The roar of the goddess made the heavens tremble and the earth groan. Clouds scattered to nothingness before it, and hills fractured and collapsed.
The sky grew dark and wild winds howled. That five-hued, five-headed silhouette seemed to become the sole center of the world, the cradle of the apocalypse.
Yet facing that suffocating, sweeping pressure, Cassius stood as firm as a mountain upon the earth. He even held his head high and slowly unfurled his wings, seemingly daring to issue a challenge to this mighty dragon goddess.
Tiamat's barrier had long since dispersed. Countless eyes gathered upon the two colossi, struck with sheer awe as they felt that ineffable divine pressure.
"Th-That's... that is Her Majesty Tiamat!"
"Mother of Evil Dragons above! It's a divine miracle! That red dragon is dead for sure!"
"Praise be to the Immortal Queen!"
"Gods above, the Cinder Emperor is actually standing his ground against an evil deity! I pray he drives the Chromatic Dragon Queen from the Material Plane..."
"Ignorant fool—"
Beneath the focused gaze of countless onlookers, the five-headed dragon high in the sky beat her wings. All five bloodthirsty maws gaped open in unison, pouring forth a surging torrent of divine power with earth-shattering momentum.
The Red Dragon Emperor held his head high and parted his jaws, unleashing an apocalyptic deluge of dragonflame from deep within his throat. The dragonflame collided with the torrent of divine power, triggering violent detonations and faintly showing signs of overpowering it.
Cassius sneered with a savage grin. "Your Majesty Tiamat, should I call you arrogant, or are you merely bluffing? Did you truly think you could defeat me as I am now with nothing more than a flimsy projection of divine power?"
Tiamat's voice turned colder and colder, laced with an undisguised murderous intent:
"You have merely glimpsed the tip of an iceberg of divine might, yet you dare display such insolence! If my true body descended, both you and your empire would be doomed to inevitable ruin!"
Yet Cassius remained entirely unfazed, answering only with a cold laugh. "Your Majesty Tiamat, I understand you all too well.
"If you were capable of descending into the mortal world in your true form right now, you would have dropped from the heavens while I was battling Erebus, crushing me to death with a single strike of your supreme divine might—there would have been no need to wait until this moment."
The dragon crystal embedded upon the Red Dragon Emperor's chest blazed with dazzling red light, and the dragonflame surging from his maw grew fiercer still, tearing through the torrent of divine power.
"The fact that you manifest before me as a mere projection of divine power, bluffing, coercing, and enticing, proves only one thing—"
In an instant, that scorching dragonflame ripped across the sky. Carrying an unstoppable, overwhelming momentum, it blasted directly into the five-headed dragon's phantom silhouette above.
"As you are right now, you cannot stop me at all!"
Before his words could fade, the concussive sound of detonating air echoed across the sky. The raging dragonflame violently tore through the phantom silhouette of the five-headed dragon, twisting and warping its form.
The surging dragonflame dyed half the sky a blazing orange-red, churning with plumes of smoke that blotted out the sun.
Seeing Tiamat fall into a disadvantage, the cultists erupted in chaotic, terrified cries. Shock and sheer disbelief were etched across every scale-covered, hideous face.
"Could it be... Her Majesty the Dragon Queen is losing?"
"Impossible! Th-that's Her Majesty Tiamat, the progenitor of all chromatic dragons! How could she lose to this red dragon?"
In the eyes of the low-ranking cultists of the Cult of the Dragon, Tiamat was an omnipotent deity, the great dragon destined to rule the mortal realm. No one—not even another dragon—could stand as her equal.
Yet now, watching that five-headed dragon torn apart by dragonflame, the cultists verged on total breakdown, their faith wobbling on the brink of collapse.
Their omnipotent goddess was actually losing ground against the Cinder Emperor, practically driven to retreat!
Amid the ceaseless burning of the apocalyptic dragonflame, the five-headed dragon reared back, twisting her body with a ferocious expression. "Cassius, do not celebrate too early—this is merely the beginning! Did you think I could never descend upon the Material Plane?"
"Naturally, Your Majesty Tiamat—" The Red Dragon Emperor flapped his wings and soared into the sky, lunging toward Tiamat's phantom silhouette above.
"And this shall mark the beginning of my total victory over you, and the destruction of the Cult of the Dragon!"
To Cassius now, an ordinary projection of divine power posed no threat; it was merely fodder to nourish him. His flames grew increasingly savage, threatening to swallow the five-headed phantom whole.
Even as he poured out attacks with wild abandon, Cassius did not forget to mock her: "Even for a mere projection of divine power, breaching the planar barriers cannot be cheap. Was it truly worth it? Or was it just to let your pathetic worshippers watch their goddess get torn apart?"
Amid the blazing inferno, Tiamat's gaze turned even more frigid. She longed to grind this Red Dragon Emperor to dust, even if it cost her divine rank:
"Arrogant traitor... I will soon make you realize that a fleeting victory means nothing to an eternal deity. Only the final victor claims all!"
Cassius unleashed a breath that shattered Tiamat's white dragon head, scoffing mockingly, "Heh, so you admit that you lost to me this time?"
"Begone—"
Tiamat roared with fury. A breath weapon formed of divine power surged forth, but the Red Dragon Emperor dodged it with ease, suffering not a speck of harm.
She was already growing exasperated and humiliated.
*Damn dragon variant... I should have eliminated this creature long ago...*
The Chromatic Dragon Queen felt immense regret for not suppressing and slaying this red dragon earlier, instead allowing him to grow unchecked.
This red dragon's growth rate had simply been too fast.
Impossibly fast.
A dozen years was merely a brief nap to long-lived dragons, and to the Mother of Evil Dragons, who had existed across endless ages, it was no more than the blink of an eye—Tiamat was accustomed to measuring her schemes across centuries.
Yet within that brief span of a dozen years, Cassius had grown at an absurd speed into an entity rivaling a demigod, and the Cinder Empire he ruled had expanded rapidly, leaping forward to become a colossal power capable of shifting the geopolitical landscape of the world.
In the past, she had deliberately let Cassius roam free, allowing him to grow so she could exploit and harvest him once he reached a certain height.
Yet matters had spiraled beyond her control.
Tiamat had genuinely never anticipated that Cassius would grow with such terrifying speed, transforming in a mere dozen years into a thorn so troublesome that even she found him difficult to handle.
*Damn dragon variant!* The Chromatic Dragon Queen cursed inwardly once more, wrath blazing in her eyes.
At this stage, the conflict between the Cult of the Dragon and the Cinder Empire had become utterly irreconcilable. This arrogant Cinder Emperor would never submit to her rule. Far from becoming a tool for the Cult of the Dragon to conquer the world, he had become the greatest obstacle preventing the Mother of Evil Dragons from descending into the mortal realm.
Moreover, Tiamat could sense countless gazes from the Outer Planes closely watching everything here.
—Among them were certainly Bahamut, the god of good dragons, as well as several human deities who viewed her as their mortal enemy.
If she forcefully intervened across the planes and expended her divinity and divine power, those lurking, restless deities would seize the chance to strike at her divine realm.
If Bahamut moved to protect this Red Dragon Emperor, even a direct intervention from her true form would struggle to achieve its goal.
The cost simply far outweighed the gain.
As matters stood, if she wanted to eradicate this red dragon once and for all, she would either have to wait until he lowered his guard and risk damaging her divine rank to strike him dead with a single stroke of divine retribution, or descend into the mortal realm via the Cult of the Dragon's ritual and crush him with the power of her true body.
And just as Cassius said, tangling with him here was meaningless. It would only drain her power and tarnish her prestige without achieving a thing.
With that thought, Tiamat turned a gaze full of hatred and loathing toward Cassius. The hazy phantom gradually dissolved, turning into countless specks of light, and the vast divine pressure abruptly receded without a trace.
In the end, the Mother of Evil Dragons left behind only a single parting remark before vanishing from the mortal realm: "Cassius, remember what you have done today. In the near future, you will pay a terrible price for this!"
Cassius merely looked at the spot where the divine projection had vanished, replying flatly, "I look forward to it."
The Red Dragon Emperor slowly beat his wings, hovering high in the air. In the wake of such high-intensity combat, his body was pushed to its limits like an overheated engine, high-temperature, high-pressure steam venting continuously from his vents and scale fissures.
His body was battered and scarred. His scales were fractured and broken, his dragon wings torn to tatters, and wounds cut deep into flesh, baring bone in several places—a truly gruesome sight.
Yet by virtue of his potent third-generation progenitor dragon bloodline, Cassius's wounds were mending at a visible pace, new flesh burgeoning rapidly.
One thing, however, was beyond dispute—he had won.
This Red Dragon Emperor from the Far North had slain Erebus, Lord of the Rotting Bog and master of the Green Dragon Sect, and had even driven back the projection of the Mother of Evil Dragons.
Cassius looked down upon the earth. The ground was riddled with craters and devastated, scarred all over by burns, frost, corrosion, and lightning. Even the mountains and hills had been stripped of their crust, exposing the pitch-black bedrock hidden beneath the earth like some destructive game played by a god of creation.
In the sky, clouds of smoke churned and sundry hues of radiance intertwined in chaotic disarray. The violent energy collisions and divine power clashes from the battle would permanently alter the surrounding climate in an earth-shattering transformation.
Under Erebus's influence, the Ash Fen region had always been bleak and damp, shrouded under dark clouds most of the time with endless drizzle, forming vast swamps and mudflats that served as a paradise for green dragons.
Yet it was foreseeable that with the Lord of the Rotting Bog slain and the land scourged by clashing dragon breath, the local climate would grow dry and scorching. The sky would remain cloudless, and in time, the original swamp would likely cease to exist altogether.
"Gods..."
"How can this be?"
"Her Majesty Tiamat... she lost?"
"Impossible! This must be the rebel's illusion! The great Mother of Evil Dragons is omnipotent!"
The cultists screamed wildly, the faith in their hearts collapsing in an instant. Many among them descended into madness and bewildered despair.
The dragonbeasts, however, possessed far simpler and more direct minds. In the eyes of these beasts, the red dragon was larger, stronger, and wielded an incomparably terrifying aura; he was clearly fit to be their new leader.
Thus, the dragonbeasts threw their heads back and bellowed, then lowered their heads respectfully and submissively toward the Red Dragon Emperor, as though celebrating the birth of a new king.
Suddenly, a priest of the Cult of the Dragon pushed his way out of the chaotic crowd. He prostrated himself deeply on the ground, slamming his forehead repeatedly against the earth until blood snaked down from his brow.
His expression was fanatical, his tone blazing with fervor: "You are all wrong! Don't you see? That mountain-like, majestic stature, those golden eyes, that all-consuming fire—His Majesty Cassius is the dragon of the apocalypse prophesied to save the world!"
This evil dragon priest was named Karlberg, a bishop of the Green Dragon Sect and the most fanatical, radical figure within the cult, treating all mortals like weeds.
Rumor had it that the notorious "Great Sacrifice" had been initiated by Karlberg. He had driven large numbers of innocent mortals into the city and cast them into the sacrificial altar, initiating that cruel tragedy.
"Erebus is a thing of the past! That ancient green dragon has been reduced to ashes!"
Karlberg raised his dragonbone scepter and threw his arm high, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Now, we must praise the Cinder Emperor, the great Lord of Cataclysm, the Dragon Who Rules the World, Cassius!"
"Praise Cassius!"
"Lord of Cataclysm!"
Many cultists defected on the spot, falling to their knees one after another to worship the Red Dragon Emperor. They cared not in the slightest that this new "deity" had been their mortal enemy moments earlier, rapidly coalescing into a "Cult of the Red Dragon" that numbered over ten thousand strong.
Their speed in switching sides left even the shameless players awestruck and muttering in disbelief.
The players from the empire had long grown used to their faction leader stepping in to resolve everything and seizing final victory. Thus, they merely cheered with great satisfaction: "Long live the empire! Long live the Emperor!"
"The Cinder Emperor is invincible!"
"Emperor Kai is unmatched!"
"Hehehe, His Majesty Cassius is the greatest! I want to touch His Majesty's tail—"
Well, as always, some strange slogans were mixed into the cheering.
Meanwhile, within the lines of the human legion, Count Adrian watched all this with bated breath, his heart fraught with anxiety and his expression deeply conflicted.
He had witnessed with his own eyes the Cinder Emperor's overwhelming might in slaying Erebus and driving back Tiamat, knowing full well that such an entity was beyond his ability to defeat—indeed, far beyond anything mortal strength could hope to oppose.
Perhaps only the descent of a god could halt this terrifying dragon.
Adrian was filled with dread. He feared that under the fanatical following and worship of the cultists, this Cinder Emperor would completely take over the Cult of the Dragon, become another Erebus, and subject the Seleucian people to even crueler exploitation and plundering.
Farther off, Karlberg crawled forward on his knees, wearing a fawning smile as he spoke in a reverent, submissive tone: "Mighty and noble Majesty Cassius, we are willing to follow you and become your most loyal believers..."
Chapter 801