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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years ago

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Rebel King

Dominic hid in the parklike green space that separated the Halls Norton and Amber from the rest of the campus, but he couldn’t stay here long. It was meant to emulate the green spaces of Cambridge where Students could escape the radiant heat and public works could be tastefully concealed by bushes. It was a popular place for art galleries and yoga sessions. It was one of the few places to hide and he could be easily surrounded here. He just needed a moment to catch his breath. Running up the stairs from the ceremony, fighting Tjark, and then fleeing here, all at breakneck speeds stressed even his stamina. This was only the first leg of his journey. He had to save strength. He took slow deep breaths, leaning on a massive oak tree and listened. He could hear distant shouting and the voices were growing louder. He’d shot several people and now was going to be his only chance of escape for a while. This little rest was enough and all he would be getting. It was time to move. He chose to direct himself perpendicular to the voices. With luck, they would run right past him. He kept himself low to the ground and broke into a jog.

His foot suddenly caught and something pulled hard at his shin. It was as though he were lassoed. The noose tightened hard around his ankle and he heard his pants tear. He tried to keep himself from falling but then his other foot was caught and he fell face first into the dirt. He groaned, the wind knocked out of him. Cutting pain burned into his lower legs. The moonlight reflected off two invisible filaments stretched between two trees. How could she still be alive? Rage filled him. He had shot her pointblank in the chest! She should be dead, bleeding out on the floor of Amber Hall!

He looked up in fury at the woman who stepped out from behind a tree. Her long thin form was like a ninja. She moved in complete silence. He heard she trained in Japan with a family of covert operatives and it certainly showed. She knew he would be here and she just waited. He could see where the bullet had shredded the uniform right over where her heart should be. Sylke. He hated her. She never wanted to hurt him, only stop him or slow him down. She was effective with a monofilament weapon, long invisible threads that she kept hidden on her wrists. The strings themselves weren’t deadly but he had run into them and blood was soaking his socks. At the right tension, she could have severed his legs completely. Still, he climbed to his feet and staggered towards her.

“You can’t run.” She said softly. “So now you're going to fight me? Adrenaline is dulling the pain but those cuts are going to need stitches.”

Where were the other traps? If she had anticipated he would come here, then she had to have set more. He stopped and looked around for them but those ultrafine, ultra strong fibers were nearly impossible to see in the dark without the aid of rain or fog. Like spidersilk, you didn’t see them until they were right in front of you.

She was looking at him with wide, concerned eyes. “You need to stop, Dominic. You can’t escape here.”

She didn’t have a weapon he could see, but that didn’t mean anything. She was adept at hand to hand combat. Now that she was closer, he could tell that she was wearing a protective vest so he couldn’t shoot her easily. He could try for a headshot but that might miss. Her reflexes were on par with his, lightning quick and without thought. He took a step back. He’d already triggered the trap behind him, so that area was safe.

“Dominic… please. You don’t even know where you are. You know you’re not on the island any more. But you’re not even in Europe. You’re in the United States,” she said, still not moving.

The United States? He fell asleep on the island monastery and woke up in a hotel, then he was told to get dressed and show up at this campus with other people his age. Everywhere he looked he saw luxury and yet he felt threatened. He didn’t know where he was or why he was here, only that the purpose was to slay dragons. This place was Cassell College and he’d been enrolled here for unclear reasons. All he could do was pay as close attention to his surroundings as possible with a view of escaping. He knew there was a train. He could follow the tracks out. Then he could find an embassy and hopefully sanctuary back to the Netherlands.

She was still talking, but she was smart enough to keep her distance. He always attacked when people got close to him. If he could land a good hit, he could escape. He was still armed with that black alchemy sword. It was at his side and he had demonstrated that he could use it without getting corrupted by its power. “Do you think your father would leave you some place you could escape? The only reason you’re here now is because he couldn’t hold you any more.”

He looked up. A sturdy branch was right above him. It was a little far out of reach, but he could use the adjacent tree to jump off of and reach it.

“Dominic!” She lunged for him.

He jumped towards the adjacent tree, and pushed off from that trunk and hooked his hands around the branch, as nimble as a gymnast. He swung as far as he could, hoping to overshoot any more traps, and then hit the ground and rolled. He got up, hopping on his painfully wounded ankles and broke through the cover of the trees, leaving a trail of blood. He was limping badly and wouldn’t get very far at this rate. He still had his gun but he didn’t know how many bullets he had left.

He ran into an open courtyard. A large building was in front of him with a series of steps in front that lead to a bike rack. There were no lights on in the building, the windows were boarded up. It was open air, but no one was around.

Sylke followed him but didn’t try to touch him as he headed for a motorized scooter that was not secured to the rack. “You’re not listening. Our family is full of people with weak and useless genes. You’re the most powerful person we have in our family. That’s why you’ve been able to completely overpower everyone. But that’s not the case here. People here are your equal, and probably a few are above you. If you keep acting out like this… I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Dominic reached the scooter and leaned on it, no keys, no way to turn it on. His ankles were stinging him badly now and Sylke was being so annoying. She was no better than anyone else. She was part of the system that held him captive and she dared act like she cared about what happened to him? He swung the scooter at her head like a baseball bat and knocked her to the ground. He looked down at her coldly unmoved by her so-called concern. Until now, he wasn’t going to waste another bullet on her. But he’d switched past trying to escape now. He pulled his pistol and fired once. This time striking her in the head. She was still and a stain of red rolled past her temple. But she was still breathing, her skull didn’t break apart. Bullet fragments had shattered instead. The ammunition wasn’t lethal! He smashed the pistol to the ground and it broke apart. She had tricked him, even at the last!

If that was the way it was going to be, then he might as well just use his sword and slit her throat while she was down. He reached for the hilt of the sword to draw it and as soon as he gripped it it felt like holding on to a live wire! It’s power overcame him for a moment and he had to forcibly regain control of his body. He gasped for air for a second.

“Your Royal Highness!” A man was coming towards him, waving jovially.

This guy. Of course he’d be here. The most competent fighter he’d ever come in contact with, over six feet tall and just about as wide. And yet he was still wearing that Cassell Uniform. Was it custom made? Wouldn’t surprise him at all. The man was built like a tank. This living wall of muscles was smiling at him. “You really are something. Let’s go back. I’ll take a look at your legs.”

He hated this man more than he hated Sylke. Even if Dominic was uninjured, this guy was extremely hard to land hits on, and the hits he landed barely phased him. He suddenly regretted smashing the pistol. He could have used it against this guy.

“Look if you want to take it out on me, you know I can take it,�� He said, opening his arms. “Go ahead.”

Why would he do that when he could just kill Sylke? He wasn’t going to get out of here anyway, one less guardian would give him a better chance later on. He took a step forward and drew the sword, as though taking him up on his offer, only to spin on the ball of his foot and strike downwards.

The tip of the black blade clanged off another metal blade. Dominic only had time to look up into a furious blue gaze before a fist cracked against his eye socket, blinding him and knocking him back. He tilted backwards and staggered, nearly falling down the hard concrete stairs.

“No way to treat a lady,” a voice snarled.

Dominic could only see stars but his body knew how to get his balance. He scrambled to back up, open some distance between him and this new attacker. He raised his arm up to block an attack he knew was coming but it hit hard enough to bruise the bone.

“Royal Highness huh? What kind of monarch tries to kill their own subjects?” The frigid voice came again.

Still stunned, Dominic danced to one side and the air stirred next to his ear. And he caught the scent of tobacco and alcohol. His vision cleared. A blond haired man with icy blue eyes was fighting him completely shirtless and was still far too close for comfort. Dominic had lost the blade under the assault and was now completely unarmed. The best he could do was cross his arms to take the boneshattering blows that were coming at him. Even though this person looked to be his age, the force of his strikes reminded him of his false father’s silverwood cane.

The six-foot tall body builder came to his aid, grabbing the other man by the shoulder and pushing him away. “Enough! This doesn’t concern you.”

The shirtless man’s gaze was without temperature. “It concerns me when a man tries to kill an unconscious woman.”

“Sylke knows the risks.” The bodybuilder man held out his hand. “The name’s Gerrit! I’m a freshman. We’re from the Netherlands.”

The man’s eyes flicked between Gerrit and Dominic in angry confusion. Dominic figured that if he strayed too far from Gerrit, this man would attack him again and he was frankly, too worn out to fight or run any more. Taking up the sword took more out of him than he expected.

The man finally relaxed and shook Gerrit’s hand. “Caesar Gattuso.”

“Gattuso! The famous family from Italy.” He chuckled jovially. “Don’t worry about us. We’re used to Dominic’s behavior. I can understand while you’re alarmed though.”

A sudden thunder of footsteps was coming closer and closer. Men with pistols surrounded Caesar and Dominic and Gerrit. “Hands in the air! The use of firearms and alchemy weapons are strictly forbidden! Hands in the air! Now!”

Dominic looked down at his bloody torn pant legs. He could practically feel his eye swelling shut. He was probably bruised up from his fall in the woods as well. He wasn’t getting out of here tonight. Just like little miss Sylke said. But now he was curious. She said these people were his equal and may even surpass him right? This was a place he couldn’t escape from, according to her. What would they even do to him? It couldn’t be worse than the terrible beatings he’d received at the monastery, could it? If they killed him, wouldn’t that be a sort of escape? And then that way, even his parents would be free from threat.

Gerrit raised his hands. “Please calm down, the young master is unarmed you see?”

The barrel of a gun was shoved into Gerrit’s face. “You shut up!”

Dominic turned away from the officers of the disciplinary committee. “Do your worst.”

For a moment, no one moved. The words weren’t said with any bravado or pride. They were soft but everyone heard them in the empty hall. The members of the disciplinary committee were suddenly wondering what their ‘worst’ was. He wasn’t holding up his hands. They had to do something. The leader cleared his throat and raised his gun again. “What is your Student number! If you don’t comply you will face demerits!”

“Hey!” A sharp female voice shouted. “What are you doing? It’s not midnight yet. So it’s still technically Freedom Day right?”

The loud clocktower on the campus suddenly started to toll. A red haired woman had approached the fray in nothing but her bathing suit. The disciplinary students' eyes went wide and filled with the sight of her voluptuous figure in full view. “Nothing he did was against the rules. Things got a little rough but everyone’s injuries are minor. Are you really that quick to go back to work?”

The crowd of Disciplinary committee members suddenly lowered their guns and scratched their heads, red in the face.

Nono approached him and hooked her arm in his. “Come on, the party is still rocking.”

“Freedom day?” Dominic had no idea what she was talking about. But apparently on Freedom Day it was okay to shoot people.

“How hard did you hit him?” The red haired woman looked into his eyes a little closer.

“To be frank, I was trying to knock him unconscious.” Caesar rotated his wrist. “His head was harder than I expected.” His smile had returned but his eyes were still filled with that cold fire. He left Dominic with Nono and went to check on Sylke.

“I can get you patched up in Amber Hall…” She whispered with a knowing grin. “You don’t want to be around these guys do you?”

Dominic’s heart suddenly lifted. This was the first time since his father’s stabbing his kidnapper that someone had actually offered to help him escape. They were just turning away from the scene when there was a loud clearing of the throat right next to him. The shadow of Gerrit blocked out the light of the overhead lamps and a heavy hand laid on his shoulder. “I think we’ll be taking care of him.”

“And you are?” Nono looked up at him with innocent eyes.

“Gerrit. We’re long time friends.” That heavy hand tightened on his shoulder. “Right?”

Nono looked him in the eyes. “Do you want to go with them? Say it. Yes or no.”

Gerrit suddenly spoke in Dutch. “You know what could happen if your father calls and you don’t answer. The people who raised you are alive because you cooperated.”

Dominic’s ears were ringing and a cold feeling spread down his spine. He let go of Nono. Gerrit beamed. “There’s a good lad!” he said gently. “We'll take care of his injuries!”

He froze. Nono looked him right in the eyes with a fiery gaze. Gerrit coughed. “I’m sorry, we’ll join your party another time ya?”

Nono crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “Ya. Sure you will.”

#Dominic #Dragon Raja #Caesar Gattuso #Chen Motong

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abraxos-the-phantom · 2 years ago

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Birthday Party

Lu Mingfei could swear that there was something slightly off with the world today.

Not that he hadn’t been experiencing multiple instances of strangeness ever since he accepted that damned offer to Cassel College; in between the mock battles, dragons, learning Yanling and awkwardly observing the social hierarchy – he hadn’t had much time to figure out why something felt off.

“Lu Mingfei. Feifei. Hello~”

He blinked at the hand waving in front of him.

“Aiyo Feifei” the Finger shook his head at him, the music of the banquet hall suddenly roaring back to full volume. “And there you are doing it again! Is there really something so interesting about a party? Have you never gone to a party before?”

“No- I-“ Lu Mingfei felt an itch, similar to the itch he got whenever he sensed Lu Mingze in the room. “Something doesn’t-“

“May I have this dance?”

Lu Mingfei blinked.

There was another man, a student maybe? Dressed in all-black with an extended tailcoat, a crimson brooch color matching with carmine-colored irises that almost seemed to glow in the golden light of the ballroom. His hair was tastefully mused, looking all the world like the rest of Caesar’s seemingly endless guest lists of rich people, yet there was something that seemed familiar and terrifying to the way he stood. Almost unnervingly still, like he wasn’t even breathing.

“Uh – we’re both men- um” Lu Mingfei awkwardly stuttered out.

“I’m sure there are more interesting things to look at” the man chuckled “it is rude to ignore the Birthday Girl after all.”

“Have you greeted her?” He retaliated.

“But of course,” his smile inched the slightest bit wider, head tilted towards him as if to let him in on a secret. “in between the champagne and cider, I thought that perhaps some beer would do her some good. For variety, of course.”

Beer? To Chen Motong?? To Nono?! Lu Mingfei coughed, choking half-way on an aborted laugh that threatened to escape him, hand blindly reaching out – only to be taken by another.

It’s cold he thought to himself, legs following before he could faceplant into the other man.

With grace that he lacked in spades, the crimson-eyed man accommodated rather well to Lu Mingfei’s clumsy-movements. At first leading the two of them before abruptly switching their hand positions so that it would be Lu Mingfei in the lead.

“I don’t-“

“You worry too much” the man whispered “breathe, I won’t let you make a fool of yourself.”

Like this, Lu Mingfei could see the top of the man’s head. Black hair hiding strands of silver that he thought to be a mere reflection at first, a trick of the light. It was oddly fitting despite the peculiarity of it all, and part of Lu Mingfei wanted to dismiss the odd strand as a foreigner’s idea of a good look.

As he dropped the stranger into a gentle dip, he realized that he had been dancing for quite a few minutes with little to no issues.

“See?” his dancing partner teased “though I imagine your friend is less enthused by your sudden proficiency.”

He glanced towards Finger’s direction, blinking at his senior’s cold-face – hands wrapped around the flute of the glass in his hands to the point where his knuckles were turning white. Then Lu Mingfei shifted, twirling the stranger in place before meeting him on the next swing, not a beat out of tune.

“Then again” the man continued “perhaps he’s just jealous.”

“Of me dancing with you?” Lu Mingfei scoffed.

“Of me dancing with you” the stranger corrected “I don’t blame him, you are quite…Luminous.”

Lu Mingfei couldn’t help but give the stranger a confused look at that, slightly off though it was to hear everyone speaking in a different language, there was something heavy to the man’s words. Nostalgic maybe? No. No it was much simpler than that.

It was just sad.

“I never caught your name” Lu Mingfei said after a moment, slowing as the tempo did. “I’m Lu Mingfei.”

“I’m…” the stranger paused for a moment; expression suddenly unsure. “You may call me Kriaan.”

A shiver crawled up Lu Mingfei’s spine, and something in his head whispered with a quiet resonance like it was afraid of being heard.

Killer.

The piece ended sooner than Lu Mingfei thought it should've, Kriaan’s hand slipping out of his own and offering him an elegant bow before swinging around behind him in a set of steps too quick for Lu Mingfei to follow. It was strange actually, the way people seemed to glance over the two of them like they weren’t there – or they just weren’t noticing Lu Mingfei and Kriaan in the first place – like-

Like they were being hidden.

“You need to be careful Lu Mingfei” Kriaan said quietly, the world beginning to dim and dull yet again, as if on command. “Trust that Lu Mingze wants you alive, though know that he cares little for anyone else. He’s always been that way.”

His eyes widened “you know-“

“I’ll do my best to help” he could feel Kriaan shrug “but I can’t let myself be caught so soon now can I? They’ll probably sooner try and cut me open than they will accept me as a student again.”

“Wait-“ Nothing was making any sense-

“Until next time.” Kriaan’s voice suddenly was closer and farther all at once, behind his ear and echoing from a distance. “Old friend.”

He turned around, but Kriaan was already gone.

“Hey.”

Lu Mingfei turned back, finding himself straining to look up into Finger’s eyes, expression oddly serious for the first time in a long while since he had first met him.

“Are you okay? Did he do anything?”

“What- no- I- was he dangerous?”

Finger gave him a concerned look “he has no file in the system, no ID, not even a visitors pass or even identified on Gatusso’s guest list. That’s impossible.”

“He seemed kind of nice though” Lu Mingfei blinked, remembering. “A little sad maybe.”

Finger pressed his lips together before grabbing his hand, tugging roughly. “Come on- I’ll show you a real dance.”

“Hey waitaminute-! Finger! Finger!”

The memory faded soon after, between Finger’s rough handling of him and meeting up with a friend he never thought he’d actually see in person for a long time yet – the memory of the stranger lost between chaotic moment after chaotic moment.

Then Norton awakened, and he forgot about it completely.

#dragon raja donghua au #Lu Mingfei #Finger von Friggs #OC #Dragon Raja game #Divergence Series #it's an AU #also someone asked me for it so it's going public for once #AU #re-writing lore one story snippit at a time because the game's story is kind of a hot mess

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mechaspirit · 4 years ago

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Vacation Disaster (Part 1)

Author’s Note: Thanks to @kouryuu16 who provided the prompt in regards to the new location in Dragon Raja involving a cruise ship, I wrote my first DR fic. And it’s a bit AU-ish because I went with a happy ending (yes, I’ve seen spoilers of what happened. And screw canon, I’m changing it). 😤

And as you can tell by the title of the fic and the ending, you can safely assumed there’s going to be part 2 of this fic. And I’m opened to more suggestion in the next part if you like. Either DM or reblog your ideas in the comments. My ask box might not be working, just a fair warning. Also, if you wish to be tagged in my future DR fics, let me know. Same methods. Until then, enjoy! 😆❤️

Disclaimers: I do not own Dragon Raja or its characters. Only my MC (Mika).

Pairings:...none for now.

Summary: The gang received tickets from the Principal of Cassell College on a cruise ship as a reward and a vacation break from their duties. But things did not go according to plan...

Everything appears to be clad in darkness, and although she couldn’t open her eyes, nineteen...almost twenty-year old Mika could hear the sounds of the waves from the sea and the seagulls crying. It wasn’t until she felt something poking her on the side or head that stirred her from her unconsciousness.

...Wait? Poking?

Mika finally opened her light, blue eyes only to blurry, recognizing a familiar reddish, orangish-headed woman with crimson eyes and beautiful pale skin complexion wearing a simple white, summer dress. And with a worry look in her eyes (and slight amusement), she was poking the bluenette with a stick.

“What in the...Erii?” Mika groaned, recognizing the former chief of the Uesugi Clan and slowly sat up, wincing from the pounding, vice grip feeling from her head and taking in her surroundings. Seeing all the sand, palm trees, and the ocean with literally no one else around them, Mika abruptly comes to a conclusion that they’re on an island in the middle of nowhere.

“Oh...oh crap!” The S-Rank female hybrid panicked and stood up, “This is not good! Where is everyone?!”

Before the young woman can start searching around the island, Erii firmly, but gently pulls on Mika’s arm to get her attention. The red-head hybrid pointed to the sandy area across from them, where Mika saw another red-headed woman, similar to Erii only that this woman’s hair takes more of the crimson color. The S-Rank Hybrid recognized her as Chen Motong, or rather “Nono” as most people called her, and quickly went over to wake her up.

“Nono. Nono, wake up!” Mika told her as she shook the crimson head by the shoulder. As the older woman slowly woke up, she recognized Mika and Erii next to her and slowly sat up, rubbing the side of her head.

“Ow. Where in the world are we?” Nono asked the two other women.

“Stuck in the island, unfortunately,” Mika pointed out, “I don’t even know which island we’re exactly at.”

Nono sighed at that, “I supposed this is what happens when we take a vacation on the cruise in the middle of a storm that nobody expects.”

“...You seemed really calm about this.”

“Not really,” The crimson hair shook her head, “I’m still concerned about the situation we’re in and everyone else, but when you’re on a dangerous mission like this, you’ll get used to adapting them. Was anyone else here?

Mika shook her head. Erii responded by writing something on the sand. Which is a bit odd to the other two women since they’re used to seeing Erii writing on her notebook if she wants to say something. But then again, she doesn’t have one with her right now, which is understandable.

“When I woke up, I only saw Mika-chan and Nono-nee san here, unconscious. I don’t even know where Sakura (Luminous) and my brothers are.” The red-orange head wrote, adding a sad face with a single teardrop at the end.

Then it dawned on everyone else what just happened. Long story short with what happened at the beginning, the Cassell Team consisting of Mika, Luminous (Lu Mingfei), Nono, Caesar, Johann, and Fingel received tickets from Principal Anjou to a cruise trip across the Pacific Ocean, with the latter believing that these six students deserve a break from their missions and college exams. Almost everyone in the team was excited to receive those tickets and decided to go on the vacation since it appears to be a one life opportunity. They were only on the cruise ships for a couple of days so far, and within those days, they came across the Gen siblings (consisting of Chisei, Chime, and Erii) whom one of them manages to win a lottery to the same cruise they were on. It turned out to be a mostly friendly reunion after that horrifying, tragic event (and we’ll not speak of it again for few of the people’s sake).

The third day of the trip, the gang went separately to explore more of the ship and do their own things while waiting for their next destination. Luminous was somewhere in the arcade. Fingel probably went around to find gossips and flirt with other women. Caesar would be somewhere holding conversations with other rich people. Johann...don’t know where he’s at. He’s usually silent about it. Chisei is sunbathing outside near the pool (and gathering ideas for his sunscreen brand). Chime would probably be looking at different opera to explore more musical arts coming from different cultures. The three women were the only ones in a group, and were looking at a boutique store to see if they could find any even dresses they could wear to attend one of the dinner parties where Caesar managed to get everyone else invited.

...Well obviously, it turns out that the party isn’t gonna happen anytime soon, because the ship was rocking back and forth rather abnormally and once they managed to take a look outside, a storm hit. Which caused panic to the people around them. And then, being the agents of a secret dragon slayer society, the gang tried to get the passengers to safety on the other boats, only the ship to finally tip over and throw everyone else overboard. And then you can guess what happened to the Cassell gang and the siblings.

Seeing the sad look on Erii’s face, Mika hugged the poor girl while Nono patted her on the head.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” Nono told the other red-head, reassuringly, “Until then, big sis Nono and big sis Mika will take good care of you.”

That got Erii to smile a little bit and drew a happy face with a few hearts on the sand. Just then, the three women heard a familiar scream coming from the middle of the island where the palm trees are at.

“...Was that Luminous?” Mika asked in concern.

“...Yes, that’s definitely Luminous.” The crimson head confirmed. Erii nodded in agreement.

And then the three ran off to find their friends on an unknown island full of mysteries...

To be continued...

#dragon raja #dragon raja mc #mika tsukishima #luminous #lu mingfei #chen montag/nono #caesar gattuso #johann chu #erii uesugi #chisei gen #chime gen #fanfic #fanfic part 1 #fingel von strings

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hectab · 6 months ago

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Official promo art for Chu Zihang's upcoming birthday.

#dragon raja #chu zihang #lu mingfei #caesar gattuso #uesugi erii #chen motong #xia mi

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hectabdr · 4 years ago

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Dragon Raja IV - Chapters 13 - 15 + epilogue (Abridged)

Hi everyone, sorry for taking so long to post the last part, I had a lot of work this week.

BTW, since it's over, I put the whole novel summary on a PDF document, which you can download from here.

Previous Chapters

Chapter 13

The nurse at the mental hospital couldn't believe her eyes when Luminous came back and requested to be admitted in his old room. He asked for his usual injection and went back to his not-so-favorite video game level.

In his vision, he kept accelerating far away form the swarm of death servitors, everything went according to plan and they still had lots of time to spare. He made many excuses to Nono in an attempt to justify his incredible performance, in the radio, there was a very strange song, Luminous recognized it, the name was "Daily Growing" by the folk group Altan, it was the same song that Johann and his father heard before they ran into Odin.

Nono was confused, Luminous just seemed to know way too many things. He knew about the damaged tire, about every safe route, the reach of the Nibelungen and the presence of a small, strange building hiding in the distance. It was the Media Asia Group building, according to Finger, this is the place where Nono found Chu Tianjiao's home. If this was a Nibelungen, an exact copy of the room should be there as well, still intact.

There was nothing surprising about the small place, but that was intentional. A person like Tianjiao was probably trained against people with skills like Nono's, so there had to be a secret compartment or a hidden door. He lifted the bed and there it was!

Mr Chu managed to create an underground bunker for himself. There was a bigger, more comfortable bed, a record player with Elvis Presley's discs and leather jackets. Luminous wanted to be more like this stylish man every second he spent there.

He noticed a bunch of pictures hanging from a string. Tianjiao spend a lot of time making copies of photographs from his family, but he wasn't in them, there was another man next to his wife and his son, but he used chemicals to erase him from the images. He also wrote small phrases dedicated to his wife in the back of the photos, like:

"This is the first year since you left me, you look good"

"This is the third year, you're getting fat"

"Fifth year, I don't have time to think of you anymore"

"Sixth year. ...but I still miss you".

The rest of the walls were filled with images and documents connected by red strings. Multiple events were listed in them, including the fall of Black Swan Bay in 1991 and the Greenland incident from November 7, 2002. These events related to dragon sightings and awakenings all led to a specific incident: The resurrection of the Black king Nidhogg. Even to the other dragon overlords, Nidhogg is a god-like existence, and its words are taken as prophecies. Chu Tianjiao was the city's watchman, he came to that place with a special purpose, but he mistakenly fell in love with a young dancer. They got married and had a child, they were happy, but he knew very well that he couldn't give them a peaceful life, so he signed the divorce papers and watched her take Johann away and marry a different man. While that family went to amusement parks and movie theaters, Tianjiao stayed on his underground room thinking about the fate of mankind.

Luminous memorized as much as he could from Tianjiao's investigation and went back with Nono, he kept driving and they entered the empty city, the lights were still on and the amusement park shined like a neon show.

- I always wanted to be in a Nibelungen, but I didn't expect it to be like this.

- How did you think it would be?

- Distorted, scary, definitely not this beautiful.

They looked up and they saw Odin, standing on top of the clock tower, Nono raised a gun and pointed at him but Luminous held it down, telling her not to disturb him, they kept driving silently and the god didn't notice their presence.

Luminous took her to a shopping mall, where they entered a department store and he gave her a dry change of clothes. This was still strange to her, he already knew her size, he never stopped looking at his watch and somehow he also picked an outfit that she liked (a pair of burgundy sports trousers and a fleece hoodie).

He gave her a cup of hot coffee and he suggested they waited on an empty movie theater while they waited for help.

Nono waited uncomfortable in front of the screen, Luminous picked up a random movie from the projector room, it was Wall·E, the second film roll to be exact, so the film started from the halfway point. The movie slowly relaxed her and she started chewing popcorn while they waited.

- I've been here before, haven't I?.

This was the theater where she rescued him from a failed love confession to Wenwen, before taking him to sign his Cassell admission papers. Actually, Luminous was watching Wall·E with his fellow literature club members. All of these were deliberate choices, he only picked the second half of the movie because they didn't have enough time to watch it from the start.

- You have been here, you have experienced all the things we are experiencing now and I have lived this moment many times.

Nono was a profiler, it wasn't that easy to trick her, so he admitted the truth. At 12:00am, Nono was going to die, like every other time.

- This dream will become a reality. I have repeatedly entered this dream just to find a way to save you, but I couldn't find it.

- If you can't find a way to save me, why don't you save yourself instead?

- My senior brother said that he always regretted leaving his father here alone, that feeling of regret is so terrible, it made him want to go back and die right there.

- Don't say such disgusting things, if this is really my end I will accept it.

The answer became obvious, the only way to escape this Nibelungen was for one person to stay behind and die. As the movie reached its climax, a spear broke through the screen, Nono didn't move, Luminous didn't move.

- No, senior sister, this will not be you end, it will be mine.

Chapter 14

Luminous opened his eyes, it was still a quiet summer night, he slid a small knife that he bought at the convenience store and ripped the straitjacket open. The hospital personnel were resting in different rooms so he sneaked out with ease.

His last attempt was the 108th, none of them managed to give him the perfect ending that he desperately chased. The old man with the tricycle was waiting for him outside, Luminous got on the small bike and drove away. The security guard couldn't believe it when he saw the same tricycle pass by for a third time that night, straight into the elevated road.

Luminous reached the old Asia Group building, now flooded and filled with rubble and mud. He managed to find the secret door and found the insides half-submerged as well, but not everything was ruined, he located a small metal suitcase in the corner that was filled with multiple weapons, including a revolver, a tactical shotgun and a Uzi submachine gun.

All seemed to indicate that this equipment came directly from Cassell College, an academy that never bothered to mention Tianjiao's existence.

In his way out, he picked one of the photographs that managed to survive the flood, it portrayed a family of three. Johann was probably five years old and his expression was as emotionless as usual, his robot face wasn't the result of some traumatic event after all, it came with him from the moment he was born. In the corner, Tianjiao wrote some words as well: "Stay like this, not crying, just looking into the distance".

This arsenal was strong, but insignificant in front of a being like Odin. Ming·Z·Lu showed up to offer one last gift.

Something for nothing, 50% fusion.

Luminous was familiar with that sensation, his nerves burned and the depths of his mind seemed to be cracked open, the pain was bigger than any human can endure, but once it was over, there was a feeling of euphoria, a need to fight. His senses increased immensely, he could now distinguish every single drop in the middle of the rainfall. This usually costed him a full quarter of his life but now it was... Free?

He finally heard the distorted noises of the death servitors, it sounded like the crying of babies. The wall of water and wind that protected Odin became visible, the black figure mounted an eight legged horse. He was in the Nibelungen again, this time he didn't plan to turn around.

Luminous approached them and parked the tricycle next to the Maybach, he stood in front of Odin and the god stayed silent. The words "You are finally here" were not uttered this time, he was right, Odin was waiting for Nono, but he didn't bring her this time, Luminous's presence was meaningless to his rival.

Odin kept staring at the end of the road, waiting for Chen Motong to appear and show her face.

- This is the right way to start the game, my senior sister is not here, only you and me, only one of us can leave this place alive!

He was vey happy, he finally played the god. He slowly grabbed a spear rocket launcher from the tricycle, the little devil was as reliable as always. The servitors immediately recognized the destructive potential of the weapon and tried to disperse, but Luminous opened fire first and scattered their shadowy remains on the road.

He saw his face in a puddle, the crazy expression of Ming·Z was now his own, like every other time they fused, it felt like this was his true nature. Weapon after weapon he ran out of ammo, some servitors sneaked behind him and sliced his torso with their claws, if it wasn't for the bulletproof vest that Tianjiao left in his suitcase, Mingfei would have died already.

A shot of his last gun, a M500 revolver finally broke one of the servitor's masks. He hadn't seen one of those faces since his mission in Japan, their skin was covered in scales and their teeth were long and alien-shaped. Odin gave them black robes and masks to use them as his personal servants. Odin was definitely different to every other dragon king he had faced before, they were all savage and aggressive, but this one was stoic and dressed like a figure of mythology, unless...

That was it! Odin wasn't a dragon disguised as a mythical character, Odin, the myth himself has been a dragon all along. The secret party had misread norse mythology, now it was clear that it narrated the history of the dragon clan and it was written by the dragons themselves. Every god was in fact a dragon king, in those myths, the main antagonist of Nidhogg was Odin. This god had already foreseen the coming of the end of the world, the so-called twilight of the gods, where the world tree would wither.

The suppressed Nidhogg will rise in the air, ready for revenge, it will destroy everything and ruin the kingdom of the gods. Therefore, Odin prepared himself for this battle, ordering the Valkyrie goddesses to gather the heroes's souls and place them in the Hall of Valor to assist him in resisting the black dragon. If the norse myths are indeed dragon history, the hall of valor must represent a place filled with countless dragon cocoons and embryos waiting to be awakened.

This information, this great secret was about to be buried there with him if he didn't survive this battle. Nono was probably packing, ready to leave with Finger and go back to Cassell, for whatever reason Odin needed her, she would be out of his reach, he just needed to endure and Odin was still as invincible as ever. Making a deal with Ming·Z was inadmissible, giving the little devil enough power to materialize could bring an immeasurable catastrophe. The boy appeared in front of him.

- Brother, you finally asked to see me, do you want to... Shake my hand?

The multitude of servitors overwhelmed him, he contemplated dying there, it wouldn't be so bad, just very lonely. With a loud bang! the strongest servitor flew out and fell motionless on the mud.

A red BYD car swiftly parked next to him, a hand came out of the window and shot the three closest servitors, that was Finger, of course it was him!

- Drive faster! Why the fuck are you here?

- What do I know? I was eating dumplings with your aunt and the hospital called to tell me you were gone!

Finger placed a tracking device on Luminous just like he did with Nono and saw his trace disappearing in the highway, so he went to investigate and entered the Nibelungen by accident.

- Don't get confused by my F-Rank rating, I started as an A-rank, remember?

Flammel tasked Finger with helping Luminous to prove Johann's existence, he didn't remember the young hybrid either, but he trusted Anjou, and Anjou believed in the importance of Luminous more than anyone. Not everyone on Cassell gave up on him after all.

- Don't drive away, we can't escape!

- I thought you told me to drive faster!

- Yes I did, but I meant towards Odin!

The servitors quickly realized what they were intending to do, so they formed a barrier in front of their master. Finger pressed a button on the car and one mini-gun came out of each side of the vehicle.

- The equipment department makes phones that double as grenades, you think they can't make 007's car?

The gatling guns opened fire on the crowd of servitors, effectively cleaning the way. Finger put the car on self destruct mode and got ready to jump out, Luminous got on the roof, aiming his knife at Odin. The car hit Odin's water barrier and exploded, the shockwave soared into the sky, filled with flames. Luminous jumped and managed to pass through, and with a swift move, he pierced through Odin with the blade, just like Tianjiao attempted to do many years before.

Every servitor stopped their movements, Odin's scores started dropping down immediately and his body got split in two. There had to be something wrong with that, there's no way he would fall to his death so easily. Luminous took the god's skull and removed the mask, under it, the face of a death servitor greeted him instead, the others started crying and laughing at them. Odin's only goal is Nono, it had always been Nono, this was a trap and he was already on his way to get her.

Chapter 15

Nono was sitting next to Su Xiaoyan's bed, peeling an apple. The woman happily ate the bonbons that Nono brought for her as a gift.

- Nono, how is your mother doing?

- She's fine, she's still working and always asks me when I'll get married but I just don't tell her.

Nono had to make up that story, but at that moment she really felt like Xiaoyan's niece. She checked the woman's medical records, apparently the doctors thought she was schizophrenic and amnesiac, as long as Nono played her role well, the medical personnel would think Xiaoyan's amnesia made her forget about her relative.

Because Nono brought Bonbons, Xiaoyan recognized her immediately and happily accepted her gift.

She had been there since her son's death, she lost track of time, to the point where she felt like she had been there for three or four months, when in reality, seven years had passed. Not many people visited her in that time, her husband would take her home for a few days every now and then, but those events became less and less usual. Of course, Nono was there for a reason, without Tianjiao's apartment, her only remaining clue was Johann's mother, but the woman wasn't very open about her life. Nono's ability allowed her to put puzzles together, but Xiaojiao kept messing up the pieces.

- Did your former husband treat you well?

- He couldn't make enough money and he was very unmotivated, playing foolish all day long, I had enough of him!

- But he's handsome, and he's probably still breaking hearts.

- How do you know that he's handsome? You haven't seen him before.

- Of course I have, I remember hugging my uncle!

- Come on, do you really think I'm that broken? I know I don't have a niece.

- Then why didn't you tell the doctor?

- Because you're so pretty, and I like to chat with pretty girls, there's no one else here to chat with me, and you don't look like a bad person either.

Nono was genuinely surprised, so she declared her intentions straight on, she wanted to know more about Chu Tianjiao, but his ex-wife didn't seem to know a lot about him either, he would constantly lie about his past and alternate between multiple versions of the story.

- Sometimes he told me that he was a great spy, and that he came here to complete a task, and I believed him, without a clue of his salesman-like nature!

- And you still married him?

- He was handsome, and I was young.

Xiaoyan didn't express any regret in divorcing him, she'd rather be with someone she could rely on, but there was something else she could not explain.

- But he seems to have left something behind with me, a very important thing, I just can't remember it.

- What is it?

- I said I can't remember it, I've been thinking about it for a very long time.

- What kind of thing?

- A very important thing, I must find it, it would be very bad if I didn't.

A burst of cold wind opened the windows and made them shiver, Nono stood up and went to close them but she noticed something strange, the flowers on the outside were all withered, black petals flew through the room, she closed the window as fast as she could, something bad had happened and the air outside smelled of death.

She took out a desert eagle from her bag and stopped Xiaoyan from screaming, the woman relied on her intuition to understand that Nono wasn't going to hurt her. The place was silent and the lights flickered, the instinctive feeling of being alert that came from true isolation soon got a hold of her. She and Xiaoyan got out of the room, door after door, every doctor and every patient had disappeared.

The rain and the wind rapidly eroded the building. The day was finally here, she had never been in a Nibelungen before, she once regretted not being able to experience it, now Nibelungen came to see her. She didn't knew wether to be nervous or excited.

- Someone, someone is coming. Su Xiaoyan's voice trembled slightly.

The sound of footsteps made an echo in the building, those weren't human steps, that sounded like a few horses were coming their way. The storm, the Nibelungen, the steed, the rider, it seemed to be an ancient king who came with a strong breath of death, and the flowers in the garden withered in front of him. Nono remembered him, she saw his silhouette in the reflection of the glass when she went to Tianjiao's apartment.

The rider didn't seem to know where Xiaoyan's room was and he was checking them one by one. They ran towards the elevator, the rider was on the first floor so they needed to get to the top as fast as they could without the sound of their steps giving away their position. Behind them, the fluorescent lights went out one by one. Nono finally saw the reflection of the elevator's door in a mirror, but when its doors opened, the light of Odin's flames came out.

They ran in the other direction and soon reached the stairs, they ran down but it didn't matter, they were trapped on an endless loop. She shot at the creature but the bullets melted before touching the god's armor. They kept running and Nono kept shooting back but it wasn't buying them any more time, temperatures were rising and there was no way out.

Odin wasn't even in a hurry to reach them, Nono took Xiaoyan in her arms and ran across a hallway, enduring the terrible heat of the floor. She tried to get out through a window, but after opening the curtains she noticed that the whole world outside had changed and she was greeted by the sight of a roman pantheon.

Nono suddenly fell silent, she helped Xiaoyan to sit down on a bench and put her boots on the woman's feet. She noticed something, she was crying, she was remembering.

- There might be a way for you to get out of here by yourself, now tell me, what did Tianjiao left for you exactly?

- It's... A child. I had a son with him, his name is Johann Chu, I can't find my son... I can't find my son!

Xiaoyan was holding a pillow in her arms, the doctor said that she would put this pillow in her belly every morning and happily declare that she was pregnant. Nono took it from her hands and threw it away.

- Since you have a clear memory of him, you don't need this anymore, you will find your son, although I don't know where.

In this world, those who are not lunatics are the ones who were deceived. Luminous and Su Xiaoyan were the craziest because of their link to Johann Chu, to the truth. His mother's mental disorder was not there because she had lost a son seven years ago, a certain god wanted to modify her memory of him and she was resisting. She tied the little pillow to her back because a child is only safe in his mother's body, she sensed that someone was going to hurt her boy, so she wanted to feel like she could protect him.

Nono pushed Xiaoyan into a cubicle next to the ward and told her to keep the door closed until someone came to rescue her. She took Finger's GPS device out of her bag and broke it, expecting Luminous and Finger to arrive there after seeing her signal disappear. Odin arrived, his flames evaporated the strong currents of water and stood in front of her, Nono kept two knives on her back and a desert eagle in each hand.

- Odin!

The creature and his lance were impossible not to identify, the god actually exists.

- You are finally here.

He slowly raised Gungir and a faint white thread appeared, connecting the tip of the spear and Nono's heart. She thought his goal was Xiaoyan, due to her connection to Johann, but she was wrong, Odin's goal was her and only her. No wonder Luminous threw her down in the library, he probably had a foreboding of her death for some reason and tried to save her, his eyes showed a constant state of panic.

She didn't believe him and they put him on a psychiatric institution. She really wanted to tell him that she was sorry, because she had underestimated him.

She had always tried to be there for Luminous, she couldn't deny that she saw a lot of herself in him, this obsession with taking care of her sidekick was so prevalent because she knew how it was like to be powerless, lost and defenseless, but in the most critical moment, she had failed him.

Nono vaguely heard a song, a duet about a father and his daughter, it was coming from somewhere, along with the noise of a car engine. Luminous was coming, that song came from the radio, but how could she hear him? It didn't matter, she felt him presence and she believed it.

- Luminous! Don't you fucking dare to come here!

Nono shot every bullet she had left and they melted on Odin's presence. The lance was thrown and suddenly, the Maybach smashed through the wall, its lights illuminated Nono's eyes. She smiled, the moment she saw him, the cartridge of her gun was empty. The lance had already started its course and Luminous could only see her lips moving:

- I'm sorry

- Ming·Z·Lu! Luminous roared, time slowed down in his eyes

- The little one is here! Ming·Z smiled, Since I promised my brother that I'd try everything!

Come out! Golden saint cloth of the zodiac!, Phase shift armor!, Fierce fist! Seven-fold ring of the blazing sky!, Absolute domain AT Field!.

Every time he yelled a strange name, Luminous froze for a moment, these strange spells were taken directly from anime shows, they were weapons that lined up in front of Odin's lance, even a nuclear explosion could be rejected by them.

- What are you doing?

- I don't really know what tricks would work so I'm doing all of them!

Ming·Z kept casting spells, the speed of the lance was indeed affected but it never stopped nor it changed its trajectory.

- Hurry up brother, run!

Nono tried to yell, telling Luminous to stay away, but her mouth moved too slowly. Luminous ran past Odin and past the lance. The seven-fold ring was the strongest defense against projectiles, every time the Gungir lance pierced through a layer, it made a loud noise. Nono dropped the empty gun, she didn't have the strength to wield her knives. The spear hadn't arrived yet, and she was already like a lamb crucified on an altar.

Gungir hit the final defense, the sound was almost glass shattering.

- I couldn't stop it, even with the last layer. Give her a hug, kiss her! This is going to be your last chance! I'll buy as much time as possible for you!

Ming·Z made another barrier but the lance broke it, the little devil's hands were splashed with blood and they stained his bow tie, but he didn't care and looked at his side as an indifferent Luminous passed by and stood in front of Nono. He never managed to change the events, just the scenery. Gungir pierced through Ming·Z's chest.

- Brother, I tried my best

- It's ok, I'm here as well.

Luminous wasn't going to hug or kiss Nono, he was there to take her place. He could clearly feel his heart being cut open. The spear hadn't even touched his skin and his body had begun to carbonize and turn black, showing a rare struggle, burning it inch by inch.

- No! No! No! Nono struggled to stand up and pull the lance away from him.

- Don't come near me!

The lance tried to go through him, but it only managed to pin him against the wall. Nono shivered slightly and tears slowly ran down her face, but she didn't realize that she was crying. She always wanted him to grow up and go his own way, to use any advantage she might have over him to push him forward, but now the person who was crying on the floor was her.

- Senior sister, are you okay? It's okay.

Luminous raised his head, half of his head and body were carbonized, the cracks at the end of his lips extended all the way to the roots of his ears. He was really happy, because he finally managed to achieve his goal. He didn't want to live with the regret of losing her, he had seen Johann's own regret already.

Odin wasn't pleased, the god roared as he realized he had missed his chance. Luminous whispered:

- Ming·Z·Lu...

- Brother, I am here, you really found a method to stop the lance!

- In this world, only a monster can stop a monster, and I am the biggest monster in the world...

- Yes, you are the biggest monster in the world, brother! You are awesome! Then, are you ready to make the last deal? I can't do much against the lance, but I can take care of the monster behind it, the little devil is good at this dirty work!

Luminous stared at him and asked for two conditions:

- Kill Odin, but also take Nono back to safety.

- Alright but hurry up! That guy is almost here!

Sleipnir's eight legs made a thunderous sound, the dragon subspecies that Odin mounted carried its master into the room. Luminous raised his blood-soaked hand and gave the little devil a high-five. Ming·Z's figure suddenly appeared in the night sky, this time he stopped laughing and opened his arms. He looked like a suspended cross.

- Something for nothing, 100% fusion.

He breathed deeply, as if he wanted to inhale all of the world's air into his lungs. Sharp bone spurs protruded from his body and he was covered in black scales. Huge black wings sprung from his back and he took flight, diving down, his image poured into Luminous's body.

The carbonized skin quickly peeled off, he experienced musculoskeletal growth and deformation and the sound of a glacier cracking was heard across the hospital.

The black wings were opened and Gungir was ejected from his chest. Sleipnir couldn't move a single inch closer to them, because Luminous placed his hand on the horse's chest. Nono stared blankly at him, because she couldn't tell if the monster in front of her was a friend or an enemy, but Luminous stared back at her.

- Sister, don't be afraid, as long as I live, you'll be fine.

After two years, Chen Motong saw the devil that rescued her from the bottom of the Three Gorges Dam once again. She remembered how he held her, his childlike fear and his voice.

Don't die, don't die, don't die... Don't Die!

- So it was you...

But Luminous didn't hear those words at all, he rushed to Odin, at the flash of lightning, the monsters that had been in conflict with each other so many times, leaving countless disasters, clashed once again, and the claws and the sword stained the place red and black.

They roared, they fought, a war between kings that can only be ended by death.

Epilogue

On the elevated road, Finger stopped for a moment to catch his breath. This guy is usually slacking and his posture is erratic. The death servitors are struggling to even reach his clothes.

There should be half a marathon left before he can lose them, however, the physical strength of those things is almost unlimited.

Seeing him stop, a group of servitors suddenly became excited and the baby-like cries they made reached the heavens. A girl in a black outfit and a gauze mask appeared in front of him, a ninja.

- How did you know I was here?

- I have a radar for pretty girls... Can you handle that many servitors?

Mai Sakatoku drew two small blades.

- Those are too many, I'm specialized in assassination, not group combat. It's a pity that the other two girls are not here...

- Then I hope I can help.

He had a sword in his hand, the mirror-like Murasame suddenly turned black, the black blade light soon extended all the way to his body and the rain around it evaporated. Mai was surprised by the brutality of the sword, but Finger remained indifferent.

- What kind of sword is that?

- Murasame, have you never heard of the Dragon Slayer of Fire? Then you are really kind, but a bit ignorant, my friend!

After saying that, he jumped and cut off the elevated road.

#dragon raja #dragon raja novel #luminous #nono #ming z lu #finger von frings #johann chu

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