It's been an month total since the emberclutch village started and life was booming azural constantly patrols the area around the village with tensei as for ruko puberty was hitting fast he kept shedding constantly it got so bad that he literally shed his carapace it took him about a week but a new stronger one grew back it was more of a copper color too he assumed his mother's genetic code tried to override his scale color.
The reason this was happening is because it was pairing season a very special time indeed.
(Author;okay listen up this time to drop some lore pairing season:this is a season for both rathalos and rathians alike pairing season is when both rathalos and rathians gather in The ancestral cradle of the rathious species where the first rathalos and rathian were born it was filled with natural bio energy from a sleeping dalamadur that died when the tectonic plates shifted crushing its body rathian and rathalos gather here to pick pseudo mate meaning that after doing a courtship the pair will stay together forever as long as both sides are strong enough and prove reliable in both Parenthood and hunting
this also leads to some rathalos fighting over the same rathian in this case whoever wins the fight gets the rathian but the most interesting thing about pairing season is what humans call the sky tournament this is a tournament that only the strongest of rathalos attend whoever wins the tournament is declared the strongest male of this generation giving them access to stronger and better females AKA subspecies or variant even deviants other version of this is the ground tournament this one is between rathians when majority of the rathalos have already been claimed rathians compete against each other and whoever wins gets the strongest rathalos that has yet to choose a partner.)
Pairing season lasts to up for a week so if you're late you still have a chance to get an partner ruko got ready to leave but first he threw his shedded carapace off of his nest as it fell through the forest trees it landed in a basket which an young man carried back to emberclutch village ruko Had shed so many parts this past month emberclutch came up with the idea to take his shedded parts and use them for armors.
Tensei the first to get his set as since ruko was an sliver rathalos his shedded parts were extremely valuable and rare so only elite monster riders get to wear the armor these Elite monster riders are called the sliver ashes as they are reborn from the ashes of a silver rathalos back to ruko he was getting ready to leave he had rarely flown down to the village unless it was an emergency.
As he touched it down on the ground azural came flying towards him ruko sharpened his gaze causing azural the land and kneel graciously azural was at this point in time where he was supposed to seek out his own territory and this is usually the part where ruko chases him out but since he allowed azural to stay azural is under his jurisdiction basically in short ruko is the alpha and azural is the citizen so he holds a very little power.
Tensei walked up has he put his hand on his kinship Stone ruko left his mind wide open so he could read it ruko spoke with him through the kinship Stone ruko:°its pairing season I have to go if I am gone for a week make sure no one takes my territory° suddenly ruko spread his wings and shot into the sky going west directly west as he started his flight after getting an good 12.5 miles away from his home suddenly two regular rathalos joined him.
Then an azure rathalos as they passed over an volcanic area every single expanse of territory they passed over another rathalos joined them they turned into a flock of 18 extremely fast 15 regular rathalos 1 azure rathalos 1 apex rathalos and ruko the only silver rathalos in the flock.
They've been flying for a good 24 hours only stopping on a expanse of rock formations in order to rest for the night after 5 hours of sleep they continued their journey late night ruko got a head start he woke up an hour earlier than the rest of them and started flying after flying for such a long time he will be low in calories but is using whatever fats and oils he had stored up over the week to keep going and another 15 hours he made it to the skybound canyons home of the rathious species.
There was an abundance of prey he snatched up an kelbi that wasn't paying attention and devoured it quickly as he landed on the edge of low hanging rock formation they started to flood in a large flock of 38 rathians and some rathalos also arrived about 10 of the rathians we're pink 7 of them were apex another 15 of them were dreadqueen and three of them were zenith rathian and finally their was one golden rathian her coat it was the brightest one beam of sunlight and she illuminated the entire place like a flash bang on ultra dangerous experimental steroids.
As we're starved some males tried to make some moves on the stronger females amazingly only a runt of an rathalos managed to charm an zenith rathian into becoming his partner as for ruko he had his eye on the golden rathian she looked strong and her carapace was full of battle damage to prove it as he approached her ruko was considered a runt in sliver rathalos terms by this point in time he should be at least 14 m but he was only 11.8 m instead of chasing him off.
She stared into his soul send me a beam of sunlight bounced onto both of their carapaces causing a mix of gold and silver to overtake the area blinding a random rathalos that had just made it to the skybound canyon as the golden rathian spread her wings she heated up her mouth as she licked her carapace taking some gold off and slathering it on her tongue before licking ruko on the head causing his head to have a golden streak.
That means she accepts him but a dreadking the same age as ruko but way more arrogant didn't like the fact Battle run such as him decided to go for a big fish like her and immediately challenged him for the rights to his partner this enraged him as the dread King rathalos got ready to take this to the sky but ruko with a quick shot simply open his mouth and shot a slightly blue fireball directly at The Dread King rathalos chest.
Causing the fireball to explode sending the dreadking rathalos back into the ground ruko suddenly charged forward a major weakness for rathalos is there talons we're not suited for ground movement but ruko over team that biological nerf by constantly walking around on the ground and also chasing his prey on the ground it's caused his talons to deform and fix themselves now they're both suited for grabbing opponents out of mid-air and grappling in general and ground-based travel and combat.
Ruko Made a full on bullet charge slamming into the dreadking rathalos as they slammed off the side of the canyon and started grappling each other biting and trying to stab each other with their tails as really detangled themselves from each other the two rathalos proceeded to have an aerial dog fight as ruko barely dodged a fireball he was suddenly speed blitzed as his head clipped the side of a rock formation which gave him about a mild concussion.
But he continued to flap so he would not crash listened to the sound of the wind suddenly it's shifted he opened his mouth and unleashed a fireball in the corrected direction his opponent was in surprised the dreadking rathalos to take the blow head on as it barreled through the fireball ruko attacking wildly managed to barely scratch his opponent across the chest with his paralysis talons this was an dreadking though it would take a little bit for the paralysis to have an effect.
Suddenly ruko remembered what happened when sunlight hit his scales as he made a straight shot upward the Dread King rathalos gave pursuit as it must screwed up a full power fireball it was barely tracking him ruko retaliated with a semi full power fireball as the two balls of fire met in the middle exploded creating a supernova level heat.
As ruko finally breached the clouds he spread his wings wide as the dread King barely breached the clouds a full power blue blazing fireball that was so intense it nearly turned white slammed into the dreadking rathalos chest as the dread King rathalos got ready to dodge it happened the paralysis kicked in causing its body to become paralyzed just long enough as fireball made contact they exploded in blue brilliant flames evaporating the clouds around them.
As the dreadking fell from the sky for all to see it crashed straight into the middle of the canyon into the ground but ruko wasn't done there was a reason he was so high it was to test a new movie came up with "blazing strike from the overlord of the skies" he extended one talon as he hit mach speed he extended his wings as he was falling so fast there was a literal trail of condensed air but since his talon was out it absorbed the entirety of the heat as his talon and his entire leg turned orange red with absolute fire energy.
The dread King rathalos open its eyes at the wrong time as its eyes shrank in fear ruko talon landed straight into his opponent's chest as a spark of light like a star shined a massive pillar of straight fire energy shot into the sky through the clouds and into the atmosphere as a pulse of pure flame bioenergy surged through the area the massive shockwave from the initial impact blew alot of rathalos and rathians away.
As for the golden rathian she was infatuated with ruko even at the start of the fight she admired how he was such an adapted ground fighter and his fireballs were so powerful even as an runt he proved his strength reigned supreme and that attack he just pulled out it was so hot it melted some of her scales truly an amazing specimen if rathalos could read thoughts they would think that the golden rathian was crazy
The golden rathian swore to make ruko her treasure as the smoke from the devastating attack cleared ruko slashed his opponent's throat open to get to their inferno sac as he tore out the elemental inferno gem little did ruko no he actually made The inferno gem pure that's when he unleashed his blazing strike from overlord of the skies majority of that pure flame elemental bioenergy fused with the gem just as he impacted his Target.
As he swallowed it down he roared in victory as for the dreadking rathalos died upon initial impact and as ruko reward not only did he get to strengthen hid inferno sac was on its way to becoming a super rare and potent organ he got a golden rathian who he would name Jira after that exhausting fight he and Jira would rest for the next two days.
Meanwhile not far away from heaven's Haven an duo sleeping elder dragon felt the massive wave of fire energy and it awoken them from their slumber as teostra and lunastra awoke from their hibernation they immediately began the journey to exit their cave.
Author: the MC might have just walked over his own home just cuz he was trying to aura farm for the huzz well while I'm working on the next chapter it's going to be in production for a while so you're just going to have to enjoy this because when I make this chapter it is literally going to be the perfect blend of anime moments and overpowered Ascension