For five long years, Arma hunted Dragons along with his fellow Dragon Hunters.

Led by Akara, they managed to achieve many victories, but not without heavy losses.

Siracus perished fighting against the mid class Ice Dragon. His body shattered into thousands of pieces after being hit by the dragon’s freezing breath. There was not a single piece of him left to bury.

Banro did not fare much better.

During a rather unfortunate encounter with a pack of lava dragons, Banro chose to sacrifice himself, giving others the chance to survive. Sadly, Banro himself did not make it. But he died just like he lived, sword in hand.

Even Noira could not escape the jaws of death; torn to pieces by a pack of cavern dragons, while her companions could do nothing but watch.

They lost many of their comrades, but the Surviving Seven persisted on hunting down each and every dragon they encountered, until the a certain fateful day….

* * *

Kura: “Apologies, but this is the end for you guys”

Raku: “It has been very fun hanging out with you, but play time is over”

Arma could not move his arms or legs.

Apparently he was under the effect of a paralyzing poison. A very potent one at that.

His body felt as heavy as a boulder.

Struggling, he could only muster the strength to look up at the twins who had caused this all.

Betrayal.

That was the only word to describe what was happening right now.

The twins, Kura and Raku, two horned women whose only strange trait was their unusual smell, were standing over the bodies of the defeated Dragon Hunters.

Arma: ‘How did this happen?’

It came out of nowhere.

What seemed like an ordinary day ended with the twins finally revealing their true sinister nature.

Turns out, they were not demi-humans or of demon blood like Akara.

Not even close.

It was only a disguise.

The truth was now clear for all eyes to see, but Arma could hardly believe it.

Kura: “It must be surprising to see us like this, Akara san”

Akara: “We trusted you! How could you!?”

The Red haired demon was furious; her rage radiated boundless killing intent.

Raku: “Oh, please, don’t delude yourself. Did you think you were actually winning this war against us? You were mere playthings in our claws”

Out of the surviving seven, two turned out to be traitors, with only five being the true Dragon Hunters.

Of the five, only Akara was still standing.

Due to a surprise attack from their former allies, the others were taken out rather quickly

But from the looks of things, Akara would not last long.

Her body was tired after the dragon hunt, not having enough time to recover.

On top of that, the twins managed to injure her. Her clothing was soaked in her fresh blood.

The twins may look frail, but their power was nothing to scoff at.

No matter how many times Akara would attack them; the twins would easily repel her, before delivering yet another critical damage to her body.

Yet, Akara kept standing up, unwilling to let these two harm her children any further.

Kura: “Why do you keep persisting, Akara san? Surely you felt the difference in power between us?”

Akara: “*Calming down* You two are dragons, aren’t you?”

Raku: “Yay, finally! I thought you would never guess”

As Arma watched, the horned twins transformed into their true forms.

Humanoid dragons.

That was the best way to describe them.

They had clawed feet, scales covering their bodies, with spikes and horns protruding from their shoulders and knees. Their eyes were slitted while their mouths were adorned with razor sharp teeth.

On their backs were two enormous wings.

Other than their primary colors, Kura was purple while Raku was green, the two looked identical.

Kura: “I am called Dragon Lord Kuromizu, holding the 12th rank”

Raku: “Likewise, holding the 13th rank, Dragon Lord Rakuroma”

Akara’s eyes opened wide in disbelief.

One such high class dragon had cost Akara her leg.

Now she was facing off against two of them at once.

Kuromizu: “You should be honored, to be given death not by some mere beast, but by the True Dragons”

Akara: “I am not letting you kill them”

Rakuroma: “Not until we have our fun with you”

As they rushed towards each other, a single dark figure dropped down from the sky, landing right in between the combatants.

“ENOUGH!”

As the dust cleared away, figure of a man in a dark cloak was there for all eyes to see.

He also had two scaly wings extending from his back, but unlike the other two, he looked relatively humanoid.

Kuromizu: “Crushius! What are you doing here?”

Rakuroma: “Go away! You are spoiling our fun!”

Crushius: “It is Black Dragon Lord for you, and how many times must I tell you not to play with your food?”

With a single smack to each one’s heads, the twins were taken down instantly.

Kuromizu: “That hurts, dammit”

Rakuroma: “Ever heard of not punching a lady?”

Black Dragon Lord: “You two are Dragon Lords, serving our king, act like it”

Now facing against Akara, who was prepared for the worst, Black Dragon Lord’s face adorned a gentle smile.

Black Dragon Lord: “I admire your bravery, demon”

Then, he momentarily disappeared from Akara’s sight.

One second he was three meters away, the very next moment his hand was protruding out of Akara’s back, piercing through her chest.

Black Dragon Lord: “But bravery will not be enough against me”

Akara: “*coughing blood*”

Black Dragon Lord: “As a gesture of respect, I will let you die in peace. As for the others…Kura, Raku!”

Kuromizu: “Yes sir!”

Rakuroma: “Right away!”

It was obvious that as far as hierarchy was concerned, Black Dragon Lord was unquestionably their superior.

Both of them proceeded to slit their wrists, letting blood drip down upon the ground.

Arma: ‘What is going on? What is happening?’

The twins proceeded to force feed the blood to the dragon slayers.

Magna was their first victim.

The effect of the blood was instantaneous.

It was a Transformation unlike any other.

For a few seconds he squirmed in pain, but then, the changes in his body took over the process.

Within half a minute, he transformed into a familiar form of a low class wood dragon.

Arma: ‘It can’t be…all those dragons we have slain, all of them were people?’

Kuromizu: “Only a small dragon, huh? Figures”

Rakuroma: “What about this wolfie here, what do you think he will become?”

Sid: “No! No! No! Stay away from me!”

Rakuroma forcefully pried his mouth open and dripped down her blood into it. Due to his broken limbs, Sid could do nothing to resist.

Not everyone is compatible with dragon blood. And Sid just happened to be such a case.

Instead of transforming, his body ended up exploding like a balloon.

Rakuroma: “What a waste…”

As for Burmongo, the monkey type demi-human’s unconscious body was transformed into that of a mid-class wind dragon.

Kuromizu: “How disappointing”

Now the only one left was Arma.

The poison in his system was potent, but his rage was far stronger.

The sheer rage of seeing his master killed and his comrades transformed into dragons sent him over the edge.

It was as if his rage allowed him to temporarily overpower the poison within his body.

Gathering all the strength he could muster, he stood up, holding his sword between him and his foes.

Even if he was going to die, he was going die fighting.

His sight was fading, but he knew that if he did not try to fight now, he would become the very thing he hated.

Black Dragon Lord: “A valiant effort, child”

His claws became coated in bluish flames.

Black Dragon Lord: “But a pointless one”

With a single smooth motion, Black Dragon Lord slashed Arma’s body.

Arma felt a sharp pain coursing through his forehead, chest and abdomen.

After that… everything faded into the darkness….