At 4am, in addition to Alvis' assault, Ryton's forces also launched an attack.

Unlike the methodical troop deployments of the Imperial Allied Forces slowly advancing, more war-sensitive Ryton men preferred lightning strikes for the element of surprise.

A total of four squadrons with sixteen battle dragons accompanied by over nine hundred gryphon knights silently flew past the Modon River under the cover of night.

The circling blood wyverns outside Pillar Mountain had no inkling, as the enemy's entry point was the Dragon Domain itself.

Clearly, Enokeitie had never studied military deployments or strategically considered her own position, resulting in the shoreline being virtually undefended and bombarded relentlessly by the enemy's spells and bowguns. The fortress under construction there was nearly annihilated, and the dragon kin garrison stationed there descended into chaos as they hastily fled.

Subsequently, Ryton's transport ships and warships docked at Kiel's military port smoothly set sail. The slower-responding Central Valley remained oblivious, with the various dragon kin receiving no mobilization orders, allowing the Ryton men to successfully land.

By the time blood wyvern after another brought back the bad news, the great kobold finally awoke as if from a dream, witnessing the lightning pace of modern warfare - falling just one step behind the enemy's preemptive strike meant being thrown into a losing battle immediately.

It had no choice but to rouse its slumbering master in the golden nest inside Pillar Mountain.

At that time, Raphael was burying his body in gold, dreaming contentedly of possessing his treasures undisturbed, forever immersed in self-satisfaction beyond others' perception or his own awareness of them.

But the violent spatial ring tremors roused him.

"Enokeitie?"

Raphael activated the communication orb, enraged.

After hearing the report, he let out an infuriated roar, flapping his wings to unleash a hurricane divine scourge as he burst out from Pillar Mountain!

Arnold too was sleeping soundly until a sudden dragon's breath startled him awake.

"Raphael?"

He looked up in shock at the crimson dragon standing tall in the sky, its body silhouetted against the narrow crescent moon, dark red scales like hellfire demons in the night, those prominently golden vertically-slit pupils brimming with boundless fury!

"War has begun, hurry and come with me," the red dragon casually uttered those words before diving straight towards the northern lair.

The golden dragon stood dazed for a few seconds before hastily rousing the sprawled-out sleeping Old Flame.

...

"Everything is going smoothly!"

Ryton battle dragons reported to the communication orb.

Unlike the Imperial dragons' metallic armor for monitoring bodily data, energy levels and instant communications, they lacked such equipment.

However, their grueling training made up for the gear deficiency - their fighting capacity was no less than the Imperial dragons'.

"Good." A voice came through the orb. "Maintain air suppression and watch the dragon's movements!"

Fers Town.

Ryton's command center ended the communication as a group studied the maps.

"We've successfully landed and used our air power to suppress the enemy," the operations officer said. "Now all battle dragons and gryphon knights are deployed to clear out those 'hammer drakes' up to 8km inland from the river's shore."

Days ago, Ryton had also obtained intelligence on the Imperial dragons' and dragon kin's skirmish in the suburbs of Erl.

They immediately assigned personnel to analyze its range, area of effect, and weaknesses, formulating countermeasures.

"This will secure the beachhead for us to construct a series of defenses and initially set up anti-air batteries. With magic assistance, the engineers can excavate the rudimentary underground fortifications within four hours, after which the artillery corps can cross the river and get in position."

"Before then, the battle dragons must drive off and suppress that dragon. Once the ground forces massed across the river are ready, they can advance full-scale while maintaining air support in front to steadily devour all enemy forces!"

Such was Ryton's plan. They knew Pillar Mountain and Erl would certainly have heavy defenses, but the demoniac dragon's lair might not be as fortified - using this as the breakthrough point would eliminate some hostile forces while gaining a strategically advantageous foothold.

This would create a pincer stance with the Imperial Allied Forces and Karuk's army, forcing Raphael to divide his attention between the two-pronged enemy. With the river and mountains serving as natural barriers to the east and west, he would have no space for maneuvers or strategic depth.

"Thus the red dragon and its minions will be driven into a dead end. After expending their frenzied power, they will plummet into the abyss." The operations officer marked Pillar Mountain with an 'X' on the map, issuing Raphael's death sentence.

But everything hinged on whether the battle dragons could defeat and suppress the demoniac dragon.

It only took Raphael minutes to return to his lair, the sight immediately setting his fury fully ablaze!

The eastern territories were nearly reduced to ruins, black smoke hanging over the bloodstained land. A small number of isolated hammer drakes were constrained and encircled by the airborne battle dragons and gryphon knights, who bypassed their hard carapaces to tear into the relatively vulnerable underbellies. The massive beasts the size of hills fell heavily, slowly dying.

The blood wyverns scattered in all directions as the humans on the riverbank had already set up slender-barreled anti-air cannons. The Ryton soldiers displayed superb discipline, often downing a fleeing blood wyvern within just two shots. The disorganized monsters had no chance of survival against the onslaught of the massed armies.

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The hammer drakes and kobolds fled towards the Central Valley, as if Enokeitie judged they could not confront the enemy on the plains, hoping to make use of the defensive terrain of the mountains along with the drakes' cinder shell and their own breath cannons to resist the assault.

"Useless lot!" Raphael raged at the sight of the retreat. "Completely lacking martial spirit! Commanded over a thousand hammer drakes, thousands of blood wyverns and ten thousand kobolds yet you let the humans rout you in disarray! Enokeitie is unfit to be a dragon kin bleeding my blood! I'll have to turn him into a dried corpse when I return!"

He then downed all the blazing adamantite he had stored!

Fury, hatred, ferocity - these inner turmoils, Catalyzed his bloodflow, muscle explosions, hearts pumping at full capacity!

Combined, they became pure, unbridled power!

Raphael abruptly vanished from the spot, an invisible divine gale following his wake.

The next moment, a battle dragon continuously unleashing arcane torrents to hunt down fleeing goblins, dark elves and even human laborers on the ground was instantly blasted away!

The sealed anti-magic within Raphael immediately staunched the dragon's magic flow, leaving it in utter panic.

Raphael then violently slammed it towards the earth, clamping his jaws on one of the battle dragon's wings.

Pushed to his absolute limits, his jaws trembled uncontrollably, facial muscles taut and straining, before those dark golden draconic pupils suddenly constricted, the powerful neck whipping outwards to viciously tear off the bloody, mangled wing!

"Urrgh! Aaaarrgghh!"

Jolted by that soul-searing agony, the dragon shrieked and wailed - the brutal reality of a fight to the death far exceeding what its strict training could have prepared it for.

SLAM!

Raphael smashed it into the ground, cratering a massive pit, nearly shattering every bone and organ in the combat dragon's body as a gout of dark red blood sprayed from its mouth!

But the crimson dragon showed no mercy.

Clenching his claws into fists, he relentlessly rained down hammering blows like a raging tempest!

The dying dragon's remaining nerves received this final torment, having already lost its sight, only vaguely sensing the numbing torture being vented upon its body. It was like those punching bags used in practice, enduring sheer agony that became one with its consciousness and thoughts.

Finally, after an earth-shattering shock, it achieved transcendence.

"Huff…"

Gazing at the former dwarfed dragon now a pulpy mess, Raphael's fury did not abate in the slightest.

Wings fanning high, he swiftly took flight into the air, his abdominal golden glow more dazzling than ever before!

Merciless demonic flames poured into the crater, reducing this foe to scattered ashes. But Raphael did not stop exhaling, instead continuously intensifying his power as he aimed higher.

The dragon's breath gradually brightened from fire-red into crimson gold.

Yet crimson gold was not the end - this vermilion shade steadily purified, shedding its impurities, the scorching hues dissipating outwards like autumn's yellowing leaves separating from the tree.

What remained was the lush, verdant regrowth canopy of the new year!

More and more red elements dissociated from the dragon's breath, giving way to flames transcending all limits in sheer horrific might!

Raphael abruptly cut off his skyward exhalation, his draconic pupils reflecting the eight incoming combat dragons attempting to surround and slay him.

Whizz! Whizz!

Lightning bolt and thunderstrike spells assailed from all sides, encircling Raphael, while distant rumbles of mana cannons lobbed projectiles this way.

Raphael took a deep breath, the dust around him suddenly blasted outwards leaving a clear circle.

He opened his great maw wide, his abdominal cavity now entirely transformed into brilliant sacred golden sunfire, a wisp of flame already kindled at the base of his tongue.

The next moment! Golden flames expanded out in a fan formation!

The lightning bolts were instantly swallowed without a trace by these near-omnidirectional golden flames.

The crimson dragon then flickered, vanishing from that spot just as the thunderstrikes struck the mud.

"Watch out! The dragon's disappeared!"

The battle dragons shouted warnings to each other, unable to pinpoint Raphael's new location.

"Above!"

They quickly looked upward - the crimson dragon hung in reverse silhouette against the dawning sun's first faint glimmers, as a deity descending to the mortal realm.

Then the golden breath began raining down.

A battle dragon's tail accidentally brushed against one of the golden flames, immediately disintegrating into ash, leaving it with a shortened tail.

"This power exceeds level 6 spells?"

Witnessing this scene, the human dragons felt a chill.

Ryton had already thoroughly analyzed Raphael's abilities through various case studies.

In terms of spells: Spell immunity, golden blessing, and flight were enabler effects not worth evaluating. Thunderlance was around level 6, while Force Claw was level 5. Thunderlance could not track targets, only moving in arcing trajectories. Dragon's Claw had too short a range and dealt primarily physical damage, easy to withstand.

So for the crimson dragon, magical immunity was not a major concern as long as they avoided close quarters.

Raphael's killing move was his breath.

Currently, only his fire breath and radiant breath were known to humans.

The former had line, cone, fireball, and vortex release patterns, each with obvious blind spots to evade since they originated from his mouth. Avoid facing him directly and its power did not exceed level 6.

The more threatening lase breath did reach beyond level 6 in power.

However, its monotonous linear exhalation made it easy to dodge - with some training, battlle dragons could avoid being hit.

This was the basis for Ryton's military daring to directly confront the legendary Raphael.

Their analysis had dissected the demon dragon's combat methods and tactics. The numbers told humans that by achieving a certain speed and evasion angle, Raphael could only helplessly glare on.

But the abrupt golden flames shattered all those calculations.

"Retreat! Quickly retreat!"

The crimson dragon now held the initiative. The golden breath could spew in straight lines from the corners of his mouth, the relentless force reaching all the way to the ground without dispersing, outwardly expanding and incinerating the scorched earth.

Moreover, each wisp of those flames exceeded level 6 power - how could the batt;e dragons retaliate?

BOOM...

Raphael mercilessly occupied the high ground, using his golden dragonfire to relentlessly batter Ryton's dragons, the distance between them rapidly closing!

"Urrgh!"

This showcased the paramount importance of daily training.

One human dragon simply released a sigh of relief, only for its tail to instantly be enveloped and turned to ash by the golden flames.

The searing agony forced it into overdrive, desperately accelerating its retreat.

"Wait!"

Raphael suddenly regained his calm, holding back the golden breath as the battle dragons caught their breath.

"My anti-magic is depleting rapidly!"

He felt the primal power from that fleshy seal within his bones gradually waning with each exhalation of golden flames. Stopping the breath caused the depletion to immediately halt and slowly recover.

"Damn it! How is this possible!"

Raphael glared hatefully at the dwarf dragon fleeing back to the anti-air batteries. His own calculations revealed his anti-magic power was insufficient to exhale enough golden breath to incinerate all the humans.

He had been too worked up earlier without noticing the power draining.

"But why can I suddenly convert anti-magic into my breath? This golden fire reminds me of my ancestor Emin," Raphael's mind wandered, equally shocked by the transformation of his breath.

"I can feel the connection to the anti-magic strengthening, able to channel it into my lungs." To his surprise, Raphael found he could better control this power now, unlike before when he could only passively seal magic or forcibly unleash the sealed demonic energy.

Was this change caused by his psychological upheaval or did his power breakthrough some threshold in that moment?

At least when Nana "died" previously, Raphael showed no reaction.

"I'll research these matters later, the battlefield takes priority now!"

Raphael shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts, looking towards the tensely waiting humans.

"I carelessly depleted my anti-magic power. I must preserve what little remains as a trump card for a crucial moment," the crimson dragon inwardly mused. "But this just returns us to the previous situation. Still, they should be too intimidated to act rashly for now. I need to seize this chance to regroup the Valley forces - that's the proper strategy!"

After careful consideration, he abruptly spat a fireball forward, immediately drawing interception fire from hundreds of anti-air batteries.

As the fireball shattered under the bombardment, Raphael beat his wings and flew towards the Valley.

Below him lay land thoroughly polluted by warfare, uraninium ammunition, and residual magic - littered with numberless torn, buried corpses of the small races. Yet Raphael, consumed with thoughts of "how to achieve victory", paid no heed to such sights.

It was now 7am on September 4th as the battle erupted in the southern suburbs. The fate of the Erl regime would be decided in these coming days.