187 - Blood Feud Pt. 3 [Sturmblitz]

Last of his tribe, whose murder he had sought to avenge. It had been in pursuit of that very vengeance that he had become the Revenant King’s mightiest shield-brother.

Across the city, Teutobochus waged mighty battle against the raging sapdragon, the titan’s armor all but destroyed and its left arm shredded down to half of its original thickness, its skeletal shape still wrapped in muscle and a thin layer of construct-skin. Even with Red’s vast arcane powers, the dragon’s will to plunge deeper into the city could not be stopped - only slowed down. At this rate, it would reach the district where the Hulson longhouse was located before long.

“It may be best to just fire the Inverse Array at full power and hope for the best.”

“In this state, that shot will suffice to either wound Eisengeist with a one-in-three chance of driving him away, or to sever one row of his tendrils, IF we aim it perfectly.”

“Suggestions?”

“...Perhaps Zefaris could immobilize it.”

“Send the aetherwave message.”

“Already sent.”

The response they received was intercut with the sound of gunfire: “Eternal Snow wouldn’t work, it would just get out of the circle before I can finish carving it. Maybe… Maybe I could pin it with a Black Rod, though I couldn’t do that under my own power either… Try to get Red to help. I’ll ask Fryg. And try to weaken it beforehand if you can, it’ll take a few minutes to form the rod.”

“A few minutes, without Karmesin’s aid…”

“We may have no choice but to use the Inverse Array after all. At worst we could use Teutobochus’ body mass to weigh the dragon down.”

Victor ignored his other inner monologue for the moment, forcibly focusing himself on keeping up with Eisengeist. The dragon’s speed and moment-to-moment tactical sense superseded any combatant he had ever faced, laying traps and feinting to its full ability using all its limbs. It still felt like a miracle that he could somewhat keep up, and even land the occasional hit.

Then, it came. The memory restoration wave.

Hul’s starmetal spear, tempered in the blood of a thousand conquerors, once defaced by the Smoke Witch’s crime, had long been reforged into another identity as the Serpentkiller. It, too, recalled its true self, to which it now instantaneously returned, and the shockwave of that instant transformation alone sufficed to stun Eisengeist with crippling pain. The artifact ripped open his chest and nearly slipped free, but did not fall.

Taking advantage of Eisengeist’s momentarily stunned state, Victor charged in and grabbed it ‘round the neck with Teutobochus’ left arm, stomping on its foot while grabbing for its nearest tail with the Titan’s right hand. He brought the Inverse Array to bear against it at high-output, willing Teutobochus to put all its spare power output into pulling. Even the mighty ray of arcane fire that burst forth from the titan’s maw couldn’t sever the sapdragon’s tail in one fell swoop; it burned and tore away at the flesh, but the dragon’s bones and nerves defied severance.

“I would rather not sacrifice the titan. It could be of use in the future.”

“My Titans are not so easily killed, least of all Teutobochus. So long as the reactor and at least three hearts are intact, it can regenerate to full capacity… Given a few months. Or years.”

“Send Karmesin the message.”

“Done. Eyes forward, it’s charging another heat-blade barrage.”

The response from Karmesin came in just as Victor impelled the titan to exhale a high-power barrier.

“How do you know- Very well,” was her response before she laid into Eisengeist one last time, flying away. It wasn’t until Red set loose her durability-defying magic that the bladed tendril was finally separated from the dragon’s body. Even as she fled, she continued firing those northlight-coloured death rays in the dragon’s direction.

“Such terrible power. I hope Zelsys doesn’t fight her again before the Butcher is repaired.”

“A ground-based combatant will struggle to counter full flight capability such as Lady Karmesin’s regardless of raw power.”

Thinking quickly, he grabbed with Teutobochus’ free hand for the spear, ripping it out of the great beast’s chest before he leapt backwards, knowing that the greater shock would snap the dragon out of its stupor.  The sapdragon’s tendril writhed about in Teutobochus’ grasp, but it didn’t rebel, and Victor merged the liberated spear to the titan’s left palm for the moment. Meanwhile, Eisengeist howled in agony and rage, spewing burning sap skyward as blood geysered from its chest-wound, flooding the street.

“We ought to commandeer it for ourselves. By repurposing Teutobochus’ self-repair mechanisms, we can fuse the severed tendril to its wrist for the duration of the battle.”

“Will a dragon’s flesh not be a problem?”

“It will wreak havoc on the titan’s subsystems, overstrain the reactor, and damage its hearts in mere hours. Extend nerve fibers through the wrist and have Teutobochus regurgitate construct-flesh to meld it to the arm.”

“...And we need a few minutes at most, be it for Eisengeist to bleed out or for our allies to pin him. Extending nerve fibers.”

“I doubt that Eisengeist will bleed out. Something about Dragon Descendants makes it nearly impossible to bleed them to death, short of ripping their hearts open. Even such a wound will not suffice if the hole isn’t big enough… And lest we forget the Saga of Wide-wuth, Eisengeist’s blood is paralytic - a trait endemic to Razorflayers, amplified by draconic essence. Such a poison will work even on Teutobochus in large enough quantities. Another reason to end this quickly.”

Infuriated by what had been done to it, the mighty dragon spewed a great mass of sap from its maw, but used magic to gather it into a congruent sphere in front of its mouth, compressing it until it resembled a small star. Victor quickly repositioned so that only ruin would be behind Teutobochus as the flame-sphere ripped forth with a sonic boom and tore a gash of molten earth in its wake. He used the dragon’s own stolen appendage to cut its attack  in half, causing it to burst into twin tidal-waves of superheated sap that blanketed a wide swath behind the titan.