Dragon's Challenge - D. R. Rosier Page 0,83

fire.

She roared in agony, and she flinched away from the excruciating pain. Enough so that he was able to rip his back claws out of her tight hold, and then dig it deeply into her stomach.

He didn’t have time to rip her to death any more than she had of him. He feared she’d recover and heal herself long before he could finish it that way. So, he channeled yet more magic and transmuted it to water magic while routing it through his body and out of his clawed back legs. Dug deeply into her stomach, it completely bypassed her protective shields and flooded her body from the tips of his buried claws.

That wouldn’t last long, she’d adjust and toss his magic out, but she wasn’t fast enough. He couldn’t blame her, considering how agonizing it must be to have her maw melting, and her eyes blinded by phoenix fire. He imagined she couldn’t focus enough in that moment to sneeze, much less direct magic.

He focused and gripped all the water on her insides, and then he ripped it away in several directions at once with all his power.

Khalea’s body exploded into raining viscera, blood, bone, and scale.

His roar of victory split the sky, and he flooded his body with more life magic to heal his burns, and his ripped open stomach. There were other pains and bruises that fled as well, and his head cleared as the pain receded.

He roared as he took off into the sky, using the cleaning cantrip to make his shining silver scales spotless instead of covered with blood and hanging viscera. He landed in front of the enemy army, which hadn’t moved an inch and had been watching their battle unfold, and he let out a threatening roar.

Then he shifted, and he shrunk to human form. He proceeded to glare at them all, as if daring them to attack him. This was the second half of the plan, to intimidate a whole army into running away. Honestly, he thought he had a pretty good chance of winning if they attacked him. The soldiers would fall like wheat, and he knew his ladies were in position by now to take on the wizards and sorcerers if need be.

At the very least, he’d be able to fight a retreat back to the fort. Next to his sister in her true form, these non-magical human soldiers were nothing. Not with earth shields and water shields to assist him.

An older looking gentleman walked out of the formation and approached.

The old man cleared his throat, “We’ll be pulling back. The prince collapsed when the gold dragon died. We had no idea she wasn’t human, and we suspect she had the prince under her spell. I don’t know what the emperor will decide, but we won’t be fighting today.”

He nodded, “Since you’ve yet to violate Uradia’s border, I see no reason to push for terms. You may withdraw in peace. I’d suggest you be convincing when explaining what you saw today, I will not be so forgiving next time you threaten what is ours.”

Well, when you bluffed, you should bluff big.

The old man swallowed, and then nodded firmly as he turned around, and shouted out orders to start the march home.

He didn’t celebrate yet, he had no doubt that as soon as the army was out of visual range, they’d stop and have one of the wizards get instructions. He hoped for the best, but they may have just put off the battle for a single day.

Epilogue

“I think I’m more worn out now than I was after that battle,” he said ruefully.

Six wickedly amused female giggles rose up around him. They’d worn his ass out, but he’d done a number on them as well, and they were completely sated for the moment. It was two days after the battle, since he’d taken down his sister, and his princess had been quite firm about him needing a ‘rest’ as soon as he arrived.

Of course, rest was a euphemism for the fact she wanted him in her bed. Even the king looked a little amused and agreed to put off the debriefing until he’d had a chance to rest up.

Stephanie was curled into his left side, and Cinder on the right. His three nymphs and succubus were in a pile next to them. It was a dirty job keeping them all sated and happy, but he was looking forward to doing it daily for the next several thousand years.

Stephanie said, “So, the