Descent of the Dragon

"Let all people worship together the great Red Dragon in the heavens—" A sudden heatwave swept across the earth. As the sun climbed high into the sky, a distant voice resounded. Like a prayer hymn, it was melodious yet solemnly grand like an opera, carrying an aura of supreme majesty. Gradually, the soldiers turned their eyes toward the northern horizon. Sweat beaded on their brows, and they held their breath involuntarily. "Amaunator above..." Duke Walter felt a flutter of panic and could not help offering a silent prayer. How strange. The atmosphere was simply too bizarre. It didn't feel at all like the arrival of a vicious, cruel dragon—it felt like a god descending upon the mortal realm. Above the clouds, the celestial warriors wore grim expressions. Even the ruler of the Silver Heaven slightly furrowed his brow, an emotion finally rippling across his serene, unruffled, flawless face. *Boom—* The ground shook, and gray smoke swept across the land as countless iron juggernauts rolled forward, claiming almost the entire horizon. Thousands of wyverns, flame drakes, chimeras, and even white dragons appeared in the sky. Beating their wings, they blotted out the sun like thick storm clouds, casting chaotic, shifting shadows over the earth. Behind the steam tank divisions, armored transports hauled hundreds of colossal siege cannons onto the battlefield, their dark muzzles striking dread into every onlooker. Right behind them marched heavily armed imperial infantry in disciplined, rhythmic unison. Farther back still, vast swarms of players covered the hills and plains, fighting in their own disparate ways as they surged in from all directions, threatening to encircle all of Corinth. Confronted by such an overwhelming display of might, the coalition soldiers grew tense, murmuring and whispering nervously among themselves. "Are they... our enemies?" "Ye gods, that the barren Northlands could birth an army like this... it's unbelievable." "It's—it's them! They're the ones who destroyed Saint Theo!" Above the coalition battle lines, Walter gazed out at the Cinder Empire's forces covering the earth and sky. He gripped his longsword tightly, a faint glimmer flickering in his pale golden pupils. With just a single glance, he detected numerous potent life signatures—several of which had even attained legendary rank. Add to that those terrifyingly devastating weapons... "It seems I still underestimated them. They truly live up to the army that shattered the Aethel line in nineteen days... They even remind me of Fadlan back then." Walter let out a quiet sigh, yet his expression remained resolute. Things had come to this; no matter how formidable the foe, he could only face them head-on with courage. There was no retreat. The roar of steam engines, the synchronized tread of combat boots, and the thrumming beat of dragon wings blended together into a pounding war drum. "Though the world may change, your majesty shall stand forever unshaken—" Under the rhythm of those true drums of war, the melodious hymn swelled in power, its cadence growing increasingly fervent as the rousing anthem surged toward its climax. "O Cassius of the Myriad Legions, with boundless reverence and gratitude, we offer our eternal fealty unto you—" Simultaneously, the wyverns and drakes in the sky threw their heads back in unison, roaring in resonance. Their collective bellow shook the heavens and earth. *Boom—* The ground groaned under a crushing weight. Beneath that staggering blast of atmospheric pressure, every soldier present struggled just to lift their head. "Amaunator..." "Gods above..." Men gasped in horror, their mouths agape, eyes wide as they stared skyward in dread. A colossal, peerless figure emerged silhouetted against the sunlight in the upper atmosphere. The sunlight outlined his sharp profile as his vast wings blotted out the sky like nightfall, casting a dark pall over the earth. The majestic head alone, crowned with four great horns, measured a hundred meters across. His wingspan stretched nearly a thousand meters, and his serpentine tail was like a winding mountain range. The astonishingly massive red dragon hovered high in the heavens, beating his wings and exerting an unimaginable pressure on everyone below—it was as though the heavens of myth and legend were crashing down upon the mortal world! What kind of dragon was this?! How could such a monster exist in this world?! At this moment, almost every soldier cried out that question in their heart, and Duke Walter was no exception. For a moment, even this well-traveled godblood duke froze where he stood, his lips trembling. "What in the world is..." "An illusion. An exceptionally masterful spell." Beside Walter, the gold dragon beat his wings, speaking in a deep, steady voice. "It is a near-solid projection woven from pure fire elements, possessing immense mass. I must admit, this evil dragon's elemental control is exceedingly refined; even an archmage would struggle to spot the flaws." "I see. Thank you for the reminder, Lord Titus." Walter cast Titus a grateful look, his trust in his gold dragon ally deepening further. He also realized he had grown overly tense—almost losing his composure—to the point of missing the blatant impossibilities of the illusion. After all, this was the Third Age. Even dragon gods surviving from ancient times could hardly attain a thousand-meter scale, let alone manifest their true bodies in the Material Plane. If a dragon several thousand meters long truly set foot in the Material Plane, the world's very laws would reject him in the next instant, potentially causing space itself to collapse and unravel. With that realization, Walter raised his longsword, letting it blaze with brilliant radiance. "Soldiers! Fear not! It is nothing more than a false illusion—a shameless attempt by the evil dragon to intimidate us!" Hearing that powerful voice and looking up at Walter's towering, luminous figure, the coalition soldiers finally steadied their nerves and rallied their courage. "I knew it... How could a dragon like that exist?" "Right! It's just the enemy's trickery!" "Fadlan men will not be frightened!" Even though the terrifying dragon looked utterly real, as though he were about to crush down upon them, Duke Walter's prestige was such that the soldiers chose to believe his words. Walter brandished his longsword, pointing the gleaming tip toward the distant dragon as he proclaimed with ringing conviction, "Soldiers! I once followed His Majesty Aragorn to campaign across the multiverse, spreading the glory of Amaunator! In countless battles, I faced foes far mightier than this—astral behemoths, fiends of the Hells, demons of the Abyss... Yet none of us knew fear, because we are the proud sons of Fadlan! "Remember! This battle is not merely for survival, but for dignity, for the blood and sweat of countless forebears, and so that our children may soar freely under the peaceful skies of Fadlan—" "Laughable—" A booming voice rolled in from the distance, cutting off Walter's speech. The great red dragon slowly parted his jaws, a ferocious smile spreading across his colossal face. The illusory red dragon shook his head, offering what sounded like a sigh. "Fadlan was indeed an empire worthy of respect. Alas—it died long ago. Completely dead, thoroughly dead, deader than dead." "Silence! You shameless wretch!" Walter barked in righteous fury. "Do not think you can insult sacred Fadlan! Nor dream of seizing our lands! We people of Fadlan are the children of the great Sun God! So long as the sun does not set and Amaunator's light endures, the Fadlan Empire shall live on forever!" "The Sun God? You still have the gall to speak His name?" Cassius let out a disdainful chuckle, his tone dripping with mockery. "Do you still not know? Your Emperor Aragorn, that so-called 'Son of the Sun,' committed the heinous crime of profaning the divine. As for you, you are merely a pack of sinners forsaken by the gods. Like ravenous stray dogs, you gnaw at the rotting carcass of an empire while crowning yourselves Fadlan's successors. Truly... utterly laughable." His voice reverberated across the North Aethel Plains, ringing clearly in the ears of every soldier. For some reason, an inexplicable sensation took hold of them—the red dragon's words sounded strangely persuasive, carrying an eerie ring of truth. At that moment, Walter was entirely consumed by rage. His golden eyes blazed as if ready to ignite, a tempest of fury pouring from within. "Vicious slander! Damn you, wretched dragon! How—how dare you defame His Majesty Aragorn!" His throat trembled with wrath, his entire body shaking violently. If his hostility toward the red dragon had previously stemmed from his duty as Duke of North Aethel, now it was pure, unadulterated hatred! He wanted nothing more than to sever that monstrous head and hew off those four horns! This red dragon dared to insult Aragorn I, the sole true emperor of Holy Fadlan! He was striking at the very foundation of Fadlan, denying the empire's legitimacy and divine right! Fire burned in Walter's eyes as he ground out through clenched teeth, "Red dragon, count yourself fortunate! Had this been twenty years ago, your head would have already been struck off by the Godblood Legion under His Majesty's command!" "Long live Emperor Aragorn!" "Vile beast! You will not slander the Emperor!" The soldiers were swept up in righteous fury as well, waving their weapons to display their reverence for the late emperor. "Damned mortals! They dare insult His Majesty Cassius!" "Slaughter them!" "I'll flatten that city and grind the bones of the Fadlan emperor beneath my feet!" The imperial soldiers grew agitated as well, aggressively shouting back at the coalition troops. Some even produced magical loudspeakers, turning the standoff into a furious shouting match across the plains. Yet the red dragon showed no anger. He merely stated in an even, dispassionate tone, "And yet, your emperor has already been reduced to ash beneath the sun's wrath. While I, Cassius, the Cinder Emperor, stand before you, poised to become the master of North Aethel. A century ago, the Fadlan Empire used its overwhelming military might to obliterate the Kingdom of Aethel and claim this land. Today, we shall do the exact same thing. Such is the natural course of history. In that regard, the Cinder Empire is far more worthy to be the spiritual successor of Fadlan than you. "Heh. You ought to rejoice. Your Fadlan has finally found a truly worthy heir." "In your dreams! The people of Fadlan will never become your slaves! If you wish to claim North Aethel, you will have to step over our corpses first!" Walter brandished his longsword once more, his voice ringing with absolute finality. "Brutal chromatic beast! Your aggression shall be nailed to the pillar of historical shame!" the gold dragon Titus roared, his head held high as he issued a righteous denunciation. "Red dragon, I shall teach you the meaning of order and justice—in the name of Heaven," Barachiel proclaimed, brandishing his blade of lightning, his voice rumbling like thunder. Cassius looked down upon the earth with cold, pale golden eyes. His gaze swept over the godbloods, the gold dragon, and the celestial angels before he spoke calmly: "Whether you agree or not is of no concern to me, nor do I care to know. I have come solely to inform you: from this day forth, North Aethel belongs only to the Cinder Empire. Anyone who seeks to stand in our way will be utterly obliterated. "In other words—what does my destroying you have to do with you?" The red dragon's voice swelled, culminating in a thunderous roar. The colossal illusion suddenly detonated, instantly dyeing half the sky crimson and turning the heavens into a raging sea of flames. An unprecedented heatwave expanded violently, sweeping across the entire expanse of land. Wild grasses caught fire, and embers and thick smoke billowed everywhere. Immediately after, the hymn reached its final crescendo. The soldiers of the Cinder Empire unleashed a tsunami of cheers; battle cries and war roars surged straight into the clouds, drowning out the crackle of burning flames in an instant. "Conquest—" "All units, charge!" "For the Cinder Empire! For His Majesty Cassius!" In a flash, the colossal cannons stationed across the plains fired in unison. Countless shells traced elegant arcs through the sky, weaving a dense web of fire before crashing down around the perimeter of Corinth. *Boom!* The iron behemoths roared and rumbled, charging across the flat, open grasslands without meeting any resistance. Their unstoppable advance shook the earth, sending out dull, shuddering groans. In the sky, flights of dragons spread their wings and dove toward Corinth, screeching in chaotic, raucous cries. Across the ground, swarms of skeletal dragon-serpents slithered forward. Wights and skeletons marched under the cover of dark clouds, the stench of death drifting southward toward Corinth upon the northern wind. Meanwhile, legions of fire elementals—flame drakes, salamanders, fire dwarfs, and efreet—marched steadily through the spreading wildfires and dense smoke, advancing toward the coalition lines. ... At the rear of the Cinder Empire's formation, Cassius opened his pale golden eyes. Supporting his massive fifty-meter frame on powerful limbs, he unfurled the great wings upon his back. The red dragon raised his head, watching the escalating war in the distance, and disdainfully exhaled a plume of sulfurous white smoke. "Overconfident fools. It seems this war will be over very soon..." Beside him, the silver-haired girl clutching a stack of documents hesitated for a moment before stepping closer. In a hushed voice, she said, "Cassius, what you just did was hardly any different from the notorious evil dragons in my memory. It was almost word-for-word like the records in our clan. "Are you... truly still seeking justice and order?" Cassius chuckled first, then sighed, putting on a helpless expression. "Of course, Olivia. My original intentions have never changed. It's just that... these people stood in the path of the new order I seek. They made themselves my enemies and blocked the progress of the world. I have no choice but to eliminate them." Olivia fell silent. She knew the emperor's mind was set, virtually impossible to sway. After a quiet pause, she pleaded softly, "There is still one of our kin in the coalition—that righteous gold dragon. He didn't stand in your way on purpose. Cassius, could you spare him?" "Of course. After all... I have always been the most considerate toward our kin." The corners of the red dragon's mouth curved upward, an uncanny light gleaming within his vertical golden pupils.