Ascenders: Rising From Zero

Wolves, Wild Dogs, Ironspike Tailed Dogs growling about as they focused their attention at the DragonWarrior before them.

Behind their congregation was a larger wolf and a nature drakon, barechested and in black trousers with a waist pouch.

Infront of the whole ruckus was the lady drakon, Huntress 02178, with squinted eyes as she observed the whole a.s.sembly.

Huntress 02178 has come with one mandate, to capture the beast the Asoju had marked and she had come ready for whatever it brought. What she did not antic.i.p.ate however, was the howl it sounded that somewhat summoned all these creatures before her.

Before she became huntress 02178, she had had to give up on her name and induct her soul to answer to a new ident.i.ty which was Huntress02178. To do so, one had to cut ties with the outside world and thoroughly dedicate his person to the cause.

Which meant that, once you had inducted your new ident.i.ty, there was no reason whatsoever to fail.

Not one.

Huntress frowned lightly as her forehead gem sparkled activating her metal Elemental ability. Just then, liquid metal began extracting itself from the ground and fine tunning into a slender long sword that fitted into the hand of the huntress.

It was game on!

Thud... Thud...

Bayo"s paws clawed the ground as he charged from the rear of the dogs and wolves, preparing to leap. After the scan, he had come to conclusion that he had nothing more to do here. However, he didn"t just want to bail on Jaspar.

That didn"t just feel right to him so he would buy some time enough for both of them to beat it.

His limbs contracted, lifting his bulky 5ft body off the ground as he growled.

He would crash in on the huntress and before she could do anything to him, the pack of wolves and dogs would have clashed in, forcing her to abandon him in a bid to defend herself.

He was bigger and had a finer understanding of Agbara than the creatures before him so getting there first wouldn"t be a problem.

Or would it?

CATCH!

Bayo"s muscles constricted as he fell, crashed snout first into dirt. Behind him was Jaspar holding his tail with both hands, wearing a scowl.

"Why you?" Bayo growled, attempting to pull away but Jaspar"s hand s held tight.

"Don"t be stupid, Bayo. Just because you did a sort of howl summon doesn"t mean you are invincible. For Eledumare"s sake, she is a Dragon Warrior. Her primary occupation is fighting dragons and you think you can measure up to anything before her? Come on!" Jaspar fired, angrily.

"Geez... man. It"s my life on the stake here, not yours." Bayo complained as he rested his head on his frontal paws seeing that Jaspar was not willing to let go of his tail.

"We don"t have time. I"ll fling you up to give you some head start. Just keep running till you see the Western Gate. Don"t stop, no matter what until you are at the World Bridge of Amnor. I"ll try to stall her to give you more time but I"m not confident though."

"What? You are not strong enough to even face.... Eeeewwskkkkkk..." Bayo wheezed as his weight was flung round and round by Jaspar in a spinning circle, effortless.

"Don"t. T-throw. Me-e... Like. T-that." Bayo complained amidst mouthful of air.

FWOOOSHHH...

Bayo was flung in the western direction, opposite to the cliff and diagonal to the huntress. Quickly, he huffed his frontal limbs, bending them to cus.h.i.+on his fall while he stretched his rear limbs to balance out. His bent knees touched down briefly but before any serious impact could ring out, his extended rear limbs had clawed into land, absorbing most of the landing force amidst the low lying gra.s.ses.

Behind him was the huntress, slas.h.i.+ng and slicing wildly.

As quick as lightning, the huntress flung her blade in a never ending circle as she fought through the border of beasts. She lifted her head, taking her focus from the beasts to home in on Bayo"s new location only for a Virulent Tailed Wolf with its ghastly yellow furs to ram its tail at her chest.

Without moving in response to the hit, she casually swung her sword and sliced through the Wolf before blurring, afterimages of her slaughtering the entire horde.

"Control Array, Can you see this?" Huntress 02178 said as a little orb appeared, floating above her head whilst spinning slowly on its...o...b..t.

"New information recorded. Charge is capable of Alpha Howl. Updating scroll system. Charge is escaping! Recommended course of action, intercept ." A voice sounded from the orb.

"Of course, I know that, Isaac. Just record and don"t tell me what to do." She said as she squinted at the escaping Wolf. Without much ado, she threw her weight forward, with her hands back as her legs blurred on the ground, racing towards the Wolf.

GBAM!

The huntress suddenly spun, moving on a velocity that was not her own as Jaspar savagely crashed into her. At that, her right leg extended, slowing her momentum with the tip of her heels.

"Don"t do that! That is property of the CFR and..."

KRACKK...

Jaspar grimaced as his draconic left hand shattered the orb into pieces. Seeing this, the huntress charged, swinging the blade in her left hand in a wide arc. In response, Jaspar ducked before pus.h.i.+ng against the ground with his hands to jump out of range.

"I cannot be held responsible for collateral damage since you are standing in the way of my duties. Even to destruction of my Control Array Seeker Orb. But I ask you, Jaspar, stand aside." She said as she turned towards the Wolf"s direction in the gra.s.sy plains.

She leaned forward once more, running. But as soon as she started, she stopped, jumping back for about 3 meters as two Saarins tore through her previous position.

(A/N: Saarin is a needle like dagger)

"Son of Drakon Master Dakota. I ask you one last time to step aside. " She retorted, looking back to see the smug look on Jaspar who had a hand in his pouch.

She looked forward again, noting that the Wolf has already begun to run down the steeping edges of the hill towards the West Gate.

If she wasted any more time, her catch would be gone from sight. However, this spoilt son of Dakota would not allow her be.

"FINE." She spat out, straightening herself.

Rus.h.i.+ng wildly at Jaspar, she swung the blade in a wide strike only to hit empty air as Jaspar evaded, ducking again.

However she was expecting that.

Quickly, her right hand blurred, slamming a Saarin into the underside of his jaws. Before he could groan out in pain, her left hand had returned, slas.h.i.+ng again in another wide arc.

Seeing this, Jaspar bent his body backwards, evading the brunt of the sword but not all as the tip of the blade sliced through, from his right to left abdomen.

"Eeeek..." Jaspar growled, backflipping over to evade a return slash.

He landed some distance away, groaning as he held his stomach with his left and observing his opponent.

Things were not looking good his way. Not that it ever was. This lady was a Dragon Warrior, practically, she fought dragons.

Not only that, he was but Elite Cla.s.sed but She was Omni and with the Law of Sickness that she coated her blade, his health had thinned out drastically.

Plus, he had given out some of his energy to help stabilize Bayo"s soul earlier.

Actually, a huge chunk of his energy.

But, Jaspar sighed, looking over to Bayo escape path, his friend was still in sight. He had to keep on going, atleast till Bayo could vanish from sight.

And there was just one thing he had to do, to even out the battle field to some extent.

He had to transform even though it meant losing his rationality as a sentient being.

Still, it was a friend hence it was worth it.

"Stand Aside, for the last time." Huntress" voice looked over him as the tip her blade touched his neck.

She had taken advantage of his thinking time to checkmate him.

"Heh..." Jaspar snickered. "There"s nothing really left for me to do now, eh?"

The huntress didn"t reply, instead the blade retracted, becoming a thick dagger in her hand as she turned away. She slammed a foot forward, raising little clouds of dust as she set out to run once more.

"D-don"t... you dare ignore ME!!!" Jaspar growled from behind her, two dragon paws sweeping her off her feet in an X-like motion.

ROAAAAARRRRRR...

Jaspar roared, belching out green fumes as his skin thickened into forest green plates, while his face somewhat elongated slightly, his eyes moving to the sides of his head abit rather than in front.

At his back, forest green draconic wings flapped, a bone jutting out from the wing arc, his fingers elongated also, becoming claws that glinted sharp and deadly as he stood in his partial dragon state.

Just then, a form in the corner of his eyes turned, watching him. Without looking, he shouted. "Just go, Bayo. I"ll be fine."

But the Wolf was not so sure as it trotted back uncertainly.

SLASH..

CLANG...

SLASH...

CLANG...

Jaspar swung his claws, taking the offensive side, this time while the huntress raised her dagger and Saarin to undermine every lunge he made at her with a block.

The duel went on with Jaspar pus.h.i.+ng the huntress back and back while growling and slas.h.i.+ng. Occasionally, he would belch a column of fire into the Huntress" face as he continued the melee.

While she could not be hurt by fire, having fire erupt in her face reduced her visibility by a lot, allowing Jaspar to gain some almost lucky strikes which were inadvertently blocked by the huntress once more.

As if infuriated, the huntress" eyes flashed and ducked to the right, evading Jaspar"s growling claw strikes. Simultaneously, her left leg lifted in an arc before straightening and slamming into Jaspar in a fast paced motion, throwing him meters into the air. Before he could land, her legs pounded furiously against the ground as she lifted up to reach him in the air and with a twist of her body, a powerful kick from her right knee rammed into the back of his neck.

Jaspar hurtled down, cras.h.i.+ng heavily.

KRa.s.sHH...

THUD!

The Huntress landed too, taking a dignified look as she watched the now crouching drakon, groan in pain.

"JASPARRRRR..." Bayo howled as he watched his groaning friend struggling to rise.

"Good! It came back." The Huntress muttered as she turned to look at the Wolf.

"No..." Jaspar groaned.

In one sudden motion, the huntress threw her weight forward, preparing to run only to feel resistance at her leg.

It was Jaspar, clutching tightly to her left foot. Simultaneously, the dagger began to thin as she aimed to impale the offending hand only for her eyes to widen to in surprise.

Jaspar was rising too, a maniac look in his eyes. His left hand held her left foot while he rose with the right hand, claws extended, a green haze of air about the tip of his claws as Huntress" blade came down.

"No... Poison?"

Seeing this, she quickly adjusted the blade, placing the trajectory towards a spot where Jaspar would rise to, with intent of piercing into his heart.

Bayo staggered as he tried to run towards the duo, watching the inevitable clash. He had to do something...

Anything...

"Law of Sickness..."

SHNNK...

CRNCCKKKK...

FWOOSH...

Bayo was stunned to the marrow as various event happened in quick succession. He heard the lady say something and noticed her blade had taken a deathly hue as it plunged into Jaspar"s left side of his chest.

Into his heart.

But that had not stopped him, as he belched a fume of green haze at the Huntress" face before his claws sliced into her neck, cutting it clean.

"Jaspaarrrrrrr...." Water trailed down his snout as his limbsrefused to budge to his call to run to him.

Meters in front was Jaspar staggering down to the ground, a blade plunged into his heart as his skin began scaling off, his entire being being smelling of death.

"B-Bayo..." Jaspar called, stretching an emanciated hand towards his friend.

"H-how? How did you defeat her? What did she do to you?" Bayo made to run towards him only to see Jaspar shaking his head, a head that was hanging on a thin strand of flesh called neck.

"I-I... poison scent, I finally created an ability for me... It worked... seeing that... s-she...reacted poorly to surprises. I got cursed... p-p-Principle Of Affliction... I"ll be fine."

"How?" Bayo began to racing to him.

"N-no... just go. I"ll be fine. Dragon blood is very regenerative. Just GO! Do it for me, please." Jaspar coughed out essence as he forced a smile on.

"More of them are coming. They will take care of me... Go." Jaspar flung thin finger at Bayo as the sounds of footsteps began drawing close.

Tear filled, Bayo shrank, reducing into a 3 meter sad Metalplated Eagle. With an unsteady movement, it stretched its wings, bowing at Jaspar. With a beat of his powerful wings, it lifted up as a feminine figure in milky white evening gown and luscious black hair, came to view, running towards Jaspar.