33 The missing girl VIII

All of the villagers had already evacuated and were long gone.

The girl inside the black armor sighed in relief that they managed to get away safe and sound, even if she was still upset that they were so rude towards her.

Honestly, the more she thought about it, Thomas really was the only person in this new world that was ever nice to her.

He tried to attack her like all the others at first, but he was also the only one that tried to listen to her, to see her as more than just a freaky weapon of destruction, or a walking piece of metal to be used.

Thomas saw her as a person when nobody else did.

And the creature in front of her, the enormous red lizard with bat wings and black horns that was trying to take her for himself, Lian Garen, took Thomas' life.

"I really seem to have no luck..." she mumbled once the beast landed on the ground, sending shockwaves so powerful that ended up destroying some of the houses and shops inside of the village.

The creature was big. Bigger than any animal she had ever seen in her previous life. One swing from its claw was enough to stop her completely. If she wanted to win, she would need to avoid getting caught by it at any cost.

The girl assumed a battle stance and stared right into the dragon's eyes.

She was facing a series of incredibly impossible odds right now. Lian Garen was stronger than her, he was more experienced than her, and he had a much better grasp of the way this world works than her.

All she had was an unbreakable body that could still die should something happen to her weapon, the claymore that used to be a giant oak.

"I guess I must be crazy..." she mumbled once she realized how big the difference in power truly was.

But her hesitation only lasted a second, for her promise with Thomas meant more to her than any fear that she could be holding.

Not wanting to waste any second more, she dashed towards the red lizard while wielding her blade with the intent to slash him.

Lian Garen raised his claw and attempted to step on her, but the girl was faster and jumped to the side while keeping her momentum going.

She jumped towards him and stabbed his heart with her blade, but the dragon simply flinched for a moment before tangling her up with his tail and throwing her away like a used toy.

The girl shoved the claymore onto the ground in order to support her as she stood up, and right after that, charged at him again.

Just like before, she pierced him with her blade, but the dragon barely reacted and just smacked her one more time.

For the third time, she rushed at him. She had no strategy. She wasn't a warrior, or a knight, or had any idea on how to face an opponent like this. All she knew was that she had a reason to win, and she couldn't give up on it.

If she lost, the dragon faction would win again, and this time they might erase the human race, the same race that Thomas asked her to protect.

Many lives were counting on her victory. Failure was not an option.

But determination and resolve were simply not enough against overwhelming power.

"Guaahhh!!" she cried after being knocked again.

"Just stop... You can't beat me..." Lian commented.

"Ah... So you can talk even in this form..." she groaned, "And here I was thinking that at least SOMETHING good would come out from you turning into this ugly appearance..."

"You can laugh and fight as much as you like, but the result will be the same..." he mumbled, "I have years of experience on how to control this power. You, on the other hand, are just a novice."

"No kidding..." she whispered while standing up again, "I wonder how pathetic you will look once you get demolished by this novice!"

She ran up to him one more time, and one more time, got knocked away like a ragdoll.

"Ugh!!"

"This is just painful to look at..." the beast complained, "You could just be so much more if you just listened to me!"

"I'll pass..."

"You really are nothing but a spoiled child!!" the dragon shouted, "You would go this far just to be against me? And for what? For one single villager that you just met? You would try this hard for just one random man??"

"Just one random man...?" she repeated, "This random man, as you so ignorantly put it was the only good thing to happen to me ever since I came to this place!!"

The dragon finally got tired of waiting and charged at her instead, trying to swallow the girl with its jaws. But the girl saw the attack coming and jumped on top of its head, slashing his horn in the process.

"GROAAAAAGGHHH!!!" the beast screamed.

"I mean, sure... Maybe what he did doesn't seem like that big of a deal when you stop to think about it... He just was a little nice towards me..." she continued while landing on his back.

The dragon tried to spin around to get her off, but the girl shoved her blade into his spine to stop her from falling.

"But when you think about what I went through?? All those days with no one to talk with? The dreamless nights? Getting attacked over and over as if I was some kind of criminal? Being stuck in one place inside this metal prison wondering if this was going to be it for the rest of my life??"

The dragon tried to stab her with the black spikes on its tail, but the girl jumped out of the way at the last second and slashed a piece of his skin while she was at it.

"AAARGHH!!" he yelled one more time.

"One person being nice to me was all I needed to feel like I still had hope! To feel like my life was still worth living! Just that one small act of kindness!!"

The dragon tried to fly up and drop on top of her in order to catch her off-guard, but the girl interrupted his plan by jumping towards him with her blade aimed at his heart.

"To think someone like you doesn't even understand something so simple... Makes me really not want to lose to you!!"

She then gathered all of her strength into her arms and in a single move, pierced his body like a spear, opening a massive hole where his heart should be.

"GROOAAAARRGHHH!!" the beast howled, louder and any previous scream.

The two of them dropped on the ground, the girl landing on her feet, and the creature, falling like a corpse.

"I know this isn't enough to take you down... Hurry up and get up!" she ordered.

The dragon did as she was told and began his process of regenerating the damaged parts of his body.

"This means nothing!" he claimed, "I can never be killed by your attacks!"

"Good for you!" she commented while running up to him and smacking his face with a powerful fist, "Guess I'll just have to keep beating you up forever then!"

The dragon glared at her and smacked her away with its paw.

She rolled on the ground for a moment but quickly stood back up to attack him again.

Both of them continued this back and forth, the armor that couldn't be destroyed and the dragon that couldn't be killed.

Attacking, slashing, biting, grabbing, punching, again, and again, and again, two opponents stuck in an endless fight.

The sun finally went down, and before they noticed it, soon it went up again.

Days passed. Then, days turned into weeks, then months.

The fight just kept going with no clear winner in sight.

Garen's only advantage, his dragon form, soon proved to be worthless in no time, as the more the girl battled, the more she learned his patterns.

She learned how to properly dodge, how to attack, how to control her strength, how to cover her blindspots.

The only means he had to beat her was by stealing her weapon, but her fighting experience had risen drastically the more they continued this struggle.

The number of times he landed a hit on her were decreasing, and the number of times she would successfully land an attack on him was increasing.

She was getting stronger than him the more time passed.

"You can't keep this up forever!!" he claimed.

"Actually, I can!!" she replied while slashing his left wing, just so it could regenerate a few seconds later, "I don't need food, or sleep, or rest... I just need to keep you here forever, away from people and making sure you can never harm anyone ever again!"

He tried to grab her with his claw but she simply dodged out of the way and sliced his foot off.

"AAAARGHHH!!!"

"Now YOU are my prisoner!!" she declared while pointing her sword at his face.

The dragon was left without words for the first time. If he wasn't careful, he really could end up stuck in this battle forever.

The girl flinched once she saw the dragon's figure slowly vanishing and instead the appearance of the red-haired man showing up once again.

"I wish to call a truce..." he requested with both arms raised.

"No, thanks!" she replied while preparing to dash towards him again.

"You won't be achieving anything by keeping me in here!" he blurted out before she could stab his head.

"What...?"

"I'm not the only dragon that is a threat to humanity... There are others, much more dangerous than me! If you keep wasting your time in this pointless fight, you won't be able to stop them before it's too late!"

"Oh really? More dangerous than a freaking immortal dragon with such a punchable face like yours?"

"Being able to avoid death is NOTHING, compared to what they can do should their rage ever turn towards humanity..."

"Mmmm..." the girl hesitated.

It was true that she was only focusing on one dragon instead of the entire dragon race like she promised, but would it be really safe to let him go now that she finally had him cornered?

"Let's say I believe in you... What then?"

"I have a proposal for you..."

She tilted her head, "What kind of proposal...?"

"What if..." the man whispered before closing his eyes and thinking hard about how to make this work in his favor, "What if I join the human faction?"

"... ... ... Pardon...?"