Chapter 297: A Horde of Dragons

Clad in blood-red armor, Wang Yu was like a streak of crimson lightning. He stomped on the mangled remains of a fallen Dragonfang Beast as he launched himself toward the next black-robed rider like a cannonball.

The blood armor writhed and morphed in sync with his motion. Chains of congealed, writhing crimson erupted from his back. Driven by Blood Tempest and the power of the Chariot, the chains lashed outward toward the surrounding Dragonfang Riders.

The black-robed rider directly in Wang Yu's path had no time to react. Before he could even scream, Wang Yu landed on his mount and sliced through the man's torso so cleanly that not a single drop of blood got on his blade.

"A half-draconian?" Wang Yu muttered to himself, eyes briefly lingering on the bifurcated corpse.

The man's muscle tissue was covered in rough, reptilian scales similar in nature to Noelle's old disguise, but far more primitive.

Then, with both hands, Wang Yu grasped his chains of blood that stretched out in every direction. Each chain was coiled tightly around the neck of a Dragonfang Beast.

With a mental push, he bound the chains together in a tangled net, linking the Dragonfang Riders to one another and ensuring that none of them could flee.

Only then did the black-robed, half-dragon spellcasters begin to react. But it was too late. Wang Yu moved faster than any of them could perceive—a brutal reminder of what happened when spellcasters let a knight close in on them.

One of them panicked, trying to force his mount into retreat, but the chain held fast.

The resulting jerk even caused another Dragonfang Beast to lurch sideways, nearly throwing its rider off entirely.

Wang Yu stomped down hard, pulverizing the skull of the Drakefang Beast beneath him. Then he raced up the chain like a blood-soaked predator, sprinting along it as though it were a bridge of bone and sinew. In an instant, he was in front of another black-robed foe, whose head he severed in a flash of steel.

The remaining riders quickly launched a volley of attacks at Wang Yu—bolts of necromantic energy, fireballs, wind blades, and lightning spears rained down from all sides.

But Wang Yu was far from helpless. He darted through the air with impossible agility, fueled by fighting spirit. Spinning, leaping, ducking, and pivoting, he evaded with ease, gliding along the chain-bridge like a phantom.

Every sweep of his starsteel blade reaped another soul. A dozen fell in mere moments as Wang Yu enacted a massacre with dizzying speed.

At last, a spell found its mark. A fireball struck Wang Yu's shoulder, charring the blood armor black and carving deep cracks in its plating. His ripples had informed him that there was nowhere to dodge; he had had to take the impact head-on.

The impact stilled him for a moment, and a necrotic beam struck him immediately after.

The enemies didn't hesitate. More spells surged toward him, seizing the opportunity to bury him in arcane fire and darkness.

Smoke and ash filled the sky. Fire mingled with necrotic fumes, obscuring the battlefield in a cloud of death. Through the haze, a falling figure could be glimpsed, his armor cracked, his body limp.

It looked as if Wang Yu had been killed.But before the robed attackers could celebrate, a blinding beam of silver light pierced the sky: the breath of the silver dragon Aurelian.

While the robed foes had been distracted by Wang Yu, Aurelian had been steadily gathering power. Suppressed though she was by the undead plane's resistance, her breath carried the might of a legend.

The beam struck not as a piercing ray but as a growing orb of blinding light, its energy compressed into a single point before erupting in a cataclysmic blast. The resulting shockwave swept away Dragonfangs and their riders like chaff before a storm.

All was turned to ash. Aurelian's dragonbreath had annihilated her pursuers in much the way that Sieg had once taken down an opponent high above the capital of Aleisterre.

As the smoke cleared, the blood-red armor that had plummeted toward the ground unfolded, revealing Wang Yu alive and wholly unscathed.

He hadn't been injured at all. The armor had taken the brunt of the damage, and his fall had merely been a maneuver to dodge the dragonbreath and redirect enemy attention.

He reshaped the remaining blood into the wings of a makeshift glider. Though Wang Yu couldn't fly—not yet, at least—the bloodcraft served to slow his descent well enough.

Someday, perhaps, the Chariot's power would evolve to the point where he could fly by sheer will alone.

A storm of wind swept upward as Avia's spell caught Wang Yu mid-fall and guiding him to the ground gracefully.

Above, Aurelian swept through the air in a wide circle. Finding no remaining threats, she recited a draconic incantation and channeled her magic to seal the silver rift she'd torn into this world. With a final beat of her wings, she descended.

Her form shimmered in mid-air, shrinking and twisting until she landed gracefully in her humanoid guise.

She looked precisely like what they had seen of her: flowing silver hair, a face of noble, serious beauty, and a tailored, almost military ensemble that exuded poise and grace.

Despite having once seen her in a memory crystal, Wang Yu couldn't help but murmur, "Damn, that's stylish." There was power and self-assurance in her bearing, like an iceberg crowned with moonlight—impossible to replicate, and impossible to ignore.

"Sister!"

From behind the transformed Sieg, Noelle sprang forward in a blur of joy, laughing gaily as she threw herself into Aeryllian's arms.

"It's been so long! You've grown so much," Aurelian said with a smile, her voice tender with affection. "I'm sorry, Noelle. I've been so busy that I couldn't be there for you. I'm grateful your brother looked after you."

The icy aura surrounding her melted. Holding Noelle close, she let the young dragon rub her soft cheek against hers with exuberant affection. Time hadn't dulled the bond of blood.

"Here. I brought a gift." Aurelian opened a small rift in space and retrieved a small, dark ring that hung from a simple cord. She placed it gently around Noelle's neck.

"This contains the legacy of red dragon magic—ancient draconic spells from generations past. Some are even from the Red Dragon King himself. Study it well. With your talent, you'll become a truly mighty dragon."

The ring was simple in design: it was little more than a band of dark metal adorned with a few crimson etchings, within which a red liquid pulsed faintly like molten lava.

It was pureblood red dragon essence, and though the energy it contained was vast and violent, the material of the ring somehow sealed it entirely.

"Thank you, Sister!"

Noelle beamed, holding the ring tight. She cared little for the power it represented, only that it came from her sister's hand.

With a smile, the red dragon girl gave Aurelian a kiss on the cheek, then turned and waved excitedly at her brother, beckoning him to come over.

"Long time no see, Sister."

Sieg made his way to her side, clearly unsure how to initiate the conversation. He finally settled for the plainest of greetings.

"It has been a long time," Aurelian said, setting Noelle down and embracing her brother. "Thank you for taking care of her all these years."

Though Sieg had a thousand things he wanted to tell her, now that they were actually face-to-face, he didn't know where to begin.

"I brought you something," Erelian continued. "I remembered how you love chasing down ancient mysteries across the continent. I gathered what I could over the years while evading my pursuers. I hope it's to your liking."

She sliced open another pocket in space and handed him a neatly bound collection of magical texts.

"Thank you."

Sieg accepted the gift, leafed through it briefly, and thanked his sister gratefully. Then came an awkward silence.

Seconds passed. Neither of them spoke. Noelle, standing between them both, glanced nervously from one to the other, anxious and fidgeting.

Standing next to Avia, Wang Yu rubbed his chin. It was plain to him that Aurelian wasn't particularly good at expressing emotion. After having given her gift to Sieg, she seemed to have run out of things to say.

With Noelle, the conversation had gone smoothly—children were simple to deal with, after all. But with Sieg, her gestures were necessarily more weighty. The silence dragged on.

It made sense. Dragons usually went their separate ways upon reaching maturity. For a family like Sieg's—three different species of dragons from the same brood, reunited under the shadow of a catastrophe—this reunion would be a rare and complicated thing.

"Sister, how have you been all these years?"

At last, Sieg broke the silence. He poured all the thoughts he had pent up into that one question.

"I've been well enough," Aurelian replied lightly. "My enemies haven't managed to stop me. And as the years go by, I'll keep growing stronger. Given enough time—and with help from others like me—I'll be able to bring It down."

Aurelian's tone was relaxed, but it was hard to tell if she were putting up a façade for Noelle and Sieg or if she truly believed what she was saying.

Wang Yu's ears perked up. He understood full well who It referred to—that terrible being who had descended from the sky and nearly obliterated Sieg with a single finger. Was Aurelian truly strong enough to challenge such a being?

"Who were those pursuers who forced their way into the undead plane?" Sieg asked again, more solemnly. "Were they humans? Why would anyone attack you?"

He was quite concerned that Aurelian had been pursued as she made her way toward their signal.

"They belong to the Church of Dragonkind," Aurelian explained. "It's a relatively new threat that emerged in the past century. They worship the dragons who serve It and help purge apostates like me. Don't worry—they're far easier to deal with than those frenzied dragons."

"They were able to follow me here only because I didn't want to waste time fighting. I opened the rift to get to you as quickly as I could."

She still sounded casual and untroubled, as if none of it truly mattered.

"The Church of Dragonkind?" Sieg's voice rose slightly. "Does that mean other races are now worshipping dragons? What It did to our kin—could the same thing be happening again elsewhere?"

"..."

Aurelian didn't reply at once. Her silence said more than words. "I will stop It," she said at last, firm and calm. "Leave it to me."

But that answer didn't satisfy Sieg.

"Sister, at least tell me what you're doing. Let me help, even just a little."

Aurelian shook her head. "I'm sorry. It is so powerful that even speaking of It can start to unravel fate. Just take care of Noelle. Seeing you both safe... that's enough for me."

"You can't carry everything alone," Sieg said, stepping forward and gripping her shoulder. "Let us share your burden."

"I know you want to help, but be rational." Aurelian's tone suddenly turned severe. "You're crippled. What can you possibly do? You're incapable of anything!"

The words struck like lightning. She gripped Sieg's hand, tore it from her shoulder, and flung him away with stunning force. His humanoid form crashed into a distant knoll, sending up a cloud of dust.

"Try turning into a dragon," Aurelian said icily. "You need to understand just how powerless you really are. This isn't the time to play the hero. This is your sister teaching you a lesson."

In her lithe silver dragon form, she swooped toward Sieg. Her words, sharp and unyielding, cut the air as if they were blades.

On the verge of tears, Noelle found herself levitated by a spell and deposited beside Wang Yu and Avia. The girl clung to Avia's arm, trembling. Neither Wang Yu nor Avia said a word. Perhaps, they thought, this was just... a very typical sibling quarrel, in dragon terms.

A violet arc of electricity split the sky. The dust that had been raised by Sieg's impact was forced down flat to the earth under immense pressure, revealing the form of a dragon.

Aurelian's eyes widened slightly. Magic? But wasn't Sieg crippled?

"I once had a dear friend," Sieg said, his voice resolute, "who tried to bear everything alone. And it killed him. Sister, I won't watch you walk the same path."

He stepped forward, now in full dragon form—a great and powerful beast, more muscular than most dragons, rippling with toughened strength.

Across his body, complex glowing circuits of arcane design flared to life: artificial magi-tech circuits, alchemical in nature, unaffected by the laws of this plane.