“Well, what are you waiting for, then?” taunted Rory. “Come and get some!”

  Rory could hear them hiss in response, followed by them brandishing their weapons. They did not seem to question why a human like him was not intimidated by their unusual visage. That did not change the fact that Rory still held the upper hand.

  He was allied with a dragon that could breathe fire and was once a human princess who lost everything to them. She should not hesitate against these reptilian enemies.

  "Have they...have they already infiltrated this kingdom already?" asked Thomas, who recognized them. He was not as terrified at them as he was two years ago. However, the fact they showed themselves made it clear that they, like two years ago, had planted themselves among the Manarithians like they did his family

  "I'm sure they have," said Rory. "But I doubt this is their true plan."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Aldimar's hardly an important enough city to invade, but it can cause quite a distraction. They simply dropped their disguises once they heard about the dragon."

  "How...do you know so much about them?" asked a surprised Thomas.

  "I have my reasons," said Rory. "When the time is right, I will explain everything. Now, stop talking and listen to me. Focus on support roles and let me and Princess fight them. Now, whatever you do, be aware of your surroundings and stay out of the way. Don't try and fight them. Your snap-cast is fast, but they're faster. Understand?"

  Thomas nodded. Rory acknowledged his understanding then turned to Henrietta.

  "You ready, Princess?" he asked.

  "Always am," said Henrietta with a deep, menacing growl.

  as Rory rushed into the battle. Thomas considered him reckless for rushing against enemies that were clearly armed and dangerous, but he had always known him to be acting that way.

  Thomas prepared his defensive spells, though he couldn't help but notice the dragon's agitation. From what Thomas could remember from the draconology books he read, an agitated dragon had very thin pupils along with a snarl that showed rows of their teeth. If the dragon was a fire-breathing dragon, smoke would also come out of their nostrils. She showed all those signs towards those Sybarians. It was as if she was angered by their presence.

  "Princess," said Thomas, attempting to calm her.

  "What?" said the dragon. Her raspy, deep voice was cold and full of rage.

  "I'm counting on you. I'll stay out of you and Rory's way."

  "Do what you must do," said the dragon. "I will gladly tear their limbs if it means protecting you."

  Thomas gulped. A dragon was already a beast of its own. A talking dragon who could voice her thoughts was even more terrifying.

  Thomas immediately returned his attention to Rory, who had begun engaging the Sybarian enemies. He did not rush towards, but instead kept his distance. One of the Sybarians rushed towards him, snarling when he did. Rory retaliated with a well-placed kick to the Sybarian's throat, disabling him and exposing his back. Rory then proceeded to grab the Sybarian's head and twisted it. There was an audible crack as the Sybarian's lifeless body fell to the ground.

  The other Sybarians were less than astonished by Rory's feat. This action would only serve to make them change their strategy. They immediately rushed at him all at once, forcing Rory on a defensive, only helped by Thomas's magick armor he cast around his friend.

  Some of them managed to get through Rory, rushing towards both Thomas and Henrietta. He readied a spell to defend himself, but Princess got him covered. The moment one of them rushed towards him, the dragon snatched the lizard person with matching speed. She did not hesitate to slam the Sybarian to the ground. There were blood flying everywhere when the Sybarian was crushed under Henrietta's weight.

  She burned the hapless Sybarian with her fire. At the same time, Thomas noticed crossbowmen on some of the roof, all Sybarians. He immediately used his barrier to change the fire's trajectory, using it to burn the enemies on the roof. It wasn't very accurate, so Thomas hoped that the fire made them busy trying to put out the fire.

  Unfortunately, it did not stop or distract them. They stayed among the fire, disregarding the burning building to keep their aim. Henrietta let out a burst of fresh fire towards them, finally engulfing them in flame.

  Rory managed to find an opening against his opponents when they were distracted by the agonized screams from the burning Sybarians. He kicked one of the Sybarian's leg, breaking it and the Sybarian to kneel. Rory then simply broke his kneeling opponent's neck, and started engaging the remaining two. They were agitated by yet another loss. Rory capitalized on this. Showcasing his superior martial arts skills, he did a roundhouse kick that threw them back, then proceeded to rush towards one of the Sybarians that recovered first.

  Within seconds, Rory blasted him away again with an enhanced shoulder check that was already devastating without the energy enhancement. This threw the Sybarian to a brick wall, violently crashing through it. It would not be enough to kill him, but it could at least put him out of the fight. The other Sybarian, undeterred by this showcase, was hit by a palm strike that struck his chin, knocking him out.

  Rory quickly looked around to see who's next. While many of them were shocked, they did not back down. What Rory did only convince them that his understanding of Sybarian anatomy proved that either he studied them, or he was more than his human visage suggested. They looked at each other and let out chirping, clicking noises, before pulling out shortswords of intricate design. Rory recognized the swords. They could easily rend through flesh with their serrated edges. Hopefully, Thomas kept the magick armor up, or else he would be too injured to fight.

  "Hmm?" Rory realized something. He could understand their language. Those chirps and clicks were audible enough to reveal a rather disturbing fact.

  "Princess, watch out!" he exclaimed, turning towards the dragon. "They're onto you! Don't let them catch you with their anti-draconic weapons."

  A surprised chirp came out from one of the Sybarians. Rory could tell that he was surprised that Rory could tell what they were saying. Another Sybarian let out some aggressive vocalization, as if cursing Rory with their language.

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  "You're the one turning your backs against everyone," retorted Rory.

  This retort agitated one of them into attacking Rory, just as he had planned.

  "A slash with an arc," thought Rory as he assessed the Sybarian's attack. He dodged appropriately. Another slashing attack, one Rory could already predict. He dodged and prepared himself for the third attack. The slash came as predicted, which he immediately counter with a grab on the Sybarian's wrist. He squeezed hard, but soon realized his mistake. The Sybarian was tougher than a human or a beast person. Thankfully, he had time to rectify his mistake.

  Rory kicked the Sybarian's digitigrade leg, causing him to lose his footing. With finesse, the man threw the Sybarian over his shoulder, causing him to slam his back hard onto the floor. It wasn't as powerful as what the dragon did, but it was enough to disorient the Sybarian enough to loosen his grip on his sword. Rory grabbed the sword and slashed the Sybarian's throat. The serrated blade was designed to penetrate a Sybarian's scales, so its results was as grisly as it would a knife to a soft, human throat. The Sybarian was left gurgling as he held his clawed hands on his wound, attempting to stop the bleeding. Rory did not even bother to put him out of his misery. He was more concerned with the Sybarian's plan towards Henrietta.

  He looked around, but soon came upon one of the undamaged roofs. The crossbowmen were a distraction. There were more of them hiding away until they found the right opportunity. Worse, they disguised themselves as humans, which means they were beyond anyone's attention. What made it even more complicated was the fact that this was not exclusively a Sybarian attack. There were also collaborators that belonged to the known races.

  These hidden opponents were preparing ballista while the others were distracting or attempting to dispatch the oppositions. It was loaded with a bolt big enough to puncture the sides of a wooden ship. However, given its position inland, and where it was trained at, their presence could only mean one thing.

  "Princess! Get--"

  Rory was a fraction of a second too late. One of the ballista let loose a bolt that flew towards the distracted dragon. It hit its target, one of her hindlegs, penetrating her soft draconic scales. Yet, there was more to the bolt that met the eye.

  The tip of the bolt suddenly opened, revealing itself to be an anchor. It was immediately pulled back by a winch, digging deep into the dragon's hindleg, causing her to lose her balance.

  Henrietta could only roar in unbearable pain. It was beyond anything she had ever felt before. No amount of sword wounds could prepare her for this. Her suffering also caused Thomas, who was nearby, to be stunned and loss of thoughts. He did not realize that the assailants that he had been trying to avoid rushed towards him, knowing that his support made it difficult for them achieve dominance in the fight.

  Rory saw this and ran towards Thomas, but realized that he was not going to make it. He was at the other end of the battlefield while Thomas was supposedly at the safest place in the battlefield, which was already compromised by the fact that Henrietta was incapacitated by the pain and her anchored hindleg. As he ran towards them, he wondered if they always knew the dragon was Henrietta, and waited until the right moment to strike. Perhaps one of their spies recognized her striking appearance, and informed their allies to prepare while she was away.

  He shouldn't let his mind wander like that. Thomas was in danger. He was still too inexperienced and too easily distracted. Rory cursed himself for not being assertive enough, but what good would that do to a once broken man as Thomas? What he did would only push him towards the deep end.

  "I guess this is it," thought Rory. "He'll hate me later. But I must save him. I swore to protect him. I will not back out of it. That is not the way of a Dromedian."

  Rory kept sprinting towards Thomas, pushing past the limit of his human disguise. His legs, once humans, literally exploded to reveal a pair of digitigrade, reptilian legs, each tipped with a hooked claw that pointed upwards. His tail, partially covered in bright red feathers, sprout out next, as if freed from the constraints of the human skin. This loss of integrity caused the rest of his disguise to fail, which literally exploded out to reveal something different underneath. At the same time, he reached Thomas. He tackled the human out of the way, exposing his shoulder towards one of the human enemies.

  He grunted as he felt the the sharp edge of the blade dug into his flesh, drawing blood. He was only saved from something worse by his tougher muscle. The surprised ambushers stopped at their tracks, with Rory hissing at them menacingly before he began his counter-attack.

  With the loss of his human disguise, Rory could do one thing he had always wanted to do: a proper tail-whip, one that was not a low sweep technique called the 'dragon tail kick'. His tail was tougher than a human's, and he trained it as well as the rest of his limbs. He used it to trip one of his enemies, causing him to lose balance, where Rory finished him off with claws that ripped his throat out.

  Rory viciously tore through the rest of the attackers, still showcasing his agility and martial arts skills. It was their fault not wearing an armor against a Sybarian. Then again, they did not expect a Sybarian, or rather, a Dromedian, to be working against them. In just a couple of seconds, the situation turned against them.

  Rory sighed before his attention turned towards the dragon, who by now had already dealt with the pain and started to fight back. She was pulling against the anchored bolt with all her might, pulling off one of the ballista that she was anchored to. That, however, quickly turned against her when two more heavy crossbows appeared and preparing to shoot their anchoring bolts at the dragon, which they did moments later. One of them pierced through one of her wings, while the other missed. The anchor tore through her wing membrane as it was being pulled, latching at her wing bone once its settled. She couldn't pull away, her strength sapped by the pain coursing through her body. How could it be far more painful than when she was disemboweled? That moment was already painful enough to remember. Now, something even worse managed to top that.

  "Shit! She's not going to make it!" cried Rory. "Thomas, attack those ballista on the roof! Do--"

  He was stopped by Thomas, who already casted the fire spell Rory wanted. But instead of doing what he ought to do, he was pointing it at Rory. Rory couldn't act confused; this was one of many consequences that he had anticipated. The timing, however, was not right.

  "Goddamn it, Thomas, this isn't the time!" said Rory, panic apparent in his voice.

  "What did you do to Rory?!" said Thomas. He was denying the fact. "How long have you been impersonating him?!"

  "Rory never existed!" said Rory, desperation evident in his voice. "You can do whatever you want to me, but help the dragon first!"

  "Don't change the topic, bastard! What did you do to Rory?! Did you skin him alive?! Revel in his agony while you take on his face?!"

  "What?! I'm not a sick freak!" lashed an insulted Rory. "I'm Rory! I didn't take someone else's face! I molded this form myself!"

  "My family was killed by the people they trusted for years!" cried Thomas. "Don't you dare say it otherwise! I knew what I saw! They wore the faces of our people like it's a mask! You must've did the same to Rory!"

  "Oh, for the love of...." Rory was annoyed. Thomas was being overwhelmed by his trauma. The Dromedian clearly underestimated the effect shedding his disguise did to humans, more so to someone who had just seen his beloved family got killed by these people. To him, they were the same as demons. Perhaps Rory looked like one to him, which was made worse by his red feathers.

  Knowing the situation was dire, Rory gave up on trying to talk it out. He grabbed Thomas's arm, surprising the young mage, then punched him, aware that his claws could leave a very prominent set of scars on his soft, human face. Thomas was going to retaliate, but Rory, channeling all his frustration and anger, said, "Enough!"

  Thomas was shocked and immediately became silent. Once again, he was at the mercy of a reptilian person. He clearly couldn't escape them for long. However, this one was acting differently. Instead of hissing at him, he glared at him with his sharp, reptilian eyes, while his claws gripped on his shirt collar. He snarled at him, showing his row of sharp teeth among his beak-like maws.

  "Listen to me, you little shit," said Rory. He did not even mince his words. He needed Thomas to listen to him, even if he had to swear.

  "You are going to make the worst mistake of your life," said Rory. "You are going to kill your sister again because of your foolishness, so do as I fucking say!"

  "Sister?" asked a confused Thomas.

  "Princess is your sister!" he exclaimed. "Her name is Henrietta! Now are you going to help her or not?!"