Chapter 29 - Ascalon

Neel remembered the story of Ascalon, a story his father told him only once yet to a Dragonborn once was enough. Of the four legendary holy swords Ascalon was the weakest in terms of strength, however every holy sword was created with its own purpose. Ascalon's was to slay the race that invited the demons into this world..... the dragons. The first Holy Saint, a genius forge master was blessed with the soul of a divine being and from that soul he forged Ascalon.

Back then the Dragonborn's and their descendants ruled the north and stopped the Church's advance due to their advantage in the sky and to their natural prowess in both air and fire magic. They kept the Church at bay for nearly a century but once Ascalon came into the battlefield all of that changed.

Ascalon was capable of manipulating mana to prevent anyone from using fire or air magic. Without their mastery of air of fire magic all they had was their physical prowess and flight capabilities but even that was taken away. The Saint George had the same power of an Arch Cardinal, one of the strongest leaders of the church second only to the Pope. With Ascalon in hand he ravaged the dragonborns. Ascalon wasn't only capable of taking away their magic but could also rob them of both their natural defences and regenerative qualities.

With both their magic and their vitality gone they were on the brink of defeat. With the inquisition army, a newly formed, highly capable troupe consisting of the most talented mages in the Church destroying their vanguard and the Saint George and his bishops attacking the front the dragonborns had no choice but to surrender. They thought that if they surrendered the Church would show mercy on them and simply take them prisoner. However, the Church wouldn't show kindness to the none human races, especially the descendants of those who summoned the demons to Merrum.

All the captured dragonborns were trailed and executed by the Church for their involvement in the summoning of the demons to the mortal plane. Some managed to escape including the king of dragon's 'Alduin', however he was getting old and was incapable of protecting his people. So he gave up his throne and it was passed down to his eldest son Algard. Alduin warned Algard to forget about that which they had lost and look to start a new but Algard was spiteful. He could never forgive the humans for attacking that which was rightfully his and he sought vengeance.

Algard trained night and day for the day he would finally take his revenge. Algard was naturally gifted at magic and became a master at not only air and fire magic but being from the royal bloodline was also a master at light magic. After reaching the tier 9 level in all three elements he gave birth to a new discipline. By combining all three elements he created the first lightning spell. A spell capable of of destroying all those that opposed him. It was the tier 10 lightning spell 'Dragon God'.

After the death of Saint George Algard stole the first dragonborn's bone sword 'Draconis' and took the best fighters the Dragon's descendants had to offer, his destination was the Church's headquarters 'Ecclesia'. Draconis could only be wielded by a Dragon's descendant and was capable of giving its wielder an elder dragon form. With the form of his ancestors he used 'Dragon God to destroy Ecclesia's defences and storm the city. Although they were greatly outnumbered the 'Draconis' was capable of increasing the strength of the dragon's descendants three fold and with their King having the power of an Elder Dragon they became an unstoppable force.

With the power of Draconis Algard was capable of casting 'Dragon God' multiple times destroying a good portion of the inquisition by himself. It was the greatest massacre the church had ever faced and with no one capable of wielding 'Ascalon' even the Arch Cardinals struggled to keep the new Dragon King at bay. When all hope seemed lost the Pope at the time Adrian XVI appeared wielding Ascalon in one hand and Caliburn in the other.

He was the youngest Pope in history at the age of 23 but his power was beyond his years. Most humans would only be attuned to one element, or two if they were a genius but the Pope was naturally attuned to three. Water, Earth and Light magic adding the blessing the divine beings granted him he was attuned to four elements. The Pope was one of the four strongest beings in existence at the time but with the power of his ancestors the dragon king still stood a chance against him.

The stories about what happened during the fight differ but all stories have one thing in common, Ascalon was was truly the Dragon slayer. Although Algard temporarily had the power of an Elder Dragon without his mastery over air or fire magic all he had was light and lighting magic but with that alone he couldn't hope to defeat the Pope. With their King defeated the rest of the dragonborns tried retreating but the Pope allowed them no respite. In one day two of the greatest massacres in Merrum's history occurred and a whole race was nearly wiped out.

After that incident the Pope ordered that all dragonborn's be arrested and trailed for their crimes. So the rest of the royal family was forced into hiding due to their Kings arrogance. After the death of Pope Adrian no one was capable of wielding Ascalon and it was locked in the Church vault. Yet that same holy sword that had the power to bring an Elder Dragon to his knees was touching Neels throat ready to slit it at any second.

"So that's what this is. Ascalon 'The Dragon Slayer'." said Neel with a cold look on his face. "I'm glad that you understand, and please don't try chanting any spells I would be forced to end this quickly and that is no fun. Although we were ordered to bring you back so that you can be put on trail I have different plans." said Damien as if he were having tea with a friend. "You see if I kill you my status would greatly increase, I would truly live up to the name of Dragon slayer and who knows I might be named the next Cardinal. Oh sorry you won't be alive to see that will you? Oh well you can just watch me from wherever you are."

As Damien continued to talk to himself Neel closed his eyes and his body began to glow a bright yellow colour. Damien was still focused on his ambitions as he was already guaranteed victory or so he thought. Neel shot a hard light pillar at Damien's right hand hitting the sword out of his grasp. Damien was confused but reacted quickly and used air magic to call back his sword. However that split second of distraction was all Neel required. He used air magic to expand the air dome that restricted him destroying it.

Before Damien had time to react Neel flew into the air using both air and fire magic to propel himself faster. "I got too confident again. So he was hiding his light mastery was he. But no matter, that won't work on me again.." thought Damien as he flew after Neel using the both his and the sword's air mastery to catch up to Neel.