Inverted Deck

Inverted Deck (Chapter 53)

Chapter 53

What's remaining of Jothermus' white and blue torn button-up shirt, is reduced to cinders and ashes in the wind, that flow back to me, revealing the emblem of the Ash Scale on his lower back. A sword entering a circle, surrounded by scales and cracked flesh, with Ash and flames seeping out.

As Jothermus continues to walk towards Garm, his single flame wing continues to grow.

"There's no doubt about it... he has Dragonlite blood flowing in his veins." I think.

Dragonlites and Dragons. Two intertwined races viewed and worshiped as Gods in ancient times. It's said that the two races came straight from Tsukiyomi, the first Ace of the Moon, and "Primordial Dragon." Dragons were weapons of war, while Dragonlites were their feared rulers. With the intelligence and agility that comes with their smaller humanoid size, and the speed and power that came from their Dragon heritage, Dragonlites conquered and ruled the entire continent of Rakusuhen, now known as The Kingdom of Asura. However they found themselves on the wrong side of a war, a war that raged on for generations, and their consequence? For every Dragonlite left alive within the Kingdom of Asura, to be imprisoned inside of a special Dominion, or pocketed space, within the Great Charta tree. This happened some 20 years ago according to my father who fought in this war against the Dragonlites.

"Wait... 20 years ago... Jothermus is 20 years old I believe... I see."

I see now, even more so, why Jothermus wants to hide his heritage. In a similar situation to Ja'Krob, Dragonlites were nothing short of enemies to the entire Kingdom of Cor, so if word got out to the masses that a Dragonlite's kid was living as a noble no less, I can only imagine...

Garm begins to laugh and cackle through the mask.

"Being a half-breed, you should at least know that a Dragon and a Dragonlite's strength is shown through the number of wings they have, ranging from 2 all the way to 10, but I've never, and I mean NEVER, seen a Dragonlite with ONE wing, and it's not even fully materialized, I know you're a half-breed and all, but your weakness is just amusing to me!!"

"I'll show you some more amusement then..." Jothermus' voice begins to quiver and distort, as he braces his knees before leaping straight into the air and allowing his one, half-materialized wing, to fling him directly towards Garm.

"Okay, show me then!" Garm roars, as she begins running to meet Jothermus on all fours.

Jothermus begins to descend onto Garm, before quickly performing a barrel roll, while his wing grows, and sequentially releases a long wave of red and yellow flames, directly to Garm.

Garm reactively leaps over the wave of flames, but Jothermus' seemed to have planned for this. He plants his burning feet, into the top of a nearby street light pole.

"Way of the Mace:..." Jothermus says as he pounces off of the top of the light pole.

"...Weight of the World!"

"Impossible!" I yell out.

Jothermus slams his leg, right into Garm's exposed side midair, causing an immense, bright, blue and yellow explosion of fire Aether.

"He copied my technique, just from watching me do it once, in mere seconds, no, it had to have been more than that. The Weight of the World technique can't just be copied from watching, unless you had a way to see the internal Aether function within the body, and last time I checked Jothermus doesn't possess a Nexus. So, he must've instinctively used Aether sense in that same moment, and copied how my internal Aether moved in my leg."

The smoke from the explosion begins to fall as both bodies hit the ground.

"EEEEEK!!" Jothermus' little sister screeches, still standing in the same spot.