Kael Cor: A Vampire's Awakening Chapter 256 Training III : A Challenge

It took me quite a while to finally run out of the library. Just over a hundred meters away from it, I could see some imperial dragons in the air, some of them have wings, some of them do not. But I was able to see that quite a few of them had come prepared for a fight, as it seems like they were really preparing for a fight.
They wore armor, and as if that wasn't enough, some of them had massive energy cannons mounted on their shoulders, and a sort of sharpened metal armor on their tail, making them seem like the tails of a scorpion. I looked up to see that one of the imperial dragon had Soren firmly in his grasp, though based on the amount of scorch marks and scratches he had on his body, Soren made him pay a price.
A feeling of white hot anger lanced through me, almost taking away any form of clarity and the cool headed disposition that I needed to solve this problem. Seeing Soren like that made me angry, but Baeki was right about it being time for me to be a king, this dragons were now my people. And prophecy or not, even I would be upset and angry if I wake up one day, and a couple of strangers appear and tell me that they were now my king and queen. All the resources at my disposal, my power and even my life would now belong to them, no one would like that, not even me.
But the Imperial dragons in the air were not the only ones to watch out for. In fact there were two groups of dragons, both in the air and on the ground, the opposing side just had more imperial dragons, than the side that stood up for me. But there were imperial dragons that supported me, along with what I've now come to know were royal dragons. To make it more clear, the Imperial dragons looked the eastern dragons of Asia, serpentine body, and no wings. Though there were a few variations amongst them, with some actually having wings.
The royal dragons, were westerns dragons. They had a more lizard like body, wings, spikes rather than manes, and they did not have the cat fish like whiskers most Imperial dragons had. But even with their different body shape, both the imperial dragons and royal dragons were diversified by the kind of element they were born with. So on both sides, there were fire dragons, water dragons, poison dragons, stellar dragons, moon dragons, sun dragons etc. The variations were endless, making for a very diversified race of dragons, even though they were mostly divided into two main races.
The Imperial and royal dragons, are known as the elder races, along with the dragon kings of origin who oversaw the power of the seven creation elements, one of which is Adamas the soul dragon, and Ashes the fire dragon. Below them, there were other dragon races, like the sea serpent, the flood dragons, wyverns, Wyrms, Land dragons like Bobo, and a few other species. This races have the bloodline of the elder races, all to varying degrees, but not at a 100% not without growing stronger and evolving.
And finally we have the dragon born, which invariably Includes people like me and Baeki, and Asare and Kuyait. The dragon born, are exactly as their name suggest, people who are born in one way or another from the power, flesh, blood and magic of a dragon. Whether it's natural or not. The bloodlines of this particular breed of people can not be quantified, sometimes it less and not pure enough, other times it would be so strong and pure, you'll be a dragon in human form, and a king. That's exactly what I was, not a Dhamphir vampire, that was half blood sucker and half draconic nature spirit. But a dragon born, with a Vampire's bloodline.

"So the usurper has deigned us worthy of his presence!"
The dragon that spoke, was heavily armored, and he was also the one holding on to Soren. He brought his floating body to ground, with the cannons on both side of his body sliding to the top of shoulder, and extending outwards like a spyglass. And then it began to glow and hum a bit, as energy gathered in it. Dragons using technology...…..fuck! This was amazing.
"I've been waiting for you for quite a while usurper, we have much to discuss and...…"
"Excuse me snake, but who the fuck are you?" Baeki Interrupted him, before I could say anything. She came to stand beside me, as she glared at the dragon. I couldn't help but smile, she had told me to deal with this myself, but she was not the type to let her comrades face anything alone, plus I think she likes Soren a lot.
"Because you're a woman, and a queen, I will overlook your insults. Because I can do that much for my future bride, but as for this usurper he must answer for his crimes!"
Okay what? Since when have dragons become generic sexist villains? I turned to Baeki, and she in turn looked at me, equally shocked and surprised by the answer we just received. From a dragon, this was totally unexpected, and we almost had no idea how to reply to that.
"I'm sorry but I'm married...…at least I still hope I am. It's been a long time since I've seen my husband and son, but I believe we still belong to each other. But let me ask you a question, you want me to be your bride, because I'm the queen of Fire right?" Baeki asked him, as she flicked imaginary dirt from her finger nails.
The tone she used was downright scary, I knew Baeki! All these dragons might think she was just a sweet lady with a fiery disposition, but I knew the real person was bonkers, she was freaking insane and I couldn't blame here. Six thousand millennium trapped in a castle, even though it was very big one, would drive even someone with strongest of wills insane. To be honest she got out a lot better than I expected.
"Well that's not the only reason, but I believe you're right my queen. You're a breed above the rest my Queen." The dragon answered, and then he bowed.
Now I don't really want to know how a dragon and a vampire would....you know....do it! But this dragon was beyond shameless and thick skinned. Suddenly my ears picked up the sound of a heart speeding up, I turned to look at Baeki, and then back at the dragon, and couldn't help but shake my head. She was angry, though I had no idea how powerful the dragon was, or Baeki now that she would have lost most of her skills, this would not end up well for either one of them.
"so you know how to choose the best or as you say a 'breed above the rest'. Well I can do the same, and unlike you who aims for something you're not worthy of, my husband was already chosen for his destiny, a king, a father and the only man worthy of me. So your challenge, i accept it on behalf of the soul king, and let me promise you, if you're not a broken pile of bones by the time this is over, I'll kill you myself. Now let my cat go!"
"I'm not your cat!" Soren shouted out in indignation, angry at the label she placed on him. To be honest I was trying my best not to laugh, and I didn't know why. My emotions seemed to be allover the place, but either way, it seems I have to fight.
"Very well then, I'll prove to you why I'm Shao Tie, the Imperial Solar dragon!"
And then his cannons began to glow with an intense light, with a loud bang, two golden beams were released from his cannons, heading straight for me. Usually I would have called out my shield, and then weaved on it, but I had this knowledge in me, than on an instinctual level, I no longer needed a medium to weave my soul runes. The soul runes once branded on my body were already gone, probably healed during my awakening, so there was no other option than for me to just raise my hand, and weave.
[SHIELD] BANG!
There was a loud explosion as the beams of solar energy slammed into golden runic shield that came into existence in front of me. The runes on it were different, before the word shield would have been seen, but now the word was missing, and the rune was made up of a written language I immediately recognized as dragon tongue, the first language of magic.
Twenty seconds later the beams assault came to an end, and Shao Tie shot towards me, jaws opened wide, with fire peaking from behind his throat. I shifted sideways, and slammed a punch into his side, pushing his almost 60 meter long body away from me, as he crashed into the tree line. He was up almost immediately, as his cannons began to glow once again, but I used my aura and flew into the sky, making sure his attack won't hit any of the onlookers. The beam came flying towards me again, just as expected, but this time I dodged it by flying higher.
Shao Tie roared in anger as he also flew Into the air and came after me, smoke escaping from the barrels of his cannons. As he got closer he released a flash of light that blinded me for a second, and then he raked his claws across my body, drawing blood and sending me crashing to the ground like a meteor. I broke more than three miles worth of trees, digging a furrow into the ground as my helpless body smashed into a small hill, completely obliterating said hill into a massive pile of rocks and sand.
Shao Tie was not willing to let me catch my breath, as his cannons began to glow again, signifying their charge, and seconds later the beams were rushing for my position. I aimed to use my minor teleportation, but instead I fell into the ground, and found myself in a grey world. For a moment I had no idea where I was, I could see the forest, I could see Shao Tie, and in the skies above me, I could see wraith like creatures flying about.
And at the foot of every tree around me, or ever dark corner I could see a doorway of light. Anything that casted a shadow, could very well lead me out of this place, and that's when I realized that I was in the shadow realm. I was no longer a Nosferatu, but a Shadower, which meant I could use the darkness element, and travel to and fro the shadow realm.
I also noticed that time seemed to be a lot slower within the shadow realm, as all of Shao Tie's movements were painfully slow. It was a welcome development, but this also meant I had a lot more work to do. Because now I had to get myself reacquainted with all of my abilities, and not just focus on magic.
I looked up at Shao Tie and discovered he was a variation of imperial dragon with wings, and right now, said wings had cast a shadow on the ground, and even on his body it self. I ran towards the obvious gateway, and jumped in, shooting outwards, with my fist cocked and heading straight for his jaw.
CRACK!
That was the mother of all uppercuts, and with my insane physical abilities, it would have been surprising if nothing had gotten broken. The hit turned him upside down, as he was forced into a flip, he used that opportunity to slam his armored tail at me. I crossed my hands In defense, but was still thrown backwards into the air. For a moment, I felt as if my hands were broken, but when I looked at them, I saw that they were covered by a layer black and white scales, and my fingers were sporting fierce claws, that looked capable of much damage.
I had no ides what I looked like now, as I felt four new additions to my body. I had a tail, horns, wings and really fierce looking fangs in my body. This was my bloodline skill, Dragon Born. Or to be more precise my dragon form, and in this form, I felt more in control of my speed, strength and resilience. But my anger, was at an all time high.
I shot towards Shao Tie, nothing more than blur as raked my claws at his side, drawing blood that spilled to the ground in a shower of gold and red. He turned towards me, and fired his cannons again, but using push, I diverted them away, and redirected them back to his body.
BOOM!
The ensuing explosion pushed him backwards, flinging him through the sky as his massive body crashed to the ground, creating a massive crater. I flew up above him, and came crashing down foot first on his head, he was a dragon, that would not be enough to make him yield. So I went up, flapping my wings, and then I shot downwards again, and then up, down, up down. Again and again, until Shao Tie was clearly beaten black and blue, as it constitutes for a dragon.
Then I fell to the ground, incredibly weakened. Soren caught me, and placed me on his back, as Baeki walked towards the downed dragon, and raised his head almost effortlessly, like he weighed nothing more than a feather. Then she asked him.
"Do you yield, or do you want to die instead?"
"I recognize my wrongs and yield to the mercies of both of you. Please forgive my transgressions...…..your Majesties."

Chapter end