Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption
Chapter 23: Monster

“Zephyr Storm!” Corax summoned a massive sphere of typhoon-like winds between his hands and hurled it at the approaching Vinkex. Vinkex dove right into the sphere, and the sphere exploded like a balloon. Gale-force winds radiated outwards from the point of impact, threatening to knock Corax, Theravor, and Damrabe backwards. As the wind died down and the dust settled, the three dragons lowered their arms away from their faces and saw Vinkex still standing. Vinkex’s right arm, which he had apparently used to protect his main body, had been shredded down to the bones.

“You can’t stop me like that!” Vinkex roared, swiping his bony arm through the air with enough force to create a shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Corax, who was sent flying backwards from the impact until he hit a wall. The wall shattered and fell atop Corax, burying him.

“Corax!” Damrabe yelled. A shiver ran down Damrabe’s spine. Relying on instinct, the red dragon stepped to the side, barely avoiding Vinkex’s bony hand as it swung through the air. The hand hit the floor, which proceeded to crack and break in half. Seeing this, Damrabe’s focus left Vinkex for a moment. The corrupted dragon didn’t miss the chance and lunged forward, jaws open wide as he prepared to bite Damrabe’s head off.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Theravor appeared behind Vinkex and put him in the same headlock as before, immobilizing the dragon. Vinkex struggled for a moment, flailing about. The bones of his right arm cut deeply into Theravor’s right hip as Vinkex continued to struggle.

Theravor grunted in pain as blood began running down his right leg. That bony arm is no joke. It’s even more dangerous than when he still had flesh on his arm! I cannot allow Vinkex to get out of my grip alive this time; I do not have the strength left to catch him like this again! Theravor’s hands came up and wrapped around Vinkex’s neck. Theravor squeezed with as much strength as he could muster, intending on breaking Vinkex’s neck and ending his life. Vinkex immediately choked and increased his efforts to break free. The immediate area around the two dragons was filled with dangerous swings of Vinkex’s arms, forcing Damrabe to back away. Vinkex’s tail began to slither up Theravor’s side, but Theravor stomped down on the tail, pinning it to the ground.

Vinkex’s struggling quickly grew weaker and weaker, until he ceased moving at all. However, Theravor did not let up on his grip; he still had not felt Vinkex’s neck snap, and he did not trust Vinkex to be truly dead until the deed was done. Theravor strengthened his grip on Vinkex’s neck, hoping that he would feel the bones break at any moment.

At that moment, without warning, Theravor felt some give underneath his hands, but it was not from Vinkex’s neck breaking. The flesh beneath Theravor’s hands suddenly became soft and liquidy, as if Vinkex’s body had just turned into a black paste. Shocked and disgusted by this sudden development, Theravor could only watch as Vinkex turned his head around a full one hundred and eighty degrees. The tips of their snouts almost touched as Vinkex stared straight into Theravor’s eyes.

“I congratulate you on almost finishing the job, Theravor,” Vinkex hissed as the rest of his body turned into paste and wrapped around Theravor. “But you would have to do much better than that to kill me while I’m in this state.”

“D-Damn it!” Theravor cursed, trying to free himself from Vinkex’s sticky embrace. The goo held fast, though, and Theravor could feel the remains of his magic power get sucked away at an incredible rate. It only took a few seconds for everything but Theravor’s head to be completely wrapped up.

Vinkex’s mouth opened wide like a python’s and hovered over Theravor’s head. “It has been entertaining fighting with you, Dragon King. Don’t hold this against me in the afterlife.”

“Theravor!” Damrabe roared. The red dragon kicked off the ground and tried to tackle Vinkex, but the black dragon’s gooey tail extended and swiped at Damrabe’s head. Theravor watched in horror as the tip of Vinkex’s tail slashed across Damrabe’s left eye. With a roar of pain, Damrabe was sent sprawling backwards until he landed atop the pile of rubble that Corax laid under.

“Don’t interrupt the moment, you cursed vampire!” Vinkex spat. His mouth lowered over Theravor’s head even more. “There’s nothing that can save you now, Theravor!”

“I beg to differ.”

“Huh?” Vinkex turned his head just in time to see a kick come flying from out of nowhere. The foot slammed into Vinkex’s snout with enough force to send ripples running throughout Vinkex’s entire gooey body. Vinkex’s snout caved in from the strength of the kick. With a blast of wind, Vinkex’s head was sent flying backwards. The rest of his body peeled off of Theravor as the gooey mass hit the far wall with a loud splat.

Theravor blinked, momentarily unable to process what just happened.

“Geez, I leave for just a minute or two and Vinkex turns into a ball of slime?” the same voice complained. “He even flattened Corax and Damrabe, and almost bit your head off, Theravor.”

Theravor looked down and saw Draycos standing on the floor beside his feet. The Dragon King took one look at Draycos and took a half step back. The intensity of the blue-white magic aura surrounding Draycos’s body was unbelievably dense, and Theravor couldn’t help but notice that Draycos’s hair had turned white once more.

“Draycos?” Theravor questioned. A bead of cold sweat ran down the back of Theravor’s neck. What in the world happened to him in the minute or two he was gone? The magic coming off of the boy is so dense and powerful that it’s like he’s a completely different being! “You are Draycos, right?”

Draycos looked up at the Dragon King with a surprised expression. Theravor noticed Draycos’s right pupil was blue while his left pupil was a golden-yellow. “What kind of question is that?” Draycos snapped in a displeased tone. “Of course I’m Draycos; why would you think otherwise?”

“Because of that power you’re showing off right now,” Theravor responded instantly, pointing a talon at Draycos. “That’s far more power than I’ve seen you wield before. What happened to you? I thought Reiverd was already drawing out your power earlier!”

“Yeah, well, it’s a long story,” Draycos sighed. He held up his hand and looked at it before curling it into a fist. “I can explain it all later, but right now, we need to finish that monster off first.”

“Agreed,” Theravor said, nodding his head. The two turned their attention to where the inky black goo had hit the wall. As if feeling their eyes fixing their gaze on it, the goo shivered slightly and then exploded, growing to a massive height. Vinkex’s head took shape atop the mass, glaring down at the pair.

“It’s you again, Draycos!” he spat. “Once again, you interrupt me and stand in my way!” The rest of Vinkex’s body reformed as he spoke. He now stood at least three times Theravor’s height. A mane of shaggy black hair reaching down to his lower back sprouted from his head behind a thick rack of horns. Three pairs of bat-like wings sprouted from his back, and four arms grew from his shoulders, each tipped with six talons. A massive red crystal orb emerged from the sludge at his waist. The rest of Vinkex’s body solidified, forming lustrous black scales. His head brushed against the mural on the ceiling as he bent forward to get a better look at Draycos with his dark red eyes. He examined Draycos for a few moments before snorting. “You called me a monster just a moment ago, no? You have no room to be calling anyone a monster; do you realize what’s happening to your body?”

Theravor glanced down at Draycos, who only looked up at Vinkex with a blank expression on his face.

“You’ve far exceeded the threshold of what your body can handle, brat,” Vinkex growled. His tail swayed back and forth, knocking down dozens of the pillars behind him. “I’ll admit that I’m impressed that you’re able to stand there and fight without screaming from the pain you’re surely suffering. But if you keep that state up for too long, your body will go into shock and you’ll die right there.”

“Like I care,” Draycos answered, surprising both Theravor and Vinkex with his response. He held his right hand out towards Vinkex. “All that means is that I have to finish you off before I reach my time limit, right?”

A low growl rose from Vinkex’s throat, making the entire hall shake from its force. “I’ve told you this before, brat, but don’t think you can beat a dragon like me just because you got a little stronger!” he roared.

“Blade Storm.”

With Draycos’s soft-spoken command, a bright flash of white light lit up the ceiling of the room. Dozens upon dozens of conjured swords began to form in the air around Vinkex. Theravor watched in amazement as the number of conjurations continued to grow.

Two hundred. . . three hundred. . . five hundred. . . ! They keep on multiplying without end! Just how many conjurations is Draycos going for right now?! He was originally capable of effectively using one hundred conjurations after first awakening his magic, and then he barely managed to control twice that during his first fight with Vinkex after the Dragon Council and I filled him up with our power. But now, he has far surpassed even that!

“Blade Storm: Execution Blades.”

Theravor and Vinkex were similarly left speechless as they witnessed the sight before them. At least a thousand conjured swords filled the air around Vinkex, each as large as Draycos’s body. The air shook slightly as the magic power of each blade resonated with the surrounding blades. A soft, high-pitch screeching sound rang out as a stiff wind whirled up around Draycos.

“This. . . is impossible,” Vinkex finally managed to say. “A thousand. . . conjurations? That’s a feat that only the three best mages in the history of dragonkind were capable of! How is a human half-breed able to achieve this?!”

“You reminded me of something you’ve already told me once a minute ago, right?” Draycos asked Vinkex. “Well, right back at you. I’ve told you this before, Vinkex, but I’m a mold-breaker.” With a simple hand gesture, Draycos ordered all of his swords to assault Vinkex simultaneously.

Outside the castle, the dragons who had remained outside had finally recovered from the magic blast that ripped Río’s castle apart. But no sooner had they regained their composure than a large explosion from the castle rocked the air. The dragons resting on fragments of the islands hit the ground, while those in the air were momentarily stunned from the explosion and fell a few dozen feet before recovering themselves.

As the dust cleared, everyone could see a large hole had been blown in the wall surrounding the courtyard. A large silhouette rose up inside the dust cloud. The silhouette arched its neck backwards to look up at the moon and roared. The force of the roar dispersed the rest of the dust cloud, revealing Vinkex in his monstrous form. Quite a few shouts of alarm rose from the onlookers as Vinkex towered over all the dragons present.

“M-monster!” one cried. That statement sent the rest of the dragons into a frenzied panic. Only a handful of dragons managed to remain calm and tried to direct the crowd.

“Everyone, calm down and leave the general vicinity immediately!” Vinzgar roared above the clamour. “Do not lose control of yourselves, lest you hurt those around you!”

“Hey! All of you get a grip and stop panicking!” Zero shouted as he was shoved around by a group. “You’ll crush me if you keep this up!” But the crowd refused to calm down despite Vinzgar and Zero’s attempts to take control of the situation.

At that moment, a pale pink fog suddenly descended upon the crowd from above. Every frenzied dragon suddenly froze on the spot as the fog enshrouded their heads.

The tip of Zero’s snout twitched the moment the fog reached him. “A-choo!” Zero sneezed. Sniffing, Zero noticed the air smelled sweet, like crushed flowers.

“You should be glad I thought about creating some relaxatives,” a voice said from above. “I’m pleased that the last couple of hours I spent doing alchemy were not wasted.”

Zero pulled himself out from between the dragons and looked up. A relieved smile grew on his face as he saw familiar butterfly wings flapping in the air above him. “Boreta!” he cried. “I was wondering what you were up to after your Territory spell was destroyed! Thanks for that just now; I was almost done for!”

Boreta shook her head and snorted, corking a potion vial in her hand that was still half full of some pink fluid. “I intended to reap all you owe me after the battle, Zero,” she growled in a low voice. “Do not think that I have forgotten about the crate of manastones you forced off of me.”

Zero made a sound of exasperation but kept quiet. As the other prominent dragons of the battle gathered around Boreta, another roar shook the air. Boreta and the rest of the group turned to look at Vinkex just as the monstrous dragon began screaming. The screaming was so loud that Boreta and the others placed their hands on their heads and bent over in agony.

“Draycos!! I’ve finally had enough of this!!” Vinkex screamed. “I’m going to eradicate you from this world once and for all!” Without warning, a massive blast of magic power fired off from Vinkex. Draycos, who had just hopped out of the castle through a hole in the wall, glanced up to see a big red sphere of magic power flying straight at him. The man did not have the time to process what was happening before the blast hit its target dead-on. Another explosion, larger than the first one, made the air tremble. What parts of Río’s castle that still stood after the numerous attacks on it now crumbled to the ground with a crash.

Vinkex watched as the last of the castle fell apart. He was panting heavily; the negative effects of breaking his seal had grown even stronger. I can. . . barely even move now; my body feels like it’s made of stone. Even worse, I put the last of my magic into that blast just now. Vinkex chuckled to himself as he slowly stomped over to the epicenter of the explosion. The rubble shattered into dust as he stepped over it. Even so, I felt that last one connect! The look of surprise on Draycos’s face when he saw it was priceless! After taking the brunt of that explosion head on, he’s in no condition to move around for the moment. I have to replace the boy and devour him before he slips away from me; I wouldn’t put it past him to still be conscious. Vinkex spotted a hand sticking out from under a nearby pile of rubble. Smiling viciously, Vinkex kicked the rubble pile. The pile fell apart, revealing Draycos’ unmoving form. Aside from a couple of burns here and there on his skin, Draycos seemed to be unharmed.

As Vinkex watched, Draycos’ fingers twitched. A soft groan escaped Draycos’ lips as he opened his eyes.

“I see you managed to survive that blast,” Vinkex commented, filled to the brim with confidence. “The fact that your body is still in one piece after enduring such an explosion is something else.” Something twinkled in the corner of Vinkex’s vision. He looked down at Draycos’ right hand and noticed that the Orb of the First King was still attached to his palm. A low growl rumbled in Vinkex’s throat.

“I should separate my damnedable brother from this brat before the two can cause me any more trouble,” Vinkex growled. He lowered one of his wings and placed the tip on the ground next to Draycos’ wrist. “I cannot afford any more setbacks; I’m nearing my limit with the sealing spells.” Vinkex’s wing, which looked like a wicked weapon ready to cut into anything, quickly slid across the ground towards Draycos’ wrist.