The Devourer (A Highschool DxD Fanfic)

Meeting A Dragon/Ch.16

"What is this place?" I murmur, beginning to move around the expanse until the sight of a rift similar to Ophis's yet much bigger opening catches my eye. It crackles with energy for several seconds before a massive dragon comes sailing out at high speeds.

*ROOOOOOOOOAR*

The mighty roar resounds all around me, continuing to echo until the sound of the dragon crashing down into a large rock interrupts it.

"Whoever dares come here would be wise to show yourself before I obliterate your existence!" The dragon booms while swinging his head from side to side as if searching for me.

"I'm right here," I call while floating up, the giant dragon's face now staring directly at me. Instead of 'Obliterating' me, he instead pauses for a second in confusion as he sees me, not really hostile anymore but not putting his guard down either. With this realization, I inch closer and closer until I'm only a couple of dozen feet away from his jagged horn.

*Sniff* *Sniff*

He sniffs loudly a few times before the tension disappears and he speaks.

"Apologies, you must be Ophis's Mate," He says, looking me up and down in a 'are you good enough for Ophis' look. Said look now being one I'm familiar with after the encounter with Kuroka.

"Yes, my name is Lilith and it's nice to meet you um...your name is not actually Baka-Red is it?" I reply, barely suppressing my laughter.

"Ugh why am I not surprised she told you that name," he muttered before raising his voice to actually reply. "My REAL name is Great Red, don't let Ophis convince you otherwise!"

"Well then once again it's nice to meet you Great Red," I replied with a smile, putting emphasis on his name to convey that I would indeed call him by that. I want to make a good impression so mocking him in any way wouldn't be good.

"Pleasure to meet you as well Lilith," He rumbled. "I hope your aware of what happens next?"

*Sigh*

"You want to test me right?" I said with a sigh, now realizing why Ophis told me earlier to 'smack the idiot dragon' if I had to.

"Correct! You seem quite strong so I wish to fight you!"

. . .

. . .

"Alright....what are the conditions?" I ask, shedding my normal appearance in favor of my demon one, a sight that gets Great Red to grin.

"The first to concede of course," He then smirks before up from his throat comes a torrent of multicolored flames.

"Assimilation!" I yell out, putting up my hand just in time to absorb all of the mirage of flames coming my way. Putting my hand down to see what he does next, I'm suddenly aware of the stinging pain on my shoulder. Sparing a glance, I see that part of my clothing is now burnt to a crisp while my shoulder is raw and angry with a mild burn.

"Haha, I'm slightly impressed you took my flames head-on," He growled before breathing in deeply. "How about some more!?"

Burst after burst, his flames had no end in sight as I tried to keep up with absorbing them as much as I could. Despite this though, it's not enough and I can feel a new small burn somewhere on my body every time a wall of flames is shot at me. I may not be taking much damage right now but if he keeps me pinned like this then eventually it will add up.

'I have to strike back,' I think before smashing my hands together, the contact causing a huge release of Great Red's stored flames in every direction. At this, I can tell his onslaught has halted so I use the momentary cover of the smoke and flames to shoot up high above the dragon. From here I grab onto some of my raw solar energy, what remained of Great Red's flames, and just a sprinkle of the phoenix fire before sending it out in the form of a beam of pure light that thunders towards the dragon. I know it's far too quick for him to dodge and he obviously realizes this too since he returns my challenge with a beam of his own.