Dragon and Dragon
After finishing his risotto, Yin'er licked the huge bowl clean with his enormous tongue before putting it down.
"Yin'er, I understand you've been hungry all day, now you should be full, right? Do you have the energy for a fight?" Zijin said.
"Miss Bay Owl!" Yin'er looked at her earnestly, "Speak frankly. Why are you so determined to take action?"
Zijin readily stopped hiding her true feelings. She raised her gleaming white bone claws and pointed at the several Silver Dragon behind Yin'er who were busy eating. "The ones behind you, and the ones over there! They beat me up before!" Her voice carried a hint of girlish defiance. "But, if I were to use my rank to beat them up now, it would seem too much like bullying dragons. So, I'll have to trouble Elder Yin'er to take their place!"
The Silver Dragon she pointed out immediately raised their heads, looking aggrieved. One of them hurriedly protested, "You tricked us by saying there were delicious treasures buried in that patch of soil! We were so stupid, digging frantically only to find it was a wheat field just planted by the Forest Dragon! We got a good beating from the Forest Dragon! But you, you've already vanished!"
The bone wings on Zijin's back paused instinctively, her soul fire flickering slightly, revealing a hint of bewilderment and confusion. "I... did I do something like that back then?"
"You don't just remember that we beat you up, but have completely forgotten why we beat you up in the first place, do you?" another Silver Dragon cried out aggrievedly.
"Sigh..." Yin'er let out a long sigh, traversing nearly two hundred years of time, recalling the past, "Back then, you were the most clever and quick-witted among the young dragons, and also the most mischievous, always managing to outwit the other young dragons." His gaze towards Zijin carried a hint of elder's helplessness, "The other young dragons simply couldn't outmaneuver her little tricks, and when they got angry, they couldn't win an argument, so in the end, all they had left was to fight."
Even with her current cold and hard Bone Dragon Form, Zijin's soul fire seemed to flicker erratically due to her embarrassment. She muttered softly, with a hint of disbelief, "... Was I... really that mischievous before?"
"You really are like that, always remembering only being beaten, never being fed!" Su Ming couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Hmph!" Zijin abruptly turned away from the skull dragon's head.
****
Yin'er's massive body suddenly exerted force! He accelerated along the wide flight deck, his heavy footsteps pounding the metal deck with a muffled thunderous sound. Using the powerful momentum of his sprint, he leaped up from the edge of the deck, his huge silver body soaring into the cold night sky. Then, with a "whoosh," his wings fully extended, and he steadily entered flight.
"Thank you for your gracious hospitality. As you wish, let's fight!"
Yin'er's voice echoed through the night sky like rolling thunder. He vigorously flapped his powerful wings and began to climb rapidly, intending to seize a favorable high-altitude position. Zijin, controlling the bone dragon, was naturally not to be outdone. A solidified black energy membrane instantly filled between its bone wings, and with a shake of its body, it tore through the air, followed closely by a shriek.
"Did Yin'er see through it?" Su Ming wondered to himself. Holding Ailisha's body, he leaped onto the small platform at the highest point of the bridge and sat down in the best vantage point.
He placed the Zijin on his lap, cradled the girl's head in one hand, and with the other, he took out a folding tablet, unfolded it, and placed it directly on the flat stomach of the girl in his arms, quickly pressing a set of buttons.
Buzz--
Throughout the Pansy, hidden and visible high-precision cameras activated, like countless keen eyes automatically locking onto and tracking the figures in the sky from all angles of the ship. Cold streams of data began to flow on the screens—battlefield data collection mode activated!
"Why are you using my stomach as a table!" Zijin protested from the sky, seeing Su Ming's actions.
"[And you're one to talk,]" Su Ming complained jokingly, his fingers flying across the screen. "[Your 'table' isn't level at all; you can't even put the tablet down steadily.]"
[Hmph!] Zijin was somewhat annoyed. [Is there anything strange about how this body is developing?]
Su Ming subconsciously glanced down at the girl in his arms. She was no longer as pale as when they first met; her cheeks had a healthy rosy glow. In the slanted light of the side spotlight, her skin was delicate, and the fine downy hairs were tinged with a layer of shimmering light.
The girl's breathing was shallow and even, her long eyelashes casting faint shadows below her eyelids, her body remaining motionless in his arms, like a delicate doll.
"Your complexion has indeed improved a lot lately," Su Ming said.
The girl's completely unguarded attitude made Su Ming sigh helplessly. He shifted his gaze back to the tablet. This "girl" was good in every way, except that she identified herself as a dragon—therefore, she always overlooked the gender issues of human form.
This is really very troubling!
****
In the air, Yin'er continued to climb, attempting to gain a higher tactical air superiority point by virtue of its massive size and strength. However, the bone dragon controlled by Zijin weighed less than one-tenth of Yin'er and its climbing movements were swift and agile, giving it a clear advantage.
Yin'er suddenly twisted its massive head and unleashed a blazing, blinding silver breath at the bone dragon that was hot on its heels!
Zijin neither dodged nor evaded! A solid, almost tangible shadow shield lit up around the pale White Bone, directly blocking the violent torrent of energy. Then, the bone dragon opened its hollow maw, and a condensed, ink-black dark death ray shot out, striking Yin'er's back in retaliation.
Sizzle--!
The shadow rays struck the Silver Dragon's scales, most of them scattering into tiny obsidian-like sparks, while the remaining energy rapidly dissipated and annihilated in the night sky.
This probing exchange made it clear to both dragons that ordinary energy breaths were simply ineffective at breaking through each other's defenses.
Yin'er's massive body displayed astonishing agility in the air, making a sharp, violently aesthetic turn, instantly colliding head-on with the pursuing bone dragon!
The Silver Dragon swung its powerful forelimbs, its massive claws covered in thick bone plates and shimmering silver scales, with a piercing shriek that tore through the air.
Two sharp, jet-black beams of light suddenly condensed on the bone dragon's massive, white, jade-like claws, which exuded an aura of death, resembling tangible death scythes!
Bang--Boom!!!
The two colossal beasts collided violently!
A circular shockwave spread outwards. Immediately afterwards, the two dragons were violently thrown apart by the recoil. The much lighter bone dragon was like a javelin thrown by a catapult, and was sent flying even further away.
On the bone dragon's pure white breastbone and the base of its left wing, several spiderweb-like cracks had appeared! Strands of condensed dark energy, like a living, viscous liquid, were rapidly enveloping the cracks, repairing and reorganizing them. On the opposite side, on the belly of the Yin'er covered with tough dragon scales, in addition to the claw marks, there were also two narrow, deep scratches, as if they had been made by a sharp sword.
In the lightning-fast close-quarters exchange, the bone dragon controlled by Zijin not only launched a tearing attack with its bone claws, but the edges of its bone wings also slashed precisely across Yin'er in an extremely elegant and swift folding and spinning motion, like two giant black scimitars!
However, these damages also did not achieve the desired effect. The dark marks that remained on Yin'er's wounds and attempted to erode them were quickly cleansed, dispelled, and faded away by the Silver Dragon's magical energy.
The night wind high in the sky howled past with a biting chill. Su Ming subconsciously took off his scarf and gently draped it over the slightly thin shoulders of the Zijin human body in his arms.
Feeling the slight coolness on the girl's cheek, he began to consider whether he should go to the cabin to get a blanket.
"[Zijin,] Su Ming asked, 'Can I put you on the ground?'"
"No!" Zijin said angrily, "The ground is hard and cold! Don't put it there!"
****
In the night sky above, Yin'er's movements suddenly changed. He abruptly spread his enormous silver wings completely, ceasing his continuous flapping; the surface of his wings seemed to be enveloped in a layer of indescribable energy.
Immediately afterwards, the Silver Dragon's speed began to accelerate incredibly and continuously!
"What kind of magic is this?!" Su Ming frowned, concentrating intently on sensing the fluctuations in the air, but he couldn't detect any unusual magical ripples.
He immediately looked down at the tablet screen resting on Zijin's lower abdomen. Despite the dim night, thanks to advanced low-light night vision technology and multi-spectral imaging capabilities, the high-definition camera clearly captured and displayed every detail of the aerial battlefield on the screen.
Even things that would be obscured by the bright sunlight during the day were now clearly visible: the leading edges of Yin'er Two's enormous dragon wings seemed to be covered with an extremely thin, constantly swaying pale blue fluid film! This film flowed like living water, spreading along the curve of the wings and leaving a faint trail behind the Silver Dragon.
It changes rapidly and is unpredictable, full of the irregularity characteristic of fluids, which is completely different from the form that magical energy should have.
Su Ming was filled with astonishment; this was clearly another flight technique outside his knowledge system! He quickly adjusted the parameters of the monitoring equipment on the tablet, and activated the cameras at different angles, striving to record the entire scene from multiple perspectives.
Stacy also came to the top platform. She glanced at Su Ming, who was engrossed in operating the tablet with his eyes fixed on the screen, and then at Ailisha, who was lying quietly in his arms. She couldn't help but sigh softly.
Surely not, is it really just unrequited love on Zijin?
[I knew it! He has absolutely no interest in me!] Zijin complained angrily to Stacy.
[Alright, alright, maybe it's a different world's emotional culture, different from ours.] Stacy quickly reassured her, [Focus on fighting!]