Shadow 9: Ryikaria the Hollow

The roar of the dragon echoed throughout the open field. Rushing straight at the beast, Ryikaria readied herself for how she was going to dodge the attack aimed at her and the precise way she would follow up with a strike to its head. As the dragon reared its head back, a dark purple flame expanded within its mouth. Okay, it’ll attack by using its flame breath. Easy enough to dodge, Ryikaria thought as she watched the dragon lunge its head forward in her direction. Out of its mouth was a straight cone of flame that was on a collision course for her. Moving swiftly to the left using her magic to grant her a boost in speed, Ryikaria could feel the heat radiating from the fire.

Dashing with haste, Ryikaria calculated the distance in height to the dragon’s head and used her leading foot to push off the ground. Leaping into the air, she closed the distance and prepared to slice off the creature’s horn. With one cut, Ryikaria could feel the recoil from her weapon as she drove it into part of the horn. It was clear the dragon felt the blow but the cut had only managed to cause a dent of only one-fourth of diameter of the massive horn. Landing on her feet, the dragon glared at Ryikaria with its red eyes.

“You’re a tough one.”

“Few manage to inflict such a wound on me. Truly this will be a glorious battle,” Xrzavpe said in delight.

Rushing forward without hesitation, Ryikaria watched as the right claw of the dragon came swooping in from the side. Using her violin to block the blow, she could feel the force equivalent to a giant castle crashing into her. Her body slid against the dirt while the support of her heels snapped. Even with them broken, she still managed to hold her ground against the weight of the claw pushing against her. Using all the strength she had, Ryikaria pushed back the dragon’s whole arm and looked down at her shoes. These things were death traps anyway, she thought as she removed her heels. Sensing an attack from her right, she used her magic to evade the other claw.

Without delay, she used her magic with haste and jumped as high as she could, seeing the large swooping tail of the dragon coming towards her. Managing to just barely vault over the tail that would have easily crushed her. Landing on all fours, Ryikaria moved quickly as she rushed towards the dragon. I need to find his weak point and fast, otherwise, he will kill me, she thought as her mind raced with ideas on the fastest why to take down the dragon. After studying each of the attacks the dragon had used, Ryikaria had a good idea on how to counter each of them and land a flow up blow. Evading another attack from the beast, she managed to climb atop its arm and rushed towards his head.

The brain is always the first place to start with, followed by the heart, Ryikaria thought as she leapt from her current position and readied her bowstring to pierce the dragon’s skull. She could feel her weapon barely penetrate the thick bone and scale of the dragon’s skull. Looking behind her, she could see the dragon’s hand coming at her, ready to crush her without mercy. Pulling her bowstring out at the last second, she managed to fall before clinging onto a scale on the side of the dragon’s face. Hanging on with one hand, Ryikaria placed her bowstring in her mouth and looked around the surrounding area. While falling from this height probably won’t kill me, it would definitely break something. Can’t have that while I’m fighting, she thought as she noticed a large dome-shaped scale protruding from the dragon.

After swinging over to it, she gripped on tightly and took the few short seconds she had to figure out her next plan of attack. This is exciting. A beast that is actually on par with my skill and strength, Ryikaria thought as she felt a sense of happiness deep inside. Standing to her feet, she could start to feel the dome-shaped object radiate a strong amount of heat. Without warning, she could feel her foot sink into the soft flesh of the object. In an instant, she her foot felt as if it was burning up. Pulling herself up and jumping over to a nearby scale, she looked down at her foot as she hung there. Part of her stocking had dissolved as if it had been soaked in acidic liquid. The red liquid appeared to be blood from what Ryikaria had gathered. Well, I probably just caught whatever disease this dragon may have. If so, guess I should be the first to name it. Such I survive and have some odd dragon’s disease maybe I’ll call it Lohikarme Immunodeficiency Virus or maybe just LIV for short, Ryikaria thought as she looked around for a safe place to drop down to. After a few seconds, she noticed the dragon’s arm within range. Calculating the distance of the drop, she swiftly let go once she knew she could make it. Sliding down the shoulder with grace, she plunged her bowstring into the scales of the dragon as hard as she could. The dragon could only roar in pain as his eyes gazed upon what was causing the pain in his arm.

As she landed on the base of his arm, she quickly plunged her sword into his scales and held onto her bowstring tightly with one hand. The dragon quickly tried to fling her forward and off. Using the momentum, Ryikaria calculated the best way to thrust herself forward and into the range of the dragon’s eye. Slicing open the dragon’s right eye an ear scattering roar rattled Ryikaria’s eardrum. She could see the claw of the dragon coming straight for her as if he was swatting away a fly. Acting with haste, she used her violin to block the incoming blow.

Like a brick hitting the ground, the impact would have made any other Shadow Taker pass out due to the force of hitting the dirt with such a force – alongside various broken bones. Yet, this didn’t stop Ryikaria. She continued to fight through the pain that was surging throughout her body. At least nine bones had been broken inside her body as well as her right arm. Taking the few seconds she had, she reset the bone in her arm and looked up at the dragon who continued to hold his eye and glare at her with an expression that would destroy the will of most people.

“Got something in your eye there, my friend?” Ryikaria joked.

“’Tis nothing. You appear to be injure though,”

“Just an old injury, nothing more.”

“Shall we continue then?”

“Yes please. This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

“I feel the same. This is truly a battle that makes me feel alive!”