_________________________________________

Fel

Fel was currently in the process of reviewing her new long list of regrets, as she yielded to Leo and felt the magic of her oath wash over her.

When an oath is made, the mana between both parties is used to bind it, and each person can essentially feel the size of the other's mana pool. So when Fel felt Leo's mana, she was completely shocked, since it was as big as a dragons. The largest amount of mana she felt from another race was like comparing a stream to a river, and that was with an arch mage. The size of Leo's was actually a little bigger than hers at her peak, which made her decide to not fuck around with the duel, since he actually had a chance of winning.

Unlike a contract which could be broken, an oath was something that couldn't be backed out of, because it compulses the person to pay the terms of the arrangement. So as soon as she realized that Leo might have the power to back up his confidence, she resolved to end the fight as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Fel was running at a little above half mana, so she was already handicapped. So she chose to not get into a battle of mana endurance, and relied on her physical power as a dragon.

Fel thought it would be enough to just catch him to make him submit, but managing that in of itself was an infuriating task. Leo could fly nearly as fast and as well as a dragon, which made little sense since flight magic was supposed to be clunky compared to actual flight.

Leo also could use an absurd variety of magic, some of which she had never heard of before much less seen. Being able to create lava, un-create lava, make the floor insanely slick, and have a thin mana shield that could shrug off a dragon's strength.

It was when he taunted her that she lost it for the first time during the fight, and she became even more infuriated when he slipped out from underneath her.

Fel conflictedly came to the decision that losing control of everything wasn't worth trying to keep him alive, so seeing that the town wasn't in line of sight, she decided to kill him with a dragons most powerful ability. She pitifully thought that it would at least be a quick death as she let loose the massively overpowered beam of destruction, but when she finished he was just floating there.

Fel was in complete and utter shock by how he didn't even appear singed by the attack. Then she felt something grip firmly around her entire body, and she started to be pulled toward Leo. The movement felt strange, unnatural, as she felt like she was falling toward Leo.

Fel tried everything to break free from the strange magic, from flailing around with mana filled limbs to trying to fly out of it with her wings, but she didn't even feel like she could move out of it. As she reached Leo the unseen grip around her tightened to the point that she was unable to move, and for the first time Fel felt the fear of death come from someone other than a dragon.

What's more was that he was still treating the duel like a joke, which made realization crash into her as the oath finished.

Fel's thoughts organized themselves. 'Asking how the magic on the last summon worked, flinging fire at me at the very start, using a variety of spells, the increasing difficulty of the fight, and not using whatever magic ‘this’ is at the very start of the fight.’

Fel looked at Leo in disbelief. "You were testing me…." She said as Leo let go of the spell holding her.

Leo smirked. "Well, I would make a ' how to train your dragons’ joke, but it would probably be in poor taste. That, and you wouldn't get it. But yeah, I needed to see how strong you guys actually were, and I gotta say, fucking impressed." He finished with a grin.

Fel frowned at the remark, seeing how she was the one who lost. "You could have killed me from the start, how did I ‘Impress you?" She asked incredulously.

Leo looked at the scorched earth behind him, then back to her. “Are you serious?” He said while pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Fel narrowed her eyes, and was not at all satisfied by his response. “You shrugged it off like it was nothing! You might as well be a minor god.” She remarked irritably.

A shit eating grin crossed Leo's face. “Nah, even I felt a little toasty in my safety bubble.”

‘What the fuck did I summon….’

_________________________________________

Leo

Leo would have thought that Fel’s attempt to outright kill him would have made him angry, but if anything he was still more pissed about being left in the forest. Leo understood why she tried to, since everything was on the line for her, and he probably would have made the same choice if he was in her shoes.

Leo’s expression softened as he contemplated her position. 'Years of planning and effort, stolen…. Maybe I should hold back on the insults. I only did this to stop them from fucking with my plans, and I guess I’ve also gained access to a possible continent wide rebel network. So that's a bonus.'

Fel nervously started rubbing the side of her arm. "So, what now?..." She asked as some of her more dragon-like additions started to vanish.

Leo considered the question for a moment before answering. "Well, you debrief me on everything. I want to know what I'm working with, and what outside support you have."

Fel tensed as she looked away from him with a frown. "As you wish….Master…" She finished softly.

Leo took a moment to process her words. "Excuse me?" He asked while being ‘very’ taken aback.

Fel shrunk in on herself. "I'm sorry, would you prefer lord or arch mage?"

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jesus Christ… I'd 'prefer' that you not act like a servant, you are not my slave."

Fel furrowed her brow, and looked at him with a little disbelief. "But I am oath bound to follow your orders...and…." She trailed off while muttering something inaudible to Leo.

"What was that?" Leo questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Fel became fidgety. "Well among the dragons, the opposite sex winning in combat means that the winner takes the loser as a mate…." She answered sheepishly.

Leo shut his eyes for a moment. ‘What is my life right now…' He thought before a concerned expression crossed his face. "Wait, so what would have happened if I lost?"

"Well…." Fel trailed uncomfortably.

Leo blinked in confusion. "You fucking serious?!" He asked incredulously.

Fel gave Leo a defiant look. "Do you think any other race is crazy enough to challenge a dragon to a duel, much less win it?" She questioned defensively.

Leo opened his mouth to argue, but realized that she was right. 'This one is on me for putting off researching the dragons…' He mentally scolded himself.

Leo sighed exhaustedly. "Okay first off, you are not owned by me, and the oath only extends to the rebellion as far as I'm concerned. Second, I'm not going to force any kind of relationship, no matter what your society dictates."

Fel visibly relaxed. “That's a bit of a relief, though I'm not against sleeping with you, even though you are a bit of an asshole. I’m curious about how well you hold up your title.”

Leo sighed, because he was still not used to how open this world was about sex. “Of course you are… How long can your males go for anyway?” He asked curiously while they started to walk back to the gate.

Fel started to break out laughing, which further piqued Leo's interest. “So I assume that they aren't nearly as enduring as people made them out to be.”

Fel calmed herself enough to respond. “Gods I wish, they have a four day cooldown period.”

Shock crossed Leo’s face. “ Then how did the rumor even start?”

Fel furrowed her brow. “Well, that's a two part answer. The first part is obvious, compensating.” Fel paused to let out an amused snort. “The second is that they can't… meet our needs. So the women tend to get really pent up, and since none of the other races can even come close to us, we usually go through quite a few until we're satisfied.” She explained tiredly.

Leo grimaced. “That's just depressing…” He remarked.

Fel shook her head. “Tell me about it… So would you be willing, or are you just a paper dragon?” She jabbed.

Leo raised a critical eyebrow. ‘Even though she did try to kill me, she had her reasons. It would also be fun to see if I can wipe another smug smile off her face. I still want to ask Ela-” His thoughts were cut short by a crying Elaria tackling him to the ground.

_________________________________________

Glia

Glia woke up today expecting more or less the same usual boring day. Go to her post, watch the grass for nine hours, then patrol the town for a bit. It was a boring yet peaceful existence. Now though? Her world was pretty much fucked. Rebels had taken the town without her even knowing, ‘top notch guard by the way’, and she was about to watch a summon fight a dragon because they had some kind of verbal pissing contest on world domination. She thought that her day couldn't get more insane, that is until the fight actually started.

Glia was a simple woman, with a straightforward method of dealing with combat. Stab it until it stopped moving, and if it didn't, stab it some more. So seeing the insanely destructive fight before her kept her jaw dropped the entire time, unable to look away for even a second, witnessing acts of magic and power that she couldn't even imagine.

When Glia was told that they were going to fight, she said a silent prayer for Leo, because who in their right mind would challenge a dragon. That sentiment held true for most of the fight, as Leo was constantly on the defensive. Glia thought that the fight was over when Fel pinned him down, but Glia could swear from Fel’s body language that Leo taunted her, which made Glia actually question his sanity.

Then it happened. Glia had heard stories that dragon’s breath could level towns in an instant, but the stories could never compare to what she witnessed. The beam's destruction was instant, and Glia heard a stomach curdling scream come from her left. It was Elaria and she dropped to her knees with her eyes tearing up in horror.

A wave of sadness washed over Glia, as she knew that Elaria was probably hurting more than any physical abuse she'd ever experienced. To lose a first love is a deep and painful experience, it's something that even Glia still hasn't gotten over, and for Elaria to have fallen so hard for Leo, it might just break her again.

Glia continued to look at Elaria, and noticed that a relieved smile crossed her face. Glia turned back to the field and saw that Leo was just floating in the path where the beam was, without a single scratch on him. Glia could not form any kind of coherent thought as Leo pulled Fel to him with magic, and Fel seemed desperate to try and break free.

Glia’s eyes widened even further at the setting before her. ‘A dragon is desperate to get away from him?!’ The thought rang out.

After Leo let Fel down, the two talked for a bit before walking back over to them. Elaria couldn't seem to wait as she sprinted toward them, tackling Leo onto his back while starting to sob heavily into his chest.

Glia turned to Allis while Leo was comforting Elaria. “Um, I'm not dreaming right? Because Leo just won a fight against a dragon, and that's just a new level of insane…”

Allis turned to Glia, and she looked like she was still processing what happened as well. “I think, I mean I knew he could kill her if he used a certain spell, but he didn't use it at all….I think… I think he was testing her….”

Glia’s mind blanked at the thought of anyone ‘testing a dragon’.

“Oh, ok… Still not sure if this is a dream…..”

_________________________________________

Allis

The fight was something to behold, and Allis got only a glimpse of what Leo was truly capable of. She had seen mage duels at the academy before, and even though this fight had a power scale that made those look like slap fights, she could tell that Leo was in complete control.

To someone who didn't know how mages fight, it might look like Leo was running away the entire time, but to any mage with half a brain watching would notice that Leo wasn't seriously attacking her. He was just constantly prodding her, and if Fel noticed this sooner she might have used her breath a lot earlier, not that it would have made a difference.

Allis guessed that whatever Leo used to fly, move objects, and most likely to defend against a dragon's breath, works entirely on a different fundamental principle that is completely beyond her.

Allis recalled what Leo told her about his first experiment, that he gained control over a fundamental building block of reality, and if he wasn't over exaggerating, then he might as well be a god. And that was only one thing that he knew how to wield, how many other concepts did he know that could allow him to bend existence to his will?

When they finally made it to the gate, Allis noticed something off about their behavior. They didn't seem like two people who just fought a life or death battle, nor did they look like they shared any resentment toward each other.

Allis decided to comment on it first, since it's what worried her the most. "Leo, Fel? Aren't you two angry about what just happened?"

They both cocked their heads at the question, and let out a simultaneous. "Not really." Which prompted both of them to look at each other in surprise.

"But I tried to kill you?" Fel remarked with confusion.

Leo shrugged. "Eh, I'm alive, and I understand your reasons. You had everything to lose, plus I was asking for it with how I treated the fight. But aren't you upset about losing control of, well, everything?" He asked curiously.

Fel shook her head in exasperation. "Nope, after everything you put me through I'm kinda relieved that it's just finally resolved, and you have more or less the same desire to change the kingdom. Even though I tried to kill you, sorry for that by the way, the fight was all about how it was going to be done, not if or should. So as long as it gets done I couldn't care less." She explained tiredly.

Allis looked between the two of them and realized for the first time that they acted nearly identical in personality and thought process. She was about to remark on it but then Elaria cut in.

"You two are surprisingly similar." Elaria commented.

Fel scoffed before jabbing a thumb in his direction. "Yeah, no. This ass is pretty high on himself."

Leo frowned as he turned to Fel. "Oh, I'm the prideful ass? What happened to 'join' 'us', or was losing another part of your amazing plan?" He asked critically.

Fel placed a hand on her hip while rolling her eyes at Leo. "Of course there are going to be a few bumps when I'm starting to follow your wise example of ‘winging it’, but it can't be that hard for a dragon if a paper one can manage it." She mocked.

Leo scoffed as he crossed his arms. "You'd probably let the opportunities pass you by, exactly like how you slid right past me in our duel." He remarked disdainfully.

Fel crossed her own arms while she narrowed her eyes at Leo. "I'm surprised that you'd talk about opportunities with how stubborn you are, probably too narrow-sighted to consider the superior alternative." She sneered.

Leo barked a laugh. "Superior?! The only thing superior here is Yo-" The argument was interrupted by Glia irritably shouting.

"Just fuck already!"

_________________________________________