While Cheshire was having her heated staring contest against the man; things were taking a rather interesting turn on the little amphibian's side.
“““WE BEAR WITNESS AND WILL SERVE YOU FOREVER!”””
Those voices seemed to shake the very planet itself, all of the mortals within the settlement bowed down at the young dragoness, unable to hold in the reverence they were feeling. It was not the first time they’ve seen these immortal beasts fight one another. Some of them even use the treatment of their workers as a reason to avoid getting into more conflict. Even then it was mostly about how disgusting it was to actually mate with a squishy & weak mortal rather than the actual abuse performed on them.
However the “Mother” was different from the start. Not only did she not look towards the mortals with scorn but even told them they had no reason to take the knee toward her. To put the cherry on top she even came up with a fitting punishment that didn’t leave the mortals up the stream with no paddle.
With these powerful drakes unable to refuse their commands - this small settlement of theirs would at least have some level of protection. As low level mortals they didn’t think too deeply, nevertheless, they still vaguely realised that there would be some issues if all those drake's died. She too had already thought ahead of them all so raised her hand to stop their declarations of respect to their new ‘master’.
“I have no interest in micromanaging the lives of any of you yet I am not so narrow minded as to not notice that your masters will gain vigilance once they stop receiving the results of your labour. Use those who once held your chains to till the ground and unearth the hidden gems. You can also have them retain connections between their elders to avoid any vigilance on the part of the lizards.”
Her graciousness seemed to confuse those humans as they looked among themselves; appearing to not be able to comprehend what she said.
Meanwhile those recently dealt with dragon-kin were gaining their second wind (whether due to the break provided from those chains vanishing anger) as they rose from the ground. Once those runes finally finished engraving themselves into the drakes they were initially just dropped on the ground. It would have taken a lot out of them if they peacefully accepted the binding yet there was no way those prideful drakes didn’t put their all into resisting Alice’s sorcery.
“Fortunately” those quad-pedal earth-locked lizards were the sturdiest of their kind, made from the toughest dragon genes there were, so their stamina and recovery were unbeaten. At least if you conveniently forgot that the obsidian turtles were a clan. Although many people overlooked them on account of their emotional loyalty to their shells; they never left them.
Despite just going through such a harrowing experience - one that no dragon had experienced since Atlas first judged existence could come into existence - they still managed to grit their teeth. Pushing their heavy bodies up from the ground. Hearing all the nonsense from the scaless made the strongest among them erupt in an ear rending shout that should have sent those humans to an early grave if not for the goddess creating a barrier hexagonal barrier with a causal flick of her hand.
“Do you think there is any chance that we will willingly allow you to take advantage of us; we would all sooner die than submit to those hairless apes!”
Slamming her claws into the ground to rend it as well as cause those hoomans to shiver in fear on account of never seeing so much power being delivered so casually.
“Submit to me and I may spare you a fate worse than death you scum!”
Quickly those hoomans began to lose all confidence in the so-called Mother so began to bow their heads in obedient submission to the dragon-kin. Many begged for mercy, some even for the girl who helped them, yet they were a minority. A lot of those hoomans ended up actually blaming Alice for everything.
Swearing that they had no interest in betraying their wingless masters.
This sight made that drake quickly smirk, showing off her sharp fangs, as she took in the obedience of the mortals with all the grace of a square made of lead. Letting out a loud & bellowing guffaw as her gaze turned to the sword carrying dragoness with all the scorn that was to be expected. It was clear to anyone that she wasn’t planning nice things as he essentially towered over everyone else.
Narrowing their eyes as he looked down at her.
Mother simply stood there with her eyes closed and the same kind smile that her own mother had always taught her to use when around the mortals. A lesson, like many others, she took to her heart. That smile did not even falter for a second as she moved a hand to tap her chin while the other lovingly caressed the handle of her sword.
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Because she didn’t have any hope in the mortals to begin with.
Why would a god have belief in those lower than them?
To her it is like being angry at a small animal running away from a large hungry beast - it only made sense it would happen. If it didn’t happen she may tilt her head slightly but she would hardly be upset. There was no expectation that these hoomans would possess any loyalty towards her as she didn’t see them on the same level as her nor even that cat.
She expected no genius.
She expected no power.
She expected no grace.
They were just another being that just so happened to possess a unique trait called “sentience” so could be of more use to a goddess like her. As a goddess under the branches of life (specifically concepts such as growth, potential & adoption) she even wished that they could prosper in a mutually exclusive fashion not worship her. If anything, seeing them adapting to the changing situation so quickly was something she found completely praise worthy…
Even if it was stupid in the end.
“I challenge you to a duel with the loser becoming a servant!”
Unlike the trio from before the female was a far more traditional drake as she had sturdy scales that looked akin to the dirt below. As a whole she also ended up being far bulkier than her wood-adorned superiors which did not really mean much since she was also smaller as a whole. Mother did raise a brow at how she had already run into a second duel, if this time not for her chastity, yet she just gave a faint nod in agreement as this would make things far more simple.
“As it stands I can certainly just limit you with my magic…”
Raising a hand as the other drakes found themselves soon screaming in pain as the runes from prior began to light up all across their body.
“However I have need for more combat experience so this is acceptable.”
Hearing that, the drake grinned maliciously, not wishing to spare a single moment of preparation for Alice as if to prevent her from drawing her sword. Something she indeed didn’t do. Because this time she had no desire to finish this fight with [Deciding Draw] since she had far more to practise with.
Lifting her hand caused hundreds of energy tipped tree roots to burst through the ground to slam into the underside of the lunging drake. Some of those roots merely scratched the surface of her scales; however even most drakes had a far softer underbelly which allowed for some to gorge out her flesh. Although they weren’t able to handle her weight so ended up snapping off; this still led to that girl letting out a roar of pain as blood poured down onto the ground below. A scene that led to some of those mortals (watching from within the vibrant green barrier) build up hope if just for a second.
Gritting its teeth it backed away as Alice just flicked her hand again to cause the broken off tips to quickly grow into new trees while the remaining roots charged in to attack again. The rain of wooden spears was a vision that would reduce most to tears yet that drake instead smugly smirked. With another roar it quickly sunk into the dirt making the attack completely miss.
Moments later a sharp claw emerged from the earth just as Mother jumped aside to avoid that blow; the dust & debris engulfing her figure for a second. By the time it settled the claw already retreated back under the earth. Even then there wasn’t even a speck of dirt that remained on Alice.
“Hahaha you’ll never touch me now so you may as well surender!”
“Hm… It’s a good thing I did this so I could prepare a technique for this now.”
In spite of the drakes' worlds, Alice just stood there, she slowly drew her sword with her right hand while tapping her chin. Soon the tip of her sword came down to rest upon the ground with a *ding* as she finally nodded her head as if coming to an understanding. Her sword energy built up as she called out the name she thought up just now - finding the name more difficult than the mechanics.
“[Earth Rupture].”
A name that ended up being quite fitting.