Pendragon

Chapter 1: Hero of the f*cking world.

Hell.

That would have been the first thing that came to the minds of most as they looked at the battlefield around them.

Rubble and debris of what used to be a flourishing kingdom spread out as far as the eye could see, with cinders and flames complementing the already hellish landscape.

Corpses of dragons and humans littered the ground everywhere. It looked like every living thing around was either gone... or dead.

All except for three.

Two humans sprawled on the floor, slowly getting back on their feet.

And a behemoth of a dragon. Larger than any other on the battlefield, beautiful dark blue scales covered the entirety of its body. Its wings alone seemed bigger than the greatest of castles.

It was a true apex predator. But around its body were injuries and broken scales. The dragon itself seemed exhausted... worn out.

Who could possibly be strong enough to make such a monster bleed?

“Get up, before that ugly b*stard tries to sneak attack us again!” one of the two humans shouted. He had long, flowing blonde hair and was covered in gold-plated armour that sat well on his body, and beside him was an exotic sword.

“Oh, please,” the other human scoffed. “The 'great king of dragons' looks just as tired as us. Maybe he'll agree to a truce so we can all catch our breath.” He huffed as he slowly got up. His short blue hair and surprisingly light battle attire flowed in the wind.

“Hey, Arthur,” he said with his eyes fixed on the other man's body. “You're injured.”

“Just a scratch,” Arthur replied casually as he bent over and picked up his sword.

“...Your whole side is missing!”

“Yup, just a scratch.” Arthur smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

“Monster,” he mumbled before turning to face their looming threat.

Boros, the king of the dragons and most powerful dragon in the world.

“This might be our last attack.” The blue-haired prince said with a wince, taking Arthur's serious injuries into account. “I'm not doing so hot either, and I can't heal us yet 'cause I need every ounce of my mana to fight this thing.”

“So what you're saying is we might not make it out alive?” Arthur asked in an amused voice.

“I'm saying we better finish this quickly! Idiot!” he shouted.

“Calm down, Merlin. We're not gonna lose. We can't afford to.” Arthur stopped smiling immediately and put his sword in front of him, assuming a fighting stance.

“So I'm leading the charge?” Merlin asked as he adjusted his battle garb. Arthur nodded slowly, causing Merlin to smile.

Then, slowly, he bounced from one foot to another, lightning snakes dancing around his body with each jump, until he finally landed and vanished.

A loud echoing boom resounded as Merlin took off. Covered from head to toe in lightning, he moved faster than the normal human eye could even register, and was upon Boros within a moment.

Boros swung his tail to attack the streak of lightning before him, but Merlin was too fast, avoiding the giant tail and standing directly under the giant dragon.

He raised both hands in the air and swung them down immediately, and a giant lightning bolt came down from the sky and engulfed the whole of Boros' form.

“Any day now, brother!” he shouted across the field. The dragon was stunned. The attack was powerful enough to disorient it but not enough to kill it.

Arthur took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he had entered it.

The State of Dominion.

He could see every movement, every opportunity presented. Everything seemed to move slowly to him. Just as he needed it to.

In a flash, he had already crossed the battlefield. And like a charging cannon, he slammed his whole force into Boros, pushing the great dragon back by a few feet.

“Ikor no kalar.” The dragon roared and flapped his giant wings, the air exploded outwards across the battleground as it prepared to take the battle to the air where it knew it would dominate.

“The thing can speak!” Arthur asked in baffled shock.

“Yeah, dragon's tongue!” Merlin replied casually as he prepared for an attack.

Merlin ran across the battlefield and stopped in front of the dragon.

“Oh no you don't!”

With one hand raised in the air and a smile on his face, he made the sky darken. The clouds split open as a giant meteor came crashing down from the heavens, connecting with the great dragon and sending him crashing back into the ground.

Quickly, he stood up and roared loudly, ready to tear his opponents to shreds. But Arthur was already there. Steel flashed in the sunlight as it connected to a giant scaly tail.

And the battle raged on. Arthur and the dragon going blow for blow, parry for parry, each clash tearing and ripping apart the surroundings like a natural disaster.

“Keep him busy, Arthur! I have a plan.” Merlin bellowed from behind. His hands clasped together as beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

“Hurry!” Arthur echoed, still going toe to toe with Boros. The dragon was surprisingly fast, keeping up with every swing with its own giant body parts.

“You can't rush greatness, Arthur,” the mage retorted as he kept focusing. In his hands was a small glowing ball that was filled with flowing colours. It was like pure magic. “Almost there,” he mumbled under his breath.

Kaboom.

Arthur's body was sent flying like a rag doll, and he crashed hard into the ground near Merlin, creating a reasonably sized crater deep in the earth.

“Well, you took your sweet time,” he mumbled as he crawled out of the crater he created. He was worn out. They had been fighting nonstop for hours, and he had sustained serious injuries. Heck, both of them were literally bleeding to death at the moment.

“Shut up, I can't explain now, but this is almost all the magic I have left,” he said quickly as he touched the ball of colours to Arthur's sword. The sword absorbed the ball, then it glowed bright, brighter than anything Arthur had ever seen.

“I'm out of the fight, it's up to you, brother.” Merlin patted Arthur on the shoulder.

Arthur's side ached, but he knew the assignment. He nodded swiftly and dashed towards the dragon in a blinding blur.

‘I have to do this, I can't fail. I won't fail!’ He grounded his resolve in his head, his sword humming in agreement as he zipped around the battlefield.

The dragon, sensing danger, widened its maw, and fire began forming in its depths. It was loading up its dragon's breath.

Merlin kissed his teeth. Arthur couldn't dodge that, not in his current condition. He raised both hands towards the dragon and cast another spell.

Boros was about to fire the dragon fire when he felt a gigantic tremor behind him. The earth was moving. He quickly snapped his neck to confront the attack, but he was left dumbfounded.

Behind him wasn't an attack; it was a giant statue of Merlin made entirely out of earth, with its middle finger raised at him.

“My greatest masterpiece, if I do say so myself.” Merlin smirked.

Then it clicked. This was a distraction. The dragon turned quickly again, but Arthur was no longer on the ground, he was high in the air with his magical blade ready to kill.

Boros quickly fired the dragon fire at the airborne Arthur, planning to burn the great warrior alive.

But Merlin wasn't done. He snapped his fingers casually and, using the last of his mana, numerous blocks of ice appeared in the air, covering the entire battlefield.

“That's it. I'm out.” He staggered with a smile and fell to the floor.

“Merlin, you crazy b*stard!” Arthur shouted loudly.

To any other person, the ice blocks seemed to have spawned at random locations, but to Arthur, it took only one glance to know that it was a path, a path to victory.

‘I have to win this. As king, it's my responsibility to kill this giant lizard! I will protect my family and my kingdom!’

Before the fire could reach him, before gravity could even affect the blocks of ice, Arthur launched off the one that spawned under his feet and zoomed through the sky, dashing and jumping from each block set in place by his companion.

In the blink of an eye, he was now behind the raging dragon, and with all his might he screamed.

“EXCAAAAAAAAAAALIBURRRRRR!!!!”

As if the sword could hear his call, it hummed loudly with power—more power than the human body could handle—and all of it was pointed at Boros.

“WISTORIAAAAAA!!!”

He swung with every bit of power in him and the moment the sword made contact, all the power it held burst out in a blinding explosion. The light covered the whole battlefield. The power pushed every corpse aside.

But Boros stood there resisting. He pushed back against the sword with a deafening roar, his survival instincts screaming at him.

“DIE!!!!”

Arthur was determined. He pushed back, every bit of energy in him poured into the sword, and with a great shout he pushed further than his human limits, further than he had ever pushed before.

The blinding light settled. Arthur's body plummeted to the ground with great force. The dragon's body remained standing, but it no longer had a head.

They had won. Arthur had won.

Slowly the body fell to the ground, lifeless. Defeated.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

He pushed his tired body up. His sword had fallen a few metres from him, its blade rooted deep into the ground. But that wasn't his main priority.

Merlin.

He slowly dragged his body through the dirt. He didn't have the energy to scream his name. He tried, but only mumbles escaped his lips.

Eventually, he managed to reach his friend. Merlin was lying helplessly on the floor, the impact of the battle had pushed him far from where he originally was.

Arthur wanted to laugh, but his own body gave out, and he collapsed beside his friend.

They both lay there in pools of their own blood for a few moments, catching their breath before they both began to laugh, slowly, painfully.

“Holy sh*t. We actually won.” Merlin laughed, blood trickling down his mouth.

“Of course we did,” Arthur huffed tiredly. “I told you we would.”

“Big talk from someone who was carried throughout the fight.”

“Oh please, I was the one that actually killed the d*mn thing.” Arthur smiled.

“Yeah, with the help of MY magic,” Merlin snapped back.

“I still did all the work,” Arthur said matter-of-factly. Even though they were losing so much blood, they were still arguing. Some things never change. “I didn't see you trading blows with him.”

“Oh, that's how it is?” Merlin slowly turned to his side and moved his fingers through the earth.

“What're you doing?” Arthur asked.

“Writing that I saved all our asses so future generations will know I did all the work.”

Arthur laughed, a hearty laugh from the stomach. Merlin would never change.

“We never got to finish our bet, huh?” Arthur thought with a pained smirk.

“Which bet?” Merlin asked, still engrossed in engraving his achievements into the earth.

“About who brought Boros into the kingdom, you fool!”

“How was I supposed to know?” Merlin's fingers still traced slowly. He was literally using all his strength to write. “We make bets all the time.”

“Besides...” He lay back on his back. “The others can handle it. I'm tired and I wanna rest.”

Arthur side-eyed him in amused shock.

“You do know we're dying, right?”

“Yeah... I'm gonna miss you, Arthur.”

“Me too, brother,” Arthur said with a small smile before finally succumbing to his wounds and dying.

“I couldn't have asked for a better friend, brother,” Merlin said with his last breath before closing his eyes for the last time.

It took hours, but after the battle, people came back. Knights and first responders combed through the landscape, looking for survivors... or bodies.

Eventually, someone stumbled upon the bodies of the two heroes.

“Over here!” he screamed at the top of his voice. “The king and the great mage Merlin's bodies are over here!”

More people gathered. They gently carried the bodies and placed them in carriers.

They tried removing the sword, but it wouldn't budge. No one could remove it from the ground.

As they were about to leave, someone spotted the writing near where Merlin's body was. It was written into the earth, but it was clear and readable.

“Arthur Pendragon, hero of the f*cking world.”