Guns, Steel, and Dragons

"It's that traitor's avatar..." Gazing up at the illustrious crimson figure in the sky, Felipe's face darkened. The scales on his cheeks and jaw twitched, his gaze deep and sullen, the venomous, serpentine slits of his pupils brimming with undisguised hatred. The Third Prince of Fadlan had been reduced to a mere extension of Tiamat's will, nursing a bone-deep loathing for the Cinder Emperor who had repeatedly thwarted the rituals of the Cult of the Dragon. Now, Felipe's features twisted into a hideous grimace. The papal tiara atop his head trembled faintly as he raised the Calamity Scepter high, aiming it at the distant red dragon phantom and shouting, "All who betray Tiamat shall suffer torment for all eternity! "The sinner Cassius—his gruesome doom draws near! His heart shall be pierced by poisoned lances! His scales shall be flayed by sharp blades! His head shall be cleaved by battleaxes and hung high in Her Majesty the Dragon Queen's palace!" As Felipe made his decree, a profound, eerie radiance burst from the dragon head atop the Calamity Scepter. Ripples rolled across the sky as overwhelming divine might blanketed the earth, and countless dragonblood monsters howled toward the heavens. Their faces contorted in frenzied madness, and they began devouring one another. Flesh, skin, and viscera mashed together, amalgamating into several towering, mountain-like, grotesque abominations. They were nightmarish amalgams, their limbs thick and stubby, some moving on four legs, others on six, and some creeping on dozens of legs like centipedes. Upon those massive draconic torsos writhed and squirmed necks and heads of varying colors—their combinations haphazard, yet all restricted to red, blue, green, black, and white. Not a single monster possessed more than four heads—after all, that sacred form belonged to Tiamat alone. To bear five heads or more was a blasphemous affront to the petty, narrow-minded Chromatic Dragon Queen, and any abomination that dared would likely be struck down by divine punishment from the heavens the moment it appeared. These were the twisted creations spawned by Tiamat's divine power—chromatic dragonbeasts, also known as the "Blood of Tiamat." Each was a terrifying horror formed from hundreds or thousands of monsters fused together, capable of matching an entire party of legendary adventurers alone, fully able to raze mortal city-states with ease. "Roar—!" "Tear it to shreds!" The chromatic dragonbeasts bellowed at the sky, their mismatched, monstrous heads all wearing manic, distorted expressions. Amid the violent tremors shaking the earth, they charged forward, scrambling over one another to pounce upon the crimson silhouette. Yet the enemy before them was no mortal army, but the Cinder Emperor summoned by the Dragon Oath Paladins—a manifestation bearing a portion of his true power, unfathomable in strength. *Boom!* A searing pillar of fire crashed down from the sky, piercing straight through the torso of one of the chromatic dragonbeasts in an instant. Yet it did not die. The dragonblood beast, endowed with terrifying vitality, let out a wail of agony and snapped its heads upward; its red, white, and green maws spewed streams of fire, frost, and venom. The other chromatic dragonbeasts raised their heads in unison, opening their reeking maws to unleash torrents of breath in varying colors. The combined breaths of the five dragonbeasts finally checked the fiery onslaught of the red dragon phantom. Rasping out hoarse roars, the five chromatic dragonbeasts closed in from different directions, encircling the red dragon phantom. "What utterly repulsive spawn of Tiamat!" Anthony scoffed. He swung his spear, which bore the battle standard of the Dragon Oath Paladins, and led his comrades in a charge toward the pack of chromatic dragonbeasts. "For the Empire!" "For the great Dragon Lord!" the Dragon Oath Paladins shouted in unison, their fighting spirit blazing and their blood boiling. In tight, orderly ranks, they crashed into the mountain-sized dragonbeasts. The dragon souls hovering above them let out thunderous roars as well, swooping down with overwhelming momentum. One chromatic dragonbeast churned its massive limbs, lumbering forward like a shifting mountain to ram into the paladins' battle line. The ground shook beneath its tread, whipping up churning sheets of yellow sand. "Defensive formation! Brace for impact!" Amid the dull thudding of the ground, a regiment commander of the Dragon Oath Paladins bellowed his orders. "Hold the line!" "Not one step back!" Over a hundred Dragon Oath Paladins bearing heavy shields and spears snapped into a tight semicircular wall in an instant. Glimmering auras flared around them like a dense wall of brambles, penning the colossal beast inside. *Crash!* With a deafening bellow, the chromatic dragonbeast slammed straight into the formation, instantly crushing three caught-off-guard paladins into paste. Yet the remaining Dragon Oath Paladins channeled the power of their Dragon Bond to distribute the damage among themselves. Chains of flame linked and crisscrossed between them, weaving a vast net that ensnared the chromatic dragonbeast. "Kill!" "Attack!" Red-hot spears thrust forward from every direction, piercing deep into the dragonbeast's flesh again and again, carving countless bloody gouges across its grotesque bulk as dark crimson gushed outward. The dragonbeast's three heads reared back together, unleashing a howl laden with agony and fury, before spewing lethal blasts of fire, lightning, and frost that engulfed a dozen paladins in an instant. Yet these Dragon Oath Paladins possessed unyielding resolve. Even as their comrades were burned alive before their eyes, they stepped resolutely into the breaches, refusing to give an inch. "For the Emperor!" "Strike its vitals! This abomination won't last long!" "Roar—!" High above, answering the will of the Dragon Oath Paladins, a red dragon war-spirit plummeted from the sky. It pounced onto the dragonbeast's back, tearing savagely with razor claws and fangs until it ripped away the head channeling the blue dragon's power by sheer, brutal force. *Aaargh!!* Gore splattered as a ghastly shriek echoed across the heavens. Amid the clashing battle cries, beastly roars, and explosions, six chromatic dragonbeasts became locked in a brutal melee with thousands of Dragon Oath Paladins, neither side able to gain the upper hand. At the same time, the remaining dozen or so chromatic dragonbeasts surged forward, tearing toward every weak point along the imperial defensive line. Attacking alongside the rest of the dragonblood horde, they formed a ferocious, torrential assault. *Rumble—!* Accompanied by the roar and hiss of steam engines, the Empire's steam tank legions ground across the earth, rolling inexorably toward Sunset City and ruthlessly crushing every dragonblood monstrosity that barred their path. Yet right then, three mountain-sized chromatic dragonbeasts appeared before the armored division, their savage maws unleashing the combined breath weapons of the five chromatic dragon flights. In an instant, blazing fire, crackling lightning, and freezing frost engulfed the lead steam tanks. Amid thunderous detonations, several of the Empire's Wings of Victory-class tanks were blown into scattered wreckage. "Fire!" "Blow them to pieces!" Inside the *Emperor's Wrath*, the commander of the tank division—a dragonblood goblin with a shrill voice—slammed his hands against the control console, shrieking in fury. *Boom!* *Boom! Boom!* The tanks' main cannons fired in rapid succession. High-lethality armor-piercing rounds slammed into the dragonbeasts' colossal bulks, blasting open charred craters of blood and torn flesh, yet failing to finish them off. "Roar—!" With deafening, agonized roars, the chromatic dragonbeasts charged through the storm of artillery fire, plowing over and crushing several tanks with their colossal bulk. Before long, the sky armada joined the brutal battle as well, raining countless crisscrossing energy beams down upon the chromatic dragonbeasts' heads.