Chapter 272 (2): Introduce Yourself When Being a Good Windsorian

Had Alan gone after any other Tulip Families, Celeste and Juno wouldn’t have been invested enough to make a move, but the Lando family was different. Wayne, the Lando heir, was very likely a reincarnated angel.

Juno had been trying to get on Wayne’s good side but hadn’t had a way in. Now that the opportunity presented itself, she decisively came to offer the Lando family a helping hand in a moment of crisis.

If one didn’t offer help in the harsh winter, they would be nothing but a stranger when spring days came. To make a friend—a good friend—it was best to offer a hand when the target was downtrodden. Only when they accepted the offered help and remembered the kindness would a relationship naturally progress.

In other words, the relationship would’ve stood the test!

Moreover, one should always introduce oneself when being a good Windsorian. Anonymity could allow someone else to reap the benefits.

Before coming, Juno had called the Lando Estate to warn Auston that there was an ambush in the alleyway of the theater. Veryl had picked up the phone.

Juno had been testing whether Wayne was a reincarnated angel, even making commissions to lure him to the middle of nowhere so that his calls for help wouldn’t be heard.

The Church of Heavenly Father had used the same trick, and Wayne wasn’t in the mood to step into the trap. He turned away the offered payment and rejected the princess’s unjustified displays of goodwill.

Now, there was no need for a plan like that. Alan was nice enough to play the villain, and given his Legendary rank, he would surely be able to force Wayne to do his best. Even if Wayne didn’t show up, the help was offered, and Auston would reveal his secret. They would win one way or another.

Although Celeste had ulterior motives, he was here to help. When he saw Megan open her mouth to breathe fire ruthlessly as a great dragon, like she wouldn’t stop until she tore down the gates to Heaven, he detonated the bomb that should be in Megan’s heart without hesitation.

Biu!

The white dragon froze, and she exhaled black smoke rather than fire. After that...

Nothing happened. The white dragon was alive and well, and she continued to breathe out fire, burning the dozens of fake angels into roasted wings.

“The bomb has always been there, only weaker, so weak that its detonation was negligible. That was why we legendary mages didn’t realize...”

Celeste made the deduction, shifting his gaze to the white dragon’s head.

Back when the Ministry of Magic created Megan, they had drawn a magic circle on her heart just in case, setting up a magical bomb that could not be defused. The indecisive mages feared the great dragon’s powerful vitality. Worried that one bomb alone wouldn’t kill the dragon, they planted a second bomb in the dragon’s brain.

It was a secret only the legendary mages were privy to—at least that was what Celeste believed.

“How about this bomb? Have you done something to it?”

Celeste’s eyebrow arched up as he chanted a long, complex incantation to trigger the safety measure hidden in Megan’s brain.

“You’re too noisy. Be quiet!”

Boom!!!

Inside the white dragon’s skull, a dim grey magic circle radiated blinding light. A destructive power expanded dramatically like a small singularity, evolving into a large-scale explosion.

The moment the light exploded, a terrible darkness expanded to devour it mercilessly, bearing the incredible power to offset the explosion until it did next to nothing to the target.

Megan only felt her head throb for a fleeting moment. After shaking her head, she was good to go again.

Now, she was freed. She could finally break free of the restraints that had never been effective on her in the first place.

In the past, when Megan met a legendary mage from the Ministry of Magic, she always had to follow Auston’s order and pull back to pretend to be cautious of the magic bombs planted in her body. Now, she didn’t have to act at all.

The darkness that had devoured the explosion came from the Darkness Knight. Just like how Wayne had studied Senna and Anastasia, Auston had also examined Meagan thoroughly. He knew her like the back of his hand, whether it be her human form, semi-draconic form, or dragon form.

Wayne the Nature Knight had Senna. He was a dragonrider. Auston the Darkness Knight had Megan, and he was also a dragonrider.

That was another similarity they shared.

The white dragon shook her head. After a fleeting moment of confusion following the supposedly deadly explosion in her skull, she charged into the army of angels and breathed fire at them, roasting the false angels one after another.

The angels gathered for a counterattack, their white chains weaving and grappling the great dragon, but the great dragon shattered the chains with her unrivaled physical prowess.

Massive sacred lances fell from the sky, shattering as soon as they hit the dragon’s head.

The fight was unwinnable!

Celeste shook his head. He had no plan to join the fight. To prevent Megan from making a mess, he manipulated the white dragon’s senses and focused on harassing her, keeping her right at the gate of Heaven.

Megan was a magical creature born with the offensive power of a legendary mage. As she grew older, her power grew with her physique. She was now sixteen, still a girl in human terms.

Since she wasn’t a mage, she couldn’t shake off the influence on her senses. She relied solely on her raw power to resist the legendary mage’s vitality field. It didn’t matter that her senses were skewed. She simply sealed her senses and unleashed attacks indiscriminately. It didn’t matter if there were enemies in front of her when she could just crush everything in her way.

Her simple but effective style forced Celeste to treat her with caution. A great dragon’s destructive power could not be underestimated. Megan did have the power to break through the vitality field. If that happened, Auston would lose the stage to perform, too.

***

Alleyway.

A fight had broken out outside the vitality field. Juno volunteered to fight Silvia and Veronica with her sacred spear.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Three exchanges were all it took to make her head spin. With fine white scales covering her arms, Silvia threw incredibly powerful punches. Though she was also a Gold-ranked mage, Juno was forced to retreat after the three exchanges.

First, her spear was broken. Second, she raised her arms to shield herself. Third, she got punched in the face.

Silvia had fulfilled her wish. Back in the theater, she had told Auston to bring his illegitimate daughter, the Princess, home. Without her realizing it, she had not only met the Princess but also hit her.

Juno’s arms shook. Facing Silvia’s incredible speed that bordered on teleportation, she set up a Holy Light barrier right before her.

As she retreated ten steps, she set up a total of thirty barriers, each only lasting one second before Silvia shattered it with a punch. There was another whoosh coming from behind. Juno raised her eyebrow. She couldn’t use a crowd control magic with Silvia pressuring her, so when she realized Veronica was making a sneak attack, she cast a Holy Light defense instantly without turning around.

It was a Gold-ranked defensive spell. While she couldn’t stop the older Dragonblood’s attack, she could deal with the younger—

Bam!

Veronica’s punch shattered the Holy Light. Juno was sent flying with a stunned look on her face.

Who am I, where am I, and what is happening?

The spatial barrier in the alleyway originated from the Ministry of Magic, which extended the space indefinitely. It could only be shattered from the outside, or with an incredible burst of energy on the inside.

While the alleyway looked short and narrow, it was vast and boundless. The discrepancy between the illusion and the real thing caused misjudgment and prevented the physical type from controlling their power properly, putting battlemages like Silvia and Veronica at a disadvantage.

But Dragonbloods didn’t have to concern themselves with the technicalities. They just had to try their hardest.

Juno scrambled to her escape as the Dragonblood chased her. She had to use a variety of magic items to protect herself, but every time she put some distance between them, the Dragonbloods quickly caught up with her. Although she had incredible mastery over magic, her spellcasting was interrupted every time she tried to use an ultimate skill.

After a few tries, she gave up.

She grasped her cross pendant to put on the Church of Heavenly Father’s battle gear for clergywomen. Her golden eyes were radiant like those of an angel descending to the human world.

The transformation made her seem like a different person. Activating her divine blood, she exuded an overpowering pressure.

The change alerted Silvia. Beckoning Veronica over, she chanted and used Eyes of Nature’s Contract, her eyes glowing with green light. Behind her, the projection of the Goddess of Nature spread her arms, Her divine power descending.

As a Dragonblood and a blessed apostle, she was far from a simple Gold-ranked mage.

Meanwhile, Alan stalked toward Auston and faced the knights Auston had summoned with his cards, casting seals of Darkness.

The black webs burrowed out from spatial fissures to envelope the knights before black stakes pierced through the net, trapping the false knights in the magic circle.

A legendary mage’s mastery over magic manifested not only in their raw destructive power but more so in the tactics available to them. Their wealth of knowledge across different fields made them almost omnipotent, especially when facing someone weaker.

Auston had not reached the realm of legendary mages. His card deck was enough for him to face familiars, vessels for Demon Lords, and magical creatures like Megan, but not enough for him to defeat a legendary mage.

Alan easily sealed his best cards, including the Nature Knight he had summoned with Big Joker. He only faced some problems when he dealt with the Darkness Knight manifested from Little Joker.

“What are you waiting for, Auston?” Alan scoffed. “Show me your secret weapon.”

Auston didn’t respond to the provocation but instead kept drawing cards. He had enhanced the Death Knight of King of Spades recently, which should buy him some time.

“Give up. Megan isn’t Celeste’s match.” Darkness flooded from Alan’s eyes. “Celeste is up to something, but just like me, he’s interested in your secret. He won’t let Megan go. This isn’t the Lando Estate, so there is nowhere for you to go. Reveal your secret.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Auston drew a card impassively, imbuing it with mana to summon the Death Knight, who rode on an undead horse and wielded a knightly greatsword with an undead hound as a companion.

Bam!

The stakes and net of darkness caught the knight and sealed it.

Auston’s eyes twitched. Remembering the hateful mug of a certain someone swearing on the enhanced card, he wondered why he had believed the nonsense. Enhanced? The updated Death Knight was weaker.

“You know what I’m talking about, Auston. No, I should be calling you...”

“Darkness Knight!”