"Did we finally escape?"

Tempest and the Captain flew southward with their heads down, until the surroundings became increasingly desolate. A light whistling wind blew white clouds drifting slowly across scattered wreckage - abandoned wagons, supplies, clothes and even charred bones littered the bleak, desolate scene.

"Let's rest for a bit."

The captain gradually slowed down and spoke to Tempest.

This retaliatory harassment resulted in heavy losses - one battle dragon captured, three sets of alloy dragon armor destroyed, plus two heavily wounded purple dragons unable to fight for half a month.

"Captain, should we go back and bring reinforcements to rescue Balze?"

Tempest still worried about his comrade, asking with concern.

"Brother Balze…I can only wish him safety, may Emperor bless him," the Captain said, clearly able to assess the situation better. "I never expected those dragon kin to have such explosive power and endurance, their resistance rivaling our armor."

It furrowed its brow, looking at its right claw, the pain spreading excruciatingly as its body cooled down.

"By the way, take this."

The captain bent its neck to grab an iron box from its back with its mouth, tossing it to its comrade.

"Uranium kinetic energy source?"

Tempest caught it, looking puzzled at the Captain.

"I've lost my combat ability," the other raised a claw. "There's still some energy left in this, it might help power your accelerating chains."

"Alright…"

Tempest removed one of the four boxes on his back and inserted this one with the remaining uranium.

But the Captain's expression changed abruptly! With lightning speed, it charged forcefully into Tempest!

Caught off guard, Tempest was knocked a long distance away.

The next moment, a crimson ray pierced through the spot where Tempest had just been!

Raphael had originally planned to ambush the relatively uninjured purple dragon, leaving the disabled one that couldn't run far to deal with later, wiping them out in one fell swoop.

But the Captain's vigilance and reaction foiled his plan.

The crimson dragon grappled the heavily wounded purple dragon as they plummeted down, using its magic sealing power to completely cut off the other's magic flow, leaving it helpless to resist.

Yet up close, Raphael saw his opponent smile faintly, closing its eyes as if mocking the failure of his tactics.

He immediately bared his fangs, his face twisting into a cruel expression as his belly began glowing crimson gold!

Boom!!

Billowing smoke rose as the ground was blasted into a crater several meters deep, the captain's shattered corpse buried deep in the mud.

Crimson wings stirred the dust as Raphael took flight, then after building up power, he sprayed a torrent of fiery breath into the crater, incinerating this enemy to ashes!

Turning his head, he saw the other battle dragon had vanished.

"It flies quite fast indeed…"

Calming down, Raphael objectively assessed the situation.

"These things gave them a huge advantage." He picked up a piece of iron debris scattered around - it was a fragment of the combat dragons' alloy armor.

Then he spread his wings and flew back towards Erl's direction.

...

Akuniryas was firefighting with his comrades.

The evil dragons' arrival caught them unprepared, with many fire suppression systems not yet ready and the second and third dragon squadrons still en route.

"At this rate, we likely can't begin the offensive until mid-September, and it's best if the battle concludes within a week."

Akuniryas looked up at the gloomy atmosphere among the officers aboard the airships - the Imperial Allied Command, led by a Major General from the Natterian Empire and a scion of the noble Deluca financiers.

"I don't know what treaty Our Majesty signed in the capital that requires us Morey soldiers to take orders from foreigners." Akuniryas shook his head, deeply regretting the decline of their nation's sovereignty, only able to steel himself for every task.

However, Cornet's inner torment was far heavier than Akuniryas imagined.

"Simply useless sacks of shit!"

He finally lost his temper, berating his surrounding regimental commanders and staff officers until they all bowed their heads apologetically, no one daring to respond.

"I told you to hurry up and finish all defensive fortifications before August 20th! Yet you didn't even work around the clock in shifts! There were four hours each day with no one working! Now our supplies are all gone! What a fucking joke!"

Cornet had already analyzed the overwhelming advantage evil dragon held over ground forces and the unstoppable breath weapon.

But surveying the ruins of Oakland, dragon breath residues could not be detected below two meters underground, indicating that force could not easily penetrate the surface.

So he immediately ordered working around the clock to build comprehensive underground fortifications - soldier shelters first, then supply storage.

But the Natterian troops lacked the frantic dedication of Ryton, or just had a little less awe and a little more chance.

Whenever they had a bit of spare time, they would rest, accumulating until eventually the underground storage was left incomplete, all military supplies left exposed aboveground to be burned away.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Commander, preliminary reports indicate we have about 10% of our military supplies remaining, not a total loss…"

The logistics chief tried meekly defending himself.

But he was met with a slap across the face!

Cornet was so enraged to hear someone making excuses that he slapped the officer across the face, venting pent-up pressures from the Empire, the war's potential failure, and various other frustrations. The blow sent the man howling and tumbling to the ground, blood seeping from his reddened, swollen face.

"Today is August 29th! You lot arrived here at the end of July! Yet Ryton only set out for Fers Town in early August!"

Cornet looked down at the unconscious man, massaging his seemingly fractured wrist as he shouted:

"Others completed their fortifications by August 19th, what about you? I originally planned to attack on September 4th, but with this mess, we can't even defend ourselves properly!"

The thought of the mighty Natterian Empire he represented making such a disgraceful showing only infuriated him further.

The second-rate Ryton forces could launch their attack on schedule, yet he had to request more supplies and delay their offensive opportunity. How would others view this? How would foreigners see it? What humiliation and losses would his own family suffer?

Cornet grew more incensed the more he dwelled on it. He drew his whip and began lashing the logistics officer to vent his rage, onlookers too scared to intervene, only able to listen to the pitiful wails and pleas for mercy in silence.

"Enough, I'll write the report after the battle dragons return with their intel and battle results."

Finally tiring from the whipping, he stopped to rest in a chair and ponder the situation.

"Um…Commander…"

"What is it now?"

"You…might want to take a look to the north yourself."

Cornet immediately felt a sense of unease. Puzzled, he stood up, nearly leaping off the airship when he saw the scene before him.

A purple batter dragon covered in wounds, its alloy armor shattered beyond repair, staggered back alone with no sign of its two former companions.

...

That evening.

Shena still did not go initiate his experiment, as after lifting the alert he was directly transported from Pillar Mountain to the riverside.

At dusk, Arnold and Raphael returned side-by-side in flight, while the captured purple dragon Balze was dragged back on the ground by hammer drakes and kobolds.

They brazenly paraded along the widened central avenue, the citizens well aware that this prisoner could be a captured compatriot meant to help rescue them.

This shameless flaunting of victory also stirred changes in the people's hearts.

"Battling the crimson dragons really is the most unwise choice."

"We won't really be enslaved as dragon servants forever, will we?"

"If they keep up this streak, our family should consider how to survive in this country."

Amidst the crowd's murmurs, Balze was dragged into the newly built large-scale alchemy plant.

This was not an assembly line, but rather a place for alchemists and dwarves to discuss and test research plans.

"Analyze for me what kind of thing this midget lizard is wearing!" Raphael bellowed as soon as he entered, startling the alchemists into activating Land II to disassemble and inspect the gear.

Remembering that Shena was a 600-year-old expert, Raphael casually summoned him as well.

At this moment, Shena was looking at the disassembled equipment with a conflicted, helpless expression.

"Well? Got any results yet?" Raphael grew bored lying on top of Arnold using the golden dragon as a pillow, after the humans analyzed from dusk till late night with no conclusions.

"Esteemed Crimson Dragon, based on the descriptions from you and your kin, we can only roughly speculate the general operating principles. But reproducing it ourselves would likely be very difficult," the Chief Alchemist hurriedly bowed.

"Look here," the Chief nodded. "First is the speed issue you're most concerned about."

He held up some alloy chains. "These, compared to the host dragon, appear to have fallen from its wings, meant to connect the main and auxiliary wings to prevent the latter from drooping unintentionally and causing drag. Linked together, it creates a streamlined form around the body to enhance speed."

"Moreover, the chains themselves contain an alchemical matrix that can convert uranium energy to provide propulsive power for the wings, effectively augmenting the muscular wings' strength."

Wendy was also in the alchemist team, carefully examining the four large iron boxes with an engraving stylus, watching the symbols appear on her stone tablet as she spoke up unconsciously:

"This is a full armored suit powered by uranium kinetic energy - it can't be viewed like conventional ancient armor. It's engraved with alchemical matrix we can't decipher in a short time, seemingly containing self-destructive anti-counterfeit spells too."

"The Imperial Design Institute seems to have incorporated all kinds of magic. Snake-eye, eagle-eye, light magic imaging - setting aside combat value, this is a supreme treasure crystallizing the quintessence of universal magic, fusing alchemy, dracology, and magic into one. It's unbelievable!"

Raphael listened to the humans' exclamations of amazement, casually grabbing the shattered transparent helmet to examine.

But this piece had already detached from the armor, showing no reaction.

He put the helmet over Arnold's head with his claw, asking, "How's it feel?"

"Heavy, mind getting your fat ass off me?"

Raphael made a sullen expression, taking off the helmet and tossing it to Shena. "What about you, Count Vattier? Based on your years of wide experience."

He stressed the "years" heavily, implying Shena had to give his assessment.

Shena could only move closer and pretend to examine it, eventually shaking his head. "My apologies, Crimson Dragon. I'm only a nobleman, socializing is my forte. Leave the professional matters to your experts."

Are you kidding? If he could understand what this group of alchemists couldn't, it would immediately raise suspicions.

"But you can still guess, right?" Raphael's tone became unfriendly.

Shena had no choice but to respond off-handedly, "In my humble opinion, this just seems to be something money can buy - lavish but insubstantial."

"What?" The alchemists turned their heads towards the nobleman, Wendy's eyes widening in disbelief.

Shena could only keep digging himself in deeper, as the crimson dragon was glaring intently at him.

"There are no innovative new alchemical matrix, like stabilizing uranium for example - a fundamental change. It's just a hodgepodge, taking a lot of time and money for trial-and-error experiments to brute force the right solution - that central matrix coordinating all the others."

"Besides that novel self-destructive anti-counterfeit matrix with research value, the rest is just a matter of time if we spend the money to reproduce it."

The alchemists looked at each other, surprised this nobleman so easily dismissed the intricate armor.

The main reason was that Shena's principles differed from this era.

In his time, the focus was on creating new alchemical matrix and hands-on work, emphasizing alchemy products that were accessible to the common people. Patchwork items were frowned upon as they tended to be expensive and couldn't be mass produced.

Now with abundant resources, alchemists wanted variety, novelty, the more expensive the better as long as it looked fancy and flashy.

The foundational alchemical matrix had almost all been invented by predecessors already, leaving only the outward appearance and combinations to explore.

"Alright then!"

Raphael had a general understanding - this was equipment for dragons that humans spent money to develop and stabilize their combat power.

"Throw this stuff in storage for now, we'll deal with it after the war's over. Dismissed!"

He stood up, finally allowing Arnold to scamper away back to the peak of Pillar Mountain.

"Count Vattier, don't leave! Come back to Pillar Mountain for a midnight snack, my treat." Raphael smiled, curving his neck towards the flustered Shena about to return to his manor.

"Is that so? Well…alright then."

Unable to find a good reason to refuse, Shena stepped onto the crimson dragon's claw, entering Pillar Mountain with him.

But Raphael did not use the main entrance, instead flying directly through the breach in the Golden Nest, leaving Shena utterly perplexed.

For a crimson dragon should be extremely wary of outsiders touching or even coveting his own treasure. Why would he actively bring him inside?

"May I ask what your intentions are?"

Shena cautiously controlled his gaze to avoid the tempting magic of the surrounding gold as he carefully inquired.

"Too many idlers outside. After some thought, I felt the matter I wished to discuss with you deserved a setting where I'm comfortable having an outsider set foot on gold." Raphael flapped his wings, gliding over the sea of gold until reaching that underground chamber entrance.

He climbed inside and set Shena down, adjusting his posture to sit upright.

Shena looked around the enclosed pitch-black space, not even the scattered gold reflecting any light in the gloom. He swallowed hard, awaiting the crimson dragon's orders.

"You've gained considerable insights into life alchemy research, correct?"

"Indeed."

"Does your research also cover bloodlines and physical bodies?"

"Of course, that's precisely how I've been able to find suitable host bodies for my spirit among my descendants."

"I want to achieve this effect: dragon kin, but without being draconic - or able to exhibit a normal human appearance naturally, not through illusion. Can this be done?"