“It’s been a while,” Yasha growled as he stared intensely at the two mortals standing on the air before him.
“Not long enough,” Wukong lazily replied with seemingly little interest.
Wukong’s casual and disinterested response seemed to gain the ire of each of the dragons present. Still, before any of them could say or do anything rash, Yasha’s deep and thunderous voice rang in the ears of all those present.
“I wouldn’t have bothered to come if it wasn’t for one of our saints sending out a distress signal,” Yasha replied coldly, having already seen Harelk’s still-warm corpse. “After everything that happened last time, it was agreed that you wouldn’t do anything to harm any of my fellow dragons.”
“That was only on the condition that none of your dragons did anything to harm any of our people,” Ace snorted. “But since your little lizard was so intent on breaking your part agreement, why should we care about ours?”
“Who do you think you are to interject in a conversation between saints,” snapped Waxley – the Rocky Cave Dragon, as he glared at the dark-haired teen. “Be a good boy and let the…”
Before he could finish his sentence, an enormous flame-shaped palm appeared above his head, causing not only his but also the eyes of each of the dragons present to constrict into pinholes.
“[Divine Descent]!” Ace calmly voiced.
As the palm made contact with the top of the rocky-scaled dragon, the sound of a pained grunt could be heard through the explosion.
“I’ve already killed one dragon today,” Ace said as the smoke cleared, revealing the slightly dishevelled appearance of the immortal dragon. “Unless you want to be the second, I suggest you curb your arrogance in front of me!”
Though a few of Waxley’s grey rocky scales had been destroyed, the damage done was minimal at best. Still, the shock he was feeling at that moment couldn’t be put into words, and it wasn’t just him; ironically, all of the dragons were staring at Ace as though they had seen a monster.
“You…
Your comprehension,” Waxley stammered.
“It’s reached the deity realm!” Yasha said, finishing his junior’s sentence as its giant marble-like eyes narrowed.
He always knew Ace would be a threat in the future, potentially even more than Wukong, but he never would’ve imagined that he would’ve already reached such a level at such a young age.
He was seriously considering doing everything in his power to kill the boy now; the only problem was that even if he were successful, if anyone escaped and let the rest of their organisation know… If Ignus, the dragon king, was right about that mysterious master, the Dragon’s Pitt would be forced to face potential extinction.
The worst part was that, even after his breakthrough to the peak of the saint realm, he had no confidence in keeping up with Wukong if he was determined to leave. His speed back when they last met was too incredible, and he didn’t doubt for even one second that his speed had improved significantly since then.
“And what of it?” Ace asked indifferently.
“And there he goes again,” Amira rolled her eyes. “Our little son of heaven, showing off once again.”
“C’mon,” Ace voiced helplessly. “You can’t blame me for that.”
“Yes, I can,” Amira pouted. “And I will!”
Joel and the others looked at Amira as if they were looking at their idol. She was the only one who could control Ace so easily. Ace may be the strongest, but Amira was definitely the one in charge. Still, before Ace and his group could get too distracted talking amongst themselves, Yasha’s cold and thunderous growl brought them back to reality. “Why?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Why what?” Ace asked, his face returning to its previous indifference as he addressed the dragon hovering above him.
“Harelk’s a senior member of the Dragon’s Pitt; he knows better than to provoke any human unnecessarily for fear of them being related to your organisation,” Yasha explained slowly. “So him doing so unprovoked makes no sense.
We may have agreed not to harm you or your people, but unless you can give us a good enough response…
All of you can forget about leaving here with your lives!”
“Is that a threat?!” Wukong snapped as he summoned his crystalline bo-staff, lightning flickering in the depths of his excited eyes. “This king has already shown mercy by not hunting you overgrown li…”
Before he could finish his sentence, though, Ace placed a palm on his shoulder to stop him.
“Lance, pass me your spear for a moment,” Ace said with a calm confidence that prevented all those behind him from feeling fear.
“That Harelk attacked a member of my family because of this,” Ace explained calmly as he lifted the spear for each of them to see.
Clearly, no further explanation was needed. The moment each of the dragons saw the crystal white shaft and azure blade and, more importantly, sensed the esoteric aura it emanated, each of their eyes lit up with shock, which quickly turned into disbelief and unwillingness, and finally, rage!
“That spear…” Siltor, one of the two mid-staged saints – a golden dragon – voiced as he forcibly restrained his simmering wrath. “Where did you get it?”
“I got one of my seniors to turn the corpse of a dragon that I killed into this spear,” Ace explained calmly, paying no attention to the growing tension.
“You killed my…”
“MY SON…” Vana, the other of the two mid-staged saint-level dragons, roared hysterically as she glared at Ace with bloodshot eyes. “YOU KILLED MY SON?
I’LL KI…”
Vana had only flapped her wings once, allowing her to cover half the distance, when she was struck on the crown of the head by a human-sized bolt of lightning.
“You overgrown lizards never learn,” Wukong voiced, his body covered in flickering bolts of lightning as he casually held his staff over his shoulder, standing on the unconscious body of the cyan-coloured Aquatic Dragon. “None of you can even think of harming these brats with this king here.”
Once again, the dragons were rendered speechless! Whether it was speed or power, that last strike had surpassed anything most of them were capable of. Still, the most unbelievable part was that they could sense that the strike held an element of a soul attack.
It was at that moment that Yasha finally understood why Wukong and his group all seemed so at ease. They were genuinely confident in their ability to face his group. Even more, now that Vana had been dispatched. After a strike like that, though she was still alive, there was no chance she’d be able to get up any time soon!
“Yasha,” Siltor growled menacingly. “You better not even think about running away after finding the son of a bitch who murdered my son and attacked my wife.”
Yasha’s eyes flickered when he heard that. Truth be told, that was what he was thinking. After all, he no longer held his previous confidence about facing Wukong. But he knew there was no way Siltor would be able to obey that order.
The last eight or so years had been pure torture for Siltor and his wife, Vana. Not only had they had their first and only baby kidnapped before it had hatched. They were then forced to watch as their supreme leader was forced to call off their search prematurely after finding out that the kidnappers had been the Cult of Darkness.
Though there was no expert among the cult’s ranks that could even hope to oppose Ignus, all the senior members of the Dragon Pitt knew that whether it was the Cult or the Church, the power of those forces couldn’t be measured by the power of their individual experts.
As long as they were found and cornered outside of their HQ, they were more than capable of killing just about any member of the Cult – including the Empress of Darkness herself – but even if they were to lead every high-ranking member of the Dragon’s Pitt to attack the Cult’s HQ, it would only end in complete termination.
Still, as the parents, how could Siltor and Vana be content with letting things go just like that?
Yasha knew that had it not been for Ignus’ promise that should they receive any news of the unhatched Divine Dragon’s location or any of the experts of the cult; they would unhesitantly strike with the full power of the Dragon’s Pitt, both Siltor and Vana would’ve long since gone off on their own to search for their offspring – even if it meant death.
So the actions and mood of the parents came as no surprise after hearing about their child’s death, especially as the one responsible was standing directly in front of them.
The smart thing to do in such a precarious situation was to take a step back and let the others in the Pitt know what happened before coming up with a plan moving forward, but if he was to do that, Siltor would never follow them back, plus, his fellow dragons would more than likely look down on him for his cowardice.
They wouldn’t care for his excuses – the pride of a dragon was never to be infringed upon.
“Not a single human leaves here with their lives,” Yasha commanded as he steeled himself for what would undoubtedly be a bloody battle. “KILL THEM ALL!”