Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 20]

The dragon roared and moved, abandoning its master and lumbering toward the cliff, scattering Heroes left and right. Its maw opened, thankfully not spewing fire but instead revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Ruby took a defensive stance before me.

"No! Get Salem! Finish her!"

"But-"

I couldn't move my hands because of the Ironwood but I could manage a solid kick on Ruby's backside. "Go!"

"R-Right. I'm on it!"

The dragon was closer and the Heroes couldn't stop it. I saw Yang hanging on its snout and readying herself to attack its eye, but short of pulling out its brain herself she wasn't going to be able to save me. And Ozpin was out for the count.

"Shield," I hissed, pouring heat into the Ironwood. "Give me a shield. Come on."

The forging was slow, but the Ironwood vines continued to creep their way around me. Giving up on the shield entirely, I fed them – adding more and more heat until the silvery fibres were curling all over my body, forming a ball of metal with myself at the centre.

Seal. I threw the Seal Rune onto it, more in case Salem chanced an attack than because I thought it would do anything. Adding more material to the shell around me, I kept up the heat, watching as vines criss-crossed over and over, intertwining like a solid wall of branches. In the back of my head, suffocation became an issue but that paled in comparison to the dragon.

I lost sight of it as the final hole closed. Closing my eyes, I braced for impact.

The walls clamped in suddenly. The loud clang of the dragon hitting was nothing compared to the sharp point that ripped in close to my head, metal vines buckling under a bony claw. The shell held, but only just, and only against the initial charge. The claw tipped down and started to drag, carving through the metal as it scraped away. Light flooded in, along with hot and fetid air.

Stoke the Forge. Stoke the Forge. I poured more fire into the furnace that was the Ironwood and was rewarded by the vines fighting against the dragon. Not intentionally, but rather trying to wrap more and more around me and naturally wrapping around the dragon's claws since those were in the way.

A new hole opened behind me. A gargantuan eye was visible there for a second, then replaced with the inside of its mouth. I screamed as it bit down, shaking my shell and digging teeth through the roof. It was trying to eat me. If it couldn't crush through the shell, it was going to swallow me whole.

More fire. More fire. I burned the Ironwood until it was hot, and flesh and gums sizzled all around me. The roots dug all the way back through the cliff and to the great tree itself, making it difficult for the dragon to wrench me free.

Distantly, I heard Yang's voice and an explosion, followed by a rush of hot air as the dragon roared at and around me. My head spun, ears almost rupturing from the sheer volume. I sagged until I was held up only by the Ironwood, and even then I kept pumping heat into it, even as my hands started to chafe from all the sharp metal brushing up and around it.

The shell cracked further and squeezed down, cutting off the space I had. Terrifying indents like teeth marks were becoming visible in the ceiling. Metal clinked and grated, and rock broke around me as the shell was pulled free, still connected by roots but now torn from the cliff face itself. I was like a seed trapped in an acorn being smashed by a huge bird. It was working, too. If nothing else, I couldn't focus on replenishing Ruby's weapons while this was going on.

But I could make more.

Focusing, I pushed my attention to the outer shell where the teeth were coming in. I Engraved the metal there, cutting and cutting until it was being pushed upward. Concentrating, I let the heat flow into it as the forging process began. I didn't need hands. I could forge with my mind.

So long as I had the metal and the fire, I was the forge.

I forged a sword.

It was Crocea Mors. Expected given how many times I'd made it that it was the design that came to mind. It was without a hilt or cross guard, just the blade itself, but it sprouted out from the shell and up into the dragon's mouth, cutting through its gums. The pressure retracted instantly as the monster roared. The wound would never be deep enough to kill it, but it hadn't expected it.

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 20]