"Oszedro."
Inside the Steel Dragonwing Palace, Cassius spoke the name aloud. Beside him stood Olivia, her face flushed and her expression brimming with humiliated annoyance.
Cassius lowered his head once more, meeting the silver dragon's slate-blue eyes, and asked casually, "Do you have any other information? For instance... your grandfather's high-tier spell list?"
"No," Olivia snapped, practically grinding out the word through clenched teeth.
The young silver dragon felt as though she had been spun around in circles all over again. Once more, she had fallen right into the cunning red dragon's trap; even his seemingly sincere invitation had merely been a ploy designed to extract information from her.
If she knew the terms the players used, she might have called this gaslighting.
"Long before I was born, he was already a renowned ancient silver dragon. For centuries, no enemy has forced my grandfather to unleash his full strength, and I have never seen him fight with all he has," she said. "Even you would likely find it difficult to defeat him. Besides... even if I truly knew, I would never tell you. That is the most vital secret a wizard possesses."
Olivia turned her head aside to avoid his direct gaze, deliberately refusing to look into Cassius's pale gold pupils, which were deep enough to pull anyone into their depths.
She felt stranger than she ever had before. Her heart was tangled with guilt toward her grandfather and confusion over her own current identity.
A lawful good silver dragon, reduced to being a subject under the rule of her mortal enemy, a red dragon—and even helping him deal with members of her own family.
What was she now, truly?
An accomplice to an evil dragon, or someone who had strayed down the wrong path?
Originally, Olivia had clung to the notion of "saving" the red dragon, wishing to lead him into the fold of the Lord of the North Wind. Yet now, she had been transformed by him instead, gradually turning into someone she herself could barely recognize.
Paying no heed to the silver dragon's tumultuous inner thoughts, Cassius remained placid, merely replying in a cool tone, "If that's the case, forget it. Then please take your leave, my future councilor."
Olivia hesitated for a long time, her front talons twisting together in indecision before she finally murmured, "Cassius..."
"Hmm?"
The silver dragon looked up slightly, gazing at him with conflicted eyes, and whispered, "Can you let me come with you this time?"
"That doesn't sound like something you would say. When you see the gruesome carnage of the battlefield, don't break down crying on me—or worse, try to heal our enemies."
"Let me come with you," Olivia repeated, her gaze hardening with resolve.
Cassius was genuinely somewhat surprised. In his memory, this remarkably gullible silver dragon rarely asserted her own desires so firmly.
So he asked, "Why?"
"When my grandfather was young, he was relentless in eradicating evil. Rather than a silver dragon, he behaved more like a stubborn, unyielding gold dragon. If you truly are defeated by him when the time comes, my presence might persuade him to show you mercy. After all, you aren't the kind of wicked dragon that is utterly beyond redemption—even if I don't fully agree with your methods of governance."
Hearing this, Cassius shook his head with a chuckle.
To think she was actually looking out for an evil dragon like him; she truly lived up to the silver dragon reputation of being saintly to a fault.
With a touch of mischief, he asked, "Then, pray tell, who do you want to win?"
"..."
Olivia bit her lip, unable to utter a single word.
Her feelings toward this red dragon had grown increasingly intricate: resentment, embarrassment, irritation, yet also an inexplicable sense of reliance.
And their relationship was just as muddled.
Mortal enemies?
Ruler and subordinate?
Deceiver and victim?
Or perhaps...
She had no idea how to answer such a pointed question.
"Heh, the goodwill of a silver dragon." Cassius said no more, offering only a breezy, indifferent smile.
***
Inside the palace.
"The Silver Wing, Oszedro."
Cassius repeated the name once more, flexing his wings as he habitually exhaled a plume of sulfurous, scalding breath.
Having gathered more intelligence regarding this silver dragon from Christina and Olivia, Cassius's expression grew solemn.
This was an elder of a continent-spanning silver dragon clan, a figure of supreme standing among hundreds of his kin.
According to the information he had obtained, Oszedro had been born a thousand years ago on Mount Celestia. Basking in the glorious radiance of Bahamut, he had grown to the young dragon stage before setting off to travel across the planes. In his youth, he had championed justice far and wide, stamping out evil factions one after another—including the Cult of the Dragon and the Red Wizards—earning himself the illustrious title of the Silver Wing.
During those travels, the young Oszedro had become enchanted by the ever-shifting wonders of arcane magic. He began befriending wizards across diverse planes, delving deeply into the mysteries of the Weave, and eventually constructed his own wizard tower on the Material Plane. Along the way, he had even contracted the draconic mental affliction known as spell addiction, though he paid it little mind.
Upon entering the old age category, the dragon mage had become even more composed and wise. He was appointed an elder of Clan Melvold, coordinating all unified endeavors undertaken by the silver dragon clan while also safeguarding planar balance. He had intervened on numerous occasions to resolve world-threatening crises, such as the demonic tides.
Now, having spent centuries in slumber, he had reached a thousand years of age and ascended to the status of a wyrm silver dragon. "The Silver Wing" was merely the least of his accolades; the mere name Oszedro was enough to strike terror into any evil creature across the entire Feanso Continent.
The age category of a wyrm dragon.
Legendary-tier spellcasting mastery.
Vast planar travel experience, matched by the resounding renown forged along the way.
And the formidable backing of an upbringing on Mount Celestia, along with the distinct possibility of being Bahamut's chosen.
Taken together, this silver dragon wizard could truly be described as having won at the game of dragon life, perched at the very pinnacle of dragonkind's hierarchy. He was far more formidable and possessed vastly deeper foundations than the shadow dragon Cassius had previously faced, who had merely eked out an existence by clinging to the Shadowfell.
At the thought, Cassius's brow furrowed even tighter, the horned scales above his eyes nearly knotting together.
"A truly troublesome opponent."
Cassius had to admit that even with his own advantages, he had no absolute certainty of prevailing over this master of dragon life without drawing upon the power of Garyx.
Yet the battle had not yet begun, and the outcome remained undecided.
Cassius turned and entered his treasury, embedding priceless magical treasures one after another into his own body—including the Everfrost Rune Horn, despite its poor elemental affinity with him.
The red dragon then made his way into the kingdom's royal vaults, devouring massive quantities of magic ores brimming with surging elemental power, along with adamantine and mithral. He forced down several tons of the materials, stopping only when the excess energy began spilling out across his skin and coating his scales in a gleaming luster of gold and silver.
A draconic body tempered by the bloodline of a progenitor dragon was more than sturdy enough to withstand any form of magical power.
Flames ignited within Cassius's pale gold eyes. Draped in the accumulated wealth the kingdom had gathered over years, his entire form radiated the overwhelming presence of an absurdly lavish powerhouse.
"Let's see just how capable this Silver Wing truly is."
Chapter 313