Little Seventh flew above the royal court inside the keep. It sensed its Master somewhere in the crowd, but it only saw humans staring in awe at it.

In the crowds, Makarios stood unnoticed by his servant next to Oleandra. They both looked at the messy bird flying around the room's chandeliers.

"Little seven was turned to stone... did he free himself?" Makarios rubbed his chin, perplexed by the appearance of Little Seventh. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. "The magic of Oleandra's pendant caused me and Little Seventh to lose all our magic. Is the suppressive effect it had on us only temporary?"

Makarios looked at his hand and then at the confused Oleandra. Turning around, Makarios pushed the people around him out of the way as he sprinted for the exit. After a few steps, Makarios collapsed. He crawled desperately on his knees, trying to get as far from Oleandra as possible. The sound of glass shattering silenced the entire room.

Makarios felt a sharp pain in every bone in his body. An immense burning sensation spread all throughout his flesh.

Oleandra ran to Makarios, who was clutching the ground in pain. “Quick, bring me a medic.” She shouted as he reached to grab his shoulder. Makarios grunted in pain at Oleandra's request and pushed Oleandra away. With little effort, she was tossed several feet away from him.

96 black glowing hexagrams appeared around Makarios. His body began to grow, the air began to distort, and his smooth human skin was ripped apart by what was emerging from within.

His spine ripped out of his flesh. It looked like a long serpent made of bones. The crowd of wealthy and royal figures stared at Makarios in horror before a collective scream could be heard.

King Aster stared at the gruesome transformation occurring in the center of his throne room. He looked at Oleandra. She was struggling to stand up.

Without care, he jumped into the chaos of the crowd and sprinted towards his daughter.

A giant red tail came swinging, smashing through the panic-filled crowd and hitting King Aster. The tail whipped him, sending him to crash toward a side wall. Unlike the unfortunate bystanders, his royal armor took most of the damage.

In seconds, Makarios transformed into his true self, a red and white dragon: Lord Seventh.

Oleandra stood up to see the bodies of unconscious people strewn around. In the center of the chaos was a giant dragon. It was the same dragon that had almost killed her when she entered the ancient ruins.

Little Seventh began flying ecstatically around Lord Seventh. “Yes! I knew you were somewhere around here, master,” he shouted excitedly.

“The dragon is Makarios? Why didn’t he kill me?” Oleandra realized. Her mind became flooded with questions. She stood frozen, staring at the giant beast before her.

Queen Rocio was escorted outside along with many injured citizens.

In the East Wall near the throne room's entrance, King Aster shouted orders at a group of royal guards. “I don’t care what you do. Bring me my daughter without a hair on her being hurt.” the king shouted at the guards.

The guards ran towards Oleandra. They tossed their spears at Lord Seventh, and like needles hitting a metal plate, the spears bounced off his dragon scales.

Dozens of guards tried to get near Oleandra. Before anyone got too close, Lord Seventh smashed his claw into the ground. His talons stabbed into the marbled floor, shaking the room's foundation. The shaking forced the guards to take a knee.

Bringing them all to a standstill, Lord Seventh swung his tail, brushing the guards away as softly as he could. Oleandra was left alone before Lord Seventh.

“We made a deal! I kept my end of the bargain, and I expect you to do the same.” The voice of Lord Seventh was like thunder. Each word caused immense vibrations in the stoned walls of the room.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“It was all a lie?" Oleandra asked, her voice becoming a whisper. She looked at her reflection on the cracked marble floor, and her brows furrowed. "That story about your family and love for gemstones was all lies! I made a deal with a man who doesn't exist, not with a dragon.” Oleandra shouted.

Unlike his, hers was loud but fell soft on the stone walls. Clutching her blue pendant, she continued, “Contracts founded in lies have no merit!”

Hearing her words, a stomach-churning growl came from Lord Seventh before calmly replying. “Who are you to merit my truth? I could kill you right now and take what I want. Be grateful you have found little favor in me.”

Lord Seventh's cold, serpent-like eyes stared at Oleandra's unwavering, unbroken dark eyes.

Giving a loud exhale, Lord Seventh addressed her again. "My lie was my grace, and my contract my mercy. Both I extended unto you, but you are reckless, Oleandra!”.

Before Oleandra could reply, a man in a gold and black robe with a metal spear dashed past her.

Lord Seventh saw the black-robed man charge toward him long before he had finished speaking. Lord Seventh raised his right claw, forming it into a fist, and dropped it on the incoming stranger.

The black-robed stranger leaped into the air, evading the dragon's fist. The stranger pointed his spear at Lord Seventh. 3 glowing blue hexagrams materialized before his spear. In a flash, a streak of lightning shot out of the tip of his metal spear.

The traveling arc of lightning exploded when it made contact with Lord Seventh. The force of the explosion cracked a few of his scales, but the damage was negligible.

In the distance, King Aster expressed relief at the sight of the black-robed stranger.

Oleandra also recognized the lightning: “The Lion of Nidorei, with his ancient relic, he might even be able to slay Makarios.” She calculated, struggling with whether to intervene.

As the Lion of Nidorei landed back on the floor after his attack, Lord Seventh mocked him. “You call that Lightning? Let me show you true lightning.” After saying that, 12 ocean-blue glowing hexagrams materialized around Lord Seventh. The sky from outside began rumbling, responding to his lightning magic.

In response, the Lion of Nidorei lifted his spear. 24 sky-blue hexagrams appeared around him. Roars filled the sky, responding to Lord Seventh's and the Lion of Nidorei's lightning magic. It was as if two celestial beasts were competing in the night sky with each other.

Two bolts of lightning descended into the castle's keep. The two electric energies fused and ripped through the roof of the keep. They cascaded towards their Lion of Nidorei.

He raised his metal spear to the sky. The duo electric river instantly connected with it. His black robes were incinerated, revealing the silver armor and blonde hair of the Lion of Nidorei. His metal spear began vibrating as it devoured the two lightning bolts.

Part of the lightning created a blue electric armor over his silver armor. However, the other half of the lightning was like a foreign serpent exploding as it made contact with the spear.

“Interesting, he's using a lightning enhancement spell to counter my lightning attack spell.” Lord Seventh observed the Lion of Nidorei with a bit of curiosity.

Unable to contain the full force of Lord Seventh’s lightning attack spell. The rivers of lightning exploded, sending the Lion of Nidorei crashing against a wall.

Everything had occurred too fast. Oleandra was standing too close to the explosion and was knocked unconscious. Her limb body hit the cracked marble ground.

Lord Seventh paid attention to the unconscious Oleandra. His eye was on the blue pendant around her neck.

He could see the Lion of Nidorei standing up from his periphery. He didn't seem to have taken much damage. He seemed to have grown even stronger than before. Blue sparkling armor covered his silver armor.

The Lion of Nidorei continued his assault and swiftly threw his spear. His spear was covered with a sparkling blue net. It appeared like a shard of lightning itself.

Before the spear could reach Lord Seventh, 48 purple Hexagrams appeared around him. The spear was drastically slowed down and brought crashing to the ground. In the distance, the Lion of Nidorei was forced to drop to his knees. He was struggling to fight off an intense force pulling him down.

Lord Seventh didn't even bother to look at the result of his magic spell. He picked up Oleandra and looked at Little Seventh hiding in a corner. “It’s time for us to go.” His voice rumbled as he slowly levitated in the air.

Before leaving, Lord Seventh turned towards the Lion of Nidorei, who was still struggling against his spell. The young warrior was trying his hardest not to be crushed by the force pulling him down.

Lord Seventh’s voice boomed, “Pray you never meet me again, little warrior!”

Holding Oleandra safely in his giant palms, Lord Seventh broke through the hole from where the lightning had descended. He and Little Seventh flew across the night with the full moon hanging high.