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Chapter 172 Havel Vs Naruto
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Seigmeyer sat at the ponticulus of Sen's Fortress, where moss crept along the stones and the wind sighed through broken battlements. The steel curves of his armor clinked gently as he shifted, a rhythmic echo of solitude. The gates loomed ahead, still stubborn, still sealed. The knight tilted his head and let out a long, familiar hum.
"Still closed... still closed…"
He had lost count of how many days he had waited here. But he was in no rush. He never was. Patience was its own form of bravery, he had once told a child.
Then came the sound of footsteps; light, quick, almost joyful. They did not carry the weight of iron-clad menace nor the silence of skulking thieves. No, this rhythm was different.
A smile warmed his face beneath the domed helm.
"Ah… Naruto," Seigmeyer murmured. That boy.
The youth reminded him of days long passed, of times when a tiny hand would tug on his gauntlet and a curious voice would ask about dragons and knights and what it meant to be brave. Lin, his daughter. How she had grown, no doubt a fine warrior now but something about Naruto stirred that memory more vividly than time should allow.
The golden-haired clone stopped a short distance away, cradling a small creature in his arms: a crystal lizard, its scales glittering like captured moonlight.
"Come to tell me the results of your spar?"
"Somewhat," the clone replied with a smile. "I'm not the original. Just a shadow clone sent to deliver this little lady to Firelink Shrine. I thought it might keep the Firekeeper Anastasia company."
Seigmeyer chuckled softly. "That is a thoughtful gesture. I see you've found some peace with yourself."
Naruto gave a brief recounting of the duel with Kakashi, of the uncertainty he had faced, and how something in him had settled. He spoke softly, respectfully. And Seigmeyer listened.
When the tale was told, the clone tilted his head. "I've been wondering… if you knew I had things on my mind, why didn't you come and talk to me?"
Seigmeyer leaned back, letting the breeze stir the grass beneath his boots. "Mmm… that's because I wanted you to find your own answers. I may be a very wise knight... ho ho! but some answers, you see, must be earned."
Naruto looked at him curiously.
"If you had asked me, I would have helped, gladly," Seigmeyer said. "But I am not the sort who points to the road and says, 'Walk that way.' I believe the paths we discover ourselves are the ones we walk with the greatest certainty."
The clone nodded slowly, digesting the thought. "Still makes me wonder," he said at last, "what might've happened if I had come to you and Andre instead of confronting the Undead Merchant in my anger. Things might've gone differently."
"Ah, yes," Seigmeyer mused. "My answer would have been different from the one you found. But would it have been better? I do not know. What matters is this: you chose. And that makes your answer yours."
Silence passed between them, the comfortable silence of understanding.
"Well then, Sensei," Naruto said at last. "I should go. My original is in the Darkroot Basin, if you need anything."
Seigmeyer gave a nod, slow and thoughtful. "Take care, my friend."
The clone turned, vanishing into the mist beyond the fortress bridge. Seigmeyer watched him leave until even the faintest sound of footfall faded.
Then he leaned back with a sigh and returned to his vigil. The wind stirred again.
"Still closed…" he said, and smiled.
A few minutes had passed since Naruto's clone had departed, and Seigmeyer of Catarina had begun to drift into a light doze. The wind whispered across the bridge of Sen's Fortress, rustling the vines that crawled over ancient stone. Sleep came easily to him these days, lulled by patience and routine.
Then, a roar shattered the sky.
The sound did not echo. It consumed. It tore across the heavens like a blade drawn through thunderclouds. It made the earth groan and the bones beneath it tremble.
Seigmeyer jolted upright, his instincts fully awakened. Even before his mind could name the sensation, his gauntleted hand had already found the hilt of his Zweihander. His heart, steady in the face of most danger, now pounded with urgency.
That was not the cry of a wyvern or drake.
It was the roar of an everlasting dragon.
No, Seigmeyer whispered.
He moved in an instant. There was no hesitation, no second thought. He rose with surprising speed for one so heavily armored, crossing the bridge with thunderous steps, descending the long stone stairs into the old church that housed the smith. Each step echoed like a drumbeat, punctuated by purpose.
He halted at the entrance to the Darkroot Garden. Andre stood at the threshold, arms crossed, expression grim beneath soot-streaked brows.
Seigmeyer exhaled sharply. "Has Naruto returned?"
"No. His original body is still in the basin… with the dragon."
Seigmeyer clenched his jaw and stepped forward, but Andre held up a hand.
"What are you doing?"
"I am going down into the basin," Seigmeyer replied. "If Naruto is still alive, I will buy him time. He must take Oscar and flee."
Andre's brow furrowed. "Can you handle a dragon?"
"I have faced dragon-kin before," Seigmeyer said. "Never a true one. I cannot say I am confident. But Naruto is a knight. And a knight does not let another face death alone."
"You will die."
"I will return," Seigmeyer answered firmly. "That is the curse of the Undead. But Oscar will not. And if he dies down there… Naruto will carry that weight forever."
He turned, ready to enter the fog-veiled garden. His boot shifted, poised for motion.
Then the mist thickened.
It crept forward through the trees, slow and unnatural. The garden's edge became a wall of fog. At the same time, a soft glow shimmered from the carved crest of Artorias, resting in Andre's hand. The light deepened until it cast long shadows across the stonework.
And from that light, a form emerged.
It moved like smoke, fur woven from mist itself. The shape was feline, sleek and ancient, her presence commanding. Eyes gleamed from within the fog—clever, knowing, and old beyond reckoning.
Seigmeyer's grip on his weapon tightened.
"Halt, knight of Catarina," the cat spoke, her voice low and lyrical. "Thou dost tread toward doom. Turn thy course. That path hath been sealed."
Seigmeyer blinked behind his helm.
"Mmm… hrmmm? And by whom am I so warned?"
"I am Alvina, of the Darkroot Wood," she answered. "Matron of the Forest Hunters. I speak for the Greatwolf Sif."
The name made him pause.
"Greatwolf Sif…" he repeated slowly. "Mmm… that is not a name one hears lightly."
"Under his command, the basin hath been sealed," Alvina continued. "The dragon below stirs echoes long forgotten. I have placed wards and woven barriers to stay the hands of fools and martyrs."
Seigmeyer took a step forward.
"And what of Naruto?" he asked. "A boy; no, a fellow knight. Brave, yes. Reckless, certainly. But kind. If any soul could have awakened that dragon, it would be him."
Alvina's tail flicked like drifting mist.
"I have seen no boy near the knight," she said. "If thy Naruto ventured there, then he hath surely perished."
Seigmeyer stood motionless. He did not deny it. But he did not speak. He only breathed, heavy and slow. Then, after a moment of silence, he stepped back.
Alvina's form faded, dissolving into the soft glow of the crest. The light dimmed, retreating into Andre's hand like a tide drawn back to sea.
Andre spoke first. "Looks like Naruto was killed by that dragon."
Seigmeyer lowered himself to the ground, the weight of his armor settling into the earth.
"Mmm… hrmm… that would explain it," he muttered. Then he chuckled, weary and thoughtful. "He's likely back in that strange world of his. Chasing some new madness. Or licking his wounds."
"He'll be back," Andre said quietly.
Seigmeyer gave a slow nod. "That much is true."
And so the knight of Catarina sat, once again, at the edge of a path he could not take. He watched the trees sway in the mist, and he waited. Waited for a boy to return from the jaws of a dragon.
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In the Valley of Drakes, the air shimmered faintly with static, a warning felt more than heard. The drakes grew restless. Their wings twitched. Their talons scraped stone. One by one, they lifted their snouts to the heavens and stilled, silent beneath the weight of a superior presence.
An Everlasting Dragon had been born.
Across the valley, lightning flickered behind storm clouds, and a roar broke the silence; not of submission, but defiance.
Stormrend Wyvern reared back and bellowed a challenge that shook the high cliffs and echoed down the caverns like thunder given voice. Where his kin bowed their heads to the ancient call, Stormrend rejected it with fury. His wings unfurled wide enough to blot out the sky, his scales bristling like sharpened steel.
He was the king of the skies.
If the everlasting dragon sought his throne, then let it come and take it.
Stormrend wasn't going down without a fight.
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Far below, in the poisoned depths of Blighttown, where light rarely touched and the air clung thick with decay, a flicker stirred beneath the muck and rot.
Hidden away from the world, deep within a ruined alcove, the Mother of Pyromancy opened her eyes.
Quelana of Izalith sat in silence among the filth and the insects, her face unreadable as she felt the eruption of chaos above. The energy bloomed briefly, sharp and chaotic, and then vanished, swallowed by something far older.
The dragon's presence was unmistakable, yet Quelana merely blinked. It was not her concern.
For years she had waited here, searching for one with humanity intact. A lone Undead. A bearer of warmth. A vessel worthy enough to send to her sisters lost to madness.
Whatever chaos stirred above, it would burn itself out in time.
Still, if she had chosen to rise... if she had stepped from the shadows and looked to the surface... she might have found the boy sooner. The boy who would change her life.
But that was a tale for another time.
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In the city of gods, beneath the broken sun and the silence of Anor Londo's great halls, the Tomb of Gwyn stood in solemn majesty. Its stone walls reached high like the ribs of a buried cathedral, dark and cold. The floor was smooth and glistening, as if polished by centuries of grief.
A single figure sat at the far end of a long, empty table.
He was tall and thin, draped in flowing robes that pooled around his chair like shadows stretched by moonlight. A strange, gold crown rose from his helmet, its narrow tips curved like horns. Chains of gold hung from his shoulders, motionless, silent. No breeze dared stir them.
This was Gwyndolin, the last god of Anor Londo. The Darkmoon, hidden and watching.
A staff lay upon the stone table before him, centered with reverent precision. It was not held. It had not been moved. It rested like an offering to something unseen. Cold blue light filtered through the stained glass behind him, casting strange patterns across the chamber. It was beautiful. And it was lifeless.
The air itself resisted motion.
Then, his head shifted slightly. Though his face remained hidden beneath his veil and crown, he felt it like a breath on the back of the neck.
The presence of the Everlasting Dragon.
Gwyndolin extended his perception, reaching beyond the veil of the mortal realm. He gazed upon the moon, using it to peer across the broken lands of Lordran. But the view was clouded. Interference crackled through his vision. Someone, somewhere, was hiding the dragon from his gaze.
Another god, or perhaps something worse.
Gwyndolin's attention shifted, narrowing to a cold, towering keep of pale stone and hidden knowledge.
The Duke's Archives.
Seath the Scaleless.
Gwyndolin's fingers twitched slightly, his voice a whisper swallowed by the silence. "What wilt thou do, Seath, when thine own kind riseth anew?"
The chamber remained still. The staff upon the table gleamed faintly. The moonlight did not answer. But the world had changed.
And Gwyndolin knew.
The everlasting dragons were not as dead as they had believed.
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Havel landed heavily on the basin floor, stone cracking beneath his boots. Above his head, a glowing red sigil shaped like an eye pulsed into existence. He had been marked by Calamity. It meant that every wound he suffered now would be twice as painful, every strike doubly lethal.
Before him, Naruto stood or rather, writhed, in his new draconic form. His body flowed like liquid muscle, twisting and coiling with unnatural grace. Twin jaws snapped open and shut as he spat arcs of fire into the air.
Havel dodged them all.
Each fireball exploded where he had just stood, but the titan rolled, weaved, and marched forward. His focus never wavered. He knew Naruto was faster. He knew his enemy could fly, twist, and burn the air. But Havel had fists. And faith, even in his madness.
Naruto lunged like a serpent. His elongated body struck in a blur, tail snapping through the air. One clawed hand swiped low, and the other came from above, trying to trap Havel in a crushing pincer.
Havel ducked under the top claw, letting the bottom strike skim his skin. Sparks flew. Then he answered.
With a roar, he planted his feet and drove a punch into Naruto's gut. The force of it sent a shockwave rippling through the dragon's body. Naruto recoiled, but only for a moment. His tail whipped around, slamming into Havel's side like a massive flail. The knight stumbled.
Naruto pressed the advantage. He moved like a blur, weaving through the trees, body wrapping around boulders and snapping forward again. He grabbed Havel's shoulder and slammed the knight into the dirt, shaking the earth. A second later, Havel's foot came up, kicking Naruto in the snout and forcing him back.
Then the real brawl began.
Naruto, though stripped of his human mind, was still cunning. He channeled wind chakra into his claws. The chakra vibrated at high frequency, giving the claws a cutting edge that shimmered in the light. With a blur, Naruto swiped.
Havel rolled forward, using the I-frames to phase through the attack. He rose from the roll and struck upward with a punch to Naruto's neck. The impact shook the entire basin. Trees trembled, water rippled, and dust erupted around them.
The dragon's fiery mane shifted color. No longer red and wild, it turned pale white like divine fire. A radiant shockwave burst out as Naruto triggered a Force miracle. The dome of white energy exploded outward, slamming into Havel and forcing him back several paces, carving deep scars into the stone underfoot.
Naruto charged, expecting his miracle to leave Havel stunned. But even in his half-mad state, Havel remained a tactician. He let the dragon believe he was stunned. He baited him.
Naruto lunged again with his claws. Havel rolled to the side, dodging with precision, and then surged forward. He rammed his massive body into Naruto's side. The impact flipped the hundred-foot-long dragon onto his back.
With a roar, Havel leaped onto the dragon's chest. His hand, shaped like a blade, drove straight down. The false scales covering Naruto's body were imitations made of rock and chaos—offered no protection. Havel's strike tore through them with ease. A geyser of blood erupted from the wound. But before Havel could finish the strike, Naruto's body was suddenly swallowed by light.
In a flash, he teleported high into the air using the Homeward miracle.
Far above the battlefield, the sky shimmered with divine energy. Rings of gold circled his draconic form, spiraling outward as glowing lines of soft yellow light wrapped around him. Suspended in the air like a fallen angel, Naruto cast the Heal miracle. His wounds mended, scorched flesh knitting together beneath the sacred light as the sky held its breath.
Then the fire on his mane turned blue, glowing like the magical flames of Vinheim.
Naruto opened his twin jaws. From deep within, power gathered. A beam of blue energy shot forth.
A focused magic laser that cut across the basin.
As Naruto moved his head, the laser carved through the landscape. It stretched upward, striking the sky where thick clouds blanketed the heavens. The beam cut through them. A long trench of light formed across the sky. Clouds boiled away, peeled back like layers of cloth. For a moment, the heavens split open. A single line of blue fire divided the dark sky, a wound in the firmament.
Havel watched in silence as the sky split open.
Naruto pulled back, preparing for another breath. The energy gathered in his jaws, a second laser ready to fire. Havel ran forward, rolling and dodging the incoming beam. Sparks and stone burst from the earth with every near miss.
He reached the bank of the lake and launched himself upward, aiming to catch Naruto mid-air.
A flying dragon was far more dangerous than one grounded. Havel knew this. But he also knew that if he let Naruto stay in the sky, he would lose.
Naruto spotted him. The dragon's slit eyes widened into ovals, sharp and focused like a hawk spotting prey. With a wide flap of his wings, Naruto summoned a gust of wind that shoved Havel downward. Then the dragon soared higher.
Clap.
The sound cracked across the valley as Havel clapped his hands together, creating a shockwave that propelled him even higher into the air. He grabbed hold of Naruto's tail mid-air. With a roar, he spun the dragon like a hammer and slammed him into the river below.
The impact was devastating.
The water exploded outward in a blinding burst, steam and force surging like a bomb had gone off. Trees were ripped from their roots. The earth quaked. Stone and mud flew in every direction. The lake was no longer a lake, only a crater of boiling mist. Cracks spread across Naruto's body. His scales shimmered but began to break. In pain, the dragon lashed out, slashing his claws forward. Arcs of wind chakra shaped like blades cut through the air and struck Havel point-blank. The knight was thrown back, skidding across broken stone.
Blood ran down his side. He stood slowly, catching his breath.
Naruto did not pause. He slammed both arms into the ground. The earth responded with violence. Chunks of stone, dirt, and shattered terrain launched into the air toward Havel.
Havel rolled again, using the brief invincibility of movement to slip through the barrage.
Naruto's third eye began to glow. The flying rocks paused mid-air, caught in a web of telekinesis. They hovered for a moment, then clumped together, forming massive boulders. With a pull of his will, Naruto drew them into a tight ring, preparing to strike again.
Havel saw his chance. He ran forward and leapt, ready to hit the dragon head-on.
But Naruto vanished.
In a blink of light, the dragon teleported away. The telekinesis broke. The massive boulders, still moving from their momentum, flew forward and hit Havel.
The knight was buried beneath the stone. But only for a moment. He roared and threw the rocks off his back. Dust and dirt flew into the air. He looked up.
Naruto floated above, wings spread wide. Behind him, orbs of white light hovered in the air.
One. Then two. Then six.
The glowing spheres pulsed, then shot downward like comets. Havel did not flinch. He walked calmly to the side. The comets exploded behind him one by one, lighting up the basin in bursts of white shockwaves.
The dragon roared.
Naruto dove.
His massive form crashed into the ground like a falling star. The shockwave destroyed the remnants of the lake, shattered the waterfall, and carved out the path toward the mountain. Everything behind him was rubble.
Havel dodged again. Another perfect roll.
But Naruto was ready.
Blue fire surged through his mane. His jaws opened. A spiraling laser of magic and flame surged forward, cutting through the destruction, aimed directly at Havel.
Havel was consumed by the beam of magic.
The spiraling laser crashed into him with the roar of a storm. Blue fire and light wrapped around his body, swallowing his form in brilliance and force. To any observer, it would seem as if the titan had been erased.
But then, through the beam, he walked.
Havel pushed forward, his steps slow but unstoppable. Stones forming on his skin—the Magic Barrier miracle, pulsing with every wave of the magical assault. Sparks danced across his stone armor. The light refracted in sharp angles, making him look like a knight carved from the stars. His silhouette marched through the fire like a god of war.
As he closed the distance, his arm shot forward.
The punch hit Naruto with a brutal crack. The dragon staggered, caught off guard by the sheer force. It was like being struck by a falling mountain.
Havel followed up immediately. With a roar, he leapt and drove his hand into one of Naruto's eyes.
The flesh gave way.
His arm pierced deep, sinking in up to the elbow. Blood poured from the wound, hissing against Havel's skin. Fire and chakra seared his body. Naruto shrieked, his voice a thunderclap of rage and pain. The knight kept pressing in, trying to destroy whatever lay behind the eye—brain, nerve, core.
But the dragon did not fall.
Naruto's third eye flared with power. A sudden force wrapped around Havel's arm, freezing it in place. The dragon's telekinesis had caught him, holding him inside the socket like a trap.
Havel growled and pulled, but his arm would not budge.
Naruto's horns began to glow white. Within his chest, power surged. Magic and chakra twisted together, unstable and furious. His entire body became a container for a growing explosion.
Even in this mindless, half-conscious state, the dragon remembered one thing clearly.
Oscar must be protected.
He could not win. But he could stop Havel.
Havel sensed what was coming. In a final act of will, he clenched his jaw and tore his own arm free—ripping it off at the elbow. His severed limb remained lodged in Naruto's eye, sparking and steaming.
He turned to flee.
But a flash of blue light struck him from the side.
From the top of the old watchtower, Oscar had fired a desperate shot.
The spell hit Havel with the force of a collapsing star. He stumbled, the blast locking his body in place for a second.
That second was enough.
Naruto exploded.
A dome of white expanded outward, erasing everything it touched. The remaining lake vanished. The earth dissolved. Mountainside cracked and collapsed. The sky lit up like dawn, and all was swallowed in blinding light. The Darkroot Basin was gone.
And then it was over.
Ash fell like snow. The smoke coiled in silence. Where once there had been water and stone and forest, now only a giant hole remained. High on the crumbling watchtower, Oscar clung to the stone, his arms trembling.
Did Havel survive?
Did Naruto win?
Oscar did not know. But he waited. And he watched, wondering what it would mean for them now... what it would mean for his partner to walk the world, not as a boy, but as an Everlasting Dragon.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for the late update! My laptop got damaged and it took a bit of time for the repairs to get done—but let's get into it.
Question: Why didn't Dragon Naruto use any ninjutsu?
Answer: Simple. Dragon Naruto was fighting on pure instinct rather than with full consciousness. That raises another question—how could he still use magic, pyromancy, and miracles? The answer is that all of those are tied directly to Naruto's soul. They don't require conscious actions like hand signs to activate. They're more like extensions of his soul's nature.
And yes, Naruto covering his claws in wind chakra? That's not a jutsu. He's instinctively channeling raw wind chakra into his limbs, like a beast sharpening its claws.
Question: What's with those reactions from the world of Lordran?
Answer: I've gotten a lot of comments asking if we'll see reactions from characters like the Nameless King, Gwyn, and others. But I chose to focus on reactions from side characters who will have more meaningful roles in Naruto's future arc. I wanted those reactions to carry narrative weight, not just fanservice.
Now let me ask you something: Would Siegmeyer joining the battle have made a difference? Reminder, Siegmeyer is level 95.
Question: Why is Great Grey Wolf Sif a boy?
Answer: Because Sif's gender is never confirmed in canon. And no, the argument that "Sif has no balls" in the game doesn't count—you know damn well FromSoft was never going to add visible genitalia to a boss.
So why did I make Sif male?
Because Alvina, who's also a close friend of Artorias, is female. I thought it would be a nice sense of balance. If Alvina's a girl, Sif being a boy fits thematically. Plus, making Sif a male avoids certain... questionable ships involving Naruto and Sif, since Naruto is now technically a non-human. Let's not go there. Gross.
Now then the answer to Naruto vs. Havel is coming in the next chapter, where we'll dive into the aftermath of this battle.
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That's it… for now.
Thank you all for your incredible support. Writing this story has been one hell of a journey, and you make it worth every word.
As always, thanks for reading.
— Adam
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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 83, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!