A massive dragon, covered in clouds of flame, was flying over the crystal empire, circling around the edges of the city itself multiple times, but never allowing the empire to leave his line of sight.
(A/N): I am going with about 700 meters for how large his dragon form is, so don't hesitate to give your opinion on the matter.
(Pic)
"This is more troubling than I thought," as the blue-scaled dragon let out an annoyed voice across the sky.
Sombra has been circling around the Crystal Empire, trying to get a decent understanding of where exactly he is, or even hoping to recognize something.
It hasn't been completely unsuccessful, because he compared the terrain surrounding the empire to what the original Sombra remembers, and he was now sure that whatever this place was, it wasn't the My Little Pony world.
The problem Sombra was facing is that he was currently the only real protection the empire had, and if he left to scout, the empire would be left undefended, which means that someone could casually harm or even sabotage any part of his empire while he was away.
Or even try to take the crystal heart away. Of course, Sombra could use part of the crystal heart's energy to place defenses around the empire, but the problem with that is that any form of constant defense would need a continuous supply of magical energy from the crystal heart.
And the crystal heart wasn't capable of regenerating such a huge amount of energy because, simply, the heart needed emotions from the empire population to generate its own energy.
And the empire at the moment was a ghost town; the only source of emotions was Sombra himself, which was not even enough.
Thus, Sombra came up with three solutions.
First, he could risk it and try to scout as fast as possible. After all, Sombra could teleport back to the empire every 15 minutes or so, and counting that with his Devil Fruit mobility and his ability to turn into a shadow, he was terrifyingly efficient in movement speed.
But even then, there would still be some danger to the crystal heart and the empire, and that wasn't acceptable, not even a little.
Or he would use the crystal heart to protect the empire itself, and then he would leave to not only scout but find any sort of citizens to bring back.
But that would depend on pure luck. After all, for all Sombra knows, he might be living in some Ice Age world, which would make the chance of finding any living creatures rather dim.
So, that option was thrown aside as well.
The dragon in the sky shrank down as a humanoid form covered in armor fell near the edge of the empire, making the ground shatter upon impact as snow exploded, blocking the view.
'If my empire is lacking defenses, then I guess I will have to do it myself.' As the snow finally cleared, it showed Sombra standing nearly 12 feet tall, with two horns appearing on the sides of his head, while his hands and upper face were covered in blue scales, and his teeth and nails were sharp.
His legs were transformed completely, covered in scales and looking like they belonged more to a dragon than a human.
'At least I tested my Devil Fruit well enough. I have a decent hold on my abilities, but I need to sharpen them,' as he stomped the ground with his feet, making it shatter as he nodded at his small test.
'The physical boost and the stamina regeneration are huge. The original Sombra would have burned the world for this Devil Fruit. Too bad for him, I guess,' as Sombra glanced at his scaled hands, feeling the vitality of his body.
'I need a weapon. Something that won't break that easily. I could use the crystal heart, but I can't. The crystal heart could save me from a death sentence if someone or something stronger than me arrived, and if the worst case scenario ever happened and an enemy even the heart can't kill outright...' At that thought, Sombra's draconic eyes darkened with determination and pure killing intent.
'I could always make the heart focus on weakening the enemy while I try to kill whatever intruder has arrived. And if that doesn't work, then I will make sure to make the enemy lose a limb before I die. After all, I already promised the old man to do my best.'
For Sombra, retreat never crossed his mind. He already lost his home once; he won't lose it again. The moment he accepted this new life, he decided something.
He would do his best to protect his new home, and that means whatever enemy came his way. Win or lose doesn't matter; what matters is that he already steeled his heart and mind to fight to the death.
Sombra shook his head as he focused on more important matters. He decided to follow in the steps of every medieval nation: to build a wall.
Sombra didn't have any workers and no stone, but he did have one thing: magic, with a body that had monstrous stamina and sheer power of will.
Sombra placed his hand on the ground about 15 meters away from the edge of the city, and the next second, with a small boom, the snow was blasted off as black crystal grew from the ground, as Sombra kept feeding more magical energy to it.
Only after seeing that the crystal wall reached what he estimated to be around 20 to maybe 25 meters in length, with about 10 meters or so in width, he stopped.
"Well, that worked. I only have to do it about a hundred or a thousand times more until the entire wall is completed."
Sombra raised his hands to the sky in a winning pose until he couldn't fake his cheerful smile anymore.
"Only a thousand times more... yay!..." grumbled Sombra as he started walking while sulking to continue his new project.
(30 minutes later)
Sombra was kicking the snow, grumbling as he moved on to continue his construction project. This was his twentieth or so wall.
(1.5 hours later)
Sombra was walking, slamming his head against the black crystal wall as he cursed his empty city.
Still, he marched on. After all, he was nothing if not stubborn.
(2 hours later)
Sombra was hating every moment, but at this point, it was personal; he would complete that cursed wall.
(3 hours later)
Sombra collapsed on the ground, his body returning to human form annoyance, and the small exhaustion that he started feeling.
Five minutes later, he recovered enough stamina to continue as he cursed his speed recovery.
(8 hours later)
"Even in death, I toil," that was the only word he kept repeating.
Sombra believed he was slightly crazy at that point, but his hatred for the project burned hot, too hot for him to stop.
(12 hours later)
A blue dragon was flying far above the crystal city, with cloud flames covering him, while his eyes followed the edges of the crystal wall now surrounding the city with great scrutiny, until he completed a complete cycle checking every part.
And then, the dragon looked at the sky as he roared with all his might, a roar of victory that would spread miles away.
"I did it! I did it! Yes, yes, yes, yesssss!"
The dragon kept circling the crystal wall in joyful glee as he complimented himself on such fine work.
The dragon form disappeared, replaced by a human with a crown and covered in armor, as he landed atop the wall and simply let his sleep take him, with his last thought being,
'Finally, I am free.'
While our rising king claimed his hard-earned rest, he didn't know that he may have made a fatal lapse in judgment.
(Many miles away)
Across the frozen land on the South Pole, an extreme sports enthusiast named Jack was on his first adventure in the South Pole.
He was accompanied by his lifelong friends as they recorded their newest adventure.
But all of a sudden, the group talk ceased as the ground vibrated while a strong sound carried over from the horizon. It felt like a giant was roaring.
"What the hell was that?" asked Jack as he turned to his stunned friends, especially the owner of the camera who had captured all of it on record.
(A/N): I am trying something new in this fanfic because I used to always write in a certain character's POV. I didn't know how to write in other ways, so this fanfic was my first try at it.
Don't forget to check on my other works as well, everyone!