Chapter 169: Impossible Odds (IX)

The dragon flexed his fingers as the glow completely subsided and the orb on his head pulsed a few times before settling to a constant glow.

The backlash from earlier overuse faded to a distant memory; wounds sealed without effort. He could feel the world bending to accommodate him now.

’This’, he thought with savage ecstasy, ’this is what it means to be whole again. Two seals broken. One remains. And soon…’

His golden eyes lifted to the obsidian gates looming ahead. He had waited three thousand years to get what should have always belonged to him.

Two figures emerged from the shadows of nearby ruins, approaching with cautious deference.

The first was a broad-shouldered man in his late-twenties, he had dark skin and a clear muscular build with short black hair. Beside him walked a scrawny youth, no older than nineteen, he had long blonde hair and his cheeks were a little sunken. The blonde youth had a scar running down the left side on his face and he was grinning wildly.

They had been among the strongest to challenge him during the massacre. Both survived longer than most, then made the smart choice: kneel and pledge service when the dragon offered mercy to the wise.

“You two,” the dragon said, voice resonant with amplified authority, turning to face them fully. His four wings folded partially against his back, casting long shadows that made the men seem smaller. “You the young boy will be the High Priest and you,” he pointed to the other man. “You will be the Archbishop.”

They dropped without hesitation, foreheads nearly touching marble and said in unison. “As you wish your majesty!”

He smiled at them. “Stand up, hehe. You both are smart, unlike your fellow humans who threw their life for nothing.”

At that time the blonde youth stood straight and said while grinning like a madman. “They were nor for vein though… they helped you become stronger, didn’t they?”

The dragon looked at him and then laughed as he patted his shoulder. “You are a great mind as I thought. Indeed I became stronger.”

Without wasting much time… the dragon started its pursuit towards the gates of the Inner ring.

The two wingmen he had recruited followed behind him.

Ishiki and Kaori watched all this while hiding behind a house at some distance. And they didn’t take any action, because really it was pointless to act now.

The dragon had already killed enough people and he had lost his interest… for the time being. After all he too could not kill everybody. Then what will his so called empire be built on?

’Well… never question the sentience of ancient beings, who knows he might invite the withering beasts.’ Ishiki commented in his heart.

In a way it was actually helpful to them only. If the dragon wanted to kill the emperor then they should let him go ahead and do his work.

Isn’t it ultimately their win… as they emperor dies the scenario would be over and they would be able to return back to earth after all this time.

But the main problem there was the fact that the dragon was not even able to go inside the Inner ring… a strange barrier protected the walls.

It was not yet clear it was only effective to the dragon or anyone else too? It was not effective in humans that was sure.

Kaori and Ishiki both walked behind the dragon and his two subordinates, still hiding in the shadows and being careful as the two people were clearly very dangerous.

In no time the dragon reached close enough to the tall obsidian gates that the barrier was activated. Purple lighting streaked around the ancient beings body. He took a step backwards and the lightning vanished.

The Invisible barrier was strong but not so string as to harm him.

He thought for a good second and then gestured one of his newly found subordinates… the large man with dark skin to walk forward.

The middle aged man gulped and then strode forward with some hesitation… but he crossed the threshold without any difficulty.

The dragon watched it with narrowed eyes and then told the blonde youth to do the same… he watched as the young guy too passed without any interference.

’Earlier I threw that demon here…’ The dragon thought and looked around but didn’t find the body. ’Did he burned doe to the purple lightning.

’ He mused.

Based on what he saw he theorized that the goddamned barrier was made just for non human things.

The dragon raised both hands toward the invisible barrier protecting the Inner Ring, golden light gathering between his palms with effortless intensity. No longer restrained by the second seal, the power flowed like water from an uncapped spring

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The golden energy lanced forward, slowly spreading through the invisible barrier.

The barrier tried to resist… the purple lightning crackled around the dragon and attacked it without restraint.

The dragon laughed and the orb on his head shimmered with deep golden light that went to his body and then outside into the barrier.

Then it shattered, golden fragments dissolving into sparks. The defensive matrix unraveled like thread pulled from frayed cloth and the whole invisible barrier boke.

Silence fell as the light faded. Only the obsidian gates remained—massive slabs of black stone that seemed imposing against the tiny humans.

The dragon assessed them with narrowed eyes. “Now, the true doors.”

Golden flames erupted around his body—not the annihilating light from before, but pure fire, hot enough to melt steel, summoned with a thought. He hurled the inferno forward and waves of searing heat rolled toward the gates.

The flames engulfed the obsidian stone, licking hungrily at the surface. Marble around the gates blackened and cracked from radiant heat. Air warped with distortion.

But the gates… endured.

There was not a single crack on them… not even scorch marks. The gates refused to let the monster in.

The dragon lowered his hands, flames dying. A low chuckle escaped him. “Clever. Fitting for cowards hiding Inside.”

The dragon’s body shimmered with a blinding light as his horns expended and shifted.

His body began to change… in size and shape as it swelled massively. The wings behind him grew larger and larger, unfurled to twenty-meter spans. Scales cascaded across skin in waves of gold and crimson.

In no time, his true form… the draconic majesty towered twenty meters high, blotting the crimson sky.

The dragon charged and rammed into the gates. Four limbs propelled tons of muscle and scale forward with apocalyptic momentum.

The left gate met the impact.

CRACK.

The sound resonated like thunder across the entire island. Obsidian weighing thousands of tons fractured inward. Hinges screamed, shearing apart. The gate teetered—

Then collapsed.

It plummeted into the Inner Ring’s pristine plaza, crashing with earth-shaking force. Dust billowed skyward like a mushroom cloud of pulverized stone obscuring the golden spires beyond.

The roar echoed everywhere—from shattered Outer Ring to the every part of the secondary ring.

Players poured from cover, racing toward the sound. Dozens, then hundreds, converging on the massive breach.

Overhead, the Crimson Moon was suddenly engulfed by the coldness of the pale celestial body turning into the cold and true moon… marking the start of true night.

The Silver Moon reigned above all in the skies.

The dragon reverted to humanoid form amid settling dust, breathing steady despite the exertion. Even amplified, such raw power demanded toll. He stepped over the rubble into the Inner Ring—pristine avenues, blooming gardens, untouched opulence mocked the carnage outside.

His new subordinates flanked him, eyes wide at the splendor. “Magnificent, my lord,”

Fifty meters back, Ishiki and Kaori crouched amid debris as they looked at the scene in bewilderment. The gate’s fall had shaken them forward.

“It’s inside,” Kaori hissed. Her powers had just gotten to bare minimum thanks to the silver moon. “We follow?”

Ishiki thought for a second and then shrugged. “I mean what else is there? If he actually kills the emperor, we win.”

Kaori snorted, but nodded. “Suicide, but fine.”

They ran towards the gates of the Inner ring which had always been closed up until now.

The dragon strode the avenue ahead, subordinates shadowing him, vanishing around a bend toward the distant palace.

Ishiki crept forward, Kaori trying to match his superhuman pace.

Suddenly… a crimson thread lashed from pillar-shadows beside the right gate.

It was hair-thin and needle like sharp. And it was aimed directly at Ishik

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