The dream began in blood.
Mark stood in a void of crimson mist, the air thick with the coppery tang of slaughter. Behind him, laughter—a sound like rusted nails dragged across bone. He turned to see the Blood Demon, its form shifting between man and monstrosity, tossing a rotten apple in one clawed hand.
**"Eat,"** it rasped, hurling the fruit. Mark caught it reflexively, the flesh squirming with maggots. He flung it away.
The demon's grin widened, revealing teeth like shattered glass. **"Lucky, lucky. Most devour the offering… and lose their souls."** It vanished in a swirl of smoke, leaving Mark alone as the dream dissolved—
—he jolted awake, gasping. The ship's cold floor pressed against his back, his left eye burning as if scalded. His body thrummed with unnatural vigor, muscles coiled like springs.
**"Hey, Bloody,"** he muttered, swiping at his status screen. **"Where's my dragon?"**
The demon's voice slithered through his mind: **"Outside. *Feeding*."**
---
The sunset was a lie.
Golden light bathed the clearing, but the air reeked of iron and bile. Colonists huddled near the ship, their faces gaunt, until a scream tore through the dusk.
Mark sprinted, katana in hand, bursting into the open to see **it**—a three-meter abomination of interlocking bones, wings like tattered sails of ivory, jaws clamped around a girl's severed head. Blood arced through the air, glinting ruby-red in the fading light.
**"MOVE!"** Mark roared, intercepting the dragon's next strike—a clawed swipe aimed at a trembling woman. Steel met bone in a shower of sparks, the impact numbing his arms. He pivoted, driving his heel into the creature's ribcage. Bones cracked, but the dragon barely flinched, its hollow eyes locking onto him.
**"Dinner's over,"** Mark snarled.
---
The dragon struck like a landslide.
Its tail, a whip of fused vertebrae, snapped toward Mark's ribs. He ducked, the attack shearing a tree trunk in half. Before the debris settled, he lunged, katana singing.
**"BLOOD SLASH!"**
A crimson arc sliced through the dragon's wing joint. The creature stumbled, ichor oozing from the wound—but its bones *shivered*, knitting back together with a sickening *click*.
**Adaptive Regeneration.**
Undeterred, the dragon retaliated. Its maw yawned wide, and a **storm of bone shards** erupted—a hailstorm of razored ivory. Mark twisted, deflecting the worst with his blade, but a shard grazed his cheek, drawing blood.
**"Pathetic,"** he spat, charging.
The dragon's claws met his katana in a deafening *clang*, their struggle shaking the ground. Up close, its body was a grotesque mosaic—skulls embedded in its ribcage, finger bones braided into talons. Mark strained, boots skidding in the mud, until—
***CRACK.***
The dragon's skull rammed his chest, sending him sprawling. Ribs screamed, but Mark rolled to his feet, bloodied and grinning. **"That all?"**
The creature's answer was a guttural roar. Its spine rippled, bones elongating into a **serrated flail** that lashed out. Mark leapt, the attack cratering the earth where he'd stood.
He alocated all 6 status points into Agility, 11(2) to 17(2)
He became a tempest. The katana flashed, carving silver trails through the twilight—a dozen strikes in seconds. Bone splintered, the dragon's foreleg collapsing. It screeched, ichor pooling, but its wounds sealed again, the regenerated bones thicker, studded with spikes.
**"Cheater,"** Mark hissed.
The dragon lunged, jaws unhinging. A **bone spear** shot from its throat—
—and impaled Mark's shoulder.
He gasped, blood frothing in his mouth, but gripped the spear shaft and *yanked*, tearing it free. The dragon recoiled, giving him an opening.
**"BLOOD SLASH! BLOOD SLASH! BLOOD SLASH!"**
Three crimson waves shredded the creature's midsection. It staggered, bones clattering, but its tail struck like a scorpion—
***THUD.***
The bony stinger smashed into Mark's chest, hurling him into a tree. Wood splintered. He slumped, vision blurring, katana slipping from his grasp.
The dragon loomed, victorious, its maw dripping ichor. A low hum filled the air as its bones began to **glow**, spikes erupting across its body like porcupine quills.
The creature's chest split open, revealing a **rotating drill of bone spikes**, whirring faster, faster—
---
Mark's fingers twitched toward his fallen blade.
**Too late.**
The dragon's drill-maw lunged—
—and everything went black.