Raise Of The Young Azure Dragon!

In the battle of the Eclushisk Contrail Region's headquarters and Small City, where the former's protective array formation barriers had tumbled down already, the latter was still being bombarded full-on by the Second and Third fleets. Ishikyy led one of the charging armies.

BOOM! Bang, bang, bang- pshift! Pshift, pshift, pshift! Puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf, puf...!

"Move!! Energy attacks, go! Blues, activate formation!!" A simple, exhausting round of machine gun fire and shelling targeted her side of the battlefield. Ishikyy didn't need to warn the Imperial Guards as everyone took devices out and formed an energy shield wall together that easily resisted the incoming bullets but rippled and started cracking. A few soldier units were hit by the enemy shelling and were smacked down to the ground. On the contrary, the Blue Force's personnel covered their wall spots flawlessly, with none falling to the enemy’s firepower. The fallen non-special soldier units were quickly replaced by other Imperial Guards.

After receiving the enemy’s massive weapons fire, she yelled to the top of her lungs, and the medallions of a few tens of thousands warmed up to her call. She was still a Captain, and these military units she led were ‘lent’ for the war, not from her rank alone. The soldier units she led immediately got to work, kneeling in their positions while receiving enemy energy attacks, and the citizen soldier units also knelt to fire their unique rifles.

At her command, the Blue Force moved out of the energy shield wall formation, which was already cracking and starting to lose efficiency. Some enemy attacks penetrated through and killed citizens, injured Imperial Guards, and threatened to break their formation, but the army the royal princess led held strongly and defiantly!

Ishikyy ran outside the formation, facing hundreds of energy attacks targeting her, but she wasn’t alone. As her fragile-looking back could be seen running forwards from a distant, fourth point of view into the road littering with enemy corpses, a few thousand Blue Force special soldier units followed behind her. Their Mortal weapons flashed, and their Neutral Energy blasted into the air, forming a protective cluster of Neutral Energy from multiple colors, painting a tail they left behind.

At the same time, an array formation seemed to echo in the air, waving outwards as their Neutral Energy surged, and their heartbeats accelerated, becoming heavier and audible to the special soldier unit next to them. Neutral Energy flew from everyone’s body as the inscriptions flowed into the sky like electricity ascending into the air, upwards, and seemingly endlessly. They began feeling their skin trembling, hairs rising, and their limbs moved harder!

Their feet stomped a little crater in the ground, and their arms cut through the air a few times with each move and stagnated everything around them. Before, they were only hundreds and couldn’t do much together, so they separated into dozens. But now that they were a few thousand, their full group capabilities exponentially increased. The array formation rapidly condensed above their heads. It was as if they were in slow motion, and the inscriptions forming the array gained solidification and meaning over every millisecond, but…

Pfiush! -... Boom!

“!” Ishikyy barely had time to react as her Spirit Image appeared, which she elongated, turned it towards the sky, and had the Azure Dragon’s jaws closed. The incoming enemy missile, just from one of the tall buildings beside the enemy central building, left them completely speechless, and it was definitely hidden with the enemy’s top stealth devices and array formations to escape their Fighters’ radars!

This was clearly meant to assassinate her in the middle of a battle! The thought, idea, and brazenness turned into a fiery rage that Ishikyy still couldn’t unleash as she and everyone from the Blue Force found themselves flying to their left from the enemy missile successfully forced to detonate before reaching a deathly range towards them. However, the array formation was disrupted, and its inscriptions broke before they could form at more than half.

Ishikyy only saw the array formation’s translucent, whitish, and pure energy-like inscriptions flash and glow one last time, strongly, before dissipating and scattering in the air. Her body was flung leftwards, and her face was forced to close her eyes, wrinkle her nose, and twist her mouth as she felt like a million tiny hands were pulling her skin and facial features down. Finally, she heard a simple reminder that wind still existed, and she sensed everyone’s bodies flung to the left from the missile’s explosion.

WHOOOOOOSHH- THUD, THUD, thud, thud~!~!

“Get up!!” - “Aggh!” - “Motherfuckers…” - “Keep around the royal princess!! Pick everyone up!” - “There’s more! In those buildings!!” The Blue Force was no pushover, however. They rapidly stood back up, helping the citizens covered by an Imperial Guard near them. They woke those almost reached by an explosive wave but were saved in the end by remnants from their Captain’s iconic Spirit Image. Then came the soldier units, who were just behind the Blue Force.

“Shit! The Blue Force was hit!” - “Calm down! They’re fine! The royal princess is safe!! There’s other missiles in their buildings, spread apart!” - “The Blues are in danger!” - “Spread!!”

“...” Ishikyy’s face was grumpy alright as she was helped up. Her Neutral Energy storage took a huge hit when the missile exploded. Even more so since she scattered an extra layer of her Spirit Image at the last minute to protect every special soldier unit under her command. Ishikyy also not only heard the others’ comments on the enemy having more hidden missile launching systems in the tall buildings around the enemy central building, but she also felt it with her Spirit Sense and the many gloating killing intent of many. Some at the First Step.

“Urgh…” Ishikyy’s eyes become several times fiercer, more than ever before. The special soldier units around her took notice of this and became startled, but they didn’t try to move her despite the grave situation they just got in. The other sides of the battlefield weren’t in this much danger, and it could be seen how the explosive noises became closer and closer to them from every angle. Those were their Empire’s sounds of victory as they neared the central building.

However, they could also see the enemy soldier units flying and rushing on the ground towards them, and it was definitely more than on any other side of the battle. The enemy knew they could die and be defeated, but they didn’t care and were ready to fall with this aberrant action of targeting their royal princess. Ishikyy’s eyes took in the information necessary to know the location of every no-longer-hidden missile launching systems inside those tall buildings.

“Grrr…!” Ishikyy couldn’t help herself, and before she realized it, her azure, aquamarine scales took a darker shade. As they took form on her skin, they began waving like waves in the sea and merged with her cinnamon color, slowly turning her into a terrifying, slightly dark, little azure, aquamarine dragon-humanoid shaped body whose claws enlarged to 10 cm, and width to about 2 inches from the base, which only thinned down near the tip.

Her tail became a little thicker in volume from the base but became much thinner at the end and elongated to 2.6 meters long. Her fangs became as long as her pinky fingers, and her eyes’ sclera turned slightly dark, but her brightest, cutest azure aquamarine remained and was better contrasted instead. Ishikyy’s height didn’t grow, and her scales were like an extra layer of tight clothing that erased any discernible feature from her beauty except the round shape at her rear.

“Royal… princess…” - “This is… she…” - “Dragon…” - “A d-... Dragon!” - “Dragon transformation! It’s not just draconic! Is it better than those draconic Beast Races?!” - “The… Azure Dragon’s image? This looks a bit different from what the ancient records tell. The color…

Pfiush…! Whistle- CLAW! Crrkk- … BANG! Stomp- pshift! Pfiush, pfiush, pfiush… pfiush! The Blauw Empire’s soldier units were astounded by the sight of Ishikyy’s transformation, but even more so were the special soldier units who were used to seeing Ishikyy’s Azure Dragon’s Bloodline innate Art’s transformation. Only they, who followed her all around every battle, could tell the details of her transformation, while the other soldier units could only see from afar and get a hint of it after several combats.

Furthermore, her clothes weren’t consumed or torn to shreds like this time and definitely didn’t change the color of her scales, claws, and fangs. Even her sclera changed! How was this normal?! However, they nor anyone else had time to react. When the enemy saw their failed first attempt to one-shot assassinate her failed, they, of course, tried again.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

An enemy missile was fired from another tall building, this time from a higher floor, allowing it to directly fire downwards, enhancing its speed and lowering its target’s reaction speed. No matter how fast one was to move or operate Neutral Energy, a missile would always be faster than them unless they were in the later realms of their respective Step. But… could it be said the same regarding reaction speed? Something that any cultivator from the Second Step’s Broken Crystallization realm who would gain quick, short movements independently of their Art and talent?

The answer was no.

Ishikyy’s head, with dragon’s ears, tilted a tiny bit upwards, and she lifted her right arm as rapidly as she could while her dark azure claw faced the ground. Her claw then rotated to the left, and with each individual claw gaining space and becoming crooked, she swatted the air to her left. Immediately, the missile that was just ringing in her dragon’s ears of its whistling noise, a gigantic dark azure claw materialized before her and clawed the incoming enemy missile to the side.

The missile cracked open but didn’t break apart immediately and flew for 300 meters before exploding, bringing about an azure dark Neutral Energy that ate away ⅓ of the explosion, but the rest landed on empty ground. The world was silent. The Empire’s soldier units were left with gaping jaws, salivating, and the enemy confused, befuddled as to what the actual fuck just happened. But Ishikyy simply upturned her eyes, landing them on the remaining tall buildings locations with enemies aiming their missiles.

This wasn’t all as Ishikyy stomped forth with her right lower claw, and the ground quaked as it softened and fell down like ashes or cement turned into pure, fine dirt grains. This was enough to scare the enemy shitless, and they immediately fired 4 missiles, 3 consecutively and 1 after changing the initial angle to entrap her in every possible direction. Yet, Ishikyy remained on her spot with a straight back, looking dainty and lacking muscle definition, but her eyes nimbly darted around as if she could travel through time. But, in truth, she was just quick to respond.

As the missiles poured in her direction, the Empire’s soldier units finally rushed towards the incoming enemy troops, and the Blue Force moved forth under Fernanda and Pou’s commands towards the tall buildings. Ishikyy’s body suddenly disappeared from the spot and reappeared just 1 meter above where her head used to be, upside down, as if she was elegantly stepping on the ground with just her toes but hanging from the sky without moving.

Along with her, Water elemental thin currents rushed upwards, seemingly in slow motion, but were actually fast. Her arms were half-spread to her sides, and her hands gracefully semi-opened. Her individual claws looked fashionable, but they could cut through a missile’s side, which a non-late realm Second Step cultivator or higher couldn’t realize how difficult it was. The Water elemental currents were darkish, though not absolutely, and still had some starry azure specks within.

Whistleeee~! Fwuosh- baa- swuoooooshhh~~~! -ng! Boooom~! Whistle- pam- phhshk, phhshk, phhshk! Swuoosh! Bang- boom! Whoosh~! Slap! Thud! Swwwuuuooooshhh~! …bang… boom…

The first 3 missiles rapidly arrived around Ishikyy’s upside-down body. The first one came right from behind her, seemingly aiming at her head, which could be noticed by how the missile’s body arched in a dive towards the ground but immediately changed its direction a little upwards. Ishikyy’s exquisitely smooth, azure, aquamarine hair started fluttering forwards as she tilted her head around to look at it.

Immediately, from the thin Water currents around her, torrents of darkish Water element flew outwards, disproportionately. They formed a behemoth torrent to face off the missile, and the missile became submerged in a 20 meters in diameter darkish Water body, passing faster than the system intended. When it was about to self-detonate just as it passed by Ishikyy, the darkish Water body shrunk to the missile’s volume, and the sound of the self-detonation itself was halted as it was directed in the opposite direction to where only enemy soldier units were rushing to the battle against the Empire’s soldier units.

The darkish Water torrent rapidly thinned, but it successfully brought the enemy missile right into its fellow comrades. They were astounded, as they could tell it had Spirit Sense and a fragment of their side coming from the missile’s imprint from array formations and technology. Unfortunately, at the next moment, they heard a noise they could not identify. It was the second half of the missile’s self-detonation noise, exploding on their faces, surrounding several hundred before turning them into layers of skin and charred blood and bones.

While that happened, Ishikyy impulsed her body backwards, doing a reverse somersault as if she was time-locked in one beforehand. Her body moved majestically, appearing divine as much as possible, and her feet’s soles quickly met the incoming enemy missile’s warhead. Ishikyy pushed her left foot downwards and to the front, slamming the missile to retreat backwards.

Like before, this enemy missile was also programmed to detonate as soon as it met some obstruction or enough range to its target. Both were met, so it started its self-detonation feature. But before it could even start, the Azure Dragon transformed Ishikyy and covered it with her dark azure Neutral Energy that rushed towards it from her sides, projected from her body’s back. The missile was quickly forced into a technological meltdown, and its array formation seemed disrupted.

Immediately afterwards, Ishikyy condensed darkish Water element from every bit of dark azure Neutral Energy she coated the missile with. The missile was ‘captured’ by Ishikyy alone, and she looked at the tall building from which her Blue Force nearly suffered heavy casualties. Her darkish, azure, aquamarine, brightest, and cutest eyes locked on Fernanda and Pou’s backs before darkishly saying with a bloodthirsty intention. “Leave the middle one for me.”

“!” - “!...” Pou was startled when she heard Ishikyy’s voice inside her mind but acted accordingly. Fernanda knew her dear royal princess was about to do something monumental, so she looked worried for a fraction of a second before easing up. If there was someone whose confident words could make her feel at peace beside her wife, it was Blauw Ishikyy!

And Ishikyy proved herself to her dear family-like girls. Ishikyy let go of the missile, with its warhead that had bounced backwards, finally aiming at the building she ‘took’ for herself. Her dark azure claws poked its rear, and after a light tap, with her dark azure Neutral Energy and darkish Water seemingly starting seething, she let go of it. The missile immediately shot forwards, with some barely discernible electric sparks at the rear.

Only Ishikyy seemed to notice it, but her attention was occupied with the third enemy missile as the second flew faster than it could before and went deep into the tall building of her choosing. After disappearing into the building, the missile seemed to explode only a second later, and judging by the speed it went, it had to have reached the other extreme from where it penetrated it. Whatever the case it was, the missile did some damage.

A massive cluster of darkish Water, dark azure Neutral Energy, and some blue electric sparks spread outwards from the lower floors of the tall building. A single missile wouldn’t have done much, but after Ishikyy tweaked with it… the entire building seemed to start collapsing. However, as it did, the cluster Ishikyy made rushed upwards, like a lightning bolt soaring into the skies with mist and fog of destruction following after it with a ‘black monster’s’ touch.

Multiple ‘boom, boom, boom!’ sounds echoed from within as the enemy missiles were blasted off one after the other, on every floor, and by Ishikyy’s little gift she left in their care. Meanwhile, Ishikyy had to finally face the third enemy missile. This one was aimed at her front from her first position, hanging from the sky. After she moved around, it was now behind her and just .3 seconds from impaling her lithe back and separating her shoulders from the rest of her body.

Ishikyy reacted quickly once again, baffling the enemy cultivators from the other tall buildings whose bodies began sweating at the prospect of the Blue Force coming to hunt them!!

Ishikyy turned around and swung her left arm forward. Her open dark azure claw hit the third missile’s warhead without damaging it. But stopping it midair for a second. This time, Ishikyy even had enough time to grin. Before the system activated its self-detonation program, her darkish Water element covered it whole, forming a thin layer above its surface. She could feel its metallic material through her left dark azure claw.

She mobilized her Water elemental manipulation to her limits, covering it wholly before the missile instantly activated its self-detonation. But, to the utter shock of even the watching Generals and royal guards, the missile did explode, but… it only made tiny sounds. Although it reverberated in every corner of the battlefield and tall buildings, it was like a mosquito’s sweet whisper— brief and ephemeral.

After seeing the success, Ishikyy smiled without knowing her darkish azure fangs scared the shit out of even her Empire’s soldier units. However, that was only at the beginning. Because, after remembering this was their semi-ruler, they became excited!

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUAAAAAAAA!!” - “HUAAAAA!!!!”

“... Grrrrr!” Ishikyy’s eyes narrowed a little as she looked at the tall buildings her Blue Force was still not rushing inside and growled as a brand new smile took a turn to numb the scalps of every enemy pair of eyes looking at her. From afar, she could hear a few First Step enemy cultivators kneel, raise their hands, and scream ‘I want to give up! I surrender!’ but she didn’t give a fuck.

“Attention, my troops,” Ishikyy’s darkish, bloodthirsty voice sounded, and it was instinctively calling her troops to kill more ravenously. “Kill… leave no survivors in this place!!”

STOMP~! WHOOOOOSH~! CRASHHHH!

After leaving those words behind, Ishikyy stomped the ground with her lower dark azure claws and tail, taking flight in a fashion and speed she had never reached before. Ishikyy’s Azure Dragon transformation body crashed into another tall building as the other she targeted continued crumbling down. The tall building she entered started filling the battlefield with deathly, appalling screams and wails from… her victims! Her soldier units, slow as they were, responded to her calling soon after.

“HUAAA!!!!”

…