Death Battle: Ryu vs the Dovah'Kin: The Battle

(Credit to for the title card)

Black Mage: Our combatants are set, lets end this debate that we ourselves probably started.

Momoyo: It's time for a death battle!

Skyrim



A large man in leather and steel armor, his head adorned by a horned helm, walked through a devastated forest. His armored seemed light against the cold, but as a Norn, he was perfectly at home in this weather.

His target made more or less invited any challengers to come face him. His only disappointment was that the number of dead Thalmar. He wanted to avoid fighting this creature was if it was the enemy of those racist pieces of filth. If that couldn't be avoided, he wished the Thalmar killed it so he didn't have to, but that clearly was happening.

Where there had been snow and trees, there was parched and burned soil. Many of the Thalmar had been reduced to ashes, if even that. Others were crushed under a massive foot, bitten in half, or in pieces thanks to what could only be the work of some very big claws, but a few looked like they had been cut with sword.

Days days earlier

"The Empire has what helping them?!" Ulfric Stormclock, the leader of the army fighting for Skyrim's freedom, had received some very unwelcome news.

"A dragon, a giant one large enough to crush a building." The messenger didn't like delivering the news either. "The Empire is claiming its an envoy of the Aedra to aid them in their war effort. As crazy as this sounds, it appears true. That dragon has been attacking the Thalmar and healing injured soldiers in the Imperial Legion."

Ulfric calmed down. If the Dovah'kin hadn't been present he would have panicked. The Empire had grown unpopular is Skyrim since the truce with the Thalmar, but if this beast really was helping them that could change. Given their actions they were likely to announce an end to the truce with the Thalmar, and with this beast they could likely do so with no repercussions. The Stormcloaks were going to lose support if they could kill this thing.

The Dovah'kin, as always, remained he saw some cue to speak.

"Then I will find this dragon and uncover the truth."

"And kill it?" Ulfric nervously replied.

"I hope to avoid killing this thing if it truly is only to aid against the Thalmar, but if it is necessary for Skyrim's freedom, I will."

Ulfric was baffled by the idea of reasoning with a dragon, but the Dovah'kin had proven himself an expert any matters related to dragons. If he claimed reasoning a dragon was possible, he would trust his judgement.

For his part, the Dovah'kin remembered not to judge every dragon was like the murderous tyrant Alduin and they seemed to change their ways after seeing he was not the strong leader they believed to be. Parthanuax even rebelled of his own will. Whether this dragon could be reasoned with was entirely different matter. Not wanting to kill the innocent was one thing, taking sides in a political conflict was another.

Present day

The surviving Thalmar soldiers chased after escaping prisoners. The cowards must have brought them as shields, and how the dragon was able to cause this devastation without killing them... or was he. The Dovah'kin arrived just quickly enough to see two soldiers seize a prisoner and try to stab it as a warning, and their sword bounced off like a stick against rock. They were soon afterwards incinerated in a stream of lightning, but the prisoner did not even appear touched.

The dragon fighting them did not appear to be the same giant aiding the Imperial Legion. Was there more than one of these things?

This got all the more baffling when the dragon change appearance, turning into, a human? It looked human at least, apart from the blue hair. Apart from that the only unusual thing about him was that he appeared very muscular for a very young age. That sword he carried explained why some of Thalmar soldiers looked like they had been killed by a man, this, thing, whatever it was, could change shape.

The blue haired noticed the Nord in the horned helmet. He heard warnings about a man with this description, along with glowing praise, and wasn't sure he which he should believe.

"What are you?"

The Dovah'kin waited for answer. The blue-haired man didn't seem prepared to answer the question. Whatever he was, he probably was not a scion of the Adrea if was not prepared to answer questions to his identity.

After some computational he decided on his answer and removed his hesitation. "My name is Ryu. As for what I am, you can think of me as a dragon, just not from this world."

The Empire had asked Ryu not to reveal the truth of his identity, but as long as he helped them win their war with minimal bloodshed he didn't see the importance of keeping that masquerade up with everyone. He had bigger plans beyond their agenda and he was not letting politics, anybody's politics, keep him from doing what was right.

The Dovah'kin was intrigued, meeting a being from another world. He inquired further. "So you have been lying about being sent by the Adrea?"

"I've told no lies." Ryu knew that question was coming, but still took offense. "I let the Empire tell their tales about my identity to help end this civil war, and make getting support to overthrow the Thalmar easier. I have no idea how I ended up in your world. Maybe the Aedra brought me here, maybe something else did."

The dragon could have stunned the Dovah'kin more if he had struck him with a tree! Where he came from indeed didn't seem to matter, but, going to the Aldmeri Dominion and overthrowing the Thalmar?!

"Are you out of your mind!" The shocked Dovah'kin exclaimed, "Walking into a foreign nation you know nothing about starting overthrowing it's leadership?! Do you have the slightest idea what such an undertaking would entail?"

"What I know is that there is another war with the Thalmar, no matter who wins this war. I have the power to stop that war before it begins. If everyone thinks I'm sent by the Aedra I can make the elves confident to rise up and replace the Thalmar after I knock them off their high horse." Maybe the Stormcloaks were content to simply beat the Thalmar back, but Ryu was not standing by and letting them maintain their iron fist over the rest of the elves.

"Are you just going to sit here and let the Thalmar prepare for another war? Do you even care about their victims outside your own land?" Ryu rhetorically asked?

The Dovah'kin did not expect to be the one answering questions, but he was never one to stumble before giving an answer. "It is terrible what the Aldmeri Dominion endures under the Thalmar, and war with them in the future is inevitable. But intervening with foreign nations is the road to disaster, especially for someone naive like you whose response to a necessary evil in political affairs is brute force."

That was a poor choice of words. "I'm naive?! You and the Stormcloaks are fighting a war against the Empire, you are helping the Thalmar!"

He doubted Ryu would understand, but all the same, the Dovah'kin would not let an outsider talk down to him about matters he did not understand.

"You do not understand. The Empire agreed to a truce with the Thalmar, and the terms were unacceptable!" The Nord began to raise his voice. "They have been sacrificing lives to keep that truce in place, you think we can forgive the Empire for that! What would you have done in our position!?"

Ryu's head lowered. "I don't except Skyrim to forgive the Empire," he raised his head, "but what I want is stop the war that is only going to help the Thalmar win. And right now the best way I can do that is help the Empire." His voice grew more confident. "They'll soon be able to declare an end to that truce with the Thalmar and they won't dare attack the Empire when they see me running around on their land."

The Dovah'kin reached for his sword. He silently admitted the young man had more logic in that plan than he thought, and that made the necessity of fighting him all the more painful.

"I understand you thinking. But you are an outsider. You have not seen the misery that Skyrim has endured thanks to that truce," he drew his sword, "I and others like me have, and we cannot forgive the Empire. Even if their leadership decides to go back on a terrible act, it does not undo misery we have endured! If you want to go on your fool's errand, then do so, do not meddle in our affairs!"

Ryu drew his sword in response, resigning himself to the harsh reality. "Then we can't see eye to eye. I didn't want to kill anybody from Skyrim, but if you insist on holding to your grudge you haven't left me any choice."

"I hold no desire to fight you either. But I have had many times to do things I did not desire. I'm sure you can relate." The Dovah'kin tried including a bit of wit into the somber situation, but he felt that remark was probably tactless.

"I have, but that doesn't make it easier."

FIGHT!



The Dovah'kin brought his shield up as Ryu charged him. The young man wasn't just faster than he looked, he was stronger to. The Nord felt the weight of his strike against his shield as he retaliated with a thrust of his sword, just for it parried with a counter swing before Ryu launched a fast circular cut that had even force behind it than his last swing that actually left tiny cut in his shield.

Ryu took another swing, and this time the Dovah'kin responded by charging with his shield. With sword pushed back it left Ryu open to another thrust. The dragon was faster, but he favored offense to the point he neglected his defense, or so it looked. Rather than going through his torso it only cut his shirt. So he had armor underneath that shirt, that he somehow wore without any sign it was there. What other bizarre tricks did he have?

He started to get his answer as Ryu jumped back and drew a weird looking triple bladed object. Gripping the blunt side of the blade, Ryu threw into the air in a weird arc before coming back towards its target. But the Dovah'kin realized a moment too late he took his focus off Ryu, not that it would have done him much good as he was hit with a pillar of fire!

Getting burned left the Dovah'kin open to the hit from the Tri-Rang, which was only stopped from cutting off the top chunk of his head at the cost of helmet being cut in half. With all this he barely had time to react to another charge from Ryu that cut clean through the leather parts of his armor and sent him clean off his feet.

He has not going to beat this man exploiting the holes in his defense, he need to start hitting him back as hard as he could.

Ryu hesitated for a moment before delivering a downward thrust to the Nord's head, a mistake he would regret as it gave him a moment to shout some weird magic gibberish and the Dragonborn turned partially transparent, and Dragon Blade passed through him like he was air. He tried using the Dragon Blade's Flame Strike again, but the also had no effect. What the hell did he just do?

Since hitting the Dragonborn wasn't going to do anything, Ryu was just going to have to wait. As he didn't launch any counter-attacks after he got to his feet, Ryu could only guess while this, whatever it was, was active, he couldn't hurt him either. The Dragonborn could however switch to a different suit of armor. This one had a lot more metal to it and almost completely covered him, only leave his face unprotected so he could still see.

The Dragonborn circled Ryu as he waited for him to become tangible. Eventually the magic around him faded and Ryu prepared to throw the tri-rang again, but the Dovah'kin shouted more gibberish words, some weird magic flew forward and knocked both the tri-rang and the Dragon Blade flew out of his hands. As Ryu jumped back to retrieve them, the Dovah'kin shouted again, this time the magic released a kinetic impact that sent Ryu flying.

As Ryu landed, he felt like he had been hit by rolling bolder. This must be that Thu'um thing the Dovah'kin was supposed to be so skilled with. It was said be able to do anything as long as the words of power were spoken.

And he got another demonstration as he his hit with something that covered him in ice, leaving him unable to move as the Dovah'kin charged with a katana, much faster than he was before.

The Dragonborn wanted to end this fight quickly while Ryu was still in a human form and not a mighty dragon. But even with Whirlwind Sprint he was not fast enough as a bolt of lightning came down and sphere of magic enveloped Ryu.

When it vanished, he had changed into some sort of creature the Dovah'kin had never seen before. His hair was gold and his skin bare, around his chest at least. The rest of his body looked inhuman. From his stomach down his legs his skin was leathery and yellow. His hands and feet scaly and orange, ending in long claws. From his back he sported two bat like wings and lizard like tail. This was an usual transformation. Why he did not opt to turn into larger creature, the Dovah'kin did not know.

The Dovah'kin had him reached by the time the sphere vanished and brought down his Dragonbane sword, and saw he may as well have been using a stick. The impact seemed to do more harm to the blade and the electricity released had no effect. He only barely brought his shield up time to block a swing from Ryu's claws, which cut through the iron like it paper, leaving the shield to fall apart and left him open for another swing.

Not having any time to draw a new shield, the Dovah'kin needed to stall the dragon before he was sliced to pieces.

"Ven!"

The word of power released a small whirlwind. Ryu braced for attack but saw as it picked him it wasn't meant to hurt him, just throw back. Getting caught in the whirlwind was dizzying, but simple enough for him to fly out of. By the time he did he saw the Dovah'kin had brought out a new shield, a very odd looking that appeared to be made of wood with spiral placed beneath two points connected to solid edges, and two more edges extending from its lower side.

Whatever this thing was, wood was wood and on the off chance he could actually block his again, he'd burn it. The Dovah'kin apparently the chance to shout more while Ryu was caught in the wind as he was now covered in some dragon-like armor, but no armor could compensate his slower speed. Focusing his right hand, it grew encased in fire. The dragon then flew down ready to rip a hole in his foe. To his shock the Dragonborn actually brought the shield up fast enough to block the attack. Even more shocking was that it managed to maintain his footing before shouting something and hitting Ryu in the face with a large glowing, spiked covered evil looking metal club.

That hurt, and Ryu somewhat fatigued by it. As he tried to fly back he heard another shout.

"Yol Toor Shul!"

This one let Dovah'kin breath a blast of fire. It hurt. Maybe he should have picked something that was better protected against elemental attacks. He heard another shout, and whatever this was he would be ready with his own breath.

"Fo Krah-

Opening his mouth wide, a beam of orange light launched from Ryu's mouth the moment the Dovah'Kin finished his last word of power-

Diin!"

-and fired a burst of ice.

The ice breath and the D-Breath clashed, stopping for a moment before Ryu put more power into his attack it tore through the ice. The Dragonborn raised the Spellbreaker to block the beam. The Daedric artifact's ward against magic held the beam back for a moment, but Ryu kept putting more power into it and the ward failed to hold. The shield was cracking

"Fus Ro Dah!"

The Dovah'kin used Unrelenting Force once again to try knock the dragon off balance. And that was all it could do, in this form he was too hardy to be thrown back.

Nonetheless, being off balance left him open to another blow from the Mace of Molag Bal. Despite striking in the head again and drawing blood, it seemed do little besides enrage the beast as he let out a great scream as a red aura was emit from him. The dragon swung his claw empowered by his last act as the Dragonborn swung the Daedric mace to parry the strike. Mace struck claw, neither prevailing. But Ryu still had his other swung it against the Spellbreaker's cracks, piercing it and cutting into the arm beneath it. If not for the Dragon Aspect it probably have shattered the bone.

Ryu kept swinging like a cat trying to maul foe. The Dovah'kin was forced to give ground as he kept bring the mace and shield to block the swipes, but Ryu kept hitting the cracked parts of the shield till it started to fall apart, leaving him with the mace. Only able to block swing, he couldn't do anything to keep the other claw from digging into his chest.

Seeing his enemy fall to his knees, Ryu assumed he had won and decided to preform another D-Charge with Focus to give him a quick death. The Dovah'Kin took the chance with the one weapon that could save him at this point, though it was not something he liked using.

Swinging a black nodachi that glowed red, he left a cut in the dragon. Just as Ryu bled from the cut, the Dovah'Kin's bleeding stopped thanks to the Ebony Blade siphoning his life. Melphala must have brought out the full strength of blade without him realizing it because his wound healed completely.

Ryu noticed what the blade did and rushed at it before the Dovah'kin could take another swing and grabbed blunt side of it, intent on ripping it out of the wielder's hand. The Dragonborn tried pulling back, but even with Dragon Aspect he was not matching the strength of real dragon and the blade slid out of his hand before he was shot away by another D-Breath.

Holding the blade, he weird whispers from a disturbing feminine voice.

"You have taken my blade from its former wielder, perhaps you might desire to use it in his place, and feed it the blood of deceit."

And he throw it on the ground. He was not trusting some sword that caused him to hear a voice that said something like that.

The dragon looked shaken, seems nothing could prepare him for hearing a Daedric Prince speak to him through their artifact. Hopefully he wasn't prepared to see him call aid. Dragon Aspect was about to wear off and he wasn't getting near him without it.

"Joor Zah Frul"

Ryu heard the Dovah'Kin's shout and something energy hit him. He had no idea what that was supposed to be, it didn't look like an attack but the other offensive forms resembled a dragon's breath.

"Dur Neh Viir!"

"Od Ah Viing!"

Well that didn't matter, he heard some other shouts this actually seemed to do something to warrant his attention.

Said something was a pair of dragons. They both looked similar, lizardlike creatures with wings and no arms, but one appeared very corpse like, like it was undead. That one used some magic he didn't recognize and summoned a trio of other undead creatures. He planned to rip them to pieces, but was hit was something else from the Dovah'Kin. He had not idea what it was still one of the dragons breathed fire on fire, and it hurt a lot more than the Dovah'Kin's flame. That thing must have been to soften his defenses.

The undead looking dragon used a different that, it didn't hurt like the fire, but it made Ryu feel exhausted, making hard to run away from the flames. As got wearer, the undead dragon used an ice breath against him. The cold numbing his body, he couldn't fly away as the Dovah'kin hit him with something else that hurt worse than everything else, like it was trying to remove something from the inside of him.

All that pain forced him back into his human form, which to the Dovah'kin's shock didn't have a scratch on it. The undead moved to kill him, but he pulled another sword. This one glowed and a series of lightning strikes came down, the Dovah'kin getting hit before he had the chance to try and remove it from Ryu's hand. His allies struck were struck, the undead crumbling, giving Ryu the chance to transform again.

This time he took the form of the larger gold colored dragon the Dovah'kin saw earlier. Durnehviir attack with frost breath and Odahviing fire, but, neither had any effect.



Ryu opened his jaws and breathed a stream of fire dwarfing anything even the dragons had ever seen. Odahviing flew up above to try and avoid the flames, but Durnehviir knew a mortal, even a Dragonborn, could not survive the flames and threw himself in front of them. Shocked by the dragon's act, the Dovah'Kin forgot for a moment his ally was immortal as his body was incinerated just as the stream ceased.

Seeing that the Dragonborn was going to die if he left him on the ground, Odahviing flew back down close enough for him grab onto his leg as he flew back into the air. Ryu released another breath attack, this one releasing a wave of cold. The ancient dragon however proved to be much harder to hit with his millennia of experience in the air. This made it harder for the Dovah'Kin to hold on, but it was preferable to getting frozen.

While difficult, he managed to climb onto Odahviing's back and ready to use his most damaging Dragon Shout.

"Strun Bah Qo!"

Clouds filled the sky and lightning rained down on the gold dragon. He did not even react to it, behaving as though was mere rain.

Was this thing invincible?! No, Ryu's different forms had to have different strengths and weaknesses, he wouldn't bother using different ones otherwise. He pulled out a staff with a monstrous looking skull. He did not like the thought of using this, the Skull of Corruption, and had aided in efforts to remove it form Nirn. How this wretched thing returned he did not understand, and once this was over he would dispose of it for good this time.

Ryu flew straight at Odahviing, his jaws open ready to rip a wing off, but his turning was poor. His Trygon form was faster than dov, but his flight path was predictable. Slowing down he turned and charged again, but his foe would not stand still and he missed again. Of course, this shapeshifting dragon spend most of his time as a mortal, he had little practice with actual flight.

Pointing the skull at the gold dragon, the Dovah'kin released a burst of foul magic into his path as he flew past him. Ryu grunted in pain. This form wasn't invincible, he was just immune to the elements he tried before.

Seeing the Dragonborn still had a means of hurting him, Ryu turned and flew away from his target, out of range of the Skull of Corruption. Odahviing made attempt following, but a quick tap on the neck gave him a hint this a poor choice with the Trygon's greater speed. As Ryu turned around spit up a spread of lightning. If the Dovah'kin hadn't warned Odahviing away when he saw the gold dragon's mouth open, they would have both dropped out of the sky.

Even with his attack missing, Ryu kept closing the gap. Odahviing once again tried to maneuver out of the way, but the younger dragon wasn't planning on ramming him this time. As he closed the gap he released another stream of fire, at this range he was certain the dov couldn't dodge it.

He was wrong, Odahviing did have an idea, one which the Dovah'Kin was not going to like and would have objected if he knew about in advance; a nosedive. Ryu was half-convinced the ancient one was crazy as he plunged towards the ground with the Nord struggled to hold on to his neck. He passed overhead as the dov flew back up and swung his neck to get the Nord onto his back. Ryu only just turned around as he got struck by an arrow that left him feeling like he was in human form under the sun in the desert for a week.

Ryu kept flying close despite the pain and breathed a stream of fire in Odaviing's path as the Dova'kin, fired an arrow at the sun... He had no idea what this meant till a burst of sunlight came down on him. This was like the the arrow before, but worse. Blinded by the light, he flew out of control as the older dragon flew by him and the Dovah'kin blasted him with the Skull Corruption. This was all his Trygon form could take as he reverted back to human form and plummeted back towards Earth.

The Dovah'Kin fired another sunhallowed arrow at Ryu as he plummeted towards the ground and another at the sun. Even if Ryu transformed again, one of those should still hit him.

Even as Ryu was forced back to his human form, he already figured out another dragon form to change into. A bolt of lightning came down and struck him just before the arrow reached him. What emerged looked like his gold Myrmidon form, but was red. Neither the dragon or Dragonborn had any idea what was supposed to separate this from the form it resemble. They got their answer when he caught the arrow and flew out of the way of the sun's ray.

The next the Dovah'Kin saw of the Warrior dragon form, it had driven the sunhallowed arrow through Odahviing's face. He barely had the chance to react before Ryu breathed a stream of fire and sent him off the dragon before it even had time to fall out of the sky.

Literally going down in flames, the nord felt his armor sear his skin from flames melting the metal. Beneath his skin, he felt his bones and innards parch and burn the from the heat. At this rate he was going to die before he even hit the ground.

"Ven"

Thinking quickly he used Cyclone, aimed at himself to stop his descent.

Ryu could only assume the Dovah'kin wanted ensure painless death with the wind he summoned sending up even higher in the air than he was before he was knocked off Odhaviing. Igniting his claws, he flew to put the injured Dragonborn out of his misery. Vanishing, his burning claw flew through its mark like it wasn't even there, or for that matter, anything was there. That annoying intangible trick again.

Become Etheral saved the Dovah'kin from getting cut in half, though he didn't know if it would save him from through the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief when he fell partway through the ground, and his got up regained his footing.

Magic wasn't his strong suit, but the Dovah'kin knew enough healing magic to at least recover from dragon's fire. The dragon landed back on the ground as he did, a red aura surrounding him. He knew he couldn't touch the Dragonborn while he was etheral, but he was ready to reduce him to ash the moment he was solid.

As the Dovah'Kin's time as etheral was about to run its course, he shouted again to re-use Slow Time, Elemental Fury, and Dragon Aspect. The dragon beat him hand to hand before, so this time he had to take a risk with another Daedric artifact, which may or may not work. How this one was repaired, and why it was sent to him, was another mystery beyond him. With no shield that could stand up to the dragon, the next best thing was the Mace of Molog Bal

Ryu hadn't stood still waiting for the nord to become tangible. He repeatedly screamed and brought out a red aura around him that made his foe very uneasy. When the Dovah'kin looked solid, the dragon ignited his claws and charged like a bolt of lightning. Even with time slowed, he couldn't move the mace quickly enough as the dragon caught.

Rather than a simple swipe, Ryu spun in mid-air aiming both claws. His left claw met the mace. The Dovah'kin attempted to deflect the blow away, but quickly changed his plans when the claw cut into the mace and embedded itself in it. He right arm still flying, the Dovah'kin struggled to push the mace into its path. To his relief, this form wasn't as strong as the last humanoid one, and gripping the mace with both hands, he pushed it and Ryu's hand. As the flaming claw tore into the Daedric atrifact, it lost its momentum, and the aura around Ryu faded.

With the dragon's hands rather literally tied, the Dovah'kin took a quick stab with an elaborate looking dagger. The tip made a small cut into Ryu's chest, but little else. It was like wasn't even trying to cause a serious wound. What he was thinking, Ryu had no idea. All the more confusing was when pulled the dagger back for another stab, but Ryu wasn't having any of that. He prepared breath another stream of fire, but the as the flame started to fly out of his mouth he found himself propelled into the air by the same winds the Dovah'kin used to brake his fall. As he tried to redirect the fire back as his target, he saw it had already dashed to another location and by he realized where he was, the flame fizzled out.

Ryu's wings kept him in the air as the wind passed from underneath. The Dovah'Kin loaded another sunhallowed arrow, but seeing it coming this time, he was able to throw the Mace of Molag Bal, his claws still lodged in it, and the arrow harmlessly bounced off. Not needing anymore, he kicked himself free as fly up even higher.

Try as he might, Ryu's current form was too fast for the Dovah'kin to hit with a bow. All he could was wait for the dragon to come to him. This would not take long as he spotted him descend with sun at his back.

Death on wings descended with a claw no longer hindered by any shields. Ryu's blood hand was even redder with the Nord's blood as it tore through the flesh under his left shoulder and drove him into the scorched ground. But as he thought the fight was over, he felt something had pierced him. This wasn't like a stab wound, some malicious power seeped from it. Like what struck as his soul before, but worse, something very evil had him in its grasp. He felt numb, feeling in his body faded as the ability to move his limbs and collapsed on his bloody adversary.



A lucky stab. The dragon flew down so fast he didn't notice Mehrune's Razor thrust up in response, his own speed driving it in deep. This time it seemed Mehrunes Dagon saw fit to try and claim the dragon's soul, just when he inflicted a wound that he would likely die from. And rightly so. If the Dovah'kin was prepared to give an innocent to a monster like the Daedric Prince of Destruction, he probably deserved to die.

Still he felt he should at make it back to the Stormcloaks and tell them the dirty business was over he pulled the claw free. As he rose to his feet however and the dragon shifted back to his human form, he saw another bolt of lightning descend towards him. How could he still be alive?!

From the sphere of magic emerged the golden giant beast that Ryu first presented himself as. This one had a more slender body, like a great winged snake with its massive tail, only it stood upright on two very broad legs, making its arms look almost undersized in comparison, apart its claws. The Dovah'kin heard this thing was a giant, but never imagined how big it was. Even the giant effigies to the Daedric Princes were dwarfed by this beast.

Ryu felt that same force impact he had earlier. As Kaiser it less like an attack and more like a pebble. Part of him felt bad about killing somebody so determined as to keep fighting when he should have known he had lost. But the other part of him was infuriated by that wretched dagger. The evil in that blade that blade took hold him, tried to take his soul. And how many others who couldn't resist the evil did he kill with that thing, and deliver into the evil's hands?!

The Dovah'kin could see the rage in the dragon's eyes. There was no point in explaining himself, he likely wouldn't have forgiven someone for using that wicked blade either. He couldn't win, or run. The Kaiser was the last thing he saw before it spit massive ball of fire that eclipsed his vision in an instant. The Dragonborn took some solace, even if Skyrim would never be free, this dragon would be the last thing the Thalmar were likely to ever see.

The impact released a explosion that reduced the charred wasteland to a crater. Nothing left of the Dovah'kin, or that dagger. Ryu reverted back to his human form. He was probably too quick to judge how much that dagger was used. If the Dovah'kin was really that cold blooded he would have brought that thing out sooner, he only used it because he was desperate.

Not that mattered. They both knew there was only one way this could have ended, and he hated it. He hated this civil war. He heard the causes of both sides and couldn't tell who to trust. It was best if it just ended so fewer good people on both sides needed to die, but how soon that would be, he had no idea. The generals in the Imperial Legion told him his presence was going to ended it swiftly, but ending a war sooner didn't mean it was painless.

K.O!

Black Mage: Wow, I didn't think you had in you to end a fight with a hero dead. And it's going to be followed by lots of dead elves!

Baneslayer: Your praise is for slaughter is like nails on chalkboard to me. And in case you forgot, there would at least be some elf races that would benefit from the Thalmar's fall.

Black Mage: I, actually forgot that.

Momoyo: Could you two stop arguing and talk about the results? We can hurt Black Mage when we're done.

Baneslayer: Very well. First elephant in the room to get out of the way, Dragon Rend is useless. That was meant to be used on immortal spirits who find death such an alien concept that even the oldest of them and one that turned good and saw value in the lives of mortals cannot fully grasp. Against dragons outside of Elder Scrolls it's useless.

Black Mage: The Bow of Auriel is often used to give high estimates for the Dovah'kin's offensive abilities with summoning that attack from the sun, but all those estimates assume Nirn's sun is a star in a traditional sense. As we mentioned before, it isn't. It's a portal to another realm, a realm that is perfectly save for humans to walk in and out of without getting vaporized by enough heat to vaporize metal. The same thing applies to the rest of the stars, one of them even leads to a realm that's icy cold. These things aren't like real world stars and any attack that calls power from one should not be treated as calling down pieces of a star.

Baneslayer: We don't know how far away Nirn's sun is, but given its nature it's likely much closer than ours. The closest thing we have to a distance statement by former Bethesda employee Michael Kirkbride, whom wrote much of Elder Scrolls' lore. He states what looks like sky and space in Nirn is merely how mortals perceive it, and what we are really looking at it what exists outside Nirn, the realms collectively known as Oblivion. That said, an arrow fired from the Bow Auriel would need to move at a minimum of Mach 147 to escape to the sun since Nirn appears to have the same gravity as Earth.

Momoyo: The Dovah'kin does have in game lore mentions dragon shouts destroying mountains and islands, but in game lore in Elder Scrolls games can be written by anybody. Some of it says that the Daedric Prince Beothia whom makes her followers kill eachother is benevolent entity.

Black Mage: Bottom line is Elder Scrolls isn't to be trusted unless we see something to back it up. And we have zilch in game evidence that the Dragon Shouts are as destructive as in game makes them out to be. And with those things taken away, the Dovah'kin doesn't have much in his favor. Think that bow feat is impressive, but remember arrows are much faster than people.

Baneslayer: Assume the Bow of Auriel's arrows have the same speed relative to the Dovah'kin as they would a normal human would have to a bow and arrow. Arrows have an average speed of 224.318 miles per hour, and the average human can run at fifteen miles per hour, forty at best. The Dovah'kin is never made it to be particularly fast so this puts him at only mach 15.

Black Mage: This still means he could outrun a jet fighter.

Baneslayer: Ryu's Kaiser form flies five times the thickness of Earth's atmosphere in six seconds, putting him at Mach 197.07.

Momoyo: Kaiser is faster than Ryu's human form, but only by 50%. Two thirds of that still puts his base speed at Mach 131.38. Even if we we scale the Dovah'kin up to the fastest human running speeds on record and add in the effects of Slow time, he still falls short of Ryu's speed.

Black Mage: Ryu is more reliant on his party of friends, but his enemies have been much stronger. Fou-Lu survived a hit from the hex carronade, a magic weapon of mass destruction that levels entire cities and leaves behind poisons that toxic clouds that render the region inhabitable. And that was a normal shot! Fou-lu was hit with an even stronger shot that was enhanced by the close relation he shared with the target, his girlfriend Mami, and all it did was piss him off because realized his girlfriend was tortured, and because some assholes used a nuke just to kill him made him realize how humans could be such assholes. And Ryu can hurt him with a fucking sword.

Baneslayer: And that's in his human form. As a dragon he's a walking nuke that can only be hurt by another dragon or something of similar strength.

Momoyo: Which the Dovah'kin clearly isn't. With lore feats removed the only hints for his limits are that he could break down a wall or destroy a house. In the long term he can use his dragon shouts more often due to them relying recharge timers instead of a stat, he isn't going to last long enough for that to matter. He's only chances of killing Ryu are with the Wabberjack, which only has an 18% of using an effect that kill Ryu, and Mehrune's Razor, whose instant death effect only works in one in fifty swings. If one he's beaten in a dragon form, he'll just revert back to a human fully healed from any injuries and can then switch to another form. The Dovah'kin has to rely on unreliable weapons working in his favor more than a dozen times to defeat Ryu.

Black Mage: The dragon slayer picked on the wrong dragon. The winner is Ryu.

Ryu
+Stronger
+Faster even in his slower forms
+More durable
+More destructive attacks
+Dragon forms impervious for purposes of the fight
-Abilities cost AP, and reliant on party members and items to restore it
-Less versatile

The Dovah'kin
+More flexible set of abilities
+Dragon shouts can be used more in long term
-Slower
-Weaker
-Only means of killing Ryu are too unreliable

Momoyo: Now can I hurt Black Mage?

Baneslayer: No, that will just come off mean-spirited when doesn't do anything evil. Instead you two shall just go about bickering like the immature children you are.

Momoyo: Black Mage is a child?

Black Mage: It will make sense later.