Blood. It was August's first time seeing it in such quantity.
He had rarely ever been cut before. His skin was, after all, draconic. No matter how he nicked himself or fell, his body was never actually affected.
And, he never knew how strong he was inherently.
He was able to play with Damien without any problems. He was already climbing over Damien's body when he was still a toddler. He didn't lose the habit when he grew up. He still liked to wrestle with his father, and he often ended up accidentally scratching him and whatnot.
Damien never flinched. Even when August thought he had hurt him, Damien assured him that there was nothing wrong and even proved it by showing him the uninjured area.
August just didn't realize that it wasn't because he was weak.
He never even thought to think that Damien's skin was just stronger than a dragon.
Until now.
August was comfortable in his dragon form by now. Damien allowed him to freely transform and made sure he could feel absolutely secure. As such, his actions weren't hesitant in the slightest. The fluidity with which he attacked was more than enough to generate a ton of force.
SHIK!
The sound was disgusting. Blood flew through the air as the wolf August attacked bursted into pieces. The sheer force of his claws tore it apart before their sharpness could even come into play.
August was mystified for a second. His body shivered, not with fear, but with a strange sense of glee that he couldn't explain.
The wolf's Legends flowed into his body in the form of experience, and for the first time in his life, August witnessed his own Status Panel.
Though, he swept it out of his vision instantly.
'Not yet.'
He'd already been told that it would appear, but it wasn't the right moment for him to check it.
He was still surrounded by the rest of the wolf pack, and he refused to take his attention off of the battle until it was over.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Now, what was the usual first battle like? It was a scene of failure and weakness where one realized that the training they had done wasn't enough to get them through the real world. It was a time for people to adapt to the rapidly changing situation that a real battle where life-and-death were concerned was.
However, one couldn't expect that from August.
After all, this was a dragon's natural habitat. In their youth, they were meant to be reckless and belligerent. All of that talk about scholars and sages only came once they were old enough to get over those primal urges.
August awakened to these instincts late, but now that they were allowed to shine, they flowed in full force and allowed him to feel every ounce of what they represented.
'More.'
August twisted his body and slashed his claw down, cutting another wolf into three pieces.
AWOOOOO!
Another jumped up from behind, its teeth bared. August turned his head, but he found that the wolf had entered his blind spot. Covered in shining light, he flipped and returned to his human form, Mana appeared in his hands as he pushed them towards the wolf's exposed underbelly.
Boom!
A pulse of water slammed into the wolf and threw it into the sky. August immediately returned to his dragon form, planting all four legs on the ground.
ROOOAAAAR!
A blue and white swirl of energy was released from his jaws. As August swung his head around, the beam cut through not one, not two or three, but five of the wolves in the pack, turning them into mincemeat.
Dragon's breath was an inherent skill. The moment August found his connection with water, he found that ability.
And it wasn't the only one.
August had unlocked three of the Dragon Race's best natural traits. Only, he hadn't been able to find much of an opportunity to use them.
He wanted to.
He wanted to fight with even more power than he was using now.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Voom!
With six enemies left, August felt emboldened. He used more mana in his claws despite not needing it at all. He watched his enemies turn into blood mist and reveled in the feeling of it.
He almost lost himself to that emotion.
Almost.
'Remember.'
His father's voice once again rang in his ears. It was only a subtle reminder, but it was more than enough to snap August back to reality.
Whoosh!
He jumped back and crouched growling at the wolves, who took a similar position as they started to encircle him.
'This is a hunt.'
This was not the time to be consumed in bloodlust.
He was not going to be an evil dragon, nor was he going to be someone consumed by things that went against his ideals. If he wanted to reach the future he desired, then he needed to stay on the right path.
'Focus, August.'
He pushed away the emotions in his mind and tried to fill it with thoughts of the battle.
There were only six of them left at this point. They were still able to surround him, but the fact that he'd taken down half of their pack without sustaining a single wound had struck fear into their hearts.
They weren't stupid creatures. Their minds were developed enough for them to have a fight or flight response. Everything told them that they needed to flee as soon as possible, but they also realized that if they turned their backs on the enemy, they would instantly die.
This was a losing battle for them. August knew it as well as they did. Now that he'd collected himself, the rest of the battle was just going through the motions.
His claws moved rhythmically, and his body moved with the flexibility of water. One after another, the wolves were taken down.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})And only in the end did they realize how outmatched they were.
CRUNCH!
It was an incredibly dull sound, but it wasn't supposed to be at all. There were only two wolves remaining, and as August focused on killing one of them, the other snuck up behind him and clamped its jaws around his hind leg.
That didn't sound like an action that would result in a dull sound, right? Unfortunately for the wolf, that was the sound of its teeth shattering into pieces against the scales of a dragon.
August looked back, the curious expression on his face heavily contrasting his blood-covered appearance, and glanced at that wolf.
It slowly let go of his leg and backed away, looking at the ground the entire time.
Was it pleading for mercy?
August frowned to himself.
'Would it be okay…?'
He didn't want to kill an enemy who'd surrendered.
Maybe it wasn't the right decision, but that was what he wanted to do.
And if there was anything he'd been taught, wasn't it to follow that instinct?
August gave the wolf one last look before flying away to look for his next prey.
And from the sky, Damien nodded as well.
In almost every way, it was an incredibly satisfactory performance.
It had been mentioned too many times already, but there was no way for Damien to stop feeling it.
Pride.
He was unbelievably proud of the boy he was fortunate enough to call his son.
