Chapter 20 part 2 :Hit and run

Even when they were crossing the skies, the two dragons remained on high alert for any mobs. There may not be that many flying mobs, and they may also be about a hundred or so feet in the air, but they aren't going to take any risks, who knows what may await them at the desert. The were-komodo shifted uncomfortably as she tried to find a not so awkward place to sit on, Destiny may have been around for two million years, but she is technically only 14 years old, since most of her time was spent in sleep between time paradoxes, so, she really isn't that big. Joca was not used to Destiny's minute size, seeing that her dragon, Skydancer, was about one and a half times bigger than the she-dragon. "So Joca, I have wanted to ask if you know anything about… the ender dragon." "I met an enderman in the bar; it's a long story…" "Give me the short version then." "Well, apparently, endermen only came to the Overworld to escape the wrath of their master, the ender dragon; however, the only way they managed to get out was by Israphel creating the end portal. This also had also brought along something else, the ability to free the ender dragon from the end, and if I'm correct, whoever frees the dragon will have ultimate control over it." "So if we destroy the portal before Israphel completes the summoning ritual…" "He wouldn't be able to summon the ender dragon!" "And so we add another objective into our never-ending list.

Skydancer could only pace around his jail cell as he formulated an escape plan; the walls are made of bedrock and fortified with molten magma, so breaking through them will be impossible without advanced magic, which he did not possess. He could however, weaken the border of space and time and escape the prison, but it will take too much energy since his partner isn't around… "Come on Sky, pull yourself together, you have to find a way out somehow, you have to! For sis, for the sake of the world, for… her…" His voice trailed off at the last few words, he had only met her in the world between borders, he had saved her life from the border fall once and he had found out that he had started to develop feelings towards her. "Sometimes, I really wonder if we will ever meet again, she was from the past, I'm from the future, I wonder if she is still that same dragon, that same dragon with her warped sense of humour…"

The ragtag team of sorts finally arrived at the edge of the Sandstone crypt, navigating their way here by Solaris's enigmatic memory (although he had misled them plenty of times). "Alright, Joca and Lalna, you two sneak into the fortress entrance while we cover you, and whatever you do, never look back." Destiny was about to take off when she turned back, her gentle black eyes staring at Lalna, "And please Lalna, don't get yourself killed." "I promise you won't have to haul not even a single corpse back to camp." "Stay safe, Vanquishing Blade." "You too Lightbringer."

With Honeydew and Xephos mounted on Destiny and Solaris respectively, the two dragons leapt into the air, roaring to catch the attention of the ground mobs as they directed all the attention to themselves, away from the running duo. "Come on Lalna! Hurry the hell up!" "It's *pant… not that *pant…I'm slow *pant." "Meh, never mind then." The two had reached the sandstone door soon enough, only to be dismayed by the sight of two sand golems guarding the door. "Heh, watch this Joca."  Reaching for his inner energy, the scientist let loose a salvo of fireballs onto the golems, burning and roasting their energy cores as the golems solidified into glass. Summoning forth a fist from the ground, the scientist swung at the sculptures, shattering them to pieces as the doors opened at the impact of the earthen fist. "Come on! Let's go!" The were-komodo rushed after the scientist as he rode atop a Psion spirit, running through the doors just before they collapsed into a heap, Joca could feel Skydancer's aura as she went deeper and deeper into the crypt, her claws clacking on the sandstone floor as they advanced into the bowels of the crypt.

"Destiny! To the left!" The dwarf had warned the dragon not a second too soon as she dodged the arrow shot by a skeleton jockey. There were too many of them, it seemed like every single one of Israphel's army had come out to fight them, to kill them at all costs. Solaris was not doing very well either; the older dragon had plenty of arrow heads lodged between his scales, and a few had buried themselves into his flesh, and he had plenty of tears in his wings. Destiny had turned just in time to blast a ghast with a light beam as it nearly managed to attack Solaris, Honeydew had got quite a few burns from ghast explosions along with flying creepers and his right arm was bleeding out, due to a stray arrow. At this rate, they will not be able to hold out any longer, both dragons were sore and exhausted, and their riders injured, just one more major wave of mobs will be enough to finish them off. They could only hope for a miracle right now.

Lalna had finally managed to find his way to Israphel's portal room, Joca had gone off in the opposite direction to find Skydancer, and so he was tasked with destroying the end portal. "Geez, this place is a friggin mess… I wonder who gets the crap job of cleaning this dumpster." There were only a few of the sand golems in the room, so they were easily taken care of, but it seemed too easy, way too easy. The end portal was just sitting in the centre of plenty of Nether portals, no guard, no force field, not even Israphel was around. The scientist was about to blast the portal when a disembodied voice spoke from nowhere, "Well… if it isn't you again scientist, on another one of your little missions are you?" The scientist turned around, to face empty air as the voice spoke again, "I'm a lot closer than you think, human." "Show your ugly creeper face Israphel! Stop running away like a coward!"  "Do you even know what is the most destructive force in the universe?"  "I don't give a crap Israphel! Show yourself!" "Well I'll tell you anyway, the most destructive force in the universe is… Regret." At the final word, a Dark sand dragon burst from the end portal, and landed in front of the stunned scientist, claws and teeth bared, "Let's agree to disagree shall we?"

Joca could feel it; Skydancer's aura was getting stronger as she ran down the corridor, all the way down into the deepest chamber of the crypt, until she could hear her dragon partner's voice from a bedrock cell. "Sky! Are you in there?" "Sis? What are you doing here?" "Saving your ass, that's what." With a swift swipe of her red claws, the lock snapped into two as an overjoyed Skydancer leapt from the cell, tackling Joca to the ground as she tried to push him off. "Come on Sky, we have to get out of here and help the others." "What do you mean by…?" "We don't have much time, hurry and weaken the space border!" "I'm on it!" Skydancer's golden claws glowed as he ripped apart a hole in the space border, thus, teleporting the two into the air battle above the crypt. "Just in time you two! Get up here and lend us a hand!" Swiftly, Skydancer tore the border of light and darkness, letting loose what looked like a danmaku hell of light and darkness bullets, killing off almost all of the enemies on the ground and air as the mobs were bombarded with an unstoppable wall of bullets. "Wait, Joca, where did Lalna go?" "He said he went off to the portal room…" "If Israphel is dealing with the ritual, then… oh crap!" Without any further delay, Destiny dived towards the pyramid, hoping that she wasn't too late.

Israphel laughed manically as he toyed around with the scientist, he had summoned a ring of fire to surround the pathetic scientist, engulfing him in the heat of dragon fire as the scientist struggled to even stand. "Give it up scientist, those are cursed wounds, no amount of magic can heal you from them, even your pet dragon can't save you now." "Fuck… you Israphel… she will come… I'm sure of it…" This caused the sand dragon to laugh even more, "Ha! I have an entire army of mobs to deal with that crystal-winged pest, and if you haven't noticed, I am immortal and invincible as well, so no matter what, she will never be able to harm me!" The sand dragon turned to face the bloodied scientist, his serrated claws lengthening as he prepared to stab the scientist once more, "Just so you know, as long as your pet doesn't die, you will have to live with this pain for the rest of your pathetic life!" the sand dragon said before driving a single claw straight through the scientist; just as an archangel dragon and his rider appeared alongside Destiny.

Israphel did not foresee how powerful Destiny could be when enraged, she had summoned forth a rain of flames and light orbs as they launched at Israphel in danmaku style, pelting the surprised sand dragon as he tried to counterattack with a rain of molten sand. Lilalna had managed to haul an unconscious (and bloody) Lalna onto Mystletain's back, careful not to impale him on any of her dragon's golden spikes, silently, she left the two to fight it out as she urged her partner to fly back to the wyvern's forest. Israphel may be invincible, but he could still receive wounds as the enraged Soul dragon started to utilise her forbidden abilities, like casting a taboo spell: Starbow strike; elemental bullets started to rain down upon the sand dragon as he countered with dark magic, but failed miserably as the relentless Soul dragon left the spell to continue while she makes a getaway, not without leaving behind a few words, "If the light won't kill you, you can be damn sure I will be there to incinerate your pathetic corpse."