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The whole landscape burned before her, taking man and beast with it. Juliette clutched a blade, held tightly in a small hand. The dragon roared, wings spread wide, blocking the sun's light and casting the devil's shadow upon her and the other children.
It was just them now. The adults were dead, felled by the monstrous beast. Servius quo Marsus was dead, he had been in charge of the expedition and without him, the Children of Garlemald had no idea what to do; but they did know if they failed, that village many malms behind them would be the dragon's next target.
"Fall back behind the fallen magitek!" ordered Juliette, "We do not have time to hesitate, that dragon will not hesitate to kill us!"
To her relief, the other children followed her orders, falling back behind the magitek. The dragon ahead of them continued its destructive path.
"Which dragon does that one belong to?" whispered Tania aan Viyrma
Juliette narrowed her eyes, catching the glint in its eyes.
"It's tempered, so I doubt it really matters all that much" she responded.
"What's the plan?" asked Mokoto aan Yamida
"Don't use fire, I think flame dragons have a resistance," said Juliette, "Grab as many of the Ceruleum batteries as you can, aether crystals as well, I have an idea"
Juliette picked up the fallen Servius quo Marsus' gunblade.
Kami guide us through this she preyed silently.
There was momentary silence as the kids gathered as many of the Ceruleum and aether crystals as they could and passed it to Juliette, who fashioned into a bomb, wrapping it around the magitek, hiding it from view, at least from the front. She then placed the crystals around or on the fallen machine.
"Okay," she whispered, "Now the hard part,"
Juliette pointed at a spot for the other children to hide before checking the gunblade. Fully loaded. Taking a deep breath, Juliette stood up.
"Hey, ugly!" she shouted, waving her arms.
The dragon's head shot towards her and he let out a rumbling growl. Juliette took off running, hearing the thundering footfalls behind her. Turning, she waited and watched as the dragon grew nearer and nearer to the bomb. Raising the gunblade, she fired just as the dragon stepped on the machine.
The explosion was massive and sent her slamming into the ground.
With a groan, Juliette pushed herself up and glanced at the plume of smoke. The dragon, bloodied and battered, staggered out. Juliette tossed the gunblade, ill-equipped as she was to wield it, and drew her sword.
She charged towards the dragon, the echo guiding her around the dragon's attacks. She slid under a wildly thrown claw and dragged her sword through the dragon's underbelly. It staggered to the side with a pained roar. Juliette wasn't fast enough to dodge it's tail and was slammed into the ground, her sword flying out of her hand.
The dragon's jaws found perches on her side and clamped down. Juliette cried out in pain, vision almost whiting out. Through gritted teeth and swimming vision, Juliette spotted the dragon's horn, hanging on by a thread, and grabbed it with her bare hands. With a roar she ripped it free and, in one desperate motion, drove it straight through the dragon's eye and into where it's brain would be.
It dropped like a puppet with it's strings cut, and Juliette fell out of it's mouth, rolling a little to the side and landing on her back. Warm blood chilled her body as her vision began to go. Breathing heavily, Juliette saw Mokoto rushing towards her, calling her name.
The 12-year-old smiled a bloody smile, at least the others were safe. Juliette closed her eyes and sunk into the Mother Crystal's warm embrace.
She hadn't expected to wake up, and she didn't know whether to weep from joy or sorrow. She ended up with an accolade, for valiantly leading the charge after the death of her Commanding Officer and another for killing a dragon and saving a Garlean village.
Mokoto, through tears, had handed her the horn of the dragon, the very horn she had driven through the dragon's skull. Juliette yae Galvus pulled Mokoto into a reassuring hug.
She had the horn turned into a dagger and her body would bear the scars of a dragon's bite for the rest of her life.