Immediately after, two dragon claws emerged simultaneously from the ghastly scar, gripping the rift's opposing edges.
The colossal claws pulled in opposite directions at once. The motion was slow, yet it carried terrifying strength capable of upending heaven and earth. Thick cords of muscle bulged and contracted, giving off a low, muffled rumble like thunder rolling through an abyss.
*Riiiip—*
A harrowing sound reverberated across the sky like the world's own groan of agony. Under the merciless pull of the twin claws, the crimson rift was violently twisted and torn apart in an instant!
Space tore like an overstrained, heavy curtain. Under the counter-pull of sheer brute force, a gaping chasm was ripped wide open, spewing forth a dazzling gold-red radiance like that of a blast furnace.
Scattered cinders swirled and drifted wildly through midair.
"Roaaar!!"
A roar that shook the very dimension of souls burst violently from the depths of the rift, carrying the stench of sulfur and the aura of purgatory. Close behind came an imposing, magnificent figure—
It was an incomparably colossal red dragon, nearly eighty meters in length—almost twice the size of the great wyrm green dragon.
The first thing to emerge was an enormous, hideous head. Four massive horns swept back like an emperor's crown, and pale gold vertical pupils burned like spheres of molten lava, striking sheer terror into the hearts of all who looked upon them.
Next came a thick, heavily muscled neck, behind which rose a towering dorsal crest studded with massive spikes, shimmering with vibrant hues like a gigantic sail.
Yet it was only when the Cinder Emperor's full form stood revealed within this space that his sheer scale induced true despair. Every massive scale across his body resembled carefully forged hell-iron armor—dark crimson bordering on black, yet shot through with glowing veins of molten gold from within.
A mountainous torso, wings that blotted out the sun, and an undulating, serpentine tail emerged one after another into the world. This was no exaggeration, but an objective statement of fact.
As those broad dragon wings beat, a sea of fire rolled hundreds of meters outward, surging up and down like turbulent waves.
"Ye gods..."
"Tiamat above!"
"Lord of Eternal Radiance!"
In that moment, worshippers of the sun god and of the Mother of Evil Dragons alike stared blankly at the sky in utter disbelief, completely awestruck by this vision akin to a divine descent.
How could such a dragon exist in this world? He seemed the very embodiment of might and catastrophe; even if Tiamat herself descended, it seemed she could scarcely surpass this. Such blasphemous thoughts arose in the minds of many followers of the Cult of the Dragon.
Some cultists were so overwhelmed by the dragon's majesty that they fell devoutly to their knees, bowing in utmost reverence to this red dragon who had torn through the fabric of the world—they were a breath away from joining the Cinder Cult on the spot.
"Amaunator above... it seems I made the right choice."
Gazing at the red dragon in the heavens, even Adrian, who had once had an audience with the emperor, trembled with dread, yet he also felt a wave of relief.
If this emperor had chosen to support Tiamat, they Seleucians would not have had the slightest hope of victory; they would have been ruthlessly crushed to dust.
The players from the empire, however, were not nearly as shaken. After all, they had witnessed Cassius's dramatic entrances countless times; they were merely surprised to see that their emperor had grown even more massive and powerful.
"All hail Cassius!"
"Tsk, tsk, the Boss really knows how to flex. This entrance animation gets more over-the-top every time."
"Long live the Emperor! Eternal glory to the Empire!"
Farther off, above the forest, Erebus had retracted all his dispersed power. He glared fixedly at the red dragon amidst the sea of fire, faint light flickering in his slitted pupils, not daring to show the slightest carelessness.
An eighty-meter-long red dragon.
Even across Erebus's thousands of years of life, this red dragon ranked among the top three largest beings he had ever laid eyes on.
Yet the Cinder Emperor was evidently in his prime, whereas the other two were ancient, decrepit great wyrm red dragons hibernating in the Outer Planes, and whether they still lived was anyone's guess.
As a progenitor green dragon, Erebus knew full well that to attain such immense size in the Third Age—when chromatic dragon bloodlines had waned to their lowest ebb—signified strength that could never be underestimated.
From that thunderous entrance alone, Erebus could tell that this red dragon possessed an incomparably formidable physical body and at least legendary-tier spellcasting capability.
Yet while Erebus treated him with supreme gravity, he felt no fear; on the contrary, he remained brimming with confidence.
After all, he was a Chosen of Tiamat, a progenitor green dragon possessing a Divine Body who had inherited Tiamat's insidious cunning and vicious cruelty. He believed his accumulated depth was far beyond what a young red dragon who had risen to prominence merely a decade or so ago could ever match.
"A dragon variant..."
Erebus stared at the distant red dragon, his gaze cold and glinting. His raspy voice sounded as though it drifted up from an endless abyss, sending a chill down the spine.
"You possess exceptional gifts and should have had a glorious future. And yet—do you truly choose to stand against Her Majesty Tiamat, to become an enemy of all chromatic dragons, a shameful traitor?"
Along with that rasping voice, an overwhelming pressure washed over the battlefield, leaving even the cultists trembling in terror.
"Heh..."
Facing an aura sufficient to drive mortals mad, Cassius showed not the slightest fear. Instead, he let out a scoffing laugh.
The extraordinarily colossal red dragon slowly beat his wings, gliding forward with unhurried composure, looking down from on high at the great wyrm green dragon above the forest.
"Erebus, you are mistaken. I have only ever fought for my own empire, and I have never bowed to anyone—neither chromatic dragons nor metallic dragons. What is more..."
The corners of his maw curved upward, and a chilling, predatory gleam flashed in his pale golden eyes. "Never mind a pathetic lackey like you—even if that old fossil Tiamat came in person, she wouldn't have the right to demand my submission!"
*Whoosh—*
The red dragon snapped his wings wide. In an instant, an unparalleled dragon fear erupted, sweeping up a scorching gale that stretched across dozens of kilometers and instantly overwhelmed the great wyrm green dragon's aura.
"How dare you utter such blasphemy against Her Majesty!" Erebus roared in fury. An icy gale roiling with toxic mist surged forth to clash against the red dragon's scalding currents.
The two forces slammed together, locking in a dead heat. Where they collided, firelight, toxic smoke, and mire intertwined in a bizarre magical reaction, giving rise to eerie, emerald-green flames.
Many humans quietly collapsed and died amid these erratic magical fluctuations.
Yet the instigators of it all—two incomparably mighty progenitor dragons—merely confronted each other across a distance of several kilometers, locking gazes, neither willing to yield an inch.
Cassius sneered again, taunting, "Blasphemy? That word has never existed in my vocabulary. I only know that you seek to harm my vassals and slaughter the citizens of my empire."
Erebus's tone turned chillingly grim. "The Cult of the Dragon has never laid a finger on the Cinder Empire's sphere of influence! Yet you Imperials marched countless miles to support a band of shameful rebels, destabilize the cult's rule, and destroy the altar of the Mother Goddess!"
Cassius shook his massive head. "What rebels? Those are allies of our Cinder Empire. If you wish to wipe them out, you naturally have to ask whether the Empire agrees."
Erebus rebuked him harshly, "Do not forget what you are, Cassius! No matter what, you are a chromatic dragon, a scion of Her Majesty Tiamat's bloodline! Rebel though you may, that identity will follow you for life and can never be erased!
"Depart from here, young red dragon. Her Majesty Tiamat will grant you an opportunity to redeem yourself, and I am still willing to regard you as kin..."
"Trying to play the race card with me?" A cold sneer returned to Cassius's face. He cast a disdainful glance at the great wyrm green dragon. "Tiamat didn't care about me being her descendant when she tried to harvest my bloodline. And besides..."
Cassius paused, the grin on his draconic visage broadening. "Does an ugly green-skinned lizard like you even deserve to be compared to me—or to call me kin?"
"You—!"
Erebus choked on his words, brimming with rage yet having nowhere to vent it. His expression darkened, clouded in murderous shadow.
Damn it all, this was not how progenitor dragons conversed! This red dragon was far too arrogant and conceited, treating him with utter contempt!
These dragon variants truly were wretched vermin that deserved to be purged!
"Then let our power settle it!" Erebus's gaze turned chilling to the extreme, his pupils dripping with hatred and malice.
The negotiation broke down in mutual hostility, the tension thick and suffocating. Yet Cassius's true purpose in exchanging words before the battle had been to carefully inspect his distant foe.
*Erebus, Lord of the Rotting Bog (Challenge Rating: 35)*
This green dragon was forty-five meters long, with an emaciated, sinuous, and menacing frame completely entwined in mire and creeping vines, looking like an ancient tree that had weathered tens of thousands of years.
Among green dragons, this was already an astonishing size, yet before the red dragon, it fell far short. In close-quarters melee combat, Cassius was utterly confident he could crush him beneath sheer might.
What drew Cassius's attention more was the other's spellcasting prowess.
The great wyrm green dragon's talons gripped a massive dragon bone scepter tightly. His neck, claws, and ankles were adorned with potent magical gear, and even the crevices between his scales held numerous ornaments—amounting to twenty or thirty items in total, each at least legendary tier.
*Mhm, another wealthy old dragon.*
Cassius could tell that Erebus also possessed some hidden prestige class, similar to his own True Dragon Sorcerer and Elemental Master, granting him at least legendary-tier spellcasting.
Yet what Cassius paid the most heed to was the pair of "Eyes of Tiamat."
Greed and cunning churned within those narrow, icy slits. Deep inside them flickered an eerie green light, harboring an evil, corrupt, yet exceptionally exalted power.
Without question, it was divine power.
As one of Tiamat's earthly anchors, these eyes could continuously generate the divine power of the Evil Dragon Queen, granting Erebus an immortal nature and making him a genuine demigod.
As long as his core source was not destroyed and he suffered no attack from a higher echelon of power, even if his body were smashed to dust, this great wyrm green dragon could reshape his flesh and manifest in the world once more.
*Another troublesome opponent, a crafty old fossil,* Cassius mused to himself.
Yet to the current red dragon, after battling multiple avatars of deities, this great wyrm green dragon could no longer be considered a terrifying archfoe—at most, he was a somewhat thorny nuisance.
Merely a few breaths after their gazes locked, Erebus made the first move!
The great wyrm green dragon tightened his grip on the dragon bone scepter and pointed it at the distant red dragon. Formidable magical power erupted from his hollow eye sockets, churning massive ripples through the ambient Weave and whipping up a terrifying arcane tempest.
Erebus parted his maw, which dripped with foul-smelling acid, and chanted an ancient Draconic incantation.
"Breath of Desolation!"
With a booming crash, a torrent of necromantic energy descended like an inverted emerald waterfall, shrieking through the air toward the distant Red Dragon Emperor. Even a stray wisp of its residual shockwave would be enough to obliterate a robust legendary warrior.
Yet Cassius calmly beat his wings, whipping up a fiery storm. The gold-red flames collided with the necromantic energy, canceling it out in a series of violent midair detonations.
"Roaaar—!"
Erebus raised his head and howled. The dragon bone scepter in his grasp blazed with blinding brilliance as he unleashed several spells in rapid succession—*Wail of the Banshee! Energy Drain! Horrid Wilting! Greater Bestow Curse! Animate Dead Legion!*
In an instant, piercing shrieks tore through the sky, bringing splitting headaches as hundreds of soldiers dropped dead in agony one after another.
Dark, eerie magical auras intertwined across the heavens. Countless undead were awakened from beneath the soil; bone dragons and skeletal wyverns clawed their way out of the damp marsh, shrieking shrilly and lunging madly toward the distant red dragon.
Yet Cassius merely extended a dragon claw, magical light shimmering across his form. A beam filled with the power of order shot from the tip of his talon, sweeping across the sky and instantly neutralizing the necromantic spells in their entirety—*Spell Wither*.
Facing the skeletal monstrosities swarming from all directions, Cassius didn't even bother to look. He simply closed his right claw, releasing an invisible shockwave that shattered the undead creatures where they stood, reducing them to heaps of fragmented bone across the ground.
"What a brutish, insolent dragon variant..."
Seeing his barrage entirely thwarted, Erebus showed no disappointment, only offering a cold grunt.
After all, in a battle of this caliber, both combatants possessed extraordinary spell resistance; ordinary spells could scarcely harm either of them. This had merely been an opening probe.
Testing the opponent's tactical skill and spellcasting prowess, probing for weaknesses, waiting for a slip-up, and striking fatal blows through tiny openings—such were Erebus's customary methods.
The great wyrm green dragon raised the dragon bone scepter once more, casting another flurry of spells—*Eldritch Binding! Lower Elemental Resistance! Cherished Annihilation! Symbol of Soul Trapping! Vile Soul Shadow!*
In a flash, multiple spells streaked forth, and terrifying, wicked wraiths crawled from the earth, howling as they surged toward the red dragon.
"Boring parlor tricks."
The Red Dragon Emperor flapped his wings and shook his frame. A molten red glow surfaced over his scales, and every spell that struck him abruptly dissolved into nothingness.
Braving the barrage of incoming arcane light without even deigning to counter them, he flew straight toward the great wyrm green dragon.
Chapter 796