Chapter 357: Chapter 357 : The Might Of The Dragon King

On the other hand, in Avaloria, as the destruction finally began to subside, the true scale of the battle became clear.

All the dragons that had attacked the empire—at least a thousand of them—now lay dead.

Their corpses were scattered across the ruined landscape, massive bodies twisted and broken, blood pooling beneath them and staining the cracked ground dark red. Burned wings, severed tails, shattered horns—the sky that had once been filled with draconic shadows was empty now.

Nobody could believe what they were seeing.

Alicia von Crestvale stood atop a hill of dragon corpses, like an enraged goddess of death.

Her hair, streaked with blood and light, fluttered in the wind. Her aura still burned, thick and suffocating. Her eyes were wild, yet focused, locked on the last enemy before her.

Vrakkas.

She held him up by the neck with one hand, lifting his dragon‑kin body effortlessly off the ground. His legs dangled uselessly, claws scraping at empty air as he struggled to breathe.

He managed to force out a muffled, ragged voice. “R‑Release me… you monster…”

Alicia’s bloodlust only grew.

Her lips curled into a horrifying smile, one that sent a chill down the spine of everyone watching—human and dragon alike. There was a cruel edge in her eyes, as if she were taking pleasure in every second of Vrakkas’s suffering.

Then she moved.

Her foot slammed into his chest with a thunderous crack.

The force of the kick shattered his scales, ribs breaking like brittle glass. Vrakkas’s body shot upward, tearing through the air, leaving a trail of blood as he was launched into the sky.

Pain exploded through him.

’How… how could it be…?’ he thought as he flew.

’I, the great commander of the dragon legion… losing to a human child…? History will remember me as the greatest stain on dragonkind…’

He gritted his teeth.

His will to fight flickered, then stubbornly reignited.

’No. If I’m going to die… I’ll at least take her down with me… that bit—’

He never finished the thought.

A second impact came from above.

Alicia was already there, sword descending like judgment. The blow hammered him straight back down, his body crashing into the ground hard enough to carve out a massive crater, earth and rubble exploding outward.

Vrakkas staggered to his feet, bones broken, scales cracked, breathing shallow.

And then the horrifying truth hit him.

He could no longer track her.

At the beginning, he had at least been able to see her movements, even if he couldn’t fully react. Now, his eyes couldn’t follow her at all. The more they fought, the stronger she was becoming.

He barely managed to stand when—

She was already in front of him.

Before he could even raise his arms, Alicia’s sword moved.

In less than a second, countless cuts opened across his body. Thin lines of blood appeared on his chest, arms, and legs—followed by a delayed explosion of pain.

Then she cut his wings.

Steel flashed.

Vrakkas let out an inhuman scream as both of his wings were severed at the base, falling lifelessly to the ground with a heavy thud. His body crumpled, balance shattered.

High above, the last remaining dragons saw the state of their commander.

Panic exploded.

They tried to flee, wings beating frantically as they turned away from the battlefield.

Black lightning and fire tore through the sky.

Zara and Aldric, who had been watching carefully to intercept any large-scale attacks, moved in tandem. Spells and slashes incinerated the fleeing dragons mid‑flight, reducing them to falling ash and broken scales.

Vrakkas, lying on the ground broken and bleeding, stared at the sky.

He realized it was hopeless.

He couldn’t defeat this human girl.

He smiled bitterly as he felt a distant, overwhelming presence watching from far away—Zarvok, the Dragon King.

’So you’re not going to save me, huh, Zarvok…’ he thought.

’Figures. I failed my mission, so you’ve deemed me expendable. A stain on our race.’

He clenched his jaw.

’So be it.’

Vrakkas began to overload his core, forcing every last fragment of energy in his body into a single point. Frost and flame twisted inside him, spiraling toward detonation.

’If I’m dying… I’ll at least take you with me.’

He lunged suddenly and grabbed Alicia’s ankle with his ruined hand, locking his claws around her leg.

“I’m… gonna take you down with me,” he hissed.

Zara’s eyes widened.

She felt the sudden spike of unstable energy and screamed, “Alicia! Get away from him—!”

Too late.

A blinding flash swallowed them.

A massive explosion erupted where Vrakkas and Alicia stood, a roaring sphere of light and force that shook the capital. The shockwave flattened buildings, split streets, and sent soldiers flying off their feet. For a moment, the entire world seemed to vanish in white.

Seeing that enormous explosion, Serena instinctively moved.

She was about to sprint toward the blast zone when Alyssa and Tania grabbed her arms, holding her back with all their strength.

“Let me go!” Serena yelled, eyes wild. “She must be hurt—she needs me! Let go!”

But Alyssa didn’t release her.

“First calm down and look closely,” Alyssa said, voice firm despite the chaos.

As the light faded and the dust slowly cleared, the crater came into view.

Alicia stood at its center.

Her clothes were torn, her hair disheveled, soot and blood smeared across her body—but aside from a few visible cuts and bruises, there were no fatal wounds.

Around her, a faint, slowly dimming barrier flickered like a cracked shell. It held for a final heartbeat, then shattered and disappeared.

“See?” Alyssa said. “Before the explosion hit, she wrapped herself in a barrier. It shielded her from most of the blast. When it broke, she only took the backlash head‑on. The kid is smart.”

Serena stared, then finally let out a long breath of relief.

’Good… she’s not badly hurt…’

Alyssa turned to Tania. “Where’s Evelyn?”

Tania’s expression grew tight. “After the barrier around the empire collapsed, the backlash hit her hard. She’d been pouring mana into it nonstop. She got knocked unconscious… and she still hasn’t woken up.”

“At least her core isn’t damaged,” Alyssa said. “Maintaining a barrier that big is an extraordinary feat on its own.”

Tania nodded, pride flickering in her eyes despite the worry. “Yeah. She did well.”

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the sight of the dragon commander’s death ignited something in the soldiers.

The troops of Avaloria raised their weapons and shouted, voices hoarse but triumphant.

They cheered Alicia’s name again and again.

“Alicia! Alicia! Alicia!”

Some fell to their knees and cried.

Others laughed in exhausted disbelief.

The impossible had happened—the dragon army had been crushed.

But Aldric’s voice cut through the celebration.

He pointed toward Alicia, still standing alone in the crater. “What about her?” he said quietly. “Her bloodlust is still increasing. I can feel it from here.”

Serena stiffened.

“It seems she still can’t fully control her powers,” Aldric continued. “She’s somehow stopping herself from attacking us… but I don’t know how long she can hold it back.”

“You’re right,” Serena said, worry flooding her face. “That’s why Reynard and I told her to use it only when the situation is truly dire…”

“That’s concerning,” Aldric murmured.

Before anyone could stop her, Serena pulled free and began walking toward Alicia again, ignoring Alyssa and Tania’s attempts to restrain her.

She approached slowly, step by step.

Alicia turned her head.

Her aura glared like a physical force, pressing against Serena—but Serena didn’t stop. She walked right up to her daughter and gently cupped her cheek.

“You’ve done enough,” Serena said softly. “We’ve won. Let’s go home.”

Alicia’s eyes trembled.

Her aura slowly began to recede, the wild pressure dimming, like a raging sea finally beginning to calm.

Just then—

Everyone felt it.

A presence unlike anything they had ever encountered descended upon them.

It was not just power.

It was domination.

Their hearts stuttered. Their bodies locked. Pure instinct screamed danger.

A figure materialized in the sky above the capital.

He had the same dragon‑kin appearance as the others—but more refined, more terrifying. Taller, broader, with flawless obsidian scales veined with molten gold. A crown of jagged horns curved back from his temples, and his eyes burned with ancient, predatory intelligence. Every breath he took seemed to weigh on the world itself.

The Dragon King.

Zarvok.

Alicia’s instincts reacted before her mind.

She shoved Serena away, aura flaring anew as she shot into the sky.

In a blur, she appeared before Zarvok, sword already swinging, aiming straight for his neck in a single, decisive strike meant to end everything.

The blade cleaved through the air.

Dust and shockwaves exploded.

When the air cleared, Zarvok was still there.

Not a single scratch marred his neck.

He looked down at her with mild curiosity. “Wow,” he said. “A vessel, huh. I didn’t expect to see one here. So that’s why Vrakkas lost.”

Alicia’s eyes widened.

Her attack hadn’t even fazed him.

She disappeared again, pushing her battered body to the limit as she unleashed a flurry of strikes from every angle—neck, heart, eyes, joints.

Zarvok didn’t bother to move.

Her sword met invisible resistance each time, as if the world itself refused to let her hit him. To the onlookers, it simply looked like her attacks stopped centimeters away from his body.

Then Zarvok’s aura flared.

A wave of pure power washed over her, invisible yet overwhelming.

Alicia’s body spasmed.

Blood burst from her mouth as she was smashed out of the sky, crashing into the ground hard enough to carve another crater.

Silence fell.

The soldiers who had just been cheering were struck mute.

The girl who had slaughtered countless dragons—a walking calamity in their eyes—had been swatted aside by a single pulse of aura.

Zarvok blurred and appeared beside Alicia’s fallen form.

“You need more time to develop before you can take on someone like me,” he said conversationally. “Right now, you’ve only tasted a fragment of the power you’re capable of wielding.”

Alicia forced herself to stand again, legs shaking.

Zarvok sighed.

His hand shot forward.

His arm pierced straight through her stomach.

Too fast for anyone to see.

“Too bad,” he said. “What a waste of potential.”

Blood spilled from Alicia’s nose and mouth.

Her body trembled, then collapsed, falling limp to the ground. No one moved. No one could. Zarvok’s presence pinned them all in place like insects under glass.

Only a single scream broke the silence.

Serena’s.

“No! Alicia—NO!”

Her voice cracked as she watched her daughter fall.

Zarvok pulled his arm back, flicking the blood away as if it were nothing, and turned toward the gathered humans.

“Where is your king?” he said calmly, voice echoing over the ruined city. “I need his head. Call him. Where is he?”

Mana crackled threateningly around him.

“Call him,” Zarvok continued, “or I will kill every human here.”

Silence.

No one answered.

Then Zara moved.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to speak. “Look behind you,” she said.

Zarvok’s eyes narrowed.

He turned.

A silver‑haired boy was standing near Alicia’s fallen body.

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