The demon attack in Isdalia had caused quite a stir, but fortunately, the fiend had been eliminated in very short order without inflicting much destruction upon the plaza.
The Coronation Day celebrations continued unabated. People revelled in the streets, fully immersing themselves in this rare day of carnival.
"Long live His Majesty Cassius!"
"Long live the Great Red Dragon!"
"March south into Thrace! Seize Fadlan!"
"Those southerners are all cowardly sons of bitches! They don't deserve land that good!"
Drunks brandished imperial banners in the streets, walking unsteadily with their arms thrown around one another's shoulders as they shouted boisterous cheers.
They had even set the slogan "Conquer the South" to a catchy tune, singing it in ragged, raucous harmony.
Domestic scholars referred to such people as the "Conquest Partisans." Having profited immensely from imperial expansion, most held relatively high standing within the Empire, and many hailed from the military.
The Conquest Partisans' platform was simple: subjugate the south, plunder its resources, dump imperial goods, and fulfill the Red Dragon Emperor's grand blueprint for world dominion—a mindset that had already become the prevailing ideology of the Empire.
Confidence, martial prowess, and supreme arrogance were their hallmarks.
Yet compared to ordinary folk, these zealots took things much further. Some proposed turning every last southerner into imperial slaves to serve noble imperial citizens.
Others went so far as to advocate slaughtering the southerners to extinction, insisting that only citizens of the Empire were entitled to enjoy such holy, fertile lands.
Naturally, this drew harsh condemnation from scholars at home. Lady Olivia of the House of Commons had even openly denounced them with fierce rhetoric during the Imperial Diet.
Lady Olivia had bluntly declared these Conquest Partisans to be "relics of the northern aristocracy" and "a cancer upon the Empire."
In response, extremists had gone so far as to launch organized attacks against Member of Parliament Olivia.
Yet for reasons none could fathom, though she appeared to be nothing more than a frail, delicate woman, every single attempt on her life ended in utter failure.
Out in the streets, the Conquest Partisans continued to sing at the top of their lungs, their booming voices ringing clear over the thunderous rumble of steam locomotives.
"We'll slap that filthy southerner raw,"
"Strip the greasy hide from the cunning little dog, and lay it before His Majesty!"
"We'll burn their homes, seize their soil, and plant the Empire's banners high atop the ruins..."
Amidst the frenzied procession, a hobgoblin baron seemed to recall something. His eyes suddenly flushed crimson, and he spat drunken curses into the air.
"And those verminous demons! How dare they strike at the imperial capital! Who gave them the guts?!"
"Damn right! That tavern was completely wrecked by the demon! I used to hang out there all the time!"
"How dare they provoke the subjects of the Great Red Dragon!"
Cries of agreement echoed from the crowd as people loudly recounted the fiends' atrocities and denounced the imperial administration's "weakness."
Suddenly, a bugbear roared, "Prime Minister Trump has picked up the spineless habits of humans! Not only does he leave the south alone, but he even swallows insults from things like that! It's an insult to His Majesty Cassius!
"Lord Duoluo is the leader the people truly want! He takes a hard line against foreign lands, repeatedly proposing to tear up treaties and march our armies south—that's a true disciple of the Grand Blueprint!
"If you ask me, the Empire ought to march an army straight into the Abyss and wipe those demons out for good!"
He clambered onto an elevated platform beside the plaza, raising an arm to lead the chant. The surrounding Conquest Partisans roared in unison, setting off waves of fanatical fervor.
"Invade the Abyss!"
"Flay those damned demons and pull out their sinews!"
"Destroy the demons! Level the Abyss! Blood sacrifice to His Majesty!"
Thousands of imperial citizens thrust their arms into the air, bellowing at the top of their lungs and venting their boundless hatred for the demons.
It was a stirring spectacle that made the blood of onlookers boil. Yet for the city of Isdalia—home to five hundred thousand inhabitants and spanning well over a hundred square kilometers—it was merely a trivial corner of the grand whole.
*Clang—*
The noon bell tolled, and the stirring, heroic melody of the Hymn to Cassius resonated throughout the realm.
Across the city, humans, hobgoblins, tieflings, lizardfolk, and ogres all looked up in unison, as if by mutual agreement, toward the Grand Altar of Isdalia towering high into the sky.
Some of these diverse citizens clasped their hands in prayer; some knelt prostrate upon the earth; others held gold coins aloft, but all offered prayers of their own.
Some prayed for husbands deployed to the Elemental Plane of Fire to return home safe and sound; some prayed for their family workshops to receive more orders; some prayed for merchant caravans to arrive safely at their destinations...
Perhaps not every soul was devout, yet under the Empire's pervasive, subtle propaganda across every walk of life, it had long since become second nature.
*Clang—*
*Clang—*
As the third chime echoed, the entire city—indeed, the entire Empire—erupted into jubilation.
Years ago, at this very hour, His Majesty Cassius had personally crowned himself, establishing this vast, multifaceted empire.
***
In the outskirts of Northwind Keep, within the Iron Dragonwing Palace.
Beyond the magnificent palace walls, the towering mountain had taken on a bizarre appearance. Expanses of black rock lay exposed, and magma flowed sluggishly through the valleys.
Now, it resembled a volcano more than anything else.
The mountain air had grown stiflingly dry and hot, filled with drifting ash and sparks. Whenever the northern winds swept in, they whipped up raging firestorms.
What had once been lush woodlands was reduced to a thick blanket of ash and charred detritus, with blackened tree stumps jutting out of the earth. Forest creatures such as deer, birds, and boars had long since fled.
In their place, steam bats, firebirds, magmins, and magma beasts from the Elemental Plane of Fire occasionally surfaced here.
A year ago, His Majesty Cassius had slipped into slumber. While no cataclysm had erupted that time, the wider environment had gradually shifted.
At first, the guards stationed at the gate had noticed nothing amiss, but soon enough, they realized the landscape was transforming!
Three months later, the temperature near the palace had climbed beyond what ordinary mortals could endure, and the tiefling royal guard at the palace gates had been replaced by half-red dragons.
By now, even these dragon-blooded scions felt the heat becoming oppressive.
Yet out of absolute devotion, they remained steadfast at their posts—men like Udo Deco.
He had once been a slave in the Duchy of Swino, a gladiator kept solely for the amusement of nobles.
After the Kingdom of Cinders liberated him, Udo Deco had enlisted without hesitation, swearing lifelong fealty to His Majesty Cassius.
During the Northern War, he had fought like a rabid beast, tearing a noble knight in two with his bare hands, which earned him a commendation from Duoluo.
Using his military merits, he had exchanged for a Dragon Blood Potion, drinking it down without the slightest hesitation and enduring the agonizing, piercing pain to become a half-red dragon.
At long last, he had earned the privilege of coming to the Iron Dragonwing Palace to guard the perimeter of the red dragon's sanctum. To him, this was the greatest honor imaginable.
"Did you hear? A demon actually attacked the imperial capital! And on Coronation Day, no less!"
"Insolent bastards!"
"Has the cabinet made any statement yet?"
At the gates of the Iron Dragonwing Palace, numerous half-red dragon guards voiced their indignation.
Yet Udo stood motionless with his rifle slung, his expression cold and solemn, standing vigil like a carved stone statue.
"Those demons are merely flies from the Abyss," he said calmly. "Once His Majesty awakens, they will be utterly wiped out. Their pathetic antics are nothing more than moths flinging themselves into a flame—beneath contempt."
Another half-red dragon guard sighed. "Still, His Majesty has been asleep for an entire year now. Dragons live long lives, and someone of His Majesty's stature might easily slumber for a century. I just worry..."
Udo gave a cold snort of disdain. "So what? As long as His Majesty has not awakened, I will stand right here. Sark, you still lack—"
*Boom!*
The earth trembled, and the mountain rocked violently.
Ash and sparks danced wildly through the air, coalescing into churning plumes of dark smoke. The ground suddenly fissured, splitting open into several enormous, terrifying chasms that glowed with fire.
The half-red dragon guards lost their footing, stumbling in a panic.
"What's happening?!"
"Get back!"
"A calamity! A calamity is breaking out! I heard the former tiefling captain say this is the aftershock of the Great Red Dragon's power! For us mortals, it's absolute destruction!" the half-red dragon captain screamed in terror.
"It's His Majesty! His Majesty is waking up!"
Only Udo Deco turned toward the red dragon's resting grounds, his draconian features radiant with wild ecstasy and devotion.
In the blink of an eye, dense smoke swept across the earth and blotted out the sky, saturating the air with the pungent stench of brimstone and sulfur.
Even Northwind Keep, dozens of li away, felt the tremors, and its inhabitants looked south in horror.
*Whoosh—*
Fire-tailed meteors streaked across the sky, as if ripping open glowing gashes in the soot-black canopy.
Smoke billowed up the mountainside while sparks and drifting flames danced through the haze. Searing gales rose and churned until they formed a colossal tornado of fire and smoke bridging heaven and earth.
Everything in the vicinity—loose rocks, ash, and scorched timber alike—was drawn into the vortex, serving as fuel for the infernal twister.
"The Cinder Dragon..."
Udo lifted his head, staring blankly at the awe-inspiring spectacle engulfing sky and earth. His throat trembled as he breathed that famed moniker.
The northern nobility had coined it to sow terror, but it truly was fitting—a dragon capable of setting even ashes ablaze.
"Udo, run!"
"Don't just stand there! You'll die!"
Another guard urged him frantically, but Udo seemed not to hear, staring transfixed at the heavens in rapturous awe.
How magnificent.
This was His Majesty's power—mighty enough to lay waste to all mortal things and incinerate every foe that dared stand in his path.
Years ago, he had witnessed with his own eyes the red dragon annihilating the seemingly invincible northern coalition army. His former nightmare—Count Angus, who had chained him like a beast—had been reduced to ashes in that very war.
From that day forth, the red dragon had become his sole god.
*ROAR—!*
At that moment, a distant, resonant roar echoed from the heart of the mountain, shaking heaven and earth.
Immediately after, an invisible force rippled outward from the peak, sweeping across a hundred li in an instant and churning up a vast ring of dust and smoke.
"H-His Majesty..."
Every half-red dragon froze. Feeling the supreme draconic pressure surging from the depths of their bloodlines, they dropped to their knees facing the mountain.
*BOOM!*
A titanic black shadow shattered the rock strata and burst out from the mountain summit, plunging straight into the tornado of fire and smoke.
In that instant, he seemed to become the very axis of the world.
The billowing smoke across the sky surged toward him, and the falling meteors dissolved into streaming fire, eagerly rushing into his towering form.
Every trace of ash, spark, flame, and smoke gathered toward him, forming an immense, swirling vortex.
At last, the dark clouds dispersed, leaving the sky clean and pristine once more.
The ground beneath lay bare and riddled with scars.
Yet soon, the earth rumbled and shifted. The fissures leaking magma sealed shut, and the craters gouged out by falling meteorites smoothed over.
Under that all-governing power, the surrounding landscape gradually restored itself, as if the cataclysm had never taken place.
High above, the massive red dragon beat his wings, gazing down upon the living beings below with golden, slitted pupils. His scales gleamed resplendently in the sunlight.
Paying no heed to the dust, Udo pressed his forehead against the stone before raising his head once more, looking up at the dragon's majestic form with profound reverence.
"Your Majesty..." Udo murmured, his body quivering as uncontrollable joy welled up within him.
He knew what this meant. It meant the invincible Emperor Cassius would lead them to victory once again, burning every obstacle before the Empire to cinders.
At last...
His Majesty Cassius had awakened.
The Sole Ruler of the Great Anzetta Waste, the Breaker of the Silver Wings, the Destroyer of Frost Giants...
The Bane of Abyssal Demons, the Soul-Devouring Dragon, the Master of Gun and Cannon, the Supreme Cinder Emperor—His Majesty Cassius had awakened!
***
Atop Dragon Mountain.
*Whoosh—*
Cassius beat his wings slowly, descending with a heavy thud onto the summit. He exhaled a plume of sulfurous smoke, taking in his new form.
*Awake at last. That familiar sensation... Dragons truly are wondrous creatures. Every time I wake from a slumber, I feel brimming with power...*
*Still, I seem to feel a repulsive force.*
Cassius tilted his head with an odd expression and snorted, venting a blast of scalding white steam.
—It was the repulsive force of the Material Plane.
To the cosmos, such a terrifying monster had no place within the Material Plane; he belonged beyond it—in the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, the Outer Planes, or the Inner Planes...
After a year of slumber, Cassius's frame had expanded several sizes larger. His muscles had grown denser, exuding an unmatched aura of raw power. From snout to tail tip, the red dragon now measured roughly forty-five meters—completely shattering the racial boundaries of ordinary red dragons.
Due to the gradual dilution of dragon blood and the cosmic restrictions of the Material Plane, even great wyrm red dragons who had lived for over twelve hundred years rarely exceeded forty meters. Yet Cassius had already surpassed that mark by a considerable margin.
Of the red dragon's four spiraling horns, two had grown exceptionally thick and colossal, resembling an imposing, majestic crown.
His jaw had also grown heavier and more pronounced. While it had not reached the iron-jawed look of "Deathwing" from his past life, it nonetheless lent his visage an aura of savage dread.
Along his mountain-like draconic frame, the ridge of his spine bore not only the usual spikes of a red dragon, but also rows of gleaming fire-melt crystals.
*This energy...*
Throughout his slumber, Cassius had acted like a dragon-shaped black hole, voraciously, almost maniacally absorbing ambient energy before exhaling it back out—the sweeping changes in the surrounding environment bore clear testimony to that.
Through this continuous exchange and transformation of power, more and more pure fire elemental energy had been refined and stored within his body.
And it was not merely natural energy from the surroundings; the elemental ores Cassius had extracted from the negotiation table with the efreet empire—enough power to sustain an entire kingdom—had also been completely digested.
The dragon crystal embedded in his chest pulsed with fiery light, and jets of flame occasionally vented through the seams between his scales.
At this moment, terrifying power surged within Cassius's body, rivaling a living, walking volcano—and perhaps something far more terrible still.
Chapter 496