Chapter 2: 2: Here Be Dragons
"SCRRREEAAREAEE!!"
Struan jolts up and vanishes midair as an animalistic screech suddenly reverberates in the air, along with rhythmic thumping. The ground rumbles with each steady thump of wing beats.
Soon, I can see the cause of all the commotion.
The dim light from the early morning sun, filtering through the trees, blinks out as a massive shape covers the sky. A dragon soars over the branches, the sunrise giving its icy blue and white scales a golden hue, making it glitter like snow.
Gazing in awe, my eyes trail after the glimmering dragon as it flies towards the school.
Hesitantly, the transparent, silvery silhouette of Struan reappears, gradually solidifying as he grows confident he isn't the target.
Before long, I hear distant shouts punctured with gunshots. Sirens blaze past the woods as they rush towards the school and blurs, like shooting stars, streak towards the building from all angles in the sky as the heroes begin to respond.
"GRRAAAAW!"
Colorful flashes of light dot what little I can see of the horizon from beneath the trees, looking like an oddly timed fireworks show.
Now, this won't do. I pull out a little drone — it's about half the size of my thumb — from my pocket. Holding it flat on my palm, the small quadcopter whirs to life and takes off above the pines. I bring out my phone to share the drone's vision and stream the fight. Already, the school grounds are encased in ice from the dragon.
"So… who do we have this time?" I say, mostly to myself. Struan sighs and shakes his head, but he leans over my shoulder to watch.
Beams of light surround and slice at the dragon, reflecting off in multiple directions and hitting the ground below, leaving the dragon mostly unharmed except for small singed spots where it was hit.
One of the beams breaks off from the rest and circles around the dragon, faster and faster, moving down from its head to its tail in a spiral. With a burst, the beam flashes, revealing a petite, mechanically-winged figure dressed in white accented with blue, wielding a glowing chainsaw longer than herself.
Blood spurts from the beast along the path of the light, but quickly freezes over in pink streaks.
"GRAA!" The dragon roars and with a swipe of its spiny tail, an arc of ice flies towards Lightbringer.
She tucks in her wings, dropping ten feet, but she didn't account for the already frigid surrounding temperatures sharply dropping. Ice crackles across her wings, stiffening her suit and sealing her wings to her sides.
Panicked cries rise from below as she plummets towards the ground with no sign of stopping while chased by a sharpened pillar of ice many times her size. Using the tip of the pillar, the girl pushes herself away and suspends her fall with a pillow of air.
White light glows from within the pillar, bursting it from inside. Fragments of varying sizes shower the combatants — or rather, the glorified spectators — below. Some shards harmlessly bounce off their bodies or hit the pavement while others deal a lethal blow.
With a swipe of her hand, a thin wall of light vaporizes the ice shards flying towards her and shields a few of the spectators in the process.
Floating her chainsaw next to her, she grabs the edges of her wings and forces them open with a sharp crack, manually folding and unfolding them a few times.
"Ah, yes, Lightbringer, of course. I can't say I'm surprised to see her here, since she is probably Eir," I say.
Bursts of fire graze past Lightbringer and sizzle in the air where the dragon flew just moments ago; it barely managed to thrust itself higher in time with a flap of its wings. The view provided from the drone grows hazy from the heat, but the heat is just what Lightbringer needs to fully thaw her wings. A few spears of fire home in on the dragon, but narrowly miss it again.
I direct the drone to look at the ground for the source of the flames and see someone dressed in red and orange. "Err… Some fire dude? I dunno, lots of mid-tier heroes can use fire of that level," I say with a shrug.
"He's not just some mid-tier hero, Ama. That's Torch." Struan says, his tone a bit different from usual.
"Okay? So what?" I glance up at him and see the disappointment written on his face. It kinda makes me want to punch him for some reason.
"Seriously, you should know your opponents better," he continues.
A boom echoes in the air, and yellow blur chaotically revolves around a wing of the dragon, moving even faster than Lightbringer did, leaving the wing in tatters. Arching over the dragon, the other wing gets shredded in a similar fashion.
"You do know who this one is, right?" Struan asks me.
"Uhhhh…" I say, squinting my eyes and looking deep in thought.
"Ama!"
"Just kidding! I know, I know! …Celery?"
"..."
"Celebrity?"
Struan looks like he is losing all faith in me… and maybe also sustaining brain damage from being too close to me.
"Okay, okay! Fine! It's Celerity," I say. "See? I know."
He just rubs his temples and leans against a tree, doing his best not to collapse. At last, he confirms what I said. "Yes. He is Celerity. All three of them are in the top ten rankings of the Hero Association."
"Pretty neat," I say, utterly unconcerned. Struan shakes his head at my total lack of reaction. To him, I suppose this should be a big deal, but I just don't care.
There were quite a few more attacks against the dragon, but none of the others were of any note. By comparison to the three we talked about, the other heroes might as well be throwing pebbles. Struan didn't seem to know who they were either, but for some reason he still acted displeased with me for not knowing who they were.
Hmm… Looks like it's about time now.
This dragon is just about done. I'm impressed it still manages to stay in the air with those wings.
A heavy rumble shakes the earth, originating from the school. I allow myself to smirk and catch Struan looking at me; his eyebrows tightly knit together.
"Shhh… just wait for it," I reassure Struan, but I get the feeling he didn't take it the way I intended, as his expression darkens significantly. Or maybe, he knew exactly what was coming.
The yellow streak that is Celerity rockets to the ground and the dragon dives after him in an attempt to pursue, but is blocked by Lightbringer. She raises her hands, and chains of pale blue light race forward, wrapping tightly around the dragon. The already weakened dragon flails in the air and screeches, breaking free just moments later, but it is too late.
BA-BOOM!
Two fire lances hit the dragon before it can reorient itself, followed by another four.
"'Some fire dude' just beat the dragon." Struan says snarkily, making air quotes with his fingers, to which I roll my eyes.
Smoke covers the sky, blocking my dragon from view. Cheers come from below, but it's far too early for them to celebrate.
Slowly, a grin creeps across my face; it's a very pleasant, very sweet smile, and it looks completely innocent in contrast with what I call forth next.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone