Deeper Than the Knife

Chapter 25- We Fight A Slimy Dragon

The Mallaidh-dragon didn't allow us any time to take any of the new information in, she swung her giant tail at us, tearing the curtains out of the wall. The curtains, along with her tail, came straight at us.

Yukino jumped left and I jumped right, barely missing getting knocked to the ground by a slimy and scaly tail.

I extended my claws and dug them into the wall, about thirty feet above the ground. Yukino had her sword impaled in the wall across from me and held onto it while she tried to keep her legs closed. Glad she had her priorities figured out.

The Mallaidh-dragon let out a high pitch scream, that was apparently her way of laughing. 

"For 8,000 years," the Mallaidh-dragon laughed, "my clan has been influenced and merged with dozens of different cultures. Shaking us to our core, and slowly, we started to change."

I used the opportunity of her yapping to make my way towards the stage, trying to not draw attention to myself.

The Mallaidh-dragon shot her tail upwards, crashing into the chandelier, breaking it in two, and it crashed to the floor along with bits of the ceiling. I assumed that was just a display of power, to show us how hard her tail could hit, and it worked. I did not want to get hit by that tail. 

The Mallaidh-dragon faced Yukino, a smirk on its snout, which was actually pretty creepy to look at. "To answer your confusion my dear, we can still very much turn into iguana's but we can also turn into this."

That's when it hit me, that form wasn't Mallaidh's default form. It was a form that was created by the mixing of dozens of different legends and myths that slowly became a second form. However, they could not erase their original form, it was impossible to do that. 8,000 years ago, eight families were somehow infused with the powers of eight different elements and animals, it was the essence of our very being. If one erased their original form, they'd erase all their power, and probably themselves along as well. 

Maybe if we can force her into her original form, I thought, we can force her into the weakened state and over power her. The big mystery was how to do that. How could we force her into her original state? 

I looked at Yukino and caught her stare, I hoped I could somehow convey what I was planning. An understanding passed between us and she nodded.

"Maybe you should shut up and stop giving us information." Yukino's voice bounced off the walls, creating an echo effect.

The Mallaidh-dragon let out another high pitch scream. "It doesn't matter, me dear!" I continued making my way towards the stage. "You'll both die here, right along side your comrades." She swung her tail right at me.

I pulled my claws back from the wall before impact and started free falling. I raked my claws against her tail and latched onto it. I held back a gag, the strong scent of rotting flesh pushed its way into my nose and I did not appreciate that. Seriously, did she not bathe after every killing spree or something?

Apparently, my claws digging into her tail only served to annoy her instead of hurt her. I crawled my way down-or was it up?-her tail while she swung it back and fort violently. Turns out, I'm a pretty good bull-tail-rider, because I didn't let go and stayed on. All jokes aside, it was hard as hell to make my way towards her scaly body while she tried to throw me off.

A blast of ice struck the Mallaidh-dragon in the eye, but again, it only seemed to annoy her. 

"Don't forget about me." Yukino said. While I had kept the Mallaidh-dragon's attention, Yukino had reached the broken stage. Her dress had been cut short and stretched out so it wasn't hugging her figure anymore, and Yukino had ditched the heels and went barefoot. Not the best idea for a fight against a dragon who's powers we had no idea of, but I doubted fighting in heels was any easier.

The Mallaidh-dragon snarled, and took one step off the broken stage. She broke the already broken wood and created a crater beneath her foot.

Yukino slashed her katana against the Mallaidh-dragons foot, but I couldn't tell if she had actually broken the skin.

"Foolish girl!" The Mallaidh-dragon hissed. I guessed that meant Yukino didn't cut the skin. "Your puny sword can't cut my scales!"

I made my way to the Mallaidh-dragon's bacl and used my chain and sickle to try and slash her skin open in the ares in between her scales. 

"I wasn't trying to." Yukino said smugly. 

The Mallaidh-dragon's leg started to be encased in thick layers of ice. She kept breaking the ice by moving her legs but no matter what the ice would come back.

My attempt wasn't going too well, I couldn't make a scratch. I even tried just the simple way of starting a fire, but the most I got on the scales was a sizzle. Stupid flame retardant dragon. 

I quickly figured out that the Mallaidh-dragon had traits from different versions of dragons from different cultures, making impossible to fight it.

Yukino ran to the underbelly, I heard the familiar sound ice cracking, and the basement cooled down by like ten degrees. I noticed that whenever Yukino stabbed or slashed, a group of scales on the Mallaidh-dragon's neck perked up and exposed bright red slimy skin.

I ran towards it, and waited for Yukino to strike. When the skin was exposed, I stabbed my sickle into the skin.

The Mallaidh-dragon screamed, like acid dissolving metal times a hundred. She jerked and trashed, throwing me off her back. I landed on the still intact curtains on the other side of the stage.

The Mallaidh-dragon stomped off the broken stage and crushed the rows of seats as her green blood-which was acid by the way-leaked from the wound I made.

Yukino ran over to me and helped me up.

"How'd you do that?" She asked.

"Saw an opening and I took it." I dusted off my ruined dress that now had holes on the bottom from the acid. "Turns out, she's a cry baby with low pain tolerance." I gestured to the dragon who was still trampling around the basement. I wiped my sickle on the curtain before the acid could dissolve it. 

"I think she got smaller," Yukino said.

I looked at the Mallaidh-dragon and realized that Yukino was right. Like usual. The Mallaidh-dragon had shrunk about ten feet. Only forty more to go. 

The room was completely destroyed, blocks of ice littered the floor and I could see my breath in front of me. I noticed a gun at the base of the wrecked stage and an idea formed in my brain.

"I'm going to assume her insides are just as vulnerable as that pink spot," I said, "you think we could use that gun to shot an ice bullet or fire bullet into her?"

Yukino thought for a moment. "Yes, then we could freeze her from the inside out. That would eliminate the need to shrink her down."

I got of the stage and grabbed the gun. Yukino followed me down and I gave it to her.

"I'll get her to open her mouth, you shot." I trusted Yukino was a better shot than me.

Yukino nodded and kissed my cheek. "Be careful."