Over 1000 years ago, Oppen was the only "War Dragon."
At this time, the dragons were not families, but rather a group of existences, human in appearance with the capability of turning into great, mythical beasts.
Each dragon took the form of the thing they most loved. For Graves, the Death Dragon, it was his obsession with death, of conquering it, of experiencing it, of inflicting it. For Assas, the Blood Dragon, it was his obsession with blood, the love of the taste, of the fact that it was necessary for life, and its intimacy.
And for Oppen, it was his love of war. Of the conflicts that inevitably occur between all existences—the love of the feeling of winning, the bitter despair of defeat, of everything related to it.
Naturally, he wanted to win. So, Oppen was in fact the first dragon that tried to breed with humans. He'd noticed how the humans stuck together to face larger monsters.
And he thought that it was a good idea.
Though a dragon, an existence superior to man, he was not so arrogant as to reject basic common sense. The greater numbers, the more likely they were to win. And so, Oppen bred a human female of age 20.
This action was repulsive to the dragons. However, as they began to age, they began to realize that they too were not immortal. That one day, they too would perish, just like any human.
But procreating with another dragon was repulsive. Each dragon based their entire identity around the thing they loved most, which influenced their Dragon Art. They could be allies with other dragons, but it was unthinkable to be intimate with one dragon, one who had dedicated themselves to something different than they had.
So they joined the humans as well, to continue their own existences through their children. This did come at a cost, as upon having children, a "piece" of themselves was lost and given to the children.
Oppen, the first, was curious. And when the fifth child of his was born sickly and frail, unbecoming that of a dragon, he wondered. He pondered, and yearned to know if, through devouring his kin, he could regain the waste of strength he'd spent.
And he devoured it.
The move was correct. He had regained what he'd lost. But with it, came a price. Utter disgust from the other dragons, who considered their kin to be an extension of themselves.
To devour oneself was foolish. But it was undeniably a reasonable method to deal with "failures."
But the disgust each dragon felt at the news led to it becoming the Second Taboo. Unlike the first, it did not leave a scent upon the dragon, cursing them with rejection eternally. However, it was certainly not one to take lightly.
…
Arthur arrived, flying through the sky with a shotgun in his hands, he descended to the area below, landing on the lawn of the mansion. It was made beautifully, with pristine hedges and the like.
Arthur walked down slowly, staring forward as he kept a tight grip.
'I need to devour them to death, apparently. I don't know if that means I can't do anything to them before then, or what. But I need to eat them to death.'
As he approached the front door, it flung open, with Hiein launching out with a bat in hand. Arthur pointed the shotgun at his head as he came approaching, hesitating for a moment. And as such, Hiein was able to recognize the scenario in time to evade when Arthur pulled the trigger.
With an ugly move devoid of any elegance, Hiein dodged, weaving back and to the left, before jumping high up into the air backwards, on the top of the mansion. Arthur looked up, noticing a frightened expression on his face.
'Bastard. Though, not entirely bad. Shotguns kill, but nothing can kill if it can't make contact. Lucky bastard, it won't happen next time.'
Arthur stormed the building, looking around and seeing the woman from that night, the one filming.
'She'll work.'
Arthur pointed the gun at her legs, firing. Immediately, the impact blew her leg off at the knee, leaving behind a mess of red flesh which tangled from her leg. She fell to the floor, to which he grabbed her by the hair, running off with her and taking her down to a basement in the mansion.
With a great throw, she tumbled down the stairs.
He jumped down and pounced. When she managed to open her eyes against him, his jaw was already wide open.
'Saying I need to devour them to death makes it sound like it's not just as easy as using my dragon head. I need to eat, and eat them until they die.'
Arthur bit down onto her neck, using his teeth and pulling out her carotid artery. He chewed and swallowed, before biting down once more.
The door to the basement swung open, and the voice of a teenage boy could be heard.
"Hey! What the heck!? Who're you, you, ah…!"
Arthur ran further into the basement, retreating into the darkness as he continued to bite and chew. The woman flailed, and he forcefully drove his elbow into her neck to restrain her, getting her to stop as he continued to eat.
Munch, and munch, gobble and gobble, swallow.
Finally, Hiein entered the basement and turned the lights on, seeing Arthur continuing to eat. Arthur turned around, licking his bloody lips and teeth.
"The Second Tabooo… I see," Hiein nervously said, as from his skin, blood formed out, shaping into a bat. He launched at Arthur, who formed a cutlass once more with his ring, before launching at Hiein as well.
Arthur swung his weapon wildly, which Hien tried to block with the bat. However, the blade cut right through, as it was made of stronger material, being used from the blood of many dragons instead of just one like Hiein's.
Next, Hiein sprouted a shield from his neck as armor, which was able to stop the blade. Arthur tried to use his body, attempting to knee Hiein in the stomach. However, the Blood Artist moved quicker due to his more nimble body, the bat being dismantled as he grabbed onto Arthur's shoulders, pulling him closer and returning the favor with a swift knee to the gut.
Arthur vomited, as his stomach was already rejecting the raw meat, before he was grabbed and thrown towards a wall, crashing into it and being brought to a stop.
"Motherfucker…!"
Arthur looked up, coughing and choking on his own red vomit, seeing Hiein rush towards the woman. Arthur clicked his tongue, stumbling and growling as though a wild animal. He used the ring on his left hand to form a spear, launching himself with his legs before attempting to stab Hiein in the back.
Hiein dodged, and countered with a greatsword, stabbing Arthur in the stomach as he got the woman to heal her wounds.
Arthur had forsaken his shotgun, as he set it on the ground to hold the woman steady when he devoured her, and that was when he first arrived in the basement, prior to moving away.
Arthur grit his teeth and formed a mallet with Moon's blood, raising it up and smashing the blood sword, breaking him free momentarily. He grabbed the weapon, dismantling it himself and creating a knife from it.
Arthur plunged the dagger into Hiein's body from a close range, digging it into his guts. Even Hiein's normally cold demeanor was broken, a thick grunt escaping his throat.
Quickly letting go of the knife, Arthur grabbed him by the legs, lifting him up and catapulting him towards the basement stairs.
The movement was quick and almost instant, as the mass of man crashed into the wooden stairs and completely destroyed them, leaving nothing but thick wooden dust behind.
His heart racing, desperate for the supposed "win condition" of achieving the Second Taboo, Arthur turned back towards the woman. Yet, instead of being as helpless as he'd hoped, she remained defiant, using her Dragon Art to control his blood.
This kept him in place as Hiein recovered and grabbed the shotgun. The man stood with a heavy breath, focusing intently on The Dragon, kicking off the ground to close the distance, preparing to shoot Arthur directly.
'Shit!'
In a moment of panic, Arthur transformed into a dragon, becoming too large for the basement and breaking her control over him. Hiein pulled the trigger, shooting Arthur in the head with the shotgun.
It penetrated his flesh, but due to the density of the skull of a dragon, it wasn't instantly fatal. Due to that, Arthur managed to return to human form with only an immensely bleeding skull instead of death, healing his wounds as quickly as he could.
Regaining control of himself, he swung a knife at Hiein's arms, managing to break Hiein's immediate control over the weapon.
Quickly, he raised his leg, launching his foot forward at Hiein's chest, shooting him backwards to create distance.
Now, he retrieved the woman by the hair, pulling her close and dismantling the knife, bringing it to his face and giving him a new jaw to bite with, with sharp teeth meant to shred through any flesh.
He bit down on her throat, tearing it out with his monstrous new mouth, chewing it and gulping it down before continuing his assault. Until finally—,
'Ah…'
He felt something change in his body, a new sense of strength. He had bitten her head off, not eating her skull, but instead ripping through her throat and neck until it ripped from her torso.
Blood spilled. Oh, how it spilled so violently that it made him want to puke.
Her body collapsed to the floor, gushing. Red, crimson viscera that was matched only by Arthur's own.
He licked his lips, using the blood to form a long tongue, giving the impression of an absolute, utter monstrosity.
Turning towards Hiein, who had taken time to heal his wound and stand back up, Arthur stared at the face of the man who had ruined his life. That man merely looked at him with a blank expression—no, it was more akin to disappointment.
'I'm not human anymore. I'm just a worthless pile of meat. A worthless existence, not deserving of even the slightest hint of dignity.'
Arthur formed a smile, tears accompanying it. He laughed at Hiein, slowly approaching the man.
"I can't stop now, can I?! First Taboo down, now, I've gone and done the Second! I'm probably the most vile existence in the entire world right now to you guys, aren't I!?" Arthur shouted, his arms moving around, up and down in a dramatic fashion.
"Why do you intend on talking so much?"
"Cause I wanna get your last words!"
Arthur grabbed his jaw, dismantling it into a cutlass. His prior one had been dropped when he'd been thrown into the wall.
He wiped the tears from his eyes, as he ran at Hiein. Hiein formed a spear with his blood, and rushed at Arthur. It was obvious who had the superior weapon.
Or, until Arthur swung his saber, 15 feet before they met. From his swing, sharp shards of condensed blood launched out from the hilt of the cutlass, reaching Hiein. The man blocked them, smacking them with his spear and using blood armor to take on the ones which he couldn't avoid.
But that was not enough, as such actions let Arthur get to his side, bypassing the spear as he wound his arm back, gleefully swinging the sword into the arm which was armored. The advancement rang true—Hiein's arm had been split in two.
"I AM!" Arthur roared, bathing in the spraying blood of his enemy.
He grabbed the armor, dismantling it with his own Blood Armory and forming it into a ring around his finger, before bringing back the sword, aiming its tip to stab through Hiein's very skull.
"I AM BETTER THAN YOU!"
Arthur lunged, yet,
"Hmph."
Hiein swung at the blade from below, knocking it upwards which negated any power it had, before his fist was coated with brass knuckles formed of blood as he punched Arthur in the cheekbone.
Arthur backed away, keeping ahold of his cutlass as he held his cheek, gritting his teeth with an animalistic growl..
'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts it hurts!'
The pain was nothing new. However, Arthur's decreased stability due to his abuse made him focus on the pain in his body even more. That focus only highlighted the pain, making it hurt worse than it actually did.
"Next up is you! I'll dine on you next! AH! WHAT A GOURMET MEAL~! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"
Arthur's body bobbed up and down with his frantic breathing, as the healing from earlier was quite expensive. The blood dripped off of his face, striking the floor in a rhythmic melody. His breathing started and stopped, repeating that cycle.
However, then, a boy rushed down the stairs, looking over towards Arthur. With a nice face, a well-developed body, and fluffy brown hair, that boy looked at Arthur with pain.
"Arthur! It's me, Damien! I'm your younger brother!"
"...Aaaaahhh?"
"Stop fighting, just for now. Listen, I don't know why you would immediately shoot Clover, but we don't have to fight! Please, come back to the family! And you, Hiein, stand down!"
"You're a foolish kid," Hiein said plainly. "Trying to use reason against something like him is—"
"That's the problem! You view him as a 'something!' He's a person, just like you and me, and you're an actual idiot if you continue! You think he's just some wild animal who can't be reasoned with, but you're the one who's clinging onto his own hatred, refusing to let—"
"—If I eat him, won't I get stronger too?" Arthur interrupted, curiously raising an eyebrow as a twisted grin curved across his cheeks. Damien looked at his older brother with confusion, as Arthur twitched.
"I've told you since the beginning, Damien," Hiein stated. "This thing was not to be pardoned."
"But… no, Lu—that girl, she told me that… you were a good person. Alicia, too. Everyone that's known you has said that you were a good person, so, so what the heck…"
"Ahhh? But I'm not a good person. I'm so sorry, little brother. They're liars. No, no they aren't! They thought I was a good person, but they didn't know the real me. What you're seeing now… is me. My face, my body, it's all starting to reflect just how ugly I am on the inside."
Arthur burst into continued laughter, stepping away from Hiein as he held his stomach, his breathy laughter seeming more like convulsions than anything else.
"I don't need help. I don't want help. I can't be helped. Because all I am… is worthless, a good-for-nothing, a waste of space. That's all I ever can be, and I know that for a fact. Which is why… I'll do as much damage as I can to this world before I leave. Fitting, for something like me."
"No, that's not true! You're not worthless, if you just… if you just actually try to get better, then—"
"I HAVE TRIED!"
Arthur roared as he lunged at Hiein, swinging his cutlass down. Hiein couldn't react in time, only managing to block with his arm, which was hacked through by the blade, the sword plunging itself into Hiein's left collarbone.
This got a grunt from the usually quiet Hiein, as Arthur sliced the cutlass out of him, severing even further before raising it and trying again. Hiein dodged this time, as Arthur missed and slashed up the floor, slashing it twice as he went diagonally, a right slash and a left.
Hiein's limb fell down, bleeding profusely. Arthur laughed at him for his failures, raising his foot and stomping on the limb, spraying blood out as he then used it to add to his cutlass.
"Ah. I'm gonna cut ya' with y'er own blood… kahaha…" He growled. Then, shifting quickly from feigned laughter to a visceral hate:
"Why aren't you dead yet… you bastard!!"
"RUN!" Hiein called for Damien. They both fled up the stairs, jumping over the broken parts and into the first floor as Arthur made a beeline, crashing into the wall with his sword.
'Fucking running bastards, they're no good. I'll have to kill them, I need to kill them. I want to eat them to death, I'll get even stronger, then I'll destroy this world, that's it, I'LL DO IT!'
Arthur leaped upwards, landing on the first floor of the mansion as he looked around for them. Unlike the other way around, he couldn't keep track of them due to any cursed scent.
"Ahhh, not just running… they're hiding too? Or have they already left the building…?"
Suddenly, his stomach felt like it heaved in upon itself. With incredible sickness, he vomited out the woman's throat, bone included.
Clutching his stomach with a pained expression, his dull eyes wandered around. Outside, he saw them driving away.
"Ah… I can't get to them if they're too public… too many people will see me…"
'Or can I? I just need to eat one more, and then I'll—'
"That's enough."
He paused, turning around and seeing that figure once more.
Of a slender woman with brown hair. She stood solemnly, her hands to her sides. Arthur's eyes widened, as he took a step back in fear. Unable to hold back, he let out just one word softly.
"Mo…ther?"