For  MotherOfMonsters ' Blissful Bad Ends zine, I made this art and story! It took a long time and a lot of effort to get it right the way I want it, but hot damn if this isn't the best art I've ever drawn!

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Yunaka ran and dodged and wove between the enemy lines, felling Corrupted and enemy soldiers alike in a mad scramble. She was no slouch at nimble combat herself, but the power of the Emblem of Fates nearly doubled her aptitude. And for a fleeting moment, she almost believed she would make it out of this one.

It was one thing to resign oneself to a desperate, nigh suicidal, solo mission. It was another thing to be actually doing it. As long as she just focused on the task at hand, Yunaka could do it.

Desperate losses made for desperate gambits. Yunaka had volunteered on this fast paced mission, a long shot to distract and disorient the enemy so the Divine Dragon and her allies could reach their objective. It wasn’t her goal to win, it was simply to not lose for long enough.

And by the gods she hoped this was long enough.

Years of training and honing taught Yunaka to trust her instincts while in combat, and they’d rarely let her down. And now, joined with the Emblem of Fates, Corrin, all that and then some. In combat, there were no words between them, too slow and none needed. Yunaka had bonded with the Emblem Micaiah before, and several others. But Corrin… Corrin suited her best of all. With her power coursing through Yunaka, she could take on the world.

Flowing like a stream of water between and around any obstacles and dangers. Observing the way an enemy was about to swing a sword or spear... what sounds meant ‘incoming arrows’ and when a contract was one in bad faith. All things where instinct meant the difference between life and death.

And in this particular case, that this peculiar scent in the air, plus a tingling in the hairs on her neck meant that it was time to take cover immediately.

Yunaka did so, and barely avoided an explosive end as a barrage of pink fireballs incinerated several Corrupted fighters she dodged around.

“Impressive. You’re becoming quite the nuisance, mortal.”

Yunaka recognized that voice. The mage dragon Zephia, the leader of the dreaded Four Hounds. Queen Bitch, as it were. Oh, she’d have to find a way to use that one, get her rattled. Every weapon has it use.

“Sorry! Can’t hear you! You’ll have to come a little closer!”, Yunaka taunted back. She stuck to shadows and cover, and a glimpse upwards confirmed the bad news. Up on a ghastly wyvern hovered Zephia the mage dragon, wielding a dark sword, and with the magenta hues of her personal magic swirling around her. Well at least the enemy couldn’t be more distracted, Yunaka supposed.

Corrin warned her, and Yunaka jumped back from a cart she intended to hide behind. This was good, because a split second later the cart was obliterated into a torrent of soot and splinters.

“Found you. Is this close enough?”, said Zephia as her wyvern dropped her off.

Yunaka faced the disturbingly (distractingly? Uh oh. That’s a deadly weakness on the battlefield...) gorgeous woman as she crouched into a combat stance, hiding daggers beneath her cloak.

Zephia slowly swaggered towards her, utterly nonplussed at the wave of death that Yunaka and Corrin had been so far.

“So hostile! Can’t we all just be friends? I’m sure your Divine Dragon wouldn’t mind if we just… talked for a second.”, Zephia said.

Yunaka didn’t budge. She wasn’t about to give the enemy a free shot, but her body was running out of reserves, and even the power of Corrin wasn’t going to keep her running permanently. If she waited for just the right time… Perhaps she could cut off the head of the snake entirely!

Zephia was no fool. She saw the look steeling in Yunaka’s eyes, and felt the sapping radiance of the Emblem of Fates. She’d seen this look often, in a thousand years of violence. Through which the weak and feeble were winnowed, and the strong and wary thrived. And she knew herself among the latter.

Zephia paused her strut, and folded her arms smugly, but wisely at a relatively safe distance.

“The power of an Emblem… My my, isn’t that convenient!”

Her magenta eyes sprung open widely suddenly, and lighting struck from the sky in a wide circle around both of them, setting up a wall of fire. A brief flash of light illuminated Zephia’s deadly fangs.

“Nowhere to run, and nobody to bail you out, little morsel. Give me the ring and I promise I’ll give you a good place when this is all done. “

“Come and take it.”

Yunaka stood her ground. Her face wouldn’t show a peep, but inside she was terrified. Still, her mind raced with options. There’s no such thing as a truly unwinnable situation… But sometimes a ‘win’ was too costly…

Zephia moved. Yunaka anticipated. Zephia countered. Yunaka dodged. This dance continued for several minutes, with neither woman able to gain a decisive lead over the other. Yunaka flung dagger after dagger, forcing Zephia to parry, she dodged all around her sword, baiting her into slashes at dead air. By the grace of the Gods, she was fighting the deadliest woman on the planet, and matching her.

Until Yunaka’s Engaged connection to Corrin flickered and faded, after just one daring dodge too many. The sudden loss of grace and power led her into a tumble, from which she quickly recovered, but the damage was done.

Zephia stood gloating, though not unmarred and clearly somewhat aglow with sweat and effort.

“And so your path ends. Brave little fool.”

One more fire spell exploded behind Yunaka, sending her falling forward. When she stood, Zephia was right on top of her, grabbing her wrists and holding them up. Yunaka yelped. Zephia was a good head taller than her and that was without the heels. She ended up chest-to-chest with the powerful dragon. Her frame did not accurately belay that Zephia was as mighty physically as she was magically gifted.

“So brave...so daring. Did you feel the power of the Emblem made you untouchable, perhaps? It can be rather intoxicating, can’t it...”, Zephia said, holding Yunaka uncomfortably close. Close enough to gain a good long look at her eager canines, to Yunaka’s dismay.

“Let… me… go!”, Yunaka said, struggling.

Zephia laughed, letting the little human throw herself around helplessly against her. She really would have made a quite amusing toy.

In the same move, Zephia dropped Yunaka onto the ground, and stole the ring of the Emblem of Fates right off her finger. Not being ignorant of the danger of letting your guard down in your presumed moment of triumph, she took a good long step backward as well.

“No! The Emblem ring!”, Yunaka blurted out in panic. “Corrin!”

But if the Emblem of Fates could hear her, it yielded no response. Rather, Zephia admired the ring against the light of the flames, then slipped it on herself. She grunted momentarily, and then a violet flash came over her, momentarily blinding Yunaka.

What she saw when her vision recovered horrified her. Zephia stood tall, her hair a shining silver and radiating even more power than before. From the small of her back, a large silver-and-blue draconic tail emerged, softly waving in the night air. The source of the power was undeniable, but this shape… Yunaka had only seen it in the glimpses of memories that she sometimes glimpsed when wearing Corrin’s ring, and she knew Corrin kept it as far down as she could.

“No…. How did you…?!”, was all Yunaka could utter. She had always accepted the chance of failure in her profession. But this… She was willing to lay down her life for the Divine Dragon (when did that happen, she briefly wondered… ) but now the enemy had not only taken an Emblem ring, but even managed to unlock more power from it than ever before…

“Ahh…. I feel like a dragon squared. This power!”, Zephia gleefully boasted.

Zephia flexed the muscles in her limbs and tail. “And I have you to thank for it, how kind! Come… let me thank you properly...”

Zephia strutted forward again, and Yunaka scrambled backward. She had to get some distance, get her bearings. Perhaps if she managed to make a break in the fiery ring she could…

Zephia took a step forward so fast it almost happened between blinks, ending up just out of arms’ reach. She stood proudly with her hands on her hips, hair cascading over her like a quicksilver waterfall.

Zephia’s silvery tail danced around Yunaka. A flick here, a tease there. The leaflike fins on the end of it in particular brushed and flustered the rogue something fierce, and with each pass, it got more and more daring and invasive.

“Delectable…” Zephia uttered, and Yunaka could nigh hear the salivation in her voice. The tail stroked past her cheek and neck. The power of the Emblem of Fates…. Even now Yunaka felt it. Familiar, but alien and corrupted in the claws of this…

Suddenly, the tail let up, pulled up and away. Yunaka looked up at the looming shape, and quickly regretted it.

“Enough teasing. Time to do that which you mortals are oh so good at. This power requires fuel to burn!”

A ripple movement travelled from the base to the tip of Zephia’s tail, a whip like snap. When it reached the end of the tail, the tip split open into two large lobes, and a rush of air filled the cavity. Gaping, looming overhead, dripping some small drops of anticipatory saliva onto its prey. Onto Yunaka..

With no warning, the tail slammed down onto Yunaka, who only with her experly-refined reflexes managed to grab onto the jaws to hold them apart. She yelped, and the strain on her already exhausted body flared like a wildfire.

“Yesss…. Do keep on fighting, dear…”, exclaimed Zephia, who held out Corrin’s corrupted ring triumphantly. “Wouldn’t want to make this too easy now.”

Yunaka fought for her life, and the tail pushed her heels into the ground with its overwhelming force. But ever so slowly, she felt her grip slipping, her muscles slacking, and her heart telling her to please give it a respite, ever so brief…

And in the end, it wasn’t enough.
Yunaka’s hand slipped. Not all at once, but inch by inch. When she readjusted, the maw marched further down, over her head. Whatever light remained was swallowed up, and in a moment, so would she be.

Perhaps she could still grab one of her knives, or position herself for a well-placed kick, or, or or…

The list of options ran out, and so did Yunaka’s time. Zephia sensed the opportunity, her keen predatory instincts in optimal form. Her tail feinted back for a split second, bringing Yunaka off-balance. And then it snapped down again with full force.

The tail-mouth sucked up all of Yunaka’s torso, leaving only her hips and legs untouched. Her arms were pressed to her sides, with barely any room to move. Yunaka screamed, her desperate sounds muffled by the unforgiving draconic muscle clamping around her body.

With a flick, Zephia lifted her struggling prey off the ground, leaving her shapely hips and well-toned legs to flail. She raised the half-form in front of her, and caressed the outlines of the mortal as they surfaced, ebbing and flowing inside of her newly acquired limb.

“This delight… It is a feeling beyond anything you mortals will ever experience. Oh, how I would share it with you if I only could.”, Zephia said, relishing every sense simultaneously.

Yunaka screamed and screamed more. From the outside, Zephia ran her fingers past the imprint of her face, forever trapped. Then she moved down, agonizingly slowly appraising every inch of the human’s struggling body. Zephia moaned wetly, then drew Yunaka further inside of her tail.

Now even Yunaka’s legs had barely any wiggle room. The press of Zephia’s tail squeezed all remaining life out of her, but it was far from a fast and easy process. Just the way the dragoness liked it.

Yunaka wasn’t sure when exactly the last light left her world. She blacked out between her last remaining screams and struggles, but never gave up. Such is the power of the human spirit. On the outside, Zephia laughed, she was vaguely aware. And Corrin… was she… was she laughing too? What a… what a joke it had… all been...

The draconic tail contracted and released in a quickening rhythm, and the lump that had once been Yunaka was masticated and broken down through and through. Perhaps her last thoughts were of her home old or new, or her fire-forged friends. Perhaps she struggled until the very end against the encroaching darkness, clinging onto any shred of hope.

After several minutes, the chewing motion slowed, and then stopped, and the bulge in Zephia’s tail started moving upward in small jumps, on to its master. The dragon smiled, and closed her eyes in unashamed delight and anticipation as her meal slowly neared the base of her tail. The bulge stopped briefly at the final part before the end, meeting a last hitch of resistance. Even now, it was almost as if it was still squirming and struggling.

Zephia groaned in delight, licking her pointed teeth. A mage dragon in her natural place. The undisputed apex predator. All others but to serve… and be served up.

With three powerful gulps, the glistening sound of which echoed through the dead town, the feast of primed and tenderized meat vanished forever into the abdomen of the dragon.

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