Author's note: I want to write down as much details as I can to give the readers a better view of the scene. That explains why the style of writing in this arc (starting from around chap 70) is much more lengthy than the previous as I have improved. Please tell me in the comments if the current pacing is good or too slow :).

Enjoy your chapter! Do let me know your opinions in reviews/comments ^^

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While the battle in Canaan continued with all its might, a little figure was left out back at her cave along with a few soldiers guarding the place. As one would expect from the overprotective attitude of the dragon lord toward his daughter, little Syralth was grounded to not come out of the cave until his return. His intention was well justified but it was not enough to convince the young draconian. Jealous of how Kaiser reacted toward the boy who was barely older than her, the girl could not understand why he was allowed to go while she had to stay here, doing absolutely nothing.

Actually, to be honest, Syralth’s power was so much more than she realized it herself. If she really wanted it, none of the guards outside would be able to stop her. However, despite being such a hard-headed girl with a liking to adventure, she didn’t dare to disobey what Kaiser and Celdora have told her. After all, to be seen as a ‘bad girl’ in their eyes was not something Syralth wished to do.

Sitting in her room on the floor, she looked out of the only window facing the sun, letting it the warm sunlight of the morning as the warm radiance shined upon her youthful flesh. As part of her nature as a dragon, perhaps that was why she enjoyed basking herself under the sunlight. It put her body at ease in a relaxed state as her mind started to become blank.

In that state of trance, Syralth heard a wordless humming in her mind. The tone was soothing like a lullaby, driving the girl far deep into her unconsciousness. And that voice echoing in her head, a woman? A sad tone, unknown yet familiar…where did she hear this voice from?

“Come to me!”

As if following the voice, Syralth slowly stood up like a soulless doll with no control of her body or even her thoughts.

“Find me!”

And as the marionette controlled by the strings which were this hymn she was hearing, the young draconian headed outside the room she was confined to. However, the moment she opened the door, two guards standing in both sides of the chamber have stopped her from going anywhere further.

What were they saying? The words that came out of their mouths only sounded like insects buzzing in the mind of the little girl. It was hindering the lovely hum she was listening to. Even more, it hurt to listen to their babbling.

“Shut up, insects!”

With a single punch, the girl sent the soldier flying to the ceiling. As the other guard was still stunned and did not manage to grasp onto the situation in time, Syralth jumped on and grabbed his head as she smashed it to the ground below them, making a large hole on the floor.

As the other people present in the cave noticed the loud sound, Syralth casually walked toward the quarters of a specific person: the white dragon Malick. After what has happened and following Malick’s request, Kaiser has stationed a group of soldiers blocking anyone attempting to enter his chamber. Upon spotting the small figure coming toward them, the soldiers recognized her as a threat and took their battle stance.

“Unleash your potential!”

Raising her hand forward, Syralth released an emerald light that engulfed everything that stood in her way. In just an instant, it left nothing in its passage, whether it was the hard metal armor or the fragile flesh of the living. Everything has been burned to crisp. Only ashes remained.

“You are almost there! Keep going!”

Moving forward, the draconian proceeded to smash down the door to the chamber of her destination. As she walked inside, an incredible sight was hit in her eyes: in the back of the somber room, a black iron crown was attached to a multitude of talismans with strange characters imprinted on it. Those were the magic wards Malick has employed in order to suppress the phantom residing inside the crown. It was assumed that he succeeded. After all, Malick was the God of the Dragons Amon. Surely, someone of that caliber would be able to purify a common ghost….That was it if that spirit was common. But in this case, even with all these precautions that were on the verge of breaking itself apart, Amon was wrong to think that he was able to contain this entity by himself.

Radiating a dim blue light, the color of the soul, the crown began to shine as if it has broken out of its decrepit old shell of rust.

“He is near. I can feel it.”

“…..” the little draconian did not utter a word and stayed in silence as she approached the crown. With a single motion of her hands, she crushed the protective barrier surrounding the crown and removed the talismans all at once.

“Bring me to him!”

As the girl held the crown between her hands, her emerald eyes began to take on a new color: deep azure as the ocean itself yet as shining as crystal. All of the sudden, the fabrics of space and time was broken apart with a portal opening itself in front of Syralth as she stepped into and vanished without a trace.

“I am coming, Alastor. At last, after all these years, you will be mine!”

* * *

A loud bang just resonated near the central tower of Canaan. Accompanied by an explosion and the crumbling of a smaller tower nearby, two figures appeared from the smoke as they stared at each other’s throat. One was a black dragon with long neck and a pair of vast dark wings. The other was a faceless figure wearing a cleric’s attire together with a golden crown on his head, wielding two great swords imbued with darkness and fire.

“You ruined everything…my plan….my life. I will kill you!!!” Taragon threatened in a loud voice.

“You ruined yourself the moment you decided to join Sanctus. How could you, a member of the highest esteem of the dragon council, betray your people? For what?” Kaiser preached.

“You understand nothing. For centuries, I have lived under my father’ shadow. The son of the Great Maragon…that’s how I am known by everyone but never by my own name. And that old far just doesn’t die easily. By with this, if I can purge the demon curse and put an end to their pathetic race, everyone will recognize me. I will be the king of the dragons!!!” The black dragon confessed.

“All this for a title? Are you that stupid to not seek other ways?”

“SHUT UP! I don’t need your hypocrite preaching. You may have destroyed my plan but if I kill you here, it can still be fixed. And with that brat taking care of my father, I will finally ascend to power.”

“…You are already beyond salvation. A king’s duty is to save, to protect, to serve the people. And you, Taragon, are no king. Prepare yourself!” Kaiser raised his swords.

“DIE!”

The black dragon held his breath and exhaled a black fire stream, engulfing the True Monarch. Putting his dark sword and fire sword close to each other in front of him, Kaiser created a barrier, dividing the stream into two as he advanced toward the black dragon. Seeing his enemy coming closer and closer to him, Taragon increased the intensity of the fire breath but still it did not stop him. Gathering his strength, Kaiser lunged forward, pushing the black flame back at the dragon’s throat as he screamed in pain.

“ARRRGGGH! You will pay for that.”

Taragon tried to crush Kaiser with his paw but it was impossible for Kaiser was too fast for him, evading all grabs with ease.

“”

In an instant, the ground the two stood on was set on fire. Unlike the normal flame, the black fire did not just burn but rather destroyed everything it touched, disintegrating them. Surrounded by the fire with nowhere to run to, Kaiser put one sword horizontally forward while the other sword in the same position but behind him. And he started spinning at his position.

“”

The force of his spinning generated a cyclone that was increasing in size, putting down all the fires. It took Taragon all his strength to grab onto the ground just to avoid being sucked into that windstorm.

With all the fire gone, the storm started to subside as the wind became lighter. However, when it dissipated, Kaiser was nowhere to be seen.

“What? Where is he?” Taragon muttered while his head turned left to right to look for the person in question.

Suddenly a large surge of power manifested itself from above, revealing itself to the black dragon as he realized who it belonged to.

Floating on air with his strange pair of wings composed of branches of trees, Kaiser chanted the words of power.

“I call upon thee, oh Princess of Thorns! Grant me protection from my enemies! Strike down the wicked! Punish them for their sins!”

“What? Summoning magic? You are a summoner?” Taragon shouted in disbelief.

“This is a gift of my mother passed down to me. Have a taste of this power!

”

In an instant, the wooden branches on Kaiser’s back grew at an inconceivable rate, forming wings of large net of black vines with spikes. And when it reached it full size, the branches converged toward the area where Taragon stood. Each grew into many more branches adorned with thorns capable of shredding even armor to pieces. With hundreds of growth striking down on the dragon that not only trapped him, blocking all attempt to escape in time, the next wave impaled Taragon, pinning him to the ground. And if that was not the worse, the more the dragon struggled, the more painful it would be as the thorns would cut deep into his flesh and tear away his skin.

“Argh…*cough cough*” Taragon tried to remain still. If he moved too much, it would hurt even more. However, his body was bleeding heavily. At this rate, he would die either way. “Dad…save me..”

“What an unsightly scene! So when things get difficult, you turn to your father in hope he would help you even after all you have done? Even after you used him for your own goal?” Snapping his finger, the black forest of thorns turned into particles of dust and released the dragon from its constriction.

It was a bloody mess to see a once prideful dragon having fallen to such a state. But he brought this upon himself. The question was what to do with him now.

“Please…spare me…Don’t kill me…” Taragon pled disgracefully.

“As much as I want to, I need you alive. Your crimes will certainly not go unpunished. However, it won’t be me to give out the punishment but your people. Then you will spill everything you know about Sanctus. Is that clear?” Kaiser, holding his sword at the dragon’s thoat, spoke majestically.

“I will I will…”

“Then stand up! We will join the others.” Ordered Kaiser.

“But I am injured….”

“Don’t be a pussy! You are a dragon so you should be able to do it. I deliberately avoided all your vitals after all. Now move!”

“Yes yes!”

As the dragon stood up, he retook his human form and walked as instructed by Kaiser. Grinning his teeth in anger, Taragon has not given up just yet. With Kaiser right behind him, he sneakily reached to his pocket and pulled out a small black ball.

“Why did you stop? Move!” Kaiser yelled at the dragon’s back.

“…this is not over yet.”

Turning back, Taragon threw the ball at Kaiser’s face. Upon explosion, it released a black smoke, blinding the True Monarch. Using that opportunity, Taragon grew his wings and took flight.

“Don’t think that you will capture me so easily!”

But then from the smoke, a great sword lunged out, grazing Taragon’s face as it turned back to its owner.

“You coward! I won’t be so lenient this time.”

Seeing that Kaiser has already taken out his wings again, Taragon flew as fast as he could toward the center of the battle in hope that his father would save him from this monster.

* * *

“TIMBER!!!”

Alastor raised his axe as he prepared to chop down the most treasured and holy relic of the dragon race.

“WAIT!!!” Maragon shouted desperately. “I will come down…”

“You sure?” asked Alastor, faking a worried voice. “Wouldn’t want to break your back or anything by making you go down all those stairs. Well it’s partly your own fault for deciding to hold your meeting at the highest floor so you have no right to complain.”

“…..You will regret mocking me, brat!”

Followed with a blast at the highest floor of the tower as pieces of stones fell down to the ground next to Alastor, a giant figure landed right next to him. Wielding a mace as tall as himself, the ancient dragon stared at the tiny being that was the cause of the downfall of his conclave. Everything he has built, the things he vowed to defend with his life, all of them were being shattered by this one puny soul.

“Just who are you, boy? And drop that childish tone of yours! I know you are not a kid, at least not a normal one.” Maragon spoke.

“I am Alastor Magnolia, prince of the Promised Lands of Valhalla and son of the High Empress Morrigan. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, lord Maragon was it?” the boy presented himself.

“Morrigan? So you are linked to that Hero Lakyus as well? But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t explain your power and the skills you used. What are you really?”

“Would it change anything if you know what I am? Would you surrender?”

“No! I will put a stop to you and your treacherous movement, even if I have to die for it.” Maragon said.

“…I don’t think you are a bad person, Maragon. Just on the wrong side! Surrender before it is too late!” Alastor proposed.

“Enough! Instead of worthless chatter, let our swords do the talking!” Maragon roared.

“Fine with me! Let’s go!”

As the two stared down at each other, the soldiers began to spread out and get away from them. From a mere glance and considering their power, it would be suicide to stay around them when these two behemoths started fighting.

“As they usually said, let the elder one strike first! Go on, grandpa!” the boy said.

“Then I won’t hold back either.” Moving the giant heavy mace backward trailing on the ground, Maragon dealt the first string, swinging his weapon in an arc toward Alastor. Because of its size and the force he put into it, Maragon blast away not just the soil the mace passed by but also the unfortunate soldiers who did not manage to get away in time and taken by the wind.

Using his Excalibur which has now reverted back to its sword form and only slightly larger than Alastor himself, the demon lord blocked the heavy mace. The head of the metal clump was already bigger than the boy and yet somehow he has managed to stop it firmly without being blast away.

“For an old man, you are really strong.” Alastor grinned, trying to look cool but his attempt was betrayed by his trembling hand. In his mind, he had to admit that in term of physical strength, this old dragon was stronger than him.

“So are you! You are the first person who is able to stop my attack without sustaining any injury. This is interesting. But I should have known that compared to what you have done so far, this is nothing.”

Pushing Alastor back using his incredible strength, the black dragon held the mace in both his hands high in a praying stance.

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“, , ”

All of the sudden, Alastor could feel an imposing surge of power from Maragon. Using all those powerful buffs at once, the dragon’s very presence has created such a pressure that shattered the ground below him. At that moment, the boy knew that he could no longer take on a full strike of that mace of his unlike earlier.

“Take this!” With his new power, Maragon could lift the giant mace much quicker with ease and smashed down onto Alastor. But dashing to the side was not enough. The impact the mace created upon contact with the ground has flung everything around it fly away, including the boy who was blast against the central tower’s wall.

“Ouch!” Alastor muttered as he recovered from the attack. It seemed that melee was no longer an option until he figured out what to do against that insane physical power of Maragon. “This is dangerous! How about this?

”

A cyclone came from the sky at the dragon’s location. It was this same spell that has singlehandedly destroyed the walls of Caelum. Would it make the same wonder here?

“Child’s play!” the dragon sneered. From his body, Maragon released an extremely powerful shockwave that dispelled the cyclone even before it could reach the ground where he was.

“Wow I didn’t know you can do that.” Uttered Alastor in awe.

“You don’t know a lot of things, child!” laughed the dragon. “But that name…Lucifer…the fact that you are able to use it makes you a demon lord…I see. That would make sense.” Thankfully, no one heard his voice for they were too far away and was either focused on their own battle or so stunned by the actions that Maragon’s words have escaped their ears.

“…I have no idea what you are talking about.” Alastor said casually.

“Don’t lie to me, boy! I have lived for far too long to be deceived by your miserable acting. You might have fooled others but you can’t fool me. You are one of them!”

“So what if I am?” knowing that continuing this act would not work any longer, Alastor confessed. “I thought you already want to kill me so this won’t change right? Or am I wrong?”

“No, that won’t change. But it only gives me more reasons to kill you!” Maragon changed his tone. “You and the rest of your kind deserve to burn in hell for what you have done!”

Rushing forward, Maragon went berserk and smashed down his mace continuously.

“What is wrong with you? Have you gone senile already, old man?” Alastor spoke while still focusing on evading the volley of attacks.

“Shut up, brat! I know how the demon lord works. Even if you die, your soul lives on inside the next demon lord. Even more terrifying, you can give that demon lord your power.”

“I am impressed that you are aware of this fact but what does that have to do with anything?” asked Alastor.

“It means that son of a bitch is living inside you. Bring him out! I will kill him again and again for what he has done, just as I once did.” Maragon raged.

“Just who are you talking about?”

“XENES, come out now! I know you are there.”

…..

Inside the dark world of the Abyss, the Soul Forger Magnus has been observing the situation from inside Alastor. He seemed very pleased with the boy’s progression and increase in power, grinning to himself as if he was watching a comedy show.

“Xenes, Maragon is shouting your name…again!” Magnus spoke out loud to the dragon below him.

“Oh dear, really? He still holds his grudge after all these years?” Xenes muttered. “Such a bad actor! His role was finished long ago. Should have moved onto something else. I guess there are things time can’t cure after all.”

“Well at least he will just be another step for our Alastor on his path.” Magnus resumed his watch.

“Hum…actually, there is one more role Maragon could fill in…Magnus, would you let me speak to Alastor, please?”

…..

Back in the world of Astora, Alastor was still trying to figure out how to deal with Maragon. Even though after their short exchange, Alastor has not identified him as a bad person. He cared for his people in a way as there were no lies in Maragon’s words, at least based on what his instincts were telling him. That was why he wanted to end this battle with Maragon still alive if possible. After all, it would be a pity to end the life of such an old being. Furthermore, he had to think about what happened after the war. If Kaiser left and Celdora became the new leader of Oros, there would be some who might think that this whole conflict was a coup devised by the dragon lord Celdora to gain power. But if there was someone from the other side, someone who was at the same time influential and belonged to the dragon council, someone like Maragon who endorsed Celdora, everything would fall in place. The problem was how to convince this hard headed dragon.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in Alastor’s mind as he continued to evade the rampage of the black dragon.

‘Testing! Testing! This is the host of your favorite show live from the Abyss, the Great Xenes! Can you hear me, Alastor?’

‘Xenes? What are you doing? Where is Magnus?’ asked Alastor in confusion.

‘Magnus is dead. I am in charge now. HAHAHAHAHAHA!’ Xenes laughed evilly.

‘….’

‘OK that was just a joke. I asked Magnus to let me speak to you concerning Maragon.’

‘Yeah, what is the deal with him shouting your name like that? Do you know him? And most importantly, what did you do to him?’ inquired the boy.

‘Ah nothing….Just..you know he has a son right?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well to have a son you need a wife right?’

‘Ok?’

‘They also need to do the thing. You following me? It’s a mature subject but take this as an education lesson from me!’

‘Just skip to the main points already!’ shouted Alastor in his mind.

‘In short, I am the reason he is single right now…I kind of killed his wife.’

‘…That’s just great. So he has every reason to hate you and me.’ Alastor sighed.

‘Whether he hates me or not won’t matter if he is dead.’

‘I have no intention to kill him, Xenes. I need him for the peace talk.’

‘Still talking about that? But what if I tell you that you can have my power by killing him? He is an ancient dragon so his blood is among the purest. And you know what it means right?’

‘…He has the Scion of the dragon…’ conveyed Alastor.

‘Exactly! So just kill him and be done with it! The show must go on and the audience demands blood!’

‘As I have told Asmodeus, I will decide what happens in my life. So don’t you dare order me to do anything!’ Alastor raised his voice.

‘Ok Ok! Do what you want! If you don’t want this amazing, incredibly power then it’s your loss.’ Xenes provoked. ‘Looking forward to see how you will end this play!’

As the voice dissipated, Alastor could still hear one last thing. ‘Hey Magnus, let us watch too!’

The power of Xenes has always been a mystery to Alastor. It has been more than a year since he met the dragon but never had the chance to use it due to the requirement of having the Scion of a pure dragon. It was tempting to be able to have the last power of the demon lords among those he made a pact with but unfortunately, that would not align well with Alastor’s plan so he had to drop it, no matter how much he wanted to test that power. Maybe another chance would come in the future, just not now.

“Would you stop?” shouted Alastor.

“Not until you are smashed to pieces.” Maragon roared.

“Please don’t make me hurt an old man!”

“Does it matter? You demons do whatever you want anyway. You took her away from me!!!”

“So did you! My parents, Morgan, Gazel, Shana…everyone I loved was taken from me. But that’s not a reason to be an asshole to everyone else!” Alastor reasoned.

“And what? Just happily joining our hands together as if nothing has happened? Our peoples have hurt each other too much to go back now. Tell me, young one, if you have the killer of your parents right in front of you, would you be able to forgive that person? After what they did to you?” Maragon spoke.

“I….”

“Yes, that is what I thought too. You used pretty words to cover the ugly fact that even you cannot give up your own hatred. But that’s fine. So do I! However, at the very least, I don’t try to hide my true nature. Our two peoples will fight until one is dead.”

“You are right. I would be lying if I say I can forgive the person who killed my parents completely. I don’t know myself what I would do unless I face that situation. However, we both don’t have the right to impose that hatred onto the rest of our peers. What I am doing is to give them to chance to see pass your lenses of spite, for them to decide for themselves whether demons are truly as frightening as people say they are.”  Alastor spoke with a heavy heart.

“Meaningless sentiment! You are either too naïve or too much of a fool to think that.” Maragon uttered.

“Stubborn old fart! How the hell did you live this long and not understand that simple concept of free will and choice?” Alastor retorted.

“Then I guess we both agree to disagree! Speak through your actions, boy!”

“You ask for it!” Alastor looked back at Maragon sternly. But then something caught his attention: a small figure screaming at him from above.

* * *

“There are too many of them!” Abalone ran as fast as she could after having been saved by the doll Stela who has come for her aid.

While Stella was preoccupied with the three elder dragons, Abalone was thinking hardly about how to get out of this predicament. Her moonstone has run out of power and without it, she was nothing more than a big lizard. And even worse, she was now surrounded by other dragons who have noticed her weakness and decided to go after her for an easy kill.

“What do I do? What do I do?” Abalone talked to herself in panic. “Wait! Where are you Heru? HERU?...It can’t be that…he abandoned me?”

“Prepare to die, girl!” shouted a dragon grunt.

“AAA!” Abalone shrieked.

…..

“”

All of the sudden, the sky darkened and turned into night time.The clouds dissipated, revealing a clear sky filled with stars. But most first and foremost, it was the moon that stood out the most. Instead of the usual pale sphere we saw at night, there was now a giant full moon seemingly so close to the ground as if it was going to fall onto the world.

Stunned by what was happening, everyone stopped what they were doing, enemies or foes and looked around, trying to understand what was going on.

“What the…?” uttered Abalone before realizing a bright light coming from the moonstone. Having been in possession of it for many years, it was her first time seeing such a bright luminescence. Was it due to this strange moon? But what caused it in the first place?

‘Abalone, can you hear me?’ a voice spoke to Abalone in her mind.

‘Heru? Where are you?’ asked the dragoness worriedly.

‘Sorry for having left your side! I wanted to call for help. But don’t worry! Alastor has revealed the moon. You can use your full power now!’

‘But what about you?’

‘Above!’

From the sky, a large shadow was cast onto the ground by the pale moonlight. Much bigger than a normal dragon, an unusual feathered bird dived downward before switching direction and glided just above the ground, creating a powerful wind blasting away everything on its path and freed Abalone from the encirclement.

“HERU? How did you get this big?” Abalone asked in shock as the birded landed next to her.

‘It’s thanks to the stone’s power after absorbing the energy from this weird moon.’ The gyrfalcon spoke telepathically to his owner. ‘Let us go defeat these meanies!’ Picking up Abalone in her human form on its back with its beck, Heru took flight above the sky as the dragoness rained down magic she never thought she was able to do before.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Take that!!!” the girl laughed excitedly.

* * *

“HOHOHOHO! Now who would expect that?” Inside the Abyss, the old demon lords were having a blast watching the fight. The God Magnus was emitting a ray of light from his one eye that revealed images of the battle upon reflecting on a surface. In a way, it was similar to the flat screen Alastor saw on the new world and what inspired Magnus to create something similar.

“Nice! How come none of us came up with this kind of entertainment before?” commented Belphegor.

“A dragoness and her gyrfalcon…what a strange combo!” said Asmodeus.

“Yeah! It has been a long time since a dragon could make me laugh like that.” Lucifer spoke. “Right, Xenes? …..Xenes?”

Turning back to the only dragon present here, the demon lords found it strange that the talkative Xenes has stayed silent for a while now. Could it be that he was disappointed in Alastor for not wanting to kill Maragon? Xenes has always been a showy kind so it would not be hard to understand his bummer of the fact that his power might remain hidden forever.

However, it was not the case here. The reason Xenes stayed silent was not because of Alastor but only after he saw the peculiar dragon with her moonstone appearing on the image. He was so focused on her that he didn’t pay any attention to his surroundings or speak a single word. But why was he fascinated by a common dragon like Abalone who was not really someone that special in every aspect of the word?

“Abalone…so her name is Abalone…a sea dragon…hehehehe…HAHAHAHAHAAHA!” Xenes laughed maniacally, even on the borderlines of crying as a few drops of tears fell from his eyes.

Knowing Xenes’ personality as an odd person, his current behaviour was even stranger. Unable to grasp on what he was laughing on, Asmodeus approached the dragon and asked.

“Ehmm something wrong? Why are you laughing like that?”

Trying to regain his calmness as he wiped away his tears, the dragon answered. “Nothing! Hahaha! I think I just found a new toy!”