Abyssal Sovereignty

After the blinding light faded, a small girl with disheveled green hair and tear-streaked eyes appeared before the young woman. At first glance, she seemed like a pitiful little girl, but the tail behind her and her slit-pupiled eyes betrayed her true identity—she was a dragon.

"Um... Big Sister, I'm really sorry..." The green-haired girl lay down and awkwardly lifted her ragged clothes up to her chest, exposing her bare stomach and everything below. "I heard that to apologize, you need to show your belly... Is this okay?" Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she spoke.

"...Where did you hear that from?" the young woman asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh? It was from a sister who sometimes comes around here. She has pink hair and wears red and white clothes," the little dragon replied.

"...Of course it was her." The woman sighed, recognizing the antics of her mischievous acquaintance.

"How old are you?" the woman asked, her tone softening.

"Hmm... I’m not sure. But the elders in my tribe said I need to live about twice as long as I have now to be considered an adult..."

In the Abyss, where there was no clear distinction between day and night, time was difficult to track. However, the difference between a child and an adult dragon was unmistakable. The girl before her was undoubtedly still young.

"Normally, I wouldn’t be allowed to guard the outer perimeter at my age, but because I’m really strong—stronger than some adult dragons—I was given special permission to stay here," the little dragon said, a proud smile spreading across her face. She would have puffed out her chest if her hands weren’t busy holding up her clothes.

"Do you know where the strongest among you is?" the woman asked, her tone suddenly serious.

"Um... Uh..." The little dragon’s cheerful expression immediately darkened at the question. "That’s... I can't... No, I don't know!" Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as her eyes darted nervously, clearly lying.

"Fine, if you don’t want to say, I’ll find them myself. The inner region is that way, right?" The woman glanced towards a distant area shrouded in clouds.

"Wait! No—!"

"ROAR!!!"

Suddenly, as if sensing the woman’s intention to enter the inner region, a group of dragons burst forth from the clouds. Each one was far larger than the green-haired girl in her dragon form.

"Intruder! Your death is inevitable!" The dragons landed in front of the woman, their sheer size causing the ground to quake.

"Surrender now, and you might—"

The leading dragon began to speak but abruptly stopped when it noticed the green-haired girl lying on the ground, her small body barely covered by her tattered clothes.

"You... How dare you...!?" the dragon growled, its voice filled with fury. The girl’s small size had made it difficult for the dragons to notice her at first, but now that they did, rage flared in their hearts.

In an instant, the dragons imagined all sorts of terrible scenarios—one of their own forced into submission, a young dragon defeated and humiliated, or worse, a child forced to offer her body to survive.

The dragons, powerful by nature but with low reproductive rates, cherished their young above all else. The sight of their beloved "tribal treasure" being forced into such a degrading situation was akin to finding their child returning home with a stranger—a fury beyond comprehension.

Wait, no, this situation was exactly that. She was outside her home, and the other was indeed a "yellow-haired" stranger.

"You wretched scum! I’ll crush you into dust!" one dragon roared.

"Burn her to ashes!" another shouted.

"Freeze her and shatter her to pieces!" cried a third.

Their fury was palpable, their overflowing magic power rivaling that of a large-scale high-tier spell.

"Wait! I’m fine!" the little dragon pleaded, trying to calm them down.

"Silence! She must die here today!" But they no longer listened. Their sole objective was to destroy the one who had harmed their precious child.

"Attack!" With the command, the dragons surged towards the woman. Their massive bodies whipped up powerful winds; their mere movement was a cataclysm in itself.

"Ahh! Waaah!" The green-haired dragon girl quickly ducked and ran, holding her head in fear. Even though she was powerful enough to rival some adult dragons, these were no ordinary adults. They were elites, far stronger than her, and their numbers were overwhelming. If she got caught up in the battle, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

Meanwhile, the woman had already teleported high into the sky, magic power gathering in her hand as she prepared to cast a spell.

"Stop her!" The dragons unleashed their fiery breath, attempting to interrupt her casting. Yet, despite their efforts, they couldn’t land a single hit.

They avoided firing in unison to conserve their energy; dragon breath required significant power and had a cooldown period. If they wasted it all at once and the woman successfully cast her spell, the tide of battle could shift dramatically.

Though consumed by anger, they weren’t fools. Their years of cooperation had forged a formidable team, and they coordinated to completely suppress the woman.

‘...Something’s wrong...’ The green-haired dragon girl, watching from afar, began to sense that something was amiss. In the earlier skirmish, the woman had only used her physical abilities, never once resorting to magic. From what she could tell, the woman shouldn’t have needed magic to deal with them, yet now she was behaving like a spellcaster, relying solely on magic.

Her instincts as a young dragon warned her that something was off.

Sure enough, at a certain point, the woman’s speed, strength, and defenses all surged dramatically. Before the dragons could blink, she had already appeared in front of one of them.

BANG!!

With a powerful downward kick, the woman sent a massive yellow dragon crashing to the ground, creating a huge crater. The dragon was knocked out cold, the sheer speed of the attack leaving the others only able to see a yellow blur.

‘...Impossible!?’ The remaining dragons were stunned. The dragon she had just taken down was one of the fastest among them, specializing in lightning magic. Yet it hadn’t even had time to react before being incapacitated.

The woman gazed at the yellow dragon lying motionless on the ground, then lifted her head to face the rest of the dragon horde.

Instantly, a chill ran down their spines, as if an invisible hand had clenched their hearts. They couldn’t move, couldn’t even think of attacking. In that moment, they were reminded of the terror they had felt as young dragons under the gaze of their tribe’s most powerful warriors. This was the oppressive aura of someone far superior, someone from a higher tier.

"Now, shall we continue?" the woman asked, her voice calm but carrying an undeniable weight of authority.