The rice paddies were dry. The heat was unnatural. Sekhmet walked through the fields, and the crops withered at her passing. She was thirsty.
The sky bruised purple. Shenlong, the Azure Dragon, uncoiled from the clouds. Rain began to fall—a blessed, cool relief.
"You parch the earth," Shenlong rumbled, his voice like thunder. "Go back to the desert."
Sekhmet looked up. The rain hissed against her golden skin, turning to steam. She licked her lips.
"Big lizard," she purred. "So much blood."
The Storm and the Scourge
Shenlong roared, summoning the Dragon-Scale Tempest. Lightning arced down, striking the lioness.
She didn't dodge. She took the bolt in the chest and laughed. It only made her angrier.
Sekhmet leaped. She defied gravity, a golden blur launching herself into the storm clouds.
Shenlong tried to evade, using Azure Coil Flight to twist away, but Sekhmet was the hunter. She landed on his back, her claws—hotter than branding irons—sinking into his jade scales.
Shenlong trashed, whipping his tail to dislodge her. He drove them both into a mountaintop, shattering the stone.
Sekhmet held on. She roared, unleashing the Eye of Ra. A blast of solar fire erupted at point-blank range, incinerating the rain clouds and scorching the dragon's hide.
Technical Knockout
Shenlong, burning and bleeding, tried to dive into the Yangtze River to heal.
Sekhmet bit him. She used Lady of Slaughter, turning his own blood against him, making the wound pulse and widen.
The dragon crashed into the river. The water began to boil red.
Shenlong submerged, escaping to the deep aquifers where the sun could not reach. He survived, but he had fled his own sky.
Sekhmet stood on the riverbank, dripping wet, watching the bloody water swirl. She waited for a moment, then turned back to the village. She was still thirsty.