Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 129 - 124: Dragon Breath

Torture.

That’s what I was going through right now.

Bang, bang, bang...

My head kept pounding, as if someone was hammering it from the inside.

My veins were throbbing and popping under the immense strain that I was under.

’Fuck...’

I wanted it to end... I wanted it to end so bad...

I almost wished... I couldn’t.

.

.

.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I am not developing some masochistic tendencies of self-hurt or torture.

It was just that enduring when you can end your suffering anytime, is the hardest kind of enduring. If I couldn’t end it, I would just suck it up, not wasting my precious brain power to even think this stuff...

But I could end it with just a wave of my hand, no, with just a thought. And that was the worst temptation someone could give me right now.

Thankfully, I was holding on... for the stakes were very high. If I ended my suffering, many others would suffer. And unlike mine whose suffering was a cycle of healing and destruction; their suffering could very well mean death.

That gave me a very strong reason to keep enduring.

So, what was my suffering you ask?

It was my spell, [Solar Bastion].

While it was healing everyone on the battlefield, it was completely destroying my brain. If my body wasn’t locked in a perfect condition it would’ve turned into a mush already.

A chaotic battlefield, with hundreds of soldiers and thousands of monsters. It was a spell that had me to monitor every one of these soldiers, keeping track of their locations, their movements, and their conditions so that I could send perfectly timed heals to everyone with pin-point accuracy.

Along with that, I was also keeping track of the Verdant Warden’s activities; firing super condensed beams of light on their face to keep their interference to minimum.

And last but not the least, I was channeling and controlling a massive amount of elemental energy and mana to keep the spell going.

All that combined was giving my brain a much harder time than I imagined. It wasn’t overwhelming to the point that it could destroy my brain in a second, if that had been the case then the spell would’ve collapsed. Instead, it was the kind thing that I could do for around 2 minutes before my brain ached and forced me to stop.

But since I didn’t stop, my nerves were popping, quite literally.

They popped and then healed, again popped and then healed... it was this circle that had me.

’Ahh, just two, no, just one more day would’ve been enough to finish that auto-aiming runery.’, I winced feeling as if I was about to puke from the constant destruction and healing of my nerves.

Atleast...

[Intelligence +1]

[Intelligence +1]

[Intelligence +1]

...my brain was getting some rewards, I consoled as I kept my eyes peeled and observed the battlefield, especially Syrus and Allen who were fighting on the frontlines.

’As I expected, Syrus is doing good. He is not unfamiliar to the chaos of the battlefield. Allen though... he’s struggling.’

***

[Allen’s POV]

Allen was in a precarious position.

A ten-year-old on a battlefield, of course he was in a precarious position – was what common sense dictated.

And yeah, it was true but for completely different reasons.

Allen... the cute boy was losing his mind... quite literally.

-Burn them.

-Tear the marrow from their bones...

-You are chaos, little one. Let them feel it.

-No mercy. No thought. Only madness.

-He bleeds. Taste it. Savor it.

-You were born to end this age.

Primal, dark, insane and yet almost hypnotic voices ravaged the boy’s mind.

’No, no, no! Don’t listen to those voices!’

The boy desperately tried to keep his mind.

’Remember what happened last time!’

-Why do you resist?

-I’m you, you are me.

-One voice. Ours. Yours. Mine. Listen.

-No more crying. Only screaming. And then silence.

Yet, the hypnotic whispers of a chaotic dragon were too much for his little mind to handle.

-Let go, let go, let me in, let me out...

-You are not a child. You are the end.

-So, end them, their miserable lives.

Allen covered his ears, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. But even as he did so, the clangor of battle remained clear in his mind.

The screams, the blood, the chaos... they were taking over his psyche.

He was the insane dragon’s host after all, and right now, he was in the dragon’s element.

The battle, the chaos, the blood, the madness – they called him, like an invisible force filling him with the deepest darkest desires of the ones thriving in it. The desires were not his, but he felt like acting on them, fulfilling them, succumbing to them.

It was very hard, very vexing to resist... Why was he resisting in the first place?

’No! That’s not me it’s the curse. Don’t mistake it, don’t listen to it. Stay SANE!’

The kid reminded himself again and again – his voice growing weaker each second...

Outside the battle went on, red painted the ground, explosions echoed across the battlefield and roars of madness lingered in the spectators’ ears.

-Allen!

That’s when a singular voice sparked in his chaotic mind, which suddenly calmed down for an unknown reason.

-You’re doing it wrong Allen.

’Big brother Rayne?’

-Did you forget already?

’I am doing it wrong?’

-Remember! Even if you’re going insane, be in control.

’That doesn’t make sense big brother.’

Slowly the noises weren’t being as loud in the boy’s mind as he regained his bearings, noticing the golden amulet Rayne had given him glowing vibrantly.

And while he didn’t know for sure, his instinct told him that this amulet had filtered out those voices.

-That doesn’t make sense? Ugh, you should’ve told me that when I explained that to you yesterday!

’Sorry big brother, the cookies were too delicious.’

-Sigh... No more cookies for a week. I’ll explain again, this time focus.

’Yes, big brother.’, he replied, suddenly sniffling.

Be in control even when going insane.

Sounded insane but was not.

-First, start slowly. Erase the rigid thought of blocking every bit of that power.

-Next imaging is important, so imagine that power as body of water. It’s very powerful, right?

’Yes.’

-So, imagine it to be a very big river. Remember that river we saw as we left the territory?

’The huge river with the big dam?’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

-Yes, that one. Imagine it just like that, and don’t forget the dam. Can you imagine it like that?

’I already did, Big Brother!’

Good, cause we don’t have much time, Rayne swallowed that thought in his mind as he continued.

-Now, Allen, what happened when they opened the dam?

’Scum! Scum was launched in the air.’

-Exactly, that is what you have to do as well. Gather that ’scum’ or the bad part of the power from the river you imagined and when you open the dam, shoot it out. Then, keep the dam open for as long as there is little scum in the river and as soon you feel the scum increasing close the dam.

’No. That’s not possible big brother. That power doesn’t listen to me at all!’

-It’s hard but its not impossible, Allen. I know that you can do-!

And that was it.

Big brother’s voice disappeared and the dragon returned.

In its full glory, the dragon spoke sickening words that somehow appeared sweet to the boy’s mind. But what Rayne said remained in the boy’s mind.

That’s when the boy, Allen Rackfert tapped into the dragon’s power for the first time.

***

[Syrus’s POV]

Things were getting tough for Syrus and his group.

It had been almost two hours since the battle started and simply put the mercenaries were starting to get tired.

In the first-place mercenaries were not the kind of force that were suitable for sustained fighting.

That was the role of the knights who arranged themselves in a neat formation and fought. A formation was, after all, a much efficient killing machine, unlike the mercenaries who just arranged themselves so as to not get in each other’s way.

Still, it was faster than Syrus had expected, considering the mercenaries here had fended off a number of monster waves before.

And somehow, he knew the reason, ’The healing spell, it has increased the morale of the mercenaries too much. They’re fighting much more aggressively and are getting tired faster.’

And while the spell indeed washed-off some of the fatigue of the fighters it couldn’t completely erase it.

Looking around the battlefield, Syrus noticed that was not the case for the disciplined knights or the Song of the Forest that mostly consisted of calm natured species.

’Atleast the rear supports are still in good condition.’, he thought, taking one last glance at Allen before stepping to the side and parrying the lunge from a Gorglite from underground.

His sword scraped against the beast’s horns as he stepped back before jumping over the beasts’ tail which came lashing at him, a question plaguing his mind, ’Did I see it wrong or was Allen’s chest shining?’

Stealing another glance at Allen, as he ducked down and slashed at the ’relatively’ soft belly of the Gorglite, Syrus became sure that it was just him seeing things. Though, he noticed Allen’s closed eyes and furrowed brows as if he was focusing on something very hard.

’What the hell is he doing on the battlefield?’ was Syrus’ first thought. Even his fondness of Allen couldn’t outweigh the lessons he learnt from the battlefield.

But those thoughts stopped there as he heard from his amulet on the public channel.

-Frontline units, except the leaders, be prepared retreat. I repeat, frontline units, except the leaders, be prepared to retreat.

Followed by Rayne’s voice on his team’s channel.

-Allen and Syrus, both of you will stay. Syrus, protect Allen and be prepared for the worst.

Now, that had Syrus confused. Sure, the situation was dire but it was not to the extent that they needed to retreat or he had to prepare for the worst. But he did as he was told as always.

Adjusting his position, he moved towards Allen, who still had his eyes closed, a subtle cyan flowing through his veins – he was being prepared.

And soon the order for retreat was here.

-Frontline units, retreat. Frontline units, retreat. Team leaders stay and cover the forces.

Syrus helped Ruhr, and the nearby Zera with the retreat all while guarding Allen.

Needless to say, it was quite tough. After all, they had to keep a small army’s worth’s monsters at bay, but they managed.

Just as Syrus was wondering what their next move was going to be, that he felt a chill run down his spine. A bone chilling sensation assaulted him leaving him in goosebumps with his whole body trembling.

And that was just the beginning.

The sky was bright, yet the world around started darkening.

Even the calm Syrus had tempered across countless wars was shaken. The aura that he felt was just that ferocious.

He felt it, something weird, something sickening, crawling on his skin.

It started off like a itch, an unbearable itch that told him to destroy everything. Before more and more of that malice seeped into his being evolving that itch into a frenzy.

’Just what kind of monster is this!!?’, Syrus despaired, desperately holding on his sanity.

Suddenly, he felt an impossibly powerful aura soar behind him.

’What!? Behind me-!’

Syrus turned around with lightning speed, his giant sword ready to pounce on whatever was behind him.

Except it didn’t.

It was just a glance, a passing unassuming glance, but it was all it took for him to lower his sword.

A chaotic bundle of darkness was all he saw. His vision completely dominated by it.

Was the darkness actually that all encompassing or was his mind plagued by frenzy playing tricks on him, he didn’t know.

What he did know was that as soon as that unblinking crazy white eyes – he didn’t want to make an enemy out of that.

That silhouette that made him think of an dragon, even when he had only seen them in books.

He was dumbstruck for a moment, his eyes taking in the form of that dark power that had appeared out of nowhere.

It was vast and unclear, with its hind legs casually using the defensive wall as a support.

And while the wall was sturdy it definitely didn’t have any chance supporting the creature’s weight, hinting Syrus at its ethereal nature. Though that didn’t make it any less terrifying.

-MOVE ASIDE SYRUS!!

Rayne’s voice thundered inside his mind, bringing with him a semblance of clarity as he quickly dodged to the side.

Just in time, for the darkness moved. A maw that previously wasn’t there opened, and everything the darkness represented coalesced in front of it impossibly swiftly.

And then, a beam of annihilation – a Dragon Breath, was launched on the quivering, shaking monsters.

Syrus’ world turned black and white for a moment, his soul screamed danger and a sound like the world itself coming undone rang in his ears. But even as he was blown away, sent tumbling from the mere pressure of the breath, he could not tear his eyes away from the spectacle.

Though that didn’t matter to the breath, nothing did actually—air, trees, monsters, even the heavy barriers the Verdant Wardens had raised. It passed through them all with the same indifferent ease, annihilating everything in its path.

It did not slow nor did it dim.

It carved a white line through the world, stretching onward and onward, until it vanished beyond the limits of Syrus’ sight—leaving behind only silence and a wound the world itself had not yet realized it possessed.

***

[Rayne’s POV]

While everyone else was at least shaken, and some were outright despairing, Rayne was happy, more than happy actually.

He didn’t have to maintain [Solar Bastion] anymore as frontlines had retreated, that definitely helped. But most of it was thanks to Allen.

Well, not everything went according to the plan, like Allen was not supposed to fire a breath like that and collapse right after.

He was supposed to enter a sort of ’draconic mode’ and plow through monsters but that was not supposed to be this dramatic, really.

Ironically enough, the Dragon Breath created a deep white gouge on the ground that dimmed as time passed so at least that was not the problem.

Same could not be said for the monster wave though. It took out two whole Verdant Wardens, and anything that remotely even touched the beam.

If only Allen could swivel the beam sideways then the fight itself would be over.

Not that he expected that kind of control from the boy.

It was good enough that he didn’t faint or something. Sure, he was sprawled on the ground and breathing heavily but that was okay.

Honestly, Syrus was more injured from the breath than Allen and he would also have to check on him later, but before that – he couldn’t just leave the mob of disorganized monster as is could he?

-Team leaders! Now’s our chance attack! I repeat, ATTACK!

Rayne shouted jumping in the fray faster anyone.

His shout and the succeeding sonic boom served as a wake up call for all the team leaders, however spooked or terrified they were, to join him into battle.

And that just sealed the fate for the surviving monsters of the first monster wave.