELF FORTUNATE!"}

It shrugged out of the fallen house and flapped its black leathery wings. Soon it was heading straight up into the sky.

"[Nikriin Dovah Daal!]" I shouted at it. Coward Dragon Return. "Where do you think you can go after this?!"

"[WULD]!" Whirlwind. I shouted and jumped.

Violent invisible Force flung me high up into the air, not from behind me, but it was like my whole body just threw itself through the distance illogically without any initating motion.

"[NAH]." Fury.

The second syllable imparted a horizontal correction to my leap, turning it into an arc following the fleeing dragon.

[KEST!] Tempest. The third syllable amplified the air pressure behind me, and soon enough I managed to reach and grab ahold of the dragon's back.

Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin

naal ok zin los vahriin

/"Dragonborn, dragonborn,

/"by his honor is sworn-"/

{"WHAT… WHAT IS THIS?! ARE YOU TRYING TO *RIDE* ME?!"} The dragon screeched and began to twist to and fro in mid-air. {"NO! I REFUSE! I REFUSE! THIS IS NOT RIGHT! GET OFF ME, YOU WORTHLESS INSECT!"}

I clung to its spines and slowly worked my way up towards its head. I could feel the skin being rubbed off my palms. The slick blood made it harder to keep my grip. Maybe I should not have removed my gloves after all.

"[STRUN!] [BAH!] [QOH!]" Storm. Wrath. Lightning. I cast [Storm Call] again, and the skies grew even more violent around us. Thunder and wind boiled and echoed. The night sky was lit up by bolts of lightning.

"You are fire. You are death!" I screamed over the howling wind. "I am the lightning! I am the tempest!"

wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal!

/"To keep evil forever at bay!"/

I reached out towards its neck and called forth: "[QOH!]"

Thoom.

Lightning slammed into Yae's sword still stuck in between its tough armored eyelids and the current went straight into its eye socket. The dragon bellowed in pain.

Ahrk fin norok paal graan

/"And the fiercest foes rout!/

"[QOH!]"

Thoom.

I clambered higher up the dragon's arched neck until I could touch the sword.

"[QOH!]"

Thoom.

fod nust hon zindro zaan

/"When they hear triumph's shout!"/

"[QOH!]"

Thoom.

The eyeball popped in a spray of hot, bloody liquid.

"[QOH!]"

Thoom.

Steam hissed out of the dragon's mouth. Brains began to cook.

"[QOH!]"

Thoom.

The black dragon plunged like a rock, its body limp.

Dovahkiin, dovahkiin,

fah hin kogaan mu draal!

/"Dragonborn, dragonborn…

/"For your blessing we pray…/

I didn't let go, riding the lightning and the falling dragon all the way down to the ground.

Khrump! The black dragon's head and body slammed with bone-jarring force onto the soft soil and dragged a deep furrow before it finally stopped. Dragons were tough, even dead, none of its horns and spines broke from the impact. My bones were the ones that felt that blow.

The rain and the fury of the storm began to fade. As the skies cleared, a sharp moonbeam cast over our slumped forms. With shaky arms I slowly pushed off from my death grip on its horns to get back to my feet onto wet muddy ground.

Monika's voice echoed in the sudden stillness and the acrid tang of ozone cloaking the air:

/"This is the Man Born with the Soul of a Dragon

/"And my Beloved,

/"In whom I am Well Pleased."/

That was also a John the Baptist reference, Monika. Why.

I closed my eyes and waited.

… Nothing.

"So you're just meat after all…" I whispered. It was crazy of me to expect anything to happen.

Something bubbled up from within my gut.

Laughter.

"Aheh. Ahah. Ahahahaha…!"

That was so stupid, I couldn't believe it worked! Ahahaha. I laughed and put a hand over my face, leaving bloody smears on my white mask. I laughed until it hurt.

Ouch. Ouch. Seriously this hurts.

My gut. My hands. My brain.

Ahahaha I can't stop laughing, someone help me.

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Slowly everyone started to approach and see what could be done to rebuild their shattered lives. The [Storm Call] put out all the fires. Lyon and Garm and the soldiers had the people standing in lines checking each other to see if anyone was lost or left behind.

Everyone stared with wonder at the dead dragon. The beast caused a lot of damage, but Monika was sure - injuries notwithstanding - no one had died. That was true victory. We made mistakes, but no one else had to pay the price for them.

Monika laughed silently before my eyes, her green eyes glittering in the dark.

I was supported on either side by Elze and Linze because my muscles were locked up from all the exertion and it would be disgraceful if I faceplanted right there. Unfortunately [Reinforce Physical] ended up being eaten by the magic needed for [Dragon Aspect].

(Note to self: actually invent a real flight spell before trying to fistfight a dragon in the air next time. What kind of dragon can't actually fly?

... This is why the Nerevarine is better, dang it. But I don't want to become a potions addict.)

I stood there and just soaked in the warmth of Elze and Linze's bodies. Dragons were greedy, after all.

Yae and Yumina looked around, wondering how else they could help. Yae's empty hands opened and closed. She had no swords. Her other sword still stuck inside the dragon's eye socket was half-melted. She licked her lips and frowned minutely.

And then we all heard the flapping of great wings.

We all looked up to see another dragon, a white dragon. One older, much larger, and more dangerous than the one we'd just managed to put down only under great unconventional effort.

We narrowed our eyes.

And thunder rolled through clear skies.

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AN:

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOkkE93coIg

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xHRQL5R4Do

Chapter end